Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library
Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library
Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
OBJECTIVITY AND LIBERAL SCHOLARSHIP<br />
42<br />
movement to an intellectual elite hungry for power ... and turn it into an<br />
automat<strong>on</strong> manipulated by a Central Committee."52 In the Bolshevik elitist<br />
doctrine of 1918 she saw a disparagement of the creative, sp<strong>on</strong>taneous, selfcorrecting<br />
force of mass acti<strong>on</strong>, which al<strong>on</strong>e, she argued, could solve the thousand<br />
problems of social rec<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong> and produce the spiritual transformati<strong>on</strong><br />
that is the essence of a true social revolmi<strong>on</strong>. As Bolshevik practice hardened<br />
into dogma, the fear of popular initiative and sp<strong>on</strong>taneous mass acti<strong>on</strong>,<br />
not under the directi<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>trol of the properly designated vanguard,<br />
became a dominant e1emenr of so-called "Communise' ideology.<br />
Antag<strong>on</strong>ism to mass movemems and (0 social change that escapes the c<strong>on</strong>trol<br />
of privileged elites is also a prominem feature of c<strong>on</strong>temporary liberal ide-<br />
01ogy. 5 3 Expressed as foreign policy, it takes the form described earlier. To c<strong>on</strong>clude<br />
this discussi<strong>on</strong> of counterrevoluti<strong>on</strong>ary subordinati<strong>on</strong>, I would like to<br />
investigate how, in <strong>on</strong>e rather crucial case, this particular bias in American liberal<br />
ideology can be detected even in the interpretati<strong>on</strong> of events of the past in<br />
which American involvement was rather slight, and in hismrical work of very<br />
high caliber.<br />
In 1966, the American Historical Associati<strong>on</strong> gave its biennial award for<br />
rhe mosr outstanding work <strong>on</strong> European histOry to Gabriel Jacks<strong>on</strong>, for his<br />
study of Spain in the 1930s. 5 4 There is no questi<strong>on</strong> that of the dozens of books<br />
<strong>on</strong> this period, Jacks<strong>on</strong>'s is am<strong>on</strong>g the best, and I do nor doubt thar the award<br />
was well deserved. The Spanish Civil War is <strong>on</strong>e of [he crucial evems of modern<br />
histOry, and <strong>on</strong>e of the mosr extensively studied as well. In it, we find the<br />
interplay of forces and ideas that have dominated European history since the<br />
industrial revoluti<strong>on</strong>. What is more, rhe relati<strong>on</strong>ship of Spain to the great powers<br />
was in many respects like that of the countries of what is now called the<br />
Third World. In some ways, then, the events of the Spanish Civil War give a<br />
foretaste of what the future may hold, as Third World revoluti<strong>on</strong>s uproot traditi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
socieries, threaten imperial dominance, exacerbate great-power rivalries,<br />
and bring the world perilously close to a war which, if not averted, will<br />
surely be the final catastrophe of modern history. My reas<strong>on</strong> for wanting to<br />
investigate an outstanding liberal analysis of rhe Spanish Civil Wa r is therefore<br />
twofold: first, because of the intrinsic interest of these events; and sec<strong>on</strong>d,<br />
because of the insight that this analysis may provide with respect to the underlying<br />
elitist bias which I believe to be at the root of the phenomen<strong>on</strong> of counterrevoluti<strong>on</strong>ary<br />
subordinati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In his study of the Spanish Republic, Jacks<strong>on</strong> makes no attempt to hide his<br />
own commitment in favor of liberal democracy, as represented by such figures<br />
as Azana, Casares Quiroga, Martinez Barrio, 55 and the other "resp<strong>on</strong>sible<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al leaders." In raking this positi<strong>on</strong>, he speaks for much of liberal scholarship;<br />
it is fair m say that figures similar to those just memi<strong>on</strong>ed would be<br />
supported by American liberals, were this possible, in Larin America, Asia, or