“‘Learn to predict a fire with unerring precision. Then burn the house down to fulfill the prediction.’ These lines mocked the Communist claim to rule, which was based on the theory of history as formulated by Marx. According to the concept of dialectical materialism—“diamat,” as its adherents often abbreviated it—the triumph of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin was not a contingent event but the necessary result of an age-old process of class conflict.” Found this gem today as I was looking for info. connected to some M. M. Bakhtin/P.N. Medvedev literary scholarship. Czeslaw Milosz’s Battle for Truth

The New Yorker

Czeslaw Milosz’s Battle for Truth

Having experienced both Nazi and Communist rule, Poland’s great exile poet arrived at a unique blend of skepticism and sincerity.