''Reflections on Violence'' (french: Réflexions sur la violence, links=no), published in 1908, is a book by the French revolutionary
syndicalist
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...
Georges Sorel
Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and ...
on
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
and revolution. Sorel is known for his theory that political revolution depends on the
proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
organizing violent uprisings and strikes to institute
syndicalism
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of prod ...
,
an
economic system
An economic system, or economic order, is a system of Production (economics), production, resource allocation and Distribution (economics), distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combinati ...
in which (self-organizing groups of only proletarians) truly represent the needs of the working class.
One of Sorel's most controversial claims was that violence could save the world from "
barbarism".
[ He equated violence with life, creativity, and virtue.][ This served as the foundation for ]fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
as it broke away from its international socialism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...
roots to become national socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
. The direct mob action of fascist gangs used the rationale of violence as creation that Sorel had laid out.
In this book, he contends that myths are important as "expressions of will to act".[ He also supports the creation of an economic system run by and for the interests of producers rather than consumers.][ His ideas were influenced by various other philosophical writers, including ]Giambattista Vico
Giambattista Vico (born Giovan Battista Vico ; ; 23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationali ...
, Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...
, Ernest Renan
Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...
, Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
, Eduard von Hartmann
Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of '' Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of al ...
, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
, John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
, Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, and Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
.[
Sorel makes an important note on the purpose of the work in his introduction: "I am not at all concerned to justify the ''perpetrators of violence'', but to inquire into the function of ''violence of the working classes'' in contemporary Socialism."
]
Social Reformism and the "Specter of Revolution"
Sorel often throughout the ''Reflections'' takes a highly-skeptical tone toward the French parliamentary socialist reformers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries like statesmen Jean Jaurès
Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; oc, Joan Jaurés ), was a French Socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became one of the first social dem ...
, Édouard Vaillant
Marie Édouard Vaillant (26 January 1840 – 18 December 1915) was a French politician.
Born in Vierzon, Cher, son of a lawyer, Édouard Vaillant studied engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, graduating in 1862, and then la ...
, Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
, and Alexander Millerand. It is of Sorel's opinion that such politicians were more interested in careerism
Careerism is the propensity to pursue career advancement, power, and prestige outside of work performance.
Cultural environment
Cultural factors influence how careerists view their occupational goals. How an individual interprets the term "caree ...
than social revolution, hence he came to regard their occasionally more radical rhetoric (usually involving the declaration of strikes) as an attempt to shore up votes and intimidate their conservative party opposition, nothing more. Sorel goes on to say that, of revolution, "that the middle classes allow themselves to be plundered quite easily y the parliamentary socialist politicians ''via'' taxation provided that little pressure is brought to bear, and that they are intimidated by the fear of revolution; ''that eformistparty will possess the future which can most skillfully manipulate the specter of revolution...''" Sorel took issue with the custom of degenerating the methods working-class resistance, especially that of strikes (Sorel was, notably, a syndicalist
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...
), into a tool of electoral strategy to scare the conservative politicians and middle classes into making economic or political concessions.
Sorel contested that these socialist politicians, which he ironically refers to on multiple instances as France's "worthy progressives," are utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
ns. Sorel's definition of utopia, however, is not in the usual sense of the term: "A Utopia is, s opposed to the revolutionary movement an '' intellectualist'' product."[Sorel 2004a, p. 50] What Sorel goes on to explain is that utopias are a rationalist approach to social problems; it conforms society to the intellect by drawing up grand schemas for how to alleviate the suffering of the masses before the act itself. In this sense, Sorel identifies the reformists squarely as utopians. After taking apart the issues of society piecemeal and planning the resolutions for each, they are to "be fitted into approaching legislation."
It is not only the socialist statesmen that Sorel identifies utopian thought, he sees it as a larger intellectual trend that occupies multiple disciplines. For this reason, Sorel states that "Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
is one of the best examples of a utopia that could be given" owing to its promises of universal meritocracy and wealth for the working class by the laws of perfect competition by the capitalist market. (It is of note that Sorel opposes "Utopia's," which are inspired by the intellectual-rationalist tradition, with the spontaneous "revolutionary movement
A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the State ( ...
" that is motivated by myths—this is more heavily explored below on the subsection concerning myths.)
"Dictatorship of Incapacity" and Class Decadence
Sorel uses the phrase "dictatorship of incapacity" to term a state of decadence
The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...
in capitalist society where, in his view, the two classes of society, proletarian
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philoso ...
and bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
, lose all of their class energies: "Before the working class also could accept this 'dictatorship of incapacity,' it must itself become as stupid as the middle class, and must ''lose all revolutionary energy'', at the same time that ''its masters will have lost all capitalistic energy''." Sorel holds that what historically made the capitalist system so powerful and great was the unapologetic spirit of the capitalists to act as "captains of industry
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
," conquering the world through industrial dynamism. This uncompromising spirit motivated the proletariat, for Sorel, into violence against their economic masters and thus forced both classes to reach a high moral ethic or to be truly sublime: in tune with the position of each class in dangerous relation to the other. He praises the capitalists of the past who were "animated by their conquering, insatiable, and pitiless spirit" as opposed to the modern "middle class, led astray by the ''chatter'' of the preachers of ethics and sociology, return to an ''ideal of conservative mediocrity'', seek to correct the ''abuses'' of economics, and wish to break with the barbarism of their predecessors..." Here Sorel is attacking the "progressive" bourgeoisie and their liberal parties that preach for charitable policy.
It is mentioned by Sorel, however, that this period of decadence can be rejuvenated by proletarian violence, which will act in an uncompromising manner with the capitalist class and break them of their modern philanthropic
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
and charitable attitudes towards the poor. Sorel says, "the role of violence in history appears singularly great... as to awaken them .e. the middle classto a sense of their own class sentiment." Sorel maintains that proletarian violence "tends to restore the separation of classes" which had undergone erasure in the prevailing humanitarian
Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...
ethic of joyful coexistence. Needless to say, Sorel takes great pains with liberalism as a pacifying historical phenomenon; only could proletarian violence in the name of the class war reinvigorate capitalism's lost war-like spirit. Of mention, too, is Sorel's opinion that the syndicalist general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
, spontaneous and invigorating, is the most trustworthy method of bringing about this redemptive violence.
Proletarian Violence and Bourgeois Force
Sorel makes the argument that the coercion employed by the bourgeoisie in the formation of early capitalist history through the state (colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
, chattel slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, the eviction of peasants, imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
, etc.) is not violence per se but ''force''. Violence is spontaneous, criminal, and illegitimate to the current state-power. Force, on the other hand, is the movement of the state which is organized, legal, and under the direction and in the interest of preserving the capitalist system of mastery—violence is chaotic; force is disciplinary. Sorel has this to say: " distinction should be drawn between the ''force'' that aims at authority, endeavoring to bring about an automatic obedience, and the ''violence'' that would smash that authority." For Sorel, Marx never drew such a distinction because his economic project lacked the plethora of 20th-century proletarian revolts and their special strategies, so Marx's historical analysis was constrained to the investigation of the timely use of bourgeois force to meet the ends of capital (in what is generally referred to as primitive accumulation
In Marxian economics and preceding theories,Perelman, p. 25 (ch. 2) the problem of primitive accumulation (also called previous accumulation, original accumulation) of capital concerns the origin of capital, and therefore of how class distinct ...
). In his words: "I do not think that Marx had ever examined any other form of social constraints except force."
In bringing his views full circle, Sorel states that the reformist disciples of Marx have deepened this area of ignorance where nothing but force is conceptualized as a historical force. In entrenching themselves in this error, they naively believe capitalism "could be destroyed by force .e., with the powers of the existing state as it had been created by the intervention of force..." It becomes clear that there are great resemblances between Sorel's attitude of the state and that of Lenin in his ''The State and Revolution
''The State and Revolution'' (1917) is a book by Vladimir Lenin describing the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dicta ...
''.
Myth and the "Homeric Hero"
An exhaustive definition of myths is not given by Sorel. On frequent occasions, he refers to them as "pictures," "images," or "expressions," but never a full description. The reason is given by Sorel on the account that myths "must be taken as a whole, as historical forces, and that we should be especially careful not to make any comparison between accomplished fact and the picture people had formed for themselves before action." Further, he opposes the "attempt to analyse such groups of images in the way that we analyse a thing in its elements..." The scientific approach does not accurately explain myths for Sorel, as they are "expressions of a determination to act" and therefore belong to man's irrational spontaneity. We may understand the function of such myths but they escape any universal description in the present: they are far too particular, relative, and dependent on the culture of the producers of these images; only case studies are possible in this instance, and the understanding of them as a historical force. In addition to this, Sorel adds another important word on his understanding of myths: " n who are participating in a great social movement always picture their coming action as a battle in which their cause is certain to triumph. These constructions, knowledge of which is so important to historians, I propose to call myths." The character or "color" of this construction is dependent on the conditions of life that the producers of the myth experience.
There is also the concept of the "catastrophic myth" in Sorel's theory of myths, which is employed by groups in a struggle that purports the coming of catastrophe in a society, the subsequent fall of all things henceforth static in history. For reference, Sorel cites the Christians who, in early theology, believed in the imminent punishment of mankind by God in an apocalyptic episode; although this reckoning was never realized, it nonetheless ''functioned accordingly'' in bringing about more fervent Christians: "The catastrophe did not come to pass, but Christian thought profited so greatly from the apocalyptic myth that certain contemporary scholars maintain that the whole preaching of Christ referred solely to this point." It was by this metric of function, and that alone, that myths ought to be valued or not by Sorel; "The myth must be judged as a means of acting on the present; any attempt to discuss how far it can be taken literally is devoid of sense." The power of the myths come from their ability to negate any compromise. Clearly, there is a fate involved in these catastrophic myths, a fate which convinces the faithful that "all attempts made to bring about social peace seem childish..." The good myth is, therefore, the totalizing one for Sorel, which "drags into the revolutionary track everything it touches." Once again, Sorel believes it is the general strike that can bring about a similar sentiment for socialism.
Intimately linked to Sorel's theory of myth is that of hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...
ism owing to how intimately myth deals with the concept of war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
and, so too, that of sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...
. It is the idea of war conceived heroically, as Sorel names it,[Sorel 2004a, p. 166] which he dwells on. For, in drawing an identical parallel with Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
's theory of master morality, the heroic war has stitched in it " e ardent desire to try ones strength in great battles... to conquer glory at the peril of one's life." Sorel desires that the proletariat rises to this occasion who, in the final contest of classes, "will give proof of the whole measure of its value." Compare this to Nietzsche's views, which Sorel was influenced thoroughly by, in how he sees the nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
approach war: " re alone genuine 'love of one's enemies' is possible... How much reverence has a noble man for his enemies!.. For he desires his enemy for himself, as his mark of distinction... in whom there is nothing to despise and ''very much'' to honor!" Sorel goes further, in fact, and establishes that the "master type" spoken of by Nietzsche is still in existence in the United States, which for Sorel's time retained the culture of capitalist conquest and fervent exploitation of all by the individual, even comparing them to the "ancient Greek sailor" in their adventures. Nietzsche's disdain for popular democratic values, or the "herd instinct," which led him to regard the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
as "the lowering" of mankind morally, is known to Sorel, who addresses what he believes to be Nietzsche's mistake: "If it has been believed that the type Homeric_Hero".html" ;"title="Homer.html" ;"title="f "Homer">Homeric Hero"">Homer.html" ;"title="f "Homer">Homeric Hero"was bound was disappear, that was because the Homeric values were imagined to be irreconcilable with the other values which sprang from this principle; Nietzsche committed this error, which all those who believe in the necessity of unity in thought are bound to make."[Sorel 2004a, p. 232] Sorel makes his point that if proletarian violence is to emerge, it will draw from these Homeric archetypes which characterized Nietzsche's understanding of master morality, thus dispensing with the "morality of the weak" which would make any attempt at revolutionary socialism impossible.
References
{{reflist
1908 non-fiction books
French books
Books about violence
Political philosophy literature
Contemporary philosophical literature