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BETWEEN TWO AGES
America's Role in the Technetronic Era
Zbigniew Brzezinski
THE VIKING PRESS / NEW YORK 
Copyright © 1970 by Zbigniew Brzezinski All rights reservedFirst published in 1970 by The Viking Press, Inc. 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022Published simultaneously in Canada by The Macmillan Company of Canada LimitedISBN 670-16041-5Library of Congress catalog card number: 76-104162Printed in U.S.Aby H. Wolff Book Mfg. Co.Prepared under the auspices of the Research Institute on Communist Affairs, Columbia UniversityPortions of this book appeared in
Encounter 
in different form
 
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 For Ian, Mark, and Mika
 
 Acknowledgments
 Though this book deals with communism only in part—and then primarily in relation to the broader issues with which I amconcerned—the Research Institute on Communist Affairs of Columbia University provided me with invaluable researchassistance and with a congenial and stimulating setting. My colleagues at the Institute little realize how very helpful theyhave been in the gradual process of shaping my ideas, testing my views, and enlarging my perspectives. The manuscript wasread and criticized by a number of friends and colleagues. I am especially grateful to Professor Samuel P. Huntington for histrenchant criticisms and very helpful recommendations; to Professor Albert A. Mavrinac, who maintained our friendly tradi-tion of his questioning my arguments and of forcing me to rethink some of my propositions; to Mrs. Christine Dodson, theformer Administrative Assistant of the Research Institute, who prepared a very constructive and highly perceptive chapter-length critique of the entire draft; and to Professor Alexander Erlich for steering me away from some economic pitfalls. I amalso most obliged and grateful to Miss Sophia Sluzar, currently the Administrative Assistant, who very ably supervised theover-all preparation of the manuscript and who earlier was instrumental in preparing the tables and assembling the neededdata. Miss Toby Trister, my research assistant, was indefatigable in exposing my inaccuracies, in filling bibliographic gaps,and in completing the research. Miss Dorothy Rodnite, Miss Michelle Elwyn, and Mr. Myron Gutmann amiably andefficiently—even when under great pressures of time—devoted their energies to the completion of the manuscript. To all of them I owe a debt which I am pleased to acknowledge.I also wish to note my obligation to Mr. Marshall Best of The Viking Press, on whose experience and wise counsel I oftenrelied, and to Mr. Stanley Hochman for his sensitive editorial assistance.A special mention is due to my wife. In all my writing I have never come across a more conscientious reader, a moreferocious critic, and a more determined—dare I say obstinate?—perfectionist. I have no hesitation in saying, though onlynow I say it with relief, that any merit this essay may have is in large measure due to her efforts.Z.B. October 1969
 
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Contents
 
CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................................3THE GLOBAL IMPACT OFTHE................................................................................................................8TECHNETRONIC REVOLUTION...............................................................................................................8
 1. T
HE
O
 NSET OF THE
T
ECHNETRONIC
A
GE
...................................................................................................10
  New Social Patterns................................................................................................................................10Social Explosion/Implosion .....................................................................................................................11Global Absorption...................................................................................................................................13
 2. T
HE
A
MBIVALENT
D
ISSEMINATOR 
............................................................................................................15
 The American Impact..............................................................................................................................15 New Imperialism?...................................................................................................................................18
 3. G
LOBAL
G
HETTOS
...................................................................................................................................19
  Prospects for Change..............................................................................................................................20The Subjective Transformation................................................................................................................21The Political Vacuum..............................................................................................................................25
 4. G
LOBAL
F
RAGMENTATION AND
U
 NIFICATION
...........................................................................................26
  Fragmented Congestion ..........................................................................................................................26 Toward a Planetary Consciousness .........................................................................................................28
 THE AGE OF VOLATILEBELIEF............................................................................................................31
 1. T
HE
Q
UEST FOR A
U
 NIVERSAL
V
ISION
......................................................................................................31
 The Universal Religions..........................................................................................................................32The National Identity...............................................................................................................................33 Ideological Universalism.........................................................................................................................34
 2. T
URBULENCE WITHIN
I
 NSTITUTIONALIZED
B
ELIEFS
...................................................................................35
  Institutional Marxism..............................................................................................................................35Organized Christianity............................................................................................................................38 Privatization of Belief..............................................................................................................................40
 3. H
ISTRIONICS AS
H
ISTORY IN
T
RANSITION
.................................................................................................41
  Escape from Reason................................................................................................................................42The Political Dimension..........................................................................................................................43 Historical Discontinuity ..........................................................................................................................45
 4. I
DEAS AND
I
DEALS BEYOND
I
DEOLOGY
.....................................................................................................47
 The Quest for Equality.............................................................................................................................47 Syncretic Belief.......................................................................................................................................48
 COMMUNISM: THE PROBLEM OF RELEVANCE................................................................................52
 1. T
HE
S
TALINIST
P
ARADOX
.........................................................................................................................52
 The Necessity of Stalinism.......................................................................................................................53 Imperial Pacification...............................................................................................................................55
 2. T
HE
B
UREAUCRATIZATION OF
B
OREDOM
..................................................................................................57
 The Innovative Relationship ....................................................................................................................57  Defensive Orthodoxy...............................................................................................................................58 Perspective on Tomorrow........................................................................................................................61
 3. T
HE
S
OVIET
F
UTURE
................................................................................................................................62
  Internal Dilemmas...................................................................................................................................62 Alternative Paths.....................................................................................................................................66 The Problem of Vitality............................................................................................................................69
 4. S
ECTARIAN
C
OMMUNISM
.........................................................................................................................70
  Phases ....................................................................................................................................................70 Assimilated Communisms........................................................................................................................71China and Global Revolution ..................................................................................................................73
 THE AMERICAN TRANSITION................................................................................................................77
 1. T
HE
T
HIRD
A
MERICAN
R 
EVOLUTION
........................................................................................................78
 The Pace and Thrust of Progress.............................................................................................................79The Uncertainty of Progress....................................................................................................................81
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