The History of an Idea
The history of man is the history of Ideas. However tracing the intellectual journey of an Idea is always complex but unfailingly interesting. The idea of Socialism is one such idea which has gripped mankind since the renaissance and continues to dazzle us even to this day. Here in this brilliant book Edmund Wilson tells the story of a succession of eccentric revolutionaries diverse in their temperament but united by the conviction that they have cracked the code for human prosperity. The idea that humanity need not depend on the mercies of celestial beings but in fact seize the engines of history and sprint towards their own progress. The idea of socialism.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the early socialists continuing in the renaissance tradition and deriving their inspiration from the French revolution. The second section and the crux of the book is the life and times of Karl Marx. The final section deals with the Russian revolution spearheaded by Lenin.
The section on the early revolutionaries is good and is an eye opener about the early socialists and shows how the idea existed long before Marx came along and made it his own so to say. The chapters on the great French historian Michellette and the irrepressible agitator Babeuf are especially good and exemplify French revolutionary thought. Their selflessness and passion for their ideas even as they fight the repressive regimes they find themselves under is truly inspirational.
The hero of the book really is Karl Marx and the middle portion and the biggest of the book is entirely dedicated to him. The picture that you get is neither the divinity ordained by his followers nor the ogre despised by his detractors. Instead you get a man of flesh and blood born at the end of a depleted rabbinical line who loses his religion to embark on a career of radical writing enduring poverty and displacement, all the time fighting for the cause of social justice, democracy and human freedom. A man who excoriated those who denied "human rights to human beings" as he endeavored to break the manacles binding humanity in order to release the genius of human creative energy. Wilson explains what made Marx a truly great writer as he combined his immense knowledge of social processes and history with an eye to pick the regnant issues of the day and to render them in witty, muscular and evocative prose.
This does not mean Wilson blindly worships Marx, he criticizes him for his gross simplifications and erroneous predictions regarding the classes and about his overbearing and fractious tendencies which duly got passed onto his followers. However he recognizes the genius in the man who spotted the trend of history like no other and pursued it with unprecedented drive. As Engels seems to ventriloquize beautifully Wilson's thoughts - "Marx was a genius, the rest of us were talented at best". Engels himself gets a sympathetic summary as the man Friday who supported Marx both financially as well as intellectually. In fact the section describing one of their rare and serious fights is touching as it shows Marx the sociopath genius who is suddenly terrified by the knowledge that he can lose his friend.
The last section of the book tells the story of the Russian revolution with Lenin at the center. The opening chapter beautifully describes Lenin's childhood in provincial Russia and provides a background into why he became what he became. Lenin is depicted as the iron willed revolutionary who brooks neither the theoretical hurdles of dogma nor the practical hurdles of personal calamity as he focuses on bringing to fruition the revolution Marx predicted. One feels this to be a far too generous assessment as his dictatorial tendencies and plain cruelty against those who disagreed with him are air brushed by Wilson who directs these aberrations to Trotsky's machinations. Nevertheless Lenin is brought to life in anecdote as well as deed as seen in the final paragraph of the book which has an ecstatic Lenin and his wife who have just arrived in a room in a palace even as the revolution has swept away the Tsar who formerly owned it. Finding no words to express themselves in they simply look at each other to realize that "everything was understood without words".
Edmund Wilson is a great writer and infuses this historical account with the urgency and human drama of a novel. The great historical actors leap out of the pages and fill our mind with their presence and their idea grips you like a vice. This is a rare book which needs to be read and re-read for generations to come.
Posts
