Russian Thought  

The forcible super-imposition of Marxism as the orthodoxy of the Soviet state obliterated, for some three generations, the spontaneity of Russian thought, creating the unfortunate image of Russians as automatons printing out quotations from Marx and Lenin. In recent years, …





After Afghanistan — Round Two  

With the following comment we continue the informal discussion among Dissent editors regarding the changed international situation after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The next issue will carry further comment by other editors.—Eds The parochialism of American liberal intellectuals is …





Divided Soul of Labor Leadership  

The following is excerpted from H. W. Benson’s book, published last year by the Association for Union. Democracy cold entitled Democratic Rights for Union Members. Soon after George Meany became its president, the AFL embarked on a campaign against corruption …



The Other New York  

The old theme notwithstanding, it’s not East side-West side that separates New Yorkers. It’s inside and outside. Inside meaning those residents who depend on the city to provide their basic services: health, education, housing, child-care, income, recreation and other special …





Capital and Communities  

In the 1960s, when I was a writer and organizer for the International Union of Electrical Workers, one of my jobs was to travel to communities where plants were closing (sometimes in the aftermath of a strike or other militant …











The Friedman Inventions  

In a persuasive tract, Free to Choose (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), Milton and Rose Friedman propound an economic system that does not exist, never has existed, and is unlikely ever to exist except in the fantasies of authors who perceive …



A First-Rate Political Novel  

One approaches novels that have been as highly praised as Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter with a certain caution. About one-fourth of the way into the novel, however, all caution breaks down, and the reader finds himself ready to acknowledge that …