Miscellany

Abstract

THE thesis of M. Benda's book is that the European intelligentsia have gone over to the enemy; that is to say, they have deserted the idealist ranks and joined the great army of the Philistines. It is not merely that the intelligentsia have become sceptics: they have actually transferred their allegiance, and devote themselves to detract and deride every form of idealism. For example, they lend themselves to “the intellectual organisation of political hatreds,” and preach the doctrine of “sacred egotism.” They display “the scorn for argument, the excess, the hatred, the fixed ideas” which we are accustomed to associate with the lowest forms of political propaganda. In short, they have prostituted their powers, and have become the militia of materialism. Even internationalism, which assumes imposing idealist airs, is inspired by bankers, industrialists, and trade unionists, whose aims are by no means disinterested.

The Great Betrayal (La Trahison des clercs).

By Julien Benda. Translated by Richard Aldington. Pp. x + 188. (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1928.) 7s. 6d. net.