dp/77 - 87
ACTION AND- . EXISTENCE.
- the anarchoexistentialist view• • of organization - by
Pierre Guillet de Monthoux
October 1977
This paper is circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment.Its contents are preliminary and should, therefore, not be quoted without permission.
CONTENTS
Abstract Illustrations and Tables
Part I Project I
Two Projects
II Beauvoirs Birds Before the Prize
III The Best Things in Life are Free
'iv Do it
Direct and indirect action
V Rerevolution
VI Flexible fellows
Socialist Bureaucracy
VII Deskwork Transition
Short Spring Loop
VIII Arden's Complexcreme
Classification of the Ludicrous
IX Monkey Business
X Project II (source: Yues Klein)
Personalization
Some existentialist concepts Common anarchistic and
existentiali'stic antibureaucracy concents. ’
REFERENCES
Abstract
The word anarchy is often used in writings about organi
zations, but unfortunately it is seldom explained. One may even suspect that it is used as some kind of interest grabber.
This essay attempts to explain the meaning of anarchism by some concrete cases from literature. We will also suggest
that anarchism is a practical part of a perspective ' on an organi
zation of which existentialism is a philosophical counterpart.
In ten chapters we try . to expose various ■ aspects. of '/an ■ anarchoexistentiälist ' perspective which is an alternative to the. traditional perspective found in, e.g. sociological
investigations of bureaucracy. In summary, the ten parts contain:
I. The problem is posed by using two literary examples,
II.■ Suggesting that projects.might.be understood as existential attitudes of project leaders, we.introduce some of Beauvoirs' and Camus' ideas■ on revolt- and freedom,
III. Individualism of Stirner and■the counterinductive research strategy of Feyerabend lead us into the domain of individual anarchism,
IV. Action, and especially direct action, as opposed to indirect bureaucratic action, is an essential part of existence,
V. What is sometimes called antiauthoritarian socialism, an .
overlap between anarchistic ■ ideas and socialism, has developed throuqh the practical experience of change and revolution,
VI. How -io various writers describe and analyze the fact that • sudden ' spontaneous change often turns to frozen bureaucracy;
the Soviet case, .
VII.Mainly based on the economist Kolm we mention some aspects of the so-called transition ■problem.
VIII.Arrogant revolt and humor as an intuitive tool of'criticism , Some modern revisions of-marxism ' ■ in an anarchistic-exis-tn-ntia-l
direction, • •
IX. TTe Spaaiih synnitailim aad some of üt spa.itntai r.cdd^s ' ■ for an _ adniiunhorinariin societ—.
X. • .
Finally, we. go through some basic ideas' in existentialist philosophy and try to show that a main feature of bureaucracy. is its anti-philosophical.attitude inspired of logical emoirism. Anarchoexistential analysis of organization is not scientific but rather artistic. To understand organizations we have,
therefore, if we want to use an anarchoexistentialist method, to turn to different forms of art.
verwendet - leider aber selten erläutert. Man könnte vermuten, es diene nur der Gewinnung von Aufmerksamkeit. Diese Arbeit
versucht, die Bedeutung des Anarchismus anhand konkreter Beispiele aus der Literatur zu erklären. Wir sehen den Anarchismus als
einen praktischen Teil einer Organisationsperspektive, deren philosophisches Gegenstück der Existenzialismus ist.
In zehn Kapiteln versuchen wir die verschiedenen Aspekte der anarcho-ex'istenzialistischen Perspektive aufzuzeigen. Sie wird als Alternative zur traditionellen Sicht, z.B. zu soziologischen Untersuchungen des .Bürokratiephänomens, angesehen. Im einzelnen beschäftigen sich die zehn Kapitel mit folgendem:
I. Das Problem wird mit zwei Beispielen aus der Literatur auf
gezeigt.
II. Da Projekte mit den existenziellen Einstellungen der Projekt
leiter verstanden werden können, führen wir einige Gedanken von Beauvoir und Camus über Revolte und Freiheit ein.
III. Der Individualismus von Stirner und die.kontrainduktive Forschungsstrategie von Feyerabend führen uns in den Bereich des individuellen • Anarchismus.
IV. ■ Aktion und besonders direkte Aktion als Gegenstück indirekter, bürokratischer Aktion sind•ein wesentlicher Teil der Existenz.
V. Was manchmal anti autoritärer Sozialismus genannt wird - eine Überschneidung von anarchistischen Ideen und Sozialismus -
entwickelte. .sich aus der praktische Erfahrung mit Veränderungen und Revolution.
VI. Wie beschreiben und analysieren verschiedene Autoren die Tatsache, daß plötzliche und spontane Änderungen sich oft in bürokratische Erstarrung verwandeln? (Beispiel Sowjetunion) VII. Gestützt auf den Ökonomen Kolm.zeigen wir einige Aspekte des
Übergangsproblems auf. '
VIII. Intuitive Möglichkeiten der Kritik: arrogante Revolte und Humor. Neuere Revisionen des Marxismus in anarchisch existenzieller Richtung.
alistischen Philosophie und versuchen zu zeigen, daß der Hauptaspekt der Bürokratie seine durch logischen Empirismus beeinflußte antiphilosophische Einstellung ist. Die anarcho existenzielle Analyse von Organisationen ist kaum als
wissenschaftlich zu. bezeichnen, sie .ist eher künstlerisch zu
verstehen.
—* With what do you associate an "enterprise"?' Offices,
production-lines, warehouses full of goods, trucks'and aircrafts, chimneys and pollution" Do you visualize industry as objects"
Or, do you rather see industrious activity, cleaning up your flat, packing your things and going away on a journey, climbing a hill or going for a walk. Then, you rather consider an enterprise as a project which implies a movement. The Latin pro ieceo means throw ahead.
A project could be anything uncertain which goes from the
present into the future. A thought, a picnic, or an expedition. Why engage- in a project" When you go off for a walk, you may say that you go to visit someone. Sir John Stanley was a
specialist of such projects. He - always found lost people whom he had to rescue from various evils. But Livingston did not consider himself lost when Stanley arrived to rescue him. In a fiction novel,Per Olof Sundman tells the story of - Sir John rescuing Kangi Pascha:
"When I first heard of Kangi Pascha's distress,- said Sir John, it became clear to me that he had to be rescued..It also became clear to me that this was natural not because Kangi Pascha was a high ottoman -public • official, but- because he was originally an European and, despite his title and name, still was considered as
such..."1)
And Sir John adds:
"The rescue of Kangi Pascha, is the goal. Our expedition is the means. During its preparation, I
have noticed how my interest has shifted from the Pascha to the expedition as such".2)
The enterprise to save someone needs resources. Stanley has to pay his - bearers, a-- staff..ofployal assistants, buy weapons and provisions. His project demands discipline and obedience, bought with money.
"What I expect of you Lt. Larrone, is not advice, points of views or- .ideas. Primarily, I need your loyalty. Then I expect you to show energy where the situation demands it."3)
On an island on the coast of Africa, the expedition is
prepared. The equipment is loaded on ships. Sir John concentrates on planning and his orders are carried out bv his staff.
"An expedition like ours is a matter of figures, something to be considered a■fine art as mathematics.
It is fairly easy to list the important things. It is equally easy to calculate the total weight of the
important things to be transported. But, then it is much more difficult to reduce the list to realistic pro
portions. After several reductions, the equipment we by
needed to rescue the Pascha weighed more than seven tons."
The enterprise is a machine designed by Sir.John. Every evening he gathers his staff to.lecture on his own excellence.
"An expedition of the kind we are attempting is 'a very demanding enterprise. It has a purely practical
facet, it must be.carried out. This is a common task for both of us. It has also a theoretical part, it must be prepared and organized. And, this is of course a task
for the responsible manager, ' demanding continuous consider ation and unceasing cold calculation."5)
When the ships•are loaded; when the bearers, who have stolen provisions, are shot,he is■in' negotiating or planning. But, what happens to the expedition? Is Kangi Pascha ever rescued?
The point in Sundarnen's novel is not to show the result, because there is no, . result:. The expedition sinks deeper and deeper into the jungle. More and more energy is needed to keep it going.
Bearers are deserting the meaningless enterprise and, consequent
ly, the control and punishment system has to be strengthened.
Heat and humidity consumes energy. The evening discussions regard various ways of stopping insects, worms and snakes from coming into the.tents. We get an impression of an inefficient extremely costly project led . by a master in the art of
legitimation. Perhaps there are treasures, ivory or gold in the jungle. And if there is no Kangi Pascha and no treasures, there is always the scientific reason for engaging. To whatever objection is occurring, Sir John has a■ ■ rational . argument.He invents natural laws of his own. Sir.John's law on distance
calculation. ..
"The calculation of the distance becomes complex as the structure of the landscape is not the only determining factor.The numerical of the caravan is important.The more men, the shorter the distance, the larger the expedition,
the longer the distance."^)
Sir John's law for optimal armament of an Africa expedition.
"Winchester or Snider quns is-a matter of balancing short-run fire efficiency versus long-run carrying of heavy ammunition.”7)
He even succeeds in convincing his staff that the fact that bearers desert should be considered positively.
"Those who run away in the beginning are certainly of a kind which would have become a nusiance later.
We could consider this a selection process. Have you read 'The Origin of Species'?"^)
His final strategy when the project system is threatened by atrophy is to use various threats. One has to protect oneself from unknown dangerous native tribes in the jungle, from nature, from the unreliable native bearers whose strange language and culture one does not understand. Faced with those unknown dangers, the expedition temporarily overcomes
atrophy and plugs the energy leaks. Sundman is fascinated by projects and what motivates them. He accounts for how the Swedish engineer Andree sets up an expedition to fly over the North Pole in a balloon 1897. In the novel on the project
the story is told by one, Fraenkl, of the two-man crew who accompanied Andree. Fraenkl finally made up his mind to join the expedition when he read a speech given by Andree at the Swedish Academy of Science.
"The Swedes, said Andree in his famous speech at the Academy of Science last year, have a special courageous character, they are familiar with the
long winters and the severe cold. They are, more than any people, suited for discovering the secret of the Pole. We have our mission, he said. On us the world has a natural expectation. The North Pole is a Swedish concern. " 9)
When Fraenkl comes face-to-face with his hero, Andree, he meets someone famous for what he is supposed to do.Someone who has used up much of his energy to sell his project. Andree
tells Fraenkl to
"...make it completely clear to yourself that your decision is yours not mine."
But Fraenkl has long ago made up his mind.
Soon Fraenkl is in Paris by the manufacturer of the balloon. He is absorbed in technicalities, the seams, the veils and the steering lines. On some calm and sunny days, he makes a couple of ascensions. He tries to learn everything about aernautical navigation, from the French balloon experts.
They are very negative to the project:
"Your balloon, he said, is the best manufactured until now, this I and Renard could assure you, but
your expedition.will fail. Still, I urge you to start."
Back in Stockholm follows newspaper■ interviews, the posing for a sculpture*of the- Stockholm Wax Cabinet, gala banquets and still more hectic preparation-. In a yacht put at their disposal by the Swedish King,' Oscar II, Andree and his men arrive at the Spitzberg in May 1897. The balloon is slowly filled with hydrogen gas. Provisionsand equipment are loaded in the gondala.
The days waiting for favorable.weather conditions for takeoff are spent fishing, hunting or eating. Suddenly one morning, after
some hesitation, the three men set off in their balloon.
Ten minutes later, they are pressed down by falling winds and the gondala touches the surface of the water. In desperation, Andree and his crew throw away most of the ballast. The ropes by which the balloon'should be steered against the pole were - already lost during the takeoff. Pressed down by the weight of dampness and ice, the balloon is forced to land three days
later. According to Andree’s theoretical calculation, it should have carried them at least one month. Now starts the march towards death. Project evaluation? What calculations did Andree really do? He who arrogantly called himself a scientific aeronaut and all other balloon,pilots rogues. He who had been able' to overtalk Alfred Nobel to put up money for the project.
Did Nobel finance something that he thought would succeed?
Or did he give his money to an heroic nationalistic suicide?
Was' the greatness of Andree that he faced nature with the minimum of knowledge?
"The more knowledge is lacking, the more daring and adventurous the project. Honor is a product of bravery. The less the knowledge, the more , bravery is needed. The more bravery needed, the larger the honor if one succeeds."11) .
Andree's enterprise indeed makes the impression of being determined by some mysterious destiny. "The whole world is waiting" says someone in the crowd during the takeoff.
"That is something we do not have to take into account, says Andree. Our departure is dependent on purely tehnical and meterological considerations.
On the other hand, he continued, there is always a 'on the other hand'. We are after all this waiting,
obliged to fulfill the expectations on our departure." J Andree forecasted a warm and sunm, polar summer but during the short journey, the weather was cold and damp. Did bad
planning cause the failure?
"A man equipped with a strong will, a marked strong will is always in a very dangerous position.
What position? I asked. ...
- To be forced to subordinate to his own will."
The planning was indeed minimal. The equipment was useless.
Instead of sledges and water-tight clothes, they found champagne in the gondala.
The sleeping bags are made of fur which does not resist water.
All those objects, which stopped the critique before the takeoff, are now criticized. Total re-evaluation.
"I had and I have difficulties in understanding my relations to Andree.
To start with, a tremendous confidence. ...
Thereafter a dash of doubt and hesitance."
But Andree resists all interpretations to the bitter end.
"I don't want to press you, I said.
- You can't press me, answered Andree." '
Sir John and engineer Andree are both, so-called practical men of actionIn Sundman' s analysis we see how shrewdly they maneuver to realize their projects. They neither compromise nor negotiate. Andree calls himself a liberal and he is fairly liberal with himself, but rather demanding towards others. Sir John sets out to rescue the lost Kangi Pascha but loses himself and his men in the jungle. One may discuss whether Andree is a real scientist, but it is totally clear that he has the life
cn
ALL PLANNING DONE BY: ALL PLANNING DONE BY:
Sir John Andree
LEGITIMATION:
Official II Find Kangi.
Pascha...
Fly over the North Pole.
Political II Who is European... In Swedish balloon...
Scientific III And probably knows much about AFrica, e.g. natural riches, mines, African geography
And make scientific ;
observations ;
t Costs:
Capital Human
Mostly privately, financed?
Executed deserters
Financed by state,King, f private means, e.g. J A. Nobel
Andree, Fraenkel,Strindberg, died
Result • Failure
Problem Leaks of Bearers
Deserting
Leaks of Gas from balloon
Solution: Harder discipline, Ballast thrown away
Executions Crash landing
prospective of a logical empiricism. Both project leaders present subjective ideas as objective. They get authority through the use of scientific jargon. Andree disguises his own ideas, his own free will in a mystical determinism. He has to follow his destiny, he and his men are sucked down by its malstrom. Action is a practical necessity which must be' carried out into death.
To the subordinates, blinded by loyalty, men of action godlike supermen.
U-
When we are called ."decision-makers" in our professional life, this is to say that we are free to act. A popular view is that freedom of mind implies we have to be "cool" and stav away from emotions. But Sartre shows.that "passions are far from physiological thunder stooms'.'^^and that consequently, emotional acting could also be free decision-making. Both in passion and reason, what Sartre calls the magical and technical worlds, we will confront the question of free decision, "who
am I"? The roots of action are■to be found in our answer to that question. The way in which I throw myself ahead, project myself towards my existence. Could such a process ever be
explained in logical terms? •
This is the question which the philosopher of action tries to answer. Von Wright claims that any logic of action has
■ 17) "*
to be a logic -"in-the • first pers-On". In a subjective logic the conclusion is my act of thought of body based on my own premises. I want to read .a book, to read I have to see, . therefore, I turn on the light. Objectivity, the third person logic is the logic of theoreticians who do not have to take
the consequences of•their conclusions. The problem of understand ing the logic of entrepreneurs is, therefore, equal to the
traditional philosophical problem .of understanding the difference between a scientific theoretical logic and practical reasoning.
In his contribution in the . .tradition of thought from Aristotl via
Kant to Lenin, Levi Strauss tries to'describe how a practical man, the primitive native, understands his "environment.
"A Jack-of-all-trades can.accomplish various
tasks, but he does not, as would an engineer, especially acquire raw materials, tools for a specific task. He
does not subordinate acquisition to the task, his instru mental universe is closed and the rule of his game is that he always adapts himself to 'what is at hand'. He always has a determined and restricted set of tools and materials which is'extremely heterogeneous because of
the fact that it was not acquired for the actual enter prise or any specific enterprise at all. His box of
tools is the result of all reasons which have cropped- up to enrich . .his stock with whatever old constructions or destructions."13
If our projects and acts are results of coping with our
existential problem, when does this problem occur? Kemp emphasizes that by birth, we become engaged in the world and illustrates
with a quote from Pascall, saying that "not to play, is to lose, you are caught in the game, whether you want it or not. Life is to play a game and one cannot play without longing for winn
ing... "19) An opposite atti-tude towards being wouli tie not to engage oneself, not to enter a project which does not have the guarantee of perfection. But when we engage ourselves, Mounier emphasizes that "we always engage in questionable battles for imperfect causes."whether we wan't it or not, we have to face an ambiguous world. But Beauvior clearly shows the many ways and attitudes which we may use to fool ourselves - into certaintv.
We are born to a world not of our creation. We never enter a perfect vacuum, a tabula rasa to be filled by our projects.
As a child I admire the grown-up gods. I do not question their existence nor their values and culture. In this serious world, the child plays fully confident that his own subjectivity will never disturb the natural ' order. Playing is irresponsible, "for fun". The world of grown-ups is "for real". The child believes blindly in its own existence as "mother's little girl" or
"daddy's boy". Would it ever doubt on its own objectivity, it would soon realize that "I am too young to understand". That is' the way in which children avoid the anxiety of freedom and many grown-ups also live a childlike life. The "happy naieve
natives", the singing smiling house-wife or the worker who is
led ■ and recreated by industry, live irresponsible lives without sorrows. Organizations are often"kindergartens" which keep
their members infantile by . the veil of objectivity.22)
When growing up, the child realizes that the serious grown
ups live in conflict, hesitance and agony . Language values and cultures are thus created by those uncertain men. The
child begins to understand its own subjectivity as well as that of its fellow-men. To realize one's subjectivity is to realize one's total freedom.-In such a situation, ' there is a strong
nostalgic longing back to childhood where we could unconsciously be. In this very moment, we realize that we are nothing/'...
that we do not exist unless we undertake an extremely uncertain . project, ■ we can escape- into several "inauthentic" attitudes to being, and fail to assume our freedom.
The first attitude is that of an "Oblomov".Someone opposing its own existence, longing to become a massive thing. Once we become Oblomovs we sink deeper and deeper into the oblomovish- ment. The less we assume that - we exist, the fewer reasons do we have for existing, because the reasons for our existing are
created by our very existing. To an oblomov the choices are always negative. They serve the purpose of annulating his own goals, they are escapism. Minimizing existence. The Oblomov, where he lies "fat and heavy on his bed" spending his life . "eating sweets and sleeping", could but arise disgust with his fellowmen. To himself he - is a failure because as
.Beauvoir says "nobody alive can experience the peace of death".
Oblomov will feel a deep spleen, everything is grey and everything arises his fear, communism, facism. He is afraid of everything_ which.reminds -him^of the fact that he himself, subjectively, has chosen to become a non-being. Perhaps does the Oblomov comfort himself into another inauthentic attitude;
seriousness.
To become serious is a way' - . to grow up without daring one's project. The serious person believes in objectivity which helps him circumnavigate his subjectivity. But says Beauvior, he
will have to live in a lie, - because again it was he himself who, subjectively, made the decision to regard - the - world as- - objective. To Beauvoir, the . serious one is like the girl reading
the love-letters she has written to herself. The attractive power of seriocity is put into system by schools, universities and other institutions. The serious one easily regards himself an instrument of the objective world. As he is denying the very existence of subjectivity, he also easily.becomes a tyrant which robs his fellow-men of their freedom without realizing the
crime. He makes mockery and jokes of the seriousness of others.
But when occasionally his serious idols are destroyed, he soon turns to an Oblomov.and fades away. The day the general retires he suddenly becomes ga-ga. But there is a more-'dangerous career for a disillusioned serious one.
When the serious one for one reason or another realizes the lie, of’objectification, he may deny everything in life.
The nihilist Pisarev says: -
"I disregard established order, I do not want to'take part of it".24)
A nihilist chooses to destroy all projects and finally himself in either -slow corruption or a spectacular explosion. But in the very moment of destruction, the nihilist may hesitate to take his own life. The root of hesitation, zest of life, could turn him into an adventurer, continuously rushing from project to project, wars, seductions, politics, or business, without caring about the goal as long as he is active. Felix Krull Casanova and their colleagues, demand continuous motion. The'
lust of adventure has its roots in a nostalgic, often unconscious memory of childhood play. The adventurer is, according to
Beauvoir, very close to an authentic life. But the attitude of adventure may very well be hypocrisy; the adventurer may
strive to accomplish "secret goals". The seductor wants the money of the'bride. The gambler is exploiting his fellowmen,
ripping off resources to his costly projects. At-- any cost, he is prepared to overcome obstacles in his way and ally himself to those who are more powerful than he. In doing so, the adventurer becomes both a servant and a tyrant, denying his own freedom in the very moment when he starts to exploit those in his service.
He is doomed to live an inauthentic, unsatisfactory life. He can never get the recognition he needs because as a tyrant he is despised by all authentic men..When the adventures cost the freedom of others, the adventurer pays them with his own
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insatisfaction because the recognition and love he needs could not come from objects only from free men.
Yet another attitude to existence is passion. For the passionate one the project is revealed by his own self. All that is non-passion is futile.. Indeed, the passionate one takes his projects subjectively seriously, but not objectively as
the serious one. The passionate one becomes totally possessed by his project. The project turns into a fixed idea and the passionate one to a laughing-stock. Someone isolated from the community. A potential threat to his fellowmen• 25) because passion may turn into fanaticism and oppression.
What then does the goal of authenticity mean? An authentic one ... accepts his own. ..subjectivity. He will not turn into an egoist because his own existence has to be confirmed by the acts of other free men. To the existentialist, the egoist, the adventurer, the processed passionate one, the serious one and the oblomov are inauthentic when man has to find his existence alone, but he will understand that his own freedom demands the freeing of others. Existentialism is•a humanisms says Sartre and this means that there is.an overlap between existentialism and socialism.
"Society rests upon my•capitulation, the
denial of my own self, my passivitv, what is called humbleness...But I do not. want to become a slave under my own maxims, I would rather prefer to submit myself to my own constant self-criticism."26)
So writes Max Stirner '1843, in his book "Der Einzige und sein Eigentum",. Criticizing education, he says:
"We have to discover ourselves, free ourselves from all alliances, once and .for all get rid of
•and 'abstain• • from author-iitr eeconquer our childlike mind."27)
Stirner wants to stop the "mass sacrifices of individuals on the altar of state", and reveal how the nation state forces us to submission. To Stirner it' . is absurd to belong to any party, Christian or political, which defends its principles
and not its members. An indivdual may well "take part", but the free man must always have a possibility of leaving any association which does not further his own • interest.
"I enter an association provided it is useful to me and if I. together with the others could achieve more than alone. I see no other reason -for associating
than the multiplication of our common power and I will not - remain ' longer in the association than that multiplication lasts."28)
No dogma or belief should keep the association together and provide it with a fixed idea of survi.val. When Stirner
was criticized for being an asocial dangerous egoist, he replied:
"It (i.e. -the egoism of Stirner) is all in line with the interest of man. It does not ' oppose love, only ’sacred love', neither does it oppose thought, only 'sacred' thoughts, it is not against socialism only the ’holy' socialists. The exclusive idea of egoism, which one confuses with isolation and alienation, is to further the interests of man and discern the essential from the futile."29)
Stirner launches a revolt against all barriers to true passion. But his revolt does not propose to build new institu-
tons on the ruins of the old ones. His action is unpolitical and unsocial, it aims at a once-and-for all-abolishment of oppression.
I shall free MYSELF to develop ME. There is no hope for a new state or a new party.
"Man -is the only living being who denies what he is".30) says Albert Camus.
The revolt is the first step in the project of life. He feels that he has to say NO. In the moment of revolt one risks
everything, all or nothing, "finally an end to all compromising".
In that very moment of personalization, the theoretical third person "one ought to revolt" is turned into the first person
"go to hell". Camus claims that in the moment of revolt, the rebel acquires an individual value. Revolting is an individual act because I suddenly experience that MY life is worth
sacrific ing. -If I die during the project, this does not matter because the main reason for revolting is before and not after the revolt. The main reason is not a goal to be reached in the future. Neither does Camus want to call a revolt an egoistic act. Would ever an egoist be prepared to - sacrifice his own
life? Doesn’t sometimes revolt take place because we experience - the opporession of others, perhaps the very oppression we
ourselves have silently endured before. To Camus the revolt is a spontaneous moral act of solidarity, quite different from
nihilistic terror. The revolt turns into terror when lacking higher values. It then becomes a matter of calculus of efficient action. When we don't believe in good or bad, we resign to
simply demonstrate our own strength. Life or death doesn't matter, revolt becomes Russian roulette. Camus shows that in some,
closed, cultures no existential problems will occur at all consequently, no revolts are possible. There must be a dis
crepancy between theory and practice of justice and equality in'order for doubt and revolt to take place. In totalitarian societies classes, masters, slaves or casts are institutionally given. In such cultures questions are derived from the answers.
To investigate the occurrence or non-occurrence of existential problems is therefore to investigate the power of mystification of a'culture. If we think that the way in which one understands one's own freedom is an essential factor for explaining various enterprises, we must also study the phenomenon of mystification. III.
There is little left of the Messiah's dream of the miracle which will free all men and the better world come true. Religion and belief are considered equal to dogmatism, and propaganda.
Church and party deliver ready-made answers. Pope and boss, shepherd the believers'. Stirner bases his societal criticism on an attack of the church. Proudhon writes in a letter to Marx:
"Let us abstain from advocating anv kind of new ' religion of logics or reason."31) •
Today, mystification is carried out in many ways. At first we are good ,at mystifying .ourselves. We simply become serious ones■and regard the world as objectively given. A second way is to' make things look natural, because a revolt cannot take place against nature, only against man as oppressor. To oppose the natural laws is a tragical heresy. In India the cast svstem is ' naturaal. Woman is said to haye a natural role in societv, etc.
But when are the laws really natural and when are they just a camouflage for the human will?
Stirner claims that when an association starts to live its own life, make its own rules and force its members to
obedience, a movement is dead. The members are forced to regard more and more of the organization as given. To confront one's existential problems demands energy. The strength and time we need to live and search will be "confiscated" by the objects. Numerous examples from industry show how members
of organizations, on all levels, are prevented from reflection by exhaustion. Physical exhaustion is, .due to its apparent
objectivity, easiest to recognize. Equipment is created and marketed to help men maintain and service existing equipment.
The diagnosis of technology, currently leads to new remedies
for technique. There is a technology of reliability, a maintenance and service technology, a technology for quality control,
another... for . ergonomics and work sciences."-- new pharmaceutical industry makes pills for the machines". When things go wrong, the machines and their inventors are blamed. Why do we work on the production line? Technology demands it. Why are industries concentrating? Why do small .firms die? The technocrats are
in. power. Such "holy" answers come from the religion.of objects.
In the history of technology, the technocrats are sometimes
the scapegoats, often the heros .but always the center of action.
Are . then the concepts of technology and technocratism but
abstract means of•mystification. 32) How could a technocrat ever be blamed for a social development which was observable long before technology, as we conceive of it, was even thought of. It seems to be extremely difficult to interview or even find
a living real technocrat. No engineer wants to play the role.
There are serious reasons to believe that the concept of the technocrat is empty.
This is to a certain extent, . the opinion of Ellul and
• •••'• ■ • - " 33 )■'
his•advice is to• reveal technology as a religion. As•no rational arguments could oppose a religion,the only way is to revolt against it. But does such a revolt make sense?
In the:hesitaneo, in the moment of decision, in the question:
"Is my • action reasonable?" •Many. institutions see their last chance of survival. Feyerabend writes on the hesitant:
"When he is in that state of confusion, he does not realize that the 'voice of reason1 only is a causal hang-over from his education."34)
When someone has an ■ idea which he believes in, he will uhe all available means to convince his fellowmen. Feyerabend -Insists that we should always suspect scientists as well as
laymen to use all sorts of propaganda, threats, lies and bribes when they defend their thesis. And the.most effective and corrupt argument ■ is that.of "reason". Feyerabend summarizes his methodo
logical advice.to all researchers "anything goes". In the domain . of science, as in .. all other ■ domains of human life, revolt and opposition is the strategy to use against the
logical empiricists who want to imprison you in the world of facts.
"You need a dream-world to understand the real world in which you think you live (and that
reality is perhaps but another dream world). The first step in our criticism of established concepts and
methods, in the attack ■ on "facts" has to be an attempt to break through their vicious circle. One must find a new system of concepts, a system.which is in conflict with the most well grounded empirical findings in
the field, a system which challenges the established, destroys the "natural theoretical premises. A new
system which perceives new facts which don't fit in' the old world of perception."35)
Feyerabend illustrates with the case of -Galileo,
when. claiming that all important scientists have used a "contra- inductive" method. But in order to become accepted, they have been forced to hide their true methodology. Therefore, we . need an anarchistic methodology to break through their logical facade.
*
Mystification in the world of knowledge also. comes from second-hand textbooks. Politicians base their knowledge on the encyclopedia Britannica. Priests tell us how to interpret the Bible, using second-hand Lutheran interpretation. In order to get any knowledge at all, we either have to be deeply ignorant of those mystifying theories or confident enough to believe
in ourselves. Jerry Rubin makes somewhat the same observation:
"If one could learn anything at Pentagon or in Chicago, it is that youngsters don't give a dam
for political theories, ideologies, plans,organizations, meetings or negotiations with the cops. The activists .come there and act in accordance with their own inter
pretation of reality."36)
Once we have revealed the mystification, we also must part from it and assume our freedom. Beauvoir writes:
"It is perfectly true that to transcend the past for the future will demand sacrifices..The conservatives emphasize those sacrifices necessary for change and they opt for.what has been instead of what is to come..But in our living projects we have
to make use of the freedomrediscovered in the engaged acts of the past and make this 'freedom an integrated part of our contemporary world."37)
In the question of change and engagement, existentialism anarchism and marxism have a rare point of overlap.
"All truth is confirmed by the destruction of the meaningless. All truth is essentially
destruction. All that concentrates on conservation is essentially wrong. The Marxist field of knowledge is always a field of ruins."38)
To engage oneself in a project is partly to accept a con flict with fellowmen. In the agony confronting this subjective choice, we often gladly take on new mystifications. One such veil of objectivity is the Marxian historical materialism.
What Badiou calls the material mechanic as opposed to the material dialectics. '39) Our action becomes a "historical necessity, based on a revolutionary situ’ation". Such an inter pretation of human action rips it of all spontaneity. Action becomes the ticking of Father Marx's deterministic clock.
Action is no longer mine. This mechano makes me secure, one falls easily asleep at the ticking of the clock. But, this
is no proof that historical materialism is right.And, Castoriadis remarks:
"The theorist who tries to prove that the Hungarian revolt 1956 was the only logical or
practical choice will have a very difficult task...
A revolution is precisely the self-organization of people...In that sense, revolution can only be
'spontaneous'...no historical action is spontaneous in the sense that it emerges from nothing, that it has no ties to a situation, an environment or a past. An historical action is. spontaneous in the sense that it can't be traced in its 'courses' or 'conditions', ...
i.e. it is no repetition... spontaneity is precisely the excess of the 'result' over the 'causes' ".40)
Theories of science,-political manuals or religious dogmas have to be abandoned as long' as they deny and - actively resist spontaneity. This active resistance is provoked when the system feels uncertain about its- members. At the extreme, the rebel is fired, - punished put in jail or declared insane. The organi
zing of counter-actions is sometimes taken care of by specialists whom we could call bureaucrats.
Neither calculus nor a reference to utility is satisfactory as a'justification of action. Camus writes 1951:
"Thirty --ears ago one had to deny a lot before killing, one would even have had to consider suicide.
God is cheating, all other men, too, are as I am, therefore I die: suicide was the .question. Today, we don't care about the others, thanks to ideology. At this point:, we kill.. .At dawn the killers are caught, murder is the uuestion."41)
Beauvoir emphasizes that we live in a world of constant mystification where the parties find new smarter ways of
justifying actions. The Nürnberg trials was the opening of the new era of ideological innovation. Ideologies did not die, on the contrary, they thrived under-ground .'
To clarify mystification, we need better and better tools of -analysis. Still we may profit by studying some pioneers of European ideology criticism.
The pioneers spent their lives outside of the institutions they criticized-. Stirner. was a "free" writer. To believe his biography, this implied poverty, a divorce and early death in isolation 1856.42) BUt, also long discussions with artists
and writers in Hippels' Kneipe in Berlin,.where Marx and Engels from time to time showed up for a uuick one. But Stirner and his friends stayed all night, while Marx and Engels went home early to work. 1843 Stirner wrote his work,
"Der Einzige und sein Eigentum", which was "rediscovered" by the Scot - Mackay. Stirner's individualism is very close to that of Nietzsche. So close that Nietzsche was himself afraid of being taken as a Stirner epigone.43) in this fact, the first evidence of a relation between anarchism and existentialism as Nietzsche is considered one of the early inspirators - of
existentialism.44)' Stirner wants the revolt of individuals against state and church. What he calls egoism is "subjective interest" which should be the only motivation in all that we undertake. Stirner does not accept any organizations .but
"associations" held together by the single interests of . their members. Humanity must stop obeying authortarian leaders
and parading.as toy soldiers in the nation state. Institutions should be designed from the bottom up. Love is a matter of
free people's choice and has. nothing to do with the bureaucratic dogmas of priests. In most institutions he sees the corrupted rotten mockers of freedom. Every culture with a minimum of freedom of press has its own Stirner. But although the modern Stirners use up-to-date language and refer to actual events,
they seldom reach his level of arrogant criticism. But, nevertheless what, e.g. the Dane Hyltoft writes 1968 is still very ' much
in the line of the master:
"To realize yourself could imply many things.
It is not only free creativity of poets or artists.
It is the fast playfulness of the soccer player. The enjoyment of the mechano when mending a defect engine.
The need of the homosexual to live openly with■his partner. It is any activity of any human being
realizing her inherent need...This calls for a'tolerant society where people are curious, not angry, when
they encounter ' things they .do not understand ."45)
To the French Proudhon, the son of a poor workman, there was no other choice than learning in "his own academy"/
He was said to be the founder of "scientific
socialism", "socialistic political economy", "modern sociology", 46 )
"anarchanism", "revolutionary syndicalism and "federalism". ' He was the author of numerous pamphlets and books, took part in 1848's revolution and was even, despite his apolitical attitude,a member of parliament. His writing inspired young
471 . -i
Marx and irritated old Marx: r mainly due to Proudhon's anti- communistic attitude. He early understood the distinction be tween what he called anti-authoritarian vs. authoritarian socialism, i.e. communism.
"Communism is like an army which has conquered the guns of the enemy. They are using the master's artillery. The slaves imitate the masters."48)
Proudhon also emphasized the relation between freedom and organization:
"Freedom is mainly a matter of organization:
In the task of securing the equality of men and the balance between nations; agriculture, industry,
education and trade...must be allocated to each region . according to its geographic and climate conditions, as well as to the type of its products and to the character and talents of its inhabitants...This is a task of real political economy, and the scientific study of public and private law."49)
A third pioneer of criticism was Bakunin. He expresses his view of individual liberty in the following manner:
"Freedom is the absolute right for grown-up men and ■ women to • justify their own actions by their own conscience and reason. They could only act by their own free will and'consequently, be made responsible mainly for themselves, only•in the second-hand for the society to which they belong. And, that only as long as they freely choose to'belong to that society."50) Bakunin was an enemy of all attempts to control or legislate
freedom. Freedom, can only be defended by more freedom, everything else leads to oppression.
Bakunin was personally acquainted with both Marx and Engess., saw a great danger in the formation of a communist political elite. He feared a "dictature which will be an instrument of a chief engineer- , of world revolution
£Mar:X7, controlling and steering the masses.... as one controls and monitors a machine...such a,dictatorship would kill all revolutions and' destrov all true movements of the people."51) Writers on "libertarian egoism" devotes much energy to isolating
itself from a "bourgeois • egoism" based on the Darwinistic idea of the
"struggle' for •survival" .
"The arguments for the value of authority are simple and familiar. They have been stated in classic
though extreme form by Hobbs with regard to the particular case of government. In the , absence of authority, there
is a "war of each against all", and, as a result:, "the life of man is poor, nasty,• brutish and short".52) .Kropotkin opposes the "vulgar Darwinism", and the idea of an
evil and aggressive man in need of an authoritarian organization to protect himself against his fellowmen. Everywhere ' 'Kropotkin
finds evidence that both man and animal- survive because of their ability to. mutual assistance. In classical Greece
Kropotkin finds his ■ .ideal "natural" organization, he rediscovers it in the medieval city with guilds and local management. But even during a visit to the Brighton aquarium 1882, he notes:
"I was astonished by the mutual assistance and sacrifice of the big Molukk-krayfish ZLimulus_7 towards one of its comrades in need. One of those primitive. animals had fallen on its heavy back shield in a corner of the aquarium. His friends rushed to his assistance and I spent one hour observing how they tried to help their fellow prisoner in distress."53)
What mainly threatens man is nature and to struggle against nature is useless, as Camus has showed. Then "mutual assistance" to protect the group is the strategy of survival.
Through the concept of "mutual assistance" we see the attempt to solve the•philosophical problem of responsibility; of relating a free individual to his fellowmen. Kropotkin tried, what he calle a "scientific explanation", imnlying that autonomy furthers
social responsibility. In his book . Factories • and Workshops Tomorrow" 54) he advoca-es decentaaHzation .and local economic decision-making. Doing so, he uses concrete easily understandable cases of what would today be called
"cybernetics" . But Kropotkin would no doubt have considered modern cybernetics some new kind of mystification.
To understand the anarchistic perspective on organization one must realize that the anarchistic movement in the 19th
century had to work mainly under ground. Anarchists were
therefore familiar with the organization of repression, prisons and labor camps. Bakunin • spent his life as a. political
refugee chased by the Czarist police. Many libertairian organi
zation models have characteristics similar to secret "illegal"
organizations as for instance the Mafia in Sicily.
"Time and again one comes up against authors who suspect, or indeed claim • to know for certain
that there is• more behind the Mafia than meets the eye...They know what•reality looks like, but the social and political clash calls for slogans...
If one bears in mind the structure of Mafiaoso group ings, it will seem pointless to look for a codified law governing Mafioso attitudes. Just as there are no initiation rites since there •is no such thing as a
, just as passwords are not nec- collaborating mafiosos know each other so the attitudes of Mafioso and of others governed solely by the sub-cultural
anyway...These sub-cultural norms are not they are not enforced by especially avail- formal organization
essary when personally,
to them are norms valid a law, i.e.
able staff of people using physical or psychological cohesion, but they are conventions. They are guaranteed
'through the likelihood in the event of deviation within a definite circle of persons, of encountering a (relatively) universal and, in principle, appreciable disapproval.*"55) .
Taking part in such secret societies raises the question of whether it is legitimate for a secret avant-garde to take on
the'role as secret leaders of the masses. To Bakunin this was very doubtful. He regarded a.revolution "as prepared for a • long time•by the •people and suddendly exploiding....one could predict the explosion .but never control it."56)
What becomes of leadership when one considers action as a spontaneous event? Proudhon says that all revolutionary ideas are born in the heads of men. Men should make their ideas
available to their fellowmen,. and the early anarchist concede that, the larger the gap between the theoretical revolutionary knowledge and practical knowledge of the masses, the more
justified is some . kind of leadership). .Bakunin visualized "cells"
of intellectuals working as the "mid-wives" of revolution.
During the October revolution.Russian anarchist Volin observed:
"True liberation comes only through direct action carried out by the workers themselves, they are not organized by some • party, but associated in teams, unions, committees or fellowships which manage themselves."57)
To the • communists the lack of knowledge and intellectual maturity .of ' the. . proletariat, becomes an • argument for strong party leadership. Who then defines what mature means? Does a strong leader abdicate voluntarily when the child grows?
Don't let yourself be fooled by state, party or union, says the anarchist. What has been.taken will never be returned. All or nothing, no compromise!
Collective action • is regarded a chain reaction, triggered off by an initiating spontaneous, gesture. Proudhon calls
such chain reactions "organic revolutions" as opposed to the communist's mechanical remote controlled ones. History,
says Proudhon, shows that all development is organic and therefore, he gives this advice to historians:
"You should ■ observe how people become attracted by some ideas instead of others,' how they come to
generalize . those ideas and develop them in their way, build institutions and create habits which they.follow traditionally until they are picked up by the legislators and judges who turn them into paragraphs and rules
for our courts."58)
No single man could be responsible for revolution, but a ■ group of people could provoke it by ■ direct action. Proudhon.
was dead since 11 years and Bakunin .. had recently deceased when under the spokesmen Cafiero and Malatesta, the Italian
anarchist federation introduced "action by the deed" on their program. Kropotkin,who later abolished all terror actions,
supported the program 1880: -
"By actions which compel■general attention, the new idea seeps into people's minds...One such act, may in a few days, make more propaganda than thousands of pamphlets. Above all, it awakens the spirit of
revolt...One courageous act has sufficed to upset in a few days the entire governmental machinery, to make the collossus tremble..the people observe that the monster is not so terrible as they thought...hope is born into their hearts."59)
1877 a small group of anarchists occupy a small mountain village in the Italian province of Benevent. They burn the village archives and distribute the local treasury among the poor. Some weeks later, they are arrested without resistance by the police. A gesture, a folkloristicRobin Hood romance? But
elsewhere■terroism ended in waves of brutal murder, e.g.
the ■illegalist gang of Ravachol's■in France, and the nihilists in Russia. They all did what the surrealist prophet Andre
Breton bitterly regretted to have once uttered:
"True surrealist ■ action is to go down in the street and shoot at random in the crowd".51)
1880 Kropotkin insisted that all"that is illegal is good for us". But the anarchist terrorists were certainly no Robin Hoods, i.e. social bandits with a large popular support. ' On the contrary, they were mostly lone wolves ■ perceiving them
selves as instruments without personality. Serge says
the ■ terrorist lives a desperate life where only-a final fight
for hopeless escape remains.'63) guch desperate men praised the innovation of Alfred Nobel:
"Dynamite of all the good stuffs, that is the
stuff! In giving dynamite to the down-trodden millions of the globe, science has. done its best work. The dear stuff can be carried in the.pocket without danger, while it is a formidable weapon against any force of militia police or detectives that may want to stifle the crv ,..
for justice that goes forth from the plundered slaves."
"Is it possible to talk of terrorist action without taking part in it?°the Russian nihilist Kaliavev exclaims.
Camus points out that the Russian nihilists were not lone
wolves but lived in small very isolated cells. But this didn't mean their actions were unreflected:
"There are no questions which we 1950, could- - ask that they hadn't put to themselves and answered by their lives or their deaths."66)
Iviansky suggests the following common goals for all 'terrorists' action:
-''error is reUHatwn for -the arbitrary nature for tyrannical rule and its infringement on the rules of human conduct...
- Terror as the judgment of people with its
ability to respond to the miscarriage of justice -with- an alternative justice by punishing the judges and their lords...
-Terrorist activity in the invisible organization and the exectuive committee...which conceal an additional authority...within the absolutist state...
-Wherever a system of checks and balances against arbitrariness and absolutism, the expoitation and
oppression, is lacking, terror is called upon... • -TO imprisonment ' the "omnipotent rulers in their own palaces...
-To show the strengths of revolutionary ideas and practice; the propaganda by the deed."67)
The socialist congress in Zurich in 1893 expeled "groups which were not positive towards political action".68) j.e.
the anarchists. But although leading anarchistic writers soon disassociated themselves with the' propaganda by the deed, less violent direct action spread into other fields.. The applied science
of sabotage, go-canny, wild strikes and obstruction,
satisfied ■ the hunger for action among those.who had enough of resigned and slow indirect methods. Why pass by a time
consuming and inefficient parliamentary system? Why give the weapon of strike to the unions? In one such manual for "direct
action", A.Roller,gives practical "do-it-yourself"-advice for those who want to strike at the heart of the system. The
proletariat,' says Roller, wants bread and freedom today and is tired of religious mystical dreams for a new society."We
have seen enough social democratic parliamentary swindle, we don'- want no wishy-washy evolutionary -ppiZLosophy, no logical reason or scientific theory of historical determinsm."^9)Here and now directly and courageously we shall fight...Roller's manual
• from. J9O3 has much in common with Jerry Rubin's American Yippie Bible and,e.g. ideas behind the Dutch Provo Movement.
Indirect action means time-consuming negotiations which kill off people's inspiration. Before elected representatives reach parliament, people have long resigned and representatives
forgotten their mission. They become bureaucrats. Roller
attempts to show how unsuccessful organized strikes have been.
The general strike in England 1898, 7 months without results.
The Railroad Strike 1900 results in high idemnitv for the
union..The mining strike in Ruhr 1905 ends with miners themselves acting police to protect equipment and machines of the capita]..
But.. direct action strengthens individual energy and self confidence, says Roller. But before going for terrorism, one should try the easiest way out: Do it without first asking. In
■that manner, Roller claims, many workers have shortened their - work-day by simply closing the factory and going home. So does . action'tear 'down the veil of objectivity.
If that does not work, one could occupy factories and destroy stocks or machines. But Roller insists that this is no new machine storm. Modern workers do not, as in the beginning of industrialization, see the machines as competitors. To destroy machinery is a symbolic act against a hated culture'with
which one has no emotional tie.
Each profession does it its own way. Underpaid musicians play false music at the opera. Locomotive drivers grease the
DIRECT . INDIRECT
INFORMAL ANTI- PARLIAMENTARY . ' 'FORMAL PARLIAMENTARY Individual's
• energy
Full capacity used Energy loss at every step in formal
procedure
Time Joint-action and
reaction
Separate action and reaction
Spontaneity . ..Spontaneous _ Behavior
Tactical Behavior Interest Actuality =
Active Interest
Time Lag = Passive
Attitude Resulting In disinterest
railroad tracks so that the train slips- downhill. The soldier Schweik follows each damned instruction whereby the whole
system breaks down. Electricians fix short circuits, car
workers plug the cooling system on the engines, bakers "happen"
to drop soap in the bread, waiters just "forget" to shut off the draft beer tap. Roller concludes ' with some advice to the anti-militarists. Colonial wars as all wars•in general just end with one tyrant taking the place of another. Moreover, wars are mystifying, because they do take the attention energy
•of th'e people from their own problems. Roller prescribes:
general strikes on, mobilization day, sabotage of telegraphs, railroads, "help soldiers to desert to neutral countries".
Roller even claims that the threat of a general strike in France stopped a potential war between France and Germany in Morroco 190:
When the syndicalist Souchy met Lenin in Moscow in 1920 the latter tried to convince him direct action was the "child disease of communists". When Souchy answered that he was
disappointed by the little direct influence of the Russian , workers Lenin replied that at this early stage of the revolu
tion, participation was not possible. But at a later stage, he assured Souchy, "all property.:would be state property".70)
A main point in a direct action is that by taking part in it the individuals assume their own existence. The anarchists, re gard struggle and revolution quite differently from the Marxists.
During the anarchist revolution the new man is born. Already
in the moment of struggle, a new community is organizing. To the marxist, the revolution is more of an efficient weapon for
conquering political power. One could even consider to hand over the task of revolution. to professional revolutionaries.
To anarchists this is inconceivable. In Spain for instance the CNT movement enrolled civilians in a militia instead of creating a regular army. This emphasis on action is another common point between anarchists and existentialists.Sartre emphasizes that human beings have . • no natural or devine essence.
In our existence, our free decisions, we assume . our essence.71) ' What Cartesius calls to "conquer oneself instead of conquering the world",i.e. to abstain. from action, .is cowardice. Roller does not trust anyone, neither bosses nor unionists. Sartre
says:
"I cannot count on men, I do not know, because I can't have confidence in human good nature or some abstract good human interest in my welfare...simply because man is free and because there is no good human nature-to fall back upon...but one does not have to hope in order to act. If for instance, I ask myself
whether collectivization /of farms/ will be carried out, I have no possibility of answering that question. I only know, that I will do all in my power to get it
(the collectivization) apart from that, I have nothing to rely on."73)
Action is according to the anarcho-existentialist perspective, legitimized through the need of the individual to shape his own existence. Outside of action there is nothing
notes Sartre,"this may seem hard to those who fail in life but, on the other hand, it will make people realize that what counts is reality. Dreams, ■ patience and expectations make man live a life of useless'waiting, crushed dreams and disillusion.
3L.
Proudhon wanted a revolution against authority.
"Socialism is a protest against capital and consequently a protest against power. The social revolution would be seriously compromised if it came about through a political revolution."75)
To be "real" and spontaneous a revolution, according to Proudhon, had to come from below and be organic:. His solution to the
social problems was "mutual association" with a management very much like today's participation. 1846 Proudhon also founded a mutual bank "Banque de peuple" which was supposed to diffuse
capital to the associations. Proudhon wanted a pluralist solution, small firms could be managed as before but larger
industries and farms were to be voluntarily reorganized according to the following principles
"1. Each worker is an equal part owner of the firm.
2. The workers are trained in the firm and should have some experience of every job in the production process (the principle of rotation).
3. The firm is managed by a council elected by the part-owners. The council could be dissolved by the owners.
4. Wage after responsibility, talent and work.
5. Profit goes to the members proportionately to their work.
6. Every member is free to leave the association whenever he wants.
7. The members could choose to hire managers, engineers, architects or accountants from outside, thereby
acquiring able people from commerce and industry to work with them for ■ a good.and fair pay."76)
The main idea Of this program was to minimize the influence of a state which stopped "initiative, spontaneity, and free action".
Both private capitalism ' and nationalizations were to be avoided.
Therefore, Proudhon and his "mutualists" opposed the program of the communist Louis Blanc. Based on centralization and state.
ownership, 1848 comes the February Revolution in Paris. The ' democrats revolt against the monarchist. In May members of the
"popular clubs" occupy the Palais Bourbon. Shortly, the other occupants are arrested. Proudhon is elected a member of the national assembly in June.’Earlier he has avoided any official involvement■in oolitic«
and even been criticizing general’., elections. Now he accepts
the election and starts his work. In June 1848 the workers make a revolt in Paris. The national workshops which have provided work for the unemployed were closed. Soon the army controls the rebels and Proudhon witnesses, how they "execute prisoners, wounded and unarmed men 48 hours after the final battle...terror reigns in the capital." 77)' '
After this critical .incident Proudhon blames himself. What had he been doing since he became a member of the national assembly.
"From nine o'clock every morning, I followed the work of all commissions and committees, I left the National Assembly late at night, tired and disgusted. On this parliamentary Mount Siani/' mv contacts with"' the ' people ceased. In my work with legislation, I lost
the feel for what was happening. I knew nothing about the National Workshops, nothing about the politics of govern ments and even nothing about the intrigues in the
national assembly ' itself. The experience of such isolation makes one realize . that those who are really ignorant of the state of the nation are its elected representatives."
Finally, he rushes from "the stalls on the scene to act”. In a speech directed towards the democrats in the National Assembly, he says:
"When I say we, I identify myself with the
proletariat, when I say you, I identify you with the. bourgeois class."79)
When Louis Bonepart was elected president, Proudhon concluded that "France is tired of all parties, because all parties are
dead."80) Guerin tries to summarize the (h.sarnooj.ntment of .Proudhon
—d^ter the 1848 rev°luti°n.81) qn a true revolutwn the citizens should get the right to govern themselves. Power should be given the local communities. Each'community should have its own policy, manage its own business and keep its own soldiers.
But 'the French . democrats were caught in "the fear for the unknown which often bothers even our largest geniuses". They consider people immature to manage themselves and instead, governmental power was increased. Troups were not sent home but 24 battalions of the national guards were concentrated to Paris. Some months later, those soldiers would organize the executions. Proudhon thought that people should be organized in revolutionary clubs because "the people's associations are levers of democracy".
This had been the case'during the 1st French revolution. The
club could serve as a contact with people’s needs. But in 1848, the government started solving problems foreign to the people.They wasted time and energy on useless projects. More over, they bored the citizens with "sterile agitation and propaganda".The democrats were so eager to stay 'within the law that they spent most of the time concentrating on it. The democrats, accoring to Proudhon, became slaves under the law and turned to fulltime guardians of democratic innocence.
Nevertheless, along the Proudhonian lines, several "mutual associations" were established in 1848. But when'Proudhon in 1857 investigated what happened to them, his findings only added to his disappointment: After 10 years only 20 were left of 200. And those were now hierarchially organized. When the members of the first elected councils had acquired infor
mation on the production technology and the management of the firm, they kept information for themselves.-Proudhon realized that self-management demanded a "new man" and that one was not
"born a member of -an association". Earlier Proudhon realized the need for a capital pool.. Now he understood the need for a "human pool" of anti-authoritarian free men.
As to ownership, he also revised his theory. Workers .should not own the means of production, but lease them from an assemblv of the associations, what was to be called a "federation". If man succeeds with self-management "a new world will come, but if he fails, there is no future hope for the proletariate."82)
Personal experience has also marked the anti-authoritarian anarchistic program of Bakunin .After having translated Marx into Russian, and spent several years in prison camps, Bakunin escaped to Europe.
Some of his ideas are reflected in a manifesto of a secret
society which he founded 1865 shortly - after his arrival in Italy'.
He starts by saying:
"Only the question of the economic social and political emancipation of the people, ' i.e..the social question, is able to attract the attention of people.
Religious, national and political problems are exhausted by history."83)
The members of the secret- society have to agree on the following commandments of his revolutionary bible:
