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and we must accept it, therefore there is no crisis. No, there will be a
resurgence of nationalist values everywhere, not just in the post–
Communist societies. Nevertheless, the ideal of the ethnically pure state is
ultimately untenable. That's all I'm saying; not that there won't
continue to be a violent reaction in all the rich countries as well as in
the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which are in economic free
fall.
Vladimir Tismaneanu:
Of course I am simplifying your point, but it
seems that the proletarians , the have-nots or those who have less, will
remain full of resentment. There will be, of course, res entmen t at the
same time on the part of the elites, but the managerial business elites will
have to accept the rules of the game whether they like it or not.
Susan Sontag:
Exactly.
Question:
The discussion has focused on how to interpret the crisis of the
intellectuals' having come, from a position of dominance in the op–
position to Communism and in the immediate post-Communist period,
to a point where their position is in decline, and how to explain why
this decline has occurred. Vladimir Tismaneanu presented the situation as
that of universalist, liberal values set against a kind of particularist, tribalist
opposition, which already has been somewhat challenged here. But I
would like to suggest one other possible explanation for this situation
and to hear your reaction to it. That is , I would suggest that many
liberal intellectuals are being attacked and criticized and undermined in
Eastern Europe not because they are
political
liberals but because they have
become
economic
liberals. They have now articulated the position that
with liberal individualism, universalism, and Western values comes also a
reliance on a free market. They have supported a push towards a radical
kind of marketization program - not the only marketization program
available in theory - but nevertheless many liberal intellectuals are now
saying that there is no other way at the moment. They support the
proposals, such as those put forth by Jeffrey Sachs and his plans for East–
ern Europe, or those in Russia where proponents say there is no other
way to go.
In this way, what happens is that when these reforms become so
painful to so many people, they protest against them, and then those
liberal intellectuals in the political elite say to their opponents, "Your
lack of support is politically dangerous, politically irrational." The op–
position in fact is saying, "Wait a minute, we're not intending to un–
dermine liberal political values; it's just that we think in fact the
