i've been reading some underground polish publications from before 1989. they used to be called 'tissue paper' (pol. bibuła), because of the thin paper they were printed on. they also used very small print so that in order to read them one frequently needed to use a magnifying glass. all that, of course, in persuit of the smallest possible size, just in case one might need to hide/eat the illegal literature in his/her possession.
anyway. the one i wanted to share today is a 1982 interview with Leszek Kołakowski, a polish philosoper (you can read about him on wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_Ko%C5%82akowski). here are a few exerpts from this small book titled "i don't believe in the victory of totalitarianism" which i find remarkably accurate and still - or perhaps even more - valid today.
"i think /.../ that it is impossible today to return to a purely liberal economy and that /.../ the western society has passed the point where one could hope for it to be rehabilitated by means of various market mechanisms; short- and long term social repercussions will always thwart such attempts. i just don't believe that perfect economic liberalism is a viable cure [at this point], i don't believe that any uncompromising solutions are possible, i don't believe it possible or desirable to do away with Welfare State - in a word, i think that this world will continue functioning in all these inconvenient, oppressive and amibiguous arrangements."
you might call kołakowski a socialist - you would be right, and i can't say i agree with everything he says - but you can't deny that Welfare State has become so deeply intertwined with our "western" societies, and has made such great groups of our societies dependent on it that attempts at getting rid of it or reforming it in any significant way would cause tremendous societal upheaval. it is sad, but nevertheless true. what can be done? wiser men have been struggling with this question...
"as far as the criticism of western societies is concerned, criticism referring to a gradual decay of the sense of responsibility, to a lack of willingness for self-defense - i think such criticism is legitimate in many ways. those societies - and especially the american society - have developed a hedonistic value system, which naturally threatens the existence of this civilisation and many of us are shocked by how much greediness dominates people's motivation, by the lack of a sense of responsibility for general issues, by the tendency to consider each individual perfect, but the society as a whole - evil /.../ in our day and age, the spoiled child ideology is present in this society more than ever before in history. yes, i do consider this dangerous."
"/.../ there is no liberty without a price; liberty will inevitably have socially unpleasant consequences. in a word, you can't opt for liberty and at the same time demand to be relieved of those negative consequences of liberty. they must be. we don't have a choice between a perfect world where freedom rings without pornography or dissimination of socially harmful ideas and a world in which we currently live. certain burdens and inconveniences of liberty must be borne."
these words were said over 30 years ago, in a completely different international theater...
