April, 1946 3 5 ^ The Root is Man by Dwight Macdonald To be radical is to grasp the matter by its If this theory is correct, the consequences for the Marxist root. Now the root for mankind is man himself. schema are obviously quite serious; and so Trotsky attempt­ ed to demonstrate its falsity. His article is remarkable be­ — KARL M ARX (1844) * cause, with a boldness and a sense of intellectual responsi­ bility not common among present-day Marxists, he ventured HORTLY after the second world war began, Trotsky to draw the consequences for Marxism if indeed capitalism’s wrote a remarkable article entitled “ The USSR in heir were to be bureaucratic collectivism. More, he even S War” (see The New International, November 1939). dared to set a “ deadline” for the long-awaited world It was an attempt to refute the theory that a new form of revolution. society had developed in the Soviet Union, one that was “ The second world war has begun,” he wrote. “ It attests neither capitalist nor socialist (“ degenerated workers’ state” incontrovertibly to the fact that society can no longer live in Trotsky’s phrase) but something quite distinct from either on the basis of capitalism. Thereby it subjects the pro­ of the two classic Marxist alternatives. This theory of a letariat to a new and perhaps decisive test. “ third alternative” had been foreshadowed in certain pas­ “ If this war provokes, as we firmly believe, a proletarian sages of Anton Ciliga’s The Russian Enigma (Paris, 1938) revolution, it must inevitably lead to the overthrow of the and had been developed in detail (I am told, for I have bureaucracy in the USSR and the regeneration of Soviet never been able to get hold of a copy of the book) by a democracy on a far higher economic and cultural basis than certain “ Bruno R.” in La Bureaueratisation du Monde (Paris, in 1918. In that case, the question as to whether the Stalin­ 1939).* The proponents of the new theory called it “ bur­ ist bureaucracy was a ‘class’ or a parasitic growth on the eaucratic collectivism.” workers’ state will be automatically solved. To every single *In 1941, James Burnham gave popular currency to the idea in person it will become clear that in the process of this The Managerial Revolution. Unfortunately, he vulgarized it so en­ development of the world revolution, the Soviet bureau­ thusiastically as to make it a source of confusion rather than enlight­ cracy was only an episodic relapse. enment. (See the reviews by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills in Ethics, Jan. 1942, and by myself in Partisan Review, Jan.-Feb. 1942.) “ If, however, it is conceded that the present war will 98 has ebbed away without producing a single new political tendency, or a single leader of any stature? CONTENTS The reasons for this decadence will be considered pres­ New Roads (4) ently. The fact is what concerns us now. I think it is time The Root Is Man, by Dwight Macdonald........................ 97 <• for socialists to face the situation that actually exists in­ Why the Resistance Failed— an Outline, by Louis Clair.... 116 stead of continuing to fix our eyes on a distant future in which History will bring us at last what we want. It is The Non-Violent Revolutionists, by Don Calhoun................ 118 strange, by the way, that Marxists, who pride themselves on LABOR LEADS, by Burton Bendiner.................................... 119 their realism, should habitually regard the Present as merely the mean entrance-hall to the spacious palace of the Future. Dedication Day, by James Agee............................................. 121 For the entrance-hall seems to stretch out interminably; it FRENCH LETTER, by Gelo and Andrea.............................. 125 may or may not lead to a palace; meanwhile, it is all the palace we have, and we must live in it. I think we shall Ancestors (2): DE TOCQUEVILLE live in it better and even find the way to thè palace better Prophet of the Total State, by Sebastian Franck............ 127 (if there is a palace), if we try living in the present in­ Is a Revolutionary War a Contradiction in Terms? by stead of in the Future. To begin with, let us face the fact European .....»»...„»....«.... m m ..«.... 128 that Trotsky’s deadline is here and that his revolution is CONTRIBUTORS ...................................................................... 130 not New Roads: Discussion by A. Dubitsky and Helen The Plan and Purpose of this Article Constas................................................................................ 131 If, writes Trotsky, the war provokes “ not revolution but BOOKS a decline of the proletariat” and if, consequently, Marxists Review by Virgil J. Vogel..................................................... 134 must recognize that Bureaucratic Collectivism, not Social­ ism, is the historical successor to Capitalism, then : “ nothing THE INTELLIGENCE O FFICE........................... 134 else would remain except openly to recognize that the Packages Abroad: Current Information.............................. 136 socialist program, based on the internal contradictions of capitalist society, ended as a Utopia.” This seems to me an accurate summary of the dilemma Marxists find themselves in today. For if one bases one’s provoke not revolution but a decline of the proletariat, then socialist program on capitalist contradictions, and if those there remains another alternative: the further decay of contradictions conduct one not to Socialism but to Bureau­ monopoly capitalism, its further fusion with the State and cratic Collectivism, then one has no real basis for socialism. the replacement of democracy wherever it still persists, by Also, if one assumes that history has only one possible a totalitarian regime. The inability of the proletariat to pattern, predictable in advance if one can discover society’s take into its hands the leadership of society could actually “ laws of motion” , then the triumph of Bureaucratic Collec­ lead to the growth of a new exploiting class from the tivism in Russia and its much greater strength (compared Bonapartist fascist bureaucracy. This Would be, according to Socialism) in other parts of the world today— these to all indications, a regime of decline, signalizing the developments force one to conclude, with Trotsky, that eclipse of civilization. totalitarianism is “ the” future alternative to Capitalism. In “ However onerous the second perspective may be, if the this case, Trotsky’s “ minimum program . for the defense world proletariat should actually prove incapable of ful­ of the interests of the slaves of totalitarian society” is all filling the mission placed upon it by the course of develop­ that can be logically attempted. Who is going to take any ment, nothing else would remain except epenly to recognize risks for, or even get very interested in such an uninspir- that the socialist program based on the internal contradic­ tions of capitalist society ended as a Utopia. It is self- evident that a new minimum program would be required— politics for the defense of the interests of the slaves of the totalitar­ VOLUME 3, No. 4 (Whole No. 27) APRIL, 1946 ian bureaucratic society.” Editor: Dwight Macdonald The war is now ended, in unparalleled devastation, Business Managers: Dorothy Brumm, Nancy Macdonald hunger, misery in Asia and Europe, in the shattering of the old class structure of Europe and the loosening of imperial­ POLITICS is published monthly at 45 Astor Place, Now York 3. N. Y., by Politics Publishing Co. Telephone: ist bonds in the colonies. Yet no revolution has succeeded GRamercy 3-1512. anywhere, or even been attempted; the kind of defensive Subscription $3.50 for one year, $6 for two years. Add battle the EAM put up in Greece, however heroic, cannot 30e a year for Canada. 50c a year for all other foreign countries. Single copy: 35c. Most back issues are still available. be called a revolution. The “ revolutionary opportunities” Special rate for service men and C.O.'s anywhere: $2.50 which we socialists expected to occur after this war have a year. indeed materialized; but the masses have not taken ad­ Subscribers Note: It takes us 10 days to change your vantage of them. Although the second world war has been address. Please let us have changes of address promptly. far more destructive of the old order than was the first, Copyright April, 1946, by Politics Publishing Co. Entered as second-class matter March 16, 1944, at the post- the level both of mass consciousness and of socialist leader­ office at New York, under the Act of March 3, 1879. ship is far lower than it was in 1917-20. Is it not striking, for example, that the entire European resistance movement APRIL, 1946 99 ing— however worthy— program, one that by definition can of this part is devoted to an attempt to show that Marxism never go further than defense? Do not the Russian and is no longer a reliable guide either to political action or German experiences, in fact, show that such a limited pro­ to an understanding of what is happening in the world. The gram is quite impossible under totalitarianism— that one Marxist approach to politics is considered generally in “ 3. must either go much farther, or not stir at all? The Question of Marxism” This is followed by three sec­ But why not, after all, base one’s socialism on what tions on specific aspects of the question: “ 4. The M irage Trotsky contemptuously calls “ Utopian” aspirations? Why of Proletarian Revolution” ; “ 5. The ‘Third Alternative*z not begin with what we living human beings want, what we Bureaucratic Collectivism”