De același autor
Secolul al XX-lea a fost unul al confruntarilor ideologice, politice si chiar militare intre sistemele democratic liberale si adversarii lor totalitari. Intre ganditorii romani care au scris pe aces subiect s-a numarat, la loc de cinste, eseistul, romancierul si istoricul ideilor Alexandru George, un remarcabil intelectual critic trecut in lumea celor drepti in 2012. Ne-am intalnit intotdeauna in graba, dar l-am citit mereu cu imens interes. Zilele acestea am recitit volumul sau “In istorie, in politica, in literatura” (aparut la editura Albatros in 1997) si l-am gasit extrem de actual, de incitant ideatic si nu mai putin nelinistitor. Scria Alexandru George in eseul intitulat “Un moment hotarator”:
“Suntem intr-un moment al istoriei noastre cand imprejurarile ne silesc sa regandim totul, sa punem ordine in capitolul nostru de opinii, de convingeri, care, pentru unii, sunt si credinte. E un moment al luciditatii si obligatiei de a vedea limpede, deoarece nu mai avem scuza, ca pana acum, ca suntem tulburati de teroarea politica, de teama, de disperare. … Comunismul s-a bazat tocmai pe negativul fiintei umane si a reintrodus sclavia pana la sfarsitul secolului XX, pe care si cele mai inapoiate tari o lichidasera de mai bine de o suta de ani. Or, aceasta experienta ingrozitoare a dovedit ceva cu totul neprevazut: ca fiinta umana este mult mai adaptata pierderii libertatii decat s-ar crede, ca aceasta e mai degraba un lux in viata omenirii si ca imensa majoritate a oamenilor se adapteaza acestei situatii, chiar daca o considera o noenorocire”.
Despre maledictiunea totalitara si intruchiparile sale in istorie au scris ganditori precum Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Alain Besancon, Albert Camus, Francois Furet, Marcel Gauchet, Vaclav Havel, Virgil Ierunca, Ghita Ionescu, Karl Jaspers, Tony Judt, Leszek Kolakowski, Jacek Kuron, Monica Lovinescu, Nadejda Mandelstam, Adam Michnik, Jan Patocka, Richard Pipes, Leonard Shapiro, Aleksandr Soljenitin, N. Steinhardt, Robert C. Tucker, Adam Ulam, Viktor Zaslavsky.
Libertatea nu este o conditie facila, imediat si lesne acceptabila. Adevarata libertate inseamna asumarea responsabilitatii pentru faptele tale, ceea ce provoaca adeseori rasucite rationalizari, anxietati si frustrari. Cum scria Alexandru George: “Libertatea e un dat firesc al naturii umane, dar in aceeasi situatie se afla spiritul de slugarnicie, complacerea in sclavie, nevoia de a se subordona, lasitatea de a se dori ocrotit”. Textele lui Alexandru George sunt deopotriva anticomuniste si antifasciste, numesc Raul politic in mod transant, fara ambiguitati inutile. Recomand aici in mod deosebit excelentul eseu “Balanta totalitarismelor” in care ganditorul liberal roman riposteaza celor care, precum Ion Ianosi, incearca sa invoce si sa reabiliteze “umanismul originar” al marxismului, tradat, adulterat, desfigurat de incarnarile istorice concrete ale “praxisului revolutionar”.
Ceea ce regretatul eseist a definit drept “bastarda uniune” este de fapt sinteza baroca dintre cele doua totalitarisme, cel brun si cel rosu, similare in privinta reactiei de ostilitate viscerala in raport cu statul de drept. In multe privinte, ideile lui Alexandru George, pledoaria pentru modernitatea burgheza si elogiul individualismului civic, se intalnesc cu acelea ale unor Matei Calinescu, Virgil Nemoianu si Ion Vianu. In generatia mai tanara, el sunt consonante cu abordarile lui Catalin Avramescu, Andrei Cornea, Cristian Preda si Ioan Stanomir.
Am mers pe aceasta linie de gandire (sa o numim aronian-kolakowskiana) in cartea mea “The Devil in History”. In revista “Foreign Affairs” a aparut o recenzie-eseu semnata de cunoscutul jurnalist si comentator Andrew Nagorski, autor al unor carti remarcabile despre experientele totalitare ale secolului al XX-lea, iclusiv recenta "Hitlerland". Iata un fragment:
One evening in June 1940, an excited crowd in Berlin awaited Adolf Hitler’s arrival at the opera. The German army was scoring victory after victory in Europe at the time, and when the dictator finally entered the room, the audience greeted him with impassioned cries of “Sieg Heil!” “Heil Hitler!” and “Heil Fuehrer!” With the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact still in force, one of the attendees that night was Valentin Berezhkov, an interpreter for Stalin. “As I am watching all that,” he recalled in his memoirs, “I am thinking to myself — and the thought scares me — how much there is in common between this and our congresses and conferences when Stalin makes his entry into the hall. The same thunderous, never-ending standing ovation. Almost the same hysterical shouts of ‘Glory to Stalin!’ ‘Glory to our leader!’”
The parallels between communism and fascism have often been noted, fueling endless debates over whether the movements were fundamentally similar or different. “The Devil in History”, a new book by the political scientist Vladimir Tismaneanu, presents a genuinely fresh perspective on this topic, drawing enduring lessons from the last century’s horrifying experiments with totalitarianism.
Instead of writing a historical treatise, Tismaneanu set out to produce “a political-philosophical interpretation of how maximalist utopian aspirations can lead to the nightmares of Soviet and Nazi camps epitomized by Kolyma and Auschwitz.”
Prompted by the author’s personal intellectual journey, the book is an extended essay that examines the evolving interpretations of communism and fascism.
Tismaneanu touches on so many questions that he cannot possibly provide all the answers. But in doing so, he reinvigorates important debates about not only past ideologies but also present and future ones. The animus toward modern liberalism that he finds at the root of both earlier totalitarian movements has not disappeared, and the liberal world today should remain alert to its contemporary manifestations.
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
