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Georges Sorel
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Philosophy | Artists & Writers | Notable Members | Candidates
Georges Sorel and Syndicalism
 Georges
Sorel was born in Normandy in 1847 and, after receiving a private education
there, attended the Ecole Polytechnique, where he distinguished himself
in mathematics. He entered the civil service as an engineer and retired
after the requisite twenty-five years, then promptly took up writing,
and through innumerable books, established his place as a major social
critic. The most famous and most extreme advocate of syndicalism, Georges
Sorel's passion for revolutionary activity in place of rational discourse
made him most influential in shaping the direction of fascism, especially
in Mussolini's Italy.
Georges Sorel stated his theory of "social myths" most clearly
in a letter to Daniel Halevy in 1907.
.....Men who are participating in a great social movement always picture
their coming action as a battle in which their cause is certain to triumph.
These constructions, knowledge of which is so important for historians,
I propose to call myths; the syndicalist "general strike" and
Marx's catastrophic revolution are such myths. As remarkable examples
of such myths, I have given those which were constructed by primitive
Christianity, by the Reformation, by the Revolution and by the followers
of Mazzini. I now wish to show that we should not attempt to analyze such
groups of images in the way that we analyze a thing into its elements,
but that they must be taken as a whole, as historical forces, and that
we should be especially careful not to make any comparison between accomplished
fact and the picture people had formed for themselves before action.
I could have given one more example which is perhaps still more striking:
Catholics have never been discouraged even in the hardest trials, because
they have always pictured the history of the Church as a series of battles
between Satan and the hierarchy supported by Christ; every new difficulty
which arises is only an episode in a war which must finally end in the
victory of Catholicism.
In employing the term myth I believed that I had made a happy choice,
because I thus put myself in a position to refuse any discussion whatever
with the people who wish to submit the idea of a general strike to a detailed
criticism, and who accumulate objections against its practical possibility.
It appears, on the contrary, that I had made a most unfortunate choice,
for while some told me that myths were only suitable to a primitive state
of society, others imagined that I thought the modern world might be moved
by illusions analogous in nature to those which Renan thought might usefully
replace religion. But there has been a worse misunderstanding than this
even, for it has been asserted that my theory of myths was only a kind
of lawyer's plea, a falsification of the real opinions of the revolutionaries,
the sophistry of an intellectual.
If this were true, I should not have been exactly fortunate, for I have
always tried to escape the influence of that intellectual philosophy,
which seems to me a great hindrance to the historian who allows himself
to be dominated by it.
In can understand the fear that this myth of the general strike inspires
in many worthy progressives, on account of its character of infinity,
the world of today is very much inclined to return to the opinions of
the ancients and to subordinate ethics to the smooth working of public
affairs, which results in a definition of virtue as the golden mean; as
long as socialism remains a doctrine expressed only in words, it is very
easy to deflect it towards this doctrine of the golden mean; but this
transformation is manifestly impossible when the myth of the "general
strike" is introduced, as this implies an absolute revolution. You
know as well as I do that all that is best in the modern mind is derived
from this "torment of the infinite"; you are not one of those
people who look upon the tricks by means of which readers can be deceived
by words, as happy discoveries. That is why you will not condemn me for
having attached great worth to a myth which gives to socialism such high
moral value and such great sincerity. It is because the theory of myths
tends to produce such fine results that so many seek to refute it....
As long as there are no myths accepted by the masses, one may go on talking
of revolts indefinitely, without ever provoking any revolutionary movement;
this is what gives such importance to the general strike and renders it
so odious to socialists who are afraid of a revolution....
The revolutionary myths which exist at the present time are almost free
from any such mixture; by means of them it is possible to understand the
activity, the feelings and the ideas of the masses preparing themselves
to enter on a decisive struggle: the myths are not descriptions of things,
but expressions of a determination to act. A Utopia is...and intellectual
product; it is the work of theorists who, after observing and discussing
the known facts, seek to establish a model to which they can compare existing
society in order to estimate the amount of good and evil it contains.
It is a combination of imaginary institutions having sufficient analogies
to real institutions for the jurist to be able to reason about them; it
is a construction which can be taken to pieces, and certain parts of it
have been shaped in such a way that they can...be fitted into approaching
legislation. While contemporary myths lead men to prepare themselves for
a combat which will destroy the existing state of things, the effect of
Utopias has always been to direct men's minds towards reforms which can
be brought about by patching up the existing system; it is not surprising,
then, that so many makers of Utopias were able to develop into able statesmen
when they had acquired a greater experience of political life.
A myth cannot be refuted, since it is, at bottom, identical with the
conviction of a group, being the expression of these convictions in the
language of movement; and it is, in consequence, unanalyzable into parts
which could be placed on the plane of historical descriptions. A Utopia,
on the other hand, can be discussed like any other social constitution;
the spontaneous movements it presupposes can be compared with the movements
actually observed in the course of history, and we can in this way evaluate
its verisimilitude; it is possible to refute Utopias by showing that the
economic system on which they have been made to rest is incompatible with
the necessary conditions of modern production.
For a long time Socialism was scarcely anything but a Utopia; the Marxists
were right in claiming for their master the honor of bringing about a
change in this state of things; Socialism has now become the preparation
of the masses employed in great industries for the suppression of the
State and property; and it is no longer necessary, therefore, to discuss
how men must organize themselves in order to enjoy future happiness; everything
is reduced to the revolutionary apprenticeship of the proletariat. Unfortunately
Marx was not acquainted with facts which have now become familiar to us;
we know better than he did what strikes are, because we have been able
to observe economic conflict of considerable extent and duration; the
myth of the "general strike" has become popular, and is now
firmly established in the minds of the workers; we possess ideas about
violence that it would have been difficult for him to have formed; we
can then complete his doctrine, instead of making commentaries on his
text, as his unfortunate disciples have done for so long.
In this way Utopias tend to disappear completely from Socialism; Socialism
has no longer any need to concern itself with the organization of industry
since capitalism does that....
People who are living in this world of "myths," are secure from
all refutation; this has led many to assert that Socialism is a kind of
religion. For a long time people have been struck by the fact that religious
convictions are unaffected by criticism, and from that they have concluded
that everything which claims to be beyond science must be a religion.
It has been observed also that Christianity tends at the present day to
be less a system of dogmas than a Christian life, i.e., moral reform penetrating
to the roots of one's being; consequently, new analogy has been discovered
between religion and the revolutionary Socialism which aims at the apprenticeship,
preparation, and even reconstruction of the individual -- a gigantic task....
...by the side of Utopias there have always been myths capable of urging
on the workers to revolt. For a long time these myths were founded on
the legends of the Revolution, and they preserved all their value as long
as these legends remained unshaken. Today the confidence of the Socialists
is greater than ever since the myth of the general strike dominates all
the truly working-class movement. No failure proves anything against Socialism
since the latter has become a work of preparation (for revolution); if
they are checked, it merely proves that the apprenticeship has been insufficient;
they must set to work again with more courage, persistence, and confidence
than before; their experience of labor has taught workmen that it is by
means of patient apprenticeship that a man may become a true comrade,
and it is also the only way of becoming a true revolutionary. (July 15,
1907)
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Georges Sorel :
Reflections on Violence
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