THE HUMAN IT IES AN I) CULTUR.E HEltOES
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sia n R evoluti o n , and th en th e C hinese R.evoluti on , and means th e left–
wing and liberals - milli ons o f people - have schi zophrenia. Yo u ca n see
it easily in th e tolerance, no t to say w o rship, o f th e LR.A. murderers o r
in the R ed Bri gades in Italy. Few people of a ce rtain age group in Italy
have no t had fri ends in th e R ed Brigades, o r even fo r a time we re no t
themselves in the R ed Brigades.
It
was the chi c thing to do . Hundreds of
young peopl e with th e hi ghest possibl e mo ti ves suppo rted murde r fo r
politi cal reasons. Most of th e R ed Bri ga des we re no t depri ved people.
Wh at th ey all had in commo n , of course, was the wa r just behind thel1l .
Granted it was a bad and ugly wa r in Italy, th o ugh we tend to fo rget
that, and wa r brutali zes all of us. But th ese we re " th e tender-h ea rted, "
dreaming of gentl e, fruitful and no ncorrupt futures. T hose that remain ed
in the o rga ni za ti on became mercil ess and brutal kill ers, even if most have
now had reverse conversio ns and become good citi zens. Th ey were and
are still sometimes admired prec isel y fo r th eir brutality. There are people
on the left who still defend th em. Why? I think th e reason is, aga in , rev–
oluti o nary romanti cism .
And now my last po int, but I am leaving o ut a dozen o ther ways, of
whi ch we are hardl y awa re , in whi ch I think our minds have been set by
Communi sm. I think that th e left-win g, the soc ial, even liberal move–
me llts o f E urope have bee n terminall y damaged beca use the progressive
imagin ati o n was captured by th e Soviet ex peri ence. Th e Russ ian
R.evoluti o n , th e Soviet Uni o n , was a paradi gm , whether seen as a success
o r as a fa iled experiment whi ch we could better. Fo r decades, fo r half a
century, fo r three-qu arters o f a centu ry, all the " tender-hea rted " people
longing fo r better things were preoccupi ed with the Sovi et Uni o n. With
its hi story o f murder, mass murder , show tri als. A history, and thi s I'm
sure is th e impo rtant thin g in th e lo ng run , o f failure. Th e entire
"progressive" movement of Europe has had its imaginati o n in thrall
to
the Soviet experi ence, an experi ence in fac t irreleva nt to Europe.
It
wo uld easil y be possibl e to make an alternati ve reality, a history of
Europe that had made a dec ision to develop socialism , o r even a just so–
ciety, w ith o ut any reference at all to th e Sovi et Uni o n . W e mu st re–
member, I think , that because of th e Soviet Uni on it has been imposs ibl e
eve n to consider crea ting a just society that is no t eith er soc ialist o r
Communi st.W e did no t have to identify with the Soviet Uni on , with its
seventy- odd yea rs o f logic- chopping, o f idiotic rh eto ri c, brutality, con–
ce ntrati o n camps, pogroms aga inst th e Jews. Aga in and again, fa ilure.
And , from o ur po int of view , most impo rtant , the th o usand mind-wri g–
gling ways of defending fa ilure. I think th e history of Europe would have
been ve ry diffe rent. Soc ialism wo uld no t now be so di sc redited , and
above all , o ur minds wo uld no t automati ca lly fa ll into the habit of
"capitalism or socialism. "
