The Wisdom of Salomon: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

‘History is written by the winners,’ wrote Orwell¹; 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 non-totalitarian countries. Professor Hugh Thomas’s concern that British history should be taught in a more patriotic mode is by no means unique. While few governments or political parties can afford completely to ignore the past, it is undoubtedly true that in some countries a ‘correct’ interpretation of the past is of more pressing concern to contemporary politicians than is the case 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.² The position which a Haitian takes with respect to past controversies has been closely connected to his political commitments in the present, and rival parties have elaborated competing legends which function as legitimations of their current policies and interests.