Between Two Ages – Zbigniew Brzezinski

Accordingly, “it is also humanistic when it erects the building of a new society at the price of extraordinary hardships in the persistent struggle against the old. It is also humanistic when conditions have already been created for the thorough development of the individual but society is still compelled to control the activities of a person and his labor discipline and, within the framework and in the interests of all of society and of the communist education of a particular individual, does not permit individuals to abuse the freedoms presented by socialism, does not permit people with an undeveloped sense of responsibility to violate the norms of the socialist community, suppresses the opposition of anti-socialist forces, etc.”

16 This argument has been buttressed by the assertion that “the so-called ‘eternal’ values—freedom, democracy, humanism, individual dignity . . . are a weapon in the hands of the bourgeoisie to mislead and fo6l the masses,” 17 and that the issue of Stalinism is essentially irrelevant. * Views such as these have been expressed in the context of a broader emphasis on the argument that an ideological perspective on contemporary reality is absolutely essential in order to obtain accurate insight into that reality, and that scientific communism—as defined by the Soviet leaders— provides the only valid perspec tive.

Although the latter is not a new proposition, there is novelty in the degree to which it has been linked in the more * “At the present time attempts are being made to discredit what was done in the process of building socialism by using the bugbear of ‘Stalinism.’ The ‘Stalinism’ bugbear is being used to intimidate unstable persons, to spread the thought that all firmness and revolutionary character in politics, uncom- promisingness in ideology, and consistency in the defense of Marxism are, if you please, ‘Stalinism’ ” (D.

I. Chesnokov, “Aggravation of the Ideological and Political Struggle and Contemporary Philosophical Revisionism,” Voprosy Filosofii, No. 12, 1968). – 58 – prestigious Soviet scholarly journals, as well as in mass media, with an attack on Western theories of ideological erosion, of the emergence of a general type of industrial society, and of the ubiquity of new bureaucratic political elites in all developed political systems. Soviet critics have made it clear that they view these theories as not only scientifically erroneous but politically harmful and probably designed deliberately to undermine communism.

* Soviet scholars have been particularly vigorous in rejecting the theory of “convergence” of the Soviet and Western, particularly American, systems.

Copyright © 1970 by Zbigniew Brzezinski All rights reserved First published in 1970 by The Viking Press, Inc. 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 Published simultaneously in Canada by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited ISBN 670-16041- 5 Library of Congress catalog card number: 76- 104162 Printed in U.S.Aby H.

Wolff Book Mfg. Co. Prepared under the auspices of the Research Institute on Communist Affairs, Columbia University Portions of this book appeared in Encounter in different form – 1 – For Ian, Mark, and Mika Acknowledgments Though this book deals with communism only in part—and then primarily in relation to the broader issues with which I am concerned—the Research Institute on Communist Affairs of Columbia University provided me with invaluable research assistance and with a congenial and stimulating setting. My colleagues at the Institute little realize how very helpful they have been in the gradual process of shaping my ideas, testing my views, and enlarging my perspectives.

The manuscript was read and criticized by a number of friends and colleagues. I am especially grateful to Professor Samuel P. Huntington for his trenchant criticisms and very helpful recommendations; to Professor Albert A. Mavrinac, who maintained our friendly tradi- tion of his questioning my arguments and of forcing me to rethink some of my propositions; to Mrs. Christine Dodson, the former Administrative Assistant of the Research Institute, who prepared a very constructive and highly perceptive chapter- length critique of the entire draft; and to Professor Alexander Erlich for steering me away from some economic pitfalls.

I am also most obliged and grateful to Miss Sophia Sluzar, currently the Administrative Assistant, who very ably supervised the over-all preparation of the manuscript and who earlier was instrumental in preparing the tables and assembling the needed data. Miss Toby Trister, my research assistant, was indefatigable in exposing my inaccuracies, in filling bibliographic gaps, and in completing the research.

Miss Dorothy Rodnite, Miss Michelle Elwyn, and Mr. Myron Gutmann amiably and efficiently—even when under great pressures of time—devoted their energies to the completion of the manuscript.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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