Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

OBJECTIVITY AND LIBERAL SCHOLARSHIP
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movement to an intellectual elite hungry for power ... and turn it into an
automaton manipulated by a Central Committee."52 In the Bolshevik elitist
doctrine of 1918 she saw a disparagement of the creative, spontaneous, selfcorrecting
force of mass action, which alone, she argued, could solve the thousand
problems of social reconstruction and produce the spiritual transformation
that is the essence of a true social revolmion. As Bolshevik practice hardened
into dogma, the fear of popular initiative and spontaneous mass action,
not under the direction and control of the properly designated vanguard,
became a dominant e1emenr of so-called "Communise' ideology.
Antagonism to mass movemems and (0 social change that escapes the control
of privileged elites is also a prominem feature of contemporary liberal ide-
01ogy. 5 3 Expressed as foreign policy, it takes the form described earlier. To conclude
this discussion of counterrevolutionary subordination, I would like to
investigate how, in one rather crucial case, this particular bias in American liberal
ideology can be detected even in the interpretation of events of the past in
which American involvement was rather slight, and in hismrical work of very
high caliber.
In 1966, the American Historical Association gave its biennial award for
rhe mosr outstanding work on European histOry to Gabriel Jackson, for his
study of Spain in the 1930s. 5 4 There is no question that of the dozens of books
on this period, Jackson's is among the best, and I do nor doubt thar the award
was well deserved. The Spanish Civil War is one of [he crucial evems of modern
histOry, and one of the mosr extensively studied as well. In it, we find the
interplay of forces and ideas that have dominated European history since the
industrial revolution. What is more, rhe relationship of Spain to the great powers
was in many respects like that of the countries of what is now called the
Third World. In some ways, then, the events of the Spanish Civil War give a
foretaste of what the future may hold, as Third World revolutions uproot traditional
socieries, threaten imperial dominance, exacerbate great-power rivalries,
and bring the world perilously close to a war which, if not averted, will
surely be the final catastrophe of modern history. My reason for wanting to
investigate an outstanding liberal analysis of rhe Spanish Civil Wa r is therefore
twofold: first, because of the intrinsic interest of these events; and second,
because of the insight that this analysis may provide with respect to the underlying
elitist bias which I believe to be at the root of the phenomenon of counterrevolutionary
subordination.
In his study of the Spanish Republic, Jackson makes no attempt to hide his
own commitment in favor of liberal democracy, as represented by such figures
as Azana, Casares Quiroga, Martinez Barrio, 55 and the other "responsible
national leaders." In raking this position, he speaks for much of liberal scholarship;
it is fair m say that figures similar to those just memioned would be
supported by American liberals, were this possible, in Larin America, Asia, or