Benjamin is more preoccupied than Bloch with the theme of redemption. The past carries with it a temporal index by which it is referred to redemption. There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. That claim cannot be settled cheaply.
Historical materialists are aware of that.
That, Benjamin says, is the duty of historical materialists, both as revolutionaries and writers of history. We never keep to the present. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching.