DORIS LESSING
551
Paradise, then, was on the world's agenda, and soon. Who would lead
the world thither? Why , we would, people like us, Communists, van–
guards of the working class, destined by History for the role. Exactly the
same mind-set as my parents, who believed they represented God's will,
working by agency of the British Empire, for the good of the world. Or
like the framers of the Atlantic Charter.
Secondly, that there was no way to paradise but by Revolution. We
despised anyone who did not believe in revolution - that is, with few ex–
ceptions. (We would assure each other, voices full of the sincerity that
goes with moral judgments, that such and such a reactionary was never–
theless
a good person.)
It was morally superior to believe in Revolution,
and those who did not were, at the least, cowardly. We were united with
each other by superiority of character, because we were revolutionaries
and good. Our opponents were bad. People who did not believe in so–
cialism were not credited with good intentions: a set of mind that contin–
ues to this day. It is satisfying to believe in the moral inferiority of oppo–
nents. That the people supporting the United Party in Southern Rhodesia
or the Tories in Britain might actually believe their policies would be best
for humankind was simply not admitted. So strong is this need to believe
oneself better that, as recently as 1992, after all the storms of murder,
torture, deliberate genocide committed by the Communists, a female Red
reproached me with: "How can you turn your back on the Truth?
I
thought you were a good person."
Thirdly, we were a part of a family that covered the world. "A
Communist can arrive in any country anywhere and at once be at home,
with people who think the same, with the same ideals." An enticing no–
tion for people estranged from their families, or uprooted - and these days
most are. I heard exactly the same from a Moslem friend. "A Moslem can
go anywhere in the world and at once be with people who think exactly
the same: don't forget, the Koran is the mental and moral framework for
every Moslem, and the stories and the sacred and historical figures in it
are shared by the Sheik of Kuwait and the poor laborer digging the ditch
in Indonesia."
Fourthly, a Communist should always be better than everyone else,
work harder, study more, look after people, always be ready to do the
dirty work, both as a human responsibility and to attract people into the
Communist Party, which embodied now, and would embody in the fu–
ture,
all
the best qualities of humankind. This set of mind is religious. In
the West, Christianity has shaped our thinking for two thousand years.
Poor humanity lives in a vale of tears and suffering (capitalism), but is
saved by a Redeemer (Christ, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc.), and after a period
of pain and confusion (purgatory) there will be Heaven where
all
conflict
