The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Tony Judt, 1948-2010

British historian and essayist dies.

By Jonathan Derbyshire Published 07 August 2010 18:37

Several news sources, including New York magazine, are reporting that the English historian and essayist Tony Judt has died. In November 2008, Judt was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a neuro-degenerative condition that very quickly left him paralysed from the neck down. He continued to write almost until the end, however, even delivering the 2009 Remarque Lecture at New York University (where he had taught for many years) in a wheelchair and from inside the prison of a body that permitted him to do little else but speak and breathe (and this only with the help of a machine).

That lecture, entitled "What is Living and What is Dead in Social Democracy", was turned (with astonishing speed, bearing in mind his condition) into a book, Ill Fares the Land, in which Judt offered -- for the benefit, he said, of "young people on both sides of the Atlantic" -- both an account of what he saw as the corruption of our moral sentiments (he borrowed the phrase from Adam Smith, whom he rightly took to have abhorred the "uncritical adulation of wealth for its own sake") and a vision of what political discourse used to be like -- not in the distant past, but in his own lifetime, during the postwar heyday of social democracy.

It was a period, Judt wrote, in which there was a "moralised quality to policy debates", when questions such as unemployment and inflation were regarded not just as economic issues, but also as "tests of the ethical coherence of the community".

Ill Fares the Land was both a threnody (for a language of the common good that Judt thought we had carelessly misplaced) and the expression of a certain kind of political temperament:

Social democrats are characteristically modest -- a political quality whose virtues are overestimated. We need to apologise a little less for our shortcomings and speak more assertively of achievements. That these were always incomplete should not trouble us.

If we have learned nothing else from the 20th century, we should at least have grasped that the more perfect the answer, the more terrifying its consequences. Incremental improvements upon unsatisfactory circumstances are the best that we can hope for, and probably all we should seek. Others have spent the last three decades methodically unravelling and destablising them: this should make us much angrier than we are . . .

Social democracy does not represent an ideal future; it does not even represent the ideal past. But among the options available to us today, it is better than anything else to hand. (Ill Fares the Land, pp. 224-25)

Much of the scholarly work with which Judt made his academic reputation (books such as Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals, 1944-1956 and The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century), before gaining wider acclaim (and, it has to be said, notoriety) on the strength of his literary journalism for the New York Review of Books, was devoted to the terrible seductions of the "perfect answer" in politics and to the irresponsibility (and irrelevance) of intellectuals who insist that nothing less than perfection will do.

What that passage from his last book shows, however, is that Judt also knew that a sober recognition of the limits of politics is not the same as a quietistic and defeated abandonment of them. He will be greatly missed.

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16 comments

Sat, 2010-08-07 19:05 — Keir (not verified)

A terrible shock that has come right out of the blue. Judt was an inspiration to me and to my students who could quote his passages and present his arguments with ease. His interpretation on US forign policy, particularly after the war, was revelatory and yet persuasive. A great loss to historiography.
www.tracesofevil.blogspot.com

Thu, 2010-08-12 21:39 — Tony (not verified)

I spent my working years campaigning for social democracy in northern Canada yet, on reading Tony Judt's "Postwar," I realized this great work of European history was the story of my life.

Sun, 2010-08-08 21:05 — g. schwartzen (not verified)

Re: Steve's comment"...the Middle East is a place where Sunnis massacre Shiites in Iraq, Iran kills its own voters, Syria allegedly kills the prime minister next door, Turkey hammers the Kurds, and Hamas engages in indiscriminate shelling and refuses to recognize Israel..."
as far as I am aware, there is another violent country in the Middle East, Israel. How telling that 'Steve' leaves it out of his hit list. Perhaps 'Steve' is equally myopic and forgetful about the daily and ongoing homicidal violence of the state of Israel against the original inhabitants of the land which it illegally occupies?

Mon, 2010-08-23 15:36 — Jeff (not verified)

My wife and listened to part of the BBC interview with Tony Judt yesterday and we marvelled at his fortitude and bravery but I was left wondering how such an intellect could be so partial in his judgement of Israel.
Putting aside the long and highly documented history and heritage of The Children of Israel, today we have The League of Nations and United Nations legal declarations for the return of the Jews to their homeland, and how Tony Judt and his admirers manage to ignore this I do not understand.
Perhaps Tony would have liked to go back in history and have the Americans, Australians, British and even the Arab nations, etc, restore the old world order, which, of course, would have shaken the "tree" a little.
Israelis have a right to their little country and the archive evidence shows clearly how much they tried to live in peace with their neighbours and avoid war.
Critics of Israel, would do well to read the archive evidence before 1967 they would then soon understand that the ordinary Palestinians wanted peace but the corrupt and devious Arab leadership wanted the spoils of war and would not entertain the idea of living with the "sons of monkeys and pigs".
The ordinary Palestinians still want peace but the Arab leadership, as always, is devious and cunning. I can only assume that those that determinedly ignore the evidence
are imbued with that age old hatred founded in the roots of Christian and Islamic belief,antisemitism.

Sun, 2010-08-08 22:45 — Steve (not verified)

To G. Schwartzen,

You mis-read the point. These were examples (given by Thomas Friedman in the NYTimes, not me) of Arabs killing Arabs, specifically unrelated to the Palestinian vs. Israel conflict. It's how the Arab/Muslims treat each other.

As between Israel and Palestinians Israeli Palestinians live in greater saftey, wealth, freedom that any Arab anywhere in the Arab world. ARe there Palestinians in Gaza, whose leaders chose war rather than developing a civil society, who are paying dearly for the eight years of rockets Hamas launched against Sderot civilians and then hiding among there own civilians when doing so? Yes there are and its tragic.

Israel pulled out of Gaza - there is no occupation there - and what did it get them, more violence led by Hamas.
If Hamas had taken that opportunity to build a real society, there would be no violence coming from Israel but that is not possible for Hamas to do because it wants war because peace means accepting Israel and they want to destroy Israel. They say that is what their goal is, not just the end of occupation which Israel gave them, but to re-take all of Israel.

Until they change that and stop the attacks, the death you and I bemoan of their own people will continue.

Abbas and Fayyad on the West Bank are beginning to build a real country in the West Bank, the wall prevents any suicide bombers - sad that it took a wall to accomplish that, but that is the reality - and progress is made.

Mr or Ms Schwartzen, I quoted what Arabs do to Arabs to demonstrate the violent nature of their societies. It has plays out with Israel, but if you look around the world, Muslims are at war with the Balinese in Indonesia, Catholics in Thailand, with the Han in China, with the Orthodx in Russia, with the Hindus in India, in Europe in the Balkans to London, they are at war with the Jews in Israel, with Blacks in Sudan, with Christians in Nigeria with Copts in Egypt and where they are not at war with others they are at war with each other.

Let me put it another way. The world would largely be at peace without the Muslims at war with their neighbors - but with them at war, there is war around the world.

Sun, 2010-08-08 22:50 — Steve (not verified)

Correction to above - Muslims are at war with Catholics in Phillipines and with Buddhists in Thailand. I left one out. Sorry

Sun, 2010-08-08 03:29 — Sam (not verified)

The world has been ill-served since artists, athletes, rock stars, models, journalists and public intellectuals ceased being 'struggling' and became rich, super-star celebrities. Bad for them when they play to the crowd and worse for society. A world that honors its intellectuals more than its plumbers is in trouble, for neither its pipes nor its theories will hold any water.
Nothing personal, Mr. Judt Sleep well.

Sun, 2010-08-08 04:53 — Dillon (not verified)

Professor Judt will be missed by many. As a former student, I wish the students of the future could have had the opportunity to learn from his tremendous intellect, and learn to meet his uncompromising expectations. He was not simply a fearless public intellectual but an inspiring teacher.

Sun, 2010-08-08 05:17 — C.Hunter (not verified)

You could be less restrained. Respectable and honest left wing intellectuals are rare. Very few of them are credible and even fewer manage to be likeable. Judt was a wonderful writer, clear thinker and principled polemicist. I hope a paper of this standing will be able to write a fuller obituary, where if it must mention the "notoriety" of some of his views, they will also elaborate on how damn right he was.
May we think on him for years to come.

Sun, 2010-08-08 10:59 — Robert (not verified)

I'm an undergrad at Williams College, and Judt was my hero: the great critic who was suitably angry and articulate about the liberal betrayal that led so many nominal lefties to support the invasion of Iraq. His criticism of Israel lost him friends, but his insistence on the universality of human rights could not be compromised, not even to identity politics. We've lost our greatest political commentator.

Sun, 2010-08-08 11:53 — Hugh Betterton (not verified)

Tony was a class mate at Emanuel School in South West London through the 1960s. This may sound strange but my abiding memory of him was on a rugby field, hammering through tackles! In later years his writings struck both an intellectual and political chord so well. Ill Fares the Land is wonderfully ethically argued. Thank you, Tony, for the ideas and thoughts: may they resonate long and hard

Sun, 2010-08-08 15:30 — Chris (not verified)

Sad news, though not unexpected with such a terrible illness. As someone who never met the man, but only read his work, I envy Dillon and Robert in the comments above who were lucky enough to be taught by him.

Thu, 2010-08-12 16:45 — willoyen

Re: Steve: I don’t think Tony Judt would be surprised to see that in a celebration of his life and work, the same old hot air pumped out for Israel turns into a rant against Palestinian/Arab barbarity and ends up a couple of posts later more or less justifying wars against Muslims anywhere. I am sure he wouldn’t agree with you; I am sure he would agree with g.schartzen. And so do I.

Thu, 2010-08-12 16:48 — willoyen

sorry: g.schwartzen

Sun, 2010-08-08 16:45 — Steve (not verified)

To ROBERT at Williams College -

The idea that those who do not share your views on Israel are weak on the 'universality of human rights' is an unfounded, arrogant expression of your immaturity. The idea that the Palestinians who toss each other off rooftops, summary execute their own people and Black September murdered the Jordanian FM, the killer got on his knees and licked the dying man's blood off the ground - all of which had nothing to do with Israel is not the picture I have of a human rights sensitive people. Tony Judt, liberals (like myself on other matters) and I assume you, are incapable of viewing non-Europeans in anything other than a pre-conceived victim perspective.

Here is the Middle East as The Times Thomas Friedman describes it today:
"...the Middle East is a place where Sunnis massacre Shiites in Iraq, Iran kills its own voters, Syria allegedly kills the prime minister next door, Turkey hammers the Kurds, and Hamas engages in indiscriminate shelling and refuses to recognize Israel...
had Hamas decided — after Israel unilaterally left Gaza — to turn it into Dubai rather than Tehran, Israel would have behaved differently, too.

For eight years prior to the invasion of Gaza, as Hamas fired rockets at Sderot, neither Tony Judt nor you nor the nominal anti-war left demanded it stop - only when Israel responded did your idea of universal human rights kick in. Josef Joffe, someone who it would serve you well to replace Tony Judt as your hero, put it this way, "The Palestinians are like the street fighter, when asked what happened by the police man, answered, "The fight began when the other guy hit back."

From 1948, after losing a war, until 1967, the Palestinians controlled the whole of Gaza, the WB, E.Jerusalem with no settlements - and they made it clear, only destroying and taking all of Israel was what they wanted.

Israel has made mistakes, but saying the Palestinians are the innocent victims is nonsense, whether it comes from an immature mind like your own or more humiliatingly from a supposed grown man, such as Mr. Judt.

All that said, Mr. Judt died a hard death and the loss of life is always to be mourned.

Tue, 2010-08-10 06:31 — John Evans (not verified)

I was at Emanuel school with Tony Judt and must have spend many hundreds of hours in the same classes. One thing I remember him doing (probably when we were in Upper Five Arts) was passing on all his copies of New Statesman and Private Eye to our classroom pool of off-syllabus reading material. RIP.