Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 1.pdf/465

Rh things, but sensing the absence of life, they throw the whole blame upon the negative. Being unable to satisfy their desire for love and truth, their incapacity becomes transformed into hatred of the negative.

The compromising positivists are more strongly affected than the uncompromising positivists by the reflective malady of the age. They do not reject the negative unconditionally, but concede to it a relative and temporary justification. They lack, however, the energy of simplicity, and they know nothing of the endeavour to attain to completeness and honesty of disposition. Theoretical dishonesty is the standpoint of the compromisers. Bakunin speaks of this dishonesty as theoretical because he cannot believe that an individual evil will can really exercise an inhibitive influence upon the development of the human spirit, but he admits that of necessity theoretical dishonesty almost always manifests itself as practical dishonesty.

The compromising positivists are wiser than the logical positivists; the former are the wise men, the theorists par excellence, and are therefore the leading representatives of the present. Bakunin characterises them by quoting a well—known dictum concerning the juste-milieu: "Le côté gauche dit, 'deux fois deux font quatre'; le côté droit dit, 'deux fois deux font six'; le juste-milieu dit, 'deux fois deux font cinq.'" The compromisers speak less clearly and definitely than the logical positivists; they evade the simple practical urge for truth; they are too astute to follow the simple practical dictates of consciousness. The democrats say that only the simple is true, real, and creative; the compromisers, with immense trouble, construct an artificial patchwork, so that they may distinguish themselves from the stupid and uncultured mob. They know everything, and being men of world-wide experience they allow nothing to astonish them. They have sampled the entire material and spiritual universe and after this long and tedious reflective journey have come to the conviction that the real world is not worth the trouble involved in securing a genuinely living contact with it. It is difficult to know what to make of these people. They never say "yes" or "no." They say, "You are right to some extent, but still" When they have nothing more to say, they tell us, "Yes it is rather odd."

Nevertheless the democrats cannot venture to ignore the party of the compromisers. Despite their instability, despite