Communism on the Couch
HAAG, ERNEST VAN DEN
Communism on the Couch A Study of Bolshevism. By Nathan Leites. Free Press. 639 pp. $6.50. Reviewed by Ernest van den Haag Lecturer in social science, NYU and New School for Social...
...His study reveals the limitations and the focus of the vision of trained Bolsheviks...
...Society does not respond with associations or dreams which confirm our interpretations or indicate that we are barking up the wrong tree...
...Similar rules may be formulated to map the psychological landscape in which the governing groups of other countries feel they are moving...
...One may call it the esoteric distortion of reality-not to be confused, of course, with the exoteric (propaganda) distortion...
...Their outlook, like ours, is neither wholly realistic (whatever that may be) nor unrealistic...
...Leites to seek and find material -beyond the generic rules of Marxist theory-which indicates how the Bolshevik elite perceives and acts upon the outside world (including the rest of the Party, and the masses...
...Yet, we can see whether our analysis permits us to formulate a number of rules which cover past behavior and permit us to predict future actions in the sense of restricting the range of possibilities further than we could otherwise do...
...But they look at these sets of factors not with our eyes but with theirs...
...Leites does not reduce Bolshevik behavior to unconscious psychological processes...
...In applying psychoanalytic methods to social groups, we can never hope for the degree of confirmation that a patient in treatment can give us...
...Leites's work testifies to the fruitfulness of the method when handled with competence...
...The predictive value of the analysis presented by Dr...
...The usefulness of his work will surely be confirmed if other investigators try to apply his rules to Bolshevik practice...
...To be sure, Dr...
...They are quite convincing on the basis of common-sense evaluations of the evidence...
...Some light is also cast on the origin of Bolshevik apprehension of the universe...
...The role of psychoanalytic theory was to lead Dr...
...Reviewed by Ernest van den Haag Lecturer in social science, NYU and New School for Social Research FREUD once remarked that the contribution of psychoanalysis to human knowledge lies in the exploration of the unconscious element in all psychic processes...
...Rather, the unconscious processes are used as a supplementary explanation of actions and attitudes determined by the interaction of manifold conscious and unconscious forces...
...Clearly, when considering a move by the American Government or a possible move of their own, the Soviet leaders are likely to be influenced by three sets of factors: (I) their own domestic situation and strength, (2) ours, (3) their forecast of the development of both...
...Leites's conclusions...
...And what explanatory and predictive value does such an application have...
...More than any book I have read, Dr...
...It is largely determined by the structure of their optical organs, and by their judgment and interpretation of what they perceive...
...Leites consists in considerably restricting the range of possible future actions that we may expect from the Soviet leaders in any situation...
...No doubt, political action has a psychic dimension and unconscious elements...
...Meanwhile, everyone concerned with understanding or influencing Bolshevik action can learn from this book how to decipher their language, and how ours is translated in their minds...
...This yields a more profound and comprehensive understanding of political behavior, which can and must be analyzed on many other levels...
...Basing himself on a broad study of Bolshevik documents and Russian literature, Dr...
...This would help us to understand what they think they are up to and to convey our meaning...
...We are led to see the alternatives which they would perceive and to estimate the probability with which we may expect certain alternatives to be preferred...
...These factors are considered in the light of immediate, intermediate and ultimate goals...
...Leites has succeeded in doing that...
...The psychological variables are too many, and they are, besides, only one of the factors influencing the patient's life...
...Even a psychoanalyst who treats a patient for years still is not able to predict single actions or, with certainty, what in general will happen to him...
...In short, Dr...
...Can psychoanalytic method help us explore it...
...Leites cannot predict what the Kremlin will do next or how it will act in any particular set of circumstances...
...One need not accept the propositions of psychoanalytic theory to accept Dr...
...Leites gives us the rules in terms of which the Bolshevik elite plays...
...Few things could be more important...
Vol. 37 • June 1954 • No. 23
