[638] Contradictions, vol. ii, p. 285. For the attack on Cabet, Louis Blanc, and the communists see the whole of chap. 12 of the Contradictions. Louis Blanc “has poisoned the working classes with his ridiculous formulæ” (Idée générale de la Révolution, p. 108). Louis Blanc himself is summed up as follows: “He seriously thought that he was the bee of the Revolution, but he turned out to be only a grasshopper.” (Ibid.)
[639] “I believe that I am the first person possessed of a full knowledge of the phenomena in question who has dared to uphold the doctrine that instead of restraining economic forces whose strength has been so much exaggerated we ought to try to balance them against one another in accordance with the little known and less perfectly understood principle that contraries, far from being mutually destructive, support one another just because of their contrary nature.” (Justice, vol. i, pp. 265-266.) The same idea also finds expression on pp. 302-303. Elsewhere he remarks that what society is in search of is a way of balancing the natural forces that are contained within itself (Révolution démontrée par le Coup d’État, p. 43).
[640] “Division of labour, collective force, competition, exchange, credit, property, and even liberty—these are the true economic forces, the raw materials of all wealth, which, without actually making men the slaves of one another, give entire freedom to the producer, ease his toil, arouse his enthusiasm, and double his produce by creating a real solidarity which is not based upon personal considerations, but which binds men together with ties stronger than any which sympathetic combination or voluntary contract can supply.” (Idée générale de la Révolution au XIXe Siècle, p. 95.) The economic forces are somewhat differently enumerated in chap. 13 of La Capacité des Classes ouvrières. Association and mutuality are mentioned; but while recognising the prestige of the word “association,” especially among working men, Proudhon concludes that the only real association is mutuality—not in the sense of a mutual aid society, which he thinks is altogether too narrow.
[641] It is true that Fourier was not a communist. Proudhon shows that on the one hand his Phalanstère would abolish interest, while it would give a special remuneration to talent on the other, simply because “talent is a product of society rather than a gift of nature.” (Propriété, 1er Mémoire, p. 156.)
[642] Proudhon’s opposition to the principle of association is very remarkable. He refers to it more than once, but especially in the Idée générale de la Révolution. “Can association be regarded as an economic force? For my own part I distinctly say, No. By itself it is sterile, even if it does not check production, because of the limits it puts upon the liberty of the worker.” (P. 89.) “Association means that everyone is responsible for someone else, and the least counts as much as the greatest, the youngest as the oldest. It gets rid of inequality, with the result that there is general awkwardness and incapacity.” (Ibid.)
[643] La Révolution démontrée par le Coup d’État, pp. 53, 54. Elsewhere: “When you speak of organising labour it seems as if you would put out the eyes of liberty.” (Organisation du Crédit et de l’Échange, Œuvres, vol. vi, p. 91.)
[644] Programme révolutionnaire. To the electors of the Seine, in the Représentant du Peuple. (Œuvres, vol. xvii, pp. 45, 46.)
[645] “I should like everybody to have some property. We are anxious that they should have property in order to avoid paying interest, because exorbitant interest is the one obstacle to the universal use of property.” (Le Peuple, September 2, 1849.)
[646] Propriété, 1er Mémoire, p. 204.
[647] Contradictions, vol. ii, p. 203.