Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [49]
of responsibility. New social forms will be forced on us soon enough. But why should we sit waiting with nothing better to keep us company than social ideas drawn from the old ones?' Wait a moment,' I said. What about the people meanwhile? I mean the masses. Ideas occur to individuals. That's always been the trouble with the human race.' You've put your finger on it,' said Lefty. 'What, you are going to say, about the famous unity of theory and practice?' 'Indeed,' I said, I could wish no greater good to England than that English socialism should become inspired and rejuvenated. But what is the use of an intellectual renaissance that doesn't move the people? Theory and practice only unite under very special circumstances.' 'E. g. when?' said Lefty. 'Well,' I said, 'e. g. when the Bolshevik party fought for power in Russia.' 'Ah,' said Lefty, 'you've chosen a bad example for your own argument. Why are we so impressed by the very high degree of consciousness which these people seem to have had of what they were up to? Because they succeeded. If they hadn't succeeded they'd look like a little gang of crackpots. It's in retrospect that we see the whole thing as a machine of which they understood the workings. You can't judge the unity of theory and practice in a moment-to-moment way. The principle of their disunity is important too. The trouble with you is you don't really believe in Socialist Possibility. You're a mechanist. And why are you a mechanist? I'll tell you. You call yourself a socialist, but you were brought up on Britannia rules the waves like the rest of them. You want to belong to a big show. That's why you're sorry you can't be a communist But you can't be--and neither have you enough imagination to pull out of the other thing. So you feel hopeless. What you need is flexibility, flexibility!' Lefty pointed at me an immensely long and supple finger. 'Maybe we have lost one chance to be the leaders of Europe,' he said. 'But the point is to deserve it. Then perhaps we'll have another one.' 'And meanwhile,' I said, 'what about the Dialectic?' 'There you go,' said Lefty. 'It's like the evil eye. You don't really believe in it, yet it paralyses you. Even the adherents of the Dialectic know that the future is anyone's guess. All one can do is first reflect and then act. That's the human job. Not even Europe will go on for ever. Nothing goes on for ever.' Dave was at the bar again. 'Except the Jews,' I said. 'Yes, you're right,' said Lefty, 'except the Jews.' We both looked at him. 'What?' said Dave. 'It's time now, please,' said the barmaid. 'So you do recognize certain mysteries?' I asked Lefty. 'Yes, I'm an empiricist,' he said. We handed in our glasses. By now I had enough alcohol inside me to feel despair at the prospect of having to stop drinking. Also I was beginning to take rather a fancy to Lefty. 'Can we buy a bottle of brandy here?' I asked. 'I think so,' he said. 'Well, suppose we buy one and continue this discussion somewhere?' I said. Lefty hesitated. 'All right,' he said, 'but we'll need more than one bottle. Four half bottles of Hennessy, please, Miss,' he said to the barmaid. We emerged into Queen Victoria Street. It was a very still, hot night, burnt with stars and flooded by a moon. A few drunks reeled off and left us the scene. We stood looking towards St Paul's, each man with a brandy bottle in his pocket. 'Whither?' said Dave. 'Let me just collect my wits,' said Lefty. 'I have to go to the post office and send off some letters.' It is characteristic of central London that the only thing you can buy there at any hour of the day or night is a stamp. Even a woman you can't get after about three-thirty a. m. unless you are bien renseign�We set off in the direction of the General Post Office, and as we turned into King Edward Street I took a swig from my bottle. As I did so I realized I was already very drunk indeed. The General Post Office was spacious, cavernous, bureaucratic, sober, and dim. We entered hilariously, disturbing the meditation of a few clerks and of the people who are always to be found