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Political Pilgrims
Why did so many distinguished Western Intellectuals―from G.B. Shaw to J.P. Sartre, and. closer to home, from Edmund Wilson to Susan Sontag― admire various communist systems, often in their most repressive historical phases? How could Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China, or Castro's Cuba appear at one time as both successful modernizing societies and the fulfillments of the boldest dreams of social justice? Why, at the same time, had these intellectuals so mercilessly judged and rejected their own Western, liberal cultures? What Impulses and beliefs prompted them to seek the realization of their ideals in distant, poorly known lands? How do their journeys fit into long-standing Western traditions of looking for new meaning In the non-Western world? These are some of the questions Paul Hollander sought to answer In his massive study that covers much of our century. His success is attested by the fact that the phrase "political pilgrim" has become a part of intellectual discourse. Even in the post-communist era the questions raised by this book remain relevant as many Western, and especially American intellectuals seek to come to terms with a world which offers few models of secular fulfillment and has tarnished the reputation of political Utopias. His new and lengthy introduction updates the pilgrimages and examines current attempts to find substitutes for the emotional and political energy that used to be invested in them.
626 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Paul Hollander
41 books16 followers
American political sociologist, communist-studies scholar, and non-fiction author. He is known for his criticisms of communism and left-wing politics in general. Born in 1932 in Hungary, he fled to the West after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was bloodily put down by Soviet forces.
Hollander earned a Ph.D in Sociology from Princeton University, 1963 and a B.A. from the London School of Economics, 1959. He was Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Center Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. He was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Hollander earned a Ph.D in Sociology from Princeton University, 1963 and a B.A. from the London School of Economics, 1959. He was Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Center Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. He was a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
"well, this certainly shows Joe Stalin plays for keeps."---Alger Hiss, on the Moscow show trials
"I had better orgasms during my stay in Communist China."---Shirley MacLain, YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE
Of all the instruments invented by man the mirror may be the most dangerous. You not only see yourself in the reflection but everything in the world becomes a reflection of your own beliefs. Paul Hollander, a ferocious Hungarian-American right-winger, has written a brilliant and biting study of how Western intellectuals from the 1930s to the 1970s made pilgrimages to the holy lands of the Soviet Union, Cuba and China and came back with reports that the locals were happy as clams. (A confession: Hollander taught at a nearby college while I was teaching in Maine around the time this book was first published. We did not meet, but I did recommend his book to my colleagues. Sometimes you have to travel to the opposite side of the political shore for truth.) We all remember the prophecy of American journalist Lincoln Stephans on his first visit to Soviet Russia in 1921: "I have been over into the future, and it works". Lincoln was a bit premature. Later came H.G. Wells: "I am to the left of you, Mr. Stalin. I think the capitalist world is closer to collapse than you think." Alger Hiss was not alone in praising the Moscow trials. So did U.S. Ambassador Joseph Davies: "I was in the courtroom, and they seemed eminently fair to me." Eleanor Roosevelt even visited a GULAG prison camp and came away impressed! Khrushchev's 1956 speech denouncing Stalin, plus the Soviet invasion of Hungary that year forced Western intellectuals to find a New Jerusalem in Havana, post-1959. Susan Sontag penned a pro-Castro essay: "On Ways of Learning from The Cuban Revolution and Freaking Out", while Black militants such as Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton and Stokely Carmichael lauded Cuba's eradication of racism---for a short while. After Nixon's visit to China in May of 1972 a whole gaggle of ingenuous pilgrims made their way to Mao's China, and many feminists, from MacLane to Germaine Greer, went gaga for the supposed sexual equality they found there. (I once had a friend who said, "Mao is right. "In China women hold up half the sky"---and then some!") All of this proves what George Orwell once wrote:" There are some ideas so crazy only an intellectual would believe them".
"I had better orgasms during my stay in Communist China."---Shirley MacLain, YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE
Of all the instruments invented by man the mirror may be the most dangerous. You not only see yourself in the reflection but everything in the world becomes a reflection of your own beliefs. Paul Hollander, a ferocious Hungarian-American right-winger, has written a brilliant and biting study of how Western intellectuals from the 1930s to the 1970s made pilgrimages to the holy lands of the Soviet Union, Cuba and China and came back with reports that the locals were happy as clams. (A confession: Hollander taught at a nearby college while I was teaching in Maine around the time this book was first published. We did not meet, but I did recommend his book to my colleagues. Sometimes you have to travel to the opposite side of the political shore for truth.) We all remember the prophecy of American journalist Lincoln Stephans on his first visit to Soviet Russia in 1921: "I have been over into the future, and it works". Lincoln was a bit premature. Later came H.G. Wells: "I am to the left of you, Mr. Stalin. I think the capitalist world is closer to collapse than you think." Alger Hiss was not alone in praising the Moscow trials. So did U.S. Ambassador Joseph Davies: "I was in the courtroom, and they seemed eminently fair to me." Eleanor Roosevelt even visited a GULAG prison camp and came away impressed! Khrushchev's 1956 speech denouncing Stalin, plus the Soviet invasion of Hungary that year forced Western intellectuals to find a New Jerusalem in Havana, post-1959. Susan Sontag penned a pro-Castro essay: "On Ways of Learning from The Cuban Revolution and Freaking Out", while Black militants such as Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton and Stokely Carmichael lauded Cuba's eradication of racism---for a short while. After Nixon's visit to China in May of 1972 a whole gaggle of ingenuous pilgrims made their way to Mao's China, and many feminists, from MacLane to Germaine Greer, went gaga for the supposed sexual equality they found there. (I once had a friend who said, "Mao is right. "In China women hold up half the sky"---and then some!") All of this proves what George Orwell once wrote:" There are some ideas so crazy only an intellectual would believe them".
A meticulous study of how and why leftist intellectuals idealized oppressive communist regimes from the 1930s to 1970s. The willful blindness to the atrocities committed in the name of Stalinism and Maoism is mind-blowing. Hollander examines this phenomenon from two angles: the "techniques of hospitality" utilized by communist countries, mainly the use of selective tours, fine meals and excessive flattery; and a generalized psychology of Leftist sympathizers, who were estranged from their own society and in search of personal meaning (and distinction.)
The whole phenomenon was wide-spread. Some of the intellectuals come off horrible and self-obsessed (Mary McCarthy), others just come off dopey (Theodore Dreiser) and others are a bit more thoughtful and sympathetic (Simone de Beauvoir). You can't attribute their idealism to ignorance, as many early dissenters were sounding the alarm bells.
There are issues with the book though. It is redundant so I skimmed a bit. There is also an annoyingly conservative slant. Hollander is vocal about some beliefs that I find incredibly wrong-headed: that the 1953 Iran coup was a good thing, and the draft is noble, among others. I could do without all that.
The whole phenomenon was wide-spread. Some of the intellectuals come off horrible and self-obsessed (Mary McCarthy), others just come off dopey (Theodore Dreiser) and others are a bit more thoughtful and sympathetic (Simone de Beauvoir). You can't attribute their idealism to ignorance, as many early dissenters were sounding the alarm bells.
There are issues with the book though. It is redundant so I skimmed a bit. There is also an annoyingly conservative slant. Hollander is vocal about some beliefs that I find incredibly wrong-headed: that the 1953 Iran coup was a good thing, and the draft is noble, among others. I could do without all that.
Political Pilgrims is a trove of information that perhaps would be good to give idealistic leftwing students to read. Hollander, who escaped communist Hungary in 1956, theorizes why Western intellectuals in the 20th century became disillusioned with their own societies and looked towards authoritarian socialist states for meaning. First, the very freedom of Western news media and its sensational critiques of society encouraged a negative viewpoint. In addition, since the late 19th century public intellectuals – formerly religious thinkers in the main – no longer had a clear role in secular society. With no paradise in the next world to look forward to, they found it in this life. Foreign dictators were attractive to intellectuals as philosopher kings, a perfect combination of the man of action and the intellectual.
Many intellectuals visiting socialist states missed or ignored things we now know about, such as show trials and famines. Part of this was because they didn’t want to give up their dream of socialist utopia; another factor is what Hollander calls the techniques of hospitality. These people were welcomed and guided – made to feel important by having access to leaders and academics. They were given good food and accommodation, and most importantly saw only what the government wanted them to.
Hollander had his sights firmly fixed on characters like Italian communist Maria Marocchi. Hollander includes a quote from her singing the praises of the Chinese for being well-washed with soap and water and completely without makeup; but she seems to miss the dire effects of the Cultural Revolution. Others like Han Suyin, Bernard Shaw, Andre Gide and Jean Paul Satre also come in for criticism for their vanity, blindness and faulty analytical powers.
These luminaries allowed themselves to be duped by Potemkin villages: show villages (or hospitals or prisons) that gave a positive impression of the USSR or China. In the late 18th century, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great went on a tour of the Crimea – the “New Russia” taken off the Ottomans – to see her new subjects. Her advisor, Potemkin, arranged for his men to travel ahead of Catherine, erecting temporary villages to impress her. The technique has since been used many times, with variations: with model work camp in the Soviet Union, and in China with show fields bursting with rice during the Great Leap Forward. One might argue the entire city of modern Pyongyang is a Potemkin village.
It’s all valid stuff but he doesn’t look at the Western intellectuals who became enamoured of fascism, this would have added a nice balance to the book. To fill out the picture "Travellers in the Third Reich" by Julia Boyd would be a good one to read.
Many intellectuals visiting socialist states missed or ignored things we now know about, such as show trials and famines. Part of this was because they didn’t want to give up their dream of socialist utopia; another factor is what Hollander calls the techniques of hospitality. These people were welcomed and guided – made to feel important by having access to leaders and academics. They were given good food and accommodation, and most importantly saw only what the government wanted them to.
Hollander had his sights firmly fixed on characters like Italian communist Maria Marocchi. Hollander includes a quote from her singing the praises of the Chinese for being well-washed with soap and water and completely without makeup; but she seems to miss the dire effects of the Cultural Revolution. Others like Han Suyin, Bernard Shaw, Andre Gide and Jean Paul Satre also come in for criticism for their vanity, blindness and faulty analytical powers.
These luminaries allowed themselves to be duped by Potemkin villages: show villages (or hospitals or prisons) that gave a positive impression of the USSR or China. In the late 18th century, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great went on a tour of the Crimea – the “New Russia” taken off the Ottomans – to see her new subjects. Her advisor, Potemkin, arranged for his men to travel ahead of Catherine, erecting temporary villages to impress her. The technique has since been used many times, with variations: with model work camp in the Soviet Union, and in China with show fields bursting with rice during the Great Leap Forward. One might argue the entire city of modern Pyongyang is a Potemkin village.
It’s all valid stuff but he doesn’t look at the Western intellectuals who became enamoured of fascism, this would have added a nice balance to the book. To fill out the picture "Travellers in the Third Reich" by Julia Boyd would be a good one to read.
Humbling, being smart is no guarantee against being fooled in profound ways...
How the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
How seemingly intelligent and worldly people can be fooled so easily.
How seemingly intelligent and worldly people can be fooled so easily.
Be careful about what these “intellectuals” propose.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews