China, Russia, and the Intellectuals

The French philosophes, so the schoolbooks usually say, were mighty champions of liberty; they preached the defense of freedom against the arbitrary powers of the state. Did not Diderot write, “Each century is characterized by a specific spirit. The spirit of ours seems to be that of liberty”? It comes therefore as a shock to realize that many of the philosophes, as well as such other champions of liberalism and individualism as the physiocrats, the ancestors of classical economics, admired the societies of China and Russia above all others in their day. This is a paradox worthy of attention.

When intellectuals are out of tune with political trends at home, they are apt to look for more congenial harmonies abroad. “Not finding anything about them which seemed to conform to their ideals,” wrote Tocqueville of the physiocrats, “they went to search for it in the heart of Asia. It is no exaggeration to say that every one of them in ...