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Language is an instrument designed for the clarification of thought, and not, as Socialists too often assume, as a substitute for thought. This is no new development, for the discussion groups of Mr. Victor Gollancz’s Left Book Club carry on the tradition of the revolutionary clubs in eighteenth century France.
’ ‘Dans la vie,” writes Pierre Gaxotte, “ce qui compte, ce sont les actes; ici, ce sont les paroles. Dans la vie, ce que l'on recherche, ce sont des résultants matériels, tangibles; ici, ce sont des votes. Dans la vie, gouverner, c’est lutter contre des choses, prévoir, préparer, organiser, agir; ici, le grand art consiste à composer l’ordre du jour et à faire la majorité. Dans la vie, une pensée se juge à l’experience, à l’èpreuve des faits. Ici, c’est l’opinion qui règne. Est réel, ce qui emporte l’assentiment des auditeurs; est vrai, ce qui entraine leur adhésion . . . Dans la société de pensée, l’initié fait table rase de tout ce qui n’est pas abstraction et raison raisonnante. Il retranche de lui-même tout ce qui lui est vraiment personnel; il se réduit à cette petite faculté déductive qui est la chose du monde la plus répandue.”
Word fetishism plays an important part in the propaganda of the Left. The Oxford Dictionary defines “fetish” as “an inanimate object worshipped by savages for its magical powers.” To the Socialists inanimate words seem invested with magical powers. “Democracy” is such a word. No genuine Socialist worships the fact of democracy, for the intellectual Socialist has a contempt for the people and is ambitious not to be governed by but to dictate to the demos.
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- Copyright © 1938 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
References
1 Pierre Gaxotte, La Révolution frangçaise, (Athème Fayard), p. 64. This may be baldly rendered: “In life what counts are acts; here it is words. In life what one seeks are material, tangible results; here it is votes. In life to govern is to struggle against things, to foresee, to prepare, to organize, to act; here the great art consists in composing the order of the day and in making a majority. In life a thought is judged by experience and by the proof of facts. Here it is opinion which reigns, That is real which carries the assent of listeners; that is true which engages their allegiance . . In the society of thought the initiate makes a clean sweep of all that is not abstract and reasoning reason. He abstracts from himself all that is truly personal; he reduces himself td this little deductive faculty which is the most diffused thing in the world. ‘’
2 G. D. H. Cole: Practical Economics, (Penguin Books), p. 249.
3 Aristotle, Moses and the Mediaeval Church condemned usury, but they did not condemn profit sharing. Jones advanced the money without security on the assumption that if Robinson failed there would be no profits and his capital would be lost. Had Jones advanced a hundred pounds on the security of a house worth a thousand pounds knowing that he could draw interest at a fixed rate so long as Robinson was solvent and recover his capital with complete security by foreclosing when Robinson went bankrupt, his loan might have been criticized as usurious. In practice the medkval theologians found it difficult to decide where legitimate profit ended and usury began.
4 Harpet‘s Magazine, February 1937, pp. 303-314.
5 André Gide: Retouches à mon Retour de l’U.R.S.S., (Gallimard), p.38.
6&7 Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Soviet Communism, (Victor Gollancz), pp. 1036, 1207.
8 André Gide: Retouches à mon Retour de l’U.R.S.S.. (Gallimard,) p. 60.
9 Franz Mehring: Karl Murx, translated by Edward Fitzgerald, (John Lane), p. 236.
10 See also General Fuller’s brilliant book The Army in My Time.
11 Ludwig von Mises: Socialism, translated by J. Kahane, (Jonathan Cape), p. 207.
12&13 Water Lippman: The Good Society, (Little, Brown), pp. 72. 83.
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