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    924 <&X)t JLtbKtW [Satubday ,

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    LADY SEL1NA CLIFFORD. Lady Selina Cliffo...

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    I'Roiidiion On Association. Idee (Ifnh'i...

    ofKant 5 andthe "Contradictions" of Hegel . According to it , every positive idea implies a negative , and the truth lies in the antithesis of the two ; thus , Competition as a positive idea , implies its opposite Association ; Good implies Evil ; Virtue implies Vice . Competition , alone , is anarchy ; Association , alone , is sterility . Safety lies in the antithesis , or equilibrium of the two . If you suppress Competition , you suppress individual Liberty . , and Society becomes truncated . If you leave Competition unchecked , you produce immeasurable misery . For a fuller development of his views , which we here so hriefly indicate , we refer to his great work { Syst < hne des Contradictions Ecoiiomiques , vol . i . chap . 5 ) , and with this preface , address ourselves to the chapter on Association in the work now under

    . He confesses that he has always looked upon Association as an equivocal engagement , which , like Pleasure , Love , Friendship , and many other things , conceals beneath a seductive appearance more evil than good . " It is , perhaps , the result of my temperament , but I am as suspicious of fraternity as of luxuriousness : I have met with few men who have had reason to boast of either . " But , passing from his individual partialities into the domain of science , he says : —

    " Let us apply the critenum . " What does society now require ? " That its tendency to sin and misery should become a movement towards comfort and virtue . " How is this change to be wrought ? "By reestablishing equilibrium in the Economic Forces . " Is Association the equilibrium of Forces ? " No . " Is Association a Force at all ? " No . " What is Association ?

    " A dogma . " Association is so thoroughly in the eyes of those who propose it as a revolutionary expedient , adogma , something settled , complete , absolute , immutable , that all who have given in to this Utopia , have tended ¦ w ithout exception , towards a system . By constantly ¦ viewing all the parts of the social body through the medium of a fixed idea , it was natural that they should end , as they have ended , by reconstructing society on an imaginary plan , somewhat after ( he fashion of that astronomer who , out of respect fur his own calculations , reconstructed the system of the ¦ universe No : Association is no more a & | A t v » ¦ i j \ ¦

    . ^* u ^ y * • # A . v-s m * ~^ •— ' u ^ -r ^** . * v * *¦ * . ' A A a -. A * ^ » * * v * *¦ ' * * directing principle than it is an industrial power ; Association , in itself , has no organic or productive virtue , nothing which , like the Division of Labour , Cunpc-tition , uC , renders the workman stronger ami more ex ;) erlitious , diminishes the cost of production , obtains a greater value from lesser elements , or like the administrative hierarchy , offers a glimpse of harmony and order . "

    The reader will be disposed to pull up at this assertion , and declare Proudhon unworthy of being listened to when he says that Association docs not increase the production nor diminish the cost . But Proudhon is perfectly aware of all that can lie said on this subject—indeed , lie has said it himself over and over again , with his usual vigour ; he calls it , however , the Collective Force , and classes it among the Economic Forces . In the Memoir on Properly , he pointed out how the Division of Employment conjoined with the Combination of Labour ( we use Gibbon Wakefield ' s serviceable distinction ) increases production , and how , in consequence , the labourers ought to be paid , over and above their salary , a portion of this produce due to the collective force .

    Why this distinction ? asks the reader . We direct attention to it , for he will presently see that it is of capital importance in this question . Understand , therefore , that the Cooperation of Labour is a Collective Force to be classed among the Economic Forces ; but that it is an impersonal thing : it in different from Association , which is a voluntary engagement on the part of men . We may now quote I ' loudhon ' s demonstration , that Association is not a Force :

    " In a word , is Association mi Economic Force v It Iihh been cried up , and marvels promised from it , for lh <> lfiht twenty years . How ih it . that no one demonstrates itn Hlieaoy ? Is the eflieacy of Association more difficult of demonstration than Unit of coiniiici ( - ( . ' , ciclit , or the division of luhour ? ?• For myself , 1 will answer categorically . No ; . Association ih not an Economic Force . Association is iu it . n very nature sterile , even hurtful , for it it * un obstacle to the liberty of the workman . Tin ; ie-Hponsinle authoiH of 1 host ; fraternal Utopias , by which HO iniiuy people still allow themselves to be seduced , have , without proof , attributed to the conduct of tocinti / it viitue and ciHcucy which belong only to collective force , the division o ( labour , or to excliHUge

    The public has not perceived this confusion ; hence , the hazard of the constitutions of societies , their various fortunes , and tne uncertainty of public opinion . " When a society , whether industrial or commercial , has for its object either to put in action one of the great Economic Forces , or to work some property the nature of which requires it to remain undivided , a monopoly , or a good will ; the society result

    formed for this object may have a prosperous ; but this result is not due to its principle , but to its means . This is so true that whenever the same result can be attained without Association , it is preferred . Association is a bond naturally repugnant to liberty , and no one consents to submit to it , unless he finds in it a sufficient indemnity for so doing , so that this practical maxim may be opposed to all Utopian societies . Man never associates but unwillingly , and because he cannot do otherwise . the le

    " Let uSj then , distinguish between princip of Association and the infinitely varying means of which a society , by the effect of external circumstances foreign to its nature , can dispose , and among which I rank the Economic Force as first . The principle would cause the enterprise to be given up , if no other incentive could be found ; the means are the cause of men ' s inclining to it , in the hopes of obtaining an increase of riches through a sacrifice of independence . " Let us examine this principle : we will afterwards come to the means .

    " Whoever says Association , says solidarity , general responsibility , fusion of rights and duties with others . This is understood by all fraternal and even harmonist societies , in spite of their dreams of emulative competition . "In Association , he does all he can , does all he ought : it may be said that Association is productive of utility to the weak or idle associate , and to him only . Hence the equality of wages , a first law of Association . " In Association , all are answerable for all ; the smallest is as much as the greatest ; the last corner has the same right as the first . Association effaces all faults , levels all inequalities , hence the solidarity of aukwardness as well as of incapacity

    " Thus explained by Socialists and Jurists , can Association become general—the universal and superior law—the public and civil right of an entire nation—of humanity ? " Such is the question put by the various Associative schools , which , whiUt varying their rules , have unaiiiinous-l j' answered in the affirmative . " To tl ; at I reply—No ; the contract of Association , under whatsoever form , can never become the universal law ; because , being in its nature unproductive , and troublesome , applicable only under spdi : il conditions , its disadvantages increasing much more ra ;> idiy than its advantages , it is repugnant both to the ( economy of labour and the liberty of the workman . Whence I conclude that one Association

    could never include all the woikmen oi one branch of industry , nor all the industrial corporations , nor , of course , a nation of thirty-six millions of men ; therefore , that the Associative principle does not contain the required solution . " To drag - the whole of Proudhon ' s position into light , and thereby lay bare the fallacy , we have now only to place in juxtaposition with the foregoing , the sarcasm which escapes him some pages onwards : —¦ " Association in and for itself is a pure act of religion , a supernatural bond , without positive valuea myth ! "

    Do you see the fallacy ? Do you see where this redoubtable logician has wandered out of the path ? Let us endeavour to make it clear . The Socialists say that , as a matter of Economics , Association , because it implies Concert , greatly increases the production and diminishes the cost ; that over and above this Economic result , it is for the fulfilment of our moral nature that we should cease to keep up a struggle uyainst each other , and

    unite our efforts against the obstacles of Nature ; m other words , that we should endeavour to make all our relations with each other friendly instead of inimical . Here you see a doctrine with two aspects , corresponding with the twofold condition of society : a doctrine which ban an Economic aspect and a Moral , aspect . We reduce it to its simplest terms , netting aside all questions of detail for the present .

    Wow , what does Proudhon prove ? He proves that vvli . it he calls the Collective Force is one of the Economic Forces ; and he then attaches himself to the second aspect of the doctrine—the moraland proves that it is not a Force , but a Religion . In other words , he proves that Concert in the division of employments is economically a force , and thai , Socialism is right in declaring mo much ; and the fallacy of his argument lies in identifying the moral with the economical aspects —a fallacy very common among the writers on Political Economy ,

    all the present generation is , that of accelerating the movement by intellectual , moral , and experimental means ( of which Cooperative Stores and Working-Men's Associations are such admirable examples ) . We must become fittel to such a condition before we can realize it . The change must be moral , no less than economical : hence the vanity of all attempts at immediate systematization only those men who arc morally fitted for such a state being competent to carry out successfull y the principle of Association . We agree with Proudhon : —

    who , because their science only concerns itself with the " wealth of nations / ' are apt to frWi * that Socialism uniformly claims a wider and m exalted office , refusing to separate the moral fro ^ the economic condition . We ( that is , the present writer ) by no mean share in the common feeling against competition- ^ one of the transitional conditions of our industrial movement—nor do we at all believe in the practi cability of Association becoming universal for a very long while . But nothing seems clearer to us than that the tendency of society is towards such a goal ; and that the task which lies before

    " Association in itself is not solution of the revolutionary problem . On the contrary , it is itself a problem , the solution of which requires that the associates shall have all the advantages of union with all their independence . " It is , however , a conviction based upon evidence irresistible to our minds that Association is the dominant Idea this century has to realize : because it , and it alone , meets the twofold need of social life—because it , and it alone , is the principle which contains within itself the Economic and the Moral solution of our difficulties .

    924 <&X)T Jltbktw [Satubday ,

    924 <& X ) t JLtbKtW [ Satubday ,

    Lady Sel1na Clifford. Lady Selina Cliffo...

    LADY SEL 1 NA CLIFFORD . Lady Selina Clifford . A Novel and other Tales . Edited by Lady Dormer . 2 vols . Bentley . Gray ' s idea of Paradisiacal felicity was : Lying on a sofa and eternally reading new novels;—a Paradise preferable , perhaps , to that wherein eternity is passed in drinking the blood of enemies out of skulls ; but , on the whole , not the Paradise which a well-informed Reviewer would be disposed to conceive ! Eternally reading new novels—what a task ! That of Sisiphus ( so often alluded to by

    gentlemen desirous of giving a " classical" air to their compositions or conversations ) was an agreeable relaxation in comparison : he , at any rate , exercised his muscles ; whereas the eternal novelreader can exercise nothing but his patience—his mind is prostrate . You cannot eat a pigeon thirty days in succession , vary its mode of cooking how you please ; and , if the mental stomach ( excuse the odious phrase for the sake of the parallel !) be sompwh . it less rebellious—less fastidious with its

    food , yet even that " ravenous maw" has its limits . Just picture to yourself the prostrate Felix , after thirty days of consecutive novel-reading , weaned , emaciated , sated , yet horribly conscious of the ever-arriving tidal velocity of new novels remorselessly handed to him by the messenger of some supernal Cawthorne ! Picture this , however faintly , and you will become aware of the g hasthness oi ( j ray ' s Paradise ! fill . 1 ' . 1 1 * _ A _ A ** . rt » - * S \ t- tf \ f \ f \ ' M The truth is that condiments not foo'l : a

    * are fact very commonly disregarded , and especially oy novel-readers . Novels are delightful works , not only fascinating but morally beneficial , if they are read sparingly and with some discrimination ; dui to devour them with the voracity and recklessne ^ noticeable in many young ladies and gentlemen , to dine off olives , peppercorns , dates , ca pficunih , and jam . " We yield to none" ( as elegant writers say ) ' in appreciation of the p leasure and he " derived from a good novel ; and we fancy u « those who rail indiscriminately againfit novel-rea - ing do so because they destroyed their capucity w it by exccKnes at the time they did read novels .

    There \ h one sense , however , in which we ^ niU gladly undertake to read all novels , viz ., » ¦ ' adjective new be confined to the novel , and i ^ simply to the name ; in other words , if the novc - something more than a dexterous renrrangem - of old characters , old incidents , old remarks , ai old language . Let the writer but tell uh winu i haa actually seen and Buffered , and we arc lm - J happy to read him . Does thus Nccm exacting ¦ much ? It is the rarest of fulfilled conditions V could name novelists who have made rcpujau - and whose printed pages must be reckoned " . of thousands , who have never fulfilled that H " ' and primary condition of all Literature—the nav » something to Bay !

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27091851/page/16/