Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am totally out of sympathy with 95% of what goes on. It's Stalinism without Stalin.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I worry that we are approaching a time when that which is shocking is squeezed out by the Stalinism of political correctness.
In the case of Stalinism, people actually distorted science because it was for the good of the Communist Party.
The most frequent complaint I hear from college students is that professors inject their leftist political comments into their courses even when they have nothing to do with the subject.
In the early days of the Russian Revolution in 1917, I was completely in sympathy with it. I felt that it established a new era in the history of the modern world. I was so overwhelmed by it that, if people made any unfriendly comment, I would vigorously defend it. If people condemned the Communist party, I would speak in its defense.
You read 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor because you're interested in the Second World War or Russia or whatever.
Even now we feel that Stalin was devoted to Communism, he was a Marxist, this cannot and should not be denied.
Intellectuals who live in Hungary, or who wish to work or lecture there, are extremely circumspect in their criticism.
There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism.
The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin's Russia: it's like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.
Stalinism is linked with a cult of personality and massive violations of the law, with repression and camps. There is nothing like that in Russia and, I hope, will never again be.