[687] A hit at Proudhon’s Philosophie de la Misère, which was the sub-title of his Contradictions économiques.
[688] In a letter written to Karl Marx on May 17, 1846 (Correspondance, vol. ii, p. 199), à propos the expression “at the moment of striking,” which Marx had employed, Proudhon takes the opportunity of declaring that he is opposed to all kinds of revolution. “You are perhaps still of opinion that no reform is possible without some kind of struggle or revolution, as it used to be called, but which is nothing more or less than a shock to society. That opinion I shared for a long time. I was always willing to discuss it, to explain it, and to defend it. But in my later studies I have completely changed my opinion. I think that it is not in the least necessary, and that consequently we ought not to consider revolution as a means of social reform. Revolution means an appeal to force, which is clearly in contradiction to every project of reform. I prefer to put the question in a different fashion, namely, How can we arrange the economic activities of society in such a fashion that the wealth which is at present lost to society may be retained for its use?” And in the Confessions d’un Révolutionnaire, p. 61: “A revolution is an explosion of organic forces, an evolution spreading from the heart of society through all its members. It can only be justified if it be spontaneous, peaceful, and gradual. It would be as tyrannous to try to suppress it as to bring it about through violence.” See M. Bourguin’s article on Proudhon and Karl Marx in the Revue d’Économie politique, 1893.
[689] On this point see Puech, Proudhon et l’Internationale (Paris, 1907); preface by M. Andler.
[690] This fact is recognised even by German socialists themselves. “The people who gave socialism to the world even in its earlier forms have immortalised themselves,” says Karl Grün, when speaking of France just about the time that our chapter refers to. (Quoted by Puech, loc. cit., p. 57.)
[691] “So many things have we attempted! How is it that liberty, the easiest of all, has never been given a trial?” (Bastiat, Harmonies, chap. 4, p. 125.)
[692] One of the sections of Dunoyer’s La Liberté du Travail is entitled: “Of the True Means of remedying the Evils from which the Workers suffer, by extending the Sphere of Competition.” (Book IV, chap. 10, § 18.)
“As a matter of fact,” says Dunoyer elsewhere, “this competition which seems such an element of discord is really the one solid bond which links together all the various sections of the social body.”
[693] “Whenever the State undertakes to supply the wants of the individual, the individual himself loses his right of free choice and becomes less progressive and less human; and by and by all his fellow citizens are infected with a similar moral indifference.” (Bastiat, Harmonies, chap. 17, p. 545.)
[694] Dunoyer says: “You may search the literature of association as much as you like, but you will never come across a single intelligent discussion of an equitable means of distribution.” (Liberté du Travail, vol. ii, p. 397.) Further, he asserts that association has damaged social even more than individual morality, because nothing will be considered lawful unless done by society as a whole. It is true that in this case he was speaking chiefly of corporative association, but the condemnation has a wider import.
[695] On the occasion of the international gathering of economists at the Paris Exposition in July 1900, Levasseur, one of the most moderate members of the Liberal school, said: “There is no need to draw any distinction between us. Liberal economists ought not to be divided in this way. There may be different opinions on the question of applying our principles, but we are all united on this question of liberty. A man becomes wealthy, successful, or powerful all the sooner if he is free. The more liberty we have, the greater the stimulus to labour and thought and to the production of wealth.” (Journal des Économistes, August 15, 1900.)