On another list just called Mr. Pollyanna 'cuz I am skeptical of Peak Oil boosters. Good to post here where fs can call me Mr. Genocide Ghoul ;-)
Here is the cite, Justin and y'all for the Deutscher. "The Ex-Communist Conscience, " from 1950, reprinted in, "Marxism, Wars and Revolutions; Essays from four decades, " ed. by Tamara Deutscher, Verso Books, 1984. Also in, "The Marxists, " by C. Wright Mills.
Deutscher cut and paste from Doug's post (This is G o o g l e's cache of http://squawk.ca/lbo-talk/0306/2124.html ) on Hitchens/Radosh/Horowitz>...He is haunted by a vague sense that he has betrayed either his former ideals or the ideals of bourgeois society; like Koestler, he may even have an ambivalent notion that he has betrayed both. He then tries to suppress his sense of guilt and uncertainty, or to camouflage it by a show of *extraordinary certitude and frantic aggressiveness*. He insists that the world should recognise his uneasy conscience as the clearest conscience of all...
His former illusion at least implied a positive ideal. His disillusionment is utterly negative. His role is therefore intellectually and politically barren. He advances bravely in the front rank of every witch-hunt. His blind hatred of his former ideal is leaven to contemporary conservatism.
http://www.ambedkar.org/research/GandhiAmbedkar.htm
>...He brings to his job the lack of scruple, the narrow-mindedness,
the disregard of truth, and the intense hatred with which Stalinism
has imbued him. He remains sectarian. He is an inverted Stalinist. He
continues to see the world in black and white, but now the colours are
differently distributed ... The ex- communist ... is haunted by a
vague sense that he has betrayed either his former ideals or the
ideals of bourgeois society ... He then tries to suppress the guilt
and uncertainty, or to camouflage it by a show of extraordinary
certitude and frantic aggressiveness. He insists that the world should
recognise his uneasy conscience as the clearest conscience of all. He
may no longer be concerned with any cause except one - self-
justification.
-- Michael Pugliese