638
PAR.TISAN REVIEW
Vladimir Tismaneanu: I
can simply say that the language for my gen–
eration, and perhaps for other generations too, was the language of the
French Revolution: "Nos idees sont au pouvoir," meaning "Our ideas
have come to power." Then we realized that yes, indeed, our ideas have
come to power, but not necessarily and not always do our people come
to power. So this situation has created a kind of gap between the senti–
ment of fulfillment, of realization, and the other sentiment which is an
uneasiness, malaise, and disenchantment. I think that intellectuals in the
East European setting, and I mean Russia as well as Belorussia and
Ukraine, its particular context of life and social conditions, fortunately or
unfortunately, must still continue to fulfill an apostolic mission. Whether
they like it or not, as I said, I think it is going to take some time until
the routinization of the intellectual class that has been more or less the
case in the West comes about (although in France they still maintain a
very special status, even after the fact that one of the great bestsellers in
recent years was called
Les Intel/aerates).
So I don't think that even in the
West intellectuals are so banal, and we have seen from time to time that
intellectuals have crucial roles in the West. In the post-Communist world
of Eastern Europe, I think it will primarily be the duty of intellectuals to
articu late and elaborate the blueprints for change and the evolution of
values. However, some of the intellectuals will support initiatives that do
not coincide with every single liberal valu e. There is an illiberal in–
telligentsia in the region, and especially in Russia, where the situation
sometimes makes me tremble. Nevertheless, there are great writers and
great intellectuals who are on the other side, so I predict that we will see
more and more intellectual debates there.
Susan Sontag:
Thank you.
