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From International Socialism, No.21, Summer 1965, p.33.
Transcribed & marked up by by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The Political Community
Sebastian De Grazia
Chicago University Press, 14s.
This book well illustrates the dictum, ‘If you can’t write wear a big hat.’ A natty cover, imposing subtitles (The Generality of Separation Anxiety, etc) and tortuous prose cannot hide the fact that he has little of significance to say.
Our problems arise from the contradiction between belief in systems based on the co-operative directive and those based on the competitive directive; and from the absence of effective rulers both temporal and otherwise. The result is anomie, which will only be cured by the elimination of the competitive directive and its replacement by love. ‘More than anything else the world needs love.’ The author would have us believe he is a modern Emile Durkheim; he has learned the language well but unfortunately failed totally to grasp the meaning.
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Last updated on 11.9.2007