dk-the-politics-book_compress

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 149 One recurring criticism of to fit the bill, even if they are not Jeremy Bentham Bentham’s idea is that it actually the guilty party (provided encourages scapegoating. there are no further attacks). Jeremy Bentham was born The greatest happiness principle in Houndsditch, London, in can permit huge injustices if the Following Bentham’s argument, 1748, to a family who were overall effect is general happiness. some critics claim, it is morally financially comfortable. He After a terrible terrorist bombing, acceptable to punish the innocent was expected to become a for instance, the police are if their suffering is outweighed by lawyer, and he went to under great pressure to find an increase in the happiness of Oxford University when just the perpetrators. The general the general population. Supporters 12, graduating to train as an population will be much happier of Bentham can get around this attorney in London at 15. But and the alarm will subside if the problem by saying that the general the chicanery of the legal police arrest anyone who appears population would be unhappy to profession depressed him, and live in a society in which innocent he became more interested in Utilitarian arguments have been people are made into scapegoats. legal science and philosophy. used to justify the prosecution of But that issue only arises if the innocent people—such as Gerry Conlon, population finds out the truth; if Bentham retired to London’s accused of IRA bombings—on the the targeting of scapegoats is kept Westminster to write, and for basis that the majority is made happier. secret, it would appear justified the next 40 years, he turned according to Bentham’s logic. ■ out works of commentary and ideas on legal and moral matters. He began by criticizing the leading legal authority William Blackstone for his assumption that there was nothing essentially wrong with Britain’s laws, then he went on to develop a complete theory of morals and policy. This was the basis of the utilitarian ethic that had already come to dominate British political life by the time of his death in 1832. Key works 1776 Fragment on Government 1780 Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation 1787 Panopticon

150 IN CONTEXT THE PEOPLE IDEOLOGY HAVE A RIGHT Federalism TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS FOCUS Armed citizenry JAMES MADISON (1751–1836) BEFORE 44–43 BCE Cicero argues in his Philippics that people must be able to defend themselves, just as wild beasts do in nature. 1651 Thomas Hobbes argues in Leviathan that by nature, men have a right to defend themselves forcefully. AFTER 1968 After the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, federal restrictions on gun ownership are introduced. 2008 The Supreme Court decides that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep a gun at home for self-defense. E ven as the Founding Fathers were putting the finishing touches on the US Constitution in 1788, demands came for the addition of a Bill of Rights. The idea that the people have a right to keep and bear arms appears as the Second Amendment in this bill with the words, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The exact wording is crucial, since it has become the focus of modern debate over gun control, and how much freedom US citizens have by law to own and carry guns. The architect of the Bill of Rights was Virginia-born James Madison, who was also one of the

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 151 See also: Cicero 49 ■ Thomas Hobbes 96–103 ■ John Locke 104–09 ■ Montesquieu 110–11 ■ Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 183 ■ Jane Addams 211 ■ Mahatma Gandhi 220–25 ■ Robert Nozick 326–27 The central, federal government may be flawed, and could not protect these swayed by the power of the majority. rights in itself. There was also a risk that defining specific rights People in each state must Driven by the majority, would impair protection of rights be able to form militias the federal government that were not specified. Moreover, to defend themselves may use a standing army to Madison acknowledged that bills against an oppressive enforce its will on states. of rights had not had a happy federal army. history in the United States. The right of the people to keep and bear But there were also strong arms shall not be infringed. reasons why a bill of rights might be a good idea. Like most of the main creators of the Constitution parliament sought to prevent the Founding Fathers, Madison was itself. This makes him possibly sovereign from overreaching his nervous of the power of the unique among political thinkers in power, rather than striving to majority. “A democracy,” wrote that he was able to put his ideas protect basic universal freedoms. Thomas Jefferson, “is nothing directly into practice—ideas that more than mob rule, where are still, two centuries later, the Defense from the majority fifty-one percent of the people basis of the political way of life of As he admitted in a letter to may take away the rights of the the world’s most powerful nation. Thomas Jefferson, the only reason other forty-nine.” A Bill of Rights Indeed, in later becoming Madison put forward the Bill of might help protect the minority president, Madison climbed to the Rights was to satisfy the demands against the mass of the people. very peak of the political edifice of others. He personally believed that he had himself created. that the establishment of the “In our Governments,” Madison Constitution by itself, and so the wrote, “the real power lies in the The Bill of Rights is considered creation of proper government, majority of the Community, and the by some as the very embodiment should have been enough to invasion of private rights is chiefly of the Enlightenment thinking on guarantee that fundamental rights to be apprehended, not from acts of natural rights, which began with are protected. Indeed, he admitted Government contrary to the sense John Locke and culminated in that the addition of a Bill of Rights of its constituents, but from acts Thomas Paine’s inspirational call implied that the Constitution was in which the Government is the ❯❯ for the Rights of Man. Though the latter stressed the importance of Shay’s Rebellion in 1786–87 saw a democracy (the universal right to rebel militia seize Massachusetts’s vote) as a principle in his treatise, courthouse. Quashed by government Madison’s intentions were more forces, it encouraged the principle of pragmatic. They were rooted in the strong government in the Constitution. tradition of English politics—where

152 JAMES MADISON Though Madison believed that the existence of the Constitution would ensure that basic rights were protected under a federal government, he formulated the Bill of Rights as an extra measure to counteract the power of the majority in a democracy. The majority can The Bill of Rights …so that the rights trample on the rights acts as a protective and property of the minority and property of the barrier against are protected. minority in a democracy. these incursions… mere instrument of the major Revolutionary War had been fought The amendment, then, was about number of the constituents.” In to challenge the tyranny of a militia and “the people” (in other other words, the Bill of Rights centralized power, so these words, the community) protecting was actually intended to protect delegates were wary of a new the state, not people as individuals. property owners against the central government. They would democratic instincts of the majority. only ratify the Constitution if they Individual self-defense had some guarantee of protection Madison was not talking about Militias legitimized against it. So rights were not individuals carrying arms to defend Madison also had a simple political natural laws, but the states’ (and themselves against individual reason for creating the Bill of property owners’) protection criminal acts. Yet that is how his Rights. He knew he would not gain against the federal government. words in the Second Amendment support for the Constitution from have come to be used, and many the delegates of some individual This is where the Second Americans now claim that the right states if he did not. After all, the Amendment came in. Madison to carry guns is enshrined in the ensured that states or citizens Constitution—challenging any The ultimate authority… would not be deprived of the ability move to institute gun controls resides in the people alone. to protect themselves by forming as unconstitutional. a militia against an overbearing James Madison national government, just as they Attempts to overturn this had done against the British crown. interpretation in the courts have Such a situation envisioned a repeatedly met with failure, community banding together to with the insistence that the resist an army of oppression. The Constitution upholds citizens’ Second Amendment actually says rights to bear arms in defense of in its final version: “A well regulated themselves as well as the state. Militia, being necessary to the Many argue even further that, security of a free State, the right regardless of Madison’s intentions, of the people to keep and bear owning and carrying a gun should Arms, shall not be infringed.” be considered a basic freedom.

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 153 A century before Madison’s bill, arms—it is simply a matter that Natural self-defense as used by English philosopher John Locke, in people generally agree about, or wild animals against attack is cited identifying the right to self-defense not. According to Hume, freedoms by exponents of natural law to justify as a natural right, took his cue from and rights are just examples of the right of an individual to defend an imagined “natural” time before tenets on which people concur— themselves by any means. civilization. Just as a wild animal and perhaps decide mutually to will defend itself with violence if enshrine in law to ensure that they killings in Aurora, Colorado in July cornered, so, Locke argues, may are adhered to. Taking this view, 2012—have led many to question humans. The implication is that there is no fundamental principle whether unrestricted ownership of government is in some way an at stake in the right to bear arms— firearms is appropriate in a nation unnatural imposition from rather, it is a consensus. And that is no longer a frontier state. which people need protection. consensus does not necessarily In retrospect, some commentators require a democratic majority. It is remarkable that Madison’s have put a Lockean gloss on the Bill of Rights is still, with only a Bill of Rights, and assume that it is Lasting controversy few changes, at the heart of the confirming self-defense by violent Gun control remains a hot issue US political system. Some, maybe means as a natural, inalienable right. in the US, with powerful lobbies— even Madison himself, would such as the National Rifle argue that a good government However, it seems possible Association (NRA)—campaigning would have protected these rights that Madison and his fellow against any restrictions on gun without need of a bill. Yet the Bill of Founding Fathers were more in ownership at all. Those against gun Rights remains perhaps the most tune with Scottish philosopher control appear to have the upper powerful meld of political theory David Hume’s view of government hand, with most states allowing and practice ever devised. ■ than with Locke’s. Hume is too people to own firearms. Still, there pragmatic to pay much attention are very few states where gun to the idea of a natural time ownership is entirely unregulated, of freedom before rights were and there are arguments over curtailed by civilization. For whether, for instance, people Hume, people want government should be allowed to carry because it makes sense, and rights concealed guns. The high level are something negotiated and of gun crime in the US, and the agreed upon, like every other increasing frequency of mass aspect of law. So there is nothing murders—such as the cinema fundamental about the right to bear James Madison James Madison, Jr. was born in the basis of the US Constitution. Port Conway, Virginia. His father He cowrote the 85 Federalist owned Montpelier, the largest Papers to explain the theory of tobacco plantation in Orange the Constitution and ensure its County, worked by 100 or so ratification. Madison was one slaves. In 1769, Madison enrolled of the leaders of the emerging at the College of New Jersey, now Democratic-Republican party. Princeton University. During the He followed Jefferson to become Revolutionary War, he served in the fourth US president in 1809, the Virginia legislature and was and held the office for two terms. the protégé of Thomas Jefferson. At 29, he became the youngest Key works delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780, and gained 1787 United States Constitution respect for his ability to draft laws 1788 Federalist Papers and build coalitions. Madison’s 1789 The Bill of Rights draft—the Virginia Plan—formed

154 THE MOST RESPECTABLE WOMEN ARE THE MOST OPPRESSED MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759–1797) IN CONTEXT Women rely on men for Women are educated financial support. only to please men. IDEOLOGY Feminism Women learn to rely on their sexual allure to win a man’s support. FOCUS Respectable women who do not exploit their sexual allure Women’s emancipation cannot gain a man’s support but do not have the education to support themselves. BEFORE 1589 Her Protection for The most respectable women Women by English novelist are the most oppressed. Jane Anger castigates men for seeing women merely as P ublished in 1792, British which culminated in France in the objects of sexual desire. writer Mary Wollstonecraft’s Revolution against the monarchy in A Vindication of the Rights the very year that Wollstonecraft 1791 In Declaration of the of Woman is seen as one of the first wrote A Vindication. Yet few talked Rights of Woman, French great feminist tracts. It was written about the position of women in playwright Olympe de Gouges at a time of intellectual and political society. Indeed, French philosopher writes: “Woman is born free ferment. The Enlightenment had Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an ardent and remains equal to man.” established the rights of men at advocate of political freedom, the center of political debate, argued in his work Émile that AFTER 1840s In the US and the UK, women’s property is legally protected from their husbands. 1869 In The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill argues that women should be given the right to vote. 1893 In New Zealand, women are given the vote—one of the first countries to do so.

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 155 See also: John Stuart Mill 174–81 ■ Emmeline Pankhurst 207 ■ Simone de Beauvoir 284–89 How much more respectable with the right education and Mary Wollstonecraft is the woman who earns opportunities: “How many women her own bread by fulfilling thus waste life away the prey of Wollstonecraft was born any duty, than the most discontent, who might have in 1759 to a family whose accomplished beauty. practiced as physicians, regulated fortunes were in decline. In Mary Wollstonecraft a farm, managed a shop, and stood her early 20s she set up a erect, supported by their own progressive school in London, women should only be educated to industry?” Independence and and then became a governess make them good wives able to give education for women would also be in Ireland to the children of pleasure to men. good for men, because marriages Lady Kingsborough, whose might be based on mutual affection vanity and disdain did much to Freedom to work and respect. Wollstonecraft proposed foster Mary’s views on women. Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication reforms to education, such as to show how wrong Rousseau was combining private and public In 1787, she returned to about women. The rejuvenation of education, and a more democratic, London to write for the radical the world could only happen, she participatory approach to schooling. magazine Analytical Review. argued, if women were happy, as In 1792, she went to France to well as men. Yet women were Wollstonecraft’s proposals for celebrate the Revolution and trapped by a web of expectations the education and emancipation of fell in love with American due to their dependence on men. women were largely overlooked in author Gilbert Imlay. They had They were forced to trade on their her lifetime, and for a time after a child but did not marry, and looks and to connive to win the her death she was better known the relationship ended. After affections of a man. Respectable for her unconventional lifestyle failed suicide attempts, and a women—women who did not than her ideas. However, later move to Sweden, she moved indulge in this game of seduction— campaigners—such as Emily back to London and married were put at a huge disadvantage. Davies, who set up Girton College William Godwin. She died in for women at the University of 1797 giving birth to their only Wollstonecraft argued that Cambridge in 1869—were strongly child, Mary, who wrote the women needed the freedom to earn influenced by her ideas. Change novel Frankenstein under her a living, granting them autonomy was nonetheless slow to come—it married name of Shelley. from men. To achieve this freedom was more than 150 years after the required education. To those who publication of A Vindication that Key works argued that women were inferior to the University of Cambridge finally men intellectually, she insisted that offered full degrees to women. ■ 1787 Thoughts on the this misapprehension was simply Education of Daughters due to a woman’s lack of education. Feminine charms were essential for 1790 A Vindication of the She argued that there were many a woman to advance in 18th-century Rights of Men occupations women could pursue European society. Wollstonecraft 1792 A Vindication of the abhorred the fact that a woman had Rights of Woman to attract a man to provide for her. 1796 The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria

156 IN CONTEXT THE SLAVE FEELS IDEOLOGY SELF-EXISTENCE Idealism TO BE SOMETHING EXTERNAL FOCUS Human consciousness GEORG HEGEL (1770–1831) BEFORE 350 BCE Aristotle claims that slavery is natural because some people are natural leaders, while some are subservient. 1649 French philosopher René Descartes argues that you cannot deny your mind’s existence at the same time as using your mind to do the denying. AFTER 1840s Karl Marx uses Hegel’s dialectic method in his analysis of the class struggle. 1883 Friedrich Nietzsche creates his image of the Übermensch (overman) who trusts his own intuitive sense of what is good and evil. T he German philosopher Georg Hegel’s great work The Phenomenology of Mind (or “Spirit”) appears at first to have little to do with politics, since it deals with difficult and abstract arguments about the nature of human consciousness. However, his conclusions regarding the way we reach a state of self-awareness have profound implications for the way society is organized, and pose difficult questions concerning the nature of human relations. Hegel’s philosophy is focused on how the thinking mind views the world. He wants to understand how

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 157 See also: Aristotle 40–43 ■ Hugo Grotius 94–95 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 118–25 ■ Karl Marx 188–93 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 196–99 When two spirits or consciousnesses meet, they battle for recognition. The spirit that prefers liberty to life becomes the Master; the spirit that prefers life to liberty becomes the Slave. The existence of the Master’s consciousness Georg Hegel is affirmed through the Slave. Georg Hegel was born in The Slave discovers his consciousness through his Stuttgart in the German work for the Master in the tangible, external world. Duchy of Württemberg. Much of his life was lived in the The Slave feels self-existence calm of Protestant southern to be something external. Germany, but against the backdrop of the French each human consciousness creates Master–Slave Revolution. He was a student its own worldview. Crucial to his According to Hegel, when two at Tübingen University at the argument is his emphasis on self- minds meet, what matters to both height of the Revolution and consciousness. For Hegel, the is being recognized: receiving from he encountered Napoleon at human mind, or spirit, desires the other the confirmation of their Jena, where he completed recognition, and indeed needs own existence. However, there is The Phenomenology of Mind. that recognition in order to achieve only room for one worldview in self-awareness. This is why human the mind of each individual, so a After eight years as consciousness, for Hegel, is a struggle ensues about who is going rector at the Gymnasium in social, interactive process. It is to acknowledge whom—whose Nuremberg, he married Marie possible to live in isolation without worldview is to triumph. Hegel von Tucher and worked on his being fully aware, Hegel believes. describes how each mind must try great book on logic. In 1816, But for the mind to fully exist—to to kill the other. The problem is, after the early death of his be free—it must be self-conscious, though, that if one destroys the wife, he moved to Heidelberg, and it can only become self- other, the loser will no longer be and many of his ideas are conscious by seeing another able to give the affirmation the contained in notes from the consciousness react to it. winner needs. The way out of ❯❯ lectures he gave to philosophy students there. He died in 1831 after returning to Berlin during a cholera epidemic. Perhaps appropriately for such a complex thinker, it is said that his last words were “and he didn’t understand me.” Key works 1807 The Phenomenology of Mind 1812–16 The Science of Logic 1821 The Philosophy of Right

158 GEORG HEGEL this dilemma is a Master–Slave the cause of oppression throughout that Hegel’s arguments about the relationship, in which one person history, and at the root of slavery Master–Slave relationship are much “gives in” to the other. The one and class distinction. He admired less literal, and far more subtle who values liberty more than life Napoleon for this reason and and complex. He suggests ways becomes Master; the one who praised his willingness to risk his in which the Slave might in fact values life more than liberty own life in order to achieve his benefit more from the relationship becomes Slave. This relationship aims. Hegel is suggesting that than the Master. He describes the evolves not only in literal master slavery is primarily a state of mind, development of their relationship and slave situations, but in any which finds echoes in the later as a dialectic. By this he means a situation where two minds meet. case of escaped American slave particular kind of argument that Frederick Douglass (1818–1890). begins with a thesis (the minds) Hegel appears to be implying Dragged back to his master, and its antithesis (the result of the that slaves are only slaves because Douglass decided to stand up and encounter between minds), which they prefer to submit rather than fight, even if it might mean death, together produce a synthesis (the die, and they collude with their and afterward wrote, “However resolution into Master and Slave). masters. He wrote, “It is solely by long I might remain a slave in form, This dialectic is not necessarily risking life that freedom is obtained.” the day had passed forever when I a description of a real struggle He asserts that terror of death is could be a slave in fact.” between a slaveholder and slave. Hegel is talking about a struggle for Napoleon Bonaparte’s vision for a Dialectical relationship domination between minds—and new order and courage in battle made Today, the choice between death there is no room in his conception him a man “whom it is impossible not and slavery seems an unacceptable for cooperation: there must be a to admire,” said Hegel, who respected one to have to make. But it may be resolution into Master and Slave. Napoleon’s qualities as a “Master.”

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 159 Hegel asserted that a which he doubts the value of Slave, while engaged in tangible external freedom), and unhappy work, would come to experience consciousness (in which he finds a realization of his own existence religion and escape, but only in (and therefore become “free”) in another world). a way that his Master would not. Hegel finds these Master–Slave Slavery Work Self-realization relationships in many places—in the wars between stronger states He goes on to show how the the Master disappears as an and weaker states, and conflicts relationship develops further. independent mind, while the Slave between social classes and other The synthesis seems to confirm emerges as one. Ultimately, for groupings. For Hegel, human the existence of the Master’s mind. Hegel, the Master–Slave dialectic existence is an endless fight to the At first, everything appears to may be more harmful to the death for recognition, and this fight revolve around him and his ability Master than it is to the Slave. can never properly be resolved. to get the Slave to serve his needs confirms his own freedom and Slave ideologies Hegel’s influence self-consciousness. The Slave’s So what happens when the Slave Karl Marx was strongly influenced independent self-consciousness, reaches this new kind of self- by Hegel’s ideas, and adopted his meanwhile, is totally dissolved. realization, yet is not ready for a idea of the dialectic, but found However, at this point another fight to the death? At this point, Hegel too abstract and mystical in dialectic relationship develops. Hegel argues, the Slave finds “slave his concentration on consciousness. ideologies” that justify his position, Instead, Marx chose a materialist Since the Master does nothing, including stoicism (in which approach. Some find Hegel’s he relies on the Slave to affirm his he rejects external freedom for argument that only fear keeps existence and freedom. He is, in mental freedom), skepticism (in people enslaved inspirational; fact, in a dependent relationship others consider his insistence that with the Slave, which means that If a man is a slave, his own submission is a choice is a case of he is anything but free. The Slave, will is responsible for his blaming the victim and does not however, is working with real slavery…the wrong of slavery relate well to the real world, in things—with nature—even if only lies at the door not of enslavers which power relations are complex. for his Master. This reaffirms his or conquerors but of the slaves Hegel remains one of the hardest existence in a tangible, external and conquered themselves. political philosophers to understand, way that the idle Master cannot and one of the most controversial. ■ hope to emulate: “In [his work for] Georg Hegel the Master, the Slave feels self- A slave about to be whipped by existence to be something external, his master could be to blame for an objective fact.” In making his position, following Hegel’s logic. things, and making things happen, Critics of Hegel argue that this “self-existence comes to be felt position is clearly unjust. explicitly, as his own proper being, and [the Slave] attains the consciousness that he himself exists in his own right.” So now their situations become inverted—

160 WAR IS THE CONTINUATION OF POLITIK BY OTHER MEANS CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ (1780–1831) IN CONTEXT F ew phrases from military Otto von Bismarck declared Wilhelm I theory have been as of Prussia Emperor of Germany in 1871. IDEOLOGY influential as Prussian Bismarck had provoked war with Realism soldier Carl von Clausewitz’s France to achieve this political end. statement that “war is the FOCUS continuation of Politik by other defeat by using politics. Clausewitz Diplomacy and war means,” taken from his book On is keen to emphasize that the War, published after his death in business of war is serious in intent, BEFORE 1832. The phrase is one of a series and no mere adventure. It is always, 5th century BCE Sun Tzu of truisms Clausewitz coins as he he says, a political act, because one states that the art of war is attempts to put war in context by state wishes to impose its will on vital to the state. examining its philosophical basis, another—or risk submission. much as philosophers would 1513 Niccolò Machiavelli explore the role of the state. The War is simply the means to argues that even in peacetime, German word Politik translates as a political end that might well be a prince must be ready and both politics and policy, covering achieved through other means. armed in preparation for war. both the principles of governance His point is not to highlight the and its practicalities. cynicism of politicians who go to 1807 Georg Hegel states war, but to ensure that those who that history is a struggle for War leads to politics wage war are always aware of recognition that leads to a For Clausewitz, war is a clash of its overriding political goal. ■ master and slave relationship. opposing wills. “War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale,” he AFTER writes, “an act of violence intended 1935 German general Erich to compel our opponent to fulfill our Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff will.” The aim is to disarm your develops his notion of a enemy, so that you become the “Total War” that mobilizes master. But there is no single, the entire physical and decisive blow in war—a defeated moral forces of a nation. state seeks to repair the damage of 1945 Adolf Hitler cites “the See also: Sun Tzu 28–31 ■ Niccolò Machiavelli 74–81 ■ Thomas Hobbes 96–103 ■ great Clausewitz” in his last Georg Hegel 156–59 ■ Smedley D. Butler 247 testament in the bunker.

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 161 ABOLITION AND THE UNION CANNOT COEXIST JOHN C. CALHOUN (1794–1850) IN CONTEXT T he US Senator John live under different political C. Calhoun made an systems. “The conflicting IDEOLOGY impassioned speech on the elements would burst the Union State’s rights issue of slavery in 1837. Throughout asunder, powerful as are the links the 1830s, pressure for the abolition which hold it together. Abolition FOCUS of slavery had been building, and and the Union cannot coexist.” Slavery Southern slaveholders were feeling Instead of defending slavery as a beleaguered. In retaliation, they necessary evil, he asserts that BEFORE argued that there were natural black slavery is, in fact, a positive 5th century BCE Aristotle says inequalities ordained by God, good for both races. “Never before that some people are naturally which meant that some are suited has the black race of Central slaves and slavery helps build to command and others to labor. Africa,” he claims, “...attained skills and virtues. Moreover, they claimed, black a condition so civilized and so slavery could avert conflicts improved, not only physically, but 426 CE Augustine states that between workers and employers, morally and intellectually.” ■ the primary cause of slavery is and the tyranny of wage slavery sin, which brings some under that threatened the well-being of the domination of others as a the nation every bit as much as punishment from God. the abolitionist cause. 1690 John Locke argues Good for both races The relation now existing against the idea of natural It was the sending of the issue in the slaveholding states… slaves and that prisoners of to the Senate committee that war can be enslaved. prompted Calhoun to stress that is a positive good. Congress had no place interfering John C. Calhoun AFTER with the basic right to own slaves 1854 In his speech in Peoria, guaranteed by the Constitution. Illinois, Abraham Lincoln To go down the route of abolition outlines his moral, economic, would mean that the slaveholding political, and legal arguments and non-slaveholding states would against slavery. See also: Aristotle 40–43 ■ Thomas Jefferson 140–41 ■ Abraham Lincoln 182 ■ 1865 Slaves are emancipated Henry David Thoreau 186–87 ■ Marcus Garvey 252 ■ Nelson Mandela 294–95 in the United States.

162 A STATE TOO EXTENSIVE IN ITSELF ULTIMATELY FALLS INTO DECAY SIMÓN BOLÍVAR (1783–1830) IN CONTEXT A small republic… An empire… IDEOLOGY …has no reason to …must make conquered Liberal republicanism expand its boundaries… lands into colonies. FOCUS …and so avoids injustice This leads to a degeneration Revolutionary warfare and instability. of justice and a fall into despotism. BEFORE 1494 In the Treaty of A state too extensive in itself, or by virtue of its Tordesillas, the territories of dependencies, ultimately falls into decay. the Americas are divided between Spain and Portugal. C hristopher Columbus Bolívar saw this aspect of their claimed America for Spain empire as a source of dynamism, 1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1492, paving the way for but also as a potential weakness. argues against the divine right an empire that would extend over of kings to rule. five continents. The Spanish would Small but strong republics rely on the collaboration of local Spain’s power began to crumble AFTER elites to manage their lands. in 1808 when Napoleon invaded 1918 Following World War I, Venezuelan revolutionary Simón and placed his brother on the President Woodrow Wilson lays out a reconstruction plan for Europe based on liberal nationalist principles. 1964 Che Guevara addresses the United Nations, arguing that Latin America has yet to gain true independence. 1999 Hugo Chavéz becomes president of Venezuela with a political ideology he describes as Bolivarian.

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 163 See also: Niccolò Machiavelli 74–81 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 118–25 ■ Jeremy Bentham 144–49 ■ Che Guevara 312–13 The distinctive feature falls into decay.” Worse still, “its free Simón Bolívar of small republics government becomes a tyranny,” its is permanence. founding principles are disregarded Born to aristocratic parents Simón Bolívar and it “degenerates into despotism.” in Venezuela, Simón Bolívar Small republics, he said, enjoyed was tutored by renowned throne. Bolívar recognized this as permanence; large ones veered scholar Simón Rodríguez, who an opportunity for the Spanish towards empire and instability. introduced him to the ideals of American countries to throw off the European Enlightenment. the yoke of colonialism. During an American republics At age 16, after completing 18-year fight for freedom, Bolívar The independent republics that his military training, Bolívar was exiled for a year in Jamaica. emerged in Spanish America traveled through Mexico and As he planned for the future, he after the wars of liberation reflected France, then on to Spain, pondered how he could ensure a Bolívar’s vision in their size, if not where he married, though his state large enough to govern, but in their freedoms, since political wife died eight months later. small enough to foster the greatest power came to be monopolized happiness for its people. by small elites. In this, they In 1804, Bolívar witnessed perhaps reflected Bolívar’s own Napoleon Bonaparte become Bolívar considered the question elitist instincts and ambivalence emperor of France. He was in “The Jamaica Letter.” In this towards full democracy. inspired by the nationalist letter, he explained his reason for ideas he encountered in rejecting monarchies: kingdoms The revolutionary vision of Europe and vowed not to rest were inherently expansionist, “El Libertador” is still revered in until South America gained driven by a king’s “constant Latin America, though Bolívar’s independence from Spain. desire to increase his possessions.” name has been misappropriated Bolívar led the liberation A republic, on the other hand, by politicians to sanction actions of modern-day Ecuador, was “limited to the matter of its he would have deplored. ■ Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, preservation, prosperity, and glory.” northern Peru, and northwest Bolívar’s portrait is held aloft during Brazil from Spain. Retreating Bolívar believed that Spanish a pro-Hugo Chávez rally in Venezuela. from his earlier idealism, America should become 17 Chávez describes his political Bolívar felt forced to declare independent republics, and the movement as a Bolívarian revolution, himself dictator of the new ambition of these must be to stressing its anti-imperialist stance. state of Gran Colombia in educate; to help people in their fair 1828. He died two years ambitions; and to protect the rights later, disillusioned with of all citizens. Each would have no the results of the revolutions reason to expand its boundaries, he had inspired. because this used up valuable resources while bringing no Key works advantages. In addition, “a state too extensive in itself, or by virtue 1812 The Cartagena Manifesto of its dependencies, ultimately 1815 The Jamaica Letter

164 AN EDUCATED AND WISE GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES THE DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS OF ITS SOCIETY JOSÉ MARÍA LUIS MORA (1780–1850) IN CONTEXT M exico in the 1830s by the Enlightenment philosophers was a turbulent place. of the 18th century, and also by IDEOLOGY The protracted War of political developments in France Liberalism Independence had left the country and the United States, Latin bitter and divided. Despite finally American liberals believed that FOCUS becoming independent from Spain this entrenched power was Modernization in 1821, Mexico was to have 75 blocking the progress of society. presidents in the next 55 years, and Young Mexican liberal José María BEFORE the power of the rich landowners, Luis Mora challenged the obstinate 1776 The leaders of the the army, and the Church remained conservatism he found in his American Revolution declare as solid as ever. Strongly influenced country. He argued that a society that they are reorganizing the has to move forward or it will die. political system to the benefit Just as a child needs nurturing of the human condition. by its parents as it grows, so “a wise government recognizes the 1788 Immanuel Kant developmental needs of its society.” argues that progress is not automatic, but must be Mora’s call for modernization fostered through education. fell on deaf ears. He was jailed for opposing the elevation of Maximilian AFTER to emperor, and exiled to Paris 1848 Auguste Comte after upsetting President suggests that society Santa Anna. Fifty years after progresses through three independence, Mexico was stages to an enlightened poorer, per capita, than ever. ■ rational age of science. Emperor Maximilian was installed 1971 Peruvian priest Gustavo as monarch of Mexico in 1864, to Gutiérrez writes A Theology strong opposition from liberals such as of Liberation, arguing that Mora. Three years later, Maximilian Christians must lead a was overthrown and executed. liberation from unjust economic, political, or See also: Plato 34–39 ■ Immanuel Kant 126–29 ■ Auguste Comte 165 ■ social conditions. Karl Marx 188–93 ■ Antonio Gramsci 259

REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS 165 THE TENDENCY TO ATTACK “THE FAMILY” IS A SYMPTOM OF SOCIAL CHAOS AUGUSTE COMTE (1798–1857) IN CONTEXT F rench philosopher Auguste Families become tribes Comte’s defense of the and tribes become nations. IDEOLOGY family in his Course in Positivism Positive Philosophy (1830–48) Auguste Comte is based on more than mere FOCUS sentimental attachment. Comte’s individual whims are harnessed The family “positivist” philosophy takes the for the good of society. Humans view that in any true understanding are driven by both personal instinct BEFORE of society, the only valid data comes and social instincts. “In a family, 14th century Ibn Khaldun’s from the senses, and from the the social and the personal Muqaddimah uses scientific logical analysis of this data. Society, instincts are blended and reasoning to examine social he argues, operates according to reconciled; in a family, too, the cohesion and conflict. laws, just like the physical world of principle of subordination and natural science. It is the task of the mutual cooperation is exemplified.” 1821 In France, early socialist scientist of society to study it and Comte’s position stresses social Henri de Saint-Simon argues tease out these laws. bonds, but is in conflict with that the new industrial society socialism—Marxists who argue for will bring forth a new Utopia, Family is the social unit the abolition of the family are, in with a new kind of politics led It is crucial, believes Comte, to Comte’s view, arguing for the very by men of science. look at general laws and not destruction of human society. ■ become obsessed by idiosyncratic 1835 Belgian philosopher individual views. “The scientific Adolphe Quetelet puts forward spirit forbids us to regard society the idea of a social science to as composed of individuals. The study the average man. true social unit is the family.” It is on the basis of families that society AFTER is constructed—a social science 1848 Karl Marx argues for the that starts with the demands of abolition of the family in the individuals is doomed to failure. Communist Manifesto. It is also within the family that 1962 Michael Oakeshott See also: Ibn Khaldun 72–73 ■ Karl Marx 188–93 ■ argues that society cannot be Max Weber 214–15 ■ Michael Oakeshott 276–77 ■ Ayn Rand 280–81 understood rationally.

THE RISE THE MAS 1848–1910

OF SES

168 INTRODUCTION Karl Marx and Friedrich Victory for the North in The Paris Commune Friedrich Engels publish the the US Civil War sees is established, and Nietzsche’s first proclaimed as the major work, The Communist Manifesto the nationwide first government of Birth of Tragedy, is as unrest sweeps abolition of slavery. the workers. across Europe. published. 1848 1865 1871 1872 1864 1868 1871 1873 The Taiping Rebellion The Meiji Restoration Germany is unified A financial crisis in China collapses after in Japan ends feudal as a single triggers the long, taking 20 million lives. rule of the shogunate. severe Depression nation-state under in Europe and the US. Kaiser Wilhelm. T he revolutions and wars of of the world. Once political and Europe. They attempted to provide the late 18th and early 19th civil rights had been secured, a radical template through which a centuries left an uncertain a just society would emerge. new kind of mass politics would legacy in Europe. The Treaty of come into existence. New workers’ Paris in 1815 ended the Napoleonic Communist thoughts parties, such as Germany’s SPD, Wars, and for almost a century Two young scholars of Hegel, adopted the manifesto as their there were few conflicts between Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, guiding light and looked with the European powers. The world violently disagreed with his confidence to a future in which economy continued to grow, conclusions. They pointed to the the great mass of the people would driven by industrialization and creation—through industrialization exercise political and economic the rapid growth of railways and —of a new class of propertyless power. Politics was shifted from telecommunications. It was just workers, who enjoyed increased the concern of the elites to a mass about possible to believe that the political freedom but suffered a activity, with millions joining political settlements enacted in form of economic slavery. Using political organizations and—as the first part of the 19th century the tools of analysis developed by the right to vote spread—millions would provide a stable institutional Hegel, they believed they could more participating in elections. framework for humanity. German show how this class had the philosopher Georg Hegel thought potential to push civil and political The old order in retreat the most perfect form of the state rights into the realm of economics. In the US, differences over the place had been achieved in Prussia in the of slavery in the new territories led 1830s, while European colonialism Marx and Engels wrote to civil war. Victory for the Union was presented by many as a their Communist Manifesto as saw an end to slavery across the civilizing mission for the rest revolutionary movements were country and provided new vigor to gathering momentum across

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 169 Britain’s queen Victoria The Wounded Knee Max Weber’s The In Reflections on is declared Empress Massacre ends the Protestant Ethic Violence, Georges of India. Indian Wars in the US, and the Spirit Sorel argues in favor of marking the end of of Capitalism violent revolution. is published. the “Old West.” 1876 1890 1905 1908 1889 1895 1905 1909 The “Second Theodor Herzl writes A revolution in Russia is The Minority Report International” The Jewish State, put down, but wins in Britain organization of socialist concessions from and labor parties is starting the modern the tsar. recommends the founded in Paris. Zionist movement. creation of a welfare state. the nation, marking the start of for the masses was not guaranteed. individual should be the basis for its rise in economic and political Friedrich Nietzsche was prominent a just society, rather than the power. To the south, the new among those who expressed a class struggle of the Marxists. republics of Latin America profound cynicism about the ability struggled to achieve the political of society to be reformed by the Increasingly, socialists seeking stability that their constitutions masses. His ideas were adapted social ownership of production also had promised, and power passed later by Max Weber, who attempted began to see the possibilities for back and forth between sections of to reimagine society not as a place reform from within the capitalist a narrow elite. Much of the region of class struggle, as in Marxist system. Eduard Bernstein argued stagnated, but demands for reform thinking, but as a battle for power for reform through the ballot box, would lead to the outbreak of between competing belief systems. taking advantage of the universal revolution in Mexico in 1910. male suffrage now established in Reform movements the newly unified Germany. In In Asia, the first anti-colonial Liberals and conservatives adapted Britain, reformist socialists such organizations were set up to fight themselves to a changed world by as Sidney and Beatrice Webb for political rights, and a section of forming mass membership parties advocated a comprehensive system Japan’s traditional rulers instituted of their own, and sought to manage of welfare to protect the poor. a thorough modernization that the growing demands for welfare swept away the old feudal order. and economic justice from the left. Meanwhile, in Russia, Vladimir Across the world, the old regimes Liberal philosophy had been given Lenin and others agitated tirelessly appeared to be in retreat. a firm theoretical base by thinkers for a socialist revolution. Tensions such as Britain’s John Stuart Mill, between Europe’s old elites were However, whatever some who held that the rights of the also starting to grow. The stage was Marxists may have believed, set for the tumultuous changes that progress toward political power were about to sweep the world. ■

170 SOCIALISM IS A NEW SYSTEM OF SERFDOM ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE (1805–1859) IN CONTEXT Socialism ignores Socialism Socialism stifles the highest undermines the individual. IDEOLOGY private property. Liberalism human virtues. FOCUS Socialism is a new system of serfdom. Classless society I n September 1848, Alexis states do not seize property, they BEFORE de Tocqueville made an weaken it. Finally, his strongest 380 BCE Plato argues that impassioned speech in criticism was that socialism is democracy is inferior to other France’s Constituent Assembly, contemptuous of the individual. forms of government. which had been elected after the overthrow of King Louis-Philippe Under socialism, de Tocqueville 1798 The French Revolution that February. He argued that the believed, individual initiative is begins, leading to the ideals of the French Revolution of snuffed out by an overbearing state. establishment of a republic. 1789 implied a democratic future for The state directs society as a whole, France and a rejection of socialism. but increasingly becomes the 1817 Socialist theorist Henri “master of each man.” While de Saint-Simon argues for a De Tocqueville attacked democracy enhances personal new type of society based socialism on three counts. First, autonomy, socialism reduces it. entirely on socialist principles. he argued that socialism plays on Socialism and democracy can never “men’s material passions”—its go together—they are opposites. AFTER aim is the generation of wealth. It 1922 The Soviet Union is ignores the loftiest human ideals of A classless society established, bringing generosity and virtue, which were De Tocqueville believed that the communist rule to much the seeds of the revolution. Second, ideals of the French Revolution had of Eastern Europe. socialism undermines the principle been betrayed. The revolution of of private property, which he saw 1789 was about liberty for all, 1989 The Berlin Wall falls, as vital to liberty. Even if socialist which meant the abolition of class heralding the end of socialism throughout Eastern Europe and the increased expansion of capitalist, democratic systems of government.

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 171 See also: Plato 34–39 ■ Aristotle 40–43 ■ Montesquieu 110–11 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 118–25 ■ John Stuart Mill 174–81 ■ Max Weber 214–15 Democracy aims at establishment of a socialist system Alexis de Tocqueville equality in liberty. would be like reverting to the Socialism desires pre-revolutionary monarchy. The De Tocqueville was born in equality in constraint domineering socialist state was, Paris to aristocratic parents. and in servitude. for de Tocqueville, incompatible When Louis-Philippe d’Orléans Alexis de Tocqueville with freedom and competition. came to the throne in 1830, de Tocqueville took up a post divisions. But since then, the upper De Tocqueville espoused in the new government, but classes had become more privileged a democratic society in which political changes made his and corrupt. The lower classes individual enterprise could flourish, position precarious so he burned with anger and disaffection, but the poor and vulnerable would left France for the US. The and were therefore more easily be protected through the Christian result was his most famous seduced by socialist ideas. ideal of charity. As a model for this work, Democracy in America, he pointed to the US, which he in which he argued that The solution, de Tocqueville believed had achieved the most democracy and equality had claimed, was not to be found in advanced version of democracy. progressed furthest in the US. socialism, but in a reassertion of He also warned of the dangers the original revolutionary ideal of a De Tocqueville’s contrast of democracy—materialism free, classless society. Socialism, by between democracy-as-freedom and excessive individualism. pitting property owners against the and socialism-as-confinement proletariat, would reinstate social became a recurring motif in 19th- After the 1848 revolution divisions, betraying this vision. The and 20th-century debates. His de Tocqueville became a speech was made in a year in member of the Constituent which revolutions and uprisings Assembly in France, which spread across Europe, fomented in was responsible for devising part by socialist ideas. However, the constitution of the Second after 1848, the uprisings fizzled out, Republic. He withdrew from and for a time, socialism failed to politics after his opposition to take root in the way he had feared. ■ Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s coup of 1851 led to a night in Under socialism, de Tocqueville prison. Dogged by ill health argued, workers would be mere for much of his life, he died cogs in the overbearing machinery of tuberculosis eight years of the state. later aged 53. Key works 1835, 1840 Democracy in America 1856 The Old Regime and the Revolution

172 SAY NOT I, BUT WE GIUSEPPE MAZZINI (1805–1872) IN CONTEXT The pursuit of individual rights is insufficient for the social good… IDEOLOGY Nationalism …because not everyone is …because the pursuit of able to exercise their rights. individual interests leads FOCUS to greed and conflict. Rights and duties Individual rights should BEFORE be subsumed under the 1789 The Declaration of the duty to one’s country. Rights of Man and of the Citizen, issued during the Say not I, but we. French Revolution, defines the universal rights of citizens. T he Italian political thinker their country above individual and activist Giuseppe interests. Mazzini’s nationalism 1793 German philosopher Mazzini called on people to arose from a critique of the political Johann Gottfried Herder unite around the idea of the nation changes that had taken place in argues for the importance state. In his Essay on the Duties of Europe over the previous century. of the nation. Man: Addressed to Workingmen, The animating idea behind these he asked for people to place duty to upheavals had been liberty, which AFTER 1859 In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill argues for the rights of the individual. 1861 Italy is unified. 1950s Nationalist movements rise around the world as colonies gain independence. 1957 The Treaty of Rome, signed by six European nations, founds the European Economic Community.

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 173 See also: Johann Gottfried Herder 142–43 ■ Simón Bolívar 162–63 ■ John Stuart Mill 174–81 ■ Theodor Herzl 208–09 ■ Gianfranco Miglio 296 In laboring for raised two problems. First, liberty A procession through the streets of our own country was an “illusion and a bitter irony” Turin marked the unification of Italy on the right principle, for most people, who were in no in 1861. Mazzini is seen as a founding we labor for humanity. position to exercise it: the right father of the modern Italian state. Giuseppe Mazzini to education, for example, meant nothing to those who didn’t have For Mazzini, a country was much was to be obtained through the the resources or time to pursue it. more than a group of individuals pursuit of individual rights. The Second, striving for individual in a geographical area: it was an working masses hoped that rights material interests led people to association of people united by would deliver material well-being. trample on each other, weakening brotherhood. Mazzini’s ideas mankind’s common bonds. inspired revolutionaries in Europe’s Mazzini believed that the 1848 uprisings at a time when Italy advancement of liberty had not Duty before rights was emerging as a unified state. been matched by progress in the Mazzini argued that the pursuit In the 20th century, they roused condition of the workers, despite of rights came second to a higher nationalists during the struggles the overall expansion of wealth and call of duty towards humanity. against colonial rule. Mazzini’s commerce. Economic development This duty required individuals to dream of cooperation between had benefited the privileged few, cooperate toward common aims. European nations was realized but not the many. For Mazzini, the However, it would be hard for an with the creation of the European narrow pursuit of individual rights individual acting alone to directly Economic Community in 1957. ■ serve humanity in all its vastness. Instead, according to Mazzini, God had created separate countries, dividing humanity into branches. A country was the “workshop” through which the individual could serve mankind. Duty to country— thinking in terms of “we,” not “I” —would connect individuals to the broader collective of humanity. Giuseppe Mazzini The son of a doctor, Giuseppe By the early 1860s, he was Mazzini was born in Genoa, Italy. back in Italy, at a time when a In his 20s he became involved northern Italian kingdom was with underground politics, and being established. This didn’t by 1831 had been imprisoned and conform to Mazzini’s republican then exiled for his activities. He vision, and he refused to take up founded a political organization, his seat in the new parliament. Young Italy, which fought for a He died in Pisa in 1872, two unified Italy through agitation and years after the unification of uprising. Following his example, Italy had been completed with activists across Europe set up the Capture of Rome. similar organizations. Key works In the wake of the 1848 European uprisings, Mazzini 1852 On Nationality returned to Italy to lead a republic 1860 The Duties of Man in Rome. After the republic fell, he and Other Essays found himself once more in exile.

THAT SO FEW DARE TO BE ECCENTRIC MARKS THE CHIEF DANGER OF THE TIME JOHN STUART MILL (1806–1873)



176 JOHN STUART MILL I n On Liberty, John Stuart interference by the government Mill made a famous defense could not be to the detriment of IN CONTEXT of an important tenet of the individuals who had elected it. liberalism: that individuality is IDEOLOGY the foundation of a healthy society. Tyranny of the majority Liberalism His investigations were motivated Mill warned about the complacency by a basic question of political of this view. He said that the FOCUS theory—that of the appropriate elected government distills the Individual liberty balance between individual views of the majority, and this freedom and social control. majority might end up wanting to BEFORE oppress the minority. This “tyranny 1690 John Locke, an opposer Mill argued that the of the majority” meant that there of authoritarian governments, transformations of the political was a risk that interference by even pioneers liberal thought. conditions of the mid-19th century elected governments would have necessitated a fresh look at this harmful effects. At least as serious 1776 The Declaration of matter. In earlier times, when as political tyranny was the risk of Independence states that absolutist monarchies wielded the social tyranny of public opinion, all men are created equal, power, rulers’ rapacity could not which tends to lead to conformity with rights to liberty, life, be kept in check by the ballot box. of belief and action. These forms of and happiness. Because of this, the interests of tyranny were all the more serious, the state were considered to be argued Mill, because people’s AFTER opposed to those of the individual, opinions were often unthinking, 1940s Liberals lose faith in and government interference was rooted in little more than self- free markets after the Great viewed with suspicion. interest and personal preference. Depression, and argue for a Ultimately, the received wisdom welfare state. The expansion of democratic is then nothing more than the systems of government in the interests of a society’s most 1958 British scholar Isaiah 19th century was assumed to dominant groups. Berlin distinguishes “negative” have resolved this tension. Regular from “positive” liberty. elections made the masses the Britain at the time was still ultimate rulers, bringing into going through the transition 1974 US philosopher Robert alignment the interests of the towards a modern democracy, and Nozick argues that personal state with those of the people. In Mill said that people did not yet liberties are sacrosanct. this setting, it was thought that For a healthy society, individuals Often this doesn’t happen because should be free to think and act as long of the tyranny of the majority. as they don’t harm others. That so few dare to be This brings conformity and eccentric marks the chief hampers the testing out of new danger of the time. ideas and ways of life.

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 177 See also: Thomas Hobbes 96–103 ■ John Locke 104–09 ■ Jeremy Bentham 144–49 ■ Alexis De Tocqueville 170–71 ■ Robert Nozick 236–37 ■ John Rawls 298–303 Freedom of action—such as the right of assembly at this gay pride parade in Paris—was central to Mill’s idea of individual liberty, alongside freedom of thought and freedom of opinion. appreciate the dangers. The individuals’ liberties in order to another idea. Mill rejected the prevailing mistrust of government prevent harm to others. Concern argument that some ideas are was a relic from the era in which for the individual’s own good might more socially useful than others the state was viewed as a threat to justify an attempt to persuade him irrespective of their truth. He individuals, and the potential for to take a different course of action, believed that this argument tyranny by a democratic majority but not to compel him to do so: assumes infallibility in deciding was not yet widely understood. “Over himself, over his own body which beliefs are useful. Although This confusion meant that the and mind, the individual is heretics were no longer burned at the government’s actions were both sovereign,” Mill said. This principle stake, Mill believed that the social unnecessarily called for and of individual liberty applied to intolerance of unorthodox opinions unjustifiably condemned. Also, the thought, to the expression of threatened to dull minds and cramp tyranny of public opinion was on opinions, and to actions. the development of society. the rise and Mill feared a general tendency for society to increase Mill argued that if this principle A profusion of ideas its control over the individual. is undermined, the whole of society Even when society’s received suffers. Without freedom of thought, wisdoms were true, Mill argued Justifiable interference for example, human knowledge and that it was important to maintain a A moral dam was needed to stop innovation would be restricted. To profusion of ideas—for a true idea this trend, so Mill attempted to set demonstrate this, Mill put forward to keep its vitality and power, it out a clear principle to define the an account of how humans arrive at needs to be constantly challenged right balance between individual truth. Because human minds are and probed. This was particularly autonomy and government fallible, the truth or falsity of an the case with ideas about society interference. He argued that society idea only becomes known by and politics, which can never attain could only justifiably interfere with testing it in the bubbling cauldron the certainty of mathematical of opposing ideas. By stifling ideas, truths. Testing ideas is best done The struggle between society might lose a true idea. It by hearing the views of those who Liberty and Authority might also suppress a false idea hold conflicting opinions. Where is the most conspicuous that would have been useful to test there are no dissenters, their ❯❯ feature in the portions and potentially reveal the truth of of history with which we are earliest familiar. John Stuart Mill

178 JOHN STUART MILL Ideas and policies Those that do “The tyranny of the need to be tested not stand the test majority” is now generally against each other. are discarded. included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard. John Stuart Mill should do so creatively in ways that are especially relevant to their particular circumstances and preferences. Mill believed that when people automatically follow customs—in a similar way to the impact of unthinkingly held opinions—ways of living become sterile, and the individual’s moral faculties are weakened. In Mill’s bubbling cauldron of ideas, each idea must constantly Experimenting for all be tested against other ideas. The cauldron acts like a still. False, or As with the free expression of broken, ideas evaporate away as they are rejected, while true ideas ideas, those who act in new ways are left in the mix and grow stronger. provide a benefit to society as a whole, even to conventional people. views must be imagined. Without that freedom of action would Nonconformists discover new this discussion and argument, necessarily be more limited than ways of doing things, some of people will not appreciate the basis freedom of thought, because an which can then be adopted by of even true ideas, which then action is more capable of hurting others. But social innovators become dead dogmas, parroted others than a thought. Like freedom need to be free to experiment without any real understanding. of ideas, individuality—the for these benefits to be realized. Correct principles of behavior freedom to live an unorthodox and morality, when they have been life—promotes social innovation: Given the power of the majority converted into barren slogans, can “the worth of different modes of view, free spirits and eccentrics no longer motivate authentic action. life should be proved practically,” help to inspire people toward he said. Although people might new ways of doing things. When Mill used his principle of liberty usefully draw on traditions as a Mill wrote On Liberty, the to defend the individual’s freedom guide to their own lives, they Industrial Revolution had made to act. However, he acknowledged Britain the most economically advanced country in the world. Mill believed that this success had come from the relative plurality of thought and freedom of action that

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 179 existed in Europe. He contrasted between the government and Wherever there is an the dynamism of Europe with the the people was going through ascendant class, a large stagnation of China, which he rapid change. portion of the morality of believed had declined because the country emanates from customs and traditions had Policies on smoking during its class interests, and its hardened and suppressed the 20th century illustrate how feelings of class superiority. individuality. In Britain, economic the principle can be used as a way development had brought mass of thinking about government John Stuart Mill education, faster communications, restrictions on individual behavior. and greater opportunities for Although it had long been smoking has in a sense become previously excluded social classes. understood that tobacco a habit of eccentrics, but despite But this progress also brought a did people harm, society had the increasing evidence about the greater homogeneity of tastes and, never prevented individuals health dangers, few would advocate with it, a decline in individuality. from smoking. Instead, health an outright ban. He believed that if this trend information was supplied to continued, England would suffer persuade people to stop smoking Harm versus happiness the same fate as China. Mill and, by the late 20th century, The harm principle may not always thought that English society smoking was declining in the US deliver the results imagined by had already become too conformist and many European countries. liberals, however. For example, and unappreciative of the value of if people found homosexuality individuality and originality. People This was in line with Mill’s immoral and repugnant, they acted in accordance with social principle of liberty: people could might argue that the mere rank, not their consciences. This freely smoke even though it harmed knowledge that homosexuality is why he believed that a lack of them, because it did not harm was being practiced would harm eccentricity was such a danger. others. Then new medical them. They might argue that the information came to light showing state should intervene to uphold The harm principle that passive smoking was harmful. sexual morals. This raises the Mill’s criterion of harm was a useful This meant that smoking in public issue of the underlying ethical and easily stated principle to define places now violated the harm basis for Mill’s defense of the the appropriate boundary between principle. The principle was individual. On Liberty was written state and individual, expressed reapplied, and smoking bans in in the context of the philosophical at a time when the relationship public places were initiated to system of utilitarianism, which reflect this new knowledge. With Mill espoused. Mill was a follower its rapid decline in popularity, of the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who argued that the ❯❯ Demonstrators protest at a neo-Nazi rally. Mill held that individual liberty— such as the neo-Nazis’ right to gather— could be opposed if it led to more unhappiness than happiness.

180 JOHN STUART MILL morality of actions should be apparent conflict, Mill maintains The liberty of the individual judged according to the extent to that utility is still the ultimate, must be thus far limited; which they contribute to the sum overarching principle in his system. he must not make himself total of human happiness. For a nuisance to other people. instance, instead of judging lying Mill is not making an absolutist John Stuart Mill as wrong in itself, one would need argument for individual autonomy. to condemn it because its various One way of viewing his argument marginalized, which means that consequences—when reckoned is as concrete application of the they have little access to the media together—cause more unhappiness happiness principle in the area of and institutions in which opinions than happiness. Mill refined and state versus individual action: Mill are expressed and publicized. For developed Bentham’s theory, for argues that liberty leads to social this reason, those on the left often example by making a distinction innovation and the growth of argue that negative liberties are between “higher” and “lower” knowledge, which then contribute meaningless without “positive pleasures, meaning that it would to happiness. This leaves open the liberties,” which actively help to be better to be born an unhappy possibility that Mill may have been give marginalized people the Socrates than a happy pig, because too optimistic in thinking that the power to express their opinions only a Socrates has the possibility happiness principle always points and influence policy. If he had of experiencing higher pleasures. towards liberty. He may even have witnessed the achievements of been too optimistic with respect feminism over the 20th century, One might perceive a conflict to the expression of opinions, not Mill might well have argued that between utilitarianism and the just to behavioral norms. For women did manage to obtain approach taken in On Liberty, example, some might argue that political equality through the because the defense of individual the banning of the expression of vigorous expression of their views. liberty sounds like a separate certain opinions—the declaration However, leftists would counter principle, which might conflict of support for Adolf Hitler in today’s once more that formal political with the happiness principle that Germany, for example—reduces rights mean little without positive takes precedence in a utilitarian unhappiness and is therefore liberties, such as the provision approach. If homosexuality made justifiable on utilitarian grounds. of equal pay and guaranteed the majority unhappy, for instance, employment rights. utilitarianism would recommend Negative liberty that it should be banned, which Another criticism that could Pragmatic liberalism would be a clear infringement of be leveled at Mill’s arguments Mill’s political philosophies— individual liberty. Despite this concerns the way in which he utilitarianism and his defense believes that truth bubbles up of liberty—have had a profound A religious preacher addresses from the cauldron of opposing influence on the development of onlookers at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde ideas. He believes that this liberal democracies throughout the Park, London. Mill argued against cauldron bubbles most vigorously world. His is perhaps the most censorship and for freedom of speech, when society completely avoids famous and frequently cited whatever the opinion being expressed. any interference with individual argument for a pragmatic form thought or action. This is a notion of liberalism, which is tied to a of liberty that the British political theorist and philosopher Isaiah Berlin later called “negative liberty,” which he defines as the absence of constraints on actions. Leftist critics consider negative liberty alone to be insufficient. They point out that oppressed groups—such as the poorest in society, or women without rights— might have no way of expressing their unorthodox views: they are

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 181 principle of collective well-being criterion of negative liberty. Bans John Stuart Mill rather than arguing for abstract, on recreational drugs, for example, inalienable rights. depend on a paternalistic principle, Born in London in 1806, John and even in free market countries, Stuart Mill became one of the In modern liberal democracies, the government regulates most influential philosophers particularly in the US and the UK, commerce and attempts to make of the 19th century. His father, many debates—such as those on economic outcomes more equal. James Mill, was part of the sexual morality, smoking, and These are all actions that may be circle of thinkers of the leader even the role of free markets in the considered to go beyond Mill’s of utilitarian philosophy, economy—have been structured condition for intervention, but as Jeremy Bentham. The elder around the considerations that Mill the debates about the appropriate Mill set out to ensure that put forward nearly two centuries scope of social control continue his precocious son became ago. But even in these countries, unabated, those arguing for more a great thinker—as a young many social constraints on liberal stances often invoke the boy Mill studied Latin, Greek, individual actions are justified arguments made by Mill. ■ history, mathematics, and by more than just the minimal economics. But at the age of 20, Mill realized that these Mill’s Three Basic Liberties intellectual exertions had stunted his emotional life, The liberty of thought and and he suffered from a bout ideas: absolute freedom of of deep depression. opinion of sentiment, and the freedom to express them in In 1830, Mill developed a speech or writing. close friendship with Harriet Taylor, marrying her in 1851 The liberty to pursue one’s own after the death of her husband. tastes and pursuits: to live our Harriet was influential to lives exactly how we see fit, as Mill’s development, helping long as this does no harm to him to broaden his conception others in society. of human life from the ascetic ethic of his father, to one The liberty of combination that valued emotion and among individuals: the right individuality. This is said to to unite with others for any have influenced his thinking non-harmful purpose, as long on utilitarianism and liberty. as members are not coerced. Key works 1859 On Liberty 1865 Utilitarianism 1869 The Subjection of Women

182 NO MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH TO GOVERN ANOTHER MANWITHOUT THAT OTHER’S CONSENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809–1865) IN CONTEXT T he foundation of the United Considered a moderate opponent States of America after the of slavery, Lincoln had previously IDEOLOGY Revolutionary War against argued against extending slavery, Abolitionism Britain left the nature of the new but not for abolishing it. Yet this republic unresolved. Although the speech heralds the defense of FOCUS country was formally committed republican virtues that became Equal rights to the equality of “all men” through the rallying call for Northern states the Declaration of Independence when the Civil War erupted in BEFORE of 1776, slavery saw millions of 1861. Lincoln’s message became 1776 The Constitution of the Africans transported across the more radical, and led to the United States establishes Atlantic to plantations throughout Emancipation Proclamation of the new republic. the Southern states. The 1820 1863 and the outlawing of slavery Missouri Compromise outlawed across the United States in 1865. ■ 1789 In the French Revolution slavery in the Northern states, the Declaration of Rights states but not in the South. One section of our country that “men are born and remain believes slavery is right and free and equal in rights.” Abraham Lincoln’s statement ought to be extended, while that “no man is good enough to the other believes it is wrong AFTER govern another man, without that and ought not to be extended. 1860 Lincoln’s election as the other’s consent” comes from a 16th US president provokes speech of 1854. He argued against Abraham Lincoln the secession of Southern the right of states to maintain their states in defense of their own laws, by contesting that the right to maintain slavery. foundation of the United States on the right to individual liberty 1865 With the surrender of overrode the right to “self- General Robert E. Lee of the government.” The republic was Confederacy, the US Civil War built on liberty and equality, not ends in victory for the Union. on political convenience or as a compromise among states that 1964 The US Civil Rights Act retained their own authority. bans job discrimination on the basis of “race, color, See also: Hugo Grotius 94–95 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 118–25 ■ religion, or national origin.” Thomas Jefferson 140–41 ■ John C. Calhoun 161

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 183 PROPERTY IS THEFT PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON (1809–1865) IN CONTEXT P ierre-Joseph Proudhon, The downfall and death the French politician and of societies are due to IDEOLOGY thinker, made his famous the power of accumulation Socialism, mutualism assertion that property is theft at possessed by property. a time when many in France felt Pierre-Joseph Proudhon FOCUS frustrated by the outcomes of the Private property revolutions of the previous few undermined these fundamental decades. When Proudhon published rights: while the liberty of the rich BEFORE What is Property?, ten years had and the poor can coexist, the 462 BCE Plato advocates passed since the 1830 revolution property of the wealthy sets collective ownership, arguing that had ended the Bourbon alongside the poverty of the many. that it promotes the pursuit of monarchy. It was hoped that the Thus, property was inherently common goals. new July monarchy would finally antisocial. Property was a primary bring about the vision of freedom issue of the working-class and 1689 John Locke argues that and equality embodied by the 1789 socialist movements that were human beings have a natural French Revolution. But by 1840, emerging in Europe in the 19th right to property. class conflict was rife, and the elite century, and Proudhon’s fiery had grown rich while the masses declaration encapsulates the AFTER remained in poverty. Many saw the revolutionary ferment of the time. ■ 1848 In the Communist result of the political struggles not Manifesto, Karl Marx and as liberty and equality, but as Friedrich Engels outline corruption and rising inequality. their vision of a society with no property. Proudhon said that the rights to liberty, equality, and security were 1974 US philosopher Robert natural, absolute, and inviolable, Nozick argues for the moral and were the very basis of society. primacy of private property. However, he claimed that the apparent right to property was 2000 Peruvian economist not the same as these. In fact, Hernando de Soto claims that he maintained that property secure property rights are essential for lifting developing See also: Hugo Grotius 94–95 ■ Thomas Paine 134–39 ■ Mikhail Bakunin 184–85 ■ countries out of poverty. Karl Marx 188–93 ■ Leon Trotsky 242–45

184 THE PRIVILEGED MAN IS A MAN DEPRAVED IN INTELLECT AND HEART MIKHAIL BAKUNIN (1814–1876) IN CONTEXT The privileged man is a man depraved in IDEOLOGY intellect and heart. Anarchism The privileged tend to FOCUS run state institutions… Corruption of power …so state institutions …and the masses BEFORE become corrupt… are enslaved. 1793 English political philosopher William Godwin To be free and fulfilled, outlines an anarchist all authority must be rejected. philosophy, arguing that government corrupts society. I n Europe in the 19th century, At the time, society was seen as modern nation-states emerged, an association of individuals under 1840 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon democracy spread, and the the authority of a government or imagines a just form of society relationship between individuals the Church. Bakunin argued that devoid of political authority. and authority was recast. In humans become truly fulfilled by God and the State, Russian exercising their capacity to think AFTER revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin and by rebelling against authority, 1892 Peter Kropotkin proposes investigated the requirements for whether of gods or of man. He “anarchist communism,” the moral and political fulfillment made a searing attack on “religious arguing for a form of of human society. hallucination,” arguing that it is a cooperative distribution as well as production. 1936 Spain’s anarchist union, the CNT, boasts more than 1 million members. 1999 Anarchist ideas reemerge around anticapitalist demonstrations in Seattle.

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 185 See also: Georg Hegel 156–59 ■ Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 183 ■ Karl Marx 188–93 ■ Peter Kropotkin 206 tool of oppression to keep people as an external authority, such as Mikhail Bakunin servile, and that it helps the the state, imposes laws—even true powerful to maintain their position. ones—people are no longer free. Bakunin’s rebelliousness Life for the masses is wretched, was first in evidence when he and solace can come from belief in Power corrupts deserted the Russian army as God. But living in accordance with Bakunin argued that, when a young man. He spent time in religion dulls the intellect, so it acting as society’s guardians, Moscow and Berlin, immersing cannot allow human liberation. even learned, well-informed people himself in German philosophy Bakunin argued that the oppressors inevitably become corrupt. They and Hegelian thought. He of the people—priests, monarchs, abandon the pursuit of truth, began writing revolutionary bankers, police, and politicians— seeking instead the protection of material, which drew attention would agree with Voltaire’s dictum their own power. The masses, kept from the Russian authorities, that if there was no God, it would in ignorance, need their protection. and was arrested in 1849 be necessary to invent him. Bakunin Bakunin believed that accordingly, when, inspired by the 1848 insisted instead that freedom privilege kills the heart and mind. uprising in Paris, he tried to required the abolition of God. incite insurrection. The implication was, for Bakunin, Acquiescence to the man-made that all authority must be rejected, After eight years in prison institution of the state would also even that based on universal in Russia, Bakunin traveled enslave people. The laws of nature suffrage. This was the basis of his to London and then Italy, unavoidably constrain what men philosophy of anarchism, which he where he recommenced can do, but Bakunin claimed that said would light the path to human his revolutionary activities. once these laws were discovered freedom. Bakunin’s writings and In 1868, he joined the First and known to all, no political activism helped to inspire the International, an association organizations would be required emergence of anarchist movements of left-wing revolutionary to regulate society. Everyone could in the 19th century. His ideas groups, but a disagreement consciously obey natural laws propelled the rise of a distinct strand with Karl Marx led to his because every individual would of revolutionary thought, which sat expulsion. Although both know them to be true. But as soon alongside Marxist beliefs. ■ men believed in revolution, Bakunin rejected what he saw St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow as the authoritarianism of the represents the authorities that Bakunin socialist state. Bakunin died called on people to rebel against, and in Switzerland, agitating for instead exercise their own freedoms. revolution until the end. The idea of God Key works implies the abdication of human reason and justice. 1865–66 The Revolutionary Catechism Mikhail Bakunin 1871 God and the State 1873 Statism and Anarchy

186 THAT GOVERNMENT IS BEST WHICH GOVERNS NOT AT ALL HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817–1862) IN CONTEXT Progress comes from the I n his essay Civil Disobedience, ingenuity of the people, published in 1849, American IDEOLOGY writer Henry David Thoreau Individualism not from government. argued that an individual should do what his moral conscience, not the FOCUS Governments can be useful, law, tells him is right. If he does not Direct action but they often bring about do this, governments will quickly become the agents of injustice. BEFORE harm and injustice. Thoreau saw evidence for his view 380 BCE In Plato’s dialogue the in the government of the United Crito, Socrates refuses the The best thing States before the Civil War, and chance to escape execution, governments can do is to in particular in the existence of arguing that as a citizen slavery. The essay was written of Athens he has a duty let people flourish. shortly after the end of the to obey its laws. Mexican–American War (1846– That government 1848), in which the US had taken 1819 English poet Percy is best which territory from Mexico. Thoreau Bysshe Shelley writes Masque had vehemently opposed the war, of Anarchy, which imagines governs not at all. which he saw as an attempt to the potential of non-violent extend slavery into new territories. resistance to injustice. For Thoreau, the existence AFTER of slavery in the US rendered the Early 20th century government illegitimate. He Suffragettes break the law in said that he could not recognize the US to protest at the lack of any government that was also the voting rights for women. government of slaves. Thoreau held that the state easily becomes the 1920s Mahatma Gandhi vehicle for this kind of injustice applies his version of civil when its citizens passively collude disobedience, Satyagraha, with it. He likened men with dulled to the cause of Indian moral senses to pieces of wood independence. or stones from which the machinery of oppression can be fashioned. For him, it was not just the slave

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 187 See also: Peter Kropotkin 206 ■ Emmeline Pankhurst 207 ■ Mahatma Gandhi 220–25 ■ Martin Luther King 316–21 ■ Robert Nozick 326–27 The bondage of slaves such as these in South Carolina was not only a crime by the slave owners, according to Thoreau. All citizens who allowed the practice were morally implicated. owners who were morally culpable your whole vote, not a strip of paper in 1846 for refusing to pay the for slavery. Citizens of the state of merely, but your whole influence,” Massachusetts poll tax because Massachusetts might seem to have he urged. An individual’s sense of his opposition to slavery. had little to do with the slavery of of natural justice may call for the South, but by acquiescing to a direct actions independent of the Thoreau influenced later government that legitimized it, machinery of government or the thinkers and activists, such as they allowed it to endure. views of the majority. For Thoreau, Martin Luther King, who cited these actions were: the withdrawal him as an inspiration. In the 1960s, The logical conclusion of of recognition of the state; as the civil rights struggle gathered Thoreau’s thinking is summed up non-cooperation with its officials; momentum in the country, by his statement that the best or the withholding of taxes. Thoreau’s ideas gained a renewed government is that which governs Thoreau himself was briefly jailed relevance for activists engaged not at all. According to Thoreau, in acts of civil disobedience. ■ progress in America came not from government but from the ingenuity of the people, so the best thing government could do was to get out of people’s way and let them flourish. Thoreau said that a disaffected individual must do more than just register disapproval at election time: the ballot box is part of the state, but the individual’s moral conscience stands above and outside such institutions. “Cast Henry David Thoreau Born in 1817 in the town of direct experience of nature. Concord, Massachusetts, Henry Thoreau joined Emerson and David Thoreau was the son of the “transcendentalists”—who a pencil maker. He attended believed in the basic goodness of Harvard University, where he the individual. In 1862, he died studied rhetoric, classics, of tuberculosis. His last words— philosophy, and science. He said to have been “Moose, ran a school with his brother Indian”—perhaps exemplified John until John’s death in 1842. his love for the natural life. At the age of 28, Thoreau built Key works a cabin at Walden Pond on land owned by the writer Ralph Waldo 1849 Resistance to Emerson, and lived there for Civil Government, two years. His book Walden, or Civil Disobedience an investigation of simple living 1854 Walden and self-sufficiency, extolled the 1863 Life without Principle benefits of solitude and man’s

COMMUNISM IS THE RIDDLE OF HISTORY SOLVED KARL MARX (1818–1883)



190 KARL MARX O ver the middle decades Private property is of the 19th century, thus the product… IN CONTEXT Karl Marx—philosopher, of alienated labor. historian, and iconic IDEOLOGY revolutionary—made one of the Karl Marx Communism most ambitious analyses of capitalism ever attempted. He organization of work. In the FOCUS sought to uncover laws governing Manuscripts, Marx developed the Alienation of labor the transition of societies between notion of “alienated labor,” the different economic systems, as part separation of human beings from BEFORE of his investigations into the their true nature and potential for 380 BCE Plato argues that changing nature of work and its fulfillment. Marx saw various kinds the ideal society has strong implications for human fulfillment. of alienation as inevitable in limitations on private property. Marx’s work addressed central capitalist labor markets. concerns of the time: how the rise 1807 Georg Hegel puts of industrial capitalism affected The fulfillment of work forward a philosophy of history living conditions and society’s Marx believed that work has the that inspires Marx’s theories. moral health, and whether better potential to be one of the most economic and political fulfilling of all human activities. 1819 French writer Henri arrangements might be worked The worker puts his effort and de Saint-Simon advocates a out and put into practice. ingenuity into the transformation of form of socialism. the objects of nature into products. Marx was active in a period The goods that he creates then AFTER that saw new revolutionary ideas 1917 Vladimir Lenin leads the emerging in Europe that led Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, to the uprisings of 1848. In inspired by Marx’s ideas. the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he sketched 1940s Communism spreads out important elements of his across the world and the economic thought, considering Cold War begins. how capitalist organization blights the lives of workers. He argued that 1991 The Soviet Union breaks communism solves a problem up, and nations in Eastern that bedevils capitalism—the Europe adopt capitalist economic systems. Capitalism and private property This alienates workers from make labor into a commodity. what they produce, from their work, from their human identity, and from their fellow humans. Communism is the Communism abolishes riddle of history solved. private property and brings the end of alienation.

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 191 See also: Francisco de Vitoria 86–87 ■ Georg Hegel 156–59 ■ Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 183 ■ Vladimir Lenin 226–33 ■ Rosa Luxemburg 234–35 ■ Joseph Stalin 240–41 ■ Jomo Kenyatta 258 Under a capitalist system, according to Marx, In an ideal economic the worker becomes disconnected from the system, products products that he creates the moment they are handed over to his employer. This causes the embody his efforts worker to lose his self-identity. and creativity, improving his self-worth. The worker puts effort Under capitalism, and ingenuity into the the goods are products he creates. “alien” objects, disconnected from the worker. embody his effort and creativity. objects with which he has little worker and with which he has Under capitalism, the existence of real connection. As he creates little real connection: “The worker private property separates society more goods that contribute to therefore only feels himself outside into capitalists—who own a world that he stands outside his work, and in his work he feels productive resources, such as of, his inner life shrinks and his outside himself.” The worker factories and machines—and fulfillment is stunted. The worker becomes someone else’s subject. workers—who possess nothing may produce beautiful objects for His labor is no longer his own except for their labor. Labor other people to use and enjoy, and his activity is no longer becomes a commodity to be bought but he creates only dullness and spontaneous and creative, but and sold, and workers are hired by limitation for himself. directed by another who treats capitalists to produce goods that him as a mere tool of production. ❯❯ are then sold for profit. Marx argued Workers disconnected that this removes the fulfilling Marx said that workers also suffer Communism is the positive quality of work, leading to from alienation through the very transcendence of private alienation and dissatisfaction. act of working. Under capitalism, property as human workers’ activity does not arise out self-estrangement. One form of this alienation of their inherent creativity, but from Karl Marx arises from the fact that goods the practical necessity of working made by a worker who is for someone else. The worker does employed by a capitalist do not not like work, since it crushes his belong to the worker, and cannot be body and mind and makes him kept by him. A suit cut by a tailor unhappy—it becomes a kind of in a clothes factory is the property forced activity that, given the of the capitalist who owns the choice, he would not do. Like the factory—the worker makes the suit goods that he eventually produces, and then hands it over to his the activity of work becomes employer. To the worker, the goods something that is external to the that he makes become “alien”

192 KARL MARX Marx predicted a global revolution as workers took control of the means of production. Revolution in Russia was followed by China, where propaganda stressed the values of communism. The worker’s alienation from the estranges people from their own as a basic law of capitalism, which fruits of his labor and from the essential identity, they become sets up a tension in human society activity of working estranges him estranged from each other’s as people become estranged from from his human identity—what identity too. The worker is placed their essential nature. A solution Marx calls his “species-being.” into a relationship of confrontation is not to be found in higher wages, This is because human identity with the capitalist, who owns the because workers would remain is rooted in people’s ability to fruits of the work and who controls enslaved even if they were paid transform the raw material of the worker’s labor activity for his more. Alienated labor goes with nature into objects. Workers in own enrichment. private property, so “the downfall capitalist systems lose the of one must therefore involve the connection with this basic Marx believed that private downfall of the other.” identity—economic necessity property lay at the root of the makes productive activity a means alienation of the worker. The Communism the solution to an end, rather than the way in division of society into property- For Marx, communism resolves the which an individual’s fundamental owning capitalists and propertyless tension caused by the alienation identity is embodied and played workers is what leads to the of the worker by abolishing private out. Activity is what makes up life, alienation of workers. In turn, property, and finally solves the and once this becomes alien to the alienation itself reinforces this riddle thrown out by capitalism. worker, the worker loses the sense division and perpetuates private It resolves the conflict between of his human self. property. An aspect of the system man and nature, and between of private property is exchange and human beings, and in so doing Private property to blame the “division of labor.” Labor reconnects man to his fundamental These forms of alienation—from becomes specialized: one worker humanity. Alienation made work the goods produced, from the makes the head of the pin, one and interactions between people activity of work, and from human worker the point, and another into a means of economic gain identity—cause people to become assembles the pin. Capitalists rather than ends in themselves. increasingly alienated from each specialize in different kinds of Under communism, these activities other. Since the labor market goods and trade them with each are restored to their rightful place other. In all of this, the worker as ends, the manifestation of true There is no other becomes a mere cog, a small part human values. For example, definition of communism of the larger economic machine. association between workers now arises out of a feeling of valid for us than that Marx saw the process of the brotherhood rather than as of the abolition of the alienation of the worker and the exploitation of man by man. strengthening of private property Che Guevara

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 193 something that has to be done. under capitalism, the suffering of Karl Marx Communism brings the return of workers becomes obvious, and “man to himself as a social being.” history moves inevitably toward Marx was born in Prussia to revolution and the ushering in liberal Jewish parents who Underlying the statement that of communism to replace it. converted to Protestantism communism solves history’s riddle in response to anti-Jewish is a view of history that Marx went The legacy of Marx laws. As a journalist he on to develop more fully in his later It is hard to overstate Marx’s increasingly turned to radical work. He believed that historical influence. His work led to new politics and economics. In developments are determined by schools of thought in the fields of 1843 he moved to Paris, where “material”—or economic—factors. economics, political theory, history, he met Friedrich Engels, Human beings have material needs cultural studies, anthropology, and with whom he cowrote the and possess the ability to produce philosophy, to name just a few. Communist Manifesto in 1848. goods to satisfy them. Production The appeal of Marx’s ideas comes of these goods can be organized in from their broad interpretation of After the revolutions of different ways, each of which gives the world and their message of that year, Marx was expelled rise to different kinds of social and transformation and liberation. from Prussia, Belgium, and political arrangements, which in The prediction that he and Friedrich Paris before ending up in turn lead to particular beliefs and Engels made in their Communist London, where he studied ideologies. Marx believed that Manifesto of 1848—that the end of economics and history material economic factors were capitalism would be brought about intensively. This eventually the fundamental determinant, and through communist revolution— led to his major work, Capital. therefore the motor, of history. profoundly influenced 20th-century Marx found it hard to support politics. Communist systems himself and lived in poverty Overturning capitalism emerged in Europe and in Asia, and in the slum district of Soho, Capitalism—a particular way communist ideas influenced many sustained by the financial of organizing production—is a governments and revolutionary support of Engels. He and his response to the material needs movements throughout the century. wife suffered from poor health, of human beings. Capitalism and several of their children arose as older feudal forms of One challenge in assessing died. Marx himself died before production died out. As the Marx’s legacy is separating what the final two volumes of forces of production develop he really meant from what was Capital could be published. done in his name, particularly Friedrich Engels was the son of a since communist ideology was Key works German industrialist. He met Marx in used to justify totalitarianism 1842 and initially disliked him, but the and oppression in many places and 1844 Economic and pair went on to formulate one of the at different times. By the end of Philosophic Manuscripts most far-reaching manifestos ever seen. the 20th century, communism 1848 Communist Manifesto in Eastern Europe had all but 1867 Capital Volume I collapsed, and the wealthiest (Volumes II and III published nations were firmly capitalist. So, 1885 and 1894, posthumously) even if aspects of Marx’s analysis of capitalist society still had a ring of truth, many critics see history as having refuted him, particularly in his prediction of the collapse of capitalism. More recently, Marx’s ideas echo once more in claims that the global economic crisis of the early 21st century is a sign of deep contradictions that are inherent in the capitalist system. ■

194 THE MEN WHO PROCLAIMED THE REPUBLIC BECAME THE ASSASSINS OF FREEDOM ALEXANDER HERZEN (1812–1870) IN CONTEXT T he Russian revolutionary The penal colonies of French Guiana Alexander Herzen began were extended in the 19th century. IDEOLOGY his collection of essays Despite the French Revolution of 1789, Socialism From the Other Shore in 1848, the feudal-era punishments continued. year of the failed revolutions in FOCUS Europe. In it he conjured the own circle, not for the worker with Revolutionary criticism image of a ship sailing for new his “axe and blackened hands.” The lands that runs into gales and architects of the republic had, in a BEFORE storms, representing the hopes sense, broken the chains but left 1748 Montesquieu analyzes and uncertainties of the time. But the prison walls standing, making different forms of government, by 1850, in the collection’s later them “assassins of freedom.” distinguishing republics from essays, Herzen believed that Herzen believed that society was monarchies and despotisms. real revolutionary fervor had been suffering contradictions that were dampened, and betrayed by a more dulling its vitality and creativity. 1789 The French Revolution conservative vision of reform. Many shared his disappointment begins, stimulating a period with the 1848 revolutions, and his of revolutionary activity in In one essay, Herzen lampooned writings influenced the populist France and beyond. the republican celebrations held movements that followed. ■ in France in September 1848. He AFTER argued that beneath the pomp and 1861 Serfdom is abolished in slogans, the “old Catholic-feudal Russia by Tsar Alexander II, order” remained intact. He claimed after growing pressure from that this had prevented realization liberals and radicals. of the authentic ideal of revolution —true liberty for all. Many of the 1890 The German Social liberals who professed to support Democratic Party is legalized, revolution were in fact scared of its and starts on the road toward logical conclusion—the sweeping a reformist socialist party. away of the old order entirely. Instead, Herzen claimed, they 1917 The Russian Revolution sought to secure freedom for their sweeps away the tsarist regime, bringing the See also: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 118–25 ■ Georg Hegel 156–59 ■ Bolsheviks to power. Vladimir Lenin 226–33 ■ Mao Zedong 260–65 ■ Che Guevara 312–13

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 195 WE MUST LOOK FOR A CENTRAL AXIS FOR OUR NATION ITO HIROBUMI (1841–1909) IN CONTEXT F rom the 17th to the 19th using Western models of society. centuries, strict isolation But a society as distinctive as IDEOLOGY and rigorously controlled Japan’s could not easily switch to Consititutional monarchy trade kept Japan closed to the Western modes of rule. Instead, outside world. That changed when under the guise of returning the FOCUS Commodore Matthew Perry forced emperor to power, an alliance of Modernization the Japanese to sign a trade deal powerful reformers, including with the US in 1853. A national Hirobumi, overthrew the shogunate BEFORE crisis ensued, and a section of in 1867, proclaiming a new imperial 1600 Establishment of the Japan’s feudal rulers—the shoguns rule. Samurai were disarmed, feudal Tokugawa Shogunate by —including Prince Ito Hirobumi, lands turned over to the state, and Ieyasu brings to an end two began to argue for radical reforms caste divisions abolished. centuries of internal conflict. to preserve Japan’s independence, Meiji Constitution 1688 The Glorious Revolution Since government is concerned The leaders of this revolt wanted brings about a constitutional with the administration of to unite Western advances with monarchy in Britain. traditional Japanese virtues. the country, it does not follow Hirobumi drafted the 1890 Meiji 1791 The French constitutional that its acts are always Constitution, in which the emperor monarchy, in which King remained as head of state and focal Louis XVI shares power with favorable to all individuals. point for the nation, but government the Legislative Assembly, fails. Ito Hirobumi was exercised by a cabinet of ministers. As with constitutional 1871–1919 Germany becomes monarchies elsewhere, it was hoped a federation of states, each this would provide a “central axis” with its own monarch. for Japanese society on which it could advance as a whole. In fact, the AFTER constitution provided the framework 1901 The new Commonwealth for Japan’s economic and military of Australia adopts a federal development over the next 60 years. ■ constitutional monarchy. See also: Barons of King John 60–61 ■ John Locke 104–09 ■ 2008 Bhutan becomes a Tokugawa Ieyasu 333 constitutional monarchy.

196 IN CONTEXT THE WILL IDEOLOGY TO POWER Nihilism FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844–1900) FOCUS Morality BEFORE 1781 Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason describes the gap between our thought and the world it attempts to apprehend. 1818 Schopenhauer publishes The World as Will and Representation, taking Kant’s insight and suggesting that the gap can never be closed. AFTER 1937 Bataille dismisses any political interpretation of Nietzsche as inadequate. 1990 The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama adopts Nietzsche’s metaphor of the Last Man to describe the apparent triumph of free-market capitalism. T he name of Friedrich Nietzsche still invites hostility. His elusive, wide-ranging writings and visceral critique of morality would spark controversy even without his largely unwarranted tainting with fascism. Like Marx and Freud, he was—in French philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s words—a leading light in the “school of suspicion,” intent on stripping away the veil from received notions and comforting beliefs. His philosophy was nihilist, which means that he thought it impossible to find meaning in existence. Opposed to the systematic thought of traditional philosophy, he nonetheless left numerous hints

THE RISE OF THE MASSES 197 See also: Immanuel Kant 126–29 ■ Jeremy Bentham 144–49 ■ Georg Hegel 156–59 ■ Karl Marx 188–93 The will …is not merely to power… the demand to dominate and control. …and it is in this striving, It is the striving after Friedrich Nietzsche even to the peril of higher goals than mere survival… Nietzsche was born in Prussia our lives, that we can to strongly religious parents. lead a good life. After completing his studies in theology and philology, he toward a political philosophy. This masterpiece, Thus Spake rejected religion. At the tender has little to do with the popular Zarathustra. In this dense, literary age of 24, he was appointed perception of him as a prototypical text, the protagonist, Zarathustra Professor of Classical Nazi. Nietzsche was not an anti- —a Germanized name for Zoroaster, Philology at Basel, where he Semite, considering it—and its founder of the ancient Persian met and befriended Richard accompanying nationalism— religion—surveys a fallen world, Wagner, who was a marked a means by which failed individuals and seeks to teach a new way influence on his early writings. blamed others for their own failings. of thinking and living to the His academic concerns drifted He broke with his friend Richard people. It is not a standard work away from philology and Wagner partly due to the latter’s of philosophy, or of politics; into questions of philosophy. increasingly strident racism and stylistically, it is something Nietzsche took a nihilistic nationalism. This did not prevent closer to an epic poem, and its position that stressed the Nietzsche’s works from being central arguments are rarely meaninglessness of existence, mauled by his sister, who edited presented directly, favoring but argued that Greek tragedy his works when illness incapacitated instead a figurative address. overcame this nihilism by him toward the end of his life. She But the main themes are clear. affirming its meaninglessness attempted to present his many —a theme that would recur writings in a more favorable light For Nietzsche, will to power is throughout his later writings. to the German nationalist and anti- not merely a demand to dominate Semitic circles in which she moved. and control. He did not necessarily Beset by illness, Nietzsche intend to describe a will to power resigned his teaching post in Will to power over others. Rather, he intended it 1879 after a bout of diptheria Nietzsche’s famous phrase “will to denote the endless striving after and moved frequently around to power” first appears in a short goals and the highest achievements Europe, continually writing, book that he considered to be his in life that he thought motivated but with limited reception. human behavior—whatever ❯❯ He suffered a severe mental breakdown in 1889, and died shortly after at the age of 56. Key works 1872 The Birth of Tragedy 1883–85 Thus Spake Zarathustra 1886 Beyond Good and Evil

198 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE these goals may be in practice. The priests are the most evil But if we are not meant simply In developing the concept, he was enemies… in them hatred to be content with the world, and heavily influenced by his reading grows to monstrous and instead must strive after higher of the German philosopher Arthur uncanny proportions, to the goals, the question remains as Schopenhauer. The latter’s bleak to what those goals should be. depiction of a reality in which no most spiritual and poisonous Nietzsche was clear on what they values could become meaningful kind of hatred. should not be. Zarathustra, the was brightened, if at all, only by the first to found a system of morality, “will to live”—a desperate striving Friedrich Nietzsche must now be the man to destroy it. of all life in the universe to avoid The morality we have is debased the finality of death. Nietzsche’s philosophy it engendered, was the and the god we worship little more development of the same concept debased expression of the thinking than the expression of our own is, by contrast, positive: not a of the English bourgeoisie—happy, inadequacies. “God is dead,” struggle against, but a struggle for. and entirely philistine. wrote Nietzsche. Likewise we, as people who remain trapped by Nietzsche suggests that the will Thus Spake Zarathustra this morality, must overcome it. to power is stronger than the will to contains an argument against this “Man is something to be surpassed. life itself. Even the most privileged style of social thought. It describes How have you overcome him?” humans strive after goals that mean the Last Man, a pitiable creature demands Zarathustra of the crowd. risking their lives. There are higher who is content, looks passively out values than crude survival, and on the world, “and blinks.” The Last Rejecting the old morality what should mark out a good life is Man is a harbinger of the end of Nietzsche’s later Beyond Good and the willingness to reach after them. history itself, when all meaningful Evil and the Genealogy of Morals struggles have ceased. clarify his argument that we should Criticizing contentment break with conventional morality. The will to power was a response Both provide a history, and a to the utilitarian thinking that criticism, of Western morality, in was coming to dominate social which “good” is necessarily paired philosophy, in which people simply with its opposite, “evil.” Nietzsche strive after their own happiness believed that this form of moral and the greatest goal in life is to thinking was at the root of all our be content. Nietzsche thought current systems of morality, and that utilitarianism, and the social was itself based on little more than the preferences of ancient, aristocratic orders. Starting with ancient Greece, “master” morality arose as the primary system of moral thinking, dividing the world up into the “good” and the “bad,” the “life-affirming” and the “life- denying.” The aristocratic virtues of health, strength, and wealth all fell into the good; the contrasting “slave” virtues of illness, weakness, and poverty were the bad. Nietzsche decried the social philosophy of the utilitarians as equivalent to pigs in a sty—passive, philistine, and ultimately concerned solely with their own contentment.