An End to the Political Pilgrimage?nAre political pilgrimages a matter of history, or has thenphenomenon survived? If so, in what form? Somenreference to these questions has been made in the preface tonthe (1983) paperback edition of my book Political Pilgrims,nbut the years that have passed since then call for furthernreflections on this matter. History has not stood still: in thenlight of relatively recent developments in the Soviet bloc,nthere are good reasons to take a new look not merely at thenpilgrimage itself, but at the attitudes that underlie it.nThe most striking political-intellectual phenomenon ofnthe last few years has been the growing disjunction betweennthe change and turmoil inside the Communist bloc countries,nand the stability of the political attitudes among thosenwho time and again have provided the reservoir from whichnthe Western pilgrims or political tourists are drawn. I call thisnphenomenon “the survival of the adversary culture.” Inargued at length in Political Pilgrims that it has always beennthe adversarial attitude, the estranged sensibility, that motivatednthe pilgrims and political tourists to look for and findnglorious alternatives to the flawed arrangements of their ownnsociety which they held in such deep contempt. It is thesenattitudes that have survived.intact even while developmentsnaround the world, and in the so-called socialist countriesnthemselves, have made it more difficult to find politicalnsystems that can be favorably contrasted with Westernncorruption and decline, and endowed with virtues andnvalues Western societies have failed to supply. The impulsenPaul Hollander’s most recent book is The Survival of thenAdversary Culture. This essay is adapted from the introductionnto his new edition of Political Pilgrims, to be publishednby the University Press of America later this year.n28/CHRONICLESnby Paul Hollandernnnto embark on new pilgrimages is still there, but the numbernof available destinations has become much smaller.nBy the mid-1980’s the pace of change — and especiallynthe volume of self-critical disclosures — within the Communistnbloc had greatly expanded. Most importantly, from thenstandpoint of potential pilgrims, internal scrutiny and soulsearching,nnow officially authorized, sharpened. As a result,nneither in China, nor anywhere else in the Eastern bloc, wasnthere much left of the outward self-assurance and selfcongratulatoryndisposition that had eadier impressed visitorsnin search of political rectitude, a sense of purpose, andncollectivized self-transcendence.nThe new openness meant that critiques of these systems,nwhich had been thoroughly and ruthlessly suppressed earlier,ncould now be voiced and widely disseminated both in thenofficial media and in new, semiofficial sources. Thesenrevelations eroded, indeed made mockery of, what used tonbe the major appeals of these systems. By the mid-1980’snnot even the most determined or visionary pilgrim couldnfind in them the sense of purpose, social cohesion, warmncommunal bonds, social justice, and egalitarianism, let alonenspectacular material accomplishments and other praiseworthynqualities of life that had in the past exercised such anpowerful attraction.nIt was no longer just the poor record of these societiesnregarding civil liberties and free expression that made theirnidealization difficult. The new, Gorbachev-era revelationsnmade clear that these systems faced serious domesticneconomic crises, and their claims of great material progressn—which used to be seen as adequately compensating fornthe lack of personal freedom — were unfounded. Socialnproblems thought eariier to be peculiar to capitalismn