It
is customarily assumed that the prophetic Frenchman’s observation is limited to
the prediction of the two nations’ looming superpower greatness. But the
momentous sentence that I have underlined in the previous entry America And
Russia, says differently, and rather than discuss it above inter alia, I
am giving it special treatment in a special entry which is this one.
“The American struggles against
the obstacles that nature opposes to him; the adversaries of the Russian are
men. The former combats the wilderness and savage life; the latter,
civilization with all its arms. The conquests of the American are therefore
gained by the plowshare; those of the Russian, by the sword. The
Anglo-American relies upon personal interest to accomplish his ends, the Russian
centers all the authority of society in a single arm.” (From Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Vol.
I. Conclusion.)
In
a single passage, Tocqueville brilliantly explains the difference between the
historical courses of the two superpower giants and how this difference has
affected their respective national psyches. Russia’s historical course was
largely influenced by foreign invasions and a constant national struggle for
self-affirmation as an international great power. In the course of this great
struggle, the Russian national character has necessarily acquired strong
totalitarian, collectivist features, hence “the
Russian centers all the authority of society in a single arm.”
America,
on the other hand, has been historically sheltered from European firestorms.
The Indian threat did not amount to much, and the elements of nature were the
only real danger that they had to fight. This kind of fighting could of course
be best accomplished by individual or group effort rather than a collective
effort on a national basis. As a result, America had become a bastion of
laissez-faire in the general sense of this word, and of economic laissez-faire
in the more specific sense, leading the nation to capitalism and defeating the
socialist undercurrents present in all societies on account of the
rich-and-poor divisions.
And
all of this, I repeat, in a single short passage… Tocqueville was a
great discerning genius!
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