February 12, 2006: Friends and Comrades
I would like to pose a question that has seldom--if ever--been explicitly raised in the history of the left: What exactly is a comrade? Better: WHO is a comrade? To begin with, it is worth consulting the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for a brief etymology. In the OED we learn that the English word "comrade" derives from the mid-16th century French "camarade" and Spanish "camarada," both of which in turn can be traced back to the Latin word "camera," meaning "chamber." In short, "comrade" suggested a person who shared the same room or tent, especially a fellow soldier, hence, a close associate. In the 19th century "comrade" especially began to be used in the English language to mean a fellow socialist or communist and ever since has been used before a person's name and as a form of address or reference.
So who is a comrade, then? I would venture that a comrade is a kind of friend and that comradeship is a specific form of friendship that lies somewhere along a continuum from "thicker" to "thinner" varieties, as follows:
LOVER<=>PERSONAL FRIEND<=>COMRADE<=>CITIZEN<=>HUMAN BEING
One could argue, as I shall do in blogs to come, that each of us has a range of moral obligations to each of these five kinds of friend, for example, to tell the truth, to keep promises, and to assist when in need. I would also propose that such obligations can, and do, clash: assisting comrades could possibly harm, or at least endanger, other friends. In other words, it is no easier to be a good comrade than to be a good lover, personal friend, citizen, or human being.
