Stalin and Hitler did not suffer from lack of clarity. They knew exactly what they were doing, knew why they were doing it, and were glad of the outcome.
I’m unconcerned with theorizing on the earnestness of Hitler and Stalin, because I don’t think it matters. The power they had was lent to them by millions who were conceptually confused. Let me take Marx, who I’ve read more of. His materialist conception of history is riddled with the worst kind of idealistic piffle—the kind that mistakes itself for reality.
On the more pragmatic, prescriptive side, how many believers in Marxism had a clear idea what the Dictatorship of the Proletariat would in fact be? I doubt many. There was just a fuzzy collective “We” that would be in charge, which left the simple minded to project their own values onto “We”, and since their values were consistent with their values, the Dictatorship would be a wonderful thing.
People committed to clarity of thought would have wanted to know how that Dictatorship of the Proletariat was going to work in reality, as opposed to a political slogan. “Let’s empower some subset of primates to control the rest without limit.” Yeah, that’ll work out well.
I’m unconcerned with theorizing on the earnestness of Hitler and Stalin, because I don’t think it matters. The power they had was lent to them by millions who were conceptually confused. Let me take Marx, who I’ve read more of. His materialist conception of history is riddled with the worst kind of idealistic piffle—the kind that mistakes itself for reality.
On the more pragmatic, prescriptive side, how many believers in Marxism had a clear idea what the Dictatorship of the Proletariat would in fact be? I doubt many. There was just a fuzzy collective “We” that would be in charge, which left the simple minded to project their own values onto “We”, and since their values were consistent with their values, the Dictatorship would be a wonderful thing.
People committed to clarity of thought would have wanted to know how that Dictatorship of the Proletariat was going to work in reality, as opposed to a political slogan. “Let’s empower some subset of primates to control the rest without limit.” Yeah, that’ll work out well.