the retraction with mental reservations in order to win time, to serve the party, and to be there (instead of in prison) for history’s next turn. Along with a handful of Trotskyists, I condemned this disintegrating moral gymnastics and advocated the Don Quixotism of resistance in broad daylight, and we were told we were pursuing a politically suicidal tactic, which appeared to be the case. The malady spread to all of Europe and a large part of Asia. How many people serve or collaborate with totalitarian regimes despite themselves, finding inner salvation only in mental reservation: sometimes
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