At 05:14 PM 22/05/98 -0400, Ed Weick wrote:
>Eva Durant:
>
>>So we in the west have rationality and order??? Ed, you must live
>>on some higher plain than other mortals.
>I think you misunderstand me. I am not saying orientals are nasty. I was
>referring to a particularly despotic form of rule in which one man holds
>enormous power. I am not the first person to refer to Stalin as an oriental
>despot. Had he been oriental, occidental or anything else, he was a very
>sinister and manipulative man who ruled by fear. His power was absolute; he
>had no intention of sharing it. He usurped and corrupted the Russian
>revolution and turned it to his own purposes, economically ruining Russia in
>the process. And underlying those purposes was an absolute certainty in his
>own rectitude and absolute distrust of everyone else.
>
>Eva, I suspect you are an idealist. You analyze things in terms of the
>class struggle - greedy capitalists putting down powerless workers. I
>admire idealists, but I do think they tend to float a bit free of reality.
While definitely not a Stalinist, or a Trotskyist, or an idealist for that
matter, I don't see what is idealist in analyzing things "in terms of the
class struggle".
>I once worked with an important man who believed in only one thing: that
>power corrupts - that those who attain or seize power, whether capitalists,
>or workers, or peasants, will abuse it. I believe he was right. It is
>probable that the very young Stalin, had he witnessed what the old Stalin
>had done, would have been appalled, perhaps horrified. The young Pol Pot, a
>student in Paris, probably wanted to create the perfect, harmonious society,
>not the killing fields. Perhaps even the young Hitler had kind and gentle
>thoughts, though probably not for the Jews. As for my friend, he had risen
>through the labour movement, and quite often demonstrated what he preached.
There are structures of power that transcend the particular manifestation
of power held by individuals. Clearly this is based upon their positions
as capitalists, workers, bureaucrats, etc. within the current "order of
power".
To think that all history is made by individuals, such as Hitler or Stalin,
is to overlook the historical conditions and political cultures from which
those individuals rise to power.
I agree with your friend, though, power corrupts -- especially when
concentrated in the hands of a few individuals or familial structures. The
corruption can extend outward, and tend to outlast individuals, but
eventually will be challenged, as seen most recently with Suharto regime in
Indonesia.
Cheers,
John
