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evtiste is the true story of the writer
ae the West who wanted to emigrate
. the East, because over there, a man’s
Mtings could at least land him in jail.
th €n told—somewhat optimistically—
at this was no longer the case, he
£Ve up the idea of changing his do-
Micile,
Pa Writer felt the need to escape
fort yo World where every creative ef-
modit, immediately turned into a com-
ann ity designed to help fill idle hours
devoid of any influence on devel-
Pments within society. In the West
tases Pays attention to the intellec-
truth € is even permitted to tell the
ers «ou the theory that a dash of bit-
s Stimulates the appetite. Despair is
Into a best-seller; indictment
Pleasant topic of conversation
; a chastised public applauds
time To be'sure there are invisible
ed th Set to the fool’s freedom accord-
ed ¢ © intellectual by a highly develop-
a pitalist industrial society. Let him
"step the bounds, let him follow up
Fee word with deeds and he may
mself in difficulties ranging from

into a

f the otted ostracism to intervention by

Tgans of the state. Even in the
Which refers to itself euphemis-
as “free”, being an intellectual,
| being an inveterate non-confor-
» IS not without danger.
Bro ill, in a world where the ruling
Up has at
peel and varigated means for in-
Dublin for shaping and for diverting
ig ' Opinion, freedom of expression
tual Normal condition for the intellec-
r..9, itritating criticism is tolerat-
the wus is offered as proof of how free
tion orld he lives in really is. Opposi-
Whil €comes the spice of conformity
€ an all-embracing market econo-
into <'S about to transform opposition
isty 4 Commodity with which to sat-
de, Teal or an artificially stimulated
mand,
fi In the socialist world the intellectual
a much less flexible apparatus.
Only are the limits of his freedom

World
tically
that is,
Mist

mh
uae Clearly defined, they are also

tela “ehter. The problems of the in-
Probie! is best illustrated by the
W lems the writer has to cope with,

sche is Surrounded by an all-embracing

Cle arship neither provided for nor
tee circumscribed by the law. Yet
Sorshrec cisely in his upposition to cen-
expr 'P, in the struggle for freedom of
the €ssion that the potential power of
finite the intellectual in an un-
Cie ed, far from mature socialist so-
the 'S best revealed. In this society
8 Ntellectual is kept under watchful
ferey lance. He is constantly inter-
exist With and his normal condition of
that €nce, his position is weaker than
his western colleague. Yet it is
is ..S¢ly this nortnal condition which
by OStantly questioned, rejected and
atta Some, undermined and frontally
Ckeq,

hin?® fact that the apparatus keeps
the der uneasy surveillance, is for
Writer the most telling proof of his
Serj Potential power. He may be pro-
lig sy and no publication and no pub-
loge. house will touch him. He may
Mali, 1s place of employment. He is
idile area, put on_ trial, convicted,
dover, Yet time and again situations
tele °P when the solidarity of the in-
trea uals forces the apparatus to re-
Sy, Ime and again the potential
@ ae Of the intellectual is turned in
tig) Ye Power. My belief in the poten-
’ ewer of the intellectual in an
hig 1B socialist world is based on
he <CMviction: the special interests of
erp llectual—especially of the wri-
Wisin dom of expression as a prere-
ua for his existence as an intellec-
Sts coincides with the general inter-

: ifthe emerging socialist society. sift

its disposal the most.

Freedom of expression is essential
for the achievement of a better func-
tioning society. The struggle of intel-
lectuals, so far insufficiently supported
by other organized groups, thus be-
comes the struggle for truly socialist
forms of democracy, of government, of
administration, of the entire public

life, to correspond to the social forces:

“By Erast

of productivity. It is the struggle for
a society in which freedom for all is
the guarantee of freedom for the in-
dividual.

The impetuous search for education
amongst the young people in the socia-
list world, the new generation of in-
tellectuals which comes from all sec-
tions of the people, the size of the so-
cial reservoir from which intellectuals
emerge, holds the promise for many
hopeful developments. In contrast to
most of the students in the capitalist
world, young people in the socialist
world are convinced of their ability to
bring about changes. They believe in
their own potential power.

The idea of socialism is the most es-
sential component of the potential
power of the intellectual. This idea,
especially in its Marxist form, did not
originate with so-called “simple
people” but with highly educated in-
tellectuals. Marx and Engels, Kautsky,
jramsci, Plekhanov, Luxemburg, Len-
in, Trotzky, Bucharin, were all intellec-
tuals. Even Stalin, the terrible simpli-
fier, had gone through the school of in;
tellectulism, Intellectuals have formed
the vanguard of all great revolutions
and Marxism, more than any other
revolutionary philosophy, presupposes
great intellectual qualities.

This must not be taken for intel-
lectual snobbery. The polemic is with
the self-delusion of many tacticians
and practitioners who think that pro-
letarian origin, pdsition in the appara-
tus, routine work and an ample supply
of quotes is all that is needed to make
a Marxist, these people the second and
third generation of a power elite, have
taken the place of the intellectual van-
guard of the past. Most of them look
upon Marxist intellectuals with genu-
ine antipathy coupled with the depress-
ing feeling that they can’t do without
them. Perhaps the confrontation is not
really between the socialist intellectual,
the socialist who thinks for himself,
and the functionary; but with the ap-
paratus. In the struggle for more free-
dom, more daring, more socialist con-
fidence it is important to make: allies
of functionaries who are not yet fro-
zen in a routine, not yet buried in
their function. Power always tends to
act as a poison; the idea of socialism
will often act as a powerful antidote.
Since it grew out of an idea, power
held by those who rule in the name of
Marxism, is both enhanced and subject
to great pressures.

“Marxism-Leninism,” the official
ideology of socialist counties, is, in
many respects, a distortion. Yet be-
cause it encloses a wealth of ideas, a
critical approach, a social utopia, it
continues to be an effective force. The
idea harbors the explosive. Brecht’s
Galileo says, “thinking is one of man’s
greatest pleasures.” In the socialist
world the young intellectual’s pleasure
in thinking for himself is coupled with
the knowledge that ideas turn into
deeds that can change the world.

In the socialist world intellectuals
have learned to think aloud, to voice
thoughts which are still considered by
many to be heretical. The word on the

move, has, become.a.tiny. invisible-and, 7

Intellectuals in
the socialist world

unpredictable force. Goethe once said of
Lord Byron’s plays, that they were dis-
guised parliamentary debates. In the
socialist world many literary works are
such disguised debates, unpublished
editorials, spiritualised politics, Poems
have taken to the streets. Novels have
set out to disturb. Films turn into tem-
pests. Ehrenburg’s “Thaw” predates the

Fischer —

XX Congress of the CPSU. It gave an
era its name and its impulse.

Marx was not a Marxist.

As soon as Marxism takes over
power, as soon as it wins over the
masses, it begins to turn into an ideo-
logy, that is, it begins to deny its dy-
namic character. Every ideology is
a system of well-defined values; an
amalgamation of knowledge and pre-
judice; affirmation and mythology; pos-
tulates and distortions. Such systems
aim for stability and are therefore in-
clined to reject any criticism. Since
the system permits only total accep-
tance or total rejection, the critic of
one of its dogmas is often misrepre-
sented to mean the rejection of the
entire system.

The questioning character of Marx-
ism calls categorically for continuous
critical self-examination. “I am no
Marxist,” Marx said, to express the
idea that Marxism negates its own
character when it stops questioning
itself. In contradiction to the system,

_ the spirit of Marxism must continue to

move, insisting on freedom to criticize,
on freedom to question and on free-
dom. for change.

There has been in the socialist world
no shortage of attempts to stand up
against latent and often overt, anti-
intellectualism. On September 9th,

1965, Pravda published an article by.

the former editor-in-chief of Izvestia,
Rumiantsev, in which he said: “Lenin
taught that you can only become a
Communist when you have enriched
your knowledge with all the treasures
mankind has produced and when you
Struggle to have the masses of the
people climb the peaks of that culture.
To reject intellectualism to treat it with
skepticism, means to preach backward-
ness and primitivism, to spread super-
stition and ignorance, to teach con-
tempt of man.” :

There is talk of litérature guided by
the party, of “artistic process directed
by the party” without touching on the

Ernst Fishcher was born in Aus-
. tria in 1899, After the first World
War, he studied philosophy and
also worked in a factory.

He joined the staff of Arbertz
Zeitung, an Austrian newspaper
in Vienna, where he worked from
1927 until 1934. In 1934 he be-
came a member of the Commun-
ist Party of Austria.

During World War Il, Fischer
worked in Moscow as 4 radio
broadcaster. In 1945 he took part
in setting up the provisional gov-
ernment in Austria. He served as
the minister of Education in that
government until November of
1945.

As well as serving in the Par-
liament, he edited the paper
News Osterrich.

Since 1959, he has devoted
himself to literature. He has writ-
ten many books and plays.

tins

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© question’ of \wHd,! at a Biveh! tinieé * re-

presents the party. Was it Zhdanov
when he set out to regulate art? Was
it Khrushchov or Ilyitchov when they
ordered art about? Or was it perhaps
Rumiantsev whom the Party permitted
to publish a liberal article? No matter.
As a matter of principle, no one must
ever be given the right to interfere
with art and with science.

But I don’t want to simplify the prob-
lem. Regardless of how Strongly one
rejects any kind of interference with
artistic or scientific thought process, or
the tutelage of the spirit by the party,
intellectuals who affirm socialism will
invariably ask themselves the follow-
ing: :

e How am I to combine indepen-
dent thinking with the need for dis-
cipline which is indispensable in any
struggle?

@ How to keep the Spirit of criticism
alive under any circumstances, with-
out inviting consequences which run
counter to my intentions?

6 In short, how to be an intellectual
within a social structure that questions
the very need for my function?

The intellectual who affirms socialism
knows full well that no idea can be
realised without an organization. He
also knows that all organizations tend
to distort the idea. Should he then, as
an intellectual, accept the risk involved
in being part of the Organization, or
should he, to save his soul, stay out of
it? Should he accept the disturbing
division of labor between those who
Project the future and those who build
it and in building it distort it? Be-
tween the pure conscience of those
who criticise and those who invariably
soil their hands in the reality of poli-
tics? Between the dream and the deed
—or oftentimes, the misdeed? Should
the intellectual who affirms socialism
accept—with a sigh of relief—his own
limitations and foster the Practical ap-
Proach and pragmatism, or shall he
Strive to change his potential power
into effective power?

Here one should take note of the
Many deliberate misinterpretations:
whenever intellectuals in the socialist
world exeft their right to criticise,
whenever they oppose some of the gov-
ernment methods, whenever they sug-
gest structural changes in the econo-
my, in politics or in the arts, the capi-
talist world is immediately flooded with
rumors of anti-communist resistance.
Dogmatic politicians who live in the
dream-world of wishful thinking creat-
ed by the military .and by the secret
service, may fall for these rumors.
Their experts know better. They know
the socialist world is a Stable, firmly
established, enduring Structure, in
spite of internal crisis. They lie be-
cause lying is their profession. It ap-
pears sometimes as if there was a sec-
ret understanding between the tradi-
tionalists of both worlds. The extreme
anti-communist prefers a hidebound
communism, immune to new ideas,
which he can continue to portray as
Satin incarnate. Those communists who
live up to this portrayal prefer a Capi--
talist world which is immoral, devoid
of positive ideas and repulsive. -The
thought of coexisting with such a
world is disgraceful and sheer treason.
That is why the retrogressive forces
in One camp are the allies of the back-
ward forces in the other. That is why
the outside world brands criticism by
Marxist intellectuals an anti-commun-
ism—to the great joy of those in the
socialist world against whom the cri-
tism is directed.

It is therefore, of growing impor-
tance that we develop, across borders
and across walls, a coalition of the
thinking, of the humane, of the deeply
concerned. A coalition of al] those who
realize that in addition to living under
antagonistic social] Systems, we also
live, as never before in history, in one
world. In a world which a handful of
fools could blow to smithereens. It is
Primarily the task of intellectuals
everywhere to aim for and to defend
the opening of borders, to aim for and
to defend the unity of the world. with
all-its differences,

(Translated from the German
Slightly abridged.)»>--- 1500 nc:
PACIFIC TRIBUNE~—MAY i171 1 968 PagE!e co

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