The Demon in Democracy by Ryszard Legutko – Book Review
Are Communism and Liberal Democracy two sides of the same coin?
Ryszard Legutko is a Polish professor of philosophy and a Member of the European Parliament. Paul Gottfried cited Legutko as the foremost living critic of liberal democracy. Legutko lived through the Communist regime in Poland and, in his 8th decade, has made it to 2021. It pains me to think what a man like Legutko sees when he looks out at the pandemic riddled world we now inhabit.
“The Demon in Democracy” was published in 2012 in Poland, and a modified version, which I am reviewing, was reissued in 2016. The book is first of all, theoretical. There are few if any statistics, according to my recollection. There are no graphs. Instead, Legutko makes an important theoretical point. The so-called liberal democratic societies in which we reside, public opinion notwithstanding, shares close philosophical genes with communism. Communism, of Legutko’s early life, and liberal democracy, of his later life – seem to him to have both common philosophical presuppositions and justifications, but also common enemies. Furthermore, they both result in a form of totalitarianism. Similar to Deneen’s line of reasoning, Legutko see’s communism and liberal democracy as two sides of the modernist, egalitarian, coin.
The book is divided into five relatively distinct chapters, surrounded by a short introduction and conclusion. Each chapter is a category of thought in which these two systems overlap. In order, they are history, utopia, politics, ideology, and religion.
First, history. Legutko argues that communism and liberal democracy share a common view of history. This is the view, all too common in our day, I am afraid, of continual progress. The belief in progress can be traced historically to the Enlightenment, specifically Kant, whom Legutko cites, among others. Progressivism states, in short, that history is on a positive trajectory; that, despite bumps in the road, we are proceeding, in Rothbard’s memorable phrase, “onward and upward into the light”. The Marxist and Hegelian view of history as a class struggle ending in the triumph of the proletariat was ready made for the idea of progress. Similarly, the faith of the West today is in the triumph of the market. Globalization, financialization, and secularization rule the day. The politics of race, for both sides of the American political aisle, represent a fight for continual progress towards equality, an idea which Legutko discusses elsewhere.
Next, Legutko cites Utopianism as an overlap between the two systems. Utopianism follows logically from the progressive view of history. In each case, the communism of the 20th century or the liberal democracy of the 21st, the political system was seen as the culmination of history to perfection. Human nature itself would be perfected in either the socialist man or the liberal democratic man.
At this point we should interject the counter-argument against these systems. Like Deneen, Legutko contrasts the utopian progressivism of both communism and liberal democracy with the philosophy of limits, fallen human nature, and classical and Biblical philosophy. In the Christian conception – human government can never be a utopia. Utopia, or, in theological terms, the Millennium, will begin when Christ reigns on His throne. All systems prior to this, are but the nations, men, and kings of the earth, whom the God of heaven holds in derision. Utopianism is, therefore, incompatible with Biblical theology on its face.
In chapter 3, Legutko observes an interesting phenomenon, that of the politization of all of life. Both communism and liberal democracy promised, in separate ways, a freedom from politics. Marx’s system, theoretically, culminates in the triumph of the proletariat. Liberal democracy culminates in the global community of “free” individuals living together in tolerant, loving, tenderness. In each case, an end of politics, of sorts, is promised. Progressive utopianism leads to the belief that, in the end, politics will be cast aside. In both cases, however, Legutko shows the precise opposite is true. Communism politicized every part of life. The familiar signs in the windows of businesses, promising loyalty to the Party, are with us today in the form of BLM signs and corporate rainbow logos. Both systems resulted in a tattle-tall, see something, say something culture, where every man must remain on guard at all times, lest he levy a thought publicly that contradicts accepted opinion.
The driving force behind this self-policing of a supposedly free society is the subject of Legutko’s 4th chapter, called “Ideology”. Ideology is a simplified set of beliefs that boils down to “us vs. them” or “good vs. evil”. This mass marketing – streamlined, of course, by mass media, is fundamental to an increasingly despotic state retaining a consenting constituency. What Moldbug has termed “The Megaphone” was, in each case, weaponized against the populations by government and private actors, to enforce this simplistic ideology upon them. In each case, a class of people, holding the approved opinions, of course, are set against a class of degenerate, backwards, and in any case racist people that are little more than vestiges of an older, more barbaric time. In the liberal democratic ideology, any bonds upon the individual that are not chosen: moral, social, economic, and otherwise, are said to be against the individual’s rights. At the same time, the enforcement of this radical individualism has led to hollowed out communities and a despotic state.
Finally, Legutko leads us to his last similarity – the regime’s attitude toward religion; specifically, the Christian religion that is the predominant heritage of the West. Both communism and liberal democracy see Christianity as a threat to the power of the prevailing ideology. Legutko frames Christianity as part of a larger set of beliefs and attitudes that encompass the broad tradition of the West. This includes institutions like marriage, the family, neighborhood, and the litany of intermediary institutions that occupy the loyalties of men. The common anthropological minimalism, or in plainer words, an insufficient view of human nature, shared by communism and liberal democracy, is of course contrary to the dignity of the imago deo. The importance of the Christ and His church in the heritage of the West, now completely ignored, makes it a common enemy for those who would enforce their ideology on the populace.
The common strands in these shared beliefs of communism and liberal democracy come in many forms, but all boil down to a false religion. True religion worships God, and not man. Historical progressivism, utopianism, limitation of free thought, simplistic ideology, and a hatred for true religion and community all bare the unmistakable mark of man worship. The prideful aims of man to become God, and to transcend fallen nature apart from Christ, will, like all similar attempts, will be thwarted.
But how should we live in the midst of this liberal monoculture? I think the answer lies in the traditional Christian values, communities, and ideas that Legutko espouses. It is to these, our heritage, we must return if we wish to rebuild from the ashes of the fallen West.