Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [48]
say. That's the sin against the Holy Ghost. Nothing's ever hopeless. Is it, Dave?' he said to Dave, who at that moment was at the counter buying another drink. 'Nothing except trying to shut you up,' said Dave. 'Would you say that you cleared out because you didn't care what happened or because you didn't know what to do?' Lefty asked me. 'These two things connect,' I said, and would have said more about this only Lefty cut me short. 'How right you are,' he said. I was just going to say it myself. So that you admit that you care?' 'Of course,' I said, but...' 'Well, it's the chink in the dam,' said he. 'If you can care at all you can care absolutely. What other moral problem is there in this age?' 'Being loyal to one's friends and behaving properly to women,' I answered quick as a flash. 'You're wrong,' said Lefty. 'It's the whole framework that's at stake. What's the use of preventing a man from stumbling when he's on a sinking ship?' 'Because if he breaks his ankle he won't be able to swim,' I suggested. 'But why try to save him from breaking his ankle if you can try to save him from losing his life?' 'Because I know how to do the former but not the latter,' I told him rather testily. 'Well, let's see, shall we?' said Lefty, who had lost none of his eagerness. He opened a brief-case and produced a pile of pamphlets which he flicked through rapidly. 'This is the one for you,' he said, and held it up in front of me as if it were a mirror. In large letters on the cover was the question: Why have you LEFT POLITICS? and underneath: LEFT POLITICS needs you! At the bottom it said: price 6d. I began to fumble in my pocket. 'No, you take it away, it's a present,' said Lefty 'in fact, we never sell these things. But if there's a price on it people feel they've made a good bargain, and they read it. You look it over when you've got a quiet time tomorrow.' And he thrust it inside my coat. 'Now, are you a socialist?' 'Yes,' I said. 'Certain?' 'Yes.' 'Good. Mind you, we don't yet know what this means, but so far so good. Now, what features of the present situation make you feel that it's hopeless to fight for socialism?' 'It's not exactly that I feel it's hopeless...' I began. 'Come, come,' said Lefty, 'we've confessed to the illness, haven't we? Let's get on towards the cure.' 'All right,' I said, 'it's this. English socialism is perfectly worthy, but it's not socialism. It's welfare capitalism. It doesn't touch the real curse of capitalism, which is that work is deadly.' 'Good, good!' said Lefty. 'Let's take it slowly now. What was the most profound thing Marx ever said?' I was beginning to be annoyed by this question and answer method. He asked each question as if there was one precise answer to it. It was like the catechism. 'Why should any one thing be the most profound?' I asked. 'You're right, Marx said a lot of profound things,' said Lefty, not deigning to notice my annoyance. 'For instance, he said that consciousness doesn't found being, but social being is the foundation of consciousness.' Mind you, we don't yet know what this means...' I said. 'Oh, yes we do!' said Lefty, and it doesn't mean what some mechanistically minded Marxists think it means. It doesn't mean that society develops mechanically and ideologies just tag along. What's crucial in a revolutionary era? Why, consciousness. And what is its chief characteristic? Why, precisely not just to reflect social conditions but to reflect on them--within limits, mind you, within limits. That's why you intellectuals are important. Now what would you say was the future of a body like NISP?' 'To get more votes than any other party and make you Prime Minister.' 'Not a bit of it!' said Lefty triumphantly. 'Well, what is its future?' I asked. I don't know,' said Lefty. I felt it was unfair of him suddenly to throw in a question to which he didn't know the answer. 'But that's the essence of it!' he went on. 'People accuse us of being irresponsible. But those people just don't understand our role. Our role is to explore the socialist consciousness of England. To increase its sense