The zigzags of politically correct opinion in communist regimes

Rob Henderson's Newsletter (Substack) ^ | August 28, 2022 | Rob Henderson

[karpov]

In a collection of essays titled The Soviet Mind: Russian Culture under Communism, the great twentieth century Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin tells a story:

There once was a man who worked as a steward on a seagoing ship.

He was told that, in order to avoid breaking plates during heavy weather, he should not walk in a straight line. Rather, he should try to move in a zig zag manner to maintain his balance.

A storm came. The steward dropped his plates, shattering them in the process.

Asked why he had not followed instructions, the steward replied, “I did, but when I zigged the ship zagged, and when I zagged the ship zigged.”

The story of the steward and the ship is an allegory for how citizens under the Soviet regime had to constantly intuit where the Party “line” was at any given moment.

Acquiring a semi-instinctive awareness of the precise moment when a zig turns into a zag is, Berlin states, “the most precious knack” a regime citizen can acquire. Lest they miscalculate and wind up facing kangaroo courts, followed by imprisonment or execution.

The inability to master the art of identifying the correct opinion to hold at the correct time led to many of the Soviet regime’s most faithful and devoted supporters to be exterminated.

This was especially true among intellectuals and scholars.

The careers and lives of writers, scientists, artists, and academics depended on the ability to swiftly and accurately know which type of pretzel to bend their mind into at a moment’s notice.

[karpov]

There are parallels among American progressives, especially around racial issues after the death of George Floyd.

[T Ruth]

From George Orwell's excellent essay, "The Prevention of Literature":

"What is new in totalitarianism is that its doctrines are not only unchallengeable but also unstable. They have to be accepted on pain of damnation, but on the other hand, they are always liable to be altered on a moment’s notice."