"Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it"
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Friedrich Durrenmatt treats communism as a claim about reason and transformation, not as a sacred doctrine. The stress falls on proposition and analysis, a call to examine political programs as arguments that can be weighed, tested, and either adopted or rejected. That stance resists both blind faith and reflexive dismissal. To deem something reasonable is to measure it against reality, consequences, and ethical aims, and then to accept the responsibility of acting on the conclusion rather than hiding behind cynicism or inertia.
The context is a twentieth century Europe torn between utopian promises and catastrophic outcomes. Durrenmatt, a Swiss playwright who made tragicomedy his instrument, relentlessly probed the gap between rational plans and unruly human motives. In The Physicists he stages the peril of pure reason unmoored from moral responsibility; in The Visit he shows a community rationalizing injustice for profit. These dramas do not endorse any single ideology so much as expose how power, fear, and self-interest corrupt even the most reasonable designs. The line about analyzing and acting therefore carries a double edge: it invites serious engagement with transformative ideas while warning that reason can be co-opted, turned into a tool of domination, or derailed by unintended consequences.
The imperative to act matters. Durrenmatt challenges the spectator who prides himself on skepticism but does nothing. If analysis yields that a program better secures justice and human dignity, the ethical next step is commitment. Yet his body of work insists that analysis be ruthless, historically informed, and alive to paradox. Communism, like any comprehensive project, must be judged not only by its abstract promises but by its institutional realities, its effects on freedom, and its capacity to absorb human frailty without becoming violent or absurd. The statement becomes a general method: treat political visions as hypotheses, test them against the messy theater of life, and accept the burdens of both assent and refusal.
The context is a twentieth century Europe torn between utopian promises and catastrophic outcomes. Durrenmatt, a Swiss playwright who made tragicomedy his instrument, relentlessly probed the gap between rational plans and unruly human motives. In The Physicists he stages the peril of pure reason unmoored from moral responsibility; in The Visit he shows a community rationalizing injustice for profit. These dramas do not endorse any single ideology so much as expose how power, fear, and self-interest corrupt even the most reasonable designs. The line about analyzing and acting therefore carries a double edge: it invites serious engagement with transformative ideas while warning that reason can be co-opted, turned into a tool of domination, or derailed by unintended consequences.
The imperative to act matters. Durrenmatt challenges the spectator who prides himself on skepticism but does nothing. If analysis yields that a program better secures justice and human dignity, the ethical next step is commitment. Yet his body of work insists that analysis be ruthless, historically informed, and alive to paradox. Communism, like any comprehensive project, must be judged not only by its abstract promises but by its institutional realities, its effects on freedom, and its capacity to absorb human frailty without becoming violent or absurd. The statement becomes a general method: treat political visions as hypotheses, test them against the messy theater of life, and accept the burdens of both assent and refusal.
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| Topic | Equality |
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