ABSTRACT
Those who have followed to some extent the recent public debate over the ‘gigantic defeat’ (Heldring) of socialism, ‘an idea that signifies a bankrupt system’ (Braches), can reasonably confirm Hofland’s conclusion that ‘the Dutch discussion about the communist fellow-travellers has ended in such an untimely and senseless way.’ Against the background of the fact that ‘the reconstruction being undertaken in the Soviet Union is taking on more and more the character of an unmasking’, as Hofland reports, the silence of the former fellow-travellers is becoming almost deafening, and a debate without any real reply naturally soon falls flat. Silence can be a protective armour, but I do not believe in that sort of security.
