The Fanatics [1950]

Some opponents of communism are attempting to produce an ideology for the Atlantic Powers, and for this purpose they have invented what they call "Western Values". There was fanaticism in the French Revolution, but it was in control for only about two years. There was fanaticism in the German resistance to Napoleon, but it seemed to die down after 1815. There was anti-German fanaticism in the years during and after the first world war; there was answering German fanaticism, leading to the victory of the Nazis. Fanaticism in control of a government is dangerous because it finds cooperation with others scarcely possible. Prosperity is generally admitted, in the West, to be the best preventive of communist fanaticism, but no one seems to draw the conclusion that it would be a good thing if Russia were prosperous. Everything possible should be done to turn the attention of Russians to the internal development of their own country.