The Opium of the Intellectuals

by Raymond Aron

The Left, which includes all the parties seated on one side of the hemicycle, which is credited with immutable aims, an eternal vocation, exists by virtue of the notion that the future is better than the present and that the direction in which societies must move is fixed once and for all. The myth of the Left presupposes the myth of Progress; it retains the historic vision of the latter, though without the same confidence—for the Left cannot help but find itself confronted with a Right which bars its way and is never conquered or converted. In the myth of the Revolution, this inconclusive struggle is represented as an ineluctable necessity. The resistance of vested interests, of elements hostile to the radiant, lyrical future, can only be broken by force. On the face of it, Revolution and Reason are diametrically opposed: the latter suggests discussion, the former, violence. Either one argues and ends up by convincing one’s opponent, or one renounces argument and resorts to arms. Yet violence has been and continues to be the last resort of a certain rationalist impatience.