Psychology of socialism

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The Psychology of Socialism is the title of the work by Gustave Le Bon published in 1898 . The work was published in two editions, 1898 and 1903.

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The work is divided into seven books.

The socialist theories and their adherents

In Book I, Le Bon deals with the different faces as well as the emergence of socialism and the causes of its present development, explains the theories of the socialists and describes its followers and their intellectual disposition.

Socialism as belief

In Book II he develops the foundations of a belief , describes the role of tradition in various elements of a civilization and the limits of variability of ancestral ideas, and explains how socialism evolves into a religious form.

Socialism and Racial Influence

In Book III, Le Bon deals first with socialism in Germany and then with that in England and America, before turning to the dispositions of the Latin peoples. First he explains the psychology of the Latin peoples, then the Latin concept of the state as well as the Latin ideas of education, instruction and religion and ends with the emergence of socialism among Latin peoples and their current state.

With an Anglo-Saxon people, according to Le Bon, the action of the state is reduced to a minimum, while with a Latin people it strives towards a maximum. Similarly, the initiative of people in an Anglo-Saxon people maximum compared to those of a Latin people.

Le Bon understands a race in the ethnological and not in the anthropological sense:

“I don't understand the concept of race at all in the anthropological sense, since pure races have almost disappeared for a long time, with the exception of primitive peoples . In civilized peoples, there is now only what I have referred to elsewhere as the "historical race", that is, the race that is completely shaped by historical events. Such races arise when a people, sometimes made up of people of very different origins, has passed on similar living conditions and ways of life, shared institutions and beliefs, and a uniform education for centuries . As long as the population groups involved do not have too different origins, such as the Irish under English rule and the heterogeneous races under Austrian rule, they merge and acquire a national soul , ie similar feelings, interests and ways of thinking. Such a work is not accomplished in a day, for a people is not formed, a civilization is not established, and a historical race is not established until the creation of a national soul is completed. Only when it is complete does a conglomerate of individuals without cohesion, united by the dangers of conquest, invasions or annexations , form a homogeneous people. Its strength will then increase because it has a common ideal and a common will and so is capable of great common efforts. All so united people of a race then determine their actions according to similar principles. They will hold similar views on any major religious or political issue. In the way they deal with any matter, whether commercial, diplomatic or industrial, the soul of their race will manifest itself immediately. "

The conflict between the needs of the economy and the aspirations of the socialists

In Book IV, Le Bon explains the industrial and economic development of the present (around 1900) as well as the economic conflicts between the Orient and Occident on the one hand and between the peoples of the Occident on the other. He concludes this book with the connection between economic pressures and population growth.

The conflict between laws of development, democratic ideas and socialist aspirations

In Book V he first explains the natural laws of development, the democratic ideas and socialist aspirations, then the conflict between peoples and their classes, before turning into a fundamental problem of socialism: the outsiders, their generation and multiplication.

The development of a social organization

In Book VI he first describes the sources of wealth ( intelligence , capital and labor) and its distribution, then forms of solidarity and finally the union of interests in the form of syndicates .

The future of socialism

In Book VII, he enumerates the limits of historical forecasting, then first showing the consequences for a country where socialism will triumph and then suggesting how socialism could take over the government of a country. Le Bon concludes with recommendations on how to combat socialism.

socialism

Definition of socialism

According to Le Bon, socialism is characterized by the following definition: "Socialism is a reaction of the collective to the attacks of the individual."

Main features of socialism

Le Bon distinguishes among others the following main characteristics of socialism:

  1. Equalization
  2. Destruction of social systems
  3. Socialism and Democracy: Two Deadly Enemies
  4. Safe followers of socialism


With regard to point 1 , leveling, he explains:

  • Socialism aims to destroy inequality of conditions
  • One goal is the expropriation of the rich for the benefit of the poor
  • Socialists know that they will not achieve equality in wealth, but they hope to at least create equality in poverty
  • Inequalities created by nature must be corrected through a new distribution of wealth created by society itself
  • Socialism is divided into innumerable sects, but all have the common character of wanting to fall back on the protection of the state in order to remedy the injustices of fate and to proceed to the distribution of wealth
  • The eternal dream of the socialists is to reverse the laws of nature in order to sacrifice the strong who are the minority to the weak who form the majority
  • The only power that socialism respects is that of popular assemblies. The isolated individual is not for him; but as soon as the individual becomes part of a crowd, he recognizes all of his abilities and rights. On the other hand, we know from psychology that an individual who becomes part of a crowd loses most of his mental qualities, which were his strength

To sum up this first point of egalitarianism , one can say that socialism identifies inequalities, then portrays them as injustices and “sells them” in order to finally level them out with “sword and fire”.


Regarding point 2 , the destruction of social systems, he explains:

  • Socialists want to destroy the existing social order so that their new and desired social order emerges as if by a miraculous hand
  • The teachings of socialism remain agile until it is manifest because they are inconsistent with facts
  • In its absolute form and through its threats of destruction, one can recognize the dangers of socialism and fight them. In its altruistic form, on the other hand, one does not see his dangers and easily accepts them, which is why he can then enter all elements of a social organization and slowly dissolve them. As an example, Le Bon mentions the French Revolution , which began with selfless and almost insignificant reforms, accepted by all parties, including those who were supposed to be their victims, and which ended in bloody massacres and dictatorship
  • The sectarians of the various forms of socialism show the same hatred of society, capital and the bourgeoisie and propose identical ways to eliminate them

Le Bon argues that socialists want to destroy an existing social order so that, as if by a miraculous hand, the desired one emerges. Le Bon writes: “Your theories are shaped by this complete simplification, which is the dominant note of all socialist utopias : They destroy society, which is worthless, with sword and fire. The following fantastic miracle creates a perfect new one. "


On point 3 , the deadly enemies of democracy and socialism, he explains:

  • Socialism is a consequence of democracy as democracy creates great social inequality
  • “Democracies establish equal rights for all people and free competition as a basic principle . But who can triumph in this competition, if not the most capable, that is, those who have certain skills more or less through heredity and always benefited from education and luck? We reject birthrights these days , and we rightly reject them so as not to further increase social privileges. In practice, however, they retain all of their power and become even greater if they can develop in free competition. "

Equal rights for all people and the free market strongly promote inequalities among people. Socialism wants to level this breach with violence. As an example, Le Bon brings the sources of wealth and prosperity. According to socialists, these are exclusively labor and capital.

Another factor, intelligence, which, according to Le Bon, not only secures the sources of wealth but also the social order, would not only be denied by socialists, but actually combated: “This hatred of socialists for intelligence is entirely justified, because it is intelligence that becomes be the eternal obstacle before which their egalitarian ideas are broken. "


To point 4 , the sure followers of socialism, he counts:

It is not, as many socialists suspect, that one finds the greatest supporters of socialism among the workers: “The workers (and even more so the peasants) have at least as perfected their sense of property as the bourgeoisie. They want to increase their property, but they want to use the fruits of their labor as they see fit and not leave them to a community, even if it claims to take care of all their needs ”, but rather to the half-knowing and doctrinal , as Le Bon polemicizes.

Half-knowers are people who have their knowledge exclusively from books and therefore do not know anything about the realities of life. They are a product of universities and schools that impart theoretical knowledge, but no “intellectual discipline” and “habit of thinking and judging”, and thus become sure adherents of socialism: “The most dangerous adherents of socialism [...] are going out recruited the crowd of the half-knowledge, especially unemployed graduates and high school graduates, teachers dissatisfied with their fate, victims of a competition that even the state cannot accommodate, and university professors who find their merits overlooked. "

“The role that today's academics in Latin countries play in the development of socialism is extremely threatening for the societies in which they live. Completely alien to the realities of the world, they are unable to understand the created but necessary conditions that enable a society to exist. "

Doctrinaires often belong to this category of half-knowing; A doctrinal is often highly developed, but always incomprehensible and primitive, since it only touches on one aspect of a problem. Due to the inability to understand complex social problems, economic necessities, atavistic influences, as well as passions that guide people, "he easily believes that his dreams will change the development of mankind and determine its fate."

Summing up, he writes: “If we were to summarize the role of the various classes in the dissolution of a society among Latin peoples, we might find that the doctrinaire and discontent produced by the university act mainly through the jumbling of ideas and through intellectual anarchism , that they produce, are one of the most aggressive destroyers that the bourgeoisie produces through its indifference, fear, selfishness, weakness of will, lack of political sense and initiative, and that the working classes will act in a revolutionary way by destroying the building that is on its foundations already wobbles, complete as soon as it is sufficiently undermined. "

See also

literature

References

  1. ↑ See Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 49.
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, pp. 123f
  3. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 22
  4. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 25
  5. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 27
  6. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 30
  7. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 41
  8. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 42
  9. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 258
  10. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 354
  11. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, pp. 15, 41ff, 46
  12. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 12
  13. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 42
  14. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 92
  15. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 46
  16. ↑ Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, pp. 256f
  17. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 246
  18. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 302
  19. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 58
  20. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 64
  21. ↑ Quoted from: Psychologie des Sozialismus, Hamburg 2019, p. 65
  22. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 67
  23. ↑ Quoted from: Psychology of Socialism, Hamburg 2019, p. 68