Brandeis graduate Michael Walzer ’56, now a political theorist, returned to Brandeis to give a critical lecture on Martin Buber’s book “Paths in Utopia” and discuss different types of socialist communities. The lecture, presented by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, took place in Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Monday, Nov. 4.
Walzer recalls reading Buber’s book years ago when he was “a young socialist” and finding it impressive. Looking at it now, more than 60 years later, he continues to find it impressive but believes it “requires a revisionist critique.”
Walzer summarizes the book as “a sharp attack on State Socialism represented by Marx and Lenin and a strong defense of communitarian socialism best represented by Landauer.” Gustav Landauer argued that groups of people should form small socialist communities together, favoring this approach over statewide socialist programs. Buber cites the Israeli kibbutz system of collective living as an example of this sort of socialist community.
To find what “remains of value” in Buber’s work, Walzer contrasted his communitarian socialism with the state socialism seen elsewhere. Eventually, Walzer came to the conclusion that Buber’s “Paths in Utopia” suggests that citizens must press their state to limit its power and in doing so create a sort of community.
Interim President Lisa Lynch called Walzer “one of America’s foremost political theorists and a leading public intellectual” during her introduction. She recognized his involvement with the democratic socialist magazine Dissent and as the author of over two dozen books. She even recalled reading Walzer’s book “Just and Unjust Wars” when she was a college student. In her introduction of Walzer, Lynch took a moment to remind current students that “the paths that many of us follow … are rarely straight lines.” Walzer wanted to be a lawyer when he first enrolled at Brandeis but he changed his career path after becoming “so enamored with the Brandeis faculty.”
Jules Bernstein ’57, the founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, recalled his friendship with Walzer during their years at Brandeis together. He remembered being “involved in a great battle [on campus]… about the showing of the movie ‘Birth of a Nation.’” Some students thought it should not be shown because the 1915 film set in the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction period was racist and offensive. Bernstein and Walzer were both in favor of showing the film but lost the battle with the university.
Professor Bernard Yack (POL) added to Lynch and Bernstein’s praise of Walzer. He said, “The really great things that Lisa and Jules said about Michael are not hype … [Walzer] really is one of the two or three leading political thinkers in the world.”
