Home

Week of 4/6

The introduction of Legutko’s The Demon in Democracy, focuses on analyzing the similarities between communism and liberal democracy, explaining that the two are linked because of their shared common principles and ideals. Communism was such a integrated political, ideological, intellectual, and sociolinguistic unity. Living in that system meant that one had to obey the directives of the ruling party. Similarly, liberal democracy is a powerful unifying mechanism, blurring differences between people and imposing uniformity of views, behavior, and language. Legutko explains that the reason people do not usually think of comparing liberal democracy and communism is because for liberal democracy, the belief still lingers that it is a system of “breathtaking diversity.”

Another similarity Legutko points out is that both regimes operated with the intent to change reality for the better — something known as the modernization project. In essence, modernization means breaking from the old and initiating the new. It implies experiencing something refreshing in human relations and in social and political arrangements. Both in communism and liberal democracy, the modernization that fuels these regimes is a system of cult technology, which translates itself into acceptance of social engineering, in attempt to solve existing social problems.

While I understand the legitimacy of the similarities Legutko draws between communism and liberal democracy, I think it is still important to remember the detrimental repercussions of communism. The Demon in Democracy can serve as a warning to those under a liberal democracy rule, sharing the potential harm that could stem from the ideas and foundations of the regime. However, by boiling communism down to the same level as liberal democracy, it almost delegitimizes the crimes committed during the Cold War state of communism. With this said, I believe Legutko’s writing stands as resistance to totalitarianism as he writes against communism, warning that we may see a ‘softer’ version of it appear today in the form of liberal democracy.