Where the local progressive left's penchant for censures, denunciations, and othering got its start

Perhaps the most enduring of Bolshevism's many ignominious contributions to Western intellectual life is the collective letter of denunciation. Russian writers Boris Pasternak, Alexander Solzenitzen, and Andre Sakharov all got 'em, as did scores of other free thinkers who dared challenge the revolutionary orthodoxies of Lenin, Stalin, & Co. The techniques of othering and public denunciations live on in the hard left bastions of the SCC Democratic Central Committee and various local nonprofit leaders/activists. Tablet magazine explores the phenomenon's history.

The pattern of denunciation by committee was repeated in countless cases across the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The public shaming rituals served a broader purpose: to dissuade the great majority of the people from following their own consciences by making them witness the high cost paid by others.

Systems of government may come and go, but habits of mind persist. Over three decades after communism was relegated to the ash heap of history, a new group of progressive writers are embracing the language and tactics of their ideological forebears. Importing the methods of East Berlin to Brooklyn, they seek to enforce intellectual conformity on one of the most contentious issues facing America today by denouncing their colleagues for deviating from the party line.

Many believe that the traditional values of American journalism—objectivity foremost among them—should be replaced with advocacy. “The natural destination of poor editorial judgment is the court of law,” they write, mentioning a legal brief filed by the attorney general of Arkansas in support of a bill that would make it illegal to provide puberty blockers to children, and which cited three Times articles. But the ways that politicians make use of Times reporting should not be a concern for the paper—its role is only to report the truth. Holding the Times responsible for what elected officials do with the information it uncovers is like the Union of Soviet Writers complaining that the works of Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and Sakharov deserved to be denounced because they were cited approvingly by “imperialists” and “fascists.” 

This article originally appeared in Tablet. Read the whole thing here.

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