POLAND: RESPONSIBILITY AND HISTORY

...Your relativity is masked by appearances of fictitious immutability...

...And nevertheless a judge, if he 126 is to pronounce one of the sides right, in accordance with justice, must be impartial before he comes to court...

...You consider your theory to be obvious and you ask me to recognize it, and you add that by the very fact of rejecting this theory, by the very wish to take the position of judge in the controversy, I automatically place myself in the camp of your opponents...

...It is true that you have a separate theory to justify this abhorrent rule, namely, the theory of the non-existence of a third force in a society torn by class antagonisms, i.e., a theory according to which the office of the judge in the interpretation of modern legislation is entirely impossible...

...What did you do to save them...

...If crime is the law of history, is the realization of this law reason for me to become a criminal...

...I WILL NEVER BELIEVE," Says the Intelectual, "that the moral and intellectual life of mankind should conform to the laws of economic investment, that is, that one should expect better results tomorrow by saving today, i.e., use lies for the triumph of truth and take advantage of crime in order to pave the way for nobility...

...Whatever happens...

...My commitment, to which I am constantly forced, must therefore be based on absolute confidence in that man, in his present and his future intentions...

...The whole history of mankind is proof of our arguments...

...If you represent a certain historical reality, on what basis do you ask me to affirm it morally...

...And this is the reason why, ultimately, I stick to my opinion," [said the Intellectual...

...You constantly tell me that the threat to human freedom is so huge that, in order to overcome it, it is worth while to give up freedom...

...You succumb to deceptive pictures which liberal politicians always paint about the revolutionary movement in order to denigrate it," replies the Revolutionary...

...In recent months the "revisionist" intellectuals— those who wished the country to move further along the road to a democratic form of socialism—have suffered blows from the Gomulka regime, which, for its part, has tried to reconsolidate the power of the Polish Communist Party...

...Therefore, our choice will always be best if it is determined by that small particle of certainty which we possess...

...I have a right to judge and understand you only when I am one of you...

...Do you want me to count them to compute your moral superiority...

...Why should that be so...

...The Revolutionary laughs mocking ly: `In qua mensura mensis fueritis, remetietur vobis.* You're trying to say that we boast of our own alleged freedom from historical limitations while you yourself are really 'free from them...

...your position is completely opaque, it is impenetrable to rational thought because it rejects a priori any criticism as an act which, by the nature of things, is hostile to you and is of necessity—consciously or unconsciously—taken from the position of the opposite camp...

...Lavoisier answers that to sacrifice truth, respect for oneself and all human values for the future—means to sacrifice the fu* French statesman and general (17531823) . •• French chemist (1748.1794) executed during the French Revolution...

...One should be able to face its horrors and not lament over them...

...In such a case, the condition of any further conversation is to interpret again the whole history of the world, which cannot be done, especially if we are waiting for a choice which must be made right away, about the completion of this task," [said the Revolutionary] . "It seems that this is to the point...

...Therefore, I do not agree that great moral and intellectual values should be sacrificed on the altar of objectives the outcome of which is in doubt...

...That is, I am supposed to have a total confidence in him which I can hardly have in myself...

...History proves everything that is previously put into it by the historian," replies the Intellectual...

...If we are forced to take some immediate attitude to current changes, then we cannot, of course, wait for the uncertain results of historico-philosophical discussions which may remain unresolved for a hundred years...

...In this way, I also choose something, if only man's right to his own evaluation of the situation in which he finds himself...

...Lasting moral values, elaborated in the long development of man up to this moment, are the surest support we have if reality demands from us a choice which, ultimately, is also of moral character...

...One of the intellectual leaders of the "revisionists" is a brilliant young writer named Leszek Kolakowski whose "Responsibility and History," a series of articles appearing in the weekly Nowa Kultura, provided a fundamental critique of the outlook of ruling powers in Poland...

...But what proofs do you have for this assertion, apart from a vague historico-philosophic speculation...

...I cannot disagree with him...

...Always somebody who considers himself in one of the camps, i.e., somebody who in a trial is simultaneously a litigant, judge, prosecutor and policeman, all in one person...

...This is as senseless as accusing meteorologists of causing hail and wind storms...

...How far this or that movement is really historically effective can be evaluated only when its era has passed, only ex post...

...And the practical effectiveness of this interpretation of the world has not been proved...

...In other words, if I recognize the possibility of the existence of a third force I am immediately clasisfied by you as an antagonist and as such morally deprived of the right to judge your arguments— because then I am a participant in the trial...

...NoTE: This article is reprinted, with per...

...I would not accuse you of this and of inconsistency in general if you accepted my assumption as an alternative possibility—the recognition of values which under no circumstances can be erased and the negation of which is an evil in any situation...

...Maintaining that you, for the first time in history, are free from limitations which are imposed on man's perspective by his era, you fall victim to the same mystification which you rightly notice about your predecessors...

...It is a strange cult that professes monothe ism but which daily changes the god which is the object of the cult...

...Carnot demands from his interlocutor approval for sacrificing the present for the future...

...On the other hand, I know that, on the contrary, the measures used necessarily imprint a mark on the ultimate outcomes...

...But you act differently...

...We print here a section of that series, in the translation of the magazine East Europe...

...You, who rashly agree to give up everything to the Moloch of current reality in the unjustified hope of having it returned— you do not voice a philosophy of responsibility...

...Our doctrine does not leave the whole present to be devoured...

...Pyres of books are on fire there...

...And if you say that I protect the unchanging values of culture, ridiculed by you, together with my own person, and if for this reason you want to unmask me before my audience as an aesthete in love with himself, my answer is: I have no intention of becoming a scoundrel solely in order to demonstrate that I do not care whether I am thought of as a decent man...

...But on the other hand, you yourselves talk about human values which must be absolute...

...Perhaps you think that you will achieve something with your sermons about universal love, preached to fully armed soldiers...

...IN TURN, the Revolutionary answers: "Your defense is your indictment...

...What did you do to prevent this...

...There, intestines are torn from bellies and faces are trampled by heavy boots...

...And all the measures which make you so indignant are always a defense against a greater evil...

...You must notice that we are waging a peculiar discussion...

...Matthew VII, 2.) its pressure...

...Lacking your faith, as optimistic as it is empty-worded, as to the foreseeability of future things, I cannot know what future results will follow from our present actions...

...I can avoid this only when I recognize the theory of the non-existence of a third force and accept your point of view...

...Your theory of the non-existence of the third force is therefore basically irrational and unacceptable to sensible beings...

...I do not deny that with such methods of action you may win many followers, but realize that you can never win them by intellectual means...

...That you will extinguish fire by repeating the ten commandments...

...But I must know who determines the division of men into enemies of freedom and defenders of it...

...What right do I have, in the name of that speculative dialectic of the future, to renounce at present the highest values of human existence...

...But when both possibilities are to a large extent evil, I will do everything to refrain from choosing...

...and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again...

...It mirrors quite exactly the fictitious conversation between Carnot* and Lavoisier,** recorded by Romain Rolland...

...You accuse us, revolutionaries, of dividing reality into two sides and demanding engagement on one and only one side...

...This is a premise of the present which was not created by either of us...

...But nevertheless, returning to your example, history made Carnot right," [said the Revolutionary...

...It would be a miserable victory...

...After all, it is you who maintains that you control the world of eternal values, transcending history and free from • "For with what judgment ye judge yeshall be judged...

...You have values which essentially change every day and which are pronounced every day as final...

...You, however, refuse me this right, maintaining that I must first be on your side in order to judge justly, that is, that I have a right to be judge only when at the same time I am a participant in the trial...

...But it is noteworthy," the Revolutionary remarks at this point, "that you know how to save these eternal values only together with your own person...

...Remember that in politics, a choice between two evils is more common than a choice between absolute good and evil...

...You analyze history, approaching it with a ready-made scheme, and at the end of the study you announce triumphantly that the same scheme emerged from your analysis—forgetting to add that you yourselves put it there first...

...I KNOW," answers the Intellectual, "that you voice the general principle of historicity, but I do not notice that you practice it...

...Therefore, you demand for your own historical philosophy and your own history unlimited moral credit although at every step they both unmask their insolvency...

...thus, silently, you introduce into your doctrine axiomatic absolutism in a vague and equivocal way in order to destroy it immediately with equally equivocal 'historical relativism.' With this package you come to me demanding that I should immediately renounce all the highest creations of human culture because your doctrine promises to return them to me intact after an indefinite period of time...

...you constantly repeat to me the slogan of Saint-Just: There is no freedom for the enemies of freedom...

...Your postulate, on the other hand, requires me to accept your arguments before granting me the right to investigate them, and it is, therefore, a manifestation of total irrationalism, against which I am warned by the whole experience of European culture...

...It might be noted that the "Revolutionary" who appears in his dialogue is actually a Communist functionary and that the "Intellectual" speaks for those young Polish Communists who have become disillusioned with the whole authoritarian outlook and wish to find their way to a democratic socialist ethos...

...The present makes immediate use of the revolution, and thanks to this it is possible to arrange it so that all its possibilities are not exploited but some are renounced for the sake of greater future results...

...In any case, they are more worthy of confidence than any historical science...

...And here are examples...

...127 "I did not invent that world," the Revolutionary continues...

...I will not support any form of historical existence solely because somebody persuades me that it is unavoidable— even if I believed in its unavoidability, for which at present there is no evidence...

...This is not so very little...

...To a certain extent, I am ready to agree...

...THE INTELLECTUAL ANSWERS: "Pyres are burning on both sides of Mount Sinai...

...I did not notice that," [said the Intellectual...

...You must see that this is a demand that is unacceptable to any reasonable person, because reason, among other things, consists of refraining from choice until the arguments have been weighed...

...129...

...Just because it is a reality...

...mission, from East Europe, a monthly review of East European affairs.—The Edi tors...

...I know that often it is necessary to choose between two evils...

...You do not 125 let me measure your moves with a measuring rod of absolute values because, in your opinion, such values either do not exist at all or are purely imagined...

...Poland remains one of the political storm-centers of the world...

...Whatever happens...

...The first, the second, the thousandth...

...I do not defend myself," interrupts the Intellectual...

...On what basis could I afford an act of that total confidence towards men who in a conflict in which they are among the litigants always want to be the judges too —that is, to deny the eternal and most elementary principle of justice—and who never agree that the controversy between them and their enemies should be resolved by anybody but themselves...

...We, on the other hand, have a clear realization of the relativity of values—what is more, we are the only ones really to possess the skill of historical thinking which permits us also to watch the present in its constant passage...

...You say," says the Intellectual to his opponent, the Revolutionary, "that at a certain historical moment the specific interest of the working class becomes completely identified with the interests of all of mankind and not only preserves human values but is the only force capable of saving them...

...This is the worst form of relativity because it buries both historical thinking—the use of which I do not deny—and the unchanging and lasting human achievements...

...You also say the same thing: In order to understand you it is first necessary to accept your arguments...

...Together with Kolakowski's article we print an authoritative report by Leopold Labedz, a student of Polish affairs, on the fate of Po Prostu, the remarkable paper of the Warsaw students which led in the struggle for freedom and has recently been suppressed by the Gomulka regime...

...128 ture...

...Don't you see that in this way you use the same arguments that were used by Soren Kierkegaard in defense of Christianity, saying that in order to understand Christianity it is first necessary to accept it...

...he who really wants to be responsible for the treasures which human history has discovered will defend them at all costs—i.e., also at the cost of separating himself from the chaos of current struggle if they can be preserved only outside the battlefield...

...that is, he fulfills his functions properly only when he uses the same measuring rod of abstract justice on the arguments of each of the participants in the controversy...

...Do you think it will be enough if you yourself learn them by heart...

...Why does the world, for you, invariably consist of prosecutors and accused...

...And experience so far does not confirm your optimism—on the contrary, it shows that this specific interest, as you understand it, is often realized contrary to all human values...

...The second proof is the de facto effectiveness of our social action conducted on the basis of such an interpretation of conditions...

...It is also strange that, doubting my historical ground, you do not notice at all the direction at which the other side of history is aiming, of whose existence there is no doubt...

...A certain naivete, easily noticeable in that drama, does not conceal the analogy from me...