The Wisdom of Salomon: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

History is written by the winners,” wrote Orwell (1970: 110); he went on to suggest that a totalitarian government “claims to control the past as well as the future.” Yet such a concern with controlling the past is not a distinguishing feature of totalitarianism; many examples of an ideological or legendary version of the past receiving government sanction can be found in nontotalitarian countries. While few governments or political parties can afford to ignore the past completely, it is undoubtedly the case that in some countries a “correct” interpretation of the past is of more pressing concern to contemporary politicians than it is in others. Since the early days of independence, Haitians have shown an absorbing interest in their past—not a dead “historical” past, but a living ideological past. The position which a Haitian has taken with respect to the past has been closely connected to his political commitments in the present, and rival parties have elaborated competing legends which function as legitimations of sheir current policies and interests.

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