Reflections on Violence

by Georges Sorel and T E 1883-1917 Hulme

Book Overview

Sorel developed an original and provocative theory on the positive, even creative, role of myth and violence in the historical process. Sorel was a civil servant who fervently believed that only the clearest and most brutal expression of class war could effect lasting social change. This, his most important work, is a passionate outcry for the socialist overthrow of society.
Reflections on Violence first appeared as a series of articles...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486437078
• ISBN13: 9780486437071
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!

An excellent exposition of revolutionary syndicalist thought, quite in contradiction to statist Marxism, and infused with the spirit of the labor movement. Long before Michael Foucault, Georges Sorel pointed out that ethics are determined by the ruling class. Those who are squeamish about Sorel's unabashed enthusiasm for class violence will remember that all societies have been ushered in with violence. The present capitalist society was created in bloody revolutions that saw the rebelling bourgeoisie cutting off the heads of their fuedal masters left right and center! America is founded on revolution. France is founded on revolution. Britain is founded on (limited) revolution. In class terms, Sorel argues, might makes right. And, as the pragmatic bourgeois revolutionary Mao put it, power comes from the barrel of a gun.

The power of myths, the importance of choosing wisely

"Reflections on violence" was written in 1908 by Georges Sorel, and gives us a good idea of what revolutionary syndicalism was like to him. Even if this book isn't widely read, it is quite important in the history of political ideas. "Reflections on Violence" is a little difficult to read sometimes, because it was the result of many articles that the author had written regarding many subjects. When he finally put them together he didn't rewrite them, because he believed that to be good, reading must be an exercise that implies a certain amount of work. Well, as a matter of fact he achieved that aim, but all the same the book is well worth the effort. In "Reflections on violence" Sorel gives great importance to the idea of social myth, because according to him, myths can lead everybody's energy towards a given aim. In his opinion, there is an enormous difference between myths and utopias, due to the fact that myths don't only describe an ideal, but try to reach it. Through utopia you tear yourself from the world, with a myth you transform it (and transforming it you find yourself, because man is creative activity). Sorel thinks that myths are not rational, and because of that they cannot be judged intellectually. One of the myths he studies is the myth of the general strike. He believed that particular myth could give the proletariat (through syndicalism) enough strenght to fight against the bourgeoisie. Sorel also affirms that violence is positive, because while force gives the workers chains, the violence directed at that force frees them. In conclusion, I must say I liked this book. When he highlights the importance of myth, I guess he also somehow stresses the tendency human beings have to dedicate their life to an ideal, a cause. And that ideal is likely to be of the utmost importance to us, because our beliefs make us. That is the reason why it is so important to choose the right ideal, the right cause. The problem is that Sorel doesn't measure the truth of each myth, but merely its efficacy, and by doing so opens the way for all kind of disasters. How can we expect even a little bit of rationality from social life if the ultimate end of that life cannot be evaluated rationally?. And if we cannot understand intellectually our aim (the myth), how can we realise if it is legitimate?. If you can, read this book... It'll make you think !!! Belen Alcat

Fascinating Museum Piece

Sorel's most famous work is an interesting conflation of Marxism and XIXth century Romanticism. Like most socialist literature it idealizes the "worker" as an heroic figure standing astride history.The book advocates syndicalism (a system in which industrial workers' unions are the vehicles of political power), but it eschews the pseudoscientific rhetoric favored by Marx and Lenin. Sorel is not particularly strong on economics, and he knows it.What he does know is cultural history and he advocates political rebellion through violence and mythmaking. The book is essentially a broadside against Jaures and the calculative, creeping parliamentary socialism of fin de siecle France. He finds Jaures and his methods to be too meek and compromising. He characterizes parliamentarism (accurately) as a system of endless debate, dealmaking and "selling out". Sorel advocates revolutionary violence as a means to both power and the creation of a new mythic order. He correctly observes that the Jacobins were violent and bloody, yet they managed to create a mythology for the French Revolution which still held a strong cultural resonance in his day.Direct action, mythmaking and ruthless bloodshed were the means Sorel recommended for revolution. His ideas went largely unacted upon in France, but the anarchosyndicalists of Spain took him quite seriously.His greatest disciple however, was a young socialist named Benito Mussolini. Mussolini's Fascist movement was based upon direct action and inspired by a myth of a resurgent Roman Empire. Mussolini made explicit reference, again and again, to the importance of myth in revolutionary struggle.Sorel inadvertently became the prophet of revolutionary Fascism. Two asides: (a) there is no reason for corporate executives to keep this book by their bedsides - it contains nothing of economic value, and its ideology is thoroughly exhausted and devoid of contemporary relevance; (b) Sorel is one of the few French intellectuals besides Tocqueville who seemed to have a healthy respect for America and the American economic miracle.

Acceptable Violence - ?

This book, should be studies in conjunction with books on violence. It illuminates that despite today's pacifity within the labour movement, circumstances (as exist in these modern times), justify resorting to 'activism'. A reading of Sorel's expose of the machinations of Socialists, the Middle Classes, et al clearly show that in these years of 'Neo-Liberalist' ideology and the guises of Capitalism under the new cloak of 'Globalisation' ..... nothing has changed for the great swaith of working poor, dumbing down or buying off Trade Unions etc etc.This book should be required reading of anyone who aspires to a pro-active approach to conditions surrounding work and Labour.It would be useful for corporate executives and polticians to keep this book permanently by their bedsides.