First and foremost, the duties of
the left-wing intellectual comprise those of any intellectual, regardless of
ideological predisposition—to be an independent seeker of truth, and to follow
the pursuit of truth no matter where it may take him/her, even into regions
discordant with his/her already-established political, social, and cultural
beliefs. In other words, the pursuit of
truth, no matter what, is a journey into knowledge, not faith; and should
knowledge and faith conflict, for the true intellectual, knowledge, not faith,
not belief, will win out. If what I
believe is now contradicted by the facts, I will abandon or modify my belief in
favor of the facts. Not the other way
around. That is what true
intellectualism is, and it holds regardless of any ideology, be it left, right,
center, or any combinations or hybrids of those.
For the left-wing intellectual, be
s/he a true intellectual, is a knowledge-seeker first, a committed ideologue
decidedly second. S/he is decidedly not a
missionary, a proselytizer, a salesperson, an influencer; s/he is a mentor, a
guide to others on what is truth and how it is to be found, not a pastor or guru
with special arcana to impart. The
left-wing intellectual, same as any intellectual, relies on logic, reason,
proof, demonstration, and evidence to raise awareness of knowledge; s/he does
not rely on word magic, manipulation, one-sided talking points, loaded
language, or other forms of irrationalities to convince others. The left-wing intellectual trusts in human
reason, even though such trust is bound to sometimes disappoint when dealing
with the myriads of diverse humans, because s/he knows it is the only sure way
to impart new knowledge, or reconsideration of old knowledge. In other words, there is no quick fix, no
magic Philosopher’s Stone, to bring masses of people over to one’s own left-wing
personal convictions. The building of
consciousness is thus a slow but steady process, and is ofttimes maddeningly slow. But quick fix shortcuts are ephemeral; what
is affirmed today can just as readily be denied tomorrow. For it is not the specific belief that
counts; it is the proper process for coming to the belief that is crucial. After all, it is indeed possible (as we all
know from probability) to come to “correct” answers by incorrect or specious
means. Just randomly guessing the answer
on a multiple-choice test all but absolutely guarantees that a certain percentage
of the answers, e.g., 25% on a series of four-answer questions, are going to be
correct, even if only chosen by randomness bereft of any actual knowledge!
Further, this process of correctly ascertaining
new knowledge is also the most integrally democratic, i.e., democratically
socialist. It relies on the capacity of
each to reason, and to be trained, educated, into the procedures for right reason. It is this, the capacity of ordinary men and
women endowed with ordinary intellectual skills to be able to be
knowledge-seekers in themselves, that is the core tenet of a truly democratic
socialism. “We need no condescending
saviors,” says the third verse of the Internationale, and it is
eminently correct. We ordinary people do
not need arcane “vanguards,” infallible “leaders,” or magically endowed “saviors”
to know what is best for us overall, although we as individuals, or even as
groups of individuals, may stumble and fall sometimes, stumble and fall even
badly. This is well put in Abraham
Lincoln’s noted dictum: “You can fool
some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but
you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Yes, there will arise, even after a long
historical slumber, the bold ten-year-old boy who exclaims, “The Emperor has no
clothes on!” even as the sycophantic courtesans insist that he is dressed in
the most exquisite finery. Thus does a
Hitler, or a Stalin, or a Pol Pot, become exposed for what he is. That is what we of the left mean by the
development of historical consciousness. And that is precisely where we, the
left-wing intellectuals, have a role to play in furthering, developing, and
nurturing this consciousness. Through
education, dissemination of knowledge (not, decidedly not,
mere belief!), and advancing the processes of right reason, along with
dissemination of awareness of those negatives which impede this—logical
fallacies, rhetorical tricks, use of magic or loaded words, hyperbole,
misleading half-truths. That is why we,
the left-wing intellectuals, are always students ourselves; learning both from
books, and from life, what is the best way to continue our search for
knowledge, and not just be content with resting on a cushion of comfortable
belief.
