Louis Blanc's Ideal
D., HARRY W. LAIDLER, Ph.
Louis Blanc's Ideal THE HISTORY OF SOCIALIST THOUGHT By HARRY W. LAIDLER, Ph.D. T IFE OF BLANC: The first Utopian Socialist to attempt to use the political machinery of his own time to put his...
...By development Blanc meant that everyone should have those means which he required for his highest mental, moral and physical growth...
...I would even hv» the Mexican people in the United States if tbjy came here as tourists or to study our peculiar institutions for getting something for nothing...
...Under thete conditions, the workshops of necessity had bnt's short life, and during that short life their achievement were greatly misrepresented...
...titt we, meaning tha United States and I, havt p-drii to wrap Old Glory around thote dividends a protect them against Mexican tax collectors...
...Equality, then, is only proportionality, and it exists in a true manner only when tach one, in accordance with tht law written in soma shape in hit organisation by (fed himself, produce, according to Hia facultiea and eon.ume...
...It maktt slaves...
...After several year* cf editorial work, he founded, at the age of twenty-six, the Revue de Progress, which became the organ of the advanced democrats of his time...
...ignorance of learning...
...Important influence on tht thought of tht tvtr widening Socialist movement...
...On jM contrary, I am strong as horse radish for Mex-JM for Mexicans...
...the broktr'a office, and most especially the private "employment agencies-" And whether it's a lot at Rockaway, an investment in railroad securities, an a la carte lunch, an advertising campaign, or a jab that tht has to sell, take my tip and hang on to your watch all tht while you talk to.her...
...If Doheny, agW' Rockefeller, Hearst, etc., shoulder guns to JR«* our intereet in Mexico I shall volunteer my ffjm as a four-minute speaker...
...He even supported* the 1872 law against the International Workingmeh's Association...
...The go-getting talesman hat no such qualities...
...v,:> a a • a • Bat please get me right...
...ma to go...
...It was in this paper that his most important socialistic work, "Organisation du Travail," appeared serially in 1840...
...Fourier would make a division among labor, capital aad talent...
...JNjWes,ihls country ii large enough for me...
...Reward According It) Need.: Man, then, should give according to his capacity...
...etorthoipor or professional man ¦^UrffiB^tas'ofAmerica...
...Wa aren't kicking about women's invasion of the business field...
...The poor cannot at present produce commodities without the capitalist because they do not own tools and machines necesary in production...
...Shi ia sexually chaste, don't mistake us...
...Thus all hopes of an immediate start toward production for service vanished...
...All' men should be regarded ta common members of one mej family, and ge^m.nt baled on common consent...
...I make Mexicans take off the tax they had placed at tht crude oil which maket crude oil cheeper for er/fellow citizen., Doheny, Sinclair and Rockefeller...
...He was afterwards forced to leave the country on account of alleged connection with an insurrectionary movement and resided in England as a correspondent until the overthrow of Napoleon III in 1870...
...Lower even than the Male Go-Gttter ia the Female Co-Getter, a new type in the American scene that needa the pen of a Sinclair LeWit for adequate delineation...
...The State should lend to the workshops credit without interest, pass laws regulating their conduct, and see that they are administered for the common good...
...aidam CoaJdigger...
...How can society guarantee this sort of opportunity...
...and if thote twins don't keep hit note to the ¦^'s^sdttone I know nothing about mortgages...
...However, he should not use them for his own aggrandizement or for the exploitation Of others...
...Misery," he declared, "restrains the intelligence' of man in darkness, in confining education with in shameful limits...
...It pits every man against his brother...
...But now that It turns out that the Female Go'Get-ttrt are more dangerous than the Male, we have no complaint...
...In her there it the mercy of a hungry python confronttd with a fat rabbit, tha loving kindness of a Fundamentalist towards Clarence Darrow...
...In 1871, on returning to France, he was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the extreme Left, but, during the riling of the Commune of Paris, lost popularity with the revolutionists by opposing the insurrection...
...If misery creates long suffering, it engenders alto crime...
...and this is the meaning of those beautiful words of the Gospel: 'Whosoever will be ehief among you let him be your servant.' Whence the axiom, From every one according to his faculties...
...Babauf believed in absolute equality...
...Everything, however, should be done to ensure failure...
...I refer, of course, to the Go* Getting Salesman...
...Louis Blanc, however, rejtcttd all of these formulas...
...But when the last customer hi* gone and she is « v aloha with the shrinking clerks—oh man I how little you .know about the Sat art of skinning the help...
...according to His wants...
...It seems that we, that neint die.United States and myself, also own vast estates in 'Mexico which the Mexican Government wants'to distribute among the landless Aborigines whoevoluted on that land...
...Crane it hit prophet...
...Thus the principle of workers' control would be< established...
...a a a 1 a Equal rightt for women ire O. K. with ui...
...Treason, my fellow-citizens Doheny, Sinclair and tk?xeftller, induce our Congress to reduce the duty H Mexican oil, which also happens to be their oil, gin that makes or should make oil cheaper to us, ¦patting the United State* and I. But when I come jpejt tnd load my flivver at a preliminary to going it tht mine, I find that my fellow-citixent Doheny, Sinclair and Rockefeller, have hiked tha price of gtajH" from 16 cents to two bits (said difference ee>iag,out of my own pocket...
...a a a It is notorious that the worst employers of tabor are those who have risen from the ranks...
...She is a "good fellow* working hard to keep the littlt home together and bring up the "kiddlta/ and she deserves the business...
...I don't want to see Shxieo made safe for American rent collectors...
...Ht go-gets from dewy morn to ginny eve,' peddling hia hokum, tearing hit ahlrt, heating his brttst., forcing a sullen world to turrendtr to hia assaulta by the very power of hit brassy lungs...
...Such a State would assuredly be conducive to the best interests of the rich as well as the poor, for who can gain any .'Ontentment from an order like the present, in which so many are doomed to lives of misery...
...So a^titr aWfcniting for...
...Thus Bltnc contributes an ideal of distinct merit in the sphere of distributive justice...
...AH these fine jobs be-%-to the Anglo-Saxon race by right of discovery, ¦W, by golly, we're going to get them if we have {jzurifice the last landlord and his last dollar in ^*tjmpt...
...Money for this Stats venture should be secured by the State from general taxation and from revenues derived from the railways—which must become public property — and from such other undertakings as mines, insurance enterprises, and banking...
...Our interest In str^" :W it to Iwttney...
...t Who knows but that in a few more years, when thty have gained complete dominance over thtir masculine competitors, thty will mikt all butinttt to intolerable thtt the rest of us will rise and drive all these money-changers, n ale tnd female alike, out of the Temple which is Life...
...In appointing Thomas to hii Office, the Minister of Public Works wrote him that the experiment could not have anything but gobdV rstulti, "because :It would demonstrate to the laborers the emptiness and falseness of these inapplicable theories and causa them t6 perceive the disastrous consequences flowing therefrom for themselves, and would so discredit Louis Blanc in their, eyes that he should forever cease to he a danger...
...Blanc was born in Madrid, Spain, where his father had been sent by Louis Bonaparte as Inspector-General of Finance...
...Government Organiiea Sham Work.hop.: Whilt tht complete Socialist State which he pictured could be brought about only gradually, Blanc felt that a start, through the establishment of a number of national workshops, could be made immediately...
...That land is none of my busi-nf»»*nd h* I can help it it is not my funeral, either, i |f those land owners want to cross the Rio Grande t4'fight for thtir homes and firesides on the other •Me they've got my blessing—in fact, I shall be twit tee them go...
...Private workshops should not be forced to join the federation, but inability to compete against these enterprises would probably lead sooner or later'to a merger...
...5 course, we, that is the United States Jfl, do not draw any dividends from our Kfts in Mexico...
...It it hia insistent foot that force* opan the doers of the country, hit nasal voice that regulates tht couacilt of Government, his god that we art compelled to worship...
...We'll aomit that we were once old-fashioned enough to think that women might bring a softening influence to bear upon the cat-throats...
...For him there it but one god, Bruce Barton, and Dr...
...The Saint Simonlant declared, at we have tasted, that tha reward of labor should be commensurate with works...
...But as for "e 'fling,to Mexico on another crusade in defense of these land titles...
...Service According to Capacity: Blanc is not a believer in the equality of talents...
...Society must he transformed ln*o t.rtore brotherly system, modeled after the human bod*, which is the wot* of God...
...They make an exchange so much like a big family with popper sleeping off a bun, mommer moaning about her poor back, big brother ttrangling tha ctt, and little lister pulling off the wings of flies, 'hat the New York Telephone Company's figures for •labor turnover are almost as high as their rates...
...Capitalists should be welcome in thes* shops...
...I want the Mexicans to get a Wd of their own soil and work it without being ftreed to pay rent to guilty bystanders in San nhttciico, Boston and Cincinnati...
...Boys, get the money," is his philosophy sad Le has -midt it a national slogan...
...a • » * e New...
...Outwardly to her customers, except when they owe her money, she is all smiles, the fine retired gentle-woman, forced by cruel circumstances to make her way ia the world and lavishly praised therefor by the dull young men of the American Magazine...
...Whether ah* is running a gyp millinery store on Math tvenut or kidding the buyers in the back-room of a speakeasy in the padJockod Forties, the manner is tht same...
...Then their good President Diaz took it away again with Mausers and presented tome of it to influential American citizens such as newspaper proprietors and brothers oLfttajdtntf...
...Each ona should have tkat which he finds necessary to the development of his capabilities, limited of coursa by tht ability of society to supply these nttds...
...and this indication each one bears...
...This was opposed by a majority of tha politicians of the day, but they felt that tome pretense at trying hit scheme should bt mada in order to stop public clamor...
...of each concern being set apart for an insurance fund...
...The staliera of workshops should be united into a great federation, and should form an insurance company to cover the losses of any individual workshop, a part of the pre fits...
...All men trt not tqutl in physical forca, in intelligence, all have not tht stmt tastes, tht stmt inclinations, tht stmt tptitudtt, tny more than thty havt tht stmt visage or the samt figure...
...With the disappearance of these private concerns the socialistic State would come into being...
...He was Utopian in that he felt that the impossible of his generation *»uld in that generation become a reality...
...Blanc died in 1882, and was voted a State funeral by the Chamber of Deputies...
...Se.flbse land titles seem to be perfectly clear ijf Igujralar, as all land titlet are, including those t» acquired from the Indians in exchange for Paris Iteen...
...During the ensuing years he wrote excellent histories of the years 1830 to 1840, and of the French Revolution, and became a prominent member of the Provisional Government of 1848...
...It renders man' "the sole ahd exclusive judge of that which surrounds him, gives him an exalted sentiment of his rights without indicating to htm his duties, abandons blm to his own powers, and proclaims falsa** fair* as tha only rule of government" The Tesult ii want and misery...
...the antra drum* snare— Wf* there is o pltce like home...
...The first stef ih n***^^'***1 •*ht* •i|«JMF|mmiww»: shall he guar-[jiMilil SrilIs Tli in can best be attained by the erection af social workshops by th* State, "destined to replace gradually and without shock individual workshops...
...Well, let 'em ^'M>,ajottoia "My country right or wrong, [PjfcoMefa.em...
...They did not come up to a loflVoJtMlr high moral standard...
...and being somewhat of a nm •Waa myself (my instrument is E flat alto), I might •fes join the band at the depot to give them God-ajhti fat a "patriotic outburst of Ump-ta, ump-ta, «tn>tt-ta-tt...
...it makes the greater part of thieves, assassins and prostitutes...
...cThe Female (Jo-Getters who boss the telephone operators are splendid examples of what we mean...
...It is not now guaranteed...
...And Jfjm to think about it, that hind never doet go...
...As such, he demanded that the Government guarantee work to every one unable to obtain it elsewhere, and that it create a Ministry of Labor and Progress...
...WE, US , and I 'mjtt pm*-dti*n* Doheny, Sinclair and Wffi JUca^afler, own a great deal of oil tf'ifcrl <¦ Xaxfco, and because these akaaasnithr brothers and I are all citizens 5Z United States it ia aaid that we have OTisls in Mexico to defend...
...t So long as the Mexicans a|e shut out from their •tX'ltnd they are bound to come over here and Jfuhard Work away from superior races...
...to secure the moral support of the iwd-j*e*le of the United States while he made our shit*JJfublic safe for foreign exploiters...
...Tell it to William ¦fe&h JhenL to Charley Taft or editor Chand-M&™*ffi7ffi)<FtLv»i- Till it to my fellow-(hi wfcTl(m*U*r end Rockefeller, But SthfMWasfx ecrt pf it If thett gentlemen 'W^MgrnSm^^mnt * them Tn Mtatep fill, go tjpMaS Mtttr-or get it in their neck...
...And that last, by the wsy, it true, too true...
...Get that?—work...
...that each individual should have an opportunity to develop a well-rounded personality...
...Tfca >e«ial Werkskep...
...I hope to ba excused," tt Weber aitd to say to Fields...
...The dividend end is Stly the private concern of my fellow-?bu, Doheny, Sinclair and Rockefeller...
...On the other hand, he claimed, it was laying th foundation for a nobler .spiritual order, by eliminating the materialistic influence of misery...
...In the development of social industry the ideal to be attained is the placing of each individual in such a position that he may be able to use his capacities to the full...
...JjgpmMt am afraid I'm getting ahead of my wattamiaL Those landlord warrion haven't ip'to sj&fco yet Perhant they won't go...
...He was at one with many of his predecessors in emphasizing that human happiness and human development should be the goal of social effort...
...To make failure doubly sure, Emlle Thomas, one of Blanc's worst enemies, was placed in charge...
...He possessed a brilliant pen, and was noted for his simple, generous and lovable disposition and for his fine integrity...
...For God gave them to man as a measure of his obligation to society...
...Development of Personality tka Higkaet Aimi How did Blanc's concepts agree with those of his fellow Utopians, and how did they differ from them...
...During the first year it should select the administrators on the basis of ability, but after that the workers, becoming better acquainted with each other, should have the power of selection...
...AS difftrent times I havt become acquainted with murderers, fergtrs, plats*, pickpockets and pre* falsioaal gamblers (other than Hock broken, I mean), and in mott Initancei I have found that these pinetsid cartels engaging eharaetaristUs, th* wlU lingaess to take chances, a whimsical outlook on lift, a spirit of camtradtrit, that made them not wholly unlovely...
...They ara but the supreme indication of that which each one owes to the society of Which he is a member...
...Weakness is a creditor of strength...
...So, at a member of the Provisional Government In 1848, he put forward this Idea with great Iniltttpc...
...These instruments should be furnished by the State, which thus becomes the banker of the poor...
...Getter you are indeed lucky if you have to much as the buttons on your shirt left...
...He realizes that great differences exist in the powers and abilities of men...
...Mi Alaetai CoUtatask...
...Froai what I heard this land was bought from the aboriginal Mexicans by the Spanitrdi with the •id...
...thai Is one's daiy...
...The present competitive system means bellnm onanism contra omaea (war of all against all...
...of spiked clubs...
...No tyrant of antiquity strutted quite to obscenely ai strut tht clothing manufacturer...
...Bed Time Stories for the Bourgeoisie given m ia ****** k*r*Uim ea* tha mm of tha earth...
...It they sent me down to Vera Crux in a cruiser jp start: a crusade in behalf of crude oil...
...Thus there is no htalth or vigor in the human body unless each member recelvei that which is able to preserve it from ptin and to tnable it to accomplish proptrly its peculiar function...
...She 1* a butlneit woman," pure but not to goih-dirned simple...
...a a a a » You will, And htr in the advertising agency, the uptown tetrihop, tht more saodtrn banks, the advanced "physical culture academies...
...For I dearly hve'the Mexic/ui people in Mexico...
...Wt live and learn...
...And when I get ta tha mine the super breaks the sad news unto me tint on account of the great influx of Mexican crude oil, (oiks are now burning that stuff in furnaces and rtilrttd engines in preference to coal, which means tfctiby going on that crusade to Mexico I crusaded nyslf out of a jol for the glory and profit of my [aW^itizens Doheny, Sinclair and Rockefeller...
...Y' eaee* They deprive poor hut deserving American citi-of the glorious privilege of feeding concrete ¦wsrs, spreading asphalt on boiling avenues, jug-Jung railroad ties when it's 100 in the shade and pitting in three-feet veins...
...If your intelligence is superior, it is a sign that your mission is to scatter about you more light...
...There are instances on record where a Mais Go-Get t*r loardd his victim cart fart after the raid (called in the jargon of the trade the "canvaat") watgeloied...
...Louis Blanc coined another formula: "From atch tccording to hit tbility, to each acoerding to hii neada...
...Let the banner* W*ah'th' ,pouter* rave—for m* the *irl" thpy nCT**var, let ro man call me a slacker...
...her, you hive sweet.amWxvaalB^^ aa tpplleaptj . "RehA*tf W|Sm»sfP wtefta,' "a chance to learn th* business under the most pleasant auspices," "the telephone company is just one big family...
...If E^twJtJt" ai big my proportionate share in it WW be stHl le s. My interest in Mexico could be HPfad SWfteetwumptivt moonbeam and it wouldn't IW-oand, and the same holds good for every work-M9*?t MttiM...
...What should he receive...
...the ii not to ba confuted with the professional "gold-digger...
...fv- .. t it you wontJ' tfiia ihi'¦ il| sg|sin.toJffi&jL...
...The more a man can, the more he ought...
...Misery tk* Great Materialistic Fore*: Blanc, in putting forth his plan to guar an tee employment and gradually to usher in a new order, resented the charge that hia proposal was a materialistic one...
...They should be paid interest on their capital investment,' and shculd receive a wage - for their labor...
...If you are twice as strong as your neighbor it is a proof that Nature has destined you to bear a double burden...
...But »« trouble with the Mexicans who come to our Msp'itable shore is they don't come to play or study, Tbty come to work...
...I have MWays »i W*w»v«*ata of a short work-day and two fitjf* ijLj^'Poeohes a day comes about as tear to my ^mmpratair dais's work at I can think of...
...After an encounter with a Female Go...
...Ho passed his early years in Corsica, the home of his mother, studiid in the College of Rodez, and continued his studies in Paris, earning part of his expenses by copying and teaching...
...fire-water and leaden bullets...
...Blanc's social principles, however, htve hid an...
...Misery counsels tlwtyt the sacrifice of personal dignity and almost demands it Misery places him whose character is independent in a position of dependence, to ai to counsel a new torment in a virtue and to change into gall what there it of nobility in hit blood...
...Blanc was the first also to aprjeal to the workers rather than the privileged classes to effect the social .transformation and was in a sense a connecting1 link between the older Utopians and the Marxian Socialists...
...there it soma talk tgtin that our interests in Mexico may presently demand another crusade W that benighted country...
...Here she comes, broad-bosomed, steely-eyed, looking you over with snake-like deliberation, wondering how' much you can be shaken down for...
...But, boys and girls, there art still lower form* of human Ufa on thit intane planat of ouri...
...The only *»y to beep, them at home it to-give them hornet at •Pf: If President Cajlei.can give every Mexican •PUt farm in fee simple, at he says he will if we Mm alone, then Before long every frugal Mex-JPrWilt have a first and second mortgage on hit 'WW...
...Ltter the Mexicans reitored it to themselves with flintlocks...
...I'd rather be wrong and live VlT Pwa.tonntry than be.right and get thot for •(¦¦^Wtise'i count ry...
...Their excuse is that it it only natural to rob it in on the underdog once you get on the top of tht heap—you are just giving back what you got, But even thit excuse fails tht Female Oo-Getter who sweats htr'help In tea-room, employment office, and business concern with a thoroughness that arouses even the grudging admiration of her male rivals...
...but tach one should ba placed in a condition to derive tht grtattst possible advantage from his facultiti in to far as thii can be done with due regard to others, and to satisfy ai completely at possible, without injuring others, the needs which Nature has given him...
...Tha female *t ty"HW ilmon-ians, he believed, would condemn the JgdMT-pi ej^tpefi, and would f^a;te that* who through no merit of' their own, wtre born with superior ability, Uto great a handicap over their fellows...
...W&J&WSWm'lii...
...e a e a t Because of hit incredible activitiet, we go through thit vtle of tears cluttered up with one million aad one thlngi that no aane being could have the ilight- ¦ eat use for...
...who a few short years age were working at tha bench...
...T IFE OF BLANC: The first Utopian Socialist to attempt to use the political machinery of his own time to put his ideas into operation was Louis Blanc (1813-1882...
Vol. 2 • August 1925 • No. 32
