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Secondly, he points out, Marxism is a
hopeful
theory of history, all
the more welcome at a time when the condition of mankind as a
whole and of individual societies offers little to be cheerful about and
the problems of secularization are far from overcome. While he fully
understands the contemporary appeals of Marxism, he has little pa–
tience with those who seek to transform it into a theory of alienation
on the basis of the early writings of Marx which his later mature
work thoroughly contradicted. ("The doctrine of alienation ... vio–
lates the entire historical approach of Marxism which denies that
man has a natural or real or true self from which he can be
alienated. ")
Besides the various discussions of Marxism and its contem–
porary uses, misuses, and interpretations, there are also topical
essays on current political controversies (such as disarmament and
the cold war). The great value of these pieces lies in, among other
things , their capacity to remind the reader what are the truly impor–
tant differences between the Western world and Western values on
the one hand and the multitudinous forms of authoritarianism in the
world today. Few people have been more persuasive and forceful
than Sidney Hook in arguing against the false alternative between
nuclear war and Western surrender. He has for decades been a rare
voice of reason in a chaotic world of changing intellectual fashions
and dubious political commitments.
Sidney Hook is not only a defender of the humanist legacy of
Marx against those who sought to legitimate their inhumane policies
by his ideas; he also teaches us how to distinguish the liberating,
democratic ideals of socialism from the wide variety of misuses they
have been subjected to in our times, both as vindications of tyranny
and escapist fantasies of limitless "self-realization."
