Communism as a juridical system is rejected no less energetically. There is no suggestion of suppressing private property, which is the necessary stimulant of labour, the basis of family life, and indispensable to all true progress. His chief concern is to make it harmless and to place it at the disposal of everyone.[645] “Communism is merely an inverted form of private property. Communism gives rise to inequalities, but of a different character from those of property. Property is the exploitation of the weak by the strong, communism of the strong by the weak.”[646] It is still robbery. “Communism,” he exclaims, “is the religion of misery.”[647] “Between the institution of private property and communism there is a world of difference.”[648]
Racial devotion or fraternity as possible motives for action are not recognised. They imply the sacrifice and the subordination of one man to another. All men have equal rights, and the freer exercise of those rights is a matter of justice, not of fraternity. Proudhon thinks the axiom so very evident that he takes no trouble to explain it, but merely gives us a definition of justice. In his first Mémoire it is defined as “a kind of respect spontaneously felt and reciprocally guaranteed to human dignity in any person and under all circumstances, even though the discharge of that feeling exposes us to some risk.”[649]
His justice is tantamount to equality. If we apply the definition to the economic links which bind men together, we find that the principle of mutual respect is transformed into the principle of reciprocal service.[650] Men must be made to realise this need for reciprocal service. It is the only way in which equality can be respected. “Do unto others as you would that others do unto you”—this principle of justice is the ethical counterpart of the economic precept of mutual service.[651] Reciprocal service must be the new principle which must guide us in rearranging the economic links of society.
And so a criticism of socialism helps Proudhon to define the positive basis of his own system. The terms of the social problem as it presents itself to him can now be clearly followed. On the one hand there is the suppression of the unearned income derived from property—a revenue which is in direct opposition to the principle of reciprocal service. On the other hand, property itself must be preserved, liberty of work and right of exchange must be secured. In other words, the fundamental attribute of property must be removed without damaging the institution of property itself or endangering the principle of liberty.[652]
It is the old problem of how to square the circle. The extinction of unearned incomes must involve the communal ownership of the instruments of production, although Proudhon did not seem to think so. Hitherto the reform of property had been attempted by attacking the production and distribution of wealth. No attention was ever paid to exchange. But Proudhon thought that in the act of exchange inequality creeps in and a new method of exchange is needed. Towards the end of the Contradictions économiques he gives us an obscure hint of the kind of reform to be aimed at. After declaring that nothing now remains to be done except “to sum up all contradictions in one general equation,” he proceeds to ask what particular form that equation is to take. We have already, he remarks, been permitted a glimpse of it. “It must be a law of exchange based upon a theory of mutual help. This theory of mutualism—that is, of natural exchange—is from the collective point of view a synthesis of two ideas—that of property and that of communism.”[653] No further definition is attempted. In a letter written after the publication of the Contradictions he still refers to himself as a simple seeker, and states that he has a new book in preparation, in which these propositions are to be further developed.
About the same time he had laid out his plans for active propaganda in the press. But the Revolution of 1848 threw him into the mêlée of party politics and hastened the publication of his theories.
In order to give a better idea of the place occupied by Proudhon’s ideas, and to show how they were connected with the socialist experiments of the time, we must say a few words about the Revolution itself.
II: THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 AND THE DISCREDIT OF SOCIALISM
Socialists of all shades of opinion, who from 1830 to 1840 had been advocating radical reforms, were given a unique opportunity of putting their theories to the test during the Revolution of 1848. During the four months (February to June) which preceded the terrible ruin of the socialist Republic by the bourgeoisie projects of all kinds which for many years had been discussed in books and newspapers appeared to be on the point of bearing fruit. For a number of weeks nothing seemed impossible. “The right to work,” “organisation of labour,” and “association,” instead of being so many formulas, were by a mere stroke of the magic wand to be translated into realities.
Enthusiasts were not wanting to attempt this task of transformation, but, alas! only to find every scheme tumble into ruins. Every formula, when put to the test, was found to be void. The malevolence of some people, the impatience of others, the awkwardness and haste of the promoters even, made the experiments odious and ridiculous. Public opinion was at last thoroughly wearied and all the reformers were indiscriminately condemned.