"Left, Right and Russia"

...What, then, do I mean when I say I am on his left...

...hence, it will never accept a compromise...

...An objective general line should be defined...

...If we accept it, however, an objective definition is required—something more responsible than the arrangement of seats around a semi-circle in the French Parliament...

...By this (again, most inaccurate) label I mean that I hold the more progressive and enlightened attitude of the two, the more advanced on the road which mankind should take in her own best interest...

...We condemn as reactionary the policy that let down the working classes of Hungary and of East Germany when they rose against their Communist oppressors, and we see only as scabs (however much they may call themselves Socialists) those who advocate talks with "Russia," i.e., with the Soviet Communist party, in order to freeze the present division of Europe between free men and slaves...

...That, no doubt, is what Walter Lippmann meant when he said he had always thought I was on his right...

...The misunderstanding may well be due to a radical difference in approach to the values underlying our respective opinions...

...But we are also more advanced (on the right road) insofar as we maintain that no durable peace can be founded on the betrayal of Eastern Europe and its surrender for good and all to the Soviet Union...

...Moreover, a policy, in order to be considered more advanced, should also be more enlightened, i.e., more in accord with what the facts require...

...Noted Spanish historian clarifies a point in political semantics left, right and russia By Salvador de Madariaga London Not so long ago, I had the pleasure of meeting my old acquaintance, Walter Lippmann, in a Washington home...

...And I am not...

...Thus, on this first count, that of realism, we have proved to be more advanced (more "to the left") than those who advocated and still advocate "talks with the Russians...

...For Lippmann is always ready to "talk to the Russians" in the hope of patching up some compromise or, at any rate, keeping the present precarious state of affairs more or less stable...

...The dialogue touched upon a question worth elucidating...

...and I daresay he thinks the same of me...

...We look with shame on a West that would not send arms to Hungary during her four days of freedom "for fear of unleashing a world war," yet feels no such fear in sending arms to Jordan, where not human freedom but oil wells are at stake...

...The facts are different...

...After lunch, when the men gathered in the host's smoking room to talk politics, I sat by Lippmann on a sofa and said to him: "Please note that I sit at your left...

...It is not realistic because it clings to the view that the East-West struggle is one of mere power between the great nations of the world and that therefore a compromise can be patched up...

...Under the influence of French Jacobins, for whom the political watershed is acceptance or rejection of the French Revolution, leftists and particularly left intellectuals feel uneasy if they are disowned or criticized by anyone to their left...

...Though it was I who began by employing the terms "left" and "right," I deplore the habit of orienting political attitudes in such a childish, inaccurate way...

...The political attitude which favors this must be considered more progressive (or, in the usual jargon, more to the left) than any other...

...The assumption in all this is that the Left is more advanced than the Right, i.e., ahead of the Right on the road along which mankind is going and should go...

...There is no proof that what the working class or any other class wants is necessarily what mankind's best interests require...

...I consider this distinguished, indeed leading commentator on world affairs if not a downright reactionary, then at least backward-looking...

...It must be adequate to deal with the situation as it exists...

...The Soviet Union seeks power not for its own sake but in order to Sovietize the world...

...The traditional criterion is the greater or lesser disposition to preserve or alter existing laws and institutions...

...Hence, conservatives are to the right and liberals are to their left, but to the right of the Socialists, who in turn are supposedly to the right of the Communists...

...Pas d'ennemi a gauche is thus the first commandment of many intellectuals all over the world...

...Those of us who said so every time the West fell for one of Moscow's smile offensives were accused of excessive pessimism only to be vindicated by events...

...But it is a big assumption to say that mankind is going the way it should go...

...And nowhere is the fallacy better exposed than when the Communists are meekly accepted by everybody as constituting the extreme Left, i.e., the most advanced on the road...

...for it is plain that, if mankind goes that way, it is going to its doom...

...I contend that the policy currently followed by the leaders of the West (by and large, with Lippmann's approval) is neither adequate nor in the best interests of mankind, i.e., neither realistic nor idealistic...

...and the reluctance of non-Communist intellectuals in those countries to come out openly against Communism...

...This has two consequences which are fateful for the present precarious balance of moral forces: One is the strength of Communism in France and Italy, two intellectual countries...

...The other is the vague feeling that, if a man is readier to compromise and to talk with "the Russians" than another man, he is further to the left...

...The direction in which we should endeavor to lead mankind is one in which the element of free, reasonable discussion prevails more and more over the element of compulsion and ruthless force...

...He smiled and retorted: "I always thought you were on my right...

...Indeed, the very reverse may at times be the case...