PREFACE My father’s escape from—and opposition to—totalitarianism dominated much of his writing. It permeated his beliefs about the empowerment of individuals, and the moral responsibility of organizations to empower the individuals within their sphere. This collection emphasizes the principles of human choice, dignity; self-worth; and society’s role to achieve these ends, within a fair and equitable system. It was based on this shared belief system that my father and Ming Lo Shao developed a warm friendship—a friendship nurtured and maintained, with mutual respect, for many years until my father’s passing in 2005. This collection demonstrates the timeliness of my father’s writings, and their applicability to some of the critical situations facing our world today, almost 90 years after they were first penned. The Drucker family thanks Ming Lo Shao for his work in creating this anthology, and for his dedication to keeping Drucker’s writings alive and relevant for a new generation.
Joan Drucker Winstein Denver, Colorado, USA August, 2020
TO OUR READERS I have long wanted to compile a volume that brings together Peter Drucker’s discourses on totalitarianism and salvation by society to make them easily accessible to readers. Now the work has finally been completed. The book is comprised of selections from five of Peter Drucker’s works, The End of Economic Man, The Ecological Vision, Landmarks of Tomorrow, Adventures of a Bystander, and A Functioning Society. My job was to sort the content into nine chapters, draw up titles, and write related introductions to the chapters. Drucker’s reflections on and critiques of totalitarianism run through most of his works, but they are more focused and systematic in the five books mentioned above. Known as “the father of modern management”, Peter Drucker had a lifelong hatred of totalitarianism. He studied management because he felt that only the effective management of pluralistic social organizations—including non-profit organizations, industrial and commercial enterprises, and government agencies—could provide options or alternatives to resist totalitarian rule. Totalitarianism is an ugly phenomenon in human society and politics, and it is also a terrifying disease. It has caused more suffering to humankind than any other tyranny in history. What it seeks is to fully and thoroughly manipulate and control every individual, both in body and mind, turning humans not only into animals but also into machines and tools as well. Totalitarianism aims for absolute power, but no one except the Creator has such power. Hence, it manifests as a state of absurdity and madness in which “the movement (persecution) is everything, yet there is no purpose.” By its nature, totalitarianism cannot tolerate the existence of even a tiny bit of humanity. The Nazis’ “final solution” (genocide), the mass murder of Jews, is its logical result. Today, highly developed new technologies are also providing imaginative physical and psychological methods of manipulation, giving those with totalitarian ambitions the means to carry out a “final solution,” the extinction of unmankind (the extinction of human nature; that is, essentially exterminating the human species.) Totalitarianism is the result of the failure of “salvation by society”. History has repeatedly proven that any perfect, or nearly perfect society that claims to have no conflict, no class differences, complete fairness, justice, benevolence, and harmony, is a utopia. However, using society to eliminate evil in human nature, to save human beings from depravity, and transform them into perfect people, is merely a naïve fantasy. Marxism is the most recent, most rigorous, and most alluring social rescue plan but also the utmost failure at “salvation by society”. Today, political parties and nations still under the banner of Marxist communism or socialism have essentially sunken into totalitarianism.
作者
Peter F. Drucker
FOREWORD ON BEHALF OF THE AUTHOR If the author of this book, Peter Drucker, were still alive, faced with the reality of the current rifts in American politics and society, I believe he would warn and advise us all, particularly the young and enthusiastic among us, with the following words from the preface of The End of Economic Man, reprinted in 1969: But can we still be sure? Or are there not signs around us that totalitarianism may re-infest us, may indeed overwhelm us again? The problems of our times are very different from those of the ’twenties and ’thirties, and so are our realities. But some of our reactions to these problems are ominously reminiscent of the “despair of the masses” that plunged Europe into Hitler’s totalitarianism and into World War II. In their behavior some groups—they racists, white and black, but also some of the student “activists” on the so-called Left—are frighteningly reminiscent of Hitler’s stormtroopers—in their refusal to grant any rights, free speech for instance, to anyone else; in their use of character assassination; in their joy in destruction and vandalism. In their rhetoric these groups are odiously similar to Hitler’s speeches and so is the dreary nihilism of their prophets to hatred from Mao to Marcus. But above all, these groups on the “Right” as well as on the “Left,” like the totalitarians of the generation ago, believe that to say “no” is a positive policy; that to have compassion is to be weak; and that to manipulate idealism for the pursuit of power is to be “idealistic.” They have not learned the one great lesson of our recent past: hatred is no answer to despair. Understanding of the dynamics of the totalitarianism of yesterday may help us better to understand today and to prevent a recurrence of yesterday. It may, I hope above all, help young people today to turn their idealism, their genuine distress over the horrors of this world, and their desire for a better and braver tomorrow into constructive action for, rather than into totalitarian nihilism as their predecessors did thirty years ago. For at the end of this road there could only be another Hitler and another “ultimate solution” with its gas chambers and extermination camps. Those words not only embody the book’s practical significance today but also the historical importance it will have in the future. Editor November 2, 2020, American Presidential Election Eve Los Angeles, USA
目錄
CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE PREFACE TO OUR READERS FOREWORD ON BEHALF OF THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE The Morbid Phenomena of Totalitarian Countries Introduction 1 The Totalitarian Economic System and the “Noneconomic Society” 2 By Justifying Personal Sacrifice to Deny the Meaning of Life and Society 3 Create Enemies and Incite Hatred Between Classes, Races, and Nations 4 Control the Entire Country and Society by One Top-to-bottom Totalitarian Organization 5 Mystifying Leader, Creating an Atmosphere of Personal Worship 6 Encourage Informers and Undermine Traditional Ethical Values
CHAPTER TWO The Origins and Essence of Totalitarianism from the Prospective of Society and Politics Introduction 1 The Total Failure of Marxism Had Been a Main Reason for the Europe’s Masses to Supported Totalitarianism 2 Why Can Totalitarianism Win the Support of the Masses? 3 No Revolutionary Leader Can Oppose the Inner Dynamic of the Revolution or Impose Measures That Go Against Public Opinion
CHAPTER THREE Totalitarianism Inevitably be Replaced by a New Noneconomic Society Based on Individual Freedom and Equality Introduction
CHAPTER FOUR The Origins and Essence of Totalitarianism from the Perspective of Rationality and Faith Introduction 1 From Rousseau to Hitler 2 Why Society Is Not Enough: Introduction to The Unfashionable Kierkegaard 3 The Unfashionable Kierkegaard
CHAPTER FIVE The Origins and Essence of Totalitarianism from the Perspective of Technology Progress Introduction Abstraction Part One of The Human Situation Today
CHAPTER SIX Criticism of Marxism Introduction 1 How Did Marxist “Political Economics” Be Debunked? 2 Marxism’s Failure
CHAPTER SEVEN Do We Want “Salvation by Society” or a Society That Is Not Perfect but Tolerable? Introduction 1 No More Salvation by Society 2 A Society that May Be the Best We Can Possibly Hope For
CHAPTER EIGHT The Free World’s “West” Strategy to Resist Totalitarianism Introduction 1 “The Work to Be Done”—The Overview of the “West” Strategy 2 Discussion on the Frontiers of “West” Strategy
CHAPTER NINE How Should Individuals Deal with the Threat and Temptation of Totalitarianism? Introduction 1 The Maverick Young Drucker 2 The Monster and the Lamb 3 Abstraction Part Two of The Human Situation Today
序／導讀
【推薦序】 PREFACE
Peter Drucker was a friend and advisor to me during my leadership years at ServiceMaster. Minglo Shao has become a very special friend of mine. We first met as he became a partner of ServiceMaster, assisting us in expanding our business to China and other countries in the Far East. I later had the privilege of introducing him to Peter Drucker, and the two of them developed a good friendship which extended over the balance of Peter’s life.
Minglo Shao has now developed an abstract of Drucker’s writings reflecting Drucker’s view on “totalitarianism and salvation by society.” As you read this, it is well to reflect upon the application of these thoughts—especially to the young people of today—providing appropriate warnings and excellent advice.
Thank you, Minglo, for the example of your life and your continued friendship.
C. William Pollard November 2, 2020 American Presidential Election Eve Chicago, Illinois, USA
