The Doctrine of Beitar

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If the world had from the start adopted the view of non-response, the world would have long ago ceased to rely on wars and pogroms....

This is a beautiful and noble refrain; but beauty and nobility are no longer truth, and the most decisive proof of this lies here before our eyes, and it is the history of the Diaspora. It is not true that people never tried to realize Tolstoy's system; not only did they try, but they also realized it in a businesslike manner, with "human" patience, for hundreds of years without end, and without paying any attention to the fact that the view of "non-response" did not help at all, not the first time, nor the third time, nor the hundredth time, and they were prepared to strike us. For, we did not respond even then. The history of the Diaspora is full of pogroms, and not self-defense. Here you have the "experiment" served up precisely and thoroughly according to the finest Tolstoian policy, in all times and in all climates, and the conclusion? — Knives.

Human nature is neither black nor white; neither bad nor good; it is a chapter on the relationship between appetite and ability. Man has an appetite and arranges to satisfy it in the direction of the least "resistance." If the resistance is great, man tells himself that the goal is not worth the expense, and he gives up his appetite. But if he sees that there is no resistance, he tells himself: "Here it is permitted," and spreads himself out far and wide.

The worst evil, which can poison morality, is contained in the word: permitted. Once this formula is articulated, morality ceases to exist. Do you want an example? Read about the actions of all the white traders in their African colonies, back in the late 19th century; take Belgium in the Congo. The Belgians are not a nation of murderers, on the contrary: it is one of the quietest and most cultured countries in Europe. At home in their cafes and businesses they are obliging, polite, and well-behaved, but in the Congo, where they dealt with natives, they became worse than the slave traders in "Uncle Tom's Cabin"—those same officials and those same merchants. Why is that? Because they felt that here, it is permitted. In my youth, I saw this specifically on the part of the Belgians.