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non serviam #5
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Contents: Ken Knudson: A Critique of Communism and
The Individualist Alternative (serial: 5)
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Ken Knudson:
A Critique of Communism
and
The Individualist Alternative
(continued)
But where did the common labourer fit into all this?
Kropotkin makes the remarkable generalisation that "at no
time has labour enjoyed such conditions of prosperity and
such respect." [42] As proof he cites the "glorious
donations" [43] the workers gave to the cathedrals. These,
he says, "bear testimony of their relative well-being." [44]
(Just as the Taj Mahal bears testimony of the relative
well-being of the people of India, no doubt). "Many
aspirations of our modern radicals were already realised in
the Middle Ages [and] much of what is described now as
Utopian was accepted then as a matter of fact." [45]
As for the material achievements of the Middle Ages,
Kropotkin can't find a superlative super enough to describe
them - but he tries:
"The very face of Europe had been changed. The land was
dotted with rich cities, surrounded by immense thick walls
[I wonder why?] which were embellished by towers and gates,
each of them a work of art in itself. The cathedrals,
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conceived in a grand style and profusely decorated, lifted
their bell-towers to the skies, displaying a purity of form
and a boldness of imagination which we now vainly strive to
attain....[He displays a bit of `boldness of imagination'
himself (to be quite charitable) when he goes on to say:]
Over large tracts of land well-being had taken the place of
misery; learning had grown and spread. The methods of
science had been elaborated; the basis of natural philosophy
had been laid down; and the way had been paved for all the
mechanical inventions of which our own times are so proud.
Such were the magic [sic] changes accomplished in Europe in
less than four hundred years." [46]
Just what were these "magic changes" of which Kropotkin
is so proud? He lists about a dozen. [47] Among them are:
printing (neglecting to inform us that the Gutenberg press
was invented in the middle of the 15th century, sometime
after the mediaeval cities "degenerated into centralised
states"); steelmaking (neglecting to inform us that
steelmaking had been mentioned in the works of Homer and was
used continuously since that time); glassmaking (neglecting
to inform us that the Encyclopaedia Britannica - to which he
contributed numerous articles - devotes to the Middle Ages
all of two sentences of a 27 page article on the history of
glassmaking); the telescope (neglecting to inform us that it
wasn't even invented until 1608); gunpowder and the compass
(neglecting to inform us that the Chinese lay earlier claims
to both of these inventions); algebra (neglecting to inform
us that algebra was in common use in ancient Babylonia and
that, although being introduced to mediaeval Europe by the
Arabs, no important contributions were made by Europeans
until the Renaissance); the decimal system (neglecting to
inform us that the Hindus invented the system about a
thousand years before it gained any ground in Europe in the
17th century); calendar reform (neglecting to inform us that
although Roger Bacon suggested such reform to the Pope in
the 13th century, no action was taken until 300 years later
under the reign of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582); chemistry
(neglecting to inform us of an earlier work of his where he
said chemistry was "entirely a product of our [19th]
century." [48]) Indeed the only things he mentions as
products of the Middle Ages which stand up under scrutiny
are counterpoint and, paradoxically, the mechanical clock.
To top it all off, he then has the gall to cite Galileo and
Copernicus as being "direct descendents" of mediaeval
science [49] - somehow managing to ignore the fact that
Galileo spent the last eight years of his life under house
arrest for supporting the Copernican theory, thanks to that
grand mediaeval institution, the Inquisition.
You may be wondering why the people of the Middle Ages
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let such a Utopia slip through their fingers. Kropotkin
cites foreign invasions - notably those of the Mongols,
Turks, and Moors [50] - but makes it quite clear that the
"greatest and most fatal error of most cities was to bass
their wealth upon commerce and industry." [51] So here we
have it laid bare for all to see: Kropotkin's ideal
community would not only return us to the dark ages, but
would take away the one thing that could bring us back -
commerce and industry.
Rudolf Rocker, the darling of the anarcho-syndicalists,
similarly eulogises the Middle Ages. He, too, felt that
mediaeval man led a "rich life" [52] which gave "wings to
his spirit and prevent[ed] his mental stagnation." [53] But
unlike Kropotkin - who chalked up mediaeval solidarity to
man's innate "nature" - Rocker (correctly) explains these
"fraternal associations" by means of a most unanarchistic
concept - Christianity:
"Mediaeval man felt himself to be bound up with a single,
uniform culture, a member of a great community extending
over all countries, in whose bosom all people found their
place. It was the community of Christendom which included
all the scattered units of the Christian world and
spiritually unified them....The deeper the concept of
Christianity took root in men, the easier they overcame all
barriers between themselves and others, and the stronger
lived in them the consciousness that all belonged to one
great community and strove toward a common goal." [54]
So we see that the glue that held these idyllic
mediaeval communities together was not Kropotkin's "mutual
aid," but rather Christian mysticism. Rocker was perceptive
enough to see this; Kropotkin apparently was not. But what
both of these men failed to see was that mysticism is the
necessary glue of ANY communist society. The mystical
Garden of Eden is the ultimate goal of every church of the
communist religion. Unfortunately, as every good Christian
will tell you, the only way you can stay in the Garden of
Eden is to abstain from the "tree of knowledge." Communists
are apparently willing to pay this price. Individualists are
not. It is communism's intention to carry religion to its
ultimate absurdity: it would sacrifice man on the cross of
altruism for the sake of - Man.
* * * * *
I'd like to end my diatribe against communism by
quoting another one. This is what one prophetic Frenchman,
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, had to say about communism eight
years before the "Communist Manifesto" appeared like a
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spectre to haunt Europe - and like a good French wine, his
words seem to have improved with age:
"Communism - or association in a simple form - is the
necessary object and original aspiration of the social
nature, the spontaneous movement by which it manifests and
establishes itself. It is the first phase of human
civilisation. In this state of society, - which the jurists
have called `negative communism', - man draws near to man,
and shares with him the fruits of the field and the milk and
flesh of animals. Little by little this communism - negative
as long as man does not produce - tends to become positive
and organic through the development of labour and industry.
But it is then that the sovereignty of thought, and the
terrible faculty of reasoning logically or illogically,
teach man that, if equality is the sine qua non of society,
communism is the first species of slavery....The
disadvantages of communism are so obvious that its critics
never have needed to employ much eloquence to thoroughly
disgust men with it. The irreparability of the injustice
which it causes, the violence which it does to attractions
and repulsions, the yoke of iron which it fastens upon the
will, the moral torture to which it subjects the conscience,
the debilitating effect which it has upon society; and, to
sum it all up, the pious and stupid uniformity which it
enforces upon the free, active, reasoning, unsubmissive
personality of man, have shocked common sense, and condemned
communism by an irrevocable decree. The authorities and
examples cited in its favour disprove it. The communistic
republic of Plato involved slavery; that of Lycurgus
employed Helots, whose duty it was to produce for their
masters, thus enabling the latter to devote themselves
exclusively to athletic sports and to war, Even J. J.
Rousseau - confounding communism and equality - has said
somewhere that, without slavery, he did not think equality
of conditions possible. The communities of the early Church
did not last the first century out, and soon degenerated
into monasteries....The greatest danger to which society is
exposed today is that of another shipwreck on this rock.
Singularly enough, systematic communism - the deliberate
negation of property - is conceived under the direct
influence of the proprietary prejudice; and property is the
basis of all communistic theories. The members of a
community, it is true, have no private property; but the
community is proprietor, and proprietor not only of the
goods, but of the persons and wills. In consequence of this
principle of absolute property, labour, which should be only
a condition imposed upon man by Nature, becomes in all
communities a human commandment, and therefore odious.
Passive obedience, irreconcilable with a reflecting will, is
strictly enforced. Fidelity to regulations, which are always
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defective, however wise they may be thought, allows of no
complaint. Life, talent, and all the human faculties are the
property of the State, which has the right to use them as it
pleases for the common good. Private associations are
sternly prohibited, in spite of the likes and dislikes of
different natures, because to tolerate them would be to
introduce small communities within the large one, and
consequently private property; the strong work for the weak,
although this ought to be left to benevolence, and not
enforced, advised, or enjoined; the industrious work for the
lazy though this is unjust; the clever work for the foolish,
although this is absurd; and, finally, man - casting aside
his personality, his spontaneity, his genius, and his
affections - humbly annihilates himself at the feet of the
majestic and inflexible Commune! Communism is inequality,
but not as property is. Property is the exploitation of the
weak by the strong.* Communism is the exploitation of the
strong by the weak. In property, inequality of conditions is
the result of force, under whatever name it be disguised:
physical and mental force; force of events, chance, FORTUNE;
force of accumulated property, etc. In communism, inequality
springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
This damaging equation is repellent to the conscience, and
causes merit to complain; for although it may be the duty of
the strong to aid the weak, they prefer to do it out of
generosity, - they never will endure a comparison. Give them
equal opportunities of labour, and equal wages, but never
allow their jealousy to be awakened by mutual suspicion of
unfaithfulness in the performance of the common task.
Communism is oppression and slavery. Man is very willing to
obey the law of duty, serve his country, and oblige his
friends; but he wishes to labour when he pleases, where he
pleases, and as much as he pleases. He wishes to dispose of
his own time, to be governed only by necessity, to choose
his friendships, his recreation, and his discipline; to act
from judgement, not by command; to sacrifice himself through
selfishness, not through servile obligation. Communism is
essentially opposed to the free exercise of our faculties,
to our noblest desires, to our deepest feelings. Any plan
which could be devised for reconciling it with the demands
of the individual reason and will would end only in changing
the thing while preserving the name. Now, if we are honest
truth-seekers, we shall avoid disputes about words. Thus,
communism violates the sovereignty of the conscience and
equality: the first, by restricting spontaneity of mind and
heart, and freedom of thought and action; the second, by
placing labour and laziness, skill and stupidity, and even
vice and virtue on an equality in point of comfort." [55]
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* See footnote on page 5.
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REFERENCES
42. Ibid., p. 194.
43. Ibid., p. 194.
44. Ibid,, p. 194.
45. Ibid., pp. 194-5.
46. Ibid., pp. 209-10.
47. Ibid., p. 214.
48. Kropotkine, "Paroles," p. 333.
49. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid," p. 215.
50. Ibid., p. 217.
51. Ibid., p. 219.
52. Rudolf Rocker, "Nationalism and Culture," trans. Ray E.
Chase (Los Angeles: Rocker Publications Committee, 1937), p.
92.
53. Ibid., p. 91.
54. Ibid., p. 92.
55. Proudhon, op. cit., pp. 248-51.
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- "Nothing is more to me than myself." *
- -- Max Stirner *
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