clarity of exposition that it has attained truth. This little science has contributed a great deal towards creating the crisis in Marxism, and every day we hear the new school accused of delighting in the obscurities of which Marx has so often been accused, while French Sociahsts and Belgian Sociologists, on the contrary,...!
Perhaps the best way of giving an accurate idea of the error committed by these sham scientists against whom the new school is waging war will be to examine the general characteristics of some social phenomena, and to run through some of the achievements of the mind, beginning with the highest.
A. (i) The positivists, who represent, in an eminent degree, mediocrity, pride, and pedantry, had decreed that philosophy was to give way before their science; but philosophy is not dead, and it has acquired a new and vigorous lease of life thanks to Bergson, who far from wishing to reduce everything to science, has claimed for the philosopher the right to proceed in a manner quite opposed to that employed by the scientist. It might be said that metaphysics has reclaimed the lost ground by demonstrating to man the illusion of so-called scientific solutions, and by bringing the mind back to the mysterious region which the little science abhors. Positivism is still admired by a few Belgians, the employees of the Office du Travail,^ and General Andr6; ^ but these are people who count for very little in the world of thought.
(2) Religions do not seem to be on the point of dis- appearing. Liberal Protestantism is dying because it 1 This is the ofl&ce of the Minister for Labour, and is principally occupied with the Syndicates. It gives itself a certain socialistic air in the hope of duping the workmen.
* A few years ago, this illustrious warrior (?) was instrumental in blocking the candidature for the Collige de France of Paul Tennery (whose erudition was universally recognised in Europe) in favour of a positivist. The positivists constitute a lay congregation which is ready for any dirty work.
tS8 REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE attempted, at all costs, to give a perfectly rationalistic ex- position of Christian theology. Auguste Comte manufac- tured a caricature of Catholicism, in which he had retained only the administrative, hierarchical, and disciplinary machinery of that Church; his attempt obtained success only with those people who like to laugh at the simpHcity of their dupes. In the course of the nineteenth century, CathoUcism recovered strength to an extraordinary degree because it would abandon nothing; it even strengthened its mysteries, and, what is very curious, it gains ground in cultivated circles >^ere the rationaHsm which was formerly in fashion at the University is scoffed at.^ (3) The old claim made by our fathers that they had created a science of art or even that they could describe a work of art in so adequate a manner that the reader could obtain from a book an exact aesthetic appreciation of a picture or of a statue, we look upon nowadays as a perfect example of pedantry. Taine's efforts in the direction first mentioned are very interesting, but only as regards the history of the various schools. His method gives us no useful information about the works themselves. As for the descriptions, they are only of value if the works themselves are of small aesthetic value, and if they belong to what is sometimes called literary painting. The poorest photograph of the Parthenon conveys a hundred times as much information as a volume devoted to the praise of the marvels of this monument; it seems to me that the famous Frilre sur I'Acropole, so often praised as one of the finest passages in Renan, is a rather remarkable example of rhetoric, and that it is much more likely to render Greek art unintelligible to us than to make us admire the Parthenon. Despite all his enthusiasm for Diderot * Pascal protested eloquently against those who considered obscurity an objection against Catholicism, and Bruneti^re was right in looking upon him as being one of the most anticartesian of the men of his time {Etudes critiques, 4« s6rie, pp. 144-149).
THE PROLETARIAN STRIKE 159 (which is sometimes comical and expressed nonsensically), Joseph Reinach is obliged to acknowledge that his hero was lacking in artistic feeling in his famous Salons, because Diderot appreciated most of all those pictures which offered possibihties of literary dissertation,^ and Bruneti^re could say that Diderot's Salons were the corruption of criticism, because he discussed works of art in them as if they were books.* The impotence of speech is due to the fact that art flourishes best on mystery, half shades and indeterminate outlines; the more speech is methodical and perfect, the more likely is it to eliminate everything that distinguishes a masterpiece; it reduces the masterpiece to the pro- portions of an academic product.
As a result of this preliminary examination of the three highest achievements of the mind, we are led to beUeve that it is possible to distinguish in every complex body of knowledge a clear and an obscure region, and to say that the latter is perhaps the more important. The mistake made by superficial people consists in the statement that this second part must disappear with the progress of enlightenment, and that eventually everything will be explained rationally in terms of the little science. This error is particularly revolting as regards art, and, above all, perhaps, as regards modem painting, which seeks more and more to render combinations of shades to which no attention was formerly paid on account of their lack of stabiUty and of the difficulty of rendering them by speech.* B. (i) In ethics, the part that can be expressed easily, « Bruneti^re, Evolution des genres, p. 122. Elsewhere he calls Diderot a philistine, p. 153.
» It is to the credit of the impressionists that they showed that these fine shades can be rendered by painting; but some few among them soon began to paint according to the formulas of a school, and then there appeared a scandalous contrast between their works and their avowed aims.
i6o REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE in clearly reasoned expositions, is that which has reference to the equitable relations between men; it contains maxims which are to be found in many different civilisa- tions; consequently it was for a long time believed that a resume of these precepts might form the basis of a natural morality appHcable to the whole of humanity. The obscure part of morality is that which has reference to sexual relationships, and this part is not easily expressed in formulas; to imderstand it thoroughly you must have lived in a country for a great number of years. It is, more- over, the fundamental part; when it is known the whole psychology of a people is understood; the supposed uniformity of the first system in reaUty then conceals many differences; almost identical maxims may corre- spond to very different appUcations; their clearness was only a delusion.
(2) In legislation, everybody sees immediately that the law regulating contracts and debts constitutes the obvious part, that which is called scientific; here again there is great uniformity in the rules adopted by different peoples, and it was believed that it was eminently desirable to draw up a common code founded on a rational revision of those which existed, but in practice it is again foimd that, in different countries, the courts generally attach different meanings to these supposed common principles; that is because there is something individual and particular in each maxim.
The mysterious region is the family, which influences all social relationships. Le Play was very much struck by an opinion of Tocqueville on this subject: "I am astonished," said this great thinker, "that ancient and modem publicists have not attributed a greater influence on the progress of human affairs to the laws of inherit- ance. These laws, it is true, refer to civil private affairs, but they should be placed at the head of all political institutions, for they have an incredible influence on the THE PROLETARIAN STRIKE i6t social state of peoples, of which state the pohtical laws are only the expression/' ^ This remark governed all the researches of Le Play.
This division of legislation into a clear and an obscure region has one curious consequence: it is very rare for people who are not members of the legal professions to undertake any discussion of equity; they know that it is necessary to have an intimate knowledge of certain rules of law, in order to be able to argue about these questions: an outsider would run the risk of making himself ridiculous if he were to venture on an opinion; but on the question of divorce, of paternal authority, of inheritance, every man of letters beheves himself as learned as the cleverest lawyer, because in this obscure region there are no well-defined principles, nor regular deductions.
(3) In economics, the same distinction is, perhaps, still more evident; questions relative to exchange can be easily expounded; the methods of exchange are very much aUke in the different countries, and it is hardly Ukely that any very violent paradoxes will be made about monetary circulation. On the other hand, everything relative to production presents a complexity which is sometimes inextricable; it is in production that locsd traditions are most strongly maintained; ridiculous Utopias regarding production may be invented indefinitely without revolting the common sense of readers. Nobody denies that production is the fimdamental part of any economic system; this is a truth which plays a great part in Mcirxism, and which has been acknowledged even by authors who have been unable to imderstand its importance.* 1 Tocqueville, Dimocratie en Amirique, tome i. chap. iii. Le Play, Reforme sociale en France, chap. xvii. 4.
* In my Introduction d I'economie moderne I have shown how this distinction may be used to throw light on many questions which had i62 REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE C. Let us now examine how Parliamentary assemblies work. For a long time it was believed that their principal function was that of arguing out the most important questions of social organisation, and, above all, those relating to the constitution. In such matters it is possible to proceed from first principles by way of deduction to clear and concise conclusions. Our forefathers excelled in this scholastic type of argument, which forms the luminous part of political discussions. Now that the question of the constitution is scarcely ever discussed, certain great laws still give rise to fine oratorical tourna- ments; thus on the question of the separation of the Chruch and the State, the professional expounders of first principles were heard and even applauded; it was the opinion of all that the debates had rarely reached so high a level, and this was because the question was one that lent itself to academic discussion. But when, as more frequently happens, commercial laws or social measures are discussed, then we see the stupidity of our representa- tives displayed in all its splendour; ministers, presidents, or rapporteurs de commissions} speciaHsts, vie with each other in displays of stupidity; the reason for this is that we are now dealing with economic questions, and the mind is no longer guided by simple rules; in order to be able to give an opinion worthy of consideration on these questions, one must have had a practical acquaintance with them, and our honourable members cannot be said to possess this kind of knowledge. Among them may be found many representatives of the litUe science; on July 5, 1905, a well-known speciaHst in venereal diseases * till then remained exceedingly obscure, and notably to show the exact value of certain important arguments used by Proudhon.
1 [Laws in France are discussed by a committee elected by the Chamber; they alter the text of the law, and it is the duty of the rap- porteur, named by the committee, to defend the amended text in open discussion in the Chamber. — Trans. Note.]
* Doctor Augagneur was for a long time one of the glories of that THE PROLETARIAN STRIKE 163 declared that he had not studied political economy, having " a certain mistrust for that conjectural science." We must doubtless understand from this that it is more difficult to argue about production than it is to diagnose syphiUs.
The little science has engendered a fabulous number of sophistries which we continually come across, and which go down very well with the people who possess the stupid and mediocre culture distributed by the University. These sophistries consist in putting very different things on the same plane from a love of logical simplicity; thus sexual morality is reduced to the equitable relations between contracting parties, the family code to that regulating debts and agreements, and production to exchange.
Because, in nearly every country and in every age, the State has undertaken to regulate circulation, both of money and of banknotes, or has laid down a legal system of measures, it does not by any means follow that there would be the same advantage in entrusting to the State, for mere love of imiformity, the management of great enterprises: yet this argument is one of those which appeal most strongly to many medical students and nurslings of the School of Law. I am convinced that Jaur^s'is even now imable to understand why industry has been abandoned by lazy legislators to the anarchical tendencies of egotists; if production is really the base of ever5rthing, as Marx says, it is criminal not to place it in the front rank, not to subject it to a great legislative action, conceived on the same lines as those parts of legislation which owe their clearness to their abstract character, ix. not to order and arrange it so that it rests class of Intellectuals who looked upon Socialism as a variety of Drey- fusism; his great protests in favour of Justice have brought him to the governorship of Madagascar, which proves that virtue is sometimes rewarded.
j64 reflections ON VIOLENCE on great principles analogous to those which are brought forward when constitutional laws are discussed.
Sociahsm is necessarily very obscure, since it deals with production, i.e, with the most mysterious part of human activity, and since it proposes to bring about a radical transformation of that region which it is impossible to describe with the clearness that is to be found in more superficial regions. No effort of thought, no progress of knowledge, no rational induction will ever dispel the mystery which envelops Sociahsm; and it is because the philosophy of Marx recognised fully this feature of Socialism that it acquired the right to serve as the starting-point of Socialist inquiry.
But we must hasten to add that this obscurity lies only in the language by which we endeavour to describe the methods of realising Sociahsm; this obscurity may be said to be scholastic only; it does not in the least prevent us picturing the proletarian movement in a way that is exact, complete, and striking, and this may be achieved by the aid of that powerful construction which the proletarian mind has conceived in the course of social conflicts, and which is called the " general strike." It must never be forgotten that the perfection of this method of representa- tion would vanish in a moment if any attempt were made to resolve the general strike into a sum of historical details; the general strike must he taken as a whole and undivided, and the passage from capitalism to Socialism conceived as a catastrophe, the development of which baffles description.
The professors of the little science are really difficult to satisfy. They assert very loudly that they will only admit into thought abstractions analogous to those used in the deductive sciences: as a matter of fact, this is a rule which is insufficient for purposes of action, for we do nothing great without the help of warmly-coloured and clearly-defined images, which absorb the whole of oiu* THE PROLETARIAN STRIKE 165 attention; now, is it possible to find anything more satisfying from their point of view than the general strike? But, reply the professors, we ought to rely only on those reaUties which are given by experience: is, then, the picture of the general strike made up of tendencies which were not obtained directly from observation of the revolutionary movement? Is it a work of pure reason, manufactured by indoor scientists attempting to solve the social problem according to the rules of logic? Is it something arbitrary? Is it not, on the contrary, a spontaneous product analogous to those others which students of history come across in periods of action? They insist, and say that man ought not to let himself be carried away by his impulses without submitting them to the control of his inteUigence, whose rights are unchallenged; nobody dreams of disputing them; of course, this picture of the general strike must be tested, and that is what I have tried to do above; but the critical spirit does not consist in replacing historical data by the charlatanism of a sham science.
If it is desired to criticise the basis of the idea of the general strike, the attack must be directed against the revolutionary tendencies which it groups together, and shows as in action; by no other method worthy of attention can you hope to prove to the revolutionaries that they are wrong in giving all their energies to the cause of Socialism, and that their real interests would be better served if they were politicians; they have known this for a long time, and their choice is made; as they do not take up a utilitarian standpoint, any advice which you may give will be in vain.
We are perfectly well aware that the historians of the futiue are bound to discover that we laboiu"ed under many illusions, because they will see behind them a finished world. We, on the other hand, must act, and nobody can tell us to-day what these historians will know; i66 REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE nobody can furnish us with the means of modifying our motor images in such a way as to avoid their criticisms.
Our situation resembles somewhat that of the physicists who work at huge calculations based on theories which are not destined to endure for ever. We have nowadays abandoned all hope of discovering a complete science of nature; the spectacle of modem scientific revolutions is not encouraging for scientists, and has no doubt led many people, naturally enough, to proclaim the bankruptcy of science, and yet we should be mad if we handed the management of industry over to sorcerers, mediums, and wonder-workers. The philosopher who does not seek to make a practical application of his theories may take up the point of view of the future historian of science, and then dispute the absolute character of present-day scientific theses; but he is as ignorant as the present-day physicist when he is asked how to correct the explanations given by the latter; must he therefore take refuge in scepticism?
Nowadays no philosophers worthy of consideration accept the sceptical position; their great aim, on the contrary, is to prove the legitimacy of a science which, however, makes no claim to know the real nature of things, and which confines itself to discovering relations which can be utilised for practical ends. It is because sociology is in the hands of people who are incapable of any philo- sophic reasoning that it is possible for us to be attacked (in the name of the little science) for being content with methods founded on the laws that a really thorough psychological analysis reveals as fundamental in the genesis of action, and which are revealed to us in all great historical movements.
To proceed scientifically means, first of all, to know what forces exist in the world, and then to take measures whereby we may utilise them, by reasoning from experience. That is why I say that, by accepting the idea of the general THE PROLETARIAN STRIKE 167 strike, although we know that it is a mjrth, we are pro- ceeding exactly as a modem physicist does who has complete confidence in his science, although he knows that the future will look upon it as antiquated. It is we who really possess the scientific spirit, while our critics have lost touch both with modem science and modem philosophy; and having proved this, we are quite easy in our minds.
CHAPTER V THE POLITICAL GENERAL STRIKE I. Use made of the syndicates by politicians — Pressure on Parlia- ments— The general strike in Belgium and Russia.
II. Differences in the two currents of ideas corresponding to the two conceptions of the general strike: class war; the State; the aristocracy of thought.
III. Jealousy fostered by politicians — War as a source of heroism and as pillage — Dictatorship of the proletariat and its historical antecedents.
IV. Force and Violence — Marx's ideas about force — Necessity of a new theory in the case of proletarian violence.
Politicians are people whose wits are singularly sharpened by their voracious appetites, and in whom the himt for fat jobs develops the cunning of Apaches. They hold purely proletarian organisations in horror, and discredit them as much as they can; frequently they even deny their efficacity, in the hope of alienating the workers from groups which, they say, have no future. But when they perceive that their hatred is powerless, that their abuse does not hinder the working of these detested organisa- tions, and that these have become strong, then they seek to turn to their own profit the forces which the pro- letariat has created.
The co-operative societies were for a long time denoimced as useless to the workers; since they have THE POLITICAL GENERAL STRIKE i6g prospered, more than one politician has cast languishing eyes on their cash-box, and would like to see the party supported by the income from the bakery and the grocery, as the Israelite consistories in many countries live on the dues from the Jewish butchers.^ The syndicates may be very useful in electoral pro- paganda; a certain amount of skill is needed to utihse them profitably, but politicians do not lack lightness of finger. Gu^rard, the secretary of the railway syndicate, was once one of the most ardent revolutionaries in France; in the end, however, it was borne in upon him that it was easier to play with poUtics than to prepare for the general strike; 2 he is to-day one of those men in whom the Direction du Travail has most confidence, and in 1902 he went to a great deal of trouble in order to secure the return of Millerand to Parliament. There is a very large railway station in the constituency which the Socialist minister sought to represent, and, without the support of Gu^rard, Millerand would probably have been defeated. In the Socialiste of September 14, 1902, a Guesdist denounced this conduct, which seemed to him doubly 1 In Algeria the scandals in the administration of the consistories (the administrative councils of the Jewish community), which had become sinks of electoral corruption, compelled the Government to reform them; but the recent law respecting the separation of the Churches and the State will probably bring about a return to the old practices.
* An attempt to organise a railway strike was made in 1898; Joseph Reinach says this about it: "A very shady individual, Gu6rard, who had founded an association of railway workers and employees which had a membership of 20,000, intervened (in the conflict with the navvies of Paris) with the announcement of a general strike of his syndicate...Brisson authorised search warrants, had the stations guarded by soldiery, and placed lines of sentinels along the track; nobody came out " (Histoirede V affaire Dreyfus, tome iv. pp. 310-31 1. Nowadays the Gu6rard syndicate is in such good odour with the Government that the latter has granted it permission to start a big lottery. On May 14, 1907, Clemenceau spoke of it in the Chamber as a body of " sensible and reasonable people," opposed to the goings-on of the Confederation du Travail.
lyo REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE scandalous since, in the first place, the congress of railway workers had decided that the syndicate should not enter into politics and, secondly, because a former deputy, a Guesdist, was Millerand's opponent. The author of the article feared that " the corporative groups were on the wrong track, and that, although they started out to utilise poHtics, they might finally find themselves the tools of a party." He was quite right; in any deals between the representatives of the syndicates and poli- ticians, it will always be the latter who will reap the greater advantage.
PoHticians have more than once intervened in strikes, desiring to destroy the prestige of their adversaries and to capture the confidence of the workers. The Longwy dock strikes, in 1905, arose out of the efforts of a Republican federation which attempted to organise the syndicates that might possibly serve its poUcy as against that of the employers; ^ the business did not quite take the turn desired by the promoters of the movement, who were not familiar enough with this kind of operation. Some SociaUst poHticians, on the contrary, possess consummate skill in combining instincts of revolt into electoral forces. It was inevitable, therefore, that a few people should be struck by the idea that the great movements of the masses might be used for political ends.
The history of England affords more than one example of a Government giving way when numerous demonstra- tions against its proposals took place, even though it was strong enough to repel by force any attack on existing institutions. It seems to be an admitted principle of Parliamentary Government that the majority cannot persist in pursuing schemes which give rise to popular demonstrations of too serious a kind. It is one of the appHcations of the system of compromise on which this regime is f oimded; no law is valid when it is looked upon THE POLITICAL GENERAL STRIKE 171 by a minority as being so oppressive that it rouses them to violent opposition. Great riotous demonstrations are an indication that the moment is not far off when an armed revolt might break out; Governments which are respectful of the old traditions give way before such demonstrations.^ Between the first simple threat of trouble and a riot a general political strike might take place, which might assimie any one of a large number of forms: it might be peaceful and of short duration, its aim being to show the Government that it is on the wrong track, and that there are forces which could resist it; it might also be the first act of a series of bloody riots.
During the last few years Parliamentary Socialists have not been so sure that they would soon come into power, and they have recognised that their authority in the two Houses is not destined to increase indefinitely. When there are no exceptionad circumstances to force the Government to buy their support with large con- cessions, their Parliamentary power is very much reduced. It would therefore be a great advantage to them if they could bring outside pressure to bear on recalcitrant majorities which would appear to threaten the Con- servatives with a formidable insurrection.
If there were in existence rich working-class federations, highly centraUsed and in a position to impose a strict discipline on their members, Socialist deputies would not have very much trouble in inflicting their leadership occasionally on their Parliamentary colleagues. All that they would have to do would be to take advantage of an 1 The clerical party thought that it would be able to make use of these tactics to block the application of the law regarding the congrega- tions; it hoped that some show of violence would cause the Govern- ment to give way, but the latter stuck to its guns, and it may be said that one of the mainsprings of the Parliamentary system was thus broken, since there arc fewer obstacles than formerly to the dictator- ship of Parliament.
172 REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE Opportunity that was favourable to a movement of revolt, in order to stop some branch of industry for a few days. It has more than once been proposed that the Govern- ment should be brought to a standstill in this fashion by a stoppage in the working of the mines or of the railways.^ For such tactics to produce the full effect desired, the strike must break out unexpectedly at the word of com- mand of the party, and must stop when the latter has signed a compact with the Government. It is for these reasons that politicians are so very much in favour of the centralisation of the syndicates, and that they talk so much about discipHne.^ It is to be understood, of course, that this discipline is one which must subject the proletariat to their command. Associations which are very decentralised and grouped into Bourses du Travail would offer them far fewer guarantees of success; so that all those who are not in favour of a solid concentration of the proletariat round the party leaders are regarded by the latter as anarchists.