PAUL HOLLANDER
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(and decay) in the Soviet Union.
The adversarial (or radical) left could not ignore the demise of ex–
isting socialist (or communist) systems because of its justified apprehension
that their collapse could be used to enhance the legitimacy of the United
States, capitalism, or Western culture, and to vindicate anticommunism -
the most troubling prospect for the upholders of anti- anticommunism.
So the battle was joined not merely by the contributors to
The Nation
or
The Village Voice
and many "alternative" publications, but also by
many academic Marxists, well-known
New York Times
columnists and
various op-ed page authors seeking to minimize the damage to anti-an–
ticommunism.
Several approaches and arguments emerged in these apologetics and
rationalizations, designed to salvage deeply-held beliefs threatened by the
new developments. One recurring theme has been that whatever hap–
pened in Eastern Europe proves nothing about the ills and evils of capi–
talism and American society or should be understood to suggest that
Western systems are in any way morally superior to communist ones. Of–
ten each new revelation of the misdeeds or failures of communist systems
was instantly paired with some allegedly similar American vice or flaw.
The improvements associated with
glasnost
came to be used to highlight
the lack of change or reform in the United States. We have been inun–
dated with warnings against American (or Western) self-righteousness and
gloating and reminders of how many things are wrong with American
(Western, capitalist) systems. Those particularly energetic or imaginative
in this salvaging enterprise have insisted that developments in Eastern
Europe merely show that Stalinism but not authentic Marxian socialism
was rejected. When in the autumn of 1989 East Germans began to pour
out in record numbers, an editorial in
The Nation
seriously suggested that
this merely represented their going "from Stalin back to Marx" - the
evidence being their choice of West Germany over Thatcher's England
or "apres-Reagan America"! It also has been proposed that even if it
were true that East Europeans actually preferred capitalism to socialism,
this may be a short-lived aberration, a form of false consciousness, or (as a
British writer put it) manifestation of being "besotted with consumerist
glitz"; or as an American kindred spirit observed (in the context of
Nicaragua), "A few Nicaraguans will again enjoy the freedom of the
shopping mall."
Much energy has been invested in claiming that no matter what
happened in Eastern Europe (or the Soviet Union, Nicaragua, Mongo–
lia, and so on), it had no relevance whatsoever to the riches and inspiring
qualities of Marxist theory, since the systems in question had nothing to
do with Marxism. Actually the Western left for some time has been di-
