Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist TheoryZenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
History
Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
Zenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
Anarchism
(2) Industrial freedom through the mutual guarantee of credit and
sale. In other words "no government by men by means of the
accumulation of power, no exploitation of men by means of the
accumulation of capital."
* * * * *
Proudhon thought that the fault of every political or social
constitution, whether it was the work of political or social
Radicalism, that which produces conflicts, and sets up antagonism in
society, lies in the fact that on the one hand the division of powers,
or rather of functions, is badly and incompletely performed, while on
the other hand centralisation is insufficient. The necessary
consequence of this is that the chief power is inactive and the
"thought of the people," or universal suffrage, is not exercised.
Division of functions then must be completed, and centralisation must
increase; universal suffrage must regain its prerogative and therewith
give back to the people the energy and activity which is lacking to
them.
The manner in which Proudhon proposed this constitution of society by
the initiative of the masses and the organisation of universal
suffrage cannot be better or more simply explained than in the words
and examples which he himself has used in the _Confessions_ in order
to interpret his views. He says:
"For many centuries the spiritual power, according to the traditional
conception of it, has been separated from the temporal power. I
remark, by the way, that the political principle of the division of
powers, or functions, is the same as the principle of the division of
the departments of industry or of labour. Here already we see a
glimpse of the identity of the political and social constitution. But
now I say that the division of the two powers, the spiritual and
temporal, has never been complete; and that their centralisation,
which was a great disadvantage both for ecclesiastical administration
and for the followers of religion, was never sufficient. A complete
division would take place if the temporal power never mingled in
religious solemnities, in the administration of the sacraments, in the
government of parishes, and especially in the nomination of bishops.
There would then be a much greater centralisation, and consequently
still more regular government, if in every parish the people had the
right to choose their clergymen and chaplains themselves, or even not
to have any at all; if the priests in every diocese chose their
bishops; if the assembly of bishops alone regulated religious affairs
in theological education and in divine worship. By this division the
clergy would cease to be a tool of tyranny in the hands of the
political power against the people; and by this application of
universal suffrage the Church Government, centralised in itself, would
receive its inspiration from the people, and not from the Government
or from the Pope: it would continually find itself in harmony with the
needs of society and with the spiritual condition of the citizens. In
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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