Freedom and civilization / by Bronislaw Malinowski.

  • Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942.
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Freedom and civilization / by Bronislaw Malinowski. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    point will be fully treated in the following arguments. We shall see that all action is in itself a temporary surrender of freedom. A collective action like the present war, carried on on a total scale, must in many ways as effectively eliminate freedom as it must eliminate laziness, treachery, dishonesty, and desertion. This does not mean that we should submit to a foreign dictator’s demands and commands because war causes a partial and tempo¬ rary abrogation of freedom at home. We shall not become Hitler’s slaves by consent and by surrender simply because we may be afraid temporarily to surrender to our own self-chosen discipline. The moral is that we must prepare for the full exercise of free¬ dom when freedom again can and must be exercised. Because war means temporary slavery in its pursuit and may mean, if totali¬ tarianism wins on the field of battle or of principles, world slavery as its permanent result, we must draw the correct conclusion: abolish war now and forever; insist on ‘‘America first” as the country which will lead the Commonwealth of Nations on its de¬ termined road to permanent peace. The practical suggestion contained in these arguments is that for the duration of hostilities compensatory mechanisms of free discussion and planning should be established. In this the aca¬ demic profession, which by assumption may be free and un¬ trammeled, can be especially useful. There are many points in the planning for peace which it is difficult for those immediately concerned with public responsibilities to discuss now. One of the most difficult questions arises from the fact that fighting on our side, fighting gallantly and most helpfully, there is Russia, a people for whom we feel both gratitude and admiration, yet a people who are now governed by a system which even the best attempt at being euphemistic, bland, and conciliatory will not allow us to describe as democratic. The mere academic scribe can express the hope either that the present rulers of Russia will