utilitarian reason, a will so primordial that it could not be captured by the forms of mediation that have ossified into a mechanical social system: man have in himself a powerful motive, a “must which must dominate his whole consciousness, and act before the calculations of conviction reflection have time to enter his mind” (RV, 206). Or as Sorel put it earlier in the preface to his friend Ferdinand Pelloutier’s (1902), the proletariat to Histoire des bourses du travail “Teaching will, instructing it by action—this is the whole secret of the socialist education of the people.” is here,” announces, the role of violence in history appears as of utmost “It “that importance” (RV, 77). Proletarian violence—“a very fine and heroic thing…at the service of the immemorial interests of civilization”—Sorel enthusiastically proclaims, upon the scene “comes at the very moment when the conception of social peace claims to moderate disputes,” it employers to their role as producers and tends to restore the class structure just when “confines they seemed on the point of intermingling in the democratic morass” (RV, 85, 78). It can undo the parliamentary rotation of power that cuts off revolutionary transformation. It can reverse the objective tendency towards decadence. danger which threatens the future of the world may “The be avoided,” indeed, violence save the world from barbarism” (RV, 85). “may Sorel describes this turn to violence almost like an empirical discovery, as if in searching for an ameliorative practice for the extinction of the will and moral decadence he is simply taking up and examining whether the recent resurgence of proletarian violence in France could be an effective remedy. Indeed, the structure of exposition in the reflects this belief: Reflections the second half of the book is framed as a of whether proletarian violence, in fact, contains “test” within it all of the elements of a solution to France’s present crisis. In reality, however, what follows is Sorel’s effort to reconceptualize the meaning and nature of violence. Already
utilitarian reason, a will so primordial that it could not be captured by the forms of mediation that have ossified into a mechanical social system: man “must have in himself a powerful motive, a conviction which must dominate his whole consciousness, and act before the calculations of reflection have time to enter his mind” (RV, 206). Or as Sorel put it earlier in the preface to his friend Ferdinand Pelloutier’s Histoire des bourses du travail (1902), “Teaching the proletariat to will, instructing it by action—this is the whole secret of the socialist education of the people.” “It is here,” announces, “that the role of violence in history appears as of utmost importance” (RV, 77). Proletarian violence—“a very fine and heroic thing…at the service of the immemorial interests of civilization”—Sorel enthusiastically proclaims, “comes upon the scene at the very moment when the conception of social peace claims to moderate disputes,” it “confines employers to their role as producers and tends to restore the class structure just when they seemed on the point of intermingling in the democratic morass” (RV, 85, 78). It can undo the parliamentary rotation of power that cuts off revolutionary transformation. It can reverse the objective tendency towards decadence. “The danger which threatens the future of the world may be avoided,” indeed, violence “may save the world from barbarism” (RV, 85). Sorel describes this turn to violence almost like an empirical discovery, as if in searching for an ameliorative practice for the extinction of the will and moral decadence he is simply taking up and examining whether the recent resurgence of proletarian violence in France could be an effective remedy. Indeed, the structure of exposition in the Reflections reflects this belief: the second half of the book is framed as a “test” of whether proletarian violence, in fact, contains within it all of the elements of a solution to France’s present crisis. In reality, however, what follows is Sorel’s effort to reconceptualize the meaning and nature of violence. Already