BOOKS
stand against the European peace movement. He declared that
no matter how th e relations between Ameri ca and Russia may de–
velop , Euro pe will o nl y be able
to
kee p o ut of th eir conflicts not
through masochistic defensel essness but by becoming a super power in
its own ri ght , just as horrifyin g as th ose giant states. This is im–
mensely sad. N everthel ess it is un avoidable beca use thi s world will
continu e to be con fro nted by th e danger and tempta ti o n o f sui cide
for generati ons to come. So we old Europea ns, who abhor wa r, we
must unfortun ately become dangerous ourselves in order
to
guarantee
peace.
127
Sperber's many bitter experi ences, his parti cipation as a hi gh-ranking
member of th e C ommunist Party, as a J ew who had been committed to
Zi oni sm , as a psycho logist and ardent anti-Fascist, and as a member of
the R esistance, convin ced him that , ultimately, there are no easy solu–
ti ons. Appeasement of ruthl ess di ctato rs always had led to disaster: in this
case, in o rder to win th e peace o ne had to be prepared fo r war.
Sperber's trilogy is now available in English , in thi s excell ent transla–
ti on from th e German by J oachim N eugroschel and Harry Z o hn. The
recoll ecti ons of a writer wh o was acquain ted with th e ins and o uts of
the internati onal C ommunist netwo rk o ught to be read by everyone
conce rned with the history o f o ur centu ry - if o nly as antido te to the
many revisio ni st histo ri es that currentl y are being produ ced . French ,
Ge rman and Austri an thinkers have admired Sperber fo r years. T hey have
read his novels and politi cal commentari es, and have honored him .
It
is
time that we too pay attenti o n to o ne of th e central commentato rs on
our times - as a vacc ine aga inst whatever ideologies may be coming
down the tubes. And fo r th e pleasure o f reading.
EDITH KURZWEIL
