SUICIDE OF THE WEST
BOOKS BY JAMES BURNHAM
THE MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION
THE MACHIAVELLIANS
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE WORLD
THE COMING DEFEAT OF COMMUNISM
CONTAINMENT OR LIBERATION?
THE WEB OF SUBVERSION
SUICIDE OF THE WEST
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS
(with Philip Wheelwright)
THE CASE FOR DE GAULLE
(with André Malraux)
CONGRESS AND THE AMERICAN TRADITION
© 2014 by James Burnham
Foreword © 2014 by John O’Sullivan
Introduction © 2014 by Roger Kimball
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First hardcover edition published in 1964 by John Day Co.
First paperback edition published in 1985 by Regnery Publishing.
Second paperback edition published in 2014 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
SECOND AMERICAN PAPERBACK EDITION
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Burnham, James, 1905-1987.
Suicide of the West : an essay on the meaning and destiny of liberalism / by James Burnham.—Revised paperback edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-59403-784-9 (ebook)
1. Liberalism—United States. 2. United States—Politics and government—20th century. I. Title.
JK271.B728 2014
320.51'30973—dc23
2014025111
I dedicate this book to all liberals of good will
CONTENTS
Introduction, by Roger Kimball
1. The Contraction of the West
3. Human Nature and the Good Society
5. Equality and Welfare
6. Ideological Thinking
7. A Critical Note in Passing
8. Do Liberals Really Believe in Liberalism?
9. The Liberal’s Order of Values
10. The Guilt of the Liberal
11. Pas d’Ennemi à Gauche
12. Dialectic of Liberalism
13. Again: Who Are the Liberals?
14. The Drift of U.S. Foreign Policy
15. Liberalism vs. Reality
16. The Function of Liberalism
Index
JAMES BURNHAM IS USUALLY seen as a cool and unsentimental analyst of world politics and ideological movements in the twentieth century. This description is certainly one that fits most of his major works, such as The Machiavellians (his best book, in my judgment) and The Struggle for the World (his most consequential book). It also accords with his advice in these works for assessing and dealing with global politics and ideologies. And it probably reflects his own image of himself as a sober realist warning people not to trust the idealistic slogans that mask the cruel realities of all power.
In most of his works, he seems to be saying, like the Prophets: This world is a vale of tears. Don’t expect justice in it. The wicked flourish like a green bay tree. The good are doomed to be continually betrayed and disappointed. The best we can hope for is that a balance between different masters, between greater and lesser evils, will allow the humble to enjoy a moderate temporary prosperity. Analyze your way to that clearing in the jungle as best you can.
His famous maxims at National Review—where he is remembered by Linda Bridges and Rick Brookhiser as a quiet, authoritative, exacting editor and a kindly colleague beneath a restrained, gentlemanly exterior—exude the same dry, unillusioned tone of rebuke to human self-deception. For instance: You can’t invest in retrospect.
Some of Burnham’s critics, notably George Orwell, accept this self-portrait of the artist as a self-consciously scientific, even amoral, analyst of power politics. Orwell’s criticism, indeed, includes the accusation that Burnham displays altogether too much relish when he is describing the remorseless necessities that drive men to oppress and murder others in uncertain times. He comes close, writes Orwell, to the worship of power under a mask of realism.
All these aspects of Burnham’s literary personality, except perhaps the last, support the picture of him as a realist, almost passionless, analyst. But this impression is blown away by reading even a few pages of Suicide of the West. There can be no real doubt that this is the work of an engaged and passionate writer responding fiercely to events in the world that strike him as something between a tragedy and an outrage.
The realism is there still, as it always is. So is the cold logical reasoning. But they are not expressed coldly—and not indignantly either, since a Lear-like raging at the political weather is for Burnham the mark of modern American liberalism. On the contrary, the realism and logic are expressed sarcastically, wittily, savagely, and at times with a kind of despairing enjoyment at the repeated follies of his inveterate opponents in the liberal camp.
Suicide of the West is the first book in which Burnham grabs his readers by the lapels and shakes them hard rather than merely pointing quietly to obvious facts they have managed to avoid noticing. His arguments are as strong as ever, but not always as minutely documented.