102 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
**Some examples** is the first chapter of [Chris
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Pallis'](Chris_Pallis "wikilink") 1970
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[book](List_of_Libertarian_Socialist_Books "wikilink") [The Irrational
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in Politics](The_Irrational_in_Politics_\(Book\) "wikilink"), it is
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preceded by the
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[introduction](Introduction_\(The_Irrational_in_Politics\) "wikilink")
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and followed by the second chapter '[Some Inadequate
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Explanations](Some_Inadequate_Explanations_\(The_Irrational_in_Politics\) "wikilink")'.
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## Some examples
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For anyone interested in politics the "irrational" behaviour of
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individuals, groups or large sections of the population looms as an
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unpleasant, frightening, but incontrovertible fact. Here are a few
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examples.
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Between [1914 and 1918](World_War_I "wikilink") millions of working
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people slaughtered one another in the "war to end wars". They died for
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ends which were not theirs, defending the interests of their respective
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rulers. Those who had nothing rallied to their respective flags and
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butchered one another in the name of "Kaiser" or "King and Country".
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Twenty years later the process [was repeated](World_War_II "wikilink"),
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on an even vaster scale.
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In the early 1930s [the economic crisis](Great_Depression "wikilink")
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hit [Germany](Germany "wikilink"). Hundreds of thousands [were out of
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work](Unemployment "wikilink") and many were
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[hungry](Hunger "wikilink"). Bourgeois society revealed its utter
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incapacity even to provide the elementary material needs of men. The
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time was ripe for radical change. Yet at this critical juncture millions
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of men and women (including very substantial sections of the German
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[working class](Working_Class "wikilink")) preferred to follow the
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crudely nationalistic, self-contradictory (anti-capitalist and
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anti-communist) exhortations of a [reactionary
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demagogue](Adolf_Hitler "wikilink"), preaching a
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[mixture](Nazism "wikilink") of racial hatred, puritanism and
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ethnological nonsense, rather than embark on the unknown road of [social
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revolution](Social_Revolution "wikilink").\[1\]
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In [New Delhi](India "wikilink") in 1966 hundreds of thousands of
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half-starving Indian peasants and urban poor actively participated in
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the biggest and most militant demonstration the town had ever known.
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Whole sections of the city were occupied, policemen attacked, cars and
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buses burnt. The object of this massive action was not, however, to
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protest against the social system which maintained the vast mass of the
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people in a state of permanent poverty and made a mockery of their
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lives. It was to denounce some contemplated legislation permitting cow
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slaughter under specific circumstances. Indian "revolutionaries"
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meanwhile were in no position to make meaningful comment. Did they not
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still allow their parents to fix their marriages for them and
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considerations of caste repeatedly to colour their politics?
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In Britain several million working people, disappointed with the record
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of the present Labour Government, with its wage freeze and attempted
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assault on the unions, will vote Conservative within the next few weeks.
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As they did in 1930. And in 1950-51. Or, to the unheard tune of
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encouragement from self-styled revolutionaries, they will vote Labour,
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expecting (or not) that things will be "different next time".
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At a more mundane level the behaviour of consumers today is no more
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"rational" than that of voters or of the oppressed classes in history.
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Those who understand the roots of popular preference know how easily
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demand can be manipulated. [Advertizing](Advertising "wikilink") experts
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are fully aware that rational choice has little to do with consumer
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preferences. When a housewife is asked why she prefers one product to
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another the reasons she gives are seldom the real ones (even if she is
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answering in total good faith).
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Largely unconscious motives even influence the ideas of revolutionaries
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and the type of organization in which they choose to be active. At first
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sight it might appear paradoxical that those aspiring to a non-alienated
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and creative society based on equality and freedom should "break" with
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bourgeois conceptions ... only to espouse the hierarchical, dogmatic,
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manipulatory and puritanical ideas of [Leninism](Leninism "wikilink").
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It might appear odd that their "rejection" of the irrational and
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arbitrarily imposed behaviour patterns of bourgeois society, with its
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demands for uncritical obedience and acceptance of authority, should
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take the form of that epitome of alienated activity: following the
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tortuous "line" of a [vanguard Party](vanguard_Party "wikilink"). It
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might seem strange that those who urge people to think for themselves
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and to resist the brainwashing of the [mass
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media](Mass_Media "wikilink") should be filled with anxiety whenever new
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ideas raise their troublesome heads within their own ranks.\[2\] Or that
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revolutionaries today should still seek to settle personal scores
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through resort to the methods prevailing in the bourgeois jungle
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outside. But, as we shall show, there is an internal coherence in all
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this apparent irrationality.
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## Notes
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<references />
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1. The popular vote for Nazi candidates in the last stages of the
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Weimar Republic increased from 800,000 to 6.5 millions in September
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1930. See A Rosenberg, *A History of the German Republic* (London:
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Methuen, 1936), pp. 275, 304.
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2. We have recently heard it quite seriously proposed in an allegedly
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libertarian organization - [our own](Solidarity_\(UK\) "wikilink") -
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that no one should speak on behalf of the organization before
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submitting the substance of his proposed comments to a "meetings
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committee", lest anything new be suddenly sprung on the unsuspecting
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and presumably defenceless ranks of the ideologically emancipated. |