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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:59 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:59 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/445-0.txt b/445-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca4ab2b --- /dev/null +++ b/445-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6415 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROWD *** + + + + +The CRIMINOLOGY SERIES. + +1. The Female Offender. By Professor LOMBROSO. + Edited, with Introduction, by W. DOUGLAS MORRISON. +2. Criminal Sociology. By Professor ENRICO FERRI. +3. Juvenile Offender. By W. DOUGLAS MORRISON. + ---- LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. + + +THE CROWD +A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND + +BY GUSTAVE LE BON {b. May 7, 1841--d. Dec 13, 1931} + + + +The following work is devoted to an account of the +characteristics of crowds. + +The whole of the common characteristics with which heredity +endows the individuals of a race constitute the genius of the +race. When, however, a certain number of these individuals are +gathered together in a crowd for purposes of action, observation +proves that, from the mere fact of their being assembled, there +result certain new psychological characteristics, which are added +to the racial characteristics and differ from them at times to a +very considerable degree. + +Organised crowds have always played an important part in the life +of peoples, but this part has never been of such moment as at +present. The substitution of the unconscious action of crowds +for the conscious activity of individuals is one of the principal +characteristics of the present age. + +I have endeavoured to examine the difficult problem presented by +crowds in a purely scientific manner--that is, by making an +effort to proceed with method, and without being influenced by +opinions, theories, and doctrines. This, I believe, is the only +mode of arriving at the discovery of some few particles of truth, +especially when dealing, as is the case here, with a question +that is the subject of impassioned controversy. A man of science +bent on verifying a phenomenon is not called upon to concern +himself with the interests his verifications may hurt. In a +recent publication an eminent thinker, M. Goblet d'Alviela, made +the remark that, belonging to none of the contemporary schools, I +am occasionally found in opposition of sundry of the conclusions +of all of them. I hope this new work will merit a similar +observation. To belong to a school is necessarily to espouse its +prejudices and preconceived opinions. + +Still I should explain to the reader why he will find me draw +conclusions from my investigations which it might be thought at +first sight they do not bear; why, for instance, after noting the +extreme mental inferiority of crowds, picked assemblies included, +I yet affirm it would be dangerous to meddle with their +organisation, notwithstanding this inferiority. + +The reason is, that the most attentive observation of the facts +of history has invariably demonstrated to me that social +organisms being every whit as complicated as those of all beings, +it is in no wise in our power to force them to undergo on a +sudden far-reaching transformations. Nature has recourse at +times to radical measures, but never after our fashion, which +explains how it is that nothing is more fatal to a people than +the mania for great reforms, however excellent these reforms may +appear theoretically. They would only be useful were it possible +to change instantaneously the genius of nations. This power, +however, is only possessed by time. Men are ruled by ideas, +sentiments, and customs--matters which are of the essence of +ourselves. Institutions and laws are the outward manifestation +of our character, the expression of its needs. Being its +outcome, institutions and laws cannot change this character. + +The study of social phenomena cannot be separated from that of +the peoples among whom they have come into existence. From the +philosophic point of view these phenomena may have an absolute +value; in practice they have only a relative value. + +It is necessary, in consequence, when studying a social +phenomenon, to consider it successively under two very different +aspects. It will then be seen that the teachings of pure reason +are very often contrary to those of practical reason. There are +scarcely any data, even physical, to which this distinction is +not applicable. From the point of view of absolute truth a cube +or a circle are invariable geometrical figures, rigorously +defined by certain formulas. From the point of view of the +impression they make on our eye these geometrical figures may +assume very varied shapes. By perspective the cube may be +transformed into a pyramid or a square, the circle into an +ellipse or a straight line. Moreover, the consideration of these +fictitious shapes is far more important than that of the real +shapes, for it is they and they alone that we see and that can be +reproduced by photography or in pictures. In certain cases there +is more truth in the unreal than in the real. To present objects +with their exact geometrical forms would be to distort nature and +render it unrecognisable. If we imagine a world whose +inhabitants could only copy or photograph objects, but were +unable to touch them, it would be very difficult for such persons +to attain to an exact idea of their form. Moreover, the +knowledge of this form, accessible only to a small number of +learned men, would present but a very minor interest. + +The philosopher who studies social phenomena should bear in mind +that side by side with their theoretical value they possess a +practical value, and that this latter, so far as the evolution of +civilisation is concerned, is alone of importance. The +recognition of this fact should render him very circumspect with +regard to the conclusions that logic would seem at first to +enforce upon him. + +There are other motives that dictate to him a like reserve. The +complexity of social facts is such, that it is impossible to +grasp them as a whole and to foresee the effects of their +reciprocal influence. It seems, too, that behind the visible +facts are hidden at times thousands of invisible causes. Visible +social phenomena appear to be the result of an immense, +unconscious working, that as a rule is beyond the reach of our +analysis. Perceptible phenomena may be compared to the waves, +which are the expression on the surface of the ocean of +deep-lying disturbances of which we know nothing. So far as the +majority of their acts are considered, crowds display a +singularly inferior mentality; yet there are other acts in which +they appear to be guided by those mysterious forces which the +ancients denominated destiny, nature, or providence, which we +call the voices of the dead, and whose power it is impossible to +overlook, although we ignore their essence. It would seem, at +times, as if there were latent forces in the inner being of +nations which serve to guide them. What, for instance, can be +more complicated, more logical, more marvellous than a language? +Yet whence can this admirably organised production have arisen, +except it be the outcome of the unconscious genius of crowds? +The most learned academics, the most esteemed grammarians can do +no more than note down the laws that govern languages; they would +be utterly incapable of creating them. Even with respect to the +ideas of great men are we certain that they are exclusively the +offspring of their brains? No doubt such ideas are always +created by solitary minds, but is it not the genius of crowds +that has furnished the thousands of grains of dust forming the +soil in which they have sprung up? + +Crowds, doubtless, are always unconscious, but this very +unconsciousness is perhaps one of the secrets of their strength. +In the natural world beings exclusively governed by instinct +accomplish acts whose marvellous complexity astounds us. Reason +is an attribute of humanity of too recent date and still too +imperfect to reveal to us the laws of the unconscious, and still +more to take its place. The part played by the unconscious in +all our acts is immense, and that played by reason very small. +The unconscious acts like a force still unknown. + +If we wish, then, to remain within the narrow but safe limits +within which science can attain to knowledge, and not to wander +in the domain of vague conjecture and vain hypothesis, all we +must do is simply to take note of such phenomena as are +accessible to us, and confine ourselves to their consideration. +Every conclusion drawn from our observation is, as a rule, +premature, for behind the phenomena which we see clearly are +other phenomena that we see indistinctly, and perhaps behind +these latter, yet others which we do not see at all. + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION +THE ERA OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK I +THE MIND OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS-- +PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THEIR MENTAL UNITY + +CHAPTER II +THE SENTIMENTS AND MORALITY OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +THE IDEAS, REASONING POWER, AND IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER IV +A RELIGIOUS SHAPE ASSUMED BY ALL THE CONVICTIONS OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK II +THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +REMOTE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER II +THE IMMEDIATE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +THE LEADERS OF CROWDS AND THEIR MEANS OF PERSUASION + + +CHAPTER IV +LIMITATIONS OF THE VARIABILITY OF THE BELIEFS AND OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK III +THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +THE CLASSIFICATION OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER II +CROWDS TERMED CRIMINAL CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +CRIMINAL JURIES + + +CHAPTER IV +ELECTORAL CROWDS + + +CHAPTER V +PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES + + + +INTRODUCTION. THE ERA OF CROWDS. + +The evolution of the present age--The great changes in +civilisation are the consequence of changes in National +thought--Modern belief in the power of crowds--It transforms the +traditional policy of the European states--How the rise of the +popular classes comes about, and the manner in which they +exercise their power--The necessary consequences of the power of +the crowd--Crowds unable to play a part other than +destructive--The dissolution of worn-out civilisations is the +work of the crowd--General ignorance of the psychology of crowds-- +Importance of the study of crowds for legislators and statesmen. + + +The great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations such +as the fall of the Roman Empire and the foundation of the Arabian +Empire, seem at first sight determined more especially by +political transformations, foreign invasion, or the overthrow of +dynasties. But a more attentive study of these events shows that +behind their apparent causes the real cause is generally seen to +be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples. The true +historical upheavals are not those which astonish us by their +grandeur and violence. The only important changes whence the +renewal of civilisations results, affect ideas, conceptions, and +beliefs. The memorable events of history are the visible effects +of the invisible changes of human thought. The reason these +great events are so rare is that there is nothing so stable in a +race as the inherited groundwork of its thoughts. + +The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the +thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation. + +Two fundamental factors are at the base of this transformation. +The first is the destruction of those religious, political, and +social beliefs in which all the elements of our civilisation are +rooted. The second is the creation of entirely new conditions of +existence and thought as the result of modern scientific and +industrial discoveries. + +The ideas of the past, although half destroyed, being still very +powerful, and the ideas which are to replace them being still in +process of formation, the modern age represents a period of +transition and anarchy. + +It is not easy to say as yet what will one day be evolved from +this necessarily somewhat chaotic period. What will be the +fundamental ideas on which the societies that are to succeed our +own will be built up? We do not at present know. Still it is +already clear that on whatever lines the societies of the future +are organised, they will have to count with a new power, with the +last surviving sovereign force of modern times, the power of +crowds. On the ruins of so many ideas formerly considered beyond +discussion, and to-day decayed or decaying, of so many sources of +authority that successive revolutions have destroyed, this power, +which alone has arisen in their stead, seems soon destined to +absorb the others. While all our ancient beliefs are tottering +and disappearing, while the old pillars of society are giving way +one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force that nothing +menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the +increase. The age we are about to enter will in truth be the ERA +OF CROWDS. + +Scarcely a century ago the traditional policy of European states +and the rivalries of sovereigns were the principal factors that +shaped events. The opinion of the masses scarcely counted, and +most frequently indeed did not count at all. To-day it is the +traditions which used to obtain in politics, and the individual +tendencies and rivalries of rulers which do not count; while, on +the contrary, the voice of the masses has become preponderant. +It is this voice that dictates their conduct to kings, whose +endeavour is to take note of its utterances. The destinies of +nations are elaborated at present in the heart of the masses, and +no longer in the councils of princes. + +The entry of the popular classes into political life--that is to +say, in reality, their progressive transformation into governing +classes--is one of the most striking characteristics of our epoch +of transition. The introduction of universal suffrage, which +exercised for a long time but little influence, is not, as might +be thought, the distinguishing feature of this transference of +political power. The progressive growth of the power of the +masses took place at first by the propagation of certain ideas, +which have slowly implanted themselves in men's minds, and +afterwards by the gradual association of individuals bent on +bringing about the realisation of theoretical conceptions. It is +by association that crowds have come to procure ideas with +respect to their interests which are very clearly defined if not +particularly just, and have arrived at a consciousness of their +strength. The masses are founding syndicates before which the +authorities capitulate one after the other; they are also +founding labour unions, which in spite of all economic laws tend +to regulate the conditions of labour and wages. They return to +assemblies in which the Government is vested, representatives +utterly lacking initiative and independence, and reduced most +often to nothing else than the spokesmen of the committees that +have chosen them. + +To-day the claims of the masses are becoming more and more +sharply defined, and amount to nothing less than a determination +to utterly destroy society as it now exists, with a view to +making it hark back to that primitive communism which was the +normal condition of all human groups before the dawn of +civilisation. Limitations of the hours of labour, the +nationalisation of mines, railways, factories, and the soil, the +equal distribution of all products, the elimination of all the +upper classes for the benefit of the popular classes, &c., such +are these claims. + +Little adapted to reasoning, crowds, on the contrary, are quick +to act. As the result of their present organisation their +strength has become immense. The dogmas whose birth we are +witnessing will soon have the force of the old dogmas; that is to +say, the tyrannical and sovereign force of being above +discussion. The divine right of the masses is about to replace +the divine right of kings. + +The writers who enjoy the favour of our middle classes, those who +best represent their rather narrow ideas, their somewhat +prescribed views, their rather superficial scepticism, and their +at times somewhat excessive egoism, display profound alarm at +this new power which they see growing; and to combat the disorder +in men's minds they are addressing despairing appeals to those +moral forces of the Church for which they formerly professed so +much disdain. They talk to us of the bankruptcy of science, go +back in penitence to Rome, and remind us of the teachings of +revealed truth. These new converts forget that it is too late. +Had they been really touched by grace, a like operation could not +have the same influence on minds less concerned with the +preoccupations which beset these recent adherents to religion. +The masses repudiate to-day the gods which their admonishers +repudiated yesterday and helped to destroy. There is no power, +Divine or human, that can oblige a stream to flow back to its +source. + +There has been no bankruptcy of science, and science has had no +share in the present intellectual anarchy, nor in the making of +the new power which is springing up in the midst of this anarchy. +Science promised us truth, or at least a knowledge of such +relations as our intelligence can seize: it never promised us +peace or happiness. Sovereignly indifferent to our feelings, it +is deaf to our lamentations. It is for us to endeavour to live +with science, since nothing can bring back the illusions it has +destroyed. + +Universal symptoms, visible in all nations, show us the rapid +growth of the power of crowds, and do not admit of our supposing +that it is destined to cease growing at an early date. Whatever +fate it may reserve for us, we shall have to submit to it. All +reasoning against it is a mere vain war of words. Certainly it +is possible that the advent to power of the masses marks one of +the last stages of Western civilisation, a complete return to +those periods of confused anarchy which seem always destined to +precede the birth of every new society. But may this result be +prevented? + +Up to now these thoroughgoing destructions of a worn-out +civilisation have constituted the most obvious task of the +masses. It is not indeed to-day merely that this can be traced. +History tells us, that from the moment when the moral forces on +which a civilisation rested have lost their strength, its final +dissolution is brought about by those unconscious and brutal +crowds known, justifiably enough, as barbarians. Civilisations +as yet have only been created and directed by a small +intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only +powerful for destruction. Their rule is always tantamount to a +barbarian phase. A civilisation involves fixed rules, +discipline, a passing from the instinctive to the rational state, +forethought for the future, an elevated degree of culture--all of +them conditions that crowds, left to themselves, have invariably +shown themselves incapable of realising. In consequence of the +purely destructive nature of their power crowds act like those +microbes which hasten the dissolution of enfeebled or dead +bodies. When the structure of a civilisation is rotten, it is +always the masses that bring about its downfall. It is at such a +juncture that their chief mission is plainly visible, and that +for a while the philosophy of number seems the only philosophy of +history. + +Is the same fate in store for our civilisation? There is ground +to fear that this is the case, but we are not as yet in a +position to be certain of it. + +However this may be, we are bound to resign ourselves to the +reign of the masses, since want of foresight has in succession +overthrown all the barriers that might have kept the crowd in +check. + +We have a very slight knowledge of these crowds which are +beginning to be the object of so much discussion. Professional +students of psychology, having lived far from them, have always +ignored them, and when, as of late, they have turned their +attention in this direction it has only been to consider the +crimes crowds are capable of committing. Without a doubt +criminal crowds exist, but virtuous and heroic crowds, and crowds +of many other kinds, are also to be met with. The crimes of +crowds only constitute a particular phase of their psychology. +The mental constitution of crowds is not to be learnt merely by a +study of their crimes, any more than that of an individual by a +mere description of his vices. + +However, in point of fact, all the world's masters, all the +founders of religions or empires, the apostles of all beliefs, +eminent statesmen, and, in a more modest sphere, the mere chiefs +of small groups of men have always been unconscious +psychologists, possessed of an instinctive and often very sure +knowledge of the character of crowds, and it is their accurate +knowledge of this character that has enabled them to so easily +establish their mastery. Napoleon had a marvellous insight into +the psychology of the masses of the country over which he +reigned, but he, at times, completely misunderstood the +psychology of crowds belonging to other races;[1] and it is +because he thus misunderstood it that he engaged in Spain, and +notably in Russia, in conflicts in which his power received blows +which were destined within a brief space of time to ruin it. A +knowledge of the psychology of crowds is to-day the last resource +of the statesman who wishes not to govern them--that is becoming +a very difficult matter--but at any rate not to be too much +governed by them. + + +[1] His most subtle advisers, moreover, did not understand this +psychology any better. Talleyrand wrote him that "Spain would +receive his soldiers as liberators." It received them as beasts +of prey. A psychologist acquainted with the hereditary instincts +of the Spanish race would have easily foreseen this reception. + + + +It is only by obtaining some sort of insight into the psychology +of crowds that it can be understood how slight is the action upon +them of laws and institutions, how powerless they are to hold any +opinions other than those which are imposed upon them, and that +it is not with rules based on theories of pure equity that they +are to be led, but by seeking what produces an impression on them +and what seduces them. For instance, should a legislator, +wishing to impose a new tax, choose that which would be +theoretically the most just? By no means. In practice the most +unjust may be the best for the masses. Should it at the same +time be the least obvious, and apparently the least burdensome, +it will be the most easily tolerated. It is for this reason that +an indirect tax, however exorbitant it be, will always be +accepted by the crowd, because, being paid daily in fractions of +a farthing on objects of consumption, it will not interfere with +the habits of the crowd, and will pass unperceived. Replace it +by a proportional tax on wages or income of any other kind, to be +paid in a lump sum, and were this new imposition theoretically +ten times less burdensome than the other, it would give rise to +unanimous protest. This arises from the fact that a sum +relatively high, which will appear immense, and will in +consequence strike the imagination, has been substituted for the +unperceived fractions of a farthing. The new tax would only +appear light had it been saved farthing by farthing, but this +economic proceeding involves an amount of foresight of which the +masses are incapable. + +The example which precedes is of the simplest. Its appositeness +will be easily perceived. It did not escape the attention of +such a psychologist as Napoleon, but our modern legislators, +ignorant as they are of the characteristics of a crowd, are +unable to appreciate it. Experience has not taught them as yet +to a sufficient degree that men never shape their conduct upon +the teaching of pure reason. + +Many other practical applications might be made of the psychology +of crowds. A knowledge of this science throws the most vivid +light on a great number of historical and economic phenomena +totally incomprehensible without it. I shall have occasion to +show that the reason why the most remarkable of modern +historians, Taine, has at times so imperfectly understood the +events of the great French Revolution is, that it never occurred +to him to study the genius of crowds. He took as his guide in +the study of this complicated period the descriptive method +resorted to by naturalists; but the moral forces are almost +absent in the case of the phenomena which naturalists have to +study. Yet it is precisely these forces that constitute the true +mainsprings of history. + +In consequence, merely looked at from its practical side, the +study of the psychology of crowds deserved to be attempted. Were +its interest that resulting from pure curiosity only, it would +still merit attention. It is as interesting to decipher the +motives of the actions of men as to determine the characteristics +of a mineral or a plant. Our study of the genius of crowds can +merely be a brief synthesis, a simple summary of our +investigations. Nothing more must be demanded of it than a few +suggestive views. Others will work the ground more thoroughly. +To-day we only touch the surface of a still almost virgin soil. + + + +BOOK I + + +THE MIND OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS.--PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THEIR +MENTAL UNITY. + +What constitutes a crowd from the psychological point of view--A +numerically strong agglomeration of individuals does not suffice +to form a crowd--Special characteristics of psychological +crowds--The turning in a fixed direction of the ideas and +sentiments of individuals composing such a crowd, and the +disappearance of their personality--The crowd is always dominated +by considerations of which it is unconscious--The disappearance +of brain activity and the predominance of medullar activity--The +lowering of the intelligence and the complete transformation of +the sentiments--The transformed sentiments may be better or worse +than those of the individuals of which the crowd is composed--A +crowd is as easily heroic as criminal. + + +In its ordinary sense the word "crowd" means a gathering of +individuals of whatever nationality, profession, or sex, and +whatever be the chances that have brought them together. From +the psychological point of view the expression "crowd" assumes +quite a different signification. Under certain given +circumstances, and only under those circumstances, an +agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different +from those of the individuals composing it. The sentiments and +ideas of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same +direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. A +collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting +very clearly defined characteristics. The gathering has thus +become what, in the absence of a better expression, I will call +an organised crowd, or, if the term is considered preferable, a +psychological crowd. It forms a single being, and is subjected +to the LAW OF THE MENTAL UNITY OF CROWDS. + +It is evident that it is not by the mere fact of a number of +individuals finding themselves accidentally side by side that +they acquire the character of an organised crowd. A thousand +individuals accidentally gathered in a public place without any +determined object in no way constitute a crowd from the +psychological point of view. To acquire the special +characteristics of such a crowd, the influence is necessary of +certain predisposing causes of which we shall have to determine +the nature. + +The disappearance of conscious personality and the turning of +feelings and thoughts in a definite direction, which are the +primary characteristics of a crowd about to become organised, do +not always involve the simultaneous presence of a number of +individuals on one spot. Thousands of isolated individuals may +acquire at certain moments, and under the influence of certain +violent emotions--such, for example, as a great national +event--the characteristics of a psychological crowd. It will be +sufficient in that case that a mere chance should bring them +together for their acts to at once assume the characteristics +peculiar to the acts of a crowd. At certain moments half a dozen +men might constitute a psychological crowd, which may not happen +in the case of hundreds of men gathered together by accident. On +the other hand, an entire nation, though there may be no visible +agglomeration, may become a crowd under the action of certain +influences. + +A psychological crowd once constituted, it acquires certain +provisional but determinable general characteristics. To these +general characteristics there are adjoined particular +characteristics which vary according to the elements of which the +crowd is composed, and may modify its mental constitution. +Psychological crowds, then, are susceptible of classification; +and when we come to occupy ourselves with this matter, we shall +see that a heterogeneous crowd--that is, a crowd composed of +dissimilar elements--presents certain characteristics in common +with homogeneous crowds--that is, with crowds composed of +elements more or less akin (sects, castes, and classes)--and side +by side with these common characteristics particularities which +permit of the two kinds of crowds being differentiated. + +But before occupying ourselves with the different categories of +crowds, we must first of all examine the characteristics common +to them all. We shall set to work like the naturalist, who +begins by describing the general characteristics common to all +the members of a family before concerning himself with the +particular characteristics which allow the differentiation of the +genera and species that the family includes. + +It is not easy to describe the mind of crowds with exactness, +because its organisation varies not only according to race and +composition, but also according to the nature and intensity of +the exciting causes to which crowds are subjected. The same +difficulty, however, presents itself in the psychological study +of an individual. It is only in novels that individuals are +found to traverse their whole life with an unvarying character. +It is only the uniformity of the environment that creates the +apparent uniformity of characters. I have shown elsewhere that +all mental constitutions contain possibilities of character which +may be manifested in consequence of a sudden change of +environment. This explains how it was that among the most savage +members of the French Convention were to be found inoffensive +citizens who, under ordinary circumstances, would have been +peaceable notaries or virtuous magistrates. The storm past, they +resumed their normal character of quiet, law-abiding citizens. +Napoleon found amongst them his most docile servants. + +It being impossible to study here all the successive degrees of +organisation of crowds, we shall concern ourselves more +especially with such crowds as have attained to the phase of +complete organisation. In this way we shall see what crowds may +become, but not what they invariably are. It is only in this +advanced phase of organisation that certain new and special +characteristics are superposed on the unvarying and dominant +character of the race; then takes place that turning already +alluded to of all the feelings and thoughts of the collectivity +in an identical direction. It is only under such circumstances, +too, that what I have called above the PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THE +MENTAL UNITY OF CROWDS comes into play. + +Among the psychological characteristics of crowds there are some +that they may present in common with isolated individuals, and +others, on the contrary, which are absolutely peculiar to them +and are only to be met with in collectivities. It is these +special characteristics that we shall study, first of all, in +order to show their importance. + +The most striking peculiarity presented by a psychological crowd +is the following: Whoever be the individuals that compose it, +however like or unlike be their mode of life, their occupations, +their character, or their intelligence, the fact that they have +been transformed into a crowd puts them in possession of a sort +of collective mind which makes them feel, think, and act in a +manner quite different from that in which each individual of them +would feel, think, and act were he in a state of isolation. +There are certain ideas and feelings which do not come into +being, or do not transform themselves into acts except in the +case of individuals forming a crowd. The psychological crowd is +a provisional being formed of heterogeneous elements, which for a +moment are combined, exactly as the cells which constitute a +living body form by their reunion a new being which displays +characteristics very different from those possessed by each of +the cells singly. + +Contrary to an opinion which one is astonished to find coming +from the pen of so acute a philosopher as Herbert Spencer, in the +aggregate which constitutes a crowd there is in no sort a +summing-up of or an average struck between its elements. What +really takes place is a combination followed by the creation of +new characteristics, just as in chemistry certain elements, when +brought into contact--bases and acids, for example--combine to +form a new body possessing properties quite different from those +of the bodies that have served to form it. + +It is easy to prove how much the individual forming part of a +crowd differs from the isolated individual, but it is less easy +to discover the causes of this difference. + +To obtain at any rate a glimpse of them it is necessary in the +first place to call to mind the truth established by modern +psychology, that unconscious phenomena play an altogether +preponderating part not only in organic life, but also in the +operations of the intelligence. The conscious life of the mind +is of small importance in comparison with its unconscious life. +The most subtle analyst, the most acute observer, is scarcely +successful in discovering more than a very small number of the +unconscious motives that determine his conduct. Our conscious +acts are the outcome of an unconscious substratum created in the +mind in the main by hereditary influences. This substratum +consists of the innumerable common characteristics handed down +from generation to generation, which constitute the genius of a +race. Behind the avowed causes of our acts there undoubtedly lie +secret causes that we do not avow, but behind these secret causes +there are many others more secret still which we ourselves +ignore. The greater part of our daily actions are the result of +hidden motives which escape our observation. + +It is more especially with respect to those unconscious elements +which constitute the genius of a race that all the individuals +belonging to it resemble each other, while it is principally in +respect to the conscious elements of their character--the fruit +of education, and yet more of exceptional hereditary +conditions--that they differ from each other. Men the most +unlike in the matter of their intelligence possess instincts, +passions, and feelings that are very similar. In the case of +every thing that belongs to the realm of sentiment--religion, +politics, morality, the affections and antipathies, &c.--the most +eminent men seldom surpass the standard of the most ordinary +individuals. From the intellectual point of view an abyss may +exist between a great mathematician and his boot maker, but from +the point of view of character the difference is most often +slight or non-existent. + +It is precisely these general qualities of character, governed by +forces of which we are unconscious, and possessed by the majority +of the normal individuals of a race in much the same degree--it +is precisely these qualities, I say, that in crowds become common +property. In the collective mind the intellectual aptitudes of +the individuals, and in consequence their individuality, are +weakened. The heterogeneous is swamped by the homogeneous, and +the unconscious qualities obtain the upper hand. + +This very fact that crowds possess in common ordinary qualities +explains why they can never accomplish acts demanding a high +degree of intelligence. The decisions affecting matters of +general interest come to by an assembly of men of distinction, +but specialists in different walks of life, are not sensibly +superior to the decisions that would be adopted by a gathering of +imbeciles. The truth is, they can only bring to bear in common +on the work in hand those mediocre qualities which are the +birthright of every average individual. In crowds it is +stupidity and not mother-wit that is accumulated. It is not all +the world, as is so often repeated, that has more wit than +Voltaire, but assuredly Voltaire that has more wit than all the +world, if by "all the world" crowds are to be understood. + +If the individuals of a crowd confined themselves to putting in +common the ordinary qualities of which each of them has his +share, there would merely result the striking of an average, and +not, as we have said is actually the case, the creation of new +characteristics. How is it that these new characteristics are +created? This is what we are now to investigate. + +Different causes determine the appearance of these +characteristics peculiar to crowds, and not possessed by isolated +individuals. The first is that the individual forming part of a +crowd acquires, solely from numerical considerations, a sentiment +of invincible power which allows him to yield to instincts which, +had he been alone, he would perforce have kept under restraint. +He will be the less disposed to check himself from the +consideration that, a crowd being anonymous, and in consequence +irresponsible, the sentiment of responsibility which always +controls individuals disappears entirely. + +The second cause, which is contagion, also intervenes to +determine the manifestation in crowds of their special +characteristics, and at the same time the trend they are to take. +Contagion is a phenomenon of which it is easy to establish the +presence, but that it is not easy to explain. It must be classed +among those phenomena of a hypnotic order, which we shall shortly +study. In a crowd every sentiment and act is contagious, and +contagious to such a degree that an individual readily sacrifices +his personal interest to the collective interest. This is an +aptitude very contrary to his nature, and of which a man is +scarcely capable, except when he makes part of a crowd. + +A third cause, and by far the most important, determines in the +individuals of a crowd special characteristics which are quite +contrary at times to those presented by the isolated individual. +I allude to that suggestibility of which, moreover, the contagion +mentioned above is neither more nor less than an effect. + +To understand this phenomenon it is necessary to bear in mind +certain recent physiological discoveries. We know to-day that by +various processes an individual may be brought into such a +condition that, having entirely lost his conscious personality, +he obeys all the suggestions of the operator who has deprived him +of it, and commits acts in utter contradiction with his character +and habits. The most careful observations seem to prove that an +individual immerged for some length of time in a crowd in action +soon finds himself--either in consequence of the magnetic +influence given out by the crowd, or from some other cause of +which we are ignorant--in a special state, which much resembles +the state of fascination in which the hypnotised individual finds +himself in the hands of the hypnotiser. The activity of the +brain being paralysed in the case of the hypnotised subject, the +latter becomes the slave of all the unconscious activities of his +spinal cord, which the hypnotiser directs at will. The conscious +personality has entirely vanished; will and discernment are lost. +All feelings and thoughts are bent in the direction determined by +the hypnotiser. + +Such also is approximately the state of the individual forming +part of a psychological crowd. He is no longer conscious of his +acts. In his case, as in the case of the hypnotised subject, at +the same time that certain faculties are destroyed, others may be +brought to a high degree of exaltation. Under the influence of a +suggestion, he will undertake the accomplishment of certain acts +with irresistible impetuosity. This impetuosity is the more +irresistible in the case of crowds than in that of the hypnotised +subject, from the fact that, the suggestion being the same for +all the individuals of the crowd, it gains in strength by +reciprocity. The individualities in the crowd who might possess +a personality sufficiently strong to resist the suggestion are +too few in number to struggle against the current. At the +utmost, they may be able to attempt a diversion by means of +different suggestions. It is in this way, for instance, that a +happy expression, an image opportunely evoked, have occasionally +deterred crowds from the most bloodthirsty acts. + +We see, then, that the disappearance of the conscious +personality, the predominance of the unconscious personality, the +turning by means of suggestion and contagion of feelings and +ideas in an identical direction, the tendency to immediately +transform the suggested ideas into acts; these, we see, are the +principal characteristics of the individual forming part of a +crowd. He is no longer himself, but has become an automaton who +has ceased to be guided by his will. + +Moreover, by the mere fact that he forms part of an organised +crowd, a man descends several rungs in the ladder of +civilisation. Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a +crowd, he is a barbarian--that is, a creature acting by instinct. +He possesses the spontaneity, the violence, the ferocity, and +also the enthusiasm and heroism of primitive beings, whom he +further tends to resemble by the facility with which he allows +himself to be impressed by words and images--which would be +entirely without action on each of the isolated individuals +composing the crowd--and to be induced to commit acts contrary to +his most obvious interests and his best-known habits. An +individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of +sand, which the wind stirs up at will. + +It is for these reasons that juries are seen to deliver verdicts +of which each individual juror would disapprove, that +parliamentary assemblies adopt laws and measures of which each of +their members would disapprove in his own person. Taken +separately, the men of the Convention were enlightened citizens +of peaceful habits. United in a crowd, they did not hesitate to +give their adhesion to the most savage proposals, to guillotine +individuals most clearly innocent, and, contrary to their +interests, to renounce their inviolability and to decimate +themselves. + +It is not only by his acts that the individual in a crowd differs +essentially from himself. Even before he has entirely lost his +independence, his ideas and feelings have undergone a +transformation, and the transformation is so profound as to +change the miser into a spendthrift, the sceptic into a believer, +the honest man into a criminal, and the coward into a hero. The +renunciation of all its privileges which the nobility voted in a +moment of enthusiasm during the celebrated night of August 4, +1789, would certainly never have been consented to by any of its +members taken singly. + +The conclusion to be drawn from what precedes is, that the crowd +is always intellectually inferior to the isolated individual, but +that, from the point of view of feelings and of the acts these +feelings provoke, the crowd may, according to circumstances, be +better or worse than the individual. All depends on the nature +of the suggestion to which the crowd is exposed. This is the +point that has been completely misunderstood by writers who have +only studied crowds from the criminal point of view. Doubtless a +crowd is often criminal, but also it is often heroic. It is +crowds rather than isolated individuals that may be induced to +run the risk of death to secure the triumph of a creed or an +idea, that may be fired with enthusiasm for glory and honour, +that are led on--almost without bread and without arms, as in the +age of the Crusades--to deliver the tomb of Christ from the +infidel, or, as in '93, to defend the fatherland. Such heroism +is without doubt somewhat unconscious, but it is of such heroism +that history is made. Were peoples only to be credited with the +great actions performed in cold blood, the annals of the world +would register but few of them. + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SENTIMENTS AND MORALITY OF CROWDS + +1. IMPULSIVENESS, MOBILITY, AND IRRITABILITY OF CROWDS. +The crowd is at the mercy of all exterior exciting causes, and +reflects their incessant variations--The impulses which the crowd +obeys are so imperious as to annihilate the feeling of personal +interest-- Premeditation is absent from crowds--Racial influence. +2. CROWDS ARE CREDULOUS AND READILY INFLUENCED BY +SUGGESTION. The obedience of crowds to suggestions--The images +evoked in the mind of crowds are accepted by them as +realities--Why these images are identical for all the individuals +composing a crowd--The equality of the educated and the ignorant +man in a crowd--Various examples of the illusions to which the +individuals in a crowd are subject--The impossibility of +according belief to the testimony of crowds--The unanimity of +numerous witnesses is one of the worst proofs that can be invoked +to establish a fact--The slight value of works of history. +3. THE EXAGGERATION AND INGENUOUSNESS OF THE SENTIMENTS OF +CROWDS. Crowds do not admit doubt or uncertainty, and always go +to extremes--Their sentiments always excessive. 4. THE +INTOLERANCE, DICTATORIALNESS, AND CONSERVATISM OF CROWDS. The +reasons of these sentiments--The servility of crowds in the face +of a strong authority--The momentary revolutionary instincts of +crowds do not prevent them from being extremely +conservative--Crowds instinctively hostile to changes and +progress. 5. THE MORALITY OF CROWDS. The morality of +crowds, according to the suggestions under which they act, may be +much lower or much higher than that of the individuals composing +them--Explanation and examples-- Crowds rarely guided by those +considerations of interest which are most often the exclusive +motives of the isolated individual--The moralising role of +crowds. + + +Having indicated in a general way the principal characteristics +of crowds, it remains to study these characteristics in detail. + +It will be remarked that among the special characteristics of +crowds there are several--such as impulsiveness, irritability, +incapacity to reason, the absence of judgment and of the critical +spirit, the exaggeration of the sentiments, and others +besides--which are almost always observed in beings belonging to +inferior forms of evolution--in women, savages, and children, for +instance. However, I merely indicate this analogy in passing; +its demonstration is outside the scope of this work. It would, +moreover, be useless for persons acquainted with the psychology +of primitive beings, and would scarcely carry conviction to those +in ignorance of this matter. + +I now proceed to the successive consideration of the different +characteristics that may be observed in the majority of crowds. + + +1. IMPULSIVENESS, MOBILITY, AND IRRITABILITY OF CROWDS. + + +When studying the fundamental characteristics of a crowd we +stated that it is guided almost exclusively by unconscious +motives. Its acts are far more under the influence of the spinal +cord than of the brain. In this respect a crowd is closely akin +to quite primitive beings. The acts performed may be perfect so +far as their execution is concerned, but as they are not directed +by the brain, the individual conducts himself according as the +exciting causes to which he is submitted may happen to decide. A +crowd is at the mercy of all external exciting causes, and +reflects their incessant variations. It is the slave of the +impulses which it receives. The isolated individual may be +submitted to the same exciting causes as the man in a crowd, but +as his brain shows him the inadvisability of yielding to them, he +refrains from yielding. This truth may be physiologically +expressed by saying that the isolated individual possesses the +capacity of dominating his reflex actions, while a crowd is +devoid of this capacity. + +The varying impulses to which crowds obey may be, according to +their exciting causes, generous or cruel, heroic or cowardly, but +they will always be so imperious that the interest of the +individual, even the interest of self-preservation, will not +dominate them. The exciting causes that may act on crowds being +so varied, and crowds always obeying them, crowds are in +consequence extremely mobile. This explains how it is that we +see them pass in a moment from the most bloodthirsty ferocity to +the most extreme generosity and heroism. A crowd may easily +enact the part of an executioner, but not less easily that of a +martyr. It is crowds that have furnished the torrents of blood +requisite for the triumph of every belief. It is not necessary +to go back to the heroic ages to see what crowds are capable of +in this latter direction. They are never sparing of their life +in an insurrection, and not long since a general,[2] becoming +suddenly popular, might easily have found a hundred thousand men +ready to sacrifice their lives for his cause had he demanded it. + + +[2] General Boulanger. + + + + +Any display of premeditation by crowds is in consequence out of +the question. They may be animated in succession by the most +contrary sentiments, but they will always be under the influence +of the exciting causes of the moment. They are like the leaves +which a tempest whirls up and scatters in every direction and +then allows to fall. When studying later on certain +revolutionary crowds we shall give some examples of the +variability of their sentiments. + +This mobility of crowds renders them very difficult to govern, +especially when a measure of public authority has fallen into +their hands. Did not the necessities of everyday life constitute +a sort of invisible regulator of existence, it would scarcely be +possible for democracies to last. Still, though the wishes of +crowds are frenzied they are not durable. Crowds are as +incapable of willing as of thinking for any length of time. + +A crowd is not merely impulsive and mobile. Like a savage, it is +not prepared to admit that anything can come between its desire +and the realisation of its desire. It is the less capable of +understanding such an intervention, in consequence of the feeling +of irresistible power given it by its numerical strength. The +notion of impossibility disappears for the individual in a crowd. +An isolated individual knows well enough that alone he cannot set +fire to a palace or loot a shop, and should he be tempted to do +so, he will easily resist the temptation. Making part of a +crowd, he is conscious of the power given him by number, and it +is sufficient to suggest to him ideas of murder or pillage for +him to yield immediately to temptation. An unexpected obstacle +will be destroyed with frenzied rage. Did the human organism +allow of the perpetuity of furious passion, it might be said that +the normal condition of a crowd baulked in its wishes is just +such a state of furious passion. + +The fundamental characteristics of the race, which constitute the +unvarying source from which all our sentiments spring, always +exert an influence on the irritability of crowds, their +impulsiveness and their mobility, as on all the popular +sentiments we shall have to study. All crowds are doubtless +always irritable and impulsive, but with great variations of +degree. For instance, the difference between a Latin and an +Anglo-Saxon crowd is striking. The most recent facts in French +history throw a vivid light on this point. The mere publication, +twenty-five years ago, of a telegram, relating an insult supposed +to have been offered an ambassador, was sufficient to determine +an explosion of fury, whence followed immediately a terrible war. +Some years later the telegraphic announcement of an insignificant +reverse at Langson provoked a fresh explosion which brought about +the instantaneous overthrow of the government. At the same +moment a much more serious reverse undergone by the English +expedition to Khartoum produced only a slight emotion in England, +and no ministry was overturned. Crowds are everywhere +distinguished by feminine characteristics, but Latin crowds are +the most feminine of all. Whoever trusts in them may rapidly +attain a lofty destiny, but to do so is to be perpetually +skirting the brink of a Tarpeian rock, with the certainty of one +day being precipitated from it. + +2. THE SUGGESTIBILITY AND CREDULITY OF CROWDS. + + +When defining crowds, we said that one of their general +characteristics was an excessive suggestibility, and we have +shown to what an extent suggestions are contagious in every human +agglomeration; a fact which explains the rapid turning of the +sentiments of a crowd in a definite direction. However +indifferent it may be supposed, a crowd, as a rule, is in a state +of expectant attention, which renders suggestion easy. The first +suggestion formulated which arises implants itself immediately by +a process of contagion in the brains of all assembled, and the +identical bent of the sentiments of the crowd is immediately an +accomplished fact. + +As is the case with all persons under the influence of +suggestion, the idea which has entered the brain tends to +transform itself into an act. Whether the act is that of setting +fire to a palace, or involves self-sacrifice, a crowd lends +itself to it with equal facility. All will depend on the nature +of the exciting cause, and no longer, as in the case of the +isolated individual, on the relations existing between the act +suggested and the sum total of the reasons which may be urged +against its realisation. + +In consequence, a crowd perpetually hovering on the borderland of +unconsciousness, readily yielding to all suggestions, having all +the violence of feeling peculiar to beings who cannot appeal to +the influence of reason, deprived of all critical faculty, cannot +be otherwise than excessively credulous. The improbable does not +exist for a crowd, and it is necessary to bear this circumstance +well in mind to understand the facility with which are created +and propagated the most improbable legends and stories.[3] + + +[3] Persons who went through the siege of Paris saw numerous +examples of this credulity of crowds. A candle alight in an +upper story was immediately looked upon as a signal given the +besiegers, although it was evident, after a moment of reflection, +that it was utterly impossible to catch sight of the light of the +candle at a distance of several miles. + + + +The creation of the legends which so easily obtain circulation in +crowds is not solely the consequence of their extreme credulity. +It is also the result of the prodigious perversions that events +undergo in the imagination of a throng. The simplest event that +comes under the observation of a crowd is soon totally +transformed. A crowd thinks in images, and the image itself +immediately calls up a series of other images, having no logical +connection with the first. We can easily conceive this state by +thinking of the fantastic succession of ideas to which we are +sometimes led by calling up in our minds any fact. Our reason +shows us the incoherence there is in these images, but a crowd is +almost blind to this truth, and confuses with the real event what +the deforming action of its imagination has superimposed thereon. +A crowd scarcely distinguishes between the subjective and the +objective. It accepts as real the images evoked in its mind, +though they most often have only a very distant relation with the +observed fact. + +The ways in which a crowd perverts any event of which it is a +witness ought, it would seem, to be innumerable and unlike each +other, since the individuals composing the gathering are of very +different temperaments. But this is not the case. As the result +of contagion the perversions are of the same kind, and take the +same shape in the case of all the assembled individuals. + +The first perversion of the truth effected by one of the +individuals of the gathering is the starting-point of the +contagious suggestion. Before St. George appeared on the walls +of Jerusalem to all the Crusaders he was certainly perceived in +the first instance by one of those present. By dint of +suggestion and contagion the miracle signalised by a single +person was immediately accepted by all. + +Such is always the mechanism of the collective hallucinations so +frequent in history--hallucinations which seem to have all the +recognised characteristics of authenticity, since they are +phenomena observed by thousands of persons. + +To combat what precedes, the mental quality of the individuals +composing a crowd must not be brought into consideration. This +quality is without importance. From the moment that they form +part of a crowd the learned man and the ignoramus are equally +incapable of observation. + +This thesis may seem paradoxical. To demonstrate it beyond doubt +it would be necessary to investigate a great number of historical +facts, and several volumes would be insufficient for the purpose. + +Still, as I do not wish to leave the reader under the impression +of unproved assertions, I shall give him some examples taken at +hazard from the immense number of those that might be quoted. + +The following fact is one of the most typical, because chosen +from among collective hallucinations of which a crowd is the +victim, in which are to be found individuals of every kind, from +the most ignorant to the most highly educated. It is related +incidentally by Julian Felix, a naval lieutenant, in his book on +"Sea Currents," and has been previously cited by the Revue +Scientifique. + +The frigate, the Belle Poule, was cruising in the open sea for +the purpose of finding the cruiser Le Berceau, from which she had +been separated by a violent storm. It was broad daylight and in +full sunshine. Suddenly the watch signalled a disabled vessel; +the crew looked in the direction signalled, and every one, +officers and sailors, clearly perceived a raft covered with men +towed by boats which were displaying signals of distress. Yet +this was nothing more than a collective hallucination. Admiral +Desfosses lowered a boat to go to the rescue of the wrecked +sailors. On nearing the object sighted, the sailors and officers +on board the boat saw "masses of men in motion, stretching out +their hands, and heard the dull and confused noise of a great +number of voices." When the object was reached those in the boat +found themselves simply and solely in the presence of a few +branches of trees covered with leaves that had been swept out +from the neighbouring coast. Before evidence so palpable the +hallucination vanished. + +The mechanism of a collective hallucination of the kind we have +explained is clearly seen at work in this example. On the one +hand we have a crowd in a state of expectant attention, on the +other a suggestion made by the watch signalling a disabled vessel +at sea, a suggestion which, by a process of contagion, was +accepted by all those present, both officers and sailors. + +It is not necessary that a crowd should be numerous for the +faculty of seeing what is taking place before its eyes to be +destroyed and for the real facts to be replaced by hallucinations +unrelated to them. As soon as a few individuals are gathered +together they constitute a crowd, and, though they should be +distinguished men of learning, they assume all the +characteristics of crowds with regard to matters outside their +speciality. The faculty of observation and the critical spirit +possessed by each of them individually at once disappears. An +ingenious psychologist, Mr. Davey, supplies us with a very +curious example in point, recently cited in the Annales des +Sciences Psychiques, and deserving of relation here. Mr. Davey, +having convoked a gathering of distinguished observers, among +them one of the most prominent of English scientific men, Mr. +Wallace, executed in their presence, and after having allowed +them to examine the objects and to place seals where they wished, +all the regulation spiritualistic phenomena, the materialisation +of spirits, writing on slates, &c. Having subsequently obtained +from these distinguished observers written reports admitting that +the phenomena observed could only have been obtained by +supernatural means, he revealed to them that they were the result +of very simple tricks. "The most astonishing feature of Monsieur +Davey's investigation," writes the author of this account, "is +not the marvellousness of the tricks themselves, but the extreme +weakness of the reports made with respect to them by the +noninitiated witnesses. It is clear, then," he says, "that +witnesses even in number may give circumstantial relations which +are completely erroneous, but whose result is THAT, IF THEIR +DESCRIPTIONS ARE ACCEPTED AS EXACT, the phenomena they describe +are inexplicable by trickery. The methods invented by Mr. Davey +were so simple that one is astonished that he should have had the +boldness to employ them; but he had such a power over the mind of +the crowd that he could persuade it that it saw what it did not +see." Here, as always, we have the power of the hypnotiser over +the hypnotised. Moreover, when this power is seen in action on +minds of a superior order and previously invited to be +suspicious, it is understandable how easy it is to deceive +ordinary crowds. + +Analogous examples are innumerable. As I write these lines the +papers are full of the story of two little girls found drowned in +the Seine. These children, to begin with, were recognised in the +most unmistakable manner by half a dozen witnesses. All the +affirmations were in such entire concordance that no doubt +remained in the mind of the juge d'instruction. He had the +certificate of death drawn up, but just as the burial of the +children was to have been proceeded with, a mere chance brought +about the discovery that the supposed victims were alive, and +had, moreover, but a remote resemblance to the drowned girls. As +in several of the examples previously cited, the affirmation of +the first witness, himself a victim of illusion, had sufficed to +influence the other witnesses. + +In parallel cases the starting-point of the suggestion is always +the illusion produced in an individual by more or less vague +reminiscences, contagion following as the result of the +affirmation of this initial illusion. If the first observer be +very impressionable, it will often be sufficient that the corpse +he believes he recognises should present-- apart from all real +resemblance--some peculiarity, a scar, or some detail of toilet +which may evoke the idea of another person. The idea evoked may +then become the nucleus of a sort of crystallisation which +invades the understanding and paralyses all critical faculty. +What the observer then sees is no longer the object itself, but +the image evoked in his mind. In this way are to be explained +erroneous recognitions of the dead bodies of children by their +own mother, as occurred in the following case, already old, but +which has been recently recalled by the newspapers. In it are to +be traced precisely the two kinds of suggestion of which I have +just pointed out the mechanism. + + +"The child was recognised by another child, who was mistaken. +The series of unwarranted recognitions then began. + +"An extraordinary thing occurred. The day after a schoolboy had +recognised the corpse a woman exclaimed, `Good Heavens, it is my +child!' + +"She was taken up to the corpse; she examined the clothing, and +noted a scar on the forehead. `It is certainly,' she said, `my +son who disappeared last July. He has been stolen from me and +murdered.' + +"The woman was concierge in the Rue du Four; her name was +Chavandret. Her brother-in-law was summoned, and when questioned +he said, `That is the little Filibert.' Several persons living in +the street recognised the child found at La Villette as Filibert +Chavandret, among them being the boy's schoolmaster, who based +his opinion on a medal worn by the lad. + +"Nevertheless, the neighbours, the brother-in-law, the +schoolmaster, and the mother were mistaken. Six weeks later the +identity of the child was established. The boy, belonging to +Bordeaux, had been murdered there and brought by a carrying +company to Paris."[4] + + +[4] L'Eclair, April 21, 1895. + + + +It will be remarked that these recognitions are most often made +by women and children--that is to say, by precisely the most +impressionable persons. They show us at the same time what is +the worth in law courts of such witnesses. As far as children, +more especially, are concerned, their statements ought never to +be invoked. Magistrates are in the habit of repeating that +children do not lie. Did they possess a psychological culture a +little less rudimentary than is the case they would know that, on +the contrary, children invariably lie; the lie is doubtless +innocent, but it is none the less a lie. It would be better to +decide the fate of an accused person by the toss of a coin than, +as has been so often done, by the evidence of a child. + +To return to the faculty of observation possessed by crowds, our +conclusion is that their collective observations are as erroneous +as possible, and that most often they merely represent the +illusion of an individual who, by a process of contagion, has +suggestioned his fellows. Facts proving that the most utter +mistrust of the evidence of crowds is advisable might be +multiplied to any extent. Thousands of men were present +twenty-five years ago at the celebrated cavalry charge during the +battle of Sedan, and yet it is impossible, in the face of the +most contradictory ocular testimony, to decide by whom it was +commanded. The English general, Lord Wolseley, has proved in a +recent book that up to now the gravest errors of fact have been +committed with regard to the most important incidents of the +battle of Waterloo--facts that hundreds of witnesses had +nevertheless attested.[5] + + +[5] Do we know in the case of one single battle exactly how it +took place? I am very doubtful on the point. We know who were +the conquerors and the conquered, but this is probably all. What +M. D'Harcourt has said with respect to the battle of Solferino, +which he witnessed and in which he was personally engaged, may be +applied to all battles--"The generals (informed, of course, by +the evidence of hundreds of witnesses) forward their official +reports; the orderly officers modify these documents and draw up +a definite narrative; the chief of the staff raises objections +and re-writes the whole on a fresh basis. It is carried to the +Marshal, who exclaims, `You are entirely in error,' and he +substitutes a fresh edition. Scarcely anything remains of the +original report." M. D'Harcourt relates this fact as proof of +the impossibility of establishing the truth in connection with +the most striking, the best observed events. + + + +Such facts show us what is the value of the testimony of crowds. +Treatises on logic include the unanimity of numerous witnesses in +the category of the strongest proofs that can be invoked in +support of the exactness of a fact. Yet what we know of the +psychology of crowds shows that treatises on logic need on this +point to be rewritten. The events with regard to which there +exists the most doubt are certainly those which have been +observed by the greatest number of persons. To say that a fact +has been simultaneously verified by thousands of witnesses is to +say, as a rule, that the real fact is very different from the +accepted account of it. + +It clearly results from what precedes that works of history must +be considered as works of pure imagination. They are fanciful +accounts of ill-observed facts, accompanied by explanations the +result of reflection. To write such books is the most absolute +waste of time. Had not the past left us its literary, artistic, +and monumental works, we should know absolutely nothing in +reality with regard to bygone times. Are we in possession of a +single word of truth concerning the lives of the great men who +have played preponderating parts in the history of humanity--men +such as Hercules, Buddha, or Mahomet? In all probability we are +not. In point of fact, moreover, their real lives are of slight +importance to us. Our interest is to know what our great men +were as they are presented by popular legend. It is legendary +heroes, and not for a moment real heroes, who have impressed the +minds of crowds. + +Unfortunately, legends--even although they have been definitely +put on record by books--have in themselves no stability. The +imagination of the crowd continually transforms them as the +result of the lapse of time and especially in consequence of +racial causes. There is a great gulf fixed between the +sanguinary Jehovah of the Old Testament and the God of Love of +Sainte Therese, and the Buddha worshipped in China has no traits +in common with that venerated in India. + +It is not even necessary that heroes should be separated from us +by centuries for their legend to be transformed by the +imagination of the crowd. The transformation occasionally takes +place within a few years. In our own day we have seen the legend +of one of the greatest heroes of history modified several times +in less than fifty years. Under the Bourbons Napoleon became a +sort of idyllic and liberal philanthropist, a friend of the +humble who, according to the poets, was destined to be long +remembered in the cottage. Thirty years afterwards this +easy-going hero had become a sanguinary despot, who, after having +usurped power and destroyed liberty, caused the slaughter of +three million men solely to satisfy his ambition. At present we +are witnessing a fresh transformation of the legend. When it has +undergone the influence of some dozens of centuries the learned +men of the future, face to face with these contradictory +accounts, will perhaps doubt the very existence of the hero, as +some of them now doubt that of Buddha, and will see in him +nothing more than a solar myth or a development of the legend of +Hercules. They will doubtless console themselves easily for this +uncertainty, for, better initiated than we are to-day in the +characteristics and psychology of crowds, they will know that +history is scarcely capable of preserving the memory of anything +except myths. + + +3. THE EXAGGERATION AND INGENUOUSNESS OF THE SENTIMENTS OF CROWDS. + + +Whether the feelings exhibited by a crowd be good or bad, they +present the double character of being very simple and very +exaggerated. On this point, as on so many others, an individual +in a crowd resembles primitive beings. Inaccessible to fine +distinctions, he sees things as a whole, and is blind to their +intermediate phases. The exaggeration of the sentiments of a +crowd is heightened by the fact that any feeling when once it is +exhibited communicating itself very quickly by a process of +suggestion and contagion, the evident approbation of which it is +the object considerably increases its force. + +The simplicity and exaggeration of the sentiments of crowds have +for result that a throng knows neither doubt nor uncertainty. +Like women, it goes at once to extremes. A suspicion transforms +itself as soon as announced into incontrovertible evidence. A +commencement of antipathy or disapprobation, which in the case of +an isolated individual would not gain strength, becomes at once +furious hatred in the case of an individual in a crowd. + +The violence of the feelings of crowds is also increased, +especially in heterogeneous crowds, by the absence of all sense +of responsibility. The certainty of impunity, a certainty the +stronger as the crowd is more numerous, and the notion of a +considerable momentary force due to number, make possible in the +case of crowds sentiments and acts impossible for the isolated +individual. In crowds the foolish, ignorant, and envious persons +are freed from the sense of their insignificance and +powerlessness, and are possessed instead by the notion of brutal +and temporary but immense strength. + +Unfortunately, this tendency of crowds towards exaggeration is +often brought to bear upon bad sentiments. These sentiments are +atavistic residuum of the instincts of the primitive man, which +the fear of punishment obliges the isolated and responsible +individual to curb. Thus it is that crowds are so easily led +into the worst excesses. + +Still this does not mean that crowds, skilfully influenced, are +not capable of heroism and devotion and of evincing the loftiest +virtues; they are even more capable of showing these qualities +than the isolated individual. We shall soon have occasion to +revert to this point when we come to study the morality of +crowds. + +Given to exaggeration in its feelings, a crowd is only impressed +by excessive sentiments. An orator wishing to move a crowd must +make an abusive use of violent affirmations. To exaggerate, to +affirm, to resort to repetitions, and never to attempt to prove +anything by reasoning are methods of argument well known to +speakers at public meetings. + +Moreover, a crowd exacts a like exaggeration in the sentiments of +its heroes. Their apparent qualities and virtues must always be +amplified. It has been justly remarked that on the stage a crowd +demands from the hero of the piece a degree of courage, morality, +and virtue that is never to be found in real life. + +Quite rightly importance has been laid on the special standpoint +from which matters are viewed in the theatre. Such a standpoint +exists no doubt, but its rules for the most part have nothing to +do with common sense and logic. The art of appealing to crowds +is no doubt of an inferior order, but it demands quite special +aptitudes. It is often impossible on reading plays to explain +their success. Managers of theatres when accepting pieces are +themselves, as a rule, very uncertain of their success, because +to judge the matter it would be necessary that they should be +able to transform themselves into a crowd.[6] + + +[6] It is understandable for this reason why it sometimes happens +that pieces refused by all theatrical managers obtain a +prodigious success when by a stroke of chance they are put on the +stage. The recent success of Francois Coppee's play "Pour la +Couronne" is well known, and yet, in spite of the name of its +author, it was refused during ten years by the managers of the +principal Parisian theatres. + +"Charley's Aunt," refused at every theatre, and finally staged at +the expense of a stockbroker, has had two hundred representations +in France, and more than a thousand in London. Without the +explanation given above of the impossibility for theatrical +managers to mentally substitute themselves for a crowd, such +mistakes in judgment on the part of competent individuals, who +are most interested not to commit such grave blunders, would be +inexplicable. This is a subject that I cannot deal with here, +but it might worthily tempt the pen of a writer acquainted with +theatrical matters, and at the same time a subtle +psychologist--of such a writer, for instance, as M. Francisque +Sarcey. + + + +Here, once more, were we able to embark on more extensive +explanations, we should show the preponderating influence of +racial considerations. A play which provokes the enthusiasm of +the crowd in one country has sometimes no success in another, or +has only a partial and conventional success, because it does not +put in operation influences capable of working on an altered +public. + +I need not add that the tendency to exaggeration in crowds is +only present in the case of sentiments and not at all in the +matter of intelligence. I have already shown that, by the mere +fact that an individual forms part of a crowd, his intellectual +standard is immediately and considerably lowered. A learned +magistrate, M. Tarde, has also verified this fact in his +researches on the crimes of crowds. It is only, then, with +respect to sentiment that crowds can rise to a very high or, on +the contrary, descend to a very low level. + + +4. THE INTOLERANCE, DICTATORIALNESS AND CONSERVATISM OF CROWDS. + + +Crowds are only cognisant of simple and extreme sentiments; the +opinions, ideas, and beliefs suggested to them are accepted or +rejected as a whole, and considered as absolute truths or as not +less absolute errors. This is always the case with beliefs +induced by a process of suggestion instead of engendered by +reasoning. Every one is aware of the intolerance that +accompanies religious beliefs, and of the despotic empire they +exercise on men's minds. + +Being in doubt as to what constitutes truth or error, and having, +on the other hand, a clear notion of its strength, a crowd is as +disposed to give authoritative effect to its inspirations as it +is intolerant. An individual may accept contradiction and +discussion; a crowd will never do so. At public meetings the +slightest contradiction on the part of an orator is immediately +received with howls of fury and violent invective, soon followed +by blows, and expulsion should the orator stick to his point. +Without the restraining presence of the representatives of +authority the contradictor, indeed, would often be done to death. + +Dictatorialness and intolerance are common to all categories of +crowds, but they are met with in a varying degree of intensity. +Here, once more, reappears that fundamental notion of race which +dominates all the feelings and all the thoughts of men. It is +more especially in Latin crowds that authoritativeness and +intolerance are found developed in the highest measure. In fact, +their development is such in crowds of Latin origin that they +have entirely destroyed that sentiment of the independence of the +individual so powerful in the Anglo-Saxon. Latin crowds are only +concerned with the collective independence of the sect to which +they belong, and the characteristic feature of their conception +of independence is the need they experience of bringing those who +are in disagreement with themselves into immediate and violent +subjection to their beliefs. Among the Latin races the Jacobins +of every epoch, from those of the Inquisition downwards, have +never been able to attain to a different conception of liberty. + +Authoritativeness and intolerance are sentiments of which crowds +have a very clear notion, which they easily conceive and which +they entertain as readily as they put them in practice when once +they are imposed upon them. Crowds exhibit a docile respect for +force, and are but slightly impressed by kindness, which for them +is scarcely other than a form of weakness. Their sympathies have +never been bestowed on easy-going masters, but on tyrants who +vigorously oppressed them. It is to these latter that they +always erect the loftiest statues. It is true that they +willingly trample on the despot whom they have stripped of his +power, but it is because, having lost his strength, he has +resumed his place among the feeble, who are to be despised +because they are not to be feared. The type of hero dear to +crowds will always have the semblance of a Caesar. His insignia +attracts them, his authority overawes them, and his sword instils +them with fear. + +A crowd is always ready to revolt against a feeble, and to bow +down servilely before a strong authority. Should the strength of +an authority be intermittent, the crowd, always obedient to its +extreme sentiments, passes alternately from anarchy to servitude, +and from servitude to anarchy. + +However, to believe in the predominance among crowds of +revolutionary instincts would be to entirely misconstrue their +psychology. It is merely their tendency to violence that +deceives us on this point. Their rebellious and destructive +outbursts are always very transitory. Crowds are too much +governed by unconscious considerations, and too much subject in +consequence to secular hereditary influences not to be extremely +conservative. Abandoned to themselves, they soon weary of +disorder, and instinctively turn to servitude. It was the +proudest and most untractable of the Jacobins who acclaimed +Bonaparte with greatest energy when he suppressed all liberty and +made his hand of iron severely felt. + +It is difficult to understand history, and popular revolutions in +particular, if one does not take sufficiently into account the +profoundly conservative instincts of crowds. They may be +desirous, it is true, of changing the names of their +institutions, and to obtain these changes they accomplish at +times even violent revolutions, but the essence of these +institutions is too much the expression of the hereditary needs +of the race for them not invariably to abide by it. Their +incessant mobility only exerts its influence on quite superficial +matters. In fact they possess conservative instincts as +indestructible as those of all primitive beings. Their fetish- +like respect for all traditions is absolute; their unconscious +horror of all novelty capable of changing the essential +conditions of their existence is very deeply rooted. Had +democracies possessed the power they wield to-day at the time of +the invention of mechanical looms or of the introduction of +steam-power and of railways, the realisation of these inventions +would have been impossible, or would have been achieved at the +cost of revolutions and repeated massacres. It is fortunate for +the progress of civilisation that the power of crowds only began +to exist when the great discoveries of science and industry had +already been effected. + + +5. THE MORALITY OF CROWDS. + + +Taking the word "morality" to mean constant respect for certain +social conventions, and the permanent repression of selfish +impulses, it is quite evident that crowds are too impulsive and +too mobile to be moral. If, however, we include in the term +morality the transitory display of certain qualities such as +abnegation, self-sacrifice, disinterestedness, devotion, and the +need of equity, we may say, on the contrary, that crowds may +exhibit at times a very lofty morality. + +The few psychologists who have studied crowds have only +considered them from the point of view of their criminal acts, +and noticing how frequent these acts are, they have come to the +conclusion that the moral standard of crowds is very low. + +Doubtless this is often the case; but why? Simply because our +savage, destructive instincts are the inheritance left dormant in +all of us from the primitive ages. In the life of the isolated +individual it would be dangerous for him to gratify these +instincts, while his absorption in an irresponsible crowd, in +which in consequence he is assured of impunity, gives him entire +liberty to follow them. Being unable, in the ordinary course of +events, to exercise these destructive instincts on our fellow- +men, we confine ourselves to exercising them on animals. The +passion, so widespread, for the chase and the acts of ferocity of +crowds proceed from one and the same source. A crowd which +slowly slaughters a defenceless victim displays a very cowardly +ferocity; but for the philosopher this ferocity is very closely +related to that of the huntsmen who gather in dozens for the +pleasure of taking part in the pursuit and killing of a luckless +stag by their hounds. + +A crowd may be guilty of murder, incendiarism, and every kind of +crime, but it is also capable of very lofty acts of devotion, +sacrifice, and disinterestedness, of acts much loftier indeed +than those of which the isolated individual is capable. Appeals +to sentiments of glory, honour, and patriotism are particularly +likely to influence the individual forming part of a crowd, and +often to the extent of obtaining from him the sacrifice of his +life. History is rich in examples analogous to those furnished +by the Crusaders and the volunteers of 1793. Collectivities +alone are capable of great disinterestedness and great devotion. +How numerous are the crowds that have heroically faced death for +beliefs, ideas, and phrases that they scarcely understood! The +crowds that go on strike do so far more in obedience to an order +than to obtain an increase of the slender salary with which they +make shift. Personal interest is very rarely a powerful motive +force with crowds, while it is almost the exclusive motive of the +conduct of the isolated individual. It is assuredly not +self-interest that has guided crowds in so many wars, +incomprehensible as a rule to their intelligence--wars in which +they have allowed themselves to be massacred as easily as the +larks hypnotised by the mirror of the hunter. + +Even in the case of absolute scoundrels it often happens that the +mere fact of their being in a crowd endows them for the moment +with very strict principles of morality. Taine calls attention +to the fact that the perpetrators of the September massacres +deposited on the table of the committees the pocket-books and +jewels they had found on their victims, and with which they could +easily have been able to make away. The howling, swarming, +ragged crowd which invaded the Tuileries during the revolution of +1848 did not lay hands on any of the objects that excited its +astonishment, and one of which would have meant bread for many +days. + +This moralisation of the individual by the crowd is not certainly +a constant rule, but it is a rule frequently observed. It is +even observed in circumstances much less grave than those I have +just cited. I have remarked that in the theatre a crowd exacts +from the hero of the piece exaggerated virtues, and it is a +commonplace observation that an assembly, even though composed of +inferior elements, shows itself as a rule very prudish. The +debauchee, the souteneur, the rough often break out into murmurs +at a slightly risky scene or expression, though they be very +harmless in comparison with their customary conversation. + +If, then, crowds often abandon themselves to low instincts, they +also set the example at times of acts of lofty morality. If +disinterestedness, resignation, and absolute devotion to a real +or chimerical ideal are moral virtues, it may be said that crowds +often possess these virtues to a degree rarely attained by the +wisest philosophers. Doubtless they practice them unconsciously, +but that is of small import. We should not complain too much +that crowds are more especially guided by unconscious +considerations and are not given to reasoning. Had they, in +certain cases, reasoned and consulted their immediate interests, +it is possible that no civilisation would have grown up on our +planet and humanity would have had no history. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE IDEAS, REASONING POWER, AND IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + +1. THE IDEAS OF CROWDS. Fundamental and accessory +ideas--How contradictory ideas may exist simultaneously--The +transformation that must be undergone by lofty ideas before they +are accessible to crowds-- The social influence of ideas is +independent of the degree of truth they may contain. 2. THE +REASONING POWER OF CROWDS. Crowds are not to be influenced by +reasoning--The reasoning of crowds is always of a very inferior +order--There is only the appearance of analogy or succession in +the ideas they associate. 3. THE IMAGINATION OF CROWDS. +Strength of the imagination of crowds--Crowds think in images, +and these images succeed each other without any connecting +link--Crowds are especially impressed by the marvellous--Legends +and the marvellous are the real pillars of civilisation--The +popular imagination has always been the basis of the power of +statesmen--The manner in which facts capable of striking the +imagination of crowds present themselves for observation. + + +1. THE IDEAS OF CROWDS + +WHEN studying in a preceding work the part played by ideas in the +evolution of nations, we showed that every civilisation is the +outcome of a small number of fundamental ideas that are very +rarely renewed. We showed how these ideas are implanted in the +minds of crowds, with what difficulty the process is effected, +and the power possessed by the ideas in question when once it has +been accomplished. Finally we saw that great historical +perturbations are the result, as a rule, of changes in these +fundamental ideas. + +Having treated this subject at sufficient length, I shall not +return to it now, but shall confine myself to saying a few words +on the subject of such ideas as are accessible to crowds, and of +the forms under which they conceive them. + +They may be divided into two classes. In one we shall place +accidental and passing ideas created by the influences of the +moment: infatuation for an individual or a doctrine, for +instance. In the other will be classed the fundamental ideas, to +which the environment, the laws of heredity and public opinion +give a very great stability; such ideas are the religious beliefs +of the past and the social and democratic ideas of to-day. + +These fundamental ideas resemble the volume of the water of a +stream slowly pursuing its course; the transitory ideas are like +the small waves, for ever changing, which agitate its surface, +and are more visible than the progress of the stream itself +although without real importance. + +At the present day the great fundamental ideas which were the +mainstay of our fathers are tottering more and more. They have +lost all solidity, and at the same time the institutions resting +upon them are severely shaken. Every day there are formed a +great many of those transitory minor ideas of which I have just +been speaking; but very few of them to all appearance seem +endowed with vitality and destined to acquire a preponderating +influence. + +Whatever be the ideas suggested to crowds they can only exercise +effective influence on condition that they assume a very +absolute, uncompromising, and simple shape. They present +themselves then in the guise of images, and are only accessible +to the masses under this form. These imagelike ideas are not +connected by any logical bond of analogy or succession, and may +take each other's place like the slides of a magic-lantern which +the operator withdraws from the groove in which they were placed +one above the other. This explains how it is that the most +contradictory ideas may be seen to be simultaneously current in +crowds. According to the chances of the moment, a crowd will +come under the influence of one of the various ideas stored up in +its understanding, and is capable, in consequence, of committing +the most dissimilar acts. Its complete lack of the critical +spirit does not allow of its perceiving these contradictions. + +This phenomenon is not peculiar to crowds. It is to be observed +in many isolated individuals, not only among primitive beings, +but in the case of all those--the fervent sectaries of a +religious faith, for instance--who by one side or another of +their intelligence are akin to primitive beings. I have observed +its presence to a curious extent in the case of educated Hindoos +brought up at our European universities and having taken their +degree. A number of Western ideas had been superposed on their +unchangeable and fundamental hereditary or social ideas. +According to the chances of the moment, the one or the other set +of ideas showed themselves each with their special accompaniment +of acts or utterances, the same individual presenting in this way +the most flagrant contradictions. These contradictions are more +apparent than real, for it is only hereditary ideas that have +sufficient influence over the isolated individual to become +motives of conduct. It is only when, as the result of the +intermingling of different races, a man is placed between +different hereditary tendencies that his acts from one moment to +another may be really entirely contradictory. It would be +useless to insist here on these phenomena, although their +psychological importance is capital. I am of opinion that at +least ten years of travel and observation would be necessary to +arrive at a comprehension of them. + +Ideas being only accessible to crowds after having assumed a very +simple shape must often undergo the most thoroughgoing +transformations to become popular. It is especially when we are +dealing with somewhat lofty philosophic or scientific ideas that +we see how far-reaching are the modifications they require in +order to lower them to the level of the intelligence of crowds. +These modifications are dependent on the nature of the crowds, or +of the race to which the crowds belong, but their tendency is +always belittling and in the direction of simplification. This +explains the fact that, from the social point of view, there is +in reality scarcely any such thing as a hierarchy of ideas--that +is to say, as ideas of greater or less elevation. However great +or true an idea may have been to begin with, it is deprived of +almost all that which constituted its elevation and its greatness +by the mere fact that it has come within the intellectual range +of crowds and exerts an influence upon them. + +Moreover, from the social point of view the hierarchical value of +an idea, its intrinsic worth, is without importance. The +necessary point to consider is the effects it produces. The +Christian ideas of the Middle Ages, the democratic ideas of the +last century, or the social ideas of to-day are assuredly not +very elevated. Philosophically considered, they can only be +regarded as somewhat sorry errors, and yet their power has been +and will be immense, and they will count for a long time to come +among the most essential factors that determine the conduct of +States. + +Even when an idea has undergone the transformations which render +it accessible to crowds, it only exerts influence when, by +various processes which we shall examine elsewhere, it has +entered the domain of the unconscious, when indeed it has become +a sentiment, for which much time is required. + +For it must not be supposed that merely because the justness of +an idea has been proved it can be productive of effective action +even on cultivated minds. This fact may be quickly appreciated +by noting how slight is the influence of the clearest +demonstration on the majority of men. Evidence, if it be very +plain, may be accepted by an educated person, but the convert +will be quickly brought back by his unconscious self to his +original conceptions. See him again after the lapse of a few +days and he will put forward afresh his old arguments in exactly +the same terms. He is in reality under the influence of anterior +ideas, that have become sentiments, and it is such ideas alone +that influence the more recondite motives of our acts and +utterances. It cannot be otherwise in the case of crowds. + +When by various processes an idea has ended by penetrating into +the minds of crowds, it possesses an irresistible power, and +brings about a series of effects, opposition to which is +bootless. The philosophical ideas which resulted in the French +Revolution took nearly a century to implant themselves in the +mind of the crowd. Their irresistible force, when once they had +taken root, is known. The striving of an entire nation towards +the conquest of social equality, and the realisation of abstract +rights and ideal liberties, caused the tottering of all thrones +and profoundly disturbed the Western world. During twenty years +the nations were engaged in internecine conflict, and Europe +witnessed hecatombs that would have terrified Ghengis Khan and +Tamerlane. The world had never seen on such a scale what may +result from the promulgation of an idea. + +A long time is necessary for ideas to establish themselves in the +minds of crowds, but just as long a time is needed for them to be +eradicated. For this reason crowds, as far as ideas are +concerned, are always several generations behind learned men and +philosophers. All statesmen are well aware to-day of the +admixture of error contained in the fundamental ideas I referred +to a short while back, but as the influence of these ideas is +still very powerful they are obliged to govern in accordance with +principles in the truth of which they have ceased to believe. + + +2. THE REASONING POWER OF CROWDS + + +It cannot absolutely be said that crowds do not reason and are +not to be influenced by reasoning. + +However, the arguments they employ and those which are capable of +influencing them are, from a logical point of view, of such an +inferior kind that it is only by way of analogy that they can be +described as reasoning. + +The inferior reasoning of crowds is based, just as is reasoning +of a high order, on the association of ideas, but between the +ideas associated by crowds there are only apparent bonds of +analogy or succession. The mode of reasoning of crowds resembles +that of the Esquimaux who, knowing from experience that ice, a +transparent body, melts in the mouth, concludes that glass, also +a transparent body, should also melt in the mouth; or that of the +savage who imagines that by eating the heart of a courageous foe +he acquires his bravery; or of the workman who, having been +exploited by one employer of labour, immediately concludes that +all employers exploit their men. + +The characteristics of the reasoning of crowds are the +association of dissimilar things possessing a merely apparent +connection between each other, and the immediate generalisation +of particular cases. It is arguments of this kind that are +always presented to crowds by those who know how to manage them. +They are the only arguments by which crowds are to be influenced. +A chain of logical argumentation is totally incomprehensible to +crowds, and for this reason it is permissible to say that they do +not reason or that they reason falsely and are not to be +influenced by reasoning. Astonishment is felt at times on +reading certain speeches at their weakness, and yet they had an +enormous influence on the crowds which listened to them, but it +is forgotten that they were intended to persuade collectivities +and not to be read by philosophers. An orator in intimate +communication with a crowd can evoke images by which it will be +seduced. If he is successful his object has been attained, and +twenty volumes of harangues--always the outcome of +reflection--are not worth the few phrases which appealed to the +brains it was required to convince. + +It would be superfluous to add that the powerlessness of crowds +to reason aright prevents them displaying any trace of the +critical spirit, prevents them, that is, from being capable of +discerning truth from error, or of forming a precise judgment on +any matter. Judgments accepted by crowds are merely judgments +forced upon them and never judgments adopted after discussion. +In regard to this matter the individuals who do not rise above +the level of a crowd are numerous. The ease with which certain +opinions obtain general acceptance results more especially from +the impossibility experienced by the majority of men of forming +an opinion peculiar to themselves and based on reasoning of their +own. + + +3. THE IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + + +Just as is the case with respect to persons in whom the reasoning +power is absent, the figurative imagination of crowds is very +powerful, very active and very susceptible of being keenly +impressed. The images evoked in their mind by a personage, an +event, an accident, are almost as lifelike as the reality. +Crowds are to some extent in the position of the sleeper whose +reason, suspended for the time being, allows the arousing in his +mind of images of extreme intensity which would quickly be +dissipated could they be submitted to the action of reflection. +Crowds, being incapable both of reflection and of reasoning, are +devoid of the notion of improbability; and it is to be noted that +in a general way it is the most improbable things that are the +most striking. + +This is why it happens that it is always the marvellous and +legendary side of events that more specially strike crowds. When +a civilisation is analysed it is seen that, in reality, it is the +marvellous and the legendary that are its true supports. +Appearances have always played a much more important part than +reality in history, where the unreal is always of greater moment +than the real. + +Crowds being only capable of thinking in images are only to be +impressed by images. It is only images that terrify or attract +them and become motives of action. + +For this reason theatrical representations, in which the image is +shown in its most clearly visible shape, always have an enormous +influence on crowds. Bread and spectacular shows constituted for +the plebeians of ancient Rome the ideal of happiness, and they +asked for nothing more. Throughout the successive ages this +ideal has scarcely varied. Nothing has a greater effect on the +imagination of crowds of every category than theatrical +representations. The entire audience experiences at the same +time the same emotions, and if these emotions are not at once +transformed into acts, it is because the most unconscious +spectator cannot ignore that he is the victim of illusions, and +that he has laughed or wept over imaginary adventures. +Sometimes, however, the sentiments suggested by the images are so +strong that they tend, like habitual suggestions, to transform +themselves into acts. The story has often been told of the +manager of a popular theatre who, in consequence of his only +playing sombre dramas, was obliged to have the actor who took the +part of the traitor protected on his leaving the theatre, to +defend him against the violence of the spectators, indignant at +the crimes, imaginary though they were, which the traitor had +committed. We have here, in my opinion, one of the most +remarkable indications of the mental state of crowds, and +especially of the facility with which they are suggestioned. The +unreal has almost as much influence on them as the real. They +have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two. + +The power of conquerors and the strength of States is based on +the popular imagination. It is more particularly by working upon +this imagination that crowds are led. All great historical +facts, the rise of Buddhism, of Christianity, of Islamism, the +Reformation, the French Revolution, and, in our own time, the +threatening invasion of Socialism are the direct or indirect +consequences of strong impressions produced on the imagination of +the crowd. + +Moreover, all the great statesmen of every age and every country, +including the most absolute despots, have regarded the popular +imagination as the basis of their power, and they have never +attempted to govern in opposition to it "It was by becoming a +Catholic," said Napoleon to the Council of State, "that I +terminated the Vendeen war. By becoming a Mussulman that I +obtained a footing in Egypt. By becoming an Ultramontane that I +won over the Italian priests, and had I to govern a nation of +Jews I would rebuild Solomon's temple." Never perhaps since +Alexander and Caesar has any great man better understood how the +imagination of the crowd should be impressed. His constant +preoccupation was to strike it. He bore it in mind in his +victories, in his harangues, in his speeches, in all his acts. +On his deathbed it was still in his thoughts. + +How is the imagination of crowds to be impressed? We shall soon +see. Let us confine ourselves for the moment to saying that the +feat is never to be achieved by attempting to work upon the +intelligence or reasoning faculty, that is to say, by way of +demonstration. It was not by means of cunning rhetoric that +Antony succeeded in making the populace rise against the +murderers of Caesar; it was by reading his will to the multitude +and pointing to his corpse. + +Whatever strikes the imagination of crowds presents itself under +the shape of a startling and very clear image, freed from all +accessory explanation, or merely having as accompaniment a few +marvellous or mysterious facts: examples in point are a great +victory, a great miracle, a great crime, or a great hope. Things +must be laid before the crowd as a whole, and their genesis must +never be indicated. A hundred petty crimes or petty accidents +will not strike the imagination of crowds in the least, whereas a +single great crime or a single great accident will profoundly +impress them, even though the results be infinitely less +disastrous than those of the hundred small accidents put +together. The epidemic of influenza, which caused the death but +a few years ago of five thousand persons in Paris alone, made +very little impression on the popular imagination. The reason +was that this veritable hecatomb was not embodied in any visible +image, but was only learnt from statistical information furnished +weekly. An accident which should have caused the death of only +five hundred instead of five thousand persons, but on the same +day and in public, as the outcome of an accident appealing +strongly to the eye, by the fall, for instance, of the Eiffel +Tower, would have produced, on the contrary, an immense +impression on the imagination of the crowd. The probable loss of +a transatlantic steamer that was supposed, in the absence of +news, to have gone down in mid-ocean profoundly impressed the +imagination of the crowd for a whole week. Yet official +statistics show that 850 sailing vessels and 203 steamers were +lost in the year 1894 alone. The crowd, however, was never for a +moment concerned by these successive losses, much more important +though they were as far as regards the destruction of life and +property, than the loss of the Atlantic liner in question could +possibly have been. + +It is not, then, the facts in themselves that strike the popular +imagination, but the way in which they take place and are brought +under notice. It is necessary that by their condensation, if I +may thus express myself, they should produce a startling image +which fills and besets the mind. To know the art of impressing +the imagination of crowds is to know at the same time the art of +governing them. + + +CHAPTER IV + +A RELIGIOUS SHAPE ASSUMED BY ALL THE CONVICTIONS OF CROWDS + +What is meant by the religious sentiment--It is independent of +the worship of a divinity--Its characteristics--The strength of +convictions assuming a religious shape--Various examples--Popular +gods have never disappeared--New forms under which they are +revived--Religious forms of atheism--Importance of these notions +from the historical point of view-- The Reformation, Saint +Bartholomew, the Terror, and all analogous events are the result +of the religious sentiments of crowds and not of the will of +isolated individuals. + + +We have shown that crowds do not reason, that they accept or +reject ideas as a whole, that they tolerate neither discussion +nor contradiction, and that the suggestions brought to bear on +them invade the entire field of their understanding and tend at +once to transform themselves into acts. We have shown that +crowds suitably influenced are ready to sacrifice themselves for +the ideal with which they have been inspired. We have also seen +that they only entertain violent and extreme sentiments, that in +their case sympathy quickly becomes adoration, and antipathy +almost as soon as it is aroused is transformed into hatred. +These general indications furnish us already with a presentiment +of the nature of the convictions of crowds. + +When these convictions are closely examined, whether at epochs +marked by fervent religious faith, or by great political +upheavals such as those of the last century, it is apparent that +they always assume a peculiar form which I cannot better define +than by giving it the name of a religious sentiment. + +This sentiment has very simple characteristics, such as worship +of a being supposed superior, fear of the power with which the +being is credited, blind submission to its commands, inability to +discuss its dogmas, the desire to spread them, and a tendency to +consider as enemies all by whom they are not accepted. Whether +such a sentiment apply to an invisible God, to a wooden or stone +idol, to a hero or to a political conception, provided that it +presents the preceding characteristics, its essence always +remains religious. The supernatural and the miraculous are found +to be present to the same extent. Crowds unconsciously accord a +mysterious power to the political formula or the victorious +leader that for the moment arouses their enthusiasm. + +A person is not religious solely when he worships a divinity, but +when he puts all the resources of his mind, the complete +submission of his will, and the whole-souled ardour of fanaticism +at the service of a cause or an individual who becomes the goal +and guide of his thoughts and actions. + +Intolerance and fanaticism are the necessary accompaniments of +the religious sentiment. They are inevitably displayed by those +who believe themselves in the possession of the secret of earthly +or eternal happiness. These two characteristics are to be found +in all men grouped together when they are inspired by a +conviction of any kind. The Jacobins of the Reign of Terror were +at bottom as religious as the Catholics of the Inquisition, and +their cruel ardour proceeded from the same source. + +The convictions of crowds assume those characteristics of blind +submission, fierce intolerance, and the need of violent +propaganda which are inherent in the religious sentiment, and it +is for this reason that it may be said that all their beliefs +have a religious form. The hero acclaimed by a crowd is a +veritable god for that crowd. Napoleon was such a god for +fifteen years, and a divinity never had more fervent worshippers +or sent men to their death with greater ease. The Christian and +Pagan Gods never exercised a more absolute empire over the minds +that had fallen under their sway. + +All founders of religious or political creeds have established +them solely because they were successful in inspiring crowds with +those fanatical sentiments which have as result that men find +their happiness in worship and obedience and are ready to lay +down their lives for their idol. This has been the case at all +epochs. Fustel de Coulanges, in his excellent work on Roman +Gaul, justly remarks that the Roman Empire was in no wise +maintained by force, but by the religious admiration it inspired. +"It would be without a parallel in the history of the world," he +observes rightly, "that a form of government held in popular +detestation should have lasted for five centuries. . . . It +would be inexplicable that the thirty legions of the Empire +should have constrained a hundred million men to obedience." The +reason of their obedience was that the Emperor, who personified +the greatness of Rome, was worshipped like a divinity by +unanimous consent. There were altars in honour of the Emperor in +the smallest townships of his realm. "From one end of the Empire +to the other a new religion was seen to arise in those days which +had for its divinities the emperors themselves. Some years +before the Christian era the whole of Gaul, represented by sixty +cities, built in common a temple near the town of Lyons in honour +of Augustus. . . . Its priests, elected by the united Gallic +cities, were the principal personages in their country. . . . It +is impossible to attribute all this to fear and servility. Whole +nations are not servile, and especially for three centuries. It +was not the courtiers who worshipped the prince, it was Rome, and +it was not Rome merely, but it was Gaul, it was Spain, it was +Greece and Asia." + +To-day the majority of the great men who have swayed men's minds +no longer have altars, but they have statues, or their portraits +are in the hands of their admirers, and the cult of which they +are the object is not notably different from that accorded to +their predecessors. An understanding of the philosophy of +history is only to be got by a thorough appreciation of this +fundamental point of the psychology of crowds. The crowd demands +a god before everything else. + +It must not be supposed that these are the superstitions of a +bygone age which reason has definitely banished. Sentiment has +never been vanquished in its eternal conflict with reason. +Crowds will hear no more of the words divinity and religion, in +whose name they were so long enslaved; but they have never +possessed so many fetishes as in the last hundred years, and the +old divinities have never had so many statues and altars raised +in their honour. Those who in recent years have studied the +popular movement known under the name of Boulangism have been +able to see with what ease the religious instincts of crowds are +ready to revive. There was not a country inn that did not +possess the hero's portrait. He was credited with the power of +remedying all injustices and all evils, and thousands of men +would have given their lives for him. Great might have been his +place in history had his character been at all on a level with +his legendary reputation. + +It is thus a very useless commonplace to assert that a religion +is necessary for the masses, because all political, divine, and +social creeds only take root among them on the condition of +always assuming the religious shape--a shape which obviates the +danger of discussion. Were it possible to induce the masses to +adopt atheism, this belief would exhibit all the intolerant +ardour of a religious sentiment, and in its exterior forms would +soon become a cult. The evolution of the small Positivist sect +furnishes us a curious proof in point. What happened to the +Nihilist whose story is related by that profound thinker +Dostoiewsky has quickly happened to the Positivists. Illumined +one day by the light of reason he broke the images of divinities +and saints that adorned the altar of a chapel, extinguished the +candles, and, without losing a moment, replaced the destroyed +objects by the works of atheistic philosophers such as Buchner +and Moleschott, after which he piously relighted the candles. +The object of his religious beliefs had been transformed, but can +it be truthfully said that his religious sentiments had changed? + +Certain historical events--and they are precisely the most +important--I again repeat, are not to be understood unless one +has attained to an appreciation of the religious form which the +convictions of crowds always assume in the long run. There are +social phenomena that need to be studied far more from the point +of view of the psychologist than from that of the naturalist. +The great historian Taine has only studied the Revolution as a +naturalist, and on this account the real genesis of events has +often escaped him. He has perfectly observed the facts, but from +want of having studied the psychology of crowds he has not always +been able to trace their causes. The facts having appalled him +by their bloodthirsty, anarchic, and ferocious side, he has +scarcely seen in the heroes of the great drama anything more than +a horde of epileptic savages abandoning themselves without +restraint to their instincts. The violence of the Revolution, +its massacres, its need of propaganda, its declarations of war +upon all things, are only to be properly explained by reflecting +that the Revolution was merely the establishment of a new +religious belief in the mind of the masses. The Reformation, the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew, the French religious wars, the +Inquisition, the Reign of Terror are phenomena of an identical +kind, brought about by crowds animated by those religious +sentiments which necessarily lead those imbued with them to +pitilessly extirpate by fire and sword whoever is opposed to the +establishment of the new faith. The methods of the Inquisition +are those of all whose convictions are genuine and sturdy. Their +convictions would not deserve these epithets did they resort to +other methods. + +Upheavals analogous to those I have just cited are only possible +when it is the soul of the masses that brings them about. The +most absolute despots could not cause them. When historians tell +us that the massacre of Saint Bartholomew was the work of a king, +they show themselves as ignorant of the psychology of crowds as +of that of sovereigns. Manifestations of this order can only +proceed from the soul of crowds. The most absolute power of the +most despotic monarch can scarcely do more than hasten or retard +the moment of their apparition. The massacre of Saint +Bartholomew or the religious wars were no more the work of kings +than the Reign of Terror was the work of Robespierre, Danton, or +Saint Just. At the bottom of such events is always to be found +the working of the soul of the masses, and never the power of +potentates. + + + +BOOK II + +THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +REMOTE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + +Preparatory factors of the beliefs of crowds--The origin of the +beliefs of crowds is the consequence of a preliminary process of +elaboration-- Study of the different factors of these beliefs. +1. RACE. The predominating influence it exercises--It +represents the suggestions of ancestors. 2. TRADITIONS. +They are the synthesis of the soul of the race--Social importance +of traditions--How, after having been necessary they become +harmful--Crowds are the most obstinate maintainers of traditional +ideas. 3. TIME. It prepares in succession the establishment +of beliefs and then their destruction. It is by the aid of this +factor that order may proceed from chaos. 4. POLITICAL AND +SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. Erroneous idea of their part--Their +influence extremely weak--They are effects, not causes--Nations +are incapable of choosing what appear to them the best +institutions--Institutions are labels which shelter the most +dissimilar things under the same title-- How institutions may +come to be created--Certain institutions theoretically bad, such +as centralisation obligatory for certain nations. 5. +INSTITUTIONS AND EDUCATION. Falsity of prevalent ideas as to the +influence of instruction on crowds-- Statistical +indications--Demoralising effect of Latin system of +education--Part instruction might play--Examples furnished by +various peoples. + + +Having studied the mental constitution of crowds and become +acquainted with their modes of feeling, thinking, and reasoning, +we shall now proceed to examine how their opinions and beliefs +arise and become established. + +The factors which determine these opinions and beliefs are of two +kinds: remote factors and immediate factors. + +The remote factors are those which render crowds capable of +adopting certain convictions and absolutely refractory to the +acceptance of others. These factors prepare the ground in which +are suddenly seen to germinate certain new ideas whose force and +consequences are a cause of astonishment, though they are only +spontaneous in appearance. The outburst and putting in practice +of certain ideas among crowds present at times a startling +suddenness. This is only a superficial effect, behind which must +be sought a preliminary and preparatory action of long duration. + +The immediate factors are those which, coming on the top of this +long, preparatory working, in whose absence they would remain +without effect, serve as the source of active persuasion on +crowds; that is, they are the factors which cause the idea to +take shape and set it loose with all its consequences. The +resolutions by which collectivities are suddenly carried away +arise out of these immediate factors; it is due to them that a +riot breaks out or a strike is decided upon, and to them that +enormous majorities invest one man with power to overthrow a +government. + +The successive action of these two kinds of factors is to be +traced in all great historical events. The French Revolution--to +cite but one of the most striking of such events--had among its +remote factors the writings of the philosophers, the exactions of +the nobility, and the progress of scientific thought. The mind +of the masses, thus prepared, was then easily roused by such +immediate factors as the speeches of orators, and the resistance +of the court party to insignificant reforms. + +Among the remote factors there are some of a general nature, +which are found to underlie all the beliefs and opinions of +crowds. They are race, traditions, time, institutions, and +education. + +We now proceed to study the influence of these different factors. + +1. RACE + + +This factor, race, must be placed in the first rank, for in +itself it far surpasses in importance all the others. We have +sufficiently studied it in another work; it is therefore needless +to deal with it again. We showed, in a previous volume, what an +historical race is, and how, its character once formed, it +possesses, as the result of the laws of heredity such power that +its beliefs, institutions, and arts--in a word, all the elements +of its civilisation--are merely the outward expression of its +genius. We showed that the power of the race is such that no +element can pass from one people to another without undergoing +the most profound transformations.[7] + + +[7] The novelty of this proposition being still considerable and +history being quite unintelligible without it, I devoted four +chapters to its demonstration in my last book ("The Psychological +Laws of the Evolution of Peoples"). From it the reader will see +that, in spite of fallacious appearances, neither language, +religion, arts, or, in a word, any element of civilisation, can +pass, intact, from one people to another. + + + +Environment, circumstances, and events represent the social +suggestions of the moment. They may have a considerable +influence, but this influence is always momentary if it be +contrary to the suggestions of the race; that is, to those which +are inherited by a nation from the entire series of its +ancestors. + +We shall have occasion in several of the chapters of this work to +touch again upon racial influence, and to show that this +influence is so great that it dominates the characteristics +peculiar to the genius of crowds. It follows from this fact that +the crowds of different countries offer very considerable +differences of beliefs and conduct and are not to be influenced +in the same manner. + + +2. TRADITIONS + + +Traditions represent the ideas, the needs, and the sentiments of +the past. They are the synthesis of the race, and weigh upon us +with immense force. + +The biological sciences have been transformed since embryology +has shown the immense influence of the past on the evolution of +living beings; and the historical sciences will not undergo a +less change when this conception has become more widespread. As +yet it is not sufficiently general, and many statesmen are still +no further advanced than the theorists of the last century, who +believed that a society could break off with its past and be +entirely recast on lines suggested solely by the light of reason. + +A people is an organism created by the past, and, like every +other organism, it can only be modified by slow hereditary +accumulations. + +It is tradition that guides men, and more especially so when they +are in a crowd. The changes they can effect in their traditions +with any ease, merely bear, as I have often repeated, upon names +and outward forms. + +This circumstance is not to be regretted. Neither a national +genius nor civilisation would be possible without traditions. In +consequence man's two great concerns since he has existed have +been to create a network of traditions which he afterwards +endeavours to destroy when their beneficial effects have worn +themselves out. Civilisation is impossible without traditions, +and progress impossible without the destruction of those +traditions. The difficulty, and it is an immense difficulty, is +to find a proper equilibrium between stability and variability. +Should a people allow its customs to become too firmly rooted, it +can no longer change, and becomes, like China, incapable of +improvement. Violent revolutions are in this case of no avail; +for what happens is that either the broken fragments of the chain +are pieced together again and the past resumes its empire without +change, or the fragments remain apart and decadence soon succeeds +anarchy. + +The ideal for a people is in consequence to preserve the +institutions of the past, merely changing them insensibly and +little by little. This ideal is difficult to realise. The +Romans in ancient and the English in modern times are almost +alone in having realised it. + +It is precisely crowds that cling the most tenaciously to +traditional ideas and oppose their being changed with the most +obstinacy. This is notably the case with the category of crowds +constituting castes. I have already insisted upon the +conservative spirit of crowds, and shown that the most violent +rebellions merely end in a changing of words and terms. At the +end of the last century, in the presence of destroyed churches, +of priests expelled the country or guillotined, it might have +been thought that the old religious ideas had lost all their +strength, and yet a few years had barely lapsed before the +abolished system of public worship had to be re-established in +deference to universal demands.[8] + + +[8] The report of the ex-Conventionist, Fourcroy, quoted by +Taine, is very clear on this point. + +"What is everywhere seen with respect to the keeping of Sunday +and attendance at the churches proves that the majority of +Frenchmen desire to return to their old usages and that it is no +longer opportune to resist this natural tendency. . . . The +great majority of men stand in need of religion, public worship, +and priests. IT IS AN ERROR OF SOME MODERN PHILOSOPHERS, BY +WHICH I MYSELF HAVE BEEN LED AWAY, to believe in the possibility +of instruction being so general as to destroy religious +prejudices, which for a great number of unfortunate persons are a +source of consolation. . . . The mass of the people, then, must +be allowed its priests, its altars, and its public worship." + + + +Blotted out for a moment, the old traditions had resumed their +sway. + +No example could better display the power of tradition on the +mind of crowds. The most redoubtable idols do not dwell in +temples, nor the most despotic tyrants in palaces; both the one +and the other can be broken in an instant. But the invisible +masters that reign in our innermost selves are safe from every +effort at revolt, and only yield to the slow wearing away of +centuries. + + +3. TIME + + +In social as in biological problems time is one of the most +energetic factors. It is the sole real creator and the sole +great destroyer. It is time that has made mountains with grains +of sand and raised the obscure cell of geological eras to human +dignity. The action of centuries is sufficient to transform any +given phenomenon. It has been justly observed that an ant with +enough time at its disposal could level Mount Blanc. A being +possessed of the magical force of varying time at his will would +have the power attributed by believers to God. + +In this place, however, we have only to concern ourselves with +the influence of time on the genesis of the opinions of crowds. +Its action from this point of view is still immense. Dependent +upon it are the great forces such as race, which cannot form +themselves without it. It causes the birth, the growth, and the +death of all beliefs. It is by the aid of time that they acquire +their strength and also by its aid that they lose it. + +It is time in particular that prepares the opinions and beliefs +of crowds, or at least the soil on which they will germinate. +This is why certain ideas are realisable at one epoch and not at +another. It is time that accumulates that immense detritus of +beliefs and thoughts on which the ideas of a given period spring +up. They do not grow at hazard and by chance; the roots of each +of them strike down into a long past. When they blossom it is +time that has prepared their blooming; and to arrive at a notion +of their genesis it is always back in the past that it is +necessary to search. They are the daughters of the past and the +mothers of the future, but throughout the slaves of time. + +Time, in consequence, is our veritable master, and it suffices to +leave it free to act to see all things transformed. At the +present day we are very uneasy with regard to the threatening +aspirations of the masses and the destructions and upheavals +foreboded thereby. Time, without other aid, will see to the +restoration of equilibrium. "No form of government," M. Lavisse +very properly writes, "was founded in a day. Political and +social organisations are works that demand centuries. The feudal +system existed for centuries in a shapeless, chaotic state before +it found its laws; absolute monarchy also existed for centuries +before arriving at regular methods of government, and these +periods of expectancy were extremely troubled." + + +4. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS + + +The idea that institutions can remedy the defects of societies, +that national progress is the consequence of the improvement of +institutions and governments, and that social changes can be +effected by decrees-- this idea, I say, is still generally +accepted. It was the starting-point of the French Revolution, +and the social theories of the present day are based upon it. + +The most continuous experience has been unsuccessful in shaking +this grave delusion. Philosophers and historians have +endeavoured in vain to prove its absurdity, but yet they have had +no difficulty in demonstrating that institutions are the outcome +of ideas, sentiments, and customs, and that ideas, sentiments, +and customs are not to be recast by recasting legislative codes. +A nation does not choose its institutions at will any more than +it chooses the colour of its hair or its eyes. Institutions and +governments are the product of the race. They are not the +creators of an epoch, but are created by it. Peoples are not +governed in accordance with their caprices of the moment, but as +their character determines that they shall be governed. +Centuries are required to form a political system and centuries +needed to change it. Institutions have no intrinsic virtue: in +themselves they are neither good nor bad. Those which are good +at a given moment for a given people may be harmful in the +extreme for another nation. + +Moreover, it is in no way in the power of a people to really +change its institutions. Undoubtedly, at the cost of violent +revolutions, it can change their name, but in their essence they +remain unmodified. The names are mere futile labels with which +an historian who goes to the bottom of things need scarcely +concern himself. It is in this way, for instance, that +England,[9] the most democratic country in the world, lives, +nevertheless, under a monarchical regime, whereas the countries +in which the most oppressive despotism is rampant are the +Spanish-American Republics, in spite of their republican +constitutions. The destinies of peoples are determined by their +character and not by their government. I have endeavoured to +establish this view in my previous volume by setting forth +categorical examples. + + +[9] The most advanced republicans, even of the United States, +recognise this fact. The American magazine, The Forum, recently +gave categorical expression to the opinion in terms which I +reproduce here from the Review of Reviews for December, 1894:-- + +"It should never be forgotten, even by the most ardent enemies of +an aristocracy, that England is to-day the most democratic +country of the universe, the country in which the rights of the +individual are most respected, and in which the individual +possesses the most liberty." + + + +To lose time in the manufacture of cut-and-dried constitutions +is, in consequence, a puerile task, the useless labour of an +ignorant rhetorician. Necessity and time undertake the charge of +elaborating constitutions when we are wise enough to allow these +two factors to act. This is the plan the Anglo-Saxons have +adopted, as their great historian, Macaulay, teaches us in a +passage that the politicians of all Latin countries ought to +learn by heart. After having shown all the good that can be +accomplished by laws which appear from the point of view of pure +reason a chaos of absurdities and contradictions, he compares the +scores of constitutions that have been engulfed in the +convulsions of the Latin peoples with that of England, and points +out that the latter has only been very slowly changed part by +part, under the influence of immediate necessities and never of +speculative reasoning. + +"To think nothing of symmetry and much of convenience; never to +remove an anomaly merely because it is an anomaly; never to +innovate except when some grievance is felt; never to innovate +except so far as to get rid of the grievance; never to lay down +any proposition of wider extent than the particular case for +which it is necessary to provide; these are the rules which have, +from the age of John to the age of Victoria, generally guided the +deliberations of our two hundred and fifty Parliaments." + +It would be necessary to take one by one the laws and +institutions of each people to show to what extent they are the +expression of the needs of each race and are incapable, for that +reason, of being violently transformed. It is possible, for, +instance, to indulge in philosophical dissertations on the +advantages and disadvantages of centralisation; but when we see a +people composed of very different races devote a thousand years +of efforts to attaining to this centralisation; when we observe +that a great revolution, having for object the destruction of all +the institutions of the past, has been forced to respect this +centralisation, and has even strengthened it; under these +circumstances we should admit that it is the outcome of imperious +needs, that it is a condition of the existence of the nation in +question, and we should pity the poor mental range of politicians +who talk of destroying it. Could they by chance succeed in this +attempt, their success would at once be the signal for a +frightful civil war,[10] which, moreover, would immediately bring +back a new system of centralisation much more oppressive than the +old. + + +[10] If a comparison be made between the profound religious and +political dissensions which separate the various parties in +France, and are more especially the result of social questions, +and the separatist tendencies which were manifested at the time +of the Revolution, and began to again display themselves towards +the close of the Franco-German war, it will be seen that the +different races represented in France are still far from being +completely blended. The vigorous centralisation of the +Revolution and the creation of artificial departments destined to +bring about the fusion of the ancient provinces was certainly its +most useful work. Were it possible to bring about the +decentralisation which is to-day preoccupying minds lacking in +foresight, the achievement would promptly have for consequence +the most sanguinary disorders. To overlook this fact is to leave +out of account the entire history of France. + + + +The conclusion to be drawn from what precedes is, that it is not +in institutions that the means is to be sought of profoundly +influencing the genius of the masses. When we see certain +countries, such as the United States, reach a high degree of +prosperity under democratic institutions, while others, such as +the Spanish-American Republics, are found existing in a pitiable +state of anarchy under absolutely similar institutions, we should +admit that these institutions are as foreign to the greatness of +the one as to the decadence of the others. Peoples are governed +by their character, and all institutions which are not intimately +modelled on that character merely represent a borrowed garment, a +transitory disguise. No doubt sanguinary wars and violent +revolutions have been undertaken, and will continue to be +undertaken, to impose institutions to which is attributed, as to +the relics of saints, the supernatural power of creating welfare. +It may be said, then, in one sense, that institutions react on +the mind of the crowd inasmuch as they engender such upheavals. +But in reality it is not the institutions that react in this +manner, since we know that, whether triumphant or vanquished, +they possess in themselves no virtue. It is illusions and words +that have influenced the mind of the crowd, and especially +words-- words which are as powerful as they are chimerical, and +whose astonishing sway we shall shortly demonstrate. + + +5. INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATION + + +Foremost among the dominant ideas of the present epoch is to be +found the notion that instruction is capable of considerably +changing men, and has for its unfailing consequence to improve +them and even to make them equal. By the mere fact of its being +constantly repeated, this assertion has ended by becoming one of +the most steadfast democratic dogmas. It would be as difficult +now to attack it as it would have been formerly to have attacked +the dogmas of the Church. + +On this point, however, as on many others, democratic ideas are +in profound disagreement with the results of psychology and +experience. Many eminent philosophers, among them Herbert +Spencer, have had no difficulty in showing that instruction +neither renders a man more moral nor happier, that it changes +neither his instincts nor his hereditary passions, and that at +times--for this to happen it need only be badly directed--it is +much more pernicious than useful. Statisticians have brought +confirmation of these views by telling us that criminality +increases with the generalisation of instruction, or at any rate +of a certain kind of instruction, and that the worst enemies of +society, the anarchists, are recruited among the prize-winners of +schools; while in a recent work a distinguished magistrate, M. +Adolphe Guillot, made the observation that at present 3,000 +educated criminals are met with for every 1,000 illiterate +delinquents, and that in fifty years the criminal percentage of +the population has passed from 227 to 552 for every 100,000 +inhabitants, an increase of 133 per cent. He has also noted in +common with his colleagues that criminality is particularly on +the increase among young persons, for whom, as is known, +gratuitous and obligatory schooling has--in France--replaced +apprenticeship. + +It is not assuredly--and nobody has ever maintained this +proposition-- that well-directed instruction may not give very +useful practical results, if not in the sense of raising the +standard of morality, at least in that of developing professional +capacity. Unfortunately the Latin peoples, especially in the +last twenty-five years, have based their systems of instruction +on very erroneous principles, and in spite of the observations of +the most eminent minds, such as Breal, Fustel de Coulanges, +Taine, and many others, they persist in their lamentable +mistakes. I have myself shown, in a work published some time +ago, that the French system of education transforms the majority +of those who have undergone it into enemies of society, and +recruits numerous disciples for the worst forms of socialism. + +The primary danger of this system of education--very properly +qualified as Latin--consists in the fact that it is based on the +fundamental psychological error that the intelligence is +developed by the learning by heart of text-books. Adopting this +view, the endeavour has been made to enforce a knowledge of as +many hand-books as possible. From the primary school till he +leaves the university a young man does nothing but acquire books +by heart without his judgment or personal initiative being ever +called into play. Education consists for him in reciting by +heart and obeying. + +"Learning lessons, knowing by heart a grammar or a compendium, +repeating well and imitating well--that," writes a former +Minister of Public Instruction, M. Jules Simon, "is a ludicrous +form of education whose every effort is an act of faith tacitly +admitting the infallibility of the master, and whose only results +are a belittling of ourselves and a rendering of us impotent." + +Were this education merely useless, one might confine one's self +to expressing compassion for the unhappy children who, instead of +making needful studies at the primary school, are instructed in +the genealogy of the sons of Clotaire, the conflicts between +Neustria and Austrasia, or zoological classifications. But the +system presents a far more serious danger. It gives those who +have been submitted to it a violent dislike to the state of life +in which they were born, and an intense desire to escape from it. +The working man no longer wishes to remain a working man, or the +peasant to continue a peasant, while the most humble members of +the middle classes admit of no possible career for their sons +except that of State-paid functionaries. Instead of preparing +men for life French schools solely prepare them to occupy public +functions, in which success can be attained without any necessity +for self-direction or the exhibition of the least glimmer of +personal initiative. At the bottom of the social ladder the +system creates an army of proletarians discontented with their +lot and always ready to revolt, while at the summit it brings +into being a frivolous bourgeoisie, at once sceptical and +credulous, having a superstitious confidence in the State, whom +it regards as a sort of Providence, but without forgetting to +display towards it a ceaseless hostility, always laying its own +faults to the door of the Government, and incapable of the least +enterprise without the intervention of the authorities. + +The State, which manufactures by dint of textbooks all these +persons possessing diplomas, can only utilise a small number of +them, and is forced to leave the others without employment. It +is obliged in consequence to resign itself to feeding the first +mentioned and to having the others as its enemies. From the top +to the bottom of the social pyramid, from the humblest clerk to +the professor and the prefect, the immense mass of persons +boasting diplomas besiege the professions. While a business man +has the greatest difficulty in finding an agent to represent him +in the colonies, thousands of candidates solicit the most modest +official posts. There are 20,000 schoolmasters and mistresses +without employment in the department of the Seine alone, all of +them persons who, disdaining the fields or the workshops, look to +the State for their livelihood. The number of the chosen being +restricted, that of the discontented is perforce immense. The +latter are ready for any revolution, whoever be its chiefs and +whatever the goal they aim at. The acquisition of knowledge for +which no use can be found is a sure method of driving a man to +revolt.[11] + + +[11] This phenomenon, moreover, is not peculiar to the Latin +peoples. It is also to be observed in China, which is also a +country in the hands of a solid hierarchy of mandarins or +functionaries, and where a function is obtained, as in France, by +competitive examination, in which the only test is the +imperturbable recitation of bulky manuals. The army of educated +persons without employment is considered in China at the present +day as a veritable national calamity. It is the same in India +where, since the English have opened schools, not for educating +purposes, as is the case in England itself, but simply to furnish +the indigenous inhabitants with instruction, there has been +formed a special class of educated persons, the Baboos, who, when +they do not obtain employment, become the irreconcilable enemies +of the English rule. In the case of all the Baboos, whether +provided with employment or not, the first effect of their +instruction has been to lower their standard of morality. This +is a fact on which I have insisted at length in my book, "The +Civilisations of India"--a fact, too, which has been observed by +all authors who have visited the great peninsula. + + + +It is evidently too late to retrace our steps. Experience alone, +that supreme educator of peoples, will be at pains to show us our +mistake. It alone will be powerful enough to prove the necessity +of replacing our odious text-books and our pitiable examinations +by industrial instruction capable of inducing our young men to +return to the fields, to the workshop, and to the colonial +enterprise which they avoid to-day at all costs. + +The professional instruction which all enlightened minds are now +demanding was the instruction received in the past by our +forefathers. It is still in vigour at the present day among the +nations who rule the world by their force of will, their +initiative, and their spirit of enterprise. In a series of +remarkable pages, whose principal passages I reproduce further +on, a great thinker, M. Taine, has clearly shown that our former +system of education was approximately that in vogue to-day in +England and America, and in a remarkable parallel between the +Latin and Anglo-Saxon systems he has plainly pointed out the +consequences of the two methods. + +One might consent, perhaps, at a pinch, to continue to accept all +the disadvantages of our classical education, although it +produced nothing but discontented men, and men unfitted for their +station in life, did the superficial acquisition of so much +knowledge, the faultless repeating by heart of so many +text-books, raise the level of intelligence. But does it really +raise this level? Alas, no! The conditions of success in life +are the possession of judgment, experience, initiative, and +character--qualities which are not bestowed by books. Books are +dictionaries, which it is useful to consult, but of which it is +perfectly useless to have lengthy portions in one's head. + +How is it possible for professional instruction to develop the +intelligence in a measure quite beyond the reach of classical +instruction? This has been well shown by M. Taine. + +"Ideas, he says, are only formed in their natural and normal +surroundings; the promotion of the growth is effected by the +innumerable impressions appealing to the senses which a young man +receives daily in the workshop, the mine, the law court, the +study, the builder's yard, the hospital; at the sight of tools, +materials, and operations; in the presence of customers, workers, +and labour, of work well or ill done, costly or lucrative. In +such a way are obtained those trifling perceptions of detail of +the eyes, the ear, the hands, and even the sense of smell, which, +picked up involuntarily, and silently elaborated, take shape +within the learner, and suggest to him sooner or, later this or +that new combination, simplification, economy, improvement, or +invention. The young Frenchman is deprived, and precisely at the +age when they are most fruitful, of all these precious contacts, +of all these indispensable elements of assimilation. For seven +or eight years on end he is shut up in a school, and is cut off +from that direct personal experience which would give him a keen +and exact notion of men and things and of the various ways of +handling them." + +" . . . At least nine out of ten have wasted their time and pains +during several years of their life--telling, important, even +decisive years. Among such are to be counted, first of all, the +half or two-thirds of those who present themselves for +examination--I refer to those who are rejected; and then among +those who are successful, who obtain a degree, a certificate, a +diploma, there is still a half or two-thirds--I refer to the +overworked. Too much has been demanded of them by exacting that +on a given day, on a chair or before a board, they should, for +two hours in succession, and with respect to a group of sciences, +be living repertories of all human knowledge. In point of fact +they were that, or nearly so, for two hours on that particular +day, but a month later they are so no longer. They could not go +through the examination again. Their too numerous and too +burdensome acquisitions slip incessantly from their mind, and are +not replaced. Their mental vigour has declined, their fertile +capacity for growth has dried up, the fully-developed man +appears, and he is often a used-up man. Settled down, married, +resigned to turning in a circle, and indefinitely in the same +circle, he shuts himself up in his confined function, which he +fulfils adequately, but nothing more. Such is the average yield: +assuredly the receipts do not balance the expenditure. In +England or America, where, as in France previous to 1789, the +contrary proceeding is adopted, the outcome obtained is equal or +superior." + + +The illustrious psychologist subsequently shows us the difference +between our system and that of the Anglo-Saxons. The latter do +not possess our innumerable special schools. With them +instruction is not based on book-learning, but on object lessons. +The engineer, for example, is trained in a workshop, and never at +a school; a method which allows of each individual reaching the +level his intelligence permits of. He becomes a workman or a +foreman if he can get no further, an engineer if his aptitudes +take him as far. This manner of proceeding is much more +democratic and of much greater benefit to society than that of +making the whole career of an individual depend on an +examination, lasting a few hours, and undergone at the age of +nineteen or twenty. + + +"In the hospital, the mine, the factory, in the architect's or +the lawyer's office, the student, who makes a start while very +young, goes through his apprenticeship, stage by stage, much as +does with us a law clerk in his office, or an artist in his +studio. Previously, and before making a practical beginning, he +has had an opportunity of following some general and summary +course of instruction, so as to have a framework ready prepared +in which to store the observations he is shortly to make. +Furthermore he is able, as a rule, to avail himself of sundry +technical courses which he can follow in his leisure hours, so as +to co-ordinate step by step the daily experience he is gathering. +Under such a system the practical capabilities increase and +develop of themselves in exact proportion to the faculties of the +student, and in the direction requisite for his future task and +the special work for which from now onwards he desires to fit +himself. By this means in England or the United States a young +man is quickly in a position to develop his capacity to the +utmost. At twenty-five years of age, and much sooner if the +material and the parts are there, he is not merely a useful +performer, he is capable also of spontaneous enterprise; he is +not only a part of a machine, but also a motor. In France, where +the contrary system prevails--in France, which with each +succeeding generation is falling more and more into line with +China--the sum total of the wasted forces is enormous." + + +The great philosopher arrives at the following conclusion with +respect to the growing incongruity between our Latin system of +education and the requirements of practical life:-- + + +"In the three stages of instruction, those of childhood, +adolescence and youth, the theoretical and pedagogic preparation +by books on the school benches has lengthened out and become +overcharged in view of the examination, the degree, the diploma, +and the certificate, and solely in this view, and by the worst +methods, by the application of an unnatural and anti-social +regime, by the excessive postponement of the practical +apprenticeship, by our boarding-school system, by artificial +training and mechanical cramming, by overwork, without thought +for the time that is to follow, for the adult age and the +functions of the man, without regard for the real world on which +the young man will shortly be thrown, for the society in which we +move and to which he must be adapted or be taught to resign +himself in advance, for the struggle in which humanity is +engaged, and in which to defend himself and to keep his footing +he ought previously to have been equipped, armed, trained, and +hardened. This indispensable equipment, this acquisition of more +importance than any other, this sturdy common sense and nerve and +will-power our schools do not procure the young Frenchman; on the +contrary, far from qualifying him for his approaching and +definite state, they disqualify him. In consequence, his entry +into the world and his first steps in the field of action are +most often merely a succession of painful falls, whose effect is +that he long remains wounded and bruised, and sometimes disabled +for life. The test is severe and dangerous. In the course of it +the mental and moral equilibrium is affected, and runs the risk +of not being re-established. Too sudden and complete disillusion +has supervened. The deceptions have been too great, the +disappointments too keen."[12] + + +[12] Taine, "Le Regime moderne," vol. ii., 1894. These pages are +almost the last that Taine wrote. They resume admirably the +results of the great philosopher's long experience. +Unfortunately they are in my opinion totally incomprehensible for +such of our university professors who have not lived abroad. +Education is the only means at our disposal of influencing to +some extent the mind of a nation, and it is profoundly saddening +to have to think that there is scarcely any one in France who can +arrive at understanding that our present system of teaching is a +grave cause of rapid decadence, which instead of elevating our +youth, lowers and perverts it. + +A useful comparison may be made between Taine's pages and the +observations on American education recently made by M. Paul +Bourget in his excellent book, "Outre-Mer." He, too, after +having noted that our education merely produces narrow-minded +bourgeois, lacking in initiative and will-power, or +anarchists--"those two equally harmful types of the civilised +man, who degenerates into impotent platitude or insane +destructiveness"--he too, I say, draws a comparison that cannot +be the object of too much reflection between our French lycees +(public schools), those factories of degeneration, and the +American schools, which prepare a man admirably for life. The +gulf existing between truly democratic nations and those who have +democracy in their speeches, but in no wise in their thoughts, is +clearly brought out in this comparison. + + + +Have we digressed in what precedes from the psychology of crowds? +Assuredly not. If we desire to understand the ideas and beliefs +that are germinating to-day in the masses, and will spring up +to-morrow, it is necessary to know how the ground has been +prepared. The instruction given the youth of a country allows of +a knowledge of what that country will one day be. The education +accorded the present generation justifies the most gloomy +previsions. It is in part by instruction and education that the +mind of the masses is improved or deteriorated. It was necessary +in consequence to show how this mind has been fashioned by the +system in vogue, and how the mass of the indifferent and the +neutral has become progressively an army of the discontented +ready to obey all the suggestions of utopians and rhetoricians. +It is in the schoolroom that socialists and anarchists are found +nowadays, and that the way is being paved for the approaching +period of decadence for the Latin peoples. + + +CHAPTER II + +THE IMMEDIATE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + +1. IMAGES, WORDS AND FORMULAE. The magical power of words +and formulae--The power of words bound up with the images they +evoke, and independent of their real sense--These images vary +from age to age, and from race to race--The wear and tear of +words--Examples of the considerable variations of sense of +much-used words--The political utility of baptizing old things +with new names when the words by which they were designated +produced an unfavourable impression on the masses-- variations of +the sense of words in consequence of race differences--The +different meanings of the word "democracy" in Europe and America. +2. ILLUSIONS. Their importance--They are to be found at the +root of all civilisations--The social necessity of +illusions--Crowds always prefer them to truths. 3. +EXPERIENCE. Experience alone can fix in the mind of crowds truths +become necessary and destroy illusions grown +dangerous--Experience is only effective on the condition that it +be frequently repeated--The cost of the experiences requisite to +persuade crowds. 4. REASON. The nullity of its influence on +crowds--Crowds only to be influenced by their unconscious +sentiments-- The role of logic in history--The secret causes of +improbable events. + + +We have just investigated the remote and preparatory factors +which give the mind of crowds a special receptivity, and make +possible therein the growth of certain sentiments and certain +ideas. It now remains for us to study the factors capable of +acting in a direct manner. We shall see in a forthcoming chapter +how these factors should be put in force in order that they may +produce their full effect. + +In the first part of this work we studied the sentiments, ideas, +and methods of reasoning of collective bodies, and from the +knowledge thus acquired it would evidently be possible to deduce +in a general way the means of making an impression on their mind. +We already know what strikes the imagination of crowds, and are +acquainted with the power and contagiousness of suggestions, of +those especially that are presented under the form of images. +However, as suggestions may proceed from very different sources, +the factors capable of acting on the minds of crowds may differ +considerably. It is necessary, then, to study them separately. +This is not a useless study. Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx +of ancient fable: it is necessary to arrive at a solution of the +problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to +being devoured by them. + +1. IMAGES, WORDS, AND FORMULAS + + +When studying the imagination of crowds we saw that it is +particularly open to the impressions produced by images. These +images do not always lie ready to hand, but it is possible to +evoke them by the judicious employment of words and formulas. +Handled with art, they possess in sober truth the mysterious +power formerly attributed to them by the adepts of magic. They +cause the birth in the minds of crowds of the most formidable +tempests, which in turn they are capable of stilling. A pyramid +far loftier than that of old Cheops could be raised merely with +the bones of men who have been victims of the power of words and +formulas. + +The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is +quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense +is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most +influence. Such, for example, are the terms democracy, +socialism, equality, liberty, &c., whose meaning is so vague that +bulky volumes do not suffice to precisely fix it. Yet it is +certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short +syllables, as if they contained the solution of all problems. +They synthesise the most diverse unconscious aspirations and the +hope of their realisation. + +Reason and arguments are incapable of combatting certain words +and formulas. They are uttered with solemnity in the presence of +crowds, and as soon as they have been pronounced an expression of +respect is visible on every countenance, and all heads are bowed. +By many they are considered as natural forces, as supernatural +powers. They evoke grandiose and vague images in men's minds, +but this very vagueness that wraps them in obscurity augments +their mysterious power. They are the mysterious divinities +hidden behind the tabernacle, which the devout only approach in +fear and trembling. + +The images evoked by words being independent of their sense, they +vary from age to age and from people to people, the formulas +remaining identical. Certain transitory images are attached to +certain words: the word is merely as it were the button of an +electric bell that calls them up. + +All words and all formulas do not possess the power of evoking +images, while there are some which have once had this power, but +lose it in the course of use, and cease to waken any response in +the mind. They then become vain sounds, whose principal utility +is to relieve the person who employs them of the obligation of +thinking. Armed with a small stock of formulas and commonplaces +learnt while we are young, we possess all that is needed to +traverse life without the tiring necessity of having to reflect +on anything whatever. + +If any particular language be studied, it is seen that the words +of which it is composed change rather slowly in the course of +ages, while the images these words evoke or the meaning attached +to them changes ceaselessly. This is the reason why, in another +work, I have arrived at the conclusion that the absolute +translation of a language, especially of a dead language, is +totally impossible. What do we do in reality when we substitute +a French for a Latin, Greek, or Sanscrit expression, or even when +we endeavour to understand a book written in our own tongue two +or three centuries back? We merely put the images and ideas with +which modern life has endowed our intelligence in the place of +absolutely distinct notions and images which ancient life had +brought into being in the mind of races submitted to conditions +of existence having no analogy with our own. When the men of the +Revolution imagined they were copying the Greeks and Romans, what +were they doing except giving to ancient words a sense the latter +had never had? What resemblance can possibly exist between the +institutions of the Greeks and those designated to-day by +corresponding words? A republic at that epoch was an essentially +aristocratic institution, formed of a reunion of petty despots +ruling over a crowd of slaves kept in the most absolute +subjection. These communal aristocracies, based on slavery, +could not have existed for a moment without it. + +The word "liberty," again, what signification could it have in +any way resembling that we attribute to it to-day at a period +when the possibility of the liberty of thought was not even +suspected, and when there was no greater and more exceptional +crime than that of discussing the gods, the laws and the customs +of the city? What did such a word as "fatherland" signify to an +Athenian or Spartan unless it were the cult of Athens or Sparta, +and in no wise that of Greece, composed of rival cities always at +war with each other? What meaning had the same word "fatherland" +among the ancient Gauls, divided into rival tribes and races, and +possessing different languages and religions, and who were easily +vanquished by Caesar because he always found allies among them? +It was Rome that made a country of Gaul by endowing it with +political and religious unity. Without going back so far, +scarcely two centuries ago, is it to be believed that this same +notion of a fatherland was conceived to have the same meaning as +at present by French princes like the great Conde, who allied +themselves with the foreigner against their sovereign? And yet +again, the same word had it not a sense very different from the +modern for the French royalist emigrants, who thought they obeyed +the laws of honour in fighting against France, and who from their +point of view did indeed obey them, since the feudal law bound +the vassal to the lord and not to the soil, so that where the +sovereign was there was the true fatherland? + +Numerous are the words whose meaning has thus profoundly changed +from age to age--words which we can only arrive at understanding +in the sense in which they were formerly understood after a long +effort. It has been said with truth that much study is necessary +merely to arrive at conceiving what was signified to our great +grandfathers by such words as the "king" and the "royal family." +What, then, is likely to be the case with terms still more +complex? + +Words, then, have only mobile and transitory significations which +change from age to age and people to people; and when we desire +to exert an influence by their means on the crowd what it is +requisite to know is the meaning given them by the crowd at a +given moment, and not the meaning which they formerly had or may +yet have for individuals of a different mental constitution. + +Thus, when crowds have come, as the result of political upheavals +or changes of belief, to acquire a profound antipathy for the +images evoked by certain words, the first duty of the true +statesman is to change the words without, of course, laying hands +on the things themselves, the latter being too intimately bound +up with the inherited constitution to be transformed. The +judicious Tocqueville long ago made the remark that the work of +the consulate and the empire consisted more particularly in the +clothing with new words of the greater part of the institutions +of the past--that is to say, in replacing words evoking +disagreeable images in the imagination of the crowd by other +words of which the novelty prevented such evocations. The +"taille" or tallage has become the land tax; the "gabelle," the +tax on salt; the "aids," the indirect contributions and the +consolidated duties; the tax on trade companies and guilds, the +license, &c. + +One of the most essential functions of statesmen consists, then, +in baptizing with popular or, at any rate, indifferent words +things the crowd cannot endure under their old names. The power +of words is so great that it suffices to designate in well-chosen +terms the most odious things to make them acceptable to crowds. +Taine justly observes that it was by invoking liberty and +fraternity--words very popular at the time-- that the Jacobins +were able "to install a despotism worthy of Dahomey, a tribunal +similar to that of the Inquisition, and to accomplish human +hecatombs akin to those of ancient Mexico." The art of those who +govern, as is the case with the art of advocates, consists above +all in the science of employing words. One of the greatest +difficulties of this art is, that in one and the same society the +same words most often have very different meanings for the +different social classes, who employ in appearance the same +words, but never speak the same language. + +In the preceding examples it is especially time that has been +made to intervene as the principal factor in the changing of the +meaning of words. If, however, we also make race intervene, we +shall then see that, at the same period, among peoples equally +civilised but of different race, the same words very often +correspond to extremely dissimilar ideas. It is impossible to +understand these differences without having travelled much, and +for this reason I shall not insist upon them. I shall confine +myself to observing that it is precisely the words most often +employed by the masses which among different peoples possess the +most different meanings. Such is the case, for instance, with +the words "democracy" and "socialism" in such frequent use +nowadays. + +In reality they correspond to quite contrary ideas and images in +the Latin and Anglo-Saxon mind. For the Latin peoples the word +"democracy" signifies more especially the subordination of the +will and the initiative of the individual to the will and the +initiative of the community represented by the State. It is the +State that is charged, to a greater and greater degree, with the +direction of everything, the centralisation, the monopolisation, +and the manufacture of everything. To the State it is that all +parties without exception, radicals, socialists, or monarchists, +constantly appeal. Among the Anglo-Saxons and notably in America +this same word "democracy" signifies, on the contrary, the +intense development of the will of the individual, and as +complete a subordination as possible of the State, which, with +the exception of the police, the army, and diplomatic relations, +is not allowed the direction of anything, not even of public +instruction. It is seen, then, that the same word which +signifies for one people the subordination of the will and the +initiative of the individual and the preponderance of the State, +signifies for another the excessive development of the will and +the initiative of the individual and the complete subordination +of the State.[13] + + +[13] In my book, "The Psychological Laws of the Evolution of +Peoples," I have insisted at length on the differences which +distinguish the Latin democratic ideal from the Anglo-Saxon +democratic ideal. Independently, and as the result of his +travels, M. Paul Bourget has arrived, in his quite recent book, +"Outre-Mer," at conclusions almost identical with mine. + + + +2. ILLUSIONS + + +From the dawn of civilisation onwards crowds have always +undergone the influence of illusions. It is to the creators of +illusions that they have raised more temples, statues, and altars +than to any other class of men. Whether it be the religious +illusions of the past or the philosophic and social illusions of +the present, these formidable sovereign powers are always found +at the head of all the civilisations that have successively +flourished on our planet. It is in their name that were built +the temples of Chaldea and Egypt and the religious edifices of +the Middle Ages, and that a vast upheaval shook the whole of +Europe a century ago, and there is not one of our political, +artistic, or social conceptions that is free from their powerful +impress. Occasionally, at the cost of terrible disturbances, man +overthrows them, but he seems condemned to always set them up +again. Without them he would never have emerged from his +primitive barbarian state, and without them again he would soon +return to it. Doubtless they are futile shadows; but these +children of our dreams have forced the nations to create whatever +the arts may boast of splendour or civilisation of greatness. + +"If one destroyed in museums and libraries, if one hurled down on +the flagstones before the churches all the works and all the +monuments of art that religions have inspired, what would remain +of the great dreams of humanity? To give to men that portion of +hope and illusion without which they cannot live, such is the +reason for the existence of gods, heroes, and poets. During +fifty years science appeared to undertake this task. But science +has been compromised in hearts hungering after the ideal, because +it does not dare to be lavish enough of promises, because it +cannot lie."[14] + + +[14] Daniel Lesueur. + + + +The philosophers of the last century devoted themselves with +fervour to the destruction of the religious, political, and +social illusions on which our forefathers had lived for a long +tale of centuries. By destroying them they have dried up the +springs of hope and resignation. Behind the immolated chimeras +they came face to face with the blind and silent forces of +nature, which are inexorable to weakness and ignore pity. + +Notwithstanding all its progress, philosophy has been unable as +yet to offer the masses any ideal that can charm them; but, as +they must have their illusions at all cost, they turn +instinctively, as the insect seeks the light, to the rhetoricians +who accord them what they want. Not truth, but error has always +been the chief factor in the evolution of nations, and the reason +why socialism is so powerful to-day is that it constitutes the +last illusion that is still vital. In spite of all scientific +demonstrations it continues on the increase. Its principal +strength lies in the fact that it is championed by minds +sufficiently ignorant of things as they are in reality to venture +boldly to promise mankind happiness. The social illusion reigns +to-day upon all the heaped-up ruins of the past, and to it +belongs the future. The masses have never thirsted after truth. +They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, +preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can +supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever +attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. + + +3. EXPERIENCE + + +Experience constitutes almost the only effective process by which +a truth may be solidly established in the mind of the masses, and +illusions grown too dangerous be destroyed. To this end, +however, it is necessary that the experience should take place on +a very large scale, and be very frequently repeated. The +experiences undergone by one generation are useless, as a rule, +for the generation that follows, which is the reason why +historical facts, cited with a view to demonstration, serve no +purpose. Their only utility is to prove to what an extent +experiences need to be repeated from age to age to exert any +influence, or to be successful in merely shaking an erroneous +opinion when it is solidly implanted in the mind of the masses. + +Our century and that which preceded it will doubtless be alluded +to by historians as an era of curious experiments, which in no +other age have been tried in such number. + +The most gigantic of these experiments was the French Revolution. +To find out that a society is not to be refashioned from top to +bottom in accordance with the dictates of pure reason, it was +necessary that several millions of men should be massacred and +that Europe should be profoundly disturbed for a period of twenty +years. To prove to us experimentally that dictators cost the +nations who acclaim them dear, two ruinous experiences have been +required in fifty years, and in spite of their clearness they do +not seem to have been sufficiently convincing. The first, +nevertheless, cost three millions of men and an invasion, the +second involved a loss of territory, and carried in its wake the +necessity for permanent armies. A third was almost attempted not +long since, and will assuredly be attempted one day. To bring an +entire nation to admit that the huge German army was not, as was +currently alleged thirty years ago, a sort of harmless national +guard,[15] the terrible war which cost us so dear had to take +place. To bring about the recognition that Protection ruins the +nations who adopt it, at least twenty years of disastrous +experience will be needful. These examples might be indefinitely +multiplied. + + +[15] The opinion of the crowd was formed in this case by those +rough-and-ready associations of dissimilar things, the mechanism +of which I have previously explained. The French national guard +of that period, being composed of peaceable shopkeepers, utterly +lacking in discipline and quite incapable of being taken +seriously, whatever bore a similar name, evoked the same +conception and was considered in consequence as harmless. The +error of the crowd was shared at the time by its leaders, as +happens so often in connection with opinions dealing with +generalisations. In a speech made in the Chamber on the 31st of +December, 1867, and quoted in a book by M. E. Ollivier that has +appeared recently, a statesman who often followed the opinion of +the crowd but was never in advance of it--I allude to M. +Thiers--declared that Prussia only possessed a national guard +analogous to that of France, and in consequence without +importance, in addition to a regular army about equal to the +French regular army; assertions about as accurate as the +predictions of the same statesman as to the insignificant future +reserved for railways. + + + +4. REASON + + +In enumerating the factors capable of making an impression on the +minds of crowds all mention of reason might be dispensed with, +were it not necessary to point out the negative value of its +influence. + +We have already shown that crowds are not to be influenced by +reasoning, and can only comprehend rough-and-ready associations +of ideas. The orators who know how to make an impression upon +them always appeal in consequence to their sentiments and never +to their reason. The laws of logic have no action on crowds.[16] +To bring home conviction to crowds it is necessary first of all +to thoroughly comprehend the sentiments by which they are +animated, to pretend to share these sentiments, then to endeavour +to modify them by calling up, by means of rudimentary +associations, certain eminently suggestive notions, to be +capable, if need be, of going back to the point of view from +which a start was made, and, above all, to divine from instant to +instant the sentiments to which one's discourse is giving birth. +This necessity of ceaselessly varying one's language in +accordance with the effect produced at the moment of speaking +deprives from the outset a prepared and studied harangue of all +efficaciousness. In such a speech the orator follows his own +line of thought, not that of his hearers, and from this fact +alone his influence is annihilated. + + +[16] My first observations with regard to the art of impressing +crowds and touching the slight assistance to be derived in this +connection from the rules of logic date back to the seige of +Paris, to the day when I saw conducted to the Louvre, where the +Government was then sitting, Marshal V----, whom a furious crowd +asserted they had surprised in the act of taking the plans of the +fortifications to sell them to the Prussians. A member of the +Government (G. P----), a very celebrated orator, came out to +harangue the crowd, which was demanding the immediate execution +of the prisoner. I had expected that the speaker would point out +the absurdity of the accusation by remarking that the accused +Marshal was positively one of those who had constructed the +fortifications, the plan of which, moreover, was on sale at every +booksellers. To my immense stupefaction--I was very young +then--the speech was on quite different lines. "Justice shall be +done," exclaimed the orator, advancing towards the prisoner, "and +pitiless justice. Let the Government of the National Defence +conclude your inquiry. In the meantime we will keep the prisoner +in custody." At once calmed by this apparent concession, the +crowd broke up, and a quarter of an hour later the Marshal was +able to return home. He would infallibly have been torn in +pieces had the speaker treated the infuriated crowd to the +logical arguments that my extreme youth induced me to consider as +very convincing. + + + +Logical minds, accustomed to be convinced by a chain of somewhat +close reasoning, cannot avoid having recourse to this mode of +persuasion when addressing crowds, and the inability of their +arguments always surprises them. "The usual mathematical +consequences based on the syllogism--that is, on associations of +identities--are imperative . . ." writes a logician. "This +imperativeness would enforce the assent even of an inorganic mass +were it capable of following associations of identities." This +is doubtless true, but a crowd is no more capable than an +inorganic mass of following such associations, nor even of +understanding them. If the attempt be made to convince by +reasoning primitive minds--savages or children, for instance--the +slight value possessed by this method of arguing will be +understood. + +It is not even necessary to descend so low as primitive beings to +obtain an insight into the utter powerlessness of reasoning when +it has to fight against sentiment. Let us merely call to mind +how tenacious, for centuries long, have been religious +superstitions in contradiction with the simplest logic. For +nearly two thousand years the most luminous geniuses have bowed +before their laws, and modern times have to be reached for their +veracity to be merely contested. The Middle Ages and the +Renaissance possessed many enlightened men, but not a single man +who attained by reasoning to an appreciation of the childish side +of his superstitions, or who promulgated even a slight doubt as +to the misdeeds of the devil or the necessity of burning +sorcerers. + +Should it be regretted that crowds are never guided by reason? +We would not venture to affirm it. Without a doubt human reason +would not have availed to spur humanity along the path of +civilisation with the ardour and hardihood its illusions have +done. These illusions, the offspring of those unconscious forces +by which we are led, were doubtless necessary. Every race +carries in its mental constitution the laws of its destiny, and +it is, perhaps, these laws that it obeys with a resistless +impulse, even in the case of those of its impulses which +apparently are the most unreasoned. It seems at times as if +nations were submitted to secret forces analogous to those which +compel the acorn to transform itself into an oak or a comet to +follow its orbit. + +What little insight we can get into these forces must be sought +for in the general course of the evolution of a people, and not +in the isolated facts from which this evolution appears at times +to proceed. Were these facts alone to be taken into +consideration, history would seem to be the result of a series of +improbable chances. It was improbable that a Galilean carpenter +should become for two thousand years an all-powerful God in whose +name the most important civilisations were founded; improbable, +too, that a few bands of Arabs, emerging from their deserts, +should conquer the greater part of the old Graco-Roman world, and +establish an empire greater than that of Alexander; improbable, +again, that in Europe, at an advanced period of its development, +and when authority throughout it had been systematically +hierarchised, an obscure lieutenant of artillery should have +succeeded in reigning over a multitude of peoples and kings. + +Let us leave reason, then, to philosophers, and not insist too +strongly on its intervention in the governing of men. It is not +by reason, but most often in spite of it, that are created those +sentiments that are the mainsprings of all +civilisation--sentiments such as honour, self- sacrifice, +religious faith, patriotism, and the love of glory. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LEADERS OF CROWDS AND THEIR MEANS OF PERSUASION + +1. THE LEADERS OF CROWDS. The instinctive need of all +beings forming a crowd to obey a leader--The psychology of the +leaders of crowds--They alone can endow crowds with faith and +organise them--The leaders forcibly despotic--Classification of +the leaders--The part played by the will. 2. THE MEANS OF +ACTION OF THE LEADERS. Affirmation, repetition, contagion--The +respective part of these different factors--The way in which +contagion may spread from the lower to the upper classes in a +society--A popular opinion soon becomes a general opinion. +3. PRESTIGE. Definition of prestige and classification of its +different kinds--Acquired prestige and personal prestige--Various +examples--The way in which prestige is destroyed. + + +We are now acquainted with the mental constitution of crowds, and +we also know what are the motives capable of making an impression +on their mind. It remains to investigate how these motives may +be set in action, and by whom they may usefully be turned to +practical account. + +1. THE LEADERS OF CROWDS. + + +As soon as a certain number of living beings are gathered +together, whether they be animals or men, they place themselves +instinctively under the authority of a chief. + +In the case of human crowds the chief is often nothing more than +a ringleader or agitator, but as such he plays a considerable +part. His will is the nucleus around which the opinions of the +crowd are grouped and attain to identity. He constitutes the +first element towards the organisation of heterogeneous crowds, +and paves the way for their organisation in sects; in the +meantime he directs them. A crowd is a servile flock that is +incapable of ever doing without a master. + +The leader has most often started as one of the led. He has +himself been hypnotised by the idea, whose apostle he has since +become. It has taken possession of him to such a degree that +everything outside it vanishes, and that every contrary opinion +appears to him an error or a superstition. An example in point +is Robespierre, hypnotised by the philosophical ideas of +Rousseau, and employing the methods of the Inquisition to +propagate them. + +The leaders we speak of are more frequently men of action than +thinkers. They are not gifted with keen foresight, nor could +they be, as this quality generally conduces to doubt and +inactivity. They are especially recruited from the ranks of +those morbidly nervous, excitable, half-deranged persons who are +bordering on madness. However absurd may be the idea they uphold +or the goal they pursue, their convictions are so strong that all +reasoning is lost upon them. Contempt and persecution do not +affect them, or only serve to excite them the more. They +sacrifice their personal interest, their family--everything. The +very instinct of self-preservation is entirely obliterated in +them, and so much so that often the only recompense they solicit +is that of martyrdom. The intensity of their faith gives great +power of suggestion to their words. The multitude is always +ready to listen to the strong-willed man, who knows how to impose +himself upon it. Men gathered in a crowd lose all force of will, +and turn instinctively to the person who possesses the quality +they lack. + +Nations have never lacked leaders, but all of the latter have by +no means been animated by those strong convictions proper to +apostles. These leaders are often subtle rhetoricians, seeking +only their own personal interest, and endeavouring to persuade by +flattering base instincts. The influence they can assert in this +manner may be very great, but it is always ephemeral. The men of +ardent convictions who have stirred the soul of crowds, the Peter +the Hermits, the Luthers, the Savonarolas, the men of the French +Revolution, have only exercised their fascination after having +been themselves fascinated first of all by a creed. They are +then able to call up in the souls of their fellows that +formidable force known as faith, which renders a man the absolute +slave of his dream. + +The arousing of faith--whether religious, political, or social, +whether faith in a work, in a person, or an idea--has always been +the function of the great leaders of crowds, and it is on this +account that their influence is always very great. Of all the +forces at the disposal of humanity, faith has always been one of +the most tremendous, and the gospel rightly attributes to it the +power of moving mountains. To endow a man with faith is to +multiply his strength tenfold. The great events of history have +been brought about by obscure believers, who have had little +beyond their faith in their favour. It is not by the aid of the +learned or of philosophers, and still less of sceptics, that have +been built up the great religions which have swayed the world, or +the vast empires which have spread from one hemisphere to the +other. + +In the cases just cited, however, we are dealing with great +leaders, and they are so few in number that history can easily +reckon them up. They form the summit of a continuous series, +which extends from these powerful masters of men down to the +workman who, in the smoky atmosphere of an inn, slowly fascinates +his comrades by ceaselessly drumming into their ears a few set +phrases, whose purport he scarcely comprehends, but the +application of which, according to him, must surely bring about +the realisation of all dreams and of every hope. + +In every social sphere, from the highest to the lowest, as soon +as a man ceases to be isolated he speedily falls under the +influence of a leader. The majority of men, especially among the +masses, do not possess clear and reasoned ideas on any subject +whatever outside their own speciality. The leader serves them as +guide. It is just possible that he may be replaced, though very +inefficiently, by the periodical publications which manufacture +opinions for their readers and supply them with ready- made +phrases which dispense them of the trouble of reasoning. + +The leaders of crowds wield a very despotic authority, and this +despotism indeed is a condition of their obtaining a following. +It has often been remarked how easily they extort obedience, +although without any means of backing up their authority, from +the most turbulent section of the working classes. They fix the +hours of labour and the rate of wages, and they decree strikes, +which are begun and ended at the hour they ordain. + +At the present day these leaders and agitators tend more and more +to usurp the place of the public authorities in proportion as the +latter allow themselves to be called in question and shorn of +their strength. The tyranny of these new masters has for result +that the crowds obey them much more docilely than they have +obeyed any government. If in consequence of some accident or +other the leaders should be removed from the scene the crowd +returns to its original state of a collectivity without cohesion +or force of resistance. During the last strike of the Parisian +omnibus employes the arrest of the two leaders who were directing +it was at once sufficient to bring it to an end. It is the need +not of liberty but of servitude that is always predominant in the +soul of crowds. They are so bent on obedience that they +instinctively submit to whoever declares himself their master. + +These ringleaders and agitators may be divided into two clearly +defined classes. The one includes the men who are energetic and +possess, but only intermittently, much strength of will, the +other the men, far rarer than the preceding, whose strength of +will is enduring. The first mentioned are violent, brave, and +audacious. They are more especially useful to direct a violent +enterprise suddenly decided on, to carry the masses with them in +spite of danger, and to transform into heroes the men who but +yesterday were recruits. Men of this kind were Ney and Murat +under the First Empire, and such a man in our own time was +Garibaldi, a talentless but energetic adventurer who succeeded +with a handful of men in laying hands on the ancient kingdom of +Naples, defended though it was by a disciplined army. + +Still, though the energy of leaders of this class is a force to +be reckoned with, it is transitory, and scarcely outlasts the +exciting cause that has brought it into play. When they have +returned to their ordinary course of life the heroes animated by +energy of this description often evince, as was the case with +those I have just cited, the most astonishing weakness of +character. They seem incapable of reflection and of conducting +themselves under the simplest circumstances, although they had +been able to lead others. These men are leaders who cannot +exercise their function except on the condition that they be led +themselves and continually stimulated, that they have always as +their beacon a man or an idea, that they follow a line of conduct +clearly traced. The second category of leaders, that of men of +enduring strength of will, have, in spite of a less brilliant +aspect, a much more considerable influence. In this category are +to be found the true founders of religions and great +undertakings: St. Paul, Mahomet, Christopher Columbus, and de +Lesseps, for example. Whether they be intelligent or +narrow-minded is of no importance: the world belongs to them. +The persistent will-force they possess is an immensely rare and +immensely powerful faculty to which everything yields. What a +strong and continuous will is capable of is not always properly +appreciated. Nothing resists it; neither nature, gods, nor man. + +The most recent example of what can be effected by a strong and +continuous will is afforded us by the illustrious man who +separated the Eastern and Western worlds, and accomplished a task +that during three thousand years had been attempted in vain by +the greatest sovereigns. He failed later in an identical +enterprise, but then had intervened old age, to which everything, +even the will, succumbs. + +When it is desired to show what may be done by mere strength of +will, all that is necessary is to relate in detail the history of +the difficulties that had to be surmounted in connection with the +cutting of the Suez Canal. An ocular witness, Dr. Cazalis, has +summed up in a few striking lines the entire story of this great +work, recounted by its immortal author. + +"From day to day, episode by episode, he told the stupendous +story of the canal. He told of all he had had to vanquish, of +the impossible he had made possible, of all the opposition he +encountered, of the coalition against him, and the +disappointments, the reverses, the defeats which had been +unavailing to discourage or depress him. He recalled how England +had combatted him, attacking him without cessation, how Egypt and +France had hesitated, how the French Consul had been foremost in +his opposition to the early stages of the work, and the nature of +the opposition he had met with, the attempt to force his workmen +to desert from thirst by refusing them fresh water; how the +Minister of Marine and the engineers, all responsible men of +experienced and scientific training, had naturally all been +hostile, were all certain on scientific grounds that disaster was +at hand, had calculated its coming, foretelling it for such a day +and hour as an eclipse is foretold." + +The book which relates the lives of all these great leaders would +not contain many names, but these names have been bound up with +the most important events in the history of civilisation. + + +2. THE MEANS OF ACTION OF THE LEADERS: AFFIRMATION, REPETITION, CONTAGION + + +When it is wanted to stir up a crowd for a short space of time, +to induce it to commit an act of any nature--to pillage a palace, +or to die in defence of a stronghold or a barricade, for +instance--the crowd must be acted upon by rapid suggestion, among +which example is the most powerful in its effect. To attain this +end, however, it is necessary that the crowd should have been +previously prepared by certain circumstances, and, above all, +that he who wishes to work upon it should possess the quality to +be studied farther on, to which I give the name of prestige. + +When, however, it is proposed to imbue the mind of a crowd with +ideas and beliefs--with modern social theories, for instance--the +leaders have recourse to different expedients. The principal of +them are three in number and clearly defined--affirmation, +repetition, and contagion. Their action is somewhat slow, but +its effects, once produced, are very lasting. + +Affirmation pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all +proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the +mind of crowds. The conciser an affirmation is, the more +destitute of every appearance of proof and demonstration, the +more weight it carries. The religious books and the legal codes +of all ages have always resorted to simple affirmation. +Statesmen called upon to defend a political cause, and commercial +men pushing the sale of their products by means of advertising +are acquainted with the value of affirmation. + +Affirmation, however, has no real influence unless it be +constantly repeated, and so far as possible in the same terms. +It was Napoleon, I believe, who said that there is only one +figure in rhetoric of serious importance, namely, repetition. +The thing affirmed comes by repetition to fix itself in the mind +in such a way that it is accepted in the end as a demonstrated +truth. + +The influence of repetition on crowds is comprehensible when the +power is seen which it exercises on the most enlightened minds. +This power is due to the fact that the repeated statement is +embedded in the long run in those profound regions of our +unconscious selves in which the motives of our actions are +forged. At the end of a certain time we have forgotten who is +the author of the repeated assertion, and we finish by believing +it. To this circumstance is due the astonishing power of +advertisements. When we have read a hundred, a thousand, times +that X's chocolate is the best, we imagine we have heard it said +in many quarters, and we end by acquiring the certitude that such +is the fact. When we have read a thousand times that Y's flour +has cured the most illustrious persons of the most obstinate +maladies, we are tempted at last to try it when suffering from an +illness of a similar kind. If we always read in the same papers +that A is an arrant scamp and B a most honest man we finish by +being convinced that this is the truth, unless, indeed, we are +given to reading another paper of the contrary opinion, in which +the two qualifications are reversed. Affirmation and repetition +are alone powerful enough to combat each other. + +When an affirmation has been sufficiently repeated and there is +unanimity in this repetition--as has occurred in the case of +certain famous financial undertakings rich enough to purchase +every assistance-- what is called a current of opinion is formed +and the powerful mechanism of contagion intervenes. Ideas, +sentiments, emotions, and beliefs possess in crowds a contagious +power as intense as that of microbes. This phenomenon is very +natural, since it is observed even in animals when they are +together in number. Should a horse in a stable take to biting +his manger the other horses in the stable will imitate him. A +panic that has seized on a few sheep will soon extend to the +whole flock. In the case of men collected in a crowd all +emotions are very rapidly contagious, which explains the +suddenness of panics. Brain disorders, like madness, are +themselves contagious. The frequency of madness among doctors +who are specialists for the mad is notorious. Indeed, forms of +madness have recently been cited--agoraphobia, for +instance--which are communicable from men to animals. + +For individuals to succumb to contagion their simultaneous +presence on the same spot is not indispensable. The action of +contagion may be felt from a distance under the influence of +events which give all minds an individual trend and the +characteristics peculiar to crowds. This is especially the case +when men's minds have been prepared to undergo the influence in +question by those remote factors of which I have made a study +above. An example in point is the revolutionary movement of +1848, which, after breaking out in Paris, spread rapidly over a +great part of Europe and shook a number of thrones. + +Imitation, to which so much influence is attributed in social +phenomena, is in reality a mere effect of contagion. Having +shown its influence elsewhere, I shall confine myself to +reproducing what I said on the subject fifteen years ago. My +remarks have since been developed by other writers in recent +publications. + +"Man, like animals, has a natural tendency to imitation. +Imitation is a necessity for him, provided always that the +imitation is quite easy. It is this necessity that makes the +influence of what is called fashion so powerful. Whether in the +matter of opinions, ideas, literary manifestations, or merely of +dress, how many persons are bold enough to run counter to the +fashion? It is by examples not by arguments that crowds are +guided. At every period there exists a small number of +individualities which react upon the remainder and are imitated +by the unconscious mass. It is needful however, that these +individualities should not be in too pronounced disagreement with +received ideas. Were they so, to imitate them would be too +difficult and their influence would be nil. For this very reason +men who are too superior to their epoch are generally without +influence upon it. The line of separation is too strongly +marked. For the same reason too Europeans, in spite of all the +advantages of their civilisation, have so insignificant an +influence on Eastern people; they differ from them to too great +an extent. + +"The dual action of the past and of reciprocal imitation renders, +in the long run, all the men of the same country and the same +period so alike that even in the case of individuals who would +seem destined to escape this double influence, such as +philosophers, learned men, and men of letters, thought and style +have a family air which enables the age to which they belong to +be immediately recognised. It is not necessary to talk for long +with an individual to attain to a thorough knowledge of what he +reads, of his habitual occupations, and of the surroundings amid +which he lives."[17] + + +[17] Gustave le Bon, "L'Homme et les Societes," vol. ii. p. 116. +1881. + + + +Contagion is so powerful that it forces upon individuals not only +certain opinions, but certain modes of feeling as well. +Contagion is the cause of the contempt in which, at a given +period, certain works are held--the example of "Tannhauser" may +be cited--which, a few years later, for the same reason are +admired by those who were foremost in criticising them. + +The opinions and beliefs of crowds are specially propagated by +contagion, but never by reasoning. The conceptions at present +rife among the working classes have been acquired at the +public-house as the result of affirmation, repetition, and +contagion, and indeed the mode of creation of the beliefs of +crowds of every age has scarcely been different. Renan justly +institutes a comparison between the first founders of +Christianity and "the socialist working men spreading their ideas +from public-house to public-house"; while Voltaire had already +observed in connection with the Christian religion that "for more +than a hundred years it was only embraced by the vilest +riff-raff." + +It will be noted that in cases analogous to those I have just +cited, contagion, after having been at work among the popular +classes, has spread to the higher classes of society. This is +what we see happening at the present day with regard to the +socialist doctrines which are beginning to be held by those who +will yet be their first victims. Contagion is so powerful a +force that even the sentiment of personal interest disappears +under its action. + +This is the explanation of the fact that every opinion adopted by +the populace always ends in implanting itself with great vigour +in the highest social strata, however obvious be the absurdity of +the triumphant opinion. This reaction of the lower upon the +higher social classes is the more curious, owing to the +circumstance that the beliefs of the crowd always have their +origin to a greater or less extent in some higher idea, which has +often remained without influence in the sphere in which it was +evolved. Leaders and agitators, subjugated by this higher idea, +take hold of it, distort it and create a sect which distorts it +afresh, and then propagates it amongst the masses, who carry the +process of deformation still further. Become a popular truth the +idea returns, as it were, to its source and exerts an influence +on the upper classes of a nation. In the long run it is +intelligence that shapes the destiny of the world, but very +indirectly. The philosophers who evolve ideas have long since +returned to dust, when, as the result of the process I have just +described, the fruit of their reflection ends by triumphing. + + +3. PRESTIGE + + +Great power is given to ideas propagated by affirmation, +repetition, and contagion by the circumstance that they acquire +in time that mysterious force known as prestige. + +Whatever has been a ruling power in the world, whether it be +ideas or men, has in the main enforced its authority by means of +that irresistible force expressed by the word "prestige." The +term is one whose meaning is grasped by everybody, but the word +is employed in ways too different for it to be easy to define it. +Prestige may involve such sentiments as admiration or fear. +Occasionally even these sentiments are its basis, but it can +perfectly well exist without them. The greatest measure of +prestige is possessed by the dead, by beings, that is, of whom we +do not stand in fear--by Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, and Buddha, +for example. On the other hand, there are fictive beings whom we +do not admire--the monstrous divinities of the subterranean +temples of India, for instance--but who strike us nevertheless as +endowed with a great prestige. + +Prestige in reality is a sort of domination exercised on our mind +by an individual, a work, or an idea. This domination entirely +paralyses our critical faculty, and fills our soul with +astonishment and respect. The sentiment provoked is +inexplicable, like all sentiments, but it would appear to be of +the same kind as the fascination to which a magnetised person is +subjected. Prestige is the mainspring of all authority. Neither +gods, kings, nor women have ever reigned without it. + +The various kinds of prestige may be grouped under two principal +heads: acquired prestige and personal prestige. Acquired +prestige is that resulting from name, fortune, and reputation. +It may be independent of personal prestige. Personal prestige, +on the contrary, is something essentially peculiar to the +individual; it may coexist with reputation, glory, and fortune, +or be strengthened by them, but it is perfectly capable of +existing in their absence. + +Acquired or artificial prestige is much the most common. The +mere fact that an individual occupies a certain position, +possesses a certain fortune, or bears certain titles, endows him +with prestige, however slight his own personal worth. A soldier +in uniform, a judge in his robes, always enjoys prestige. Pascal +has very properly noted the necessity for judges of robes and +wigs. Without them they would be stripped of half their +authority. The most unbending socialist is always somewhat +impressed by the sight of a prince or a marquis; and the +assumption of such titles makes the robbing of tradesmen an easy +matter.[18] + + +[18] The influence of titles, decorations, and uniforms on crowds +is to be traced in all countries, even in those in which the +sentiment of personal independence is the most strongly +developed. I quote in this connection a curious passage from a +recent book of travel, on the prestige enjoyed in England by +great persons. + +"I had observed, under various circumstances, the peculiar sort +of intoxication produced in the most reasonable Englishmen by the +contact or sight of an English peer. + +"Provided his fortune enables him to keep up his rank, he is sure +of their affection in advance, and brought into contact with him +they are so enchanted as to put up with anything at his hands. +They may be seen to redden with pleasure at his approach, and if +he speaks to them their suppressed joy increases their redness, +and causes their eyes to gleam with unusual brilliance. Respect +for nobility is in their blood, so to speak, as with Spaniards +the love of dancing, with Germans that of music, and with +Frenchmen the liking for revolutions. Their passion for horses +and Shakespeare is less violent, the satisfaction and pride they +derive from these sources a less integral part of their being. +There is a considerable sale for books dealing with the peerage, +and go where one will they are to be found, like the Bible, in +all hands." + + + + +The prestige of which I have just spoken is exercised by persons; +side by side with it may be placed that exercised by opinions, +literary and artistic works, &c. Prestige of the latter kind is +most often merely the result of accumulated repetitions. +History, literary and artistic history especially, being nothing +more than the repetition of identical judgments, which nobody +endeavours to verify, every one ends by repeating what he learnt +at school, till there come to be names and things which nobody +would venture to meddle with. For a modern reader the perusal of +Homer results incontestably in immense boredom; but who would +venture to say so? The Parthenon, in its present state, is a +wretched ruin, utterly destitute of interest, but it is endowed +with such prestige that it does not appear to us as it really is, +but with all its accompaniment of historic memories. The special +characteristic of prestige is to prevent us seeing things as they +are and to entirely paralyse our judgment. Crowds always, and +individuals as a rule, stand in need of ready-made opinions on +all subjects. The popularity of these opinions is independent of +the measure of truth or error they contain, and is solely +regulated by their prestige. + +I now come to personal prestige. Its nature is very different +from that of artificial or acquired prestige, with which I have +just been concerned. It is a faculty independent of all titles, +of all authority, and possessed by a small number of persons whom +it enables to exercise a veritably magnetic fascination on those +around them, although they are socially their equals, and lack +all ordinary means of domination. They force the acceptance of +their ideas and sentiments on those about them, and they are +obeyed as is the tamer of wild beasts by the animal that could +easily devour him. + +The great leaders of crowds, such as Buddha, Jesus, Mahomet, Joan +of Arc, and Napoleon, have possessed this form of prestige in a +high degree, and to this endowment is more particularly due the +position they attained. Gods, heroes, and dogmas win their way +in the world of their own inward strength. They are not to be +discussed: they disappear, indeed, as soon as discussed. + +The great personages I have just cited were in possession of +their power of fascination long before they became illustrious, +and would never have become so without it. It is evident, for +instance, that Napoleon at the zenith of his glory enjoyed an +immense prestige by the mere fact of his power, but he was +already endowed in part with this prestige when he was without +power and completely unknown. When, an obscure general, he was +sent, thanks to influential protection, to command the army of +Italy, he found himself among rough generals who were of a mind +to give a hostile reception to the young intruder dispatched them +by the Directory. From the very beginning, from the first +interview, without the aid of speeches, gestures, or threats, at +the first sight of the man who was to become great they were +vanquished. Taine furnishes a curious account of this interview +taken from contemporary memoirs. + + +"The generals of division, amongst others Augereau, a sort of +swashbuckler, uncouth and heroic, proud of his height and his +bravery, arrive at the staff quarters very badly disposed towards +the little upstart dispatched them from Paris. On the strength +of the description of him that has been given them, Augereau is +inclined to be insolent and insubordinate; a favourite of Barras, +a general who owes his rank to the events of Vendemiaire who has +won his grade by street-fighting, who is looked upon as bearish, +because he is always thinking in solitude, of poor aspect, and +with the reputation of a mathematician and dreamer. They are +introduced, and Bonaparte keeps them waiting. At last he +appears, girt with his sword; he puts on his hat, explains the +measures he has taken, gives his orders, and dismisses them. +Augereau has remained silent; it is only when he is outside that +he regains his self-possession and is able to deliver himself of +his customary oaths. He admits with Massena that this little +devil of a general has inspired him with awe; he cannot +understand the ascendency by which from the very first he has +felt himself overwhelmed." + + +Become a great man, his prestige increased in proportion as his +glory grew, and came to be at least equal to that of a divinity +in the eyes of those devoted to him. General Vandamme, a rough, +typical soldier of the Revolution, even more brutal and energetic +than Augereau, said of him to Marshal d'Arnano in 1815, as on one +occasion they mounted together the stairs of the Tuileries: +"That devil of a man exercises a fascination on me that I cannot +explain even to myself, and in such a degree that, though I fear +neither God nor devil, when I am in his presence I am ready to +tremble like a child, and he could make me go through the eye of +a needle to throw myself into the fire." + +Napoleon exercised a like fascination on all who came into +contact with him.[19] + + +[19] Thoroughly conscious of his prestige, Napoleon was aware +that he added to it by treating rather worse than stable lads the +great personages around him, and among whom figured some of those +celebrated men of the Convention of whom Europe had stood in +dread. The gossip of the period abounds in illustrations of this +fact. One day, in the midst of a Council of State, Napoleon +grossly insults Beugnot, treating him as one might an unmannerly +valet. The effect produced, he goes up to him and says, "Well, +stupid, have you found your head again?" Whereupon Beugnot, tall +as a drum-major, bows very low, and the little man raising his +hand, takes the tall one by the ear, "an intoxicating sign of +favour," writes Beugnot, "the familiar gesture of the master who +waxes gracious." Such examples give a clear idea of the degree +of base platitude that prestige can provoke. They enable us to +understand the immense contempt of the great despot for the men +surrounding him--men whom he merely looked upon as "food for +powder." + + + +Davoust used to say, talking of Maret's devotion and of his own: +"Had the Emperor said to us, `It is important in the interest of +my policy that Paris should be destroyed without a single person +leaving it or escaping,' Maret I am sure would have kept the +secret, but he could not have abstained from compromising himself +by seeing that his family got clear of the city. On the other +hand, I, for fear of letting the truth leak out, would have let +my wife and children stay." + +It is necessary to bear in mind the astounding power exerted by +fascination of this order to understand that marvellous return +from the Isle of Elba, that lightning-like conquest of France by +an isolated man confronted by all the organised forces of a great +country that might have been supposed weary of his tyranny. He +had merely to cast a look at the generals sent to lay hands on +him, and who had sworn to accomplish their mission. All of them +submitted without discussion. + + +"Napoleon," writes the English General Wolseley, "lands in France +almost alone, a fugitive from the small island of Elba which was +his kingdom, and succeeded in a few weeks, without bloodshed, in +upsetting all organised authority in France under its legitimate +king; is it possible for the personal ascendency of a man to +affirm itself in a more astonishing manner? But from the +beginning to the end of this campaign, which was his last, how +remarkable too is the ascendency he exercised over the Allies, +obliging them to follow his initiative, and how near he came to +crushing them!" + + +His prestige outlived him and continued to grow. It is his +prestige that made an emperor of his obscure nephew. How +powerful is his memory still is seen in the resurrection of his +legend in progress at the present day. Ill-treat men as you +will, massacre them by millions, be the cause of invasion upon +invasion, all is permitted you if you possess prestige in a +sufficient degree and the talent necessary to uphold it. + +I have invoked, no doubt, in this case a quite exceptional +example of prestige, but one it was useful to cite to make clear +the genesis of great religions, great doctrines, and great +empires. Were it not for the power exerted on the crowd by +prestige, such growths would be incomprehensible. + +Prestige, however, is not based solely on personal ascendency, +military glory, and religious terror; it may have a more modest +origin and still be considerable. Our century furnishes several +examples. One of the most striking ones that posterity will +recall from age to age will be supplied by the history of the +illustrious man who modified the face of the globe and the +commercial relations of the nations by separating two continents. +He succeeded in his enterprise owing to his immense strength of +will, but also owing to the fascination he exercised on those +surrounding him. To overcome the unanimous opposition he met +with, he had only to show himself. He would speak briefly, and +in face of the charm he exerted his opponents became his friends. +The English in particular strenuously opposed his scheme; he had +only to put in an appearance in England to rally all suffrages. +In later years, when he passed Southampton, the bells were rung +on his passage; and at the present day a movement is on foot in +England to raise a statue in his honour. + +"Having vanquished whatever there is to vanquish, men and things, +marshes, rocks, and sandy wastes," he had ceased to believe in +obstacles, and wished to begin Suez over again at Panama. He +began again with the same methods as of old; but he had aged, +and, besides, the faith that moves mountains does not move them +if they are too lofty. The mountains resisted, and the +catastrophe that ensued destroyed the glittering aureole of glory +that enveloped the hero. His life teaches how prestige can grow +and how it can vanish. After rivalling in greatness the most +famous heroes of history, he was lowered by the magistrates of +his country to the ranks of the vilest criminals. When he died +his coffin, unattended, traversed an indifferent crowd. Foreign +sovereigns are alone in rendering homage to his memory as to that +of one of the greatest men that history has known.[20] + + +[20] An Austrian paper, the Neue Freie Presse, of Vienna, has +indulged on the subject of the destiny of de Lesseps in +reflections marked by a most judicious psychological insight. I +therefore reproduce them here:-- + +"After the condemnation of Ferdinand de Lesseps one has no longer +the right to be astonished at the sad end of Christopher +Columbus. If Ferdinand de Lesseps were a rogue every noble +illusion is a crime. Antiquity would have crowned the memory of +de Lesseps with an aureole of glory, and would have made him +drink from the bowl of nectar in the midst of Olympus, for he has +altered the face of the earth and accomplished works which make +the creation more perfect. The President of the Court of Appeal +has immortalised himself by condemning Ferdinand de Lesseps, for +the nations will always demand the name of the man who was not +afraid to debase his century by investing with the convict's cap +an aged man, whose life redounded to the glory of his +contemporaries. + +"Let there be no more talk in the future of inflexible justice, +there where reigns a bureaucratic hatred of audacious feats. The +nations have need of audacious men who believe in themselves and +overcome every obstacle without concern for their personal +safety. Genius cannot be prudent; by dint of prudence it could +never enlarge the sphere of human activity. + +". . . Ferdinand de Lesseps has known the intoxication of triumph +and the bitterness of disappointment--Suez and Panama. At this +point the heart revolts at the morality of success. When de +Lesseps had succeeded in joining two seas princes and nations +rendered him their homage; to-day, when he meets with failure +among the rocks of the Cordilleras, he is nothing but a vulgar +rogue. . . . In this result we see a war between the classes of +society, the discontent of bureaucrats and employes, who take +their revenge with the aid of the criminal code on those who +would raise themselves above their fellows. . . . Modern +legislators are filled with embarrassment when confronted by the +lofty ideas due to human genius; the public comprehends such +ideas still less, and it is easy for an advocate-general to prove +that Stanley is a murderer and de Lesseps a deceiver." + + + +Still, the various examples that have just been cited represent +extreme cases. To fix in detail the psychology of prestige, it +would be necessary to place them at the extremity of a series, +which would range from the founders of religions and empires to +the private individual who endeavours to dazzle his neighbours by +a new coat or a decoration. + +Between the extreme limits of this series would find a place all +the forms of prestige resulting from the different elements +composing a civilisation--sciences, arts, literature, &c.--and it +would be seen that prestige constitutes the fundamental element +of persuasion. Consciously or not, the being, the idea, or the +thing possessing prestige is immediately imitated in consequence +of contagion, and forces an entire generation to adopt certain +modes of feeling and of giving expression to its thought. This +imitation, moreover, is, as a rule, unconscious, which accounts +for the fact that it is perfect. The modern painters who copy +the pale colouring and the stiff attitudes of some of the +Primitives are scarcely alive to the source of their inspiration. +They believe in their own sincerity, whereas, if an eminent +master had not revived this form of art, people would have +continued blind to all but its naive and inferior sides. Those +artists who, after the manner of another illustrious master, +inundate their canvasses with violet shades do not see in nature +more violet than was detected there fifty years ago; but they are +influenced, "suggestioned," by the personal and special +impressions of a painter who, in spite of this eccentricity, was +successful in acquiring great prestige. Similar examples might +be brought forward in connection with all the elements of +civilisation. + +It is seen from what precedes that a number of factors may be +concerned in the genesis of prestige; among them success was +always one of the most important. Every successful man, every +idea that forces itself into recognition, ceases, ipso facto, to +be called in question. The proof that success is one of the +principal stepping-stones to prestige is that the disappearance +of the one is almost always followed by the disappearance of the +other. The hero whom the crowd acclaimed yesterday is insulted +to-day should he have been overtaken by failure. The reaction, +indeed, will be the stronger in proportion as the prestige has +been great. The crowd in this case considers the fallen hero as +an equal, and takes its revenge for having bowed to a superiority +whose existence it no longer admits. While Robespierre was +causing the execution of his colleagues and of a great number of +his contemporaries, he possessed an immense prestige. When the +transposition of a few votes deprived him of power, he +immediately lost his prestige, and the crowd followed him to the +guillotine with the self-same imprecations with which shortly +before it had pursued his victims. Believers always break the +statues of their former gods with every symptom of fury. + +Prestige lost by want of success disappears in a brief space of +time. It can also be worn away, but more slowly by being +subjected to discussion. This latter power, however, is +exceedingly sure. From the moment prestige is called in question +it ceases to be prestige. The gods and men who have kept their +prestige for long have never tolerated discussion. For the crowd +to admire, it must be kept at a distance. + + +CHAPTER IV + +LIMITATIONS OF THE VARIABILITY OF THE BELIEFS AND OPINIONS OF CROWDS + +1. FIXED BELIEFS. The invariability of certain general +beliefs--They shape the course of a civilisation--The difficulty +of uprooting them--In what respect intolerance is a virtue in a +people--The philosophic absurdity of a belief cannot interfere +with its spreading. 2. THE CHANGEABLE OPINIONS OF CROWDS. +The extreme mobility of opinions which do not arise from general +beliefs--Apparent variations of ideas and beliefs in less than a +century--The real limits of these variations--The matters +effected by the variation--The disappearance at present in +progress of general beliefs, and the extreme diffusion of the +newspaper press, have for result that opinions are nowadays more +and more changeable--Why the opinions of crowds tend on the +majority of subjects towards indifference--Governments now +powerless to direct opinion as they formerly did--Opinions +prevented to-day from being tyrannical on account of their +exceeding divergency. + + +1. FIXED BELIEFS + +A close parallel exists between the anatomical and psychological +characteristics of living beings. In these anatomical +characteristics certain invariable, or slightly variable, +elements are met with, to change which the lapse is necessary of +geological ages. Side by side with these fixed, indestructible +features are to be found others extremely changeable, which the +art of the breeder or horticulturist may easily modify, and at +times to such an extent as to conceal the fundamental +characteristics from an observer at all inattentive. + +The same phenomenon is observed in the case of moral +characteristics. Alongside the unalterable psychological +elements of a race, mobile and changeable elements are to be +encountered. For this reason, in studying the beliefs and +opinions of a people, the presence is always detected of a fixed +groundwork on which are engrafted opinions as changing as the +surface sand on a rock. + +The opinions and beliefs of crowds may be divided, then, into two +very distinct classes. On the one hand we have great permanent +beliefs, which endure for several centuries, and on which an +entire civilisation may rest. Such, for instance, in the past +were feudalism, Christianity, and Protestantism; and such, in our +own time, are the nationalist principle and contemporary +democratic and social ideas. In the second place, there are the +transitory, changing opinions, the outcome, as a rule, of general +conceptions, of which every age sees the birth and disappearance; +examples in point are the theories which mould literature and the +arts--those, for instance, which produced romanticism, +naturalism, mysticism, &c. Opinions of this order are as +superficial, as a rule, as fashion, and as changeable. They may +be compared to the ripples which ceaselessly arise and vanish on +the surface of a deep lake. + +The great generalised beliefs are very restricted in number. +Their rise and fall form the culminating points of the history of +every historic race. They constitute the real framework of +civilisation. + +It is easy to imbue the mind of crowds with a passing opinion, +but very difficult to implant therein a lasting belief. However, +a belief of this latter description once established, it is +equally difficult to uproot it. It is usually only to be changed +at the cost of violent revolutions. Even revolutions can only +avail when the belief has almost entirely lost its sway over +men's minds. In that case revolutions serve to finally sweep +away what had already been almost cast aside, though the force of +habit prevented its complete abandonment. The beginning of a +revolution is in reality the end of a belief. + +The precise moment at which a great belief is doomed is easily +recognisable; it is the moment when its value begins to be called +in question. Every general belief being little else than a +fiction, it can only survive on the condition that it be not +subjected to examination. + +But even when a belief is severely shaken, the institutions to +which it has given rise retain their strength and disappear but +slowly. Finally, when the belief has completely lost its force, +all that rested upon it is soon involved in ruin. As yet a +nation has never been able to change its beliefs without being +condemned at the same time to transform all the elements of its +civilisation. The nation continues this process of +transformation until it has alighted on and accepted a new +general belief: until this juncture it is perforce in a state of +anarchy. General beliefs are the indispensable pillars of +civilisations; they determine the trend of ideas. They alone are +capable of inspiring faith and creating a sense of duty. + +Nations have always been conscious of the utility of acquiring +general beliefs, and have instinctively understood that their +disappearance would be the signal for their own decline. In the +case of the Romans, the fanatical cult of Rome was the belief +that made them masters of the world, and when the belief had died +out Rome was doomed to die. As for the barbarians who destroyed +the Roman civilisation, it was only when they had acquired +certain commonly accepted beliefs that they attained a measure of +cohesion and emerged from anarchy. + +Plainly it is not for nothing that nations have always displayed +intolerance in the defence of their opinions. This intolerance, +open as it is to criticism from the philosophic standpoint, +represents in the life of a people the most necessary of virtues. +It was to found or uphold general beliefs that so many victims +were sent to the stake in the Middle Ages and that so many +inventors and innovators have died in despair even if they have +escaped martyrdom. It is in defence, too, of such beliefs that +the world has been so often the scene of the direst disorder, and +that so many millions of men have died on the battlefield, and +will yet die there. + +There are great difficulties in the way of establishing a general +belief, but when it is definitely implanted its power is for a +long time to come invincible, and however false it be +philosophically it imposes itself upon the most luminous +intelligence. Have not the European peoples regarded as +incontrovertible for more than fifteen centuries religious +legends which, closely examined, are as barbarous[21] as those of +Moloch? The frightful absurdity of the legend of a God who +revenges himself for the disobedience of one of his creatures by +inflicting horrible tortures on his son remained unperceived +during many centuries. Such potent geniuses as a Galileo, a +Newton, and a Leibnitz never supposed for an instant that the +truth of such dogmas could be called in question. Nothing can be +more typical than this fact of the hypnotising effect of general +beliefs, but at the same time nothing can mark more decisively +the humiliating limitations of our intelligence. + + +[21] Barbarous, philosophically speaking, I mean. In practice +they have created an entirely new civilisation, and for fifteen +centuries have given mankind a glimpse of those enchanted realms +of generous dreams and of hope which he will know no more. + + + +As soon as a new dogma is implanted in the mind of crowds it +becomes the source of inspiration whence are evolved its +institutions, arts, and mode of existence. The sway it exerts +over men's minds under these circumstances is absolute. Men of +action have no thought beyond realising the accepted belief, +legislators beyond applying it, while philosophers, artists, and +men of letters are solely preoccupied with its expression under +various shapes. + +From the fundamental belief transient accessory ideas may arise, +but they always bear the impress of the belief from which they +have sprung. The Egyptian civilisation, the European +civilisation of the Middle Ages, the Mussulman civilisation of +the Arabs are all the outcome of a small number of religious +beliefs which have left their mark on the least important +elements of these civilisations and allow of their immediate +recognition. + +Thus it is that, thanks to general beliefs, the men of every age +are enveloped in a network of traditions, opinions, and customs +which render them all alike, and from whose yoke they cannot +extricate themselves. Men are guided in their conduct above all +by their beliefs and by the customs that are the consequence of +those beliefs. These beliefs and customs regulate the smallest +acts of our existence, and the most independent spirit cannot +escape their influence. The tyranny exercised unconsciously on +men's minds is the only real tyranny, because it cannot be fought +against. Tiberius, Ghengis Khan, and Napoleon were assuredly +redoubtable tyrants, but from the depth of their graves Moses, +Buddha, Jesus, and Mahomet have exerted on the human soul a far +profounder despotism. A conspiracy may overthrow a tyrant, but +what can it avail against a firmly established belief? In its +violent struggle with Roman Catholicism it is the French +Revolution that has been vanquished, and this in spite of the +fact that the sympathy of the crowd was apparently on its side, +and in spite of recourse to destructive measures as pitiless as +those of the Inquisition. The only real tyrants that humanity +has known have always been the memories of its dead or the +illusions it has forged itself. + +The philosophic absurdity that often marks general beliefs has +never been an obstacle to their triumph. Indeed the triumph of +such beliefs would seem impossible unless on the condition that +they offer some mysterious absurdity. In consequence, the +evident weakness of the socialist beliefs of to-day will not +prevent them triumphing among the masses. Their real inferiority +to all religious beliefs is solely the result of this +consideration, that the ideal of happiness offered by the latter +being realisable only in a future life, it was beyond the power +of anybody to contest it. The socialist ideal of happiness being +intended to be realised on earth, the vanity of its promises will +at once appear as soon as the first efforts towards their +realisation are made, and simultaneously the new belief will +entirely lose its prestige. Its strength, in consequence, will +only increase until the day when, having triumphed, its practical +realisation shall commence. For this reason, while the new +religion exerts to begin with, like all those that have preceded +it, a destructive influence, it will be unable, in the future, to +play a creative part. + + +2. THE CHANGEABLE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + +Above the substratum of fixed beliefs, whose power we have just +demonstrated, is found an overlying growth of opinions, ideas, +and thoughts which are incessantly springing up and dying out. +Some of them exist but for a day, and the more important scarcely +outlive a generation. We have already noted that the changes +which supervene in opinions of this order are at times far more +superficial than real, and that they are always affected by +racial considerations. When examining, for instance, the +political institutions of France we showed that parties to all +appearance utterly distinct--royalists, radicals, imperialists, +socialists, &c.--have an ideal absolutely identical, and that +this ideal is solely dependent on the mental structure of the +French race, since a quite contrary ideal is found under +analogous names among other races. Neither the name given to +opinions nor deceptive adaptations alter the essence of things. +The men of the Great Revolution, saturated with Latin literature, +who (their eyes fixed on the Roman Republic), adopted its laws, +its fasces, and its togas, did not become Romans because they +were under the empire of a powerful historical suggestion. The +task of the philosopher is to investigate what it is which +subsists of ancient beliefs beneath their apparent changes, and +to identify amid the moving flux of opinions the part determined +by general beliefs and the genius of the race. + +In the absence of this philosophic test it might be supposed that +crowds change their political or religious beliefs frequently and +at will. All history, whether political, religious, artistic, or +literary, seems to prove that such is the case. + +As an example, let us take a very short period of French history, +merely that from 1790 to 1820, a period of thirty years' +duration, that of a generation. In the course of it we see the +crowd at first monarchical become very revolutionary, then very +imperialist, and again very monarchical. In the matter of +religion it gravitates in the same lapse of time from Catholicism +to atheism, then towards deism, and then returns to the most +pronounced forms of Catholicism. These changes take place not +only amongst the masses, but also amongst those who direct them. +We observe with astonishment the prominent men of the Convention, +the sworn enemies of kings, men who would have neither gods nor +masters, become the humble servants of Napoleon, and afterwards, +under Louis XVIII., piously carry candles in religious +processions. + +Numerous, too, are the changes in the opinions of the crowd in +the course of the following seventy years. The "Perfidious +Albion" of the opening of the century is the ally of France under +Napoleon's heir; Russia, twice invaded by France, which looked on +with satisfaction at French reverses, becomes its friend. + +In literature, art, and philosophy the successive evolutions of +opinion are more rapid still. Romanticism, naturalism, +mysticism, &c., spring up and die out in turn. The artist and +the writer applauded yesterday are treated on the morrow with +profound contempt. + +When, however, we analyse all these changes in appearance so far +reaching, what do we find? All those that are in opposition with +the general beliefs and sentiments of the race are of transient +duration, and the diverted stream soon resumes its course. The +opinions which are not linked to any general belief or sentiment +of the race, and which in consequence cannot possess stability, +are at the mercy of every chance, or, if the expression be +preferred, of every change in the surrounding circumstances. +Formed by suggestion and contagion, they are always momentary; +they crop up and disappear as rapidly on occasion as the +sandhills formed by the wind on the sea-coast. + +At the present day the changeable opinions of crowds are greater +in number than they ever were, and for three different reasons. + +The first is that as the old beliefs are losing their influence +to a greater and greater extent, they are ceasing to shape the +ephemeral opinions of the moment as they did in the past. The +weakening of general beliefs clears the ground for a crop of +haphazard opinions without a past or a future. + +The second reason is that the power of crowds being on the +increase, and this power being less and less counterbalanced, the +extreme mobility of ideas, which we have seen to be a peculiarity +of crowds, can manifest itself without let or hindrance. + +Finally, the third reason is the recent development of the +newspaper press, by whose agency the most contrary opinions are +being continually brought before the attention of crowds. The +suggestions that might result from each individual opinion are +soon destroyed by suggestions of an opposite character. The +consequence is that no opinion succeeds in becoming widespread, +and that the existence of all of them is ephemeral. An opinion +nowadays dies out before it has found a sufficiently wide +acceptance to become general. + +A phenomenon quite new in the world's history, and most +characteristic of the present age, has resulted from these +different causes; I allude to the powerlessness of governments to +direct opinion. + +In the past, and in no very distant past, the action of +governments and the influence of a few writers and a very small +number of newspapers constituted the real reflectors of public +opinion. To-day the writers have lost all influence, and the +newspapers only reflect opinion. As for statesmen, far from +directing opinion, their only endeavour is to follow it. They +have a dread of opinion, which amounts at times to terror, and +causes them to adopt an utterly unstable line of conduct. + +The opinion of crowds tends, then, more and more to become the +supreme guiding principle in politics. It goes so far to-day as +to force on alliances, as has been seen recently in the case of +the Franco-Russian alliance, which is solely the outcome of a +popular movement. A curious symptom of the present time is to +observe popes, kings, and emperors consent to be interviewed as a +means of submitting their views on a given subject to the +judgment of crowds. Formerly it might have been correct to say +that politics were not a matter of sentiment. Can the same be +said to-day, when politics are more and more swayed by the +impulse of changeable crowds, who are uninfluenced by reason and +can only be guided by sentiment? + +As to the press, which formerly directed opinion, it has had, +like governments, to humble itself before the power of crowds. +It wields, no doubt, a considerable influence, but only because +it is exclusively the reflection of the opinions of crowds and of +their incessant variations. Become a mere agency for the supply +of information, the press has renounced all endeavour to enforce +an idea or a doctrine. It follows all the changes of public +thought, obliged to do so by the necessities of competition under +pain of losing its readers. The old staid and influential organs +of the past, such as the Constitutionnel, the Debats, or the +Siecle, which were accepted as oracles by the preceding +generation, have disappeared or have become typical modern +papers, in which a maximum of news is sandwiched in between light +articles, society gossip, and financial puffs. There can be no +question to-day of a paper rich enough to allow its contributors +to air their personal opinions, and such opinions would be of +slight weight with readers who only ask to be kept informed or to +be amused, and who suspect every affirmation of being prompted by +motives of speculation. Even the critics have ceased to be able +to assure the success of a book or a play. They are capable of +doing harm, but not of doing a service. The papers are so +conscious of the uselessness of everything in the shape of +criticism or personal opinion, that they have reached the point +of suppressing literary criticism, confining themselves to citing +the title of a book, and appending a "puff" of two or three +lines.[22] In twenty years' time the same fate will probably +have overtaken theatrical criticism. + + +[22] These remarks refer to the French newspaper press.--Note of +the Translator. + + + +The close watching of the course of opinion has become to-day the +principal preoccupation of the press and of governments. The +effect produced by an event, a legislative proposal, a speech, is +without intermission what they require to know, and the task is +not easy, for nothing is more mobile and changeable than the +thought of crowds, and nothing more frequent than to see them +execrate to-day what they applauded yesterday. + +This total absence of any sort of direction of opinion, and at +the same time the destruction of general beliefs, have had for +final result an extreme divergency of convictions of every order, +and a growing indifference on the part of crowds to everything +that does not plainly touch their immediate interests. Questions +of doctrine, such as socialism, only recruit champions boasting +genuine convictions among the quite illiterate classes, among the +workers in mines and factories, for instance. Members of the +lower middle class, and working men possessing some degree of +instruction, have either become utterly sceptical or extremely +unstable in their opinions. + +The evolution which has been effected in this direction in the +last twenty-five years is striking. During the preceding period, +comparatively near us though it is, opinions still had a certain +general trend; they had their origin in the acceptance of some +fundamental belief. By the mere fact that an individual was a +monarchist he possessed inevitably certain clearly defined ideas +in history as well as in science, while by the mere fact that he +was a republican, his ideas were quite contrary. A monarchist +was well aware that men are not descended from monkeys, and a +republican was not less well aware that such is in truth their +descent. It was the duty of the monarchist to speak with horror, +and of the republican to speak with veneration, of the great +Revolution. There were certain names, such as those of +Robespierre and Marat, that had to be uttered with an air of +religious devotion, and other names, such as those of Caesar, +Augustus, or Napoleon, that ought never to be mentioned +unaccompanied by a torrent of invective. Even in the French +Sorbonne this ingenuous fashion of conceiving history was +general.[23] + + +[23] There are pages in the books of the French official +professors of history that are very curious from this point of +view. They prove too how little the critical spirit is developed +by the system of university education in vogue in France. I cite +as an example the following extracts from the "French Revolution" +of M. Rambaud, professor of history at the Sorbonne: + +"The taking of the Bastille was a culminating event in the +history not only of France, but of all Europe; and inaugurated a +new epoch in the history of the world!" + +With respect to Robespierre, we learn with stupefaction that "his +dictatorship was based more especially on opinion, persuasion, +and moral authority; it was a sort of pontificate in the hands of +a virtuous man!" (pp. 91 and 220.) + + + +At the present day, as the result of discussion and analysis, all +opinions are losing their prestige; their distinctive features +are rapidly worn away, and few survive capable of arousing our +enthusiasm. The man of modern times is more and more a prey to +indifference. + +The general wearing away of opinions should not be too greatly +deplored. That it is a symptom of decadence in the life of a +people cannot be contested. It is certain that men of immense, +of almost supernatural insight, that apostles, leaders of +crowds--men, in a word, of genuine and strong convictions--exert +a far greater force than men who deny, who criticise, or who are +indifferent, but it must not be forgotten that, given the power +possessed at present by crowds, were a single opinion to acquire +sufficient prestige to enforce its general acceptance, it would +soon be endowed with so tyrannical a strength that everything +would have to bend before it, and the era of free discussion +would be closed for a long time. Crowds are occasionally +easy-going masters, as were Heliogabalus and Tiberius, but they +are also violently capricious. A civilisation, when the moment +has come for crowds to acquire a high hand over it, is at the +mercy of too many chances to endure for long. Could anything +postpone for a while the hour of its ruin, it would be precisely +the extreme instability of the opinions of crowds and their +growing indifference with respect to all general beliefs. + + + +BOOK III + +THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF +CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CLASSIFICATION OF CROWDS + +The general divisions of crowds--Their classification. 1. +HETEROGENEOUS CROWDS. Different varieties of them--The influence +of race--The spirit of the crowd is weak in proportion as the +spirit of the race is strong--The spirit of the race represents +the civilised state and the spirit of the crowd the barbarian +state. 2. HOMOGENEOUS CROWDS. Their different +varieties--Sects, castes, and classes. + + +We have sketched in this work the general characteristics common +to psychological crowds. It remains to point out the particular +characteristics which accompany those of a general order in the +different categories of collectivities, when they are transformed +into a crowd under the influences of the proper exciting causes. +We will, first of all, set forth in a few words a classification +of crowds. + +Our starting-point will be the simple multitude. Its most +inferior form is met with when the multitude is composed of +individuals belonging to different races. In this case its only +common bond of union is the will, more or less respected of a +chief. The barbarians of very diverse origin who during several +centuries invaded the Roman Empire, may be cited as a specimen of +multitudes of this kind. + +On a higher level than these multitudes composed of different +races are those which under certain influences have acquired +common characteristics, and have ended by forming a single race. +They present at times characteristics peculiar to crowds, but +these characteristics are overruled to a greater or less extent +by racial considerations. + +These two kinds of multitudes may, under certain influences +investigated in this work, be transformed into organised or +psychological crowds. We shall break up these organised crowds +into the following divisions:-- + + 1. Anonymous crowds (street + crowds, for example). +A. Heterogeneous 2. Crowds not anonymous + crowds. (juries, parliamentary assemblies, + &c.). + 1. Sects (political sects, + religious sects, &c.). + 2. Castes (the military caste, +B. Homogeneous the priestly caste, the + crowds. working caste, &c.). + 3. Classes (the middle classes, + the peasant classes, &c.). + + +We will point out briefly the distinguishing characteristics of +these different categories of crowds. + + +1. HETEROGENEOUS CROWDS + + +It is these collectivities whose characteristics have been +studied in this volume. They are composed of individuals of any +description, of any profession, and any degree of intelligence. + +We are now aware that by the mere fact that men form part of a +crowd engaged in action, their collective psychology differs +essentially from their individual psychology, and their +intelligence is affected by this differentiation. We have seen +that intelligence is without influence in collectivities, they +being solely under the sway of unconscious sentiments. + +A fundamental factor, that of race, allows of a tolerably +thorough differentiation of the various heterogeneous crowds. + +We have often referred already to the part played by race, and +have shown it to be the most powerful of the factors capable of +determining men's actions. Its action is also to be traced in +the character of crowds. A crowd composed of individuals +assembled at haphazard, but all of them Englishmen or Chinamen, +will differ widely from another crowd also composed of +individuals of any and every description, but of other +races--Russians, Frenchmen, or Spaniards, for example. + +The wide divergencies which their inherited mental constitution +creates in men's modes of feeling and thinking at once come into +prominence when, which rarely happens, circumstances gather +together in the same crowd and in fairly equal proportions +individuals of different nationality, and this occurs, however +identical in appearance be the interests which provoked the +gathering. The efforts made by the socialists to assemble in +great congresses the representatives of the working-class +populations of different countries, have always ended in the most +pronounced discord. A Latin crowd, however revolutionary or +however conservative it be supposed, will invariably appeal to +the intervention of the State to realise its demands. It is +always distinguished by a marked tendency towards centralisation +and by a leaning, more or less pronounced, in favour of a +dictatorship. An English or an American crowd, on the contrary, +sets no store on the State, and only appeals to private +initiative. A French crowd lays particular weight on equality +and an English crowd on liberty. These differences of race +explain how it is that there are almost as many different forms +of socialism and democracy as there are nations. + +The genius of the race, then, exerts a paramount influence upon +the dispositions of a crowd. It is the powerful underlying force +that limits its changes of humour. It should be considered as an +essential law that THE INFERIOR CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS ARE THE +LESS ACCENTUATED IN PROPORTION AS THE SPIRIT OF THE RACE IS +STRONG. The crowd state and the domination of crowds is +equivalent to the barbarian state, or to a return to it. It is +by the acquisition of a solidly constituted collective spirit +that the race frees itself to a greater and greater extent from +the unreflecting power of crowds, and emerges from the barbarian +state. The only important classification to be made of +heterogeneous crowds, apart from that based on racial +considerations, is to separate them into anonymous crowds, such +as street crowds, and crowds not anonymous--deliberative +assemblies and juries, for example. The sentiment of +responsibility absent from crowds of the first description and +developed in those of the second often gives a very different +tendency to their respective acts. + + +2. HOMOGENEOUS CROWDS + + +Homogeneous crowds include: 1. Sects; 2. Castes; 3. Classes. + + +The SECT represents the first step in the process of organisation +of homogeneous crowds. A sect includes individuals differing +greatly as to their education, their professions, and the class +of society to which they belong, and with their common beliefs as +the connecting link. Examples in point are religious and +political sects. + +The CASTE represents the highest degree of organisation of which +the crowd is susceptible. While the sect includes individuals of +very different professions, degrees of education and social +surrounding, who are only linked together by the beliefs they +hold in common, the caste is composed of individuals of the same +profession, and in consequence similarly educated and of much the +same social status. Examples in point are the military and +priestly castes. + +The CLASS is formed of individuals of diverse origin, linked +together not by a community of beliefs, as are the members of a +sect, or by common professional occupations, as are the members +of a caste, but by certain interests and certain habits of life +and education almost identical. The middle class and the +agricultural class are examples. + +Being only concerned in this work with heterogeneous crowds, and +reserving the study of homogeneous crowds (sects, castes, and +classes) for another volume, I shall not insist here on the +characteristics of crowds of this latter kind. I shall conclude +this study of heterogeneous crowds by the examination of a few +typical and distinct categories of crowds. + + + +CHAPTER II + +CROWDS TERMED CRIMINAL CROWDS + +Crowds termed criminal crowds--A crowd may be legally yet not +psychologically criminal--The absolute unconsciousness of the +acts of crowds--Various examples--Psychology of the authors of +the September massacres--Their reasoning, their sensibility, +their ferocity, and their morality. + + +Owing to the fact that crowds, after a period of excitement, +enter upon a purely automatic and unconscious state, in which +they are guided by suggestion, it seems difficult to qualify them +in any case as criminal. I only retain this erroneous +qualification because it has been definitely brought into vogue +by recent psychological investigations. Certain acts of crowds +are assuredly criminal, if considered merely in themselves, but +criminal in that case in the same way as the act of a tiger +devouring a Hindoo, after allowing its young to maul him for +their amusement. + +The usual motive of the crimes of crowds is a powerful +suggestion, and the individuals who take part in such crimes are +afterwards convinced that they have acted in obedience to duty, +which is far from being the case with the ordinary criminal. + +The history of the crimes committed by crowds illustrates what +precedes. + +The murder of M. de Launay, the governor of the Bastille, may be +cited as a typical example. After the taking of the fortress the +governor, surrounded by a very excited crowd, was dealt blows +from every direction. It was proposed to hang him, to cut off +his head, to tie him to a horse's tail. While struggling, he +accidently kicked one of those present. Some one proposed, and +his suggestion was at once received with acclamation by the +crowd, that the individual who had been kicked should cut the +governor's throat. + +"The individual in question, a cook out of work, whose chief +reason for being at the Bastille was idle curiosity as to what +was going on, esteems, that since such is the general opinion, +the action is patriotic and even believes he deserves a medal for +having destroyed a monster. With a sword that is lent him he +strikes the bared neck, but the weapon being somewhat blunt and +not cutting, he takes from his pocket a small black-handled knife +and (in his capacity of cook he would be experienced in cutting +up meat) successfully effects the operation." + +The working of the process indicated above is clearly seen in +this example. We have obedience to a suggestion, which is all +the stronger because of its collective origin, and the murderer's +conviction that he has committed a very meritorious act, a +conviction the more natural seeing that he enjoys the unanimous +approval of his fellow-citizens. An act of this kind may be +considered crime legally but not psychologically. + +The general characteristics of criminal crowds are precisely the +same as those we have met with in all crowds: openness to +suggestion, credulity, mobility, the exaggeration of the +sentiments good or bad, the manifestation of certain forms of +morality, &c. + +We shall find all these characteristics present in a crowd which +has left behind it in French history the most sinister +memories--the crowd which perpetrated the September massacres. +In point of fact it offers much similarity with the crowd that +committed the Saint Bartholomew massacres. I borrow the details +from the narration of M. Taine, who took them from contemporary +sources. + +It is not known exactly who gave the order or made the suggestion +to empty the prisons by massacring the prisoners. Whether it was +Danton, as is probable, or another does not matter; the one +interesting fact for us is the powerful suggestion received by +the crowd charged with the massacre. + +The crowd of murderers numbered some three hundred persons, and +was a perfectly typical heterogeneous crowd. With the exception +of a very small number of professional scoundrels, it was +composed in the main of shopkeepers and artisans of every trade: +bootmakers, locksmiths, hairdressers, masons, clerks, messengers, +&c. Under the influence of the suggestion received they are +perfectly convinced, as was the cook referred to above, that they +are accomplishing a patriotic duty. They fill a double office, +being at once judge and executioner, but they do not for a moment +regard themselves as criminals. + +Deeply conscious of the importance of their duty, they begin by +forming a sort of tribunal, and in connection with this act the +ingenuousness of crowds and their rudimentary conception of +justice are seen immediately. In consideration of the large +number of the accused, it is decided that, to begin with, the +nobles, priests, officers, and members of the king's +household--in a word, all the individuals whose mere profession +is proof of their guilt in the eyes of a good patriot--shall be +slaughtered in a body, there being no need for a special decision +in their case. The remainder shall be judged on their personal +appearance and their reputation. In this way the rudimentary +conscience of the crowd is satisfied. It will now be able to +proceed legally with the massacre, and to give free scope to +those instincts of ferocity whose genesis I have set forth +elsewhere, they being instincts which collectivities always have +it in them to develop to a high degree. These instincts, +however--as is regularly the case in crowds--will not prevent the +manifestation of other and contrary sentiments, such as a +tenderheartedness often as extreme as the ferocity. + +"They have the expansive sympathy and prompt sensibility of the +Parisian working man. At the Abbaye, one of the federates, +learning that the prisoners had been left without water for +twenty-six hours, was bent on putting the gaoler to death, and +would have done so but for the prayers of the prisoners +themselves. When a prisoner is acquitted (by the improvised +tribunal) every one, guards and slaughterers included, embraces +him with transports of joy and applauds frantically," after which +the wholesale massacre is recommenced. During its progress a +pleasant gaiety never ceases to reign. There is dancing and +singing around the corpses, and benches are arranged "for the +ladies," delighted to witness the killing of aristocrats. The +exhibition continues, moreover, of a special description of +justice. + +A slaughterer at the Abbaye having complained that the ladies +placed at a little distance saw badly, and that only a few of +those present had the pleasure of striking the aristocrats, the +justice of the observation is admitted, and it is decided that +the victims shall be made to pass slowly between two rows of +slaughterers, who shall be under the obligation to strike with +the back of the sword only so as to prolong the agony. At the +prison de la Force the victims are stripped stark naked and +literally "carved" for half an hour, after which, when every one +has had a good view, they are finished off by a blow that lays +bare their entrails. + +The slaughterers, too, have their scruples and exhibit that moral +sense whose existence in crowds we have already pointed out. +They refuse to appropriate the money and jewels of the victims, +taking them to the table of the committees. + +Those rudimentary forms of reasoning, characteristic of the mind +of crowds, are always to be traced in all their acts. Thus, +after the slaughter of the 1,200 or 1,500 enemies of the nation, +some one makes the remark, and his suggestion is at once adopted, +that the other prisons, those containing aged beggars, vagabonds, +and young prisoners, hold in reality useless mouths, of which it +would be well on that account to get rid. Besides, among them +there should certainly be enemies of the people, a woman of the +name of Delarue, for instance, the widow of a poisoner: "She +must be furious at being in prison, if she could she would set +fire to Paris: she must have said so, she has said so. Another +good riddance." The demonstration appears convincing, and the +prisoners are massacred without exception, included in the number +being some fifty children of from twelve to seventeen years of +age, who, of course, might themselves have become enemies of the +nation, and of whom in consequence it was clearly well to be rid. + +At the end of a week's work, all these operations being brought +to an end, the slaughterers can think of reposing themselves. +Profoundly convinced that they have deserved well of their +country, they went to the authorities and demanded a recompense. +The most zealous went so far as to claim a medal. + +The history of the Commune of 1871 affords several facts +analogous to those which precede. Given the growing influence of +crowds and the successive capitulations before them of those in +authority, we are destined to witness many others of a like +nature. + + +CHAPTER III + +CRIMINAL JURIES + +Criminal juries--General characteristics of juries--statistics +show that their decisions are independent of their +composition--The manner in which an impression may be made on +juries--The style and influence of argument--The methods of +persuasion of celebrated counsel--The nature of those crimes for +which juries are respectively indulgent or severe--The utility of +the jury as an institution, and the danger that would result from +its place being taken by magistrates. + + +Being unable to study here every category of jury, I shall only +examine the most important--that of the juries of the Court of +Assize. These juries afford an excellent example of the +heterogeneous crowd that is not anonymous. We shall find them +display suggestibility and but slight capacity for reasoning, +while they are open to the influence of the leaders of crowds, +and they are guided in the main by unconscious sentiments. In +the course of this investigation we shall have occasion to +observe some interesting examples of the errors that may be made +by persons not versed in the psychology of crowds. + +Juries, in the first place, furnish us a good example of the +slight importance of the mental level of the different elements +composing a crowd, so far as the decisions it comes to are +concerned. We have seen that when a deliberative assembly is +called upon to give its opinion on a question of a character not +entirely technical, intelligence stands for nothing. For +instance, a gathering of scientific men or of artists, owing to +the mere fact that they form an assemblage, will not deliver +judgments on general subjects sensibly different from those +rendered by a gathering of masons or grocers. At various +periods, and in particular previous to 1848, the French +administration instituted a careful choice among the persons +summoned to form a jury, picking the jurors from among the +enlightened classes; choosing professors, functionaries, men of +letters, &c. At the present day jurors are recruited for the +most part from among small tradesmen, petty capitalists, and +employes. Yet, to the great astonishment of specialist writers, +whatever the composition of the jury has been, its decisions have +been identical. Even the magistrates, hostile as they are to the +institution of the jury, have had to recognise the exactness of +the assertion. M. Berard des Glajeux, a former President of the +Court of Assizes, expresses himself on the subject in his +"Memoirs" in the following terms:-- + + +"The selection of jurymen is to-day in reality in the hands of +the municipal councillors, who put people down on the list or +eliminate them from it in accordance with the political and +electoral preoccupations inherent in their situation. . . . The +majority of the jurors chosen are persons engaged in trade, but +persons of less importance than formerly, and employes belonging +to certain branches of the administration. . . . Both opinions +and professions counting for nothing once the role of judge +assumed, many of the jurymen having the ardour of neophytes, and +men of the best intentions being similarly disposed in humble +situations, the spirit of the jury has not changed: ITS VERDICTS +HAVE REMAINED THE SAME." + + +Of the passage just cited the conclusions, which are just, are to +be borne in mind and not the explanations, which are weak. Too +much astonishment should not be felt at this weakness, for, as a +rule, counsel equally with magistrates seem to be ignorant of the +psychology of crowds and, in consequence, of juries. I find a +proof of this statement in a fact related by the author just +quoted. He remarks that Lachaud, one of the most illustrious +barristers practising in the Court of Assize, made systematic use +of his right to object to a juror in the case of all individuals +of intelligence on the list. Yet experience--and experience +alone--has ended by acquainting us with the utter uselessness of +these objections. This is proved by the fact that at the present +day public prosecutors and barristers, at any rate those +belonging to the Parisian bar, have entirely renounced their +right to object to a juror; still, as M. des Glajeux remarks, the +verdicts have not changed, "they are neither better nor worse." + +Like all crowds, juries are very strongly impressed by +sentimental considerations, and very slightly by argument. "They +cannot resist the sight," writes a barrister, "of a mother giving +its child the breast, or of orphans." "It is sufficient that a +woman should be of agreeable appearance," says M. des Glajeux, +"to win the benevolence of the jury." + +Without pity for crimes of which it appears possible they might +themselves be the victims--such crimes, moreover, are the most +dangerous for society--juries, on the contrary, are very +indulgent in the case of breaches of the law whose motive is +passion. They are rarely severe on infanticide by girl-mothers, +or hard on the young woman who throws vitriol at the man who has +seduced and deserted her, for the reason that they feel +instinctively that society runs but slight danger from such +crimes,[24] and that in a country in which the law does not +protect deserted girls the crime of the girl who avenges herself +is rather useful than harmful, inasmuch as it frightens future +seducers in advance. + + +[24] It is to be remarked, in passing, that this division of +crimes into those dangerous and those not dangerous for society, +which is well and instinctively made by juries is far from being +unjust. The object of criminal laws is evidently to protect +society against dangerous criminals and not to avenge it. On the +other hand, the French code, and above all the minds of the +French magistrates, are still deeply imbued with the spirit of +vengeance characteristic of the old primitive law, and the term +"vindicte" (prosecution, from the Latin vindicta, vengeance) is +still in daily use. A proof of this tendency on the part of the +magistrates is found in the refusal by many of them to apply +Berenger's law, which allows of a condemned person not undergoing +his sentence unless he repeats his crime. Yet no magistrate can +be ignorant, for the fact is proved by statistics, that the +application of a punishment inflicted for the first time +infallibly leads to further crime on the part of the person +punished. When judges set free a sentenced person it always +seems to them that society has not been avenged. Rather than not +avenge it they prefer to create a dangerous, confirmed criminal. + + + +Juries, like all crowds, are profoundly impressed by prestige, +and President des Glajeux very properly remarks that, very +democratic as juries are in their composition, they are very +aristocratic in their likes and dislikes: "Name, birth, great +wealth, celebrity, the assistance of an illustrious counsel, +everything in the nature of distinction or that lends brilliancy +to the accused, stands him in extremely good stead." + +The chief concern of a good counsel should be to work upon the +feelings of the jury, and, as with all crowds, to argue but +little, or only to employ rudimentary modes of reasoning. An +English barrister, famous for his successes in the assize courts, +has well set forth the line of action to be followed:-- + + +"While pleading he would attentively observe the jury. The most +favourable opportunity has been reached. By dint of insight and +experience the counsel reads the effect of each phrase on the +faces of the jurymen, and draws his conclusions in consequence. +His first step is to be sure which members of the jury are +already favourable to his cause. It is short work to definitely +gain their adhesion, and having done so he turns his attention to +the members who seem, on the contrary, ill-disposed, and +endeavours to discover why they are hostile to the accused. This +is the delicate part of his task, for there may be an infinity of +reasons for condemning a man, apart from the sentiment of +justice." + + +These few lines resume the entire mechanism of the art of +oratory, and we see why the speech prepared in advance has so +slight an effect, it being necessary to be able to modify the +terms employed from moment to moment in accordance with the +impression produced. + +The orator does not require to convert to his views all the +members of a jury, but only the leading spirits among it who will +determine the general opinion. As in all crowds, so in juries +there are a small number of individuals who serve as guides to +the rest. "I have found by experience," says the counsel cited +above, "that one or two energetic men suffice to carry the rest +of the jury with them." It is those two or three whom it is +necessary to convince by skilful suggestions. First of all, and +above all, it is necessary to please them. The man forming part +of a crowd whom one has succeeded in pleasing is on the point of +being convinced, and is quite disposed to accept as excellent any +arguments that may be offered him. I detach the following +anecdote from an interesting account of M. Lachaud, alluded to +above:-- + + +"It is well known that during all the speeches he would deliver +in the course of an assize sessions, Lachaud never lost sight of +the two or three jurymen whom he knew or felt to be influential +but obstinate. As a rule he was successful in winning over these +refractory jurors. On one occasion, however, in the provinces, +he had to deal with a juryman whom he plied in vain for +three-quarters of an hour with his most cunning arguments; the +man was the seventh juryman, the first on the second bench. The +case was desperate. Suddenly, in the middle of a passionate +demonstration, Lachaud stopped short, and addressing the +President of the court said: `Would you give instructions for +the curtain there in front to be drawn? The seventh juryman is +blinded by the sun.' The juryman in question reddened, smiled, +and expressed his thanks. He was won over for the defence." + + +Many writers, some of them most distinguished, have started of +late a strong campaign against the institution of the jury, +although it is the only protection we have against the errors, +really very frequent, of a caste that is under no control.[25] A +portion of these writers advocate a jury recruited solely from +the ranks of the enlightened classes; but we have already proved +that even in this case the verdicts would be identical with those +returned under the present system. Other writers, taking their +stand on the errors committed by juries, would abolish the jury +and replace it by judges. It is difficult to see how these +would-be reformers can forget that the errors for which the jury +is blamed were committed in the first instance by judges, and +that when the accused person comes before a jury he has already +been held to be guilty by several magistrates, by the juge +d'instruction, the public prosecutor, and the Court of +Arraignment. It should thus be clear that were the accused to be +definitely judged by magistrates instead of by jurymen, he would +lose his only chance of being admitted innocent. The errors of +juries have always been first of all the errors of magistrates. +It is solely the magistrates, then, who should be blamed when +particularly monstrous judicial errors crop up, such, for +instance, as the quite recent condemnation of Dr. L---- who, +prosecuted by a juge d'instruction, of excessive stupidity, on +the strength of the denunciation of a half-idiot girl, who +accused the doctor of having performed an illegal operation upon +her for thirty francs, would have been sent to penal servitude +but for an explosion of public indignation, which had for result +that he was immediately set at liberty by the Chief of the State. +The honourable character given the condemned man by all his +fellow-citizens made the grossness of the blunder self-evident. +The magistrates themselves admitted it, and yet out of caste +considerations they did all they could to prevent the pardon +being signed. In all similar affairs the jury, confronted with +technical details it is unable to understand, naturally hearkens +to the public prosecutor, arguing that, after all, the affair has +been investigated by magistrates trained to unravel the most +intricate situations. Who, then, are the real authors of the +error--the jurymen or the magistrates? We should cling +vigorously to the jury. It constitutes, perhaps, the only +category of crowd that cannot be replaced by any individuality. +It alone can temper the severity of the law, which, equal for +all, ought in principle to be blind and to take no cognisance of +particular cases. Inaccessible to pity, and heeding nothing but +the text of the law, the judge in his professional severity would +visit with the same penalty the burglar guilty of murder and the +wretched girl whom poverty and her abandonment by her seducer +have driven to infanticide. The jury, on the other hand, +instinctively feels that the seduced girl is much less guilty +than the seducer, who, however, is not touched by the law, and +that she deserves every indulgence. + + +[25] The magistracy is, in point of fact, the only administration +whose acts are under no control. In spite of all its +revolutions, democratic France does not possess that right of +habeas corpus of which England is so proud. We have banished all +the tyrants, but have set up a magistrate in each city who +disposes at will of the honour and liberty of the citizens. An +insignificant juge d'instruction (an examining magistrate who has +no exact counterpart in England.--Trans.), fresh from the +university, possesses the revolting power of sending to prison at +will persons of the most considerable standing, on a simple +supposition on his part of their guilt, and without being obliged +to justify his act to any one. Under the pretext of pursuing his +investigation he can keep these persons in prison for six months +or even a year, and free them at last without owing them either +an indemnity or excuses. The warrant in France is the exact +equivalent of the lettre de cachet, with this difference, that +the latter, with the use of which the monarchy was so justly +reproached, could only be resorted to by persons occupying a very +high position, while the warrant is an instrument in the hands of +a whole class of citizens which is far from passing for being +very enlightened or very independent. + + + +Being well acquainted with the psychology of castes, and also +with the psychology of other categories of crowds, I do not +perceive a single case in which, wrongly accused of a crime, I +should not prefer to have to deal with a jury rather than with +magistrates. I should have some chance that my innocence would +be recognised by the former and not the slightest chance that it +would be admitted by the latter. The power of crowds is to be +dreaded, but the power of certain castes is to be dreaded yet +more. Crowds are open to conviction; castes never are. + + +CHAPTER IV + +ELECTORAL CROWDS + +General characteristics of electoral crowds--The manner of +persuading them--The qualities that should be possessed by a +candidate--Necessity of prestige--Why working men and peasants so +rarely choose candidates from their own class--The influence of +words and formulas on the elector--The general aspect of election +oratory--How the opinions of the elector are formed--The power of +political committees--They represent the most redoubtable form of +tyranny--The committees of the Revolution-- Universal suffrage +cannot be replaced in spite of its slight psychological +value--Why it is that the votes recorded would remain the same +even if the right of voting were restricted to a limited class of +citizens--What universal suffrage expresses in all countries. + + +ELECTORAL crowds--that is to say, collectivities invested with +the power of electing the holders of certain +functions--constitute heterogeneous crowds, but as their action +is confined to a single clearly determined matter, namely, to +choosing between different candidates, they present only a few of +the characteristics previously described. Of the characteristics +peculiar to crowds, they display in particular but slight +aptitude for reasoning, the absence of the critical spirit, +irritability, credulity, and simplicity. In their decision, +moreover, is to be traced the influence of the leaders of crowds +and the part played by the factors we have enumerated: +affirmation, repetition, prestige, and contagion. + +Let us examine by what methods electoral crowds are to be +persuaded. It will be easy to deduce their psychology from the +methods that are most successful. + +It is of primary importance that the candidate should possess +prestige. Personal prestige can only be replaced by that +resulting from wealth. Talent and even genius are not elements +of success of serious importance. + +Of capital importance, on the other hand, is the necessity for +the candidate of possessing prestige, of being able, that is, to +force himself upon the electorate without discussion. The reason +why the electors, of whom a majority are working men or peasants, +so rarely choose a man from their own ranks to represent them is +that such a person enjoys no prestige among them. When, by +chance, they do elect a man who is their equal, it is as a rule +for subsidiary reasons--for instance, to spite an eminent man, or +an influential employer of labour on whom the elector is in daily +dependence, and whose master he has the illusion he becomes in +this way for a moment. + +The possession of prestige does not suffice, however, to assure +the success of a candidate. The elector stickles in particular +for the flattery of his greed and vanity. He must be overwhelmed +with the most extravagant blandishments, and there must be no +hesitation in making him the most fantastic promises. If he is a +working man it is impossible to go too far in insulting and +stigmatising employers of labour. As for the rival candidate, an +effort must be made to destroy his chance by establishing by dint +of affirmation, repetition, and contagion that he is an arrant +scoundrel, and that it is a matter of common knowledge that he +has been guilty of several crimes. It is, of course, useless to +trouble about any semblance of proof. Should the adversary be +ill-acquainted with the psychology of crowds he will try to +justify himself by arguments instead of confining himself to +replying to one set of affirmations by another; and he will have +no chance whatever of being successful. + +The candidate's written programme should not be too categorical, +since later on his adversaries might bring it up against him; in +his verbal programme, however, there cannot be too much +exaggeration. The most important reforms may be fearlessly +promised. At the moment they are made these exaggerations +produce a great effect, and they are not binding for the future, +it being a matter of constant observation that the elector never +troubles himself to know how far the candidate he has returned +has followed out the electoral programme he applauded, and in +virtue of which the election was supposed to have been secured. + +In what precedes, all the factors of persuasion which we have +described are to be recognised. We shall come across them again +in the action exerted by words and formulas, whose magical sway +we have already insisted upon. An orator who knows how to make +use of these means of persuasion can do what he will with a +crowd. Expressions such as infamous capital, vile exploiters, +the admirable working man, the socialisation of wealth, &c., +always produce the same effect, although already somewhat worn by +use. But the candidate who hits on a new formula as devoid as +possible of precise meaning, and apt in consequence to flatter +the most varied aspirations, infallibly obtains a success. The +sanguinary Spanish revolution of 1873 was brought about by one of +these magical phrases of complex meaning on which everybody can +put his own interpretation. A contemporary writer has described +the launching of this phrase in terms that deserve to be +quoted:-- + + +"The radicals have made the discovery that a centralised republic +is a monarchy in disguise, and to humour them the Cortes had +unanimously proclaimed a FEDERAL REPUBLIC, though none of the +voters could have explained what it was he had just voted for. +This formula, however, delighted everybody; the joy was +intoxicating, delirious. The reign of virtue and happiness had +just been inaugurated on earth. A republican whose opponent +refused him the title of federalist considered himself to be +mortally insulted. People addressed each other in the streets +with the words: `Long live the federal republic!' After which +the praises were sung of the mystic virtue of the absence of +discipline in the army, and of the autonomy of the soldiers. +What was understood by the `federal republic?' There were those +who took it to mean the emancipation of the provinces, +institutions akin to those of the United States and +administrative decentralisation; others had in view the abolition +of all authority and the speedy commencement of the great social +liquidation. The socialists of Barcelona and Andalusia stood out +for the absolute sovereignty of the communes; they proposed to +endow Spain with ten thousand independent municipalities, to +legislate on their own account, and their creation to be +accompanied by the suppression of the police and the army. In +the southern provinces the insurrection was soon seen to spread +from town to town and village to village. Directly a village had +made its pronunciamento its first care was to destroy the +telegraph wires and the railway lines so as to cut off all +communication with its neighbours and Madrid. The sorriest +hamlet was determined to stand on its own bottom. Federation had +given place to cantonalism, marked by massacres, incendiarism, +and every description of brutality, and bloody saturnalia were +celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the land." + + +With respect to the influence that may be exerted by reasoning on +the minds of electors, to harbour the least doubt on this subject +can only be the result of never having read the reports of an +electioneering meeting. In such a gathering affirmations, +invectives, and sometimes blows are exchanged, but never +arguments. Should silence be established for a moment it is +because some one present, having the reputation of a "tough +customer," has announced that he is about to heckle the candidate +by putting him one of those embarrassing questions which are +always the joy of the audience. The satisfaction, however, of +the opposition party is shortlived, for the voice of the +questioner is soon drowned in the uproar made by his adversaries. +The following reports of public meetings, chosen from hundreds of +similar examples, and taken from the daily papers, may be +considered as typical:-- + +"One of the organisers of the meeting having asked the assembly +to elect a president, the storm bursts. The anarchists leap on +to the platform to take the committee table by storm. The +socialists make an energetic defence; blows are exchanged, and +each party accuses the other of being spies in the pay of the +Government, &c. . . . A citizen leaves the hall with a black +eye. + +"The committee is at length installed as best it may be in the +midst of the tumult, and the right to speak devolves upon +`Comrade' X. + +"The orator starts a vigorous attack on the socialists, who +interrupt him with shouts of `Idiot, scoundrel, blackguard!' &c., +epithets to which Comrade X. replies by setting forth a theory +according to which the socialists are `idiots' or `jokers.'" + +"The Allemanist party had organised yesterday evening, in the +Hall of Commerce, in the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, a great +meeting, preliminary to the workers' fete of the 1st of May. The +watchword of the meeting was `Calm and Tranquillity!' + +"Comrade G---- alludes to the socialists as `idiots' and +`humbugs.' + +"At these words there is an exchange of invectives and orators +and audience come to blows. Chairs, tables, and benches are +converted into weapons," &c., &c. + + +It is not to be imagined for a moment that this description of +discussion is peculiar to a determined class of electors and +dependent on their social position. In every anonymous assembly +whatever, though it be composed exclusively of highly educated +persons, discussion always assumes the same shape. I have shown +that when men are collected in a crowd there is a tendency +towards their mental levelling at work, and proof of this is to +be found at every turn. Take, for example, the following extract +from a report of a meeting composed exclusively of students, +which I borrow from the Temps of 13th of February, 1895:-- + + +"The tumult only increased as the evening went on; I do not +believe that a single orator succeeded in uttering two sentences +without being interrupted. At every instant there came shouts +from this or that direction or from every direction at once. +Applause was intermingled with hissing, violent discussions were +in progress between individual members of the audience, sticks +were brandished threateningly, others beat a tattoo on the floor, +and the interrupters were greeted with yells of `Put him out!' or +`Let him speak!' + +"M. C---- lavished such epithets as odious and cowardly, +monstrous, vile, venal and vindictive, on the Association, which +he declared he wanted to destroy," &c., &c. + + +How, it may be asked, can an elector form an opinion under such +conditions? To put such a question is to harbour a strange +delusion as to the measure of liberty that may be enjoyed by a +collectivity. Crowds have opinions that have been imposed upon +them, but they never boast reasoned opinions. In the case under +consideration the opinions and votes of the electors are in the +hands of the election committees, whose leading spirits are, as a +rule, publicans, their influence over the working men, to whom +they allow credit, being great. "Do you know what an election +committee is?" writes M. Scherer, one of the most valiant +champions of present-day democracy. "It is neither more nor less +than the corner-stone of our institutions, the masterpiece of the +political machine. France is governed to-day by the election +committees."[26] + + +[26] Committees under whatever name, clubs, syndicates, &c., +constitute perhaps the most redoubtable danger resulting from the +power of crowds. They represent in reality the most impersonal +and, in consequence, the most oppressive form of tyranny. The +leaders who direct the committees being supposed to speak and act +in the name of a collectivity, are freed from all responsibility, +and are in a position to do just as they choose. The most savage +tyrant has never ventured even to dream of such proscriptions as +those ordained by the committees of the Revolution. Barras has +declared that they decimated the convention, picking off its +members at their pleasure. So long as he was able to speak in +their name, Robespierre wielded absolute power. The moment this +frightful dictator separated himself from them, for reasons of +personal pride, he was lost. The reign of crowds is the reign of +committees, that is, of the leaders of crowds. A severer +despotism cannot be imagined. + + + +To exert an influence over them is not difficult, provided the +candidate be in himself acceptable and possess adequate financial +resources. According to the admissions of the donors, three +millions of francs sufficed to secure the repeated elections of +General Boulanger. + +Such is the psychology of electoral crowds. It is identical with +that of other crowds: neither better nor worse. + +In consequence I draw no conclusion against universal suffrage +from what precedes. Had I to settle its fate, I should preserve +it as it is for practical reasons, which are to be deduced in +point of fact from our investigation of the psychology of crowds. +On this account I shall proceed to set them forth. + +No doubt the weak side of universal suffrage is too obvious to be +overlooked. It cannot be gainsaid that civilisation has been the +work of a small minority of superior intelligences constituting +the culminating point of a pyramid, whose stages, widening in +proportion to the decrease of mental power, represent the masses +of a nation. The greatness of a civilisation cannot assuredly +depend upon the votes given by inferior elements boasting solely +numerical strength. Doubtless, too, the votes recorded by crowds +are often very dangerous. They have already cost us several +invasions, and in view of the triumph of socialism, for which +they are preparing the way, it is probable that the vagaries of +popular sovereignty will cost us still more dearly. + +Excellent, however, as these objections are in theory, in +practice they lose all force, as will be admitted if the +invincible strength be remembered of ideas transformed into +dogmas. The dogma of the sovereignty of crowds is as little +defensible, from the philosophical point of view, as the +religious dogmas of the Middle Ages, but it enjoys at present the +same absolute power they formerly enjoyed. It is as unattackable +in consequence as in the past were our religious ideas. Imagine +a modern freethinker miraculously transported into the midst of +the Middle Ages. Do you suppose that, after having ascertained +the sovereign power of the religious ideas that were then in +force, he would have been tempted to attack them? Having fallen +into the hands of a judge disposed to send him to the stake, +under the imputation of having concluded a pact with the devil, +or of having been present at the witches sabbath, would it have +occurred to him to call in question the existence of the devil or +of the sabbath? It were as wise to oppose cyclones with +discussion as the beliefs of crowds. The dogma of universal +suffrage possesses to-day the power the Christian dogmas formerly +possessed. Orators and writers allude to it with a respect and +adulation that never fell to the share of Louis XIV. In +consequence the same position must be taken up with regard to it +as with regard to all religious dogmas. Time alone can act upon +them. + +Besides, it would be the more useless to attempt to undermine +this dogma, inasmuch as it has an appearance of reasonableness in +its favour. "In an era of equality," Tocqueville justly remarks, +"men have no faith in each other on account of their being all +alike; yet this same similitude gives them an almost limitless +confidence in the judgment of the public, the reason being that +it does not appear probable that, all men being equally +enlightened, truth and numerical superiority should not go hand +in hand." + +Must it be believed that with a restricted suffrage--a suffrage +restricted to those intellectually capable if it be desired--an +improvement would be effected in the votes of crowds? I cannot +admit for a moment that this would be the case, and that for the +reasons I have already given touching the mental inferiority of +all collectivities, whatever their composition. In a crowd men +always tend to the same level, and, on general questions, a vote, +recorded by forty academicians is no better than that of forty +water-carriers. I do not in the least believe that any of the +votes for which universal suffrage is blamed--the +re-establishment of the Empire, for instance-- would have fallen +out differently had the voters been exclusively recruited among +learned and liberally educated men. It does not follow because +an individual knows Greek or mathematics, is an architect, a +veterinary surgeon, a doctor, or a barrister, that he is endowed +with a special intelligence of social questions. All our +political economists are highly educated, being for the most part +professors or academicians, yet is there a single general +question--protection, bimetallism, &c.--on which they have +succeeded in agreeing? The explanation is that their science is +only a very attenuated form of our universal ignorance. With +regard to social problems, owing to the number of unknown +quantities they offer, men are substantially, equally ignorant. + +In consequence, were the electorate solely composed of persons +stuffed with sciences their votes would be no better than those +emitted at present. They would be guided in the main by their +sentiments and by party spirit. We should be spared none of the +difficulties we now have to contend with, and we should certainly +be subjected to the oppressive tyranny of castes. + +Whether the suffrage of crowds be restricted or general, whether +it be exercised under a republic or a monarchy, in France, in +Belgium, in Greece, in Portugal, or in Spain, it is everywhere +identical; and, when all is said and done, it is the expression +of the unconscious aspirations and needs of the race. In each +country the average opinions of those elected represent the +genius of the race, and they will be found not to alter sensibly +from one generation to another. + +It is seen, then, that we are confronted once more by the +fundamental notion of race, which we have come across so often, +and on this other notion, which is the outcome of the first, that +institutions and governments play but a small part in the life of +a people. Peoples are guided in the main by the genius of their +race, that is, by that inherited residue of qualities of which +the genius is the sum total. Race and the slavery of our daily +necessities are the mysterious master-causes that rule our +destiny. + + +CHAPTER V + +PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES + +Parliamentary crowds present most of the characteristics common +to heterogeneous crowds that are not anonymous--The simplicity of +their opinions--Their suggestibility and its limits--Their +indestructible, fixed opinions and their changed opinions--The +reason of the predominance of indecision--The role of the +leaders--The reason of their prestige--They are the true masters +of an assembly whose votes, on that account, are merely those of +a small minority--The absolute power they exercise--The elements +of their oratorical art--Phrases and images--The psychological +necessity the leaders are under of being in a general way of +stubborn convictions and narrow-minded--It is impossible for a +speaker without prestige to obtain recognition for his +arguments-- The exaggeration of the sentiments, whether good or +bad, of assemblies-- At certain moments they become +automatic--The sittings of the Convention--Cases in which an +assembly loses the characteristics of crowds--The influence of +specialists when technical questions arise--The advantages and +dangers of a parliamentary system in all countries--It is adapted +to modern needs; but it involves financial waste and the +progressive curtailment of all liberty--Conclusion. + + +In parliamentary assemblies we have an example of heterogeneous +crowds that are not anonymous. Although the mode of election of +their members varies from epoch to epoch, and from nation to +nation, they present very similar characteristics. In this case +the influence of the race makes itself felt to weaken or +exaggerate the characteristics common to crowds, but not to +prevent their manifestation. The parliamentary assemblies of the +most widely different countries, of Greece, Italy, Portugal, +Spain, France, and America present great analogies in their +debates and votes, and leave the respective governments face to +face with identical difficulties. + +Moreover, the parliamentary system represents the ideal of all +modern civilised peoples. The system is the expression of the +idea, psychologically erroneous, but generally admitted, that a +large gathering of men is much more capable than a small number +of coming to a wise and independent decision on a given subject. + +The general characteristics of crowds are to be met with in +parliamentary assemblies: intellectual simplicity, irritability, +suggestibility, the exaggeration of the sentiments and the +preponderating influence of a few leaders. In consequence, +however, of their special composition parliamentary crowds offer +some distinctive features, which we shall point out shortly. + +Simplicity in their opinions is one of their most important +characteristics. In the case of all parties, and more especially +so far as the Latin peoples are concerned, an invariable tendency +is met with in crowds of this kind to solve the most complicated +social problems by the simplest abstract principles and general +laws applicable to all cases. Naturally the principles vary with +the party; but owing to the mere fact that the individual members +are a part of a crowd, they are always inclined to exaggerate the +worth of their principles, and to push them to their extreme +consequences. In consequence parliaments are more especially +representative of extreme opinions. + +The most perfect example of the ingenuous simplification of +opinions peculiar to assemblies is offered by the Jacobins of the +French Revolution. Dogmatic and logical to a man, and their +brains full of vague generalities, they busied themselves with +the application of fixed-principles without concerning themselves +with events. It has been said of them, with reason, that they +went through the Revolution without witnessing it. With the aid +of the very simple dogmas that served them as guide, they +imagined they could recast society from top to bottom, and cause +a highly refined civilisation to return to a very anterior phase +of the social evolution. The methods they resorted to to realise +their dream wore the same stamp of absolute ingenuousness. They +confined themselves, in reality, to destroying what stood in +their way. All of them, moreover--Girondists, the Men of the +Mountain, the Thermidorians, &c.--were alike animated by the same +spirit. + +Parliamentary crowds are very open to suggestion; and, as in the +case of all crowds, the suggestion comes from leaders possessing +prestige; but the suggestibility of parliamentary assemblies has +very clearly defined limits, which it is important to point out. + +On all questions of local or regional interest every member of an +assembly has fixed, unalterable opinions, which no amount of +argument can shake. The talent of a Demosthenes would be +powerless to change the vote of a Deputy on such questions as +protection or the privilege of distilling alcohol, questions in +which the interests of influential electors are involved. The +suggestion emanating from these electors and undergone before the +time to vote arrives, sufficiently outweighs suggestions from any +other source to annul them and to maintain an absolute fixity of +opinion.[27] + + +[27] The following reflection of an English parliamentarian of +long experience doubtless applies to these opinions, fixed +beforehand, and rendered unalterable by electioneering +necessities: "During the fifty years that I have sat at +Westminster, I have listened to thousands of speeches; but few of +them have changed my opinion, not one of them has changed my +vote." + + + +On general questions--the overthrow of a Cabinet, the imposition +of a tax, &c.--there is no longer any fixity of opinion, and the +suggestions of leaders can exert an influence, though not in +quite the same way as in an ordinary crowd. Every party has its +leaders, who possess occasionally an equal influence. The result +is that the Deputy finds himself placed between two contrary +suggestions, and is inevitably made to hesitate. This explains +how it is that he is often seen to vote in contrary fashion in an +interval of a quarter of an hour or to add to a law an article +which nullifies it; for instance, to withdraw from employers of +labour the right of choosing and dismissing their workmen, and +then to very nearly annul this measure by an amendment. + +It is for the same reason that every Chamber that is returned has +some very stable opinions, and other opinions that are very +shifting. On the whole, the general questions being the more +numerous, indecision is predominant in the Chamber--the +indecision which results from the ever- present fear of the +elector, the suggestion received from whom is always latent, and +tends to counterbalance the influence of the leaders. + +Still, it is the leaders who are definitely the masters in those +numerous discussions, with regard to the subject-matter of which +the members of an assembly are without strong preconceived +opinions. + +The necessity for these leaders is evident, since, under the name +of heads of groups, they are met with in the assemblies of every +country. They are the real rulers of an assembly. Men forming a +crowd cannot do without a master, whence it results that the +votes of an assembly only represent, as a rule, the opinions of a +small minority. + +The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the +arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. +The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance +lose their prestige, their influence disappears. + +The prestige of these political leaders is individual, and +independent of name or celebrity: a fact of which M. Jules Simon +gives us some very curious examples in his remarks on the +prominent men of the Assembly of 1848, of which he was a +member:-- + + +"Two months before he was all-powerful, Louis Napoleon was +entirely without the least importance. + +"Victor Hugo mounted the tribune. He failed to achieve success. +He was listened to as Felix Pyat was listened to, but he did not +obtain as much applause. `I don't like his ideas,' Vaulabelle +said to me, speaking of Felix Pyat,' but he is one of the +greatest writers and the greatest orator of France.' Edgar +Quinet, in spite of his exceptional and powerful intelligence, +was held in no esteem whatever. He had been popular for awhile +before the opening of the Assembly; in the Assembly he had no +popularity. + +"The splendour of genius makes itself less felt in political +assemblies than anywhere else. They only give heed to eloquence +appropriate to the time and place and to party services, not to +services rendered the country. For homage to be rendered +Lamartine in 1848 and Thiers in 1871, the stimulant was needed of +urgent, inexorable interest. As soon as the danger was passed +the parliamentary world forgot in the same instant its gratitude +and its fright." + + +I have quoted the preceding passage for the sake of the facts it +contains, not of the explanations it offers, their psychology +being somewhat poor. A crowd would at once lose its character of +a crowd were it to credit its leaders with their services, +whether of a party nature or rendered their country. The crowd +that obeys a leader is under the influence of his prestige, and +its submission is not dictated by any sentiment of interest or +gratitude. + +In consequence the leader endowed with sufficient prestige wields +almost absolute power. The immense influence exerted during a +long series of years, thanks to his prestige, by a celebrated +Deputy,[28] beaten at the last general election in consequence of +certain financial events, is well known. He had only to give the +signal and Cabinets were overthrown. A writer has clearly +indicated the scope of his action in the following lines:-- + + +[28] M. Clemenceau.--Note of the Translator. + + + +"It is due, in the main, to M. X---- that we paid three times as +dearly as we should have done for Tonkin, that we remained so +long on a precarious footing in Madagascar, that we were +defrauded of an empire in the region of the Lower Niger, and that +we have lost the preponderating situation we used to occupy in +Egypt. The theories of M. X---- have cost us more territories +than the disasters of Napoleon I." + + +We must not harbour too bitter a grudge against the leader in +question. It is plain that he has cost us very dear; but a great +part of his influence was due to the fact that he followed public +opinion, which, in colonial matters, was far from being at the +time what it has since become. A leader is seldom in advance of +public opinion; almost always all he does is to follow it and to +espouse all its errors. + +The means of persuasion of the leaders we are dealing with, apart +from their prestige, consist in the factors we have already +enumerated several times. To make a skilful use of these +resources a leader must have arrived at a comprehension, at least +in an unconscious manner, of the psychology of crowds, and must +know how to address them. He should be aware, in particular, of +the fascinating influence of words, phrases, and images. He +should possess a special description of eloquence, composed of +energetic affirmations--unburdened with proofs-- and impressive +images, accompanied by very summary arguments. This is a kind of +eloquence that is met with in all assemblies, the English +Parliament included, the most serious though it is of all. + + +"Debates in the House of Commons," says the English philosopher +Maine, "may be constantly read in which the entire discussion is +confined to an exchange of rather weak generalities and rather +violent personalities. General formulas of this description +exercise a prodigious influence on the imagination of a pure +democracy. It will always be easy to make a crowd accept general +assertions, presented in striking terms, although they have never +been verified, and are perhaps not susceptible of verification." + + +Too much importance cannot be attached to the "striking terms" +alluded to in the above quotation. We have already insisted, on +several occasions, on the special power of words and formulas. +They must be chosen in such a way as to evoke very vivid images. +The following phrase, taken from a speech by one of the leaders +of our assemblies, affords an excellent example:-- + + +"When the same vessel shall bear away to the fever-haunted lands +of our penitentiary settlements the politician of shady +reputation and the anarchist guilty of murder, the pair will be +able to converse together, and they will appear to each other as +the two complementary aspects of one and the same state of +society." + + +The image thus evoked is very vivid, and all the adversaries of +the speaker felt themselves threatened by it. They conjured up a +double vision of the fever-haunted country and the vessel that +may carry them away; for is it not possible that they are +included in the somewhat ill-defined category of the politicians +menaced? They experienced the lurking fear that the men of the +Convention must have felt whom the vague speeches of Robespierre +threatened with the guillotine, and who, under the influence of +this fear, invariably yielded to him. + +It is all to the interest of the leaders to indulge in the most +improbable exaggerations. The speaker of whom I have just cited +a sentence was able to affirm, without arousing violent +protestations, that bankers and priests had subsidised the +throwers of bombs, and that the directors of the great financial +companies deserve the same punishment as anarchists. +Affirmations of this kind are always effective with crowds. The +affirmation is never too violent, the declamation never too +threatening. Nothing intimidates the audience more than this +sort of eloquence. Those present are afraid that if they protest +they will be put down as traitors or accomplices. + +As I have said, this peculiar style of eloquence has ever been of +sovereign effect in all assemblies. In times of crisis its power +is still further accentuated. The speeches of the great orators +of the assemblies of the French Revolution are very interesting +reading from this point of view. At every instant they thought +themselves obliged to pause in order to denounce crime and exalt +virtue, after which they would burst forth into imprecations +against tyrants, and swear to live free men or perish. Those +present rose to their feet, applauded furiously, and then, +calmed, took their seats again. + +On occasion, the leader may be intelligent and highly educated, +but the possession of these qualities does him, as a rule, more +harm than good. By showing how complex things are, by allowing +of explanation and promoting comprehension, intelligence always +renders its owner indulgent, and blunts, in a large measure, that +intensity and violence of conviction needful for apostles. The +great leaders of crowds of all ages, and those of the Revolution +in particular, have been of lamentably narrow intellect; while it +is precisely those whose intelligence has been the most +restricted who have exercised the greatest influence. + +The speeches of the most celebrated of them, of Robespierre, +frequently astound one by their incoherence: by merely reading +them no plausible explanation is to be found of the great part +played by the powerful dictator:-- + + +"The commonplaces and redundancies of pedagogic eloquence and +Latin culture at the service of a mind childish rather than +undistinguished, and limited in its notions of attack and defence +to the defiant attitude of schoolboys. Not an idea, not a happy +turn of phrase, or a telling hit: a storm of declamation that +leaves us bored. After a dose of this unexhilarating reading one +is attempted to exclaim `Oh!' with the amiable Camille +Desmoulins." + + +It is terrible at times to think of the power that strong +conviction combined with extreme narrowness of mind gives a man +possessing prestige. It is none the less necessary that these +conditions should be satisfied for a man to ignore obstacles and +display strength of will in a high measure. Crowds instinctively +recognise in men of energy and conviction the masters they are +always in need of. + +In a parliamentary assembly the success of a speech depends +almost solely on the prestige possessed by the speaker, and not +at all on the arguments he brings forward. The best proof of +this is that when for one cause or another a speaker loses his +prestige, he loses simultaneously all his influence, that is, his +power of influencing votes at will. + +When an unknown speaker comes forward with a speech containing +good arguments, but only arguments, the chances are that he will +only obtain a hearing. A Deputy who is a psychologist of +insight, M. Desaubes, has recently traced in the following lines +the portrait of the Deputy who lacks prestige:-- + + +"When he takes his place in the tribune he draws a document from +his portfolio, spreads it out methodically before him, and makes +a start with assurance. + +"He flatters himself that he will implant in the minds of his +audience the conviction by which he is himself animated. He has +weighed and reweighed his arguments; he is well primed with +figures and proofs; he is certain he will convince his hearers. +In the face of the evidence he is to adduce all resistance would +be futile. He begins, confident in the justice of his cause, and +relying upon the attention of his colleagues, whose only anxiety, +of course, is to subscribe to the truth. + +"He speaks, and is at once surprised at the restlessness of the +House, and a little annoyed by the noise that is being made. + +"How is it silence is not kept? Why this general inattention? +What are those Deputies thinking about who are engaged in +conversation? What urgent motive has induced this or that Deputy +to quit his seat? + +"An expression of uneasiness crosses his face; he frowns and +stops. Encouraged by the President, he begins again, raising his +voice. He is only listened to all the less. He lends emphasis +to his words, and gesticulates: the noise around him increases. +He can no longer hear himself, and again stops; finally, afraid +that his silence may provoke the dreaded cry, `The Closure!' he +starts off again. The clamour becomes unbearable." + + +When parliamentary assemblies reach a certain pitch of excitement +they become identical with ordinary heterogeneous crowds, and +their sentiments in consequence present the peculiarity of being +always extreme. They will be seen to commit acts of the greatest +heroism or the worst excesses. The individual is no longer +himself, and so entirely is this the case that he will vote +measures most adverse to his personal interests. + +The history of the French Revolution shows to what an extent +assemblies are capable of losing their self-consciousness, and of +obeying suggestions most contrary to their interests. It was an +enormous sacrifice for the nobility to renounce its privileges, +yet it did so without hesitation on a famous night during the +sittings of the Constituant Assembly. By renouncing their +inviolability the men of the Convention placed themselves under a +perpetual menace of death and yet they took this step, and were +not afraid to decimate their own ranks, though perfectly aware +that the scaffold to which they were sending their colleagues +to-day might be their own fate to-morrow. The truth is they had +attained to that completely automatic state which I have +described elsewhere, and no consideration would hinder them from +yielding to the suggestions by which they were hypnotised. The +following passage from the memoirs of one of them, +Billaud-Varennes, is absolutely typical on this score: "The +decisions with which we have been so reproached," he says, "WERE +NOT DESIRED BY US TWO DAYS, A SINGLE DAY BEFORE THEY WERE TAKEN: +IT WAS THE CRISIS AND NOTHING ELSE THAT GAVE RISE TO THEM." +Nothing can be more accurate. + +The same phenomena of unconsciousness were to be witnessed during +all the stormy sittings of the Convention. + + +"They approved and decreed measures," says Taine, "which they +held in horror--measures which were not only stupid and foolish, +but measures that were crimes--the murder of innocent men, the +murder of their friends. The Left, supported by the Right, +unanimously and amid loud applause, sent to the scaffold Danton, +its natural chief, and the great promoter and leader of the +Revolution. Unanimously and amid the greatest applause the +Right, supported by the Left, votes the worst decrees of the +revolutionary government. Unanimously and amid cries of +admiration and enthusiasm, amid demonstrations of passionate +sympathy for Collot d'Herbois, Couthon, and Robespierre, the +Convention by spontaneous and repeated re-elections keeps in +office the homicidal government which the Plain detests because +it is homicidal, and the Mountain detests because it is decimated +by it. The Plain and the Mountain, the majority and the +minority, finish by consenting to help on their own suicide. The +22 Prairial the entire Convention offered itself to the +executioner; the 8 Thermidor, during the first quarter of an hour +that followed Robespierre's speech, it did the same thing again." + +This picture may appear sombre. Yet it is accurate. +Parliamentary assemblies, sufficiently excited and hypnotised, +offer the same characteristics. They become an unstable flock, +obedient to every impulsion. The following description of the +Assembly of 1848 is due to M. Spuller, a parliamentarian whose +faith in democracy is above suspicion. I reproduce it from the +Revue litteraire, and it is thoroughly typical. It offers an +example of all the exaggerated sentiments which I have described +as characteristic of crowds, and of that excessive changeableness +which permits of assemblies passing, from moment to moment, from +one set of sentiments to another entirely opposite. + + +"The Republican party was brought to its perdition by its +divisions, its jealousies, its suspicions, and, in turn, its +blind confidence and its limitless hopes. Its ingenuousness and +candour were only equalled by its universal mistrust. An absence +of all sense of legality, of all comprehension of discipline, +together with boundless terrors and illusions; the peasant and +the child are on a level in these respects. Their calm is as +great as their impatience; their ferocity is equal to their +docility. This condition is the natural consequence of a +temperament that is not formed and of the lack of education. +Nothing astonishes such persons, and everything disconcerts them. +Trembling with fear or brave to the point of heroism, they would +go through fire and water or fly from a shadow. + +"They are ignorant of cause and effect and of the connecting +links between events. They are as promptly discouraged as they +are exalted, they are subject to every description of panic, they +are always either too highly strung or too downcast, but never in +the mood or the measure the situation would require. More fluid +than water they reflect every line and assume every shape. What +sort of a foundation for a government can they be expected to +supply?" + + +Fortunately all the characteristics just described as to be met +with in parliamentary assemblies are in no wise constantly +displayed. Such assemblies only constitute crowds at certain +moments. The individuals composing them retain their +individuality in a great number of cases, which explains how it +is that an assembly is able to turn out excellent technical laws. +It is true that the author of these laws is a specialist who has +prepared them in the quiet of his study, and that in reality the +law voted is the work of an individual and not of an assembly. +These laws are naturally the best. They are only liable to have +disastrous results when a series of amendments has converted them +into the outcome of a collective effort. The work of a crowd is +always inferior, whatever its nature, to that of an isolated +individual. It is specialists who safeguard assemblies from +passing ill-advised or unworkable measures. The specialist in +this case is a temporary leader of crowds. The Assembly is +without influence on him, but he has influence over the Assembly. + +In spite of all the difficulties attending their working, +parliamentary assemblies are the best form of government mankind +has discovered as yet, and more especially the best means it has +found to escape the yoke of personal tyrannies. They constitute +assuredly the ideal government at any rate for philosophers, +thinkers, writers, artists, and learned men--in a word, for all +those who form the cream of a civilisation. + +Moreover, in reality they only present two serious dangers, one +being inevitable financial waste, and the other the progressive +restriction of the liberty of the individual. + +The first of these dangers is the necessary consequence of the +exigencies and want of foresight of electoral crowds. Should a +member of an assembly propose a measure giving apparent +satisfaction to democratic ideas, should he bring in a Bill, for +instance, to assure old-age pensions to all workers, and to +increase the wages of any class of State employes, the other +Deputies, victims of suggestion in their dread of their electors, +will not venture to seem to disregard the interests of the latter +by rejecting the proposed measure, although well aware they are +imposing a fresh strain on the Budget and necessitating the +creation of new taxes. It is impossible for them to hesitate to +give their votes. The consequences of the increase of +expenditure are remote and will not entail disagreeable +consequences for them personally, while the consequences of a +negative vote might clearly come to light when they next present +themselves for re-election. + +In addition to this first cause of an exaggerated expenditure +there is another not less imperative--the necessity of voting all +grants for local purposes. A Deputy is unable to oppose grants +of this kind because they represent once more the exigencies of +the electors, and because each individual Deputy can only obtain +what he requires for his own constituency on the condition of +acceding to similar demands on the part of his colleagues.[29] + + +[29] In its issue of April 6, 1895, the Economiste published a +curious review of the figures that may be reached by expenditure +caused solely by electoral considerations, and notably of the +outlay on railways. To put Langayes (a town of 3,000 +inhabitants, situated on a mountain) in communication with Puy, a +railway is voted that will cost 15 millions of francs. Seven +millions are to be spent to put Beaumont (3,500 inhabitants) in +communication with Castel-Sarrazin; 7 millions to put Oust (a +village of 523 inhabitants) in communication with Seix (1,200 +inhabitants); 6 millions to put Prade in communication with the +hamlet of Olette (747 inhabitants), &c. In 1895 alone 90 +millions of francs were voted for railways of only local utility. +There is other no less important expenditure necessitated also by +electioneering considerations. The law instituting workingmen's +pensions will soon involve a minimum annual outlay of 165 +millions, according to the Minister of Finance, and of 800 +millions according to the academician M. Leroy-Beaulieu. It is +evident that the continued growth of expenditure of this kind +must end in bankruptcy. Many European countries--Portugal, +Greece, Spain, Turkey--have reached this stage, and others, such +as Italy, will soon be reduced to the same extremity. Still too +much alarm need not be felt at this state of things, since the +public has successively consented to put up with the reduction of +four-fifths in the payment of their coupons by these different +countries. Bankruptcy under these ingenious conditions allows +the equilibrium of Budgets difficult to balance to be instantly +restored. Moreover, wars, socialism, and economic conflicts hold +in store for us a profusion of other catastrophes in the period +of universal disintegration we are traversing, and it is +necessary to be resigned to living from hand to mouth without too +much concern for a future we cannot control. + + + +The second of the dangers referred to above--the inevitable +restrictions on liberty consummated by parliamentary +assemblies--is apparently less obvious, but is, nevertheless, +very real. It is the result of the innumerable laws--having +always a restrictive action--which parliaments consider +themselves obliged to vote and to whose consequences, owing to +their shortsightedness, they are in a great measure blind. + +The danger must indeed be most inevitable, since even England +itself, which assuredly offers the most popular type of the +parliamentary regime, the type in which the representative is +most independent of his elector, has been unable to escape it. +Herbert Spencer has shown, in a work already old, that the +increase of apparent liberty must needs be followed by the +decrease of real liberty. Returning to this contention in his +recent book, "The Individual versus the State," he thus expresses +himself with regard to the English Parliament:-- + + +"Legislation since this period has followed the course, I pointed +out. Rapidly multiplying dictatorial measures have continually +tended to restrict individual liberties, and this in two ways. +Regulations have been established every year in greater number, +imposing a constraint on the citizen in matters in which his acts +were formerly completely free, and forcing him to accomplish acts +which he was formerly at liberty to accomplish or not to +accomplish at will. At the same time heavier and heavier public, +and especially local, burdens have still further restricted his +liberty by diminishing the portion of his profits he can spend as +he chooses, and by augmenting the portion which is taken from him +to be spent according to the good pleasure of the public +authorities." + + +This progressive restriction of liberties shows itself in every +country in a special shape which Herbert Spencer has not pointed +out; it is that the passing of these innumerable series of +legislative measures, all of them in a general way of a +restrictive order, conduces necessarily to augment the number, +the power, and the influence of the functionaries charged with +their application. These functionaries tend in this way to +become the veritable masters of civilised countries. Their power +is all the greater owing to the fact that, amidst the incessant +transfer of authority, the administrative caste is alone in being +untouched by these changes, is alone in possessing +irresponsibility, impersonality, and perpetuity. There is no +more oppressive despotism than that which presents itself under +this triple form. + +This incessant creation of restrictive laws and regulations, +surrounding the pettiest actions of existence with the most +complicated formalities, inevitably has for its result the +confining within narrower and narrower limits of the sphere in +which the citizen may move freely. Victims of the delusion that +equality and liberty are the better assured by the multiplication +of laws, nations daily consent to put up with trammels +increasingly burdensome. They do not accept this legislation +with impunity. Accustomed to put up with every yoke, they soon +end by desiring servitude, and lose all spontaneousness and +energy. They are then no more than vain shadows, passive, +unresisting and powerless automata. + +Arrived at this point, the individual is bound to seek outside +himself the forces he no longer finds within him. The functions +of governments necessarily increase in proportion as the +indifference and helplessness of the citizens grow. They it is +who must necessarily exhibit the initiative, enterprising, and +guiding spirit in which private persons are lacking. It falls on +them to undertake everything, direct everything, and take +everything under their protection. The State becomes an +all-powerful god. Still experience shows that the power of such +gods was never either very durable or very strong. + +This progressive restriction of all liberties in the case of +certain peoples, in spite of an outward license that gives them +the illusion that these liberties are still in their possession, +seems at least as much a consequence of their old age as of any +particular system. It constitutes one of the precursory symptoms +of that decadent phase which up to now no civilisation has +escaped. + +Judging by the lessons of the past, and by the symptoms that +strike the attention on every side, several of our modern +civilisations have reached that phase of extreme old age which +precedes decadence. It seems inevitable that all peoples should +pass through identical phases of existence, since history is so +often seen to repeat its course. + +It is easy to note briefly these common phases of the evolution +of civilisations, and I shall terminate this work with a summary +of them. This rapid sketch will perhaps throw some gleams of +light on the causes of the power at present wielded by crowds. + +If we examine in their main lines the genesis of the greatness +and of the fall of the civilisations that preceded our own, what +do we see? + +At the dawn of civilisation a swarm of men of various origin, +brought together by the chances of migrations, invasions, and +conquests. Of different blood, and of equally different +languages and beliefs, the only common bond of union between +these men is the half-recognised law of a chief. The +psychological characteristics of crowds are present in an eminent +degree in these confused agglomerations. They have the transient +cohesion of crowds, their heroism, their weaknesses, their +impulsiveness, and their violence. Nothing is stable in +connection with them. They are barbarians. + +At length time accomplishes its work. The identity of +surroundings, the repeated intermingling of races, the +necessities of life in common exert their influence. The +assemblage of dissimilar units begins to blend into a whole, to +form a race; that is, an aggregate possessing common +characteristics and sentiments to which heredity will give +greater and greater fixity. The crowd has become a people, and +this people is able to emerge from its barbarous state. However, +it will only entirely emerge therefrom when, after long efforts, +struggles necessarily repeated, and innumerable recommencements, +it shall have acquired an ideal. The nature of this ideal is of +slight importance; whether it be the cult of Rome, the might of +Athens, or the triumph of Allah, it will suffice to endow all the +individuals of the race that is forming with perfect unity of +sentiment and thought. + +At this stage a new civilisation, with its institutions, its +beliefs, and its arts, may be born. In pursuit of its ideal, the +race will acquire in succession the qualities necessary to give +it splendour, vigour, and grandeur. At times no doubt it will +still be a crowd, but henceforth, beneath the mobile and changing +characteristics of crowds, is found a solid substratum, the +genius of the race which confines within narrow limits the +transformations of a nation and overrules the play of chance. + +After having exerted its creative action, time begins that work +of destruction from which neither gods nor men escape. Having +reached a certain level of strength and complexity a civilisation +ceases to grow, and having ceased to grow it is condemned to a +speedy decline. The hour of its old age has struck. + +This inevitable hour is always marked by the weakening of the +ideal that was the mainstay of the race. In proportion as this +ideal pales all the religious, political, and social structures +inspired by it begin to be shaken. + +With the progressive perishing of its ideal the race loses more +and more the qualities that lent it its cohesion, its unity, and +its strength. The personality and intelligence of the individual +may increase, but at the same time this collective egoism of the +race is replaced by an excessive development of the egoism of the +individual, accompanied by a weakening of character and a +lessening of the capacity for action. What constituted a people, +a unity, a whole, becomes in the end an agglomeration of +individualities lacking cohesion, and artificially held together +for a time by its traditions and institutions. It is at this +stage that men, divided by their interests and aspirations, and +incapable any longer of self-government, require directing in +their pettiest acts, and that the State exerts an absorbing +influence. + +With the definite loss of its old ideal the genius of the race +entirely disappears; it is a mere swarm of isolated individuals +and returns to its original state--that of a crowd. Without +consistency and without a future, it has all the transitory +characteristics of crowds. Its civilisation is now without +stability, and at the mercy of every chance. The populace is +sovereign, and the tide of barbarism mounts. The civilisation +may still seem brilliant because it possesses an outward front, +the work of a long past, but it is in reality an edifice +crumbling to ruin, which nothing supports, and destined to fall +in at the first storm. + +To pass in pursuit of an ideal from the barbarous to the +civilised state, and then, when this ideal has lost its virtue, +to decline and die, such is the cycle of the life of a people. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROWD ***
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Criminal Sociology. By Professor ENRICO FERRI. +3. Juvenile Offender. By W. DOUGLAS MORRISON. + ---- LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. + + +THE CROWD +A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND + +BY GUSTAVE LE BON {b. May 7, 1841--d. Dec 13, 1931} + + + +The following work is devoted to an account of the +characteristics of crowds. + +The whole of the common characteristics with which heredity +endows the individuals of a race constitute the genius of the +race. When, however, a certain number of these individuals are +gathered together in a crowd for purposes of action, observation +proves that, from the mere fact of their being assembled, there +result certain new psychological characteristics, which are added +to the racial characteristics and differ from them at times to a +very considerable degree. + +Organised crowds have always played an important part in the life +of peoples, but this part has never been of such moment as at +present. The substitution of the unconscious action of crowds +for the conscious activity of individuals is one of the principal +characteristics of the present age. + +I have endeavoured to examine the difficult problem presented by +crowds in a purely scientific manner--that is, by making an +effort to proceed with method, and without being influenced by +opinions, theories, and doctrines. This, I believe, is the only +mode of arriving at the discovery of some few particles of truth, +especially when dealing, as is the case here, with a question +that is the subject of impassioned controversy. A man of science +bent on verifying a phenomenon is not called upon to concern +himself with the interests his verifications may hurt. In a +recent publication an eminent thinker, M. Goblet d'Alviela, made +the remark that, belonging to none of the contemporary schools, I +am occasionally found in opposition of sundry of the conclusions +of all of them. I hope this new work will merit a similar +observation. To belong to a school is necessarily to espouse its +prejudices and preconceived opinions. + +Still I should explain to the reader why he will find me draw +conclusions from my investigations which it might be thought at +first sight they do not bear; why, for instance, after noting the +extreme mental inferiority of crowds, picked assemblies included, +I yet affirm it would be dangerous to meddle with their +organisation, notwithstanding this inferiority. + +The reason is, that the most attentive observation of the facts +of history has invariably demonstrated to me that social +organisms being every whit as complicated as those of all beings, +it is in no wise in our power to force them to undergo on a +sudden far-reaching transformations. Nature has recourse at +times to radical measures, but never after our fashion, which +explains how it is that nothing is more fatal to a people than +the mania for great reforms, however excellent these reforms may +appear theoretically. They would only be useful were it possible +to change instantaneously the genius of nations. This power, +however, is only possessed by time. Men are ruled by ideas, +sentiments, and customs--matters which are of the essence of +ourselves. Institutions and laws are the outward manifestation +of our character, the expression of its needs. Being its +outcome, institutions and laws cannot change this character. + +The study of social phenomena cannot be separated from that of +the peoples among whom they have come into existence. From the +philosophic point of view these phenomena may have an absolute +value; in practice they have only a relative value. + +It is necessary, in consequence, when studying a social +phenomenon, to consider it successively under two very different +aspects. It will then be seen that the teachings of pure reason +are very often contrary to those of practical reason. There are +scarcely any data, even physical, to which this distinction is +not applicable. From the point of view of absolute truth a cube +or a circle are invariable geometrical figures, rigorously +defined by certain formulas. From the point of view of the +impression they make on our eye these geometrical figures may +assume very varied shapes. By perspective the cube may be +transformed into a pyramid or a square, the circle into an +ellipse or a straight line. Moreover, the consideration of these +fictitious shapes is far more important than that of the real +shapes, for it is they and they alone that we see and that can be +reproduced by photography or in pictures. In certain cases there +is more truth in the unreal than in the real. To present objects +with their exact geometrical forms would be to distort nature and +render it unrecognisable. If we imagine a world whose +inhabitants could only copy or photograph objects, but were +unable to touch them, it would be very difficult for such persons +to attain to an exact idea of their form. Moreover, the +knowledge of this form, accessible only to a small number of +learned men, would present but a very minor interest. + +The philosopher who studies social phenomena should bear in mind +that side by side with their theoretical value they possess a +practical value, and that this latter, so far as the evolution of +civilisation is concerned, is alone of importance. The +recognition of this fact should render him very circumspect with +regard to the conclusions that logic would seem at first to +enforce upon him. + +There are other motives that dictate to him a like reserve. The +complexity of social facts is such, that it is impossible to +grasp them as a whole and to foresee the effects of their +reciprocal influence. It seems, too, that behind the visible +facts are hidden at times thousands of invisible causes. Visible +social phenomena appear to be the result of an immense, +unconscious working, that as a rule is beyond the reach of our +analysis. Perceptible phenomena may be compared to the waves, +which are the expression on the surface of the ocean of +deep-lying disturbances of which we know nothing. So far as the +majority of their acts are considered, crowds display a +singularly inferior mentality; yet there are other acts in which +they appear to be guided by those mysterious forces which the +ancients denominated destiny, nature, or providence, which we +call the voices of the dead, and whose power it is impossible to +overlook, although we ignore their essence. It would seem, at +times, as if there were latent forces in the inner being of +nations which serve to guide them. What, for instance, can be +more complicated, more logical, more marvellous than a language? +Yet whence can this admirably organised production have arisen, +except it be the outcome of the unconscious genius of crowds? +The most learned academics, the most esteemed grammarians can do +no more than note down the laws that govern languages; they would +be utterly incapable of creating them. Even with respect to the +ideas of great men are we certain that they are exclusively the +offspring of their brains? No doubt such ideas are always +created by solitary minds, but is it not the genius of crowds +that has furnished the thousands of grains of dust forming the +soil in which they have sprung up? + +Crowds, doubtless, are always unconscious, but this very +unconsciousness is perhaps one of the secrets of their strength. +In the natural world beings exclusively governed by instinct +accomplish acts whose marvellous complexity astounds us. Reason +is an attribute of humanity of too recent date and still too +imperfect to reveal to us the laws of the unconscious, and still +more to take its place. The part played by the unconscious in +all our acts is immense, and that played by reason very small. +The unconscious acts like a force still unknown. + +If we wish, then, to remain within the narrow but safe limits +within which science can attain to knowledge, and not to wander +in the domain of vague conjecture and vain hypothesis, all we +must do is simply to take note of such phenomena as are +accessible to us, and confine ourselves to their consideration. +Every conclusion drawn from our observation is, as a rule, +premature, for behind the phenomena which we see clearly are +other phenomena that we see indistinctly, and perhaps behind +these latter, yet others which we do not see at all. + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION +THE ERA OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK I +THE MIND OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS-- +PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THEIR MENTAL UNITY + +CHAPTER II +THE SENTIMENTS AND MORALITY OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +THE IDEAS, REASONING POWER, AND IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER IV +A RELIGIOUS SHAPE ASSUMED BY ALL THE CONVICTIONS OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK II +THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +REMOTE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER II +THE IMMEDIATE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +THE LEADERS OF CROWDS AND THEIR MEANS OF PERSUASION + + +CHAPTER IV +LIMITATIONS OF THE VARIABILITY OF THE BELIEFS AND OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + + +BOOK III +THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I +THE CLASSIFICATION OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER II +CROWDS TERMED CRIMINAL CROWDS + + +CHAPTER III +CRIMINAL JURIES + + +CHAPTER IV +ELECTORAL CROWDS + + +CHAPTER V +PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES + + + +INTRODUCTION. THE ERA OF CROWDS. + +The evolution of the present age--The great changes in +civilisation are the consequence of changes in National +thought--Modern belief in the power of crowds--It transforms the +traditional policy of the European states--How the rise of the +popular classes comes about, and the manner in which they +exercise their power--The necessary consequences of the power of +the crowd--Crowds unable to play a part other than +destructive--The dissolution of worn-out civilisations is the +work of the crowd--General ignorance of the psychology of crowds-- +Importance of the study of crowds for legislators and statesmen. + + +The great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations such +as the fall of the Roman Empire and the foundation of the Arabian +Empire, seem at first sight determined more especially by +political transformations, foreign invasion, or the overthrow of +dynasties. But a more attentive study of these events shows that +behind their apparent causes the real cause is generally seen to +be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples. The true +historical upheavals are not those which astonish us by their +grandeur and violence. The only important changes whence the +renewal of civilisations results, affect ideas, conceptions, and +beliefs. The memorable events of history are the visible effects +of the invisible changes of human thought. The reason these +great events are so rare is that there is nothing so stable in a +race as the inherited groundwork of its thoughts. + +The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the +thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation. + +Two fundamental factors are at the base of this transformation. +The first is the destruction of those religious, political, and +social beliefs in which all the elements of our civilisation are +rooted. The second is the creation of entirely new conditions of +existence and thought as the result of modern scientific and +industrial discoveries. + +The ideas of the past, although half destroyed, being still very +powerful, and the ideas which are to replace them being still in +process of formation, the modern age represents a period of +transition and anarchy. + +It is not easy to say as yet what will one day be evolved from +this necessarily somewhat chaotic period. What will be the +fundamental ideas on which the societies that are to succeed our +own will be built up? We do not at present know. Still it is +already clear that on whatever lines the societies of the future +are organised, they will have to count with a new power, with the +last surviving sovereign force of modern times, the power of +crowds. On the ruins of so many ideas formerly considered beyond +discussion, and to-day decayed or decaying, of so many sources of +authority that successive revolutions have destroyed, this power, +which alone has arisen in their stead, seems soon destined to +absorb the others. While all our ancient beliefs are tottering +and disappearing, while the old pillars of society are giving way +one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force that nothing +menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the +increase. The age we are about to enter will in truth be the ERA +OF CROWDS. + +Scarcely a century ago the traditional policy of European states +and the rivalries of sovereigns were the principal factors that +shaped events. The opinion of the masses scarcely counted, and +most frequently indeed did not count at all. To-day it is the +traditions which used to obtain in politics, and the individual +tendencies and rivalries of rulers which do not count; while, on +the contrary, the voice of the masses has become preponderant. +It is this voice that dictates their conduct to kings, whose +endeavour is to take note of its utterances. The destinies of +nations are elaborated at present in the heart of the masses, and +no longer in the councils of princes. + +The entry of the popular classes into political life--that is to +say, in reality, their progressive transformation into governing +classes--is one of the most striking characteristics of our epoch +of transition. The introduction of universal suffrage, which +exercised for a long time but little influence, is not, as might +be thought, the distinguishing feature of this transference of +political power. The progressive growth of the power of the +masses took place at first by the propagation of certain ideas, +which have slowly implanted themselves in men's minds, and +afterwards by the gradual association of individuals bent on +bringing about the realisation of theoretical conceptions. It is +by association that crowds have come to procure ideas with +respect to their interests which are very clearly defined if not +particularly just, and have arrived at a consciousness of their +strength. The masses are founding syndicates before which the +authorities capitulate one after the other; they are also +founding labour unions, which in spite of all economic laws tend +to regulate the conditions of labour and wages. They return to +assemblies in which the Government is vested, representatives +utterly lacking initiative and independence, and reduced most +often to nothing else than the spokesmen of the committees that +have chosen them. + +To-day the claims of the masses are becoming more and more +sharply defined, and amount to nothing less than a determination +to utterly destroy society as it now exists, with a view to +making it hark back to that primitive communism which was the +normal condition of all human groups before the dawn of +civilisation. Limitations of the hours of labour, the +nationalisation of mines, railways, factories, and the soil, the +equal distribution of all products, the elimination of all the +upper classes for the benefit of the popular classes, &c., such +are these claims. + +Little adapted to reasoning, crowds, on the contrary, are quick +to act. As the result of their present organisation their +strength has become immense. The dogmas whose birth we are +witnessing will soon have the force of the old dogmas; that is to +say, the tyrannical and sovereign force of being above +discussion. The divine right of the masses is about to replace +the divine right of kings. + +The writers who enjoy the favour of our middle classes, those who +best represent their rather narrow ideas, their somewhat +prescribed views, their rather superficial scepticism, and their +at times somewhat excessive egoism, display profound alarm at +this new power which they see growing; and to combat the disorder +in men's minds they are addressing despairing appeals to those +moral forces of the Church for which they formerly professed so +much disdain. They talk to us of the bankruptcy of science, go +back in penitence to Rome, and remind us of the teachings of +revealed truth. These new converts forget that it is too late. +Had they been really touched by grace, a like operation could not +have the same influence on minds less concerned with the +preoccupations which beset these recent adherents to religion. +The masses repudiate to-day the gods which their admonishers +repudiated yesterday and helped to destroy. There is no power, +Divine or human, that can oblige a stream to flow back to its +source. + +There has been no bankruptcy of science, and science has had no +share in the present intellectual anarchy, nor in the making of +the new power which is springing up in the midst of this anarchy. +Science promised us truth, or at least a knowledge of such +relations as our intelligence can seize: it never promised us +peace or happiness. Sovereignly indifferent to our feelings, it +is deaf to our lamentations. It is for us to endeavour to live +with science, since nothing can bring back the illusions it has +destroyed. + +Universal symptoms, visible in all nations, show us the rapid +growth of the power of crowds, and do not admit of our supposing +that it is destined to cease growing at an early date. Whatever +fate it may reserve for us, we shall have to submit to it. All +reasoning against it is a mere vain war of words. Certainly it +is possible that the advent to power of the masses marks one of +the last stages of Western civilisation, a complete return to +those periods of confused anarchy which seem always destined to +precede the birth of every new society. But may this result be +prevented? + +Up to now these thoroughgoing destructions of a worn-out +civilisation have constituted the most obvious task of the +masses. It is not indeed to-day merely that this can be traced. +History tells us, that from the moment when the moral forces on +which a civilisation rested have lost their strength, its final +dissolution is brought about by those unconscious and brutal +crowds known, justifiably enough, as barbarians. Civilisations +as yet have only been created and directed by a small +intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only +powerful for destruction. Their rule is always tantamount to a +barbarian phase. A civilisation involves fixed rules, +discipline, a passing from the instinctive to the rational state, +forethought for the future, an elevated degree of culture--all of +them conditions that crowds, left to themselves, have invariably +shown themselves incapable of realising. In consequence of the +purely destructive nature of their power crowds act like those +microbes which hasten the dissolution of enfeebled or dead +bodies. When the structure of a civilisation is rotten, it is +always the masses that bring about its downfall. It is at such a +juncture that their chief mission is plainly visible, and that +for a while the philosophy of number seems the only philosophy of +history. + +Is the same fate in store for our civilisation? There is ground +to fear that this is the case, but we are not as yet in a +position to be certain of it. + +However this may be, we are bound to resign ourselves to the +reign of the masses, since want of foresight has in succession +overthrown all the barriers that might have kept the crowd in +check. + +We have a very slight knowledge of these crowds which are +beginning to be the object of so much discussion. Professional +students of psychology, having lived far from them, have always +ignored them, and when, as of late, they have turned their +attention in this direction it has only been to consider the +crimes crowds are capable of committing. Without a doubt +criminal crowds exist, but virtuous and heroic crowds, and crowds +of many other kinds, are also to be met with. The crimes of +crowds only constitute a particular phase of their psychology. +The mental constitution of crowds is not to be learnt merely by a +study of their crimes, any more than that of an individual by a +mere description of his vices. + +However, in point of fact, all the world's masters, all the +founders of religions or empires, the apostles of all beliefs, +eminent statesmen, and, in a more modest sphere, the mere chiefs +of small groups of men have always been unconscious +psychologists, possessed of an instinctive and often very sure +knowledge of the character of crowds, and it is their accurate +knowledge of this character that has enabled them to so easily +establish their mastery. Napoleon had a marvellous insight into +the psychology of the masses of the country over which he +reigned, but he, at times, completely misunderstood the +psychology of crowds belonging to other races;[1] and it is +because he thus misunderstood it that he engaged in Spain, and +notably in Russia, in conflicts in which his power received blows +which were destined within a brief space of time to ruin it. A +knowledge of the psychology of crowds is to-day the last resource +of the statesman who wishes not to govern them--that is becoming +a very difficult matter--but at any rate not to be too much +governed by them. + + +[1] His most subtle advisers, moreover, did not understand this +psychology any better. Talleyrand wrote him that "Spain would +receive his soldiers as liberators." It received them as beasts +of prey. A psychologist acquainted with the hereditary instincts +of the Spanish race would have easily foreseen this reception. + + + +It is only by obtaining some sort of insight into the psychology +of crowds that it can be understood how slight is the action upon +them of laws and institutions, how powerless they are to hold any +opinions other than those which are imposed upon them, and that +it is not with rules based on theories of pure equity that they +are to be led, but by seeking what produces an impression on them +and what seduces them. For instance, should a legislator, +wishing to impose a new tax, choose that which would be +theoretically the most just? By no means. In practice the most +unjust may be the best for the masses. Should it at the same +time be the least obvious, and apparently the least burdensome, +it will be the most easily tolerated. It is for this reason that +an indirect tax, however exorbitant it be, will always be +accepted by the crowd, because, being paid daily in fractions of +a farthing on objects of consumption, it will not interfere with +the habits of the crowd, and will pass unperceived. Replace it +by a proportional tax on wages or income of any other kind, to be +paid in a lump sum, and were this new imposition theoretically +ten times less burdensome than the other, it would give rise to +unanimous protest. This arises from the fact that a sum +relatively high, which will appear immense, and will in +consequence strike the imagination, has been substituted for the +unperceived fractions of a farthing. The new tax would only +appear light had it been saved farthing by farthing, but this +economic proceeding involves an amount of foresight of which the +masses are incapable. + +The example which precedes is of the simplest. Its appositeness +will be easily perceived. It did not escape the attention of +such a psychologist as Napoleon, but our modern legislators, +ignorant as they are of the characteristics of a crowd, are +unable to appreciate it. Experience has not taught them as yet +to a sufficient degree that men never shape their conduct upon +the teaching of pure reason. + +Many other practical applications might be made of the psychology +of crowds. A knowledge of this science throws the most vivid +light on a great number of historical and economic phenomena +totally incomprehensible without it. I shall have occasion to +show that the reason why the most remarkable of modern +historians, Taine, has at times so imperfectly understood the +events of the great French Revolution is, that it never occurred +to him to study the genius of crowds. He took as his guide in +the study of this complicated period the descriptive method +resorted to by naturalists; but the moral forces are almost +absent in the case of the phenomena which naturalists have to +study. Yet it is precisely these forces that constitute the true +mainsprings of history. + +In consequence, merely looked at from its practical side, the +study of the psychology of crowds deserved to be attempted. Were +its interest that resulting from pure curiosity only, it would +still merit attention. It is as interesting to decipher the +motives of the actions of men as to determine the characteristics +of a mineral or a plant. Our study of the genius of crowds can +merely be a brief synthesis, a simple summary of our +investigations. Nothing more must be demanded of it than a few +suggestive views. Others will work the ground more thoroughly. +To-day we only touch the surface of a still almost virgin soil. + + + +BOOK I + + +THE MIND OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS.--PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THEIR +MENTAL UNITY. + +What constitutes a crowd from the psychological point of view--A +numerically strong agglomeration of individuals does not suffice +to form a crowd--Special characteristics of psychological +crowds--The turning in a fixed direction of the ideas and +sentiments of individuals composing such a crowd, and the +disappearance of their personality--The crowd is always dominated +by considerations of which it is unconscious--The disappearance +of brain activity and the predominance of medullar activity--The +lowering of the intelligence and the complete transformation of +the sentiments--The transformed sentiments may be better or worse +than those of the individuals of which the crowd is composed--A +crowd is as easily heroic as criminal. + + +In its ordinary sense the word "crowd" means a gathering of +individuals of whatever nationality, profession, or sex, and +whatever be the chances that have brought them together. From +the psychological point of view the expression "crowd" assumes +quite a different signification. Under certain given +circumstances, and only under those circumstances, an +agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different +from those of the individuals composing it. The sentiments and +ideas of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same +direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. A +collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting +very clearly defined characteristics. The gathering has thus +become what, in the absence of a better expression, I will call +an organised crowd, or, if the term is considered preferable, a +psychological crowd. It forms a single being, and is subjected +to the LAW OF THE MENTAL UNITY OF CROWDS. + +It is evident that it is not by the mere fact of a number of +individuals finding themselves accidentally side by side that +they acquire the character of an organised crowd. A thousand +individuals accidentally gathered in a public place without any +determined object in no way constitute a crowd from the +psychological point of view. To acquire the special +characteristics of such a crowd, the influence is necessary of +certain predisposing causes of which we shall have to determine +the nature. + +The disappearance of conscious personality and the turning of +feelings and thoughts in a definite direction, which are the +primary characteristics of a crowd about to become organised, do +not always involve the simultaneous presence of a number of +individuals on one spot. Thousands of isolated individuals may +acquire at certain moments, and under the influence of certain +violent emotions--such, for example, as a great national +event--the characteristics of a psychological crowd. It will be +sufficient in that case that a mere chance should bring them +together for their acts to at once assume the characteristics +peculiar to the acts of a crowd. At certain moments half a dozen +men might constitute a psychological crowd, which may not happen +in the case of hundreds of men gathered together by accident. On +the other hand, an entire nation, though there may be no visible +agglomeration, may become a crowd under the action of certain +influences. + +A psychological crowd once constituted, it acquires certain +provisional but determinable general characteristics. To these +general characteristics there are adjoined particular +characteristics which vary according to the elements of which the +crowd is composed, and may modify its mental constitution. +Psychological crowds, then, are susceptible of classification; +and when we come to occupy ourselves with this matter, we shall +see that a heterogeneous crowd--that is, a crowd composed of +dissimilar elements--presents certain characteristics in common +with homogeneous crowds--that is, with crowds composed of +elements more or less akin (sects, castes, and classes)--and side +by side with these common characteristics particularities which +permit of the two kinds of crowds being differentiated. + +But before occupying ourselves with the different categories of +crowds, we must first of all examine the characteristics common +to them all. We shall set to work like the naturalist, who +begins by describing the general characteristics common to all +the members of a family before concerning himself with the +particular characteristics which allow the differentiation of the +genera and species that the family includes. + +It is not easy to describe the mind of crowds with exactness, +because its organisation varies not only according to race and +composition, but also according to the nature and intensity of +the exciting causes to which crowds are subjected. The same +difficulty, however, presents itself in the psychological study +of an individual. It is only in novels that individuals are +found to traverse their whole life with an unvarying character. +It is only the uniformity of the environment that creates the +apparent uniformity of characters. I have shown elsewhere that +all mental constitutions contain possibilities of character which +may be manifested in consequence of a sudden change of +environment. This explains how it was that among the most savage +members of the French Convention were to be found inoffensive +citizens who, under ordinary circumstances, would have been +peaceable notaries or virtuous magistrates. The storm past, they +resumed their normal character of quiet, law-abiding citizens. +Napoleon found amongst them his most docile servants. + +It being impossible to study here all the successive degrees of +organisation of crowds, we shall concern ourselves more +especially with such crowds as have attained to the phase of +complete organisation. In this way we shall see what crowds may +become, but not what they invariably are. It is only in this +advanced phase of organisation that certain new and special +characteristics are superposed on the unvarying and dominant +character of the race; then takes place that turning already +alluded to of all the feelings and thoughts of the collectivity +in an identical direction. It is only under such circumstances, +too, that what I have called above the PSYCHOLOGICAL LAW OF THE +MENTAL UNITY OF CROWDS comes into play. + +Among the psychological characteristics of crowds there are some +that they may present in common with isolated individuals, and +others, on the contrary, which are absolutely peculiar to them +and are only to be met with in collectivities. It is these +special characteristics that we shall study, first of all, in +order to show their importance. + +The most striking peculiarity presented by a psychological crowd +is the following: Whoever be the individuals that compose it, +however like or unlike be their mode of life, their occupations, +their character, or their intelligence, the fact that they have +been transformed into a crowd puts them in possession of a sort +of collective mind which makes them feel, think, and act in a +manner quite different from that in which each individual of them +would feel, think, and act were he in a state of isolation. +There are certain ideas and feelings which do not come into +being, or do not transform themselves into acts except in the +case of individuals forming a crowd. The psychological crowd is +a provisional being formed of heterogeneous elements, which for a +moment are combined, exactly as the cells which constitute a +living body form by their reunion a new being which displays +characteristics very different from those possessed by each of +the cells singly. + +Contrary to an opinion which one is astonished to find coming +from the pen of so acute a philosopher as Herbert Spencer, in the +aggregate which constitutes a crowd there is in no sort a +summing-up of or an average struck between its elements. What +really takes place is a combination followed by the creation of +new characteristics, just as in chemistry certain elements, when +brought into contact--bases and acids, for example--combine to +form a new body possessing properties quite different from those +of the bodies that have served to form it. + +It is easy to prove how much the individual forming part of a +crowd differs from the isolated individual, but it is less easy +to discover the causes of this difference. + +To obtain at any rate a glimpse of them it is necessary in the +first place to call to mind the truth established by modern +psychology, that unconscious phenomena play an altogether +preponderating part not only in organic life, but also in the +operations of the intelligence. The conscious life of the mind +is of small importance in comparison with its unconscious life. +The most subtle analyst, the most acute observer, is scarcely +successful in discovering more than a very small number of the +unconscious motives that determine his conduct. Our conscious +acts are the outcome of an unconscious substratum created in the +mind in the main by hereditary influences. This substratum +consists of the innumerable common characteristics handed down +from generation to generation, which constitute the genius of a +race. Behind the avowed causes of our acts there undoubtedly lie +secret causes that we do not avow, but behind these secret causes +there are many others more secret still which we ourselves +ignore. The greater part of our daily actions are the result of +hidden motives which escape our observation. + +It is more especially with respect to those unconscious elements +which constitute the genius of a race that all the individuals +belonging to it resemble each other, while it is principally in +respect to the conscious elements of their character--the fruit +of education, and yet more of exceptional hereditary +conditions--that they differ from each other. Men the most +unlike in the matter of their intelligence possess instincts, +passions, and feelings that are very similar. In the case of +every thing that belongs to the realm of sentiment--religion, +politics, morality, the affections and antipathies, &c.--the most +eminent men seldom surpass the standard of the most ordinary +individuals. From the intellectual point of view an abyss may +exist between a great mathematician and his boot maker, but from +the point of view of character the difference is most often +slight or non-existent. + +It is precisely these general qualities of character, governed by +forces of which we are unconscious, and possessed by the majority +of the normal individuals of a race in much the same degree--it +is precisely these qualities, I say, that in crowds become common +property. In the collective mind the intellectual aptitudes of +the individuals, and in consequence their individuality, are +weakened. The heterogeneous is swamped by the homogeneous, and +the unconscious qualities obtain the upper hand. + +This very fact that crowds possess in common ordinary qualities +explains why they can never accomplish acts demanding a high +degree of intelligence. The decisions affecting matters of +general interest come to by an assembly of men of distinction, +but specialists in different walks of life, are not sensibly +superior to the decisions that would be adopted by a gathering of +imbeciles. The truth is, they can only bring to bear in common +on the work in hand those mediocre qualities which are the +birthright of every average individual. In crowds it is +stupidity and not mother-wit that is accumulated. It is not all +the world, as is so often repeated, that has more wit than +Voltaire, but assuredly Voltaire that has more wit than all the +world, if by "all the world" crowds are to be understood. + +If the individuals of a crowd confined themselves to putting in +common the ordinary qualities of which each of them has his +share, there would merely result the striking of an average, and +not, as we have said is actually the case, the creation of new +characteristics. How is it that these new characteristics are +created? This is what we are now to investigate. + +Different causes determine the appearance of these +characteristics peculiar to crowds, and not possessed by isolated +individuals. The first is that the individual forming part of a +crowd acquires, solely from numerical considerations, a sentiment +of invincible power which allows him to yield to instincts which, +had he been alone, he would perforce have kept under restraint. +He will be the less disposed to check himself from the +consideration that, a crowd being anonymous, and in consequence +irresponsible, the sentiment of responsibility which always +controls individuals disappears entirely. + +The second cause, which is contagion, also intervenes to +determine the manifestation in crowds of their special +characteristics, and at the same time the trend they are to take. +Contagion is a phenomenon of which it is easy to establish the +presence, but that it is not easy to explain. It must be classed +among those phenomena of a hypnotic order, which we shall shortly +study. In a crowd every sentiment and act is contagious, and +contagious to such a degree that an individual readily sacrifices +his personal interest to the collective interest. This is an +aptitude very contrary to his nature, and of which a man is +scarcely capable, except when he makes part of a crowd. + +A third cause, and by far the most important, determines in the +individuals of a crowd special characteristics which are quite +contrary at times to those presented by the isolated individual. +I allude to that suggestibility of which, moreover, the contagion +mentioned above is neither more nor less than an effect. + +To understand this phenomenon it is necessary to bear in mind +certain recent physiological discoveries. We know to-day that by +various processes an individual may be brought into such a +condition that, having entirely lost his conscious personality, +he obeys all the suggestions of the operator who has deprived him +of it, and commits acts in utter contradiction with his character +and habits. The most careful observations seem to prove that an +individual immerged for some length of time in a crowd in action +soon finds himself--either in consequence of the magnetic +influence given out by the crowd, or from some other cause of +which we are ignorant--in a special state, which much resembles +the state of fascination in which the hypnotised individual finds +himself in the hands of the hypnotiser. The activity of the +brain being paralysed in the case of the hypnotised subject, the +latter becomes the slave of all the unconscious activities of his +spinal cord, which the hypnotiser directs at will. The conscious +personality has entirely vanished; will and discernment are lost. +All feelings and thoughts are bent in the direction determined by +the hypnotiser. + +Such also is approximately the state of the individual forming +part of a psychological crowd. He is no longer conscious of his +acts. In his case, as in the case of the hypnotised subject, at +the same time that certain faculties are destroyed, others may be +brought to a high degree of exaltation. Under the influence of a +suggestion, he will undertake the accomplishment of certain acts +with irresistible impetuosity. This impetuosity is the more +irresistible in the case of crowds than in that of the hypnotised +subject, from the fact that, the suggestion being the same for +all the individuals of the crowd, it gains in strength by +reciprocity. The individualities in the crowd who might possess +a personality sufficiently strong to resist the suggestion are +too few in number to struggle against the current. At the +utmost, they may be able to attempt a diversion by means of +different suggestions. It is in this way, for instance, that a +happy expression, an image opportunely evoked, have occasionally +deterred crowds from the most bloodthirsty acts. + +We see, then, that the disappearance of the conscious +personality, the predominance of the unconscious personality, the +turning by means of suggestion and contagion of feelings and +ideas in an identical direction, the tendency to immediately +transform the suggested ideas into acts; these, we see, are the +principal characteristics of the individual forming part of a +crowd. He is no longer himself, but has become an automaton who +has ceased to be guided by his will. + +Moreover, by the mere fact that he forms part of an organised +crowd, a man descends several rungs in the ladder of +civilisation. Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a +crowd, he is a barbarian--that is, a creature acting by instinct. +He possesses the spontaneity, the violence, the ferocity, and +also the enthusiasm and heroism of primitive beings, whom he +further tends to resemble by the facility with which he allows +himself to be impressed by words and images--which would be +entirely without action on each of the isolated individuals +composing the crowd--and to be induced to commit acts contrary to +his most obvious interests and his best-known habits. An +individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of +sand, which the wind stirs up at will. + +It is for these reasons that juries are seen to deliver verdicts +of which each individual juror would disapprove, that +parliamentary assemblies adopt laws and measures of which each of +their members would disapprove in his own person. Taken +separately, the men of the Convention were enlightened citizens +of peaceful habits. United in a crowd, they did not hesitate to +give their adhesion to the most savage proposals, to guillotine +individuals most clearly innocent, and, contrary to their +interests, to renounce their inviolability and to decimate +themselves. + +It is not only by his acts that the individual in a crowd differs +essentially from himself. Even before he has entirely lost his +independence, his ideas and feelings have undergone a +transformation, and the transformation is so profound as to +change the miser into a spendthrift, the sceptic into a believer, +the honest man into a criminal, and the coward into a hero. The +renunciation of all its privileges which the nobility voted in a +moment of enthusiasm during the celebrated night of August 4, +1789, would certainly never have been consented to by any of its +members taken singly. + +The conclusion to be drawn from what precedes is, that the crowd +is always intellectually inferior to the isolated individual, but +that, from the point of view of feelings and of the acts these +feelings provoke, the crowd may, according to circumstances, he +better or worse than the individual. All depends on the nature +of the suggestion to which the crowd is exposed. This is the +point that has been completely misunderstood by writers who have +only studied crowds from the criminal point of view. Doubtless a +crowd is often criminal, but also it is often heroic. It is +crowds rather than isolated individuals that may be induced to +run the risk of death to secure the triumph of a creed or an +idea, that may be fired with enthusiasm for glory and honour, +that are led on--almost without bread and without arms, as in the +age of the Crusades--to deliver the tomb of Christ from the +infidel, or, as in '93, to defend the fatherland. Such heroism +is without doubt somewhat unconscious, but it is of such heroism +that history is made. Were peoples only to be credited with the +great actions performed in cold blood, the annals of the world +would register but few of them. + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SENTIMENTS AND MORALITY OF CROWDS + +1. IMPULSIVENESS, MOBILITY, AND IRRITABILITY OF CROWDS. +The crowd is at the mercy of all exterior exciting causes, and +reflects their incessant variations--The impulses which the crowd +obeys are so imperious as to annihilate the feeling of personal +interest-- Premeditation is absent from crowds--Racial influence. +2. CROWDS ARE CREDULOUS AND READILY INFLUENCED BY +SUGGESTION. The obedience of crowds to suggestions--The images +evoked in the mind of crowds are accepted by them as +realities--Why these images are identical for all the individuals +composing a crowd--The equality of the educated and the ignorant +man in a crowd--Various examples of the illusions to which the +individuals in a crowd are subject--The impossibility of +according belief to the testimony of crowds--The unanimity of +numerous witnesses is one of the worst proofs that can be invoked +to establish a fact--The slight value of works of history. +3. THE EXAGGERATION AND INGENUOUSNESS OF THE SENTIMENTS OF +CROWDS. Crowds do not admit doubt or uncertainty, and always go +to extremes--Their sentiments always excessive. 4. THE +INTOLERANCE, DICTATORIALNESS, AND CONSERVATISM OF CROWDS. The +reasons of these sentiments--The servility of crowds in the face +of a strong authority--The momentary revolutionary instincts of +crowds do not prevent them from being extremely +conservative--Crowds instinctively hostile to changes and +progress. 5. THE MORALITY OF CROWDS. The morality of +crowds, according to the suggestions under which they act, may be +much lower or much higher than that of the individuals composing +them--Explanation and examples-- Crowds rarely guided by those +considerations of interest which are most often the exclusive +motives of the isolated individual--The moralising role of +crowds. + + +Having indicated in a general way the principal characteristics +of crowds, it remains to study these characteristics in detail. + +It will be remarked that among the special characteristics of +crowds there are several--such as impulsiveness, irritability, +incapacity to reason, the absence of judgment and of the critical +spirit, the exaggeration of the sentiments, and others +besides--which are almost always observed in beings belonging to +inferior forms of evolution--in women, savages, and children, for +instance. However, I merely indicate this analogy in passing; +its demonstration is outside the scope of this work. It would, +moreover, be useless for persons acquainted with the psychology +of primitive beings, and would scarcely carry conviction to those +in ignorance of this matter. + +I now proceed to the successive consideration of the different +characteristics that may be observed in the majority of crowds. + + +1. IMPULSIVENESS, MOBILITY, AND IRRITABILITY OF CROWDS. + + +When studying the fundamental characteristics of a crowd we +stated that it is guided almost exclusively by unconscious +motives. Its acts are far more under the influence of the spinal +cord than of the brain. In this respect a crowd is closely akin +to quite primitive beings. The acts performed may be perfect so +far as their execution is concerned, but as they are not directed +by the brain, the individual conducts himself according as the +exciting causes to which he is submitted may happen to decide. A +crowd is at the mercy of all external exciting causes, and +reflects their incessant variations. It is the slave of the +impulses which it receives. The isolated individual may be +submitted to the same exciting causes as the man in a crowd, but +as his brain shows him the inadvisability of yielding to them, he +refrains from yielding. This truth may be physiologically +expressed by saying that the isolated individual possesses the +capacity of dominating his reflex actions, while a crowd is +devoid of this capacity. + +The varying impulses to which crowds obey may be, according to +their exciting causes, generous or cruel, heroic or cowardly, but +they will always be so imperious that the interest of the +individual, even the interest of self-preservation, will not +dominate them. The exciting causes that may act on crowds being +so varied, and crowds always obeying them, crowds are in +consequence extremely mobile. This explains how it is that we +see them pass in a moment from the most bloodthirsty ferocity to +the most extreme generosity and heroism. A crowd may easily +enact the part of an executioner, but not less easily that of a +martyr. It is crowds that have furnished the torrents of blood +requisite for the triumph of every belief. It is not necessary +to go back to the heroic ages to see what crowds are capable of +in this latter direction. They are never sparing of their life +in an insurrection, and not long since a general,[2] becoming +suddenly popular, might easily have found a hundred thousand men +ready to sacrifice their lives for his cause had he demanded it. + + +[2] General Boulanger. + + + + +Any display of premeditation by crowds is in consequence out of +the question. They may be animated in succession by the most +contrary sentiments, but they will always be under the influence +of the exciting causes of the moment. They are like the leaves +which a tempest whirls up and scatters in every direction and +then allows to fall. When studying later on certain +revolutionary crowds we shall give some examples of the +variability of their sentiments. + +This mobility of crowds renders them very difficult to govern, +especially when a measure of public authority has fallen into +their hands. Did not the necessities of everyday life constitute +a sort of invisible regulator of existence, it would scarcely be +possible for democracies to last. Still, though the wishes of +crowds are frenzied they are not durable. Crowds are as +incapable of willing as of thinking for any length of time. + +A crowd is not merely impulsive and mobile. Like a savage, it is +not prepared to admit that anything can come between its desire +and the realisation of its desire. It is the less capable of +understanding such an intervention, in consequence of the feeling +of irresistible power given it by its numerical strength. The +notion of impossibility disappears for the individual in a crowd. +An isolated individual knows well enough that alone he cannot set +fire to a palace or loot a shop, and should he be tempted to do +so, he will easily resist the temptation. Making part of a +crowd, he is conscious of the power given him by number, and it +is sufficient to suggest to him ideas of murder or pillage for +him to yield immediately to temptation. An unexpected obstacle +will be destroyed with frenzied rage. Did the human organism +allow of the perpetuity of furious passion, it might be said that +the normal condition of a crowd baulked in its wishes is just +such a state of furious passion. + +The fundamental characteristics of the race, which constitute the +unvarying source from which all our sentiments spring, always +exert an influence on the irritability of crowds, their +impulsiveness and their mobility, as on all the popular +sentiments we shall have to study. All crowds are doubtless +always irritable and impulsive, but with great variations of +degree. For instance, the difference between a Latin and an +Anglo-Saxon crowd is striking. The most recent facts in French +history throw a vivid light on this point. The mere publication, +twenty-five years ago, of a telegram, relating an insult supposed +to have been offered an ambassador, was sufficient to determine +an explosion of fury, whence followed immediately a terrible war. +Some years later the telegraphic announcement of an insignificant +reverse at Langson provoked a fresh explosion which brought about +the instantaneous overthrow of the government. At the same +moment a much more serious reverse undergone by the English +expedition to Khartoum produced only a slight emotion in England, +and no ministry was overturned. Crowds are everywhere +distinguished by feminine characteristics, but Latin crowds are +the most feminine of all. Whoever trusts in them may rapidly +attain a lofty destiny, but to do so is to be perpetually +skirting the brink of a Tarpeian rock, with the certainty of one +day being precipitated from it. + +2. THE SUGGESTIBILITY AND CREDULITY OF CROWDS. + + +When defining crowds, we said that one of their general +characteristics was an excessive suggestibility, and we have +shown to what an extent suggestions are contagious in every human +agglomeration; a fact which explains the rapid turning of the +sentiments of a crowd in a definite direction. However +indifferent it may be supposed, a crowd, as a rule, is in a state +of expectant attention, which renders suggestion easy. The first +suggestion formulated which arises implants itself immediately by +a process of contagion in the brains of all assembled, and the +identical bent of the sentiments of the crowd is immediately an +accomplished fact. + +As is the case with all persons under the influence of +suggestion, the idea which has entered the brain tends to +transform itself into an act. Whether the act is that of setting +fire to a palace, or involves self-sacrifice, a crowd lends +itself to it with equal facility. All will depend on the nature +of the exciting cause, and no longer, as in the case of the +isolated individual, on the relations existing between the act +suggested and the sum total of the reasons which may be urged +against its realisation. + +In consequence, a crowd perpetually hovering on the borderland of +unconsciousness, readily yielding to all suggestions, having all +the violence of feeling peculiar to beings who cannot appeal to +the influence of reason, deprived of all critical faculty, cannot +be otherwise than excessively credulous. The improbable does not +exist for a crowd, and it is necessary to bear this circumstance +well in mind to understand the facility with which are created +and propagated the most improbable legends and stories.[3] + + +[3] Persons who went through the siege of Paris saw numerous +examples of this credulity of crowds. A candle alight in an +upper story was immediately looked upon as a signal given the +besiegers, although it was evident, after a moment of reflection, +that it was utterly impossible to catch sight of the light of the +candle at a distance of several miles. + + + +The creation of the legends which so easily obtain circulation in +crowds is not solely the consequence of their extreme credulity. +It is also the result of the prodigious perversions that events +undergo in the imagination of a throng. The simplest event that +comes under the observation of a crowd is soon totally +transformed. A crowd thinks in images, and the image itself +immediately calls up a series of other images, having no logical +connection with the first. We can easily conceive this state by +thinking of the fantastic succession of ideas to which we are +sometimes led by calling up in our minds any fact. Our reason +shows us the incoherence there is in these images, but a crowd is +almost blind to this truth, and confuses with the real event what +the deforming action of its imagination has superimposed thereon. +A crowd scarcely distinguishes between the subjective and the +objective. It accepts as real the images evoked in its mind, +though they most often have only a very distant relation with the +observed fact. + +The ways in which a crowd perverts any event of which it is a +witness ought, it would seem, to be innumerable and unlike each +other, since the individuals composing the gathering are of very +different temperaments. But this is not the case. As the result +of contagion the perversions are of the same kind, and take the +same shape in the case of all the assembled individuals. + +The first perversion of the truth effected by one of the +individuals of the gathering is the starting-point of the +contagious suggestion. Before St. George appeared on the walls +of Jerusalem to all the Crusaders he was certainly perceived in +the first instance by one of those present. By dint of +suggestion and contagion the miracle signalised by a single +person was immediately accepted by all. + +Such is always the mechanism of the collective hallucinations so +frequent in history--hallucinations which seem to have all the +recognised characteristics of authenticity, since they are +phenomena observed by thousands of persons. + +To combat what precedes, the mental quality of the individuals +composing a crowd must not be brought into consideration. This +quality is without importance. From the moment that they form +part of a crowd the learned man and the ignoramus are equally +incapable of observation. + +This thesis may seem paradoxical. To demonstrate it beyond doubt +it would be necessary to investigate a great number of historical +facts, and several volumes would be insufficient for the purpose. + +Still, as I do not wish to leave the reader under the impression +of unproved assertions, I shall give him some examples taken at +hazard from the immense number of those that might be quoted. + +The following fact is one of the most typical, because chosen +from among collective hallucinations of which a crowd is the +victim, in which are to be found individuals of every kind, from +the most ignorant to the most highly educated. It is related +incidentally by Julian Felix, a naval lieutenant, in his book on +"Sea Currents," and has been previously cited by the Revue +Scientifique. + +The frigate, the Belle Poule, was cruising in the open sea for +the purpose of finding the cruiser Le Berceau, from which she had +been separated by a violent storm. It was broad daylight and in +full sunshine. Suddenly the watch signalled a disabled vessel; +the crew looked in the direction signalled, and every one, +officers and sailors, clearly perceived a raft covered with men +towed by boats which were displaying signals of distress. Yet +this was nothing more than a collective hallucination. Admiral +Desfosses lowered a boat to go to the rescue of the wrecked +sailors. On nearing the object sighted, the sailors and officers +on board the boat saw "masses of men in motion, stretching out +their hands, and heard the dull and confused noise of a great +number of voices." When the object was reached those in the boat +found themselves simply and solely in the presence of a few +branches of trees covered with leaves that had been swept out +from the neighbouring coast. Before evidence so palpable the +hallucination vanished. + +The mechanism of a collective hallucination of the kind we have +explained is clearly seen at work in this example. On the one +hand we have a crowd in a state of expectant attention, on the +other a suggestion made by the watch signalling a disabled vessel +at sea, a suggestion which, by a process of contagion, was +accepted by all those present, both officers and sailors. + +It is not necessary that a crowd should be numerous for the +faculty of seeing what is taking place before its eyes to be +destroyed and for the real facts to be replaced by hallucinations +unrelated to them. As soon as a few individuals are gathered +together they constitute a crowd, and, though they should be +distinguished men of learning, they assume all the +characteristics of crowds with regard to matters outside their +speciality. The faculty of observation and the critical spirit +possessed by each of them individually at once disappears. An +ingenious psychologist, Mr. Davey, supplies us with a very +curious example in point, recently cited in the Annales des +Sciences Psychiques, and deserving of relation here. Mr. Davey, +having convoked a gathering of distinguished observers, among +them one of the most prominent of English scientific men, Mr. +Wallace, executed in their presence, and after having allowed +them to examine the objects and to place seals where they wished, +all the regulation spiritualistic phenomena, the materialisation +of spirits, writing on slates, &c. Having subsequently obtained +from these distinguished observers written reports admitting that +the phenomena observed could only have been obtained by +supernatural means, he revealed to them that they were the result +of very simple tricks. "The most astonishing feature of Monsieur +Davey's investigation," writes the author of this account, "is +not the marvellousness of the tricks themselves, but the extreme +weakness of the reports made with respect to them by the +noninitiated witnesses. It is clear, then," he says, "that +witnesses even in number may give circumstantial relations which +are completely erroneous, but whose result is THAT, IF THEIR +DESCRIPTIONS ARE ACCEPTED AS EXACT, the phenomena they describe +are inexplicable by trickery. The methods invented by Mr. Davey +were so simple that one is astonished that he should have had the +boldness to employ them; but he had such a power over the mind of +the crowd that he could persuade it that it saw what it did not +see." Here, as always, we have the power of the hypnotiser over +the hypnotised. Moreover, when this power is seen in action on +minds of a superior order and previously invited to be +suspicious, it is understandable how easy it is to deceive +ordinary crowds. + +Analogous examples are innumerable. As I write these lines the +papers are full of the story of two little girls found drowned in +the Seine. These children, to begin with, were recognised in the +most unmistakable manner by half a dozen witnesses. All the +affirmations were in such entire concordance that no doubt +remained in the mind of the juge d'instruction. He had the +certificate of death drawn up, but just as the burial of the +children was to have been proceeded with, a mere chance brought +about the discovery that the supposed victims were alive, and +had, moreover, but a remote resemblance to the drowned girls. As +in several of the examples previously cited, the affirmation of +the first witness, himself a victim of illusion, had sufficed to +influence the other witnesses. + +In parallel cases the starting-point of the suggestion is always +the illusion produced in an individual by more or less vague +reminiscences, contagion following as the result of the +affirmation of this initial illusion. If the first observer be +very impressionable, it will often be sufficient that the corpse +he believes he recognises should present-- apart from all real +resemblance--some peculiarity, a scar, or some detail of toilet +which may evoke the idea of another person. The idea evoked may +then become the nucleus of a sort of crystallisation which +invades the understanding and paralyses all critical faculty. +What the observer then sees is no longer the object itself, but +the image evoked in his mind. In this way are to be explained +erroneous recognitions of the dead bodies of children by their +own mother, as occurred in the following case, already old, but +which has been recently recalled by the newspapers. In it are to +be traced precisely the two kinds of suggestion of which I have +just pointed out the mechanism. + + +"The child was recognised by another child, who was mistaken. +The series of unwarranted recognitions then began. + +"An extraordinary thing occurred. The day after a schoolboy had +recognised the corpse a woman exclaimed, `Good Heavens, it is my +child!' + +"She was taken up to the corpse; she examined the clothing, and +noted a scar on the forehead. `It is certainly,' she said, `my +son who disappeared last July. He has been stolen from me and +murdered.' + +"The woman was concierge in the Rue du Four; her name was +Chavandret. Her brother-in-law was summoned, and when questioned +he said, `That is the little Filibert.' Several persons living in +the street recognised the child found at La Villette as Filibert +Chavandret, among them being the boy's schoolmaster, who based +his opinion on a medal worn by the lad. + +"Nevertheless, the neighbours, the brother-in-law, the +schoolmaster, and the mother were mistaken. Six weeks later the +identity of the child was established. The boy, belonging to +Bordeaux, had been murdered there and brought by a carrying +company to Paris."[4] + + +[4] L'Eclair, April 21, 1895. + + + +It will be remarked that these recognitions are most often made +by women and children--that is to say, by precisely the most +impressionable persons. They show us at the same time what is +the worth in law courts of such witnesses. As far as children, +more especially, are concerned, their statements ought never to +be invoked. Magistrates are in the habit of repeating that +children do not lie. Did they possess a psychological culture a +little less rudimentary than is the case they would know that, on +the contrary, children invariably lie; the lie is doubtless +innocent, but it is none the less a lie. It would be better to +decide the fate of an accused person by the toss of a coin than, +as has been so often done, by the evidence of a child. + +To return to the faculty of observation possessed by crowds, our +conclusion is that their collective observations are as erroneous +as possible, and that most often they merely represent the +illusion of an individual who, by a process of contagion, has +suggestioned his fellows. Facts proving that the most utter +mistrust of the evidence of crowds is advisable might be +multiplied to any extent. Thousands of men were present +twenty-five years ago at the celebrated cavalry charge during the +battle of Sedan, and yet it is impossible, in the face of the +most contradictory ocular testimony, to decide by whom it was +commanded. The English general, Lord Wolseley, has proved in a +recent book that up to now the gravest errors of fact have been +committed with regard to the most important incidents of the +battle of Waterloo--facts that hundreds of witnesses had +nevertheless attested.[5] + + +[5] Do we know in the case of one single battle exactly how it +took place? I am very doubtful on the point. We know who were +the conquerors and the conquered, but this is probably all. What +M. D'Harcourt has said with respect to the battle of Solferino, +which he witnessed and in which he was personally engaged, may be +applied to all battles--"The generals (informed, of course, by +the evidence of hundreds of witnesses) forward their official +reports; the orderly officers modify these documents and draw up +a definite narrative; the chief of the staff raises objections +and re-writes the whole on a fresh basis. It is carried to the +Marshal, who exclaims, `You are entirely in error,' and he +substitutes a fresh edition. Scarcely anything remains of the +original report." M. D'Harcourt relates this fact as proof of +the impossibility of establishing the truth in connection with +the most striking, the best observed events. + + + +Such facts show us what is the value of the testimony of crowds. +Treatises on logic include the unanimity of numerous witnesses in +the category of the strongest proofs that can be invoked in +support of the exactness of a fact. Yet what we know of the +psychology of crowds shows that treatises on logic need on this +point to be rewritten. The events with regard to which there +exists the most doubt are certainly those which have been +observed by the greatest number of persons. To say that a fact +has been simultaneously verified by thousands of witnesses is to +say, as a rule, that the real fact is very different from the +accepted account of it. + +It clearly results from what precedes that works of history must +be considered as works of pure imagination. They are fanciful +accounts of ill-observed facts, accompanied by explanations the +result of reflection. To write such books is the most absolute +waste of time. Had not the past left us its literary, artistic, +and monumental works, we should know absolutely nothing in +reality with regard to bygone times. Are we in possession of a +single word of truth concerning the lives of the great men who +have played preponderating parts in the history of humanity--men +such as Hercules, Buddha, or Mahomet? In all probability we are +not. In point of fact, moreover, their real lives are of slight +importance to us. Our interest is to know what our great men +were as they are presented by popular legend. It is legendary +heroes, and not for a moment real heroes, who have impressed the +minds of crowds. + +Unfortunately, legends--even although they have been definitely +put on record by books--have in themselves no stability. The +imagination of the crowd continually transforms them as the +result of the lapse of time and especially in consequence of +racial causes. There is a great gulf fixed between the +sanguinary Jehovah of the Old Testament and the God of Love of +Sainte Therese, and the Buddha worshipped in China has no traits +in common with that venerated in India. + +It is not even necessary that heroes should be separated from us +by centuries for their legend to be transformed by the +imagination of the crowd. The transformation occasionally takes +place within a few years. In our own day we have seen the legend +of one of the greatest heroes of history modified several times +in less than fifty years. Under the Bourbons Napoleon became a +sort of idyllic and liberal philanthropist, a friend of the +humble who, according to the poets, was destined to be long +remembered in the cottage. Thirty years afterwards this +easy-going hero had become a sanguinary despot, who, after having +usurped power and destroyed liberty, caused the slaughter of +three million men solely to satisfy his ambition. At present we +are witnessing a fresh transformation of the legend. When it has +undergone the influence of some dozens of centuries the learned +men of the future, face to face with these contradictory +accounts, will perhaps doubt the very existence of the hero, as +some of them now doubt that of Buddha, and will see in him +nothing more than a solar myth or a development of the legend of +Hercules. They will doubtless console themselves easily for this +uncertainty, for, better initiated than we are to-day in the +characteristics and psychology of crowds, they will know that +history is scarcely capable of preserving the memory of anything +except myths. + + +3. THE EXAGGERATION AND INGENUOUSNESS OF THE SENTIMENTS OF CROWDS. + + +Whether the feelings exhibited by a crowd be good or bad, they +present the double character of being very simple and very +exaggerated. On this point, as on so many others, an individual +in a crowd resembles primitive beings. Inaccessible to fine +distinctions, he sees things as a whole, and is blind to their +intermediate phases. The exaggeration of the sentiments of a +crowd is heightened by the fact that any feeling when once it is +exhibited communicating itself very quickly by a process of +suggestion and contagion, the evident approbation of which it is +the object considerably increases its force. + +The simplicity and exaggeration of the sentiments of crowds have +for result that a throng knows neither doubt nor uncertainty. +Like women, it goes at once to extremes. A suspicion transforms +itself as soon as announced into incontrovertible evidence. A +commencement of antipathy or disapprobation, which in the case of +an isolated individual would not gain strength, becomes at once +furious hatred in the case of an individual in a crowd. + +The violence of the feelings of crowds is also increased, +especially in heterogeneous crowds, by the absence of all sense +of responsibility. The certainty of impunity, a certainty the +stronger as the crowd is more numerous, and the notion of a +considerable momentary force due to number, make possible in the +case of crowds sentiments and acts impossible for the isolated +individual. In crowds the foolish, ignorant, and envious persons +are freed from the sense of their insignificance and +powerlessness, and are possessed instead by the notion of brutal +and temporary but immense strength. + +Unfortunately, this tendency of crowds towards exaggeration is +often brought to bear upon bad sentiments. These sentiments are +atavistic residuum of the instincts of the primitive man, which +the fear of punishment obliges the isolated and responsible +individual to curb. Thus it is that crowds are so easily led +into the worst excesses. + +Still this does not mean that crowds, skilfully influenced, are +not capable of heroism and devotion and of evincing the loftiest +virtues; they are even more capable of showing these qualities +than the isolated individual. We shall soon have occasion to +revert to this point when we come to study the morality of +crowds. + +Given to exaggeration in its feelings, a crowd is only impressed +by excessive sentiments. An orator wishing to move a crowd must +make an abusive use of violent affirmations. To exaggerate, to +affirm, to resort to repetitions, and never to attempt to prove +anything by reasoning are methods of argument well known to +speakers at public meetings. + +Moreover, a crowd exacts a like exaggeration in the sentiments of +its heroes. Their apparent qualities and virtues must always be +amplified. It has been justly remarked that on the stage a crowd +demands from the hero of the piece a degree of courage, morality, +and virtue that is never to be found in real life. + +Quite rightly importance has been laid on the special standpoint +from which matters are viewed in the theatre. Such a standpoint +exists no doubt, but its rules for the most part have nothing to +do with common sense and logic. The art of appealing to crowds +is no doubt of an inferior order, but it demands quite special +aptitudes. It is often impossible on reading plays to explain +their success. Managers of theatres when accepting pieces are +themselves, as a rule, very uncertain of their success, because +to judge the matter it would be necessary that they should be +able to transform themselves into a crowd.[6] + + +[6] It is understandable for this reason why it sometimes happens +that pieces refused by all theatrical managers obtain a +prodigious success when by a stroke of chance they are put on the +stage. The recent success of Francois Coppee's play "Pour la +Couronne" is well known, and yet, in spite of the name of its +author, it was refused during ten years by the managers of the +principal Parisian theatres. + +"Charley's Aunt," refused at every theatre, and finally staged at +the expense of a stockbroker, has had two hundred representations +in France, and more than a thousand in London. Without the +explanation given above of the impossibility for theatrical +managers to mentally substitute themselves for a crowd, such +mistakes in judgment on the part of competent individuals, who +are most interested not to commit such grave blunders, would be +inexplicable. This is a subject that I cannot deal with here, +but it might worthily tempt the pen of a writer acquainted with +theatrical matters, and at the same time a subtle +psychologist--of such a writer, for instance, as M. Francisque +Sarcey. + + + +Here, once more, were we able to embark on more extensive +explanations, we should show the preponderating influence of +racial considerations. A play which provokes the enthusiasm of +the crowd in one country has sometimes no success in another, or +has only a partial and conventional success, because it does not +put in operation influences capable of working on an altered +public. + +I need not add that the tendency to exaggeration in crowds is +only present in the case of sentiments and not at all in the +matter of intelligence. I have already shown that, by the mere +fact that an individual forms part of a crowd, his intellectual +standard is immediately and considerably lowered. A learned +magistrate, M. Tarde, has also verified this fact in his +researches on the crimes of crowds. It is only, then, with +respect to sentiment that crowds can rise to a very high or, on +the contrary, descend to a very low level. + + +4. THE INTOLERANCE, DICTATORIALNESS AND CONSERVATISM OF CROWDS. + + +Crowds are only cognisant of simple and extreme sentiments; the +opinions, ideas, and beliefs suggested to them are accepted or +rejected as a whole, and considered as absolute truths or as not +less absolute errors. This is always the case with beliefs +induced by a process of suggestion instead of engendered by +reasoning. Every one is aware of the intolerance that +accompanies religious beliefs, and of the despotic empire they +exercise on men's minds. + +Being in doubt as to what constitutes truth or error, and having, +on the other hand, a clear notion of its strength, a crowd is as +disposed to give authoritative effect to its inspirations as it +is intolerant. An individual may accept contradiction and +discussion; a crowd will never do so. At public meetings the +slightest contradiction on the part of an orator is immediately +received with howls of fury and violent invective, soon followed +by blows, and expulsion should the orator stick to his point. +Without the restraining presence of the representatives of +authority the contradictor, indeed, would often be done to death. + +Dictatorialness and intolerance are common to all categories of +crowds, but they are met with in a varying degree of intensity. +Here, once more, reappears that fundamental notion of race which +dominates all the feelings and all the thoughts of men. It is +more especially in Latin crowds that authoritativeness and +intolerance are found developed in the highest measure. In fact, +their development is such in crowds of Latin origin that they +have entirely destroyed that sentiment of the independence of the +individual so powerful in the Anglo-Saxon. Latin crowds are only +concerned with the collective independence of the sect to which +they belong, and the characteristic feature of their conception +of independence is the need they experience of bringing those who +are in disagreement with themselves into immediate and violent +subjection to their beliefs. Among the Latin races the Jacobins +of every epoch, from those of the Inquisition downwards, have +never been able to attain to a different conception of liberty. + +Authoritativeness and intolerance are sentiments of which crowds +have a very clear notion, which they easily conceive and which +they entertain as readily as they put them in practice when once +they are imposed upon them. Crowds exhibit a docile respect for +force, and are but slightly impressed by kindness, which for them +is scarcely other than a form of weakness. Their sympathies have +never been bestowed on easy-going masters, but on tyrants who +vigorously oppressed them. It is to these latter that they +always erect the loftiest statues. It is true that they +willingly trample on the despot whom they have stripped of his +power, but it is because, having lost his strength, he has +resumed his place among the feeble, who are to be despised +because they are not to be feared. The type of hero dear to +crowds will always have the semblance of a Caesar. His insignia +attracts them, his authority overawes them, and his sword instils +them with fear. + +A crowd is always ready to revolt against a feeble, and to bow +down servilely before a strong authority. Should the strength of +an authority be intermittent, the crowd, always obedient to its +extreme sentiments, passes alternately from anarchy to servitude, +and from servitude to anarchy. + +However, to believe in the predominance among crowds of +revolutionary instincts would be to entirely misconstrue their +psychology. It is merely their tendency to violence that +deceives us on this point. Their rebellious and destructive +outbursts are always very transitory. Crowds are too much +governed by unconscious considerations, and too much subject in +consequence to secular hereditary influences not to be extremely +conservative. Abandoned to themselves, they soon weary of +disorder, and instinctively turn to servitude. It was the +proudest and most untractable of the Jacobins who acclaimed +Bonaparte with greatest energy when he suppressed all liberty and +made his hand of iron severely felt. + +It is difficult to understand history, and popular revolutions in +particular, if one does not take sufficiently into account the +profoundly conservative instincts of crowds. They may be +desirous, it is true, of changing the names of their +institutions, and to obtain these changes they accomplish at +times even violent revolutions, but the essence of these +institutions is too much the expression of the hereditary needs +of the race for them not invariably to abide by it. Their +incessant mobility only exerts its influence on quite superficial +matters. In fact they possess conservative instincts as +indestructible as those of all primitive beings. Their fetish- +like respect for all traditions is absolute; their unconscious +horror of all novelty capable of changing the essential +conditions of their existence is very deeply rooted. Had +democracies possessed the power they wield to-day at the time of +the invention of mechanical looms or of the introduction of +steam-power and of railways, the realisation of these inventions +would have been impossible, or would have been achieved at the +cost of revolutions and repeated massacres. It is fortunate for +the progress of civilisation that the power of crowds only began +to exist when the great discoveries of science and industry had +already been effected. + + +5. THE MORALITY OF CROWDS. + + +Taking the word "morality" to mean constant respect for certain +social conventions, and the permanent repression of selfish +impulses, it is quite evident that crowds are too impulsive and +too mobile to be moral. If, however, we include in the term +morality the transitory display of certain qualities such as +abnegation, self-sacrifice, disinterestedness, devotion, and the +need of equity, we may say, on the contrary, that crowds may +exhibit at times a very lofty morality. + +The few psychologists who have studied crowds have only +considered them from the point of view of their criminal acts, +and noticing how frequent these acts are, they have come to the +conclusion that the moral standard of crowds is very low. + +Doubtless this is often the case; but why? Simply because our +savage, destructive instincts are the inheritance left dormant in +all of us from the primitive ages. In the life of the isolated +individual it would be dangerous for him to gratify these +instincts, while his absorption in an irresponsible crowd, in +which in consequence he is assured of impunity, gives him entire +liberty to follow them. Being unable, in the ordinary course of +events, to exercise these destructive instincts on our fellow- +men, we confine ourselves to exercising them on animals. The +passion, so widespread, for the chase and the acts of ferocity of +crowds proceed from one and the same source. A crowd which +slowly slaughters a defenceless victim displays a very cowardly +ferocity; but for the philosopher this ferocity is very closely +related to that of the huntsmen who gather in dozens for the +pleasure of taking part in the pursuit and killing of a luckless +stag by their hounds. + +A crowd may be guilty of murder, incendiarism, and every kind of +crime, but it is also capable of very lofty acts of devotion, +sacrifice, and disinterestedness, of acts much loftier indeed +than those of which the isolated individual is capable. Appeals +to sentiments of glory, honour, and patriotism are particularly +likely to influence the individual forming part of a crowd, and +often to the extent of obtaining from him the sacrifice of his +life. History is rich in examples analogous to those furnished +by the Crusaders and the volunteers of 1793. Collectivities +alone are capable of great disinterestedness and great devotion. +How numerous are the crowds that have heroically faced death for +beliefs, ideas, and phrases that they scarcely understood! The +crowds that go on strike do so far more in obedience to an order +than to obtain an increase of the slender salary with which they +make shift. Personal interest is very rarely a powerful motive +force with crowds, while it is almost the exclusive motive of the +conduct of the isolated individual. It is assuredly not +self-interest that has guided crowds in so many wars, +incomprehensible as a rule to their intelligence--wars in which +they have allowed themselves to be massacred as easily as the +larks hypnotised by the mirror of the hunter. + +Even in the case of absolute scoundrels it often happens that the +mere fact of their being in a crowd endows them for the moment +with very strict principles of morality. Taine calls attention +to the fact that the perpetrators of the September massacres +deposited on the table of the committees the pocket-books and +jewels they had found on their victims, and with which they could +easily have been able to make away. The howling, swarming, +ragged crowd which invaded the Tuileries during the revolution of +1848 did not lay hands on any of the objects that excited its +astonishment, and one of which would have meant bread for many +days. + +This moralisation of the individual by the crowd is not certainly +a constant rule, but it is a rule frequently observed. It is +even observed in circumstances much less grave than those I have +just cited. I have remarked that in the theatre a crowd exacts +from the hero of the piece exaggerated virtues, and it is a +commonplace observation that an assembly, even though composed of +inferior elements, shows itself as a rule very prudish. The +debauchee, the souteneur, the rough often break out into murmurs +at a slightly risky scene or expression, though they be very +harmless in comparison with their customary conversation. + +If, then, crowds often abandon themselves to low instincts, they +also set the example at times of acts of lofty morality. If +disinterestedness, resignation, and absolute devotion to a real +or chimerical ideal are moral virtues, it may be said that crowds +often possess these virtues to a degree rarely attained by the +wisest philosophers. Doubtless they practice them unconsciously, +but that is of small import. We should not complain too much +that crowds are more especially guided by unconscious +considerations and are not given to reasoning. Had they, in +certain cases, reasoned and consulted their immediate interests, +it is possible that no civilisation would have grown up on our +planet and humanity would have had no history. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE IDEAS, REASONING POWER, AND IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + +1. THE IDEAS OF CROWDS. Fundamental and accessory +ideas--How contradictory ideas may exist simultaneously--The +transformation that must be undergone by lofty ideas before they +are accessible to crowds-- The social influence of ideas is +independent of the degree of truth they may contain. 2. THE +REASONING POWER OF CROWDS. Crowds are not to be influenced by +reasoning--The reasoning of crowds is always of a very inferior +order--There is only the appearance of analogy or succession in +the ideas they associate. 3. THE IMAGINATION OF CROWDS. +Strength of the imagination of crowds--Crowds think in images, +and these images succeed each other without any connecting +link--Crowds are especially impressed by the marvellous--Legends +and the marvellous are the real pillars of civilisation--The +popular imagination has always been the basis of the power of +statesmen--The manner in which facts capable of striking the +imagination of crowds present themselves for observation. + + +1. THE IDEAS OF CROWDS + +WHEN studying in a preceding work the part played by ideas in the +evolution of nations, we showed that every civilisation is the +outcome of a small number of fundamental ideas that are very +rarely renewed. We showed how these ideas are implanted in the +minds of crowds, with what difficulty the process is effected, +and the power possessed by the ideas in question when once it has +been accomplished. Finally we saw that great historical +perturbations are the result, as a rule, of changes in these +fundamental ideas. + +Having treated this subject at sufficient length, I shall not +return to it now, but shall confine myself to saying a few words +on the subject of such ideas as are accessible to crowds, and of +the forms under which they conceive them. + +They may be divided into two classes. In one we shall place +accidental and passing ideas created by the influences of the +moment: infatuation for an individual or a doctrine, for +instance. In the other will be classed the fundamental ideas, to +which the environment, the laws of heredity and public opinion +give a very great stability; such ideas are the religious beliefs +of the past and the social and democratic ideas of to-day. + +These fundamental ideas resemble the volume of the water of a +stream slowly pursuing its course; the transitory ideas are like +the small waves, for ever changing, which agitate its surface, +and are more visible than the progress of the stream itself +although without real importance. + +At the present day the great fundamental ideas which were the +mainstay of our fathers are tottering more and more. They have +lost all solidity, and at the same time the institutions resting +upon them are severely shaken. Every day there are formed a +great many of those transitory minor ideas of which I have just +been speaking; but very few of them to all appearance seem +endowed with vitality and destined to acquire a preponderating +influence. + +Whatever be the ideas suggested to crowds they can only exercise +effective influence on condition that they assume a very +absolute, uncompromising, and simple shape. They present +themselves then in the guise of images, and are only accessible +to the masses under this form. These imagelike ideas are not +connected by any logical bond of analogy or succession, and may +take each other's place like the slides of a magic-lantern which +the operator withdraws from the groove in which they were placed +one above the other. This explains how it is that the most +contradictory ideas may be seen to be simultaneously current in +crowds. According to the chances of the moment, a crowd will +come under the influence of one of the various ideas stored up in +its understanding, and is capable, in consequence, of committing +the most dissimilar acts. Its complete lack of the critical +spirit does not allow of its perceiving these contradictions. + +This phenomenon is not peculiar to crowds. It is to be observed +in many isolated individuals, not only among primitive beings, +but in the case of all those--the fervent sectaries of a +religious faith, for instance--who by one side or another of +their intelligence are akin to primitive beings. I have observed +its presence to a curious extent in the case of educated Hindoos +brought up at our European universities and having taken their +degree. A number of Western ideas had been superposed on their +unchangeable and fundamental hereditary or social ideas. +According to the chances of the moment, the one or the other set +of ideas showed themselves each with their special accompaniment +of acts or utterances, the same individual presenting in this way +the most flagrant contradictions. These contradictions are more +apparent than real, for it is only hereditary ideas that have +sufficient influence over the isolated individual to become +motives of conduct. It is only when, as the result of the +intermingling of different races, a man is placed between +different hereditary tendencies that his acts from one moment to +another may be really entirely contradictory. It would be +useless to insist here on these phenomena, although their +psychological importance is capital. I am of opinion that at +least ten years of travel and observation would be necessary to +arrive at a comprehension of them. + +Ideas being only accessible to crowds after having assumed a very +simple shape must often undergo the most thoroughgoing +transformations to become popular. It is especially when we are +dealing with somewhat lofty philosophic or scientific ideas that +we see how far-reaching are the modifications they require in +order to lower them to the level of the intelligence of crowds. +These modifications are dependent on the nature of the crowds, or +of the race to which the crowds belong, but their tendency is +always belittling and in the direction of simplification. This +explains the fact that, from the social point of view, there is +in reality scarcely any such thing as a hierarchy of ideas--that +is to say, as ideas of greater or less elevation. However great +or true an idea may have been to begin with, it is deprived of +almost all that which constituted its elevation and its greatness +by the mere fact that it has come within the intellectual range +of crowds and exerts an influence upon them. + +Moreover, from the social point of view the hierarchical value of +an idea, its intrinsic worth, is without importance. The +necessary point to consider is the effects it produces. The +Christian ideas of the Middle Ages, the democratic ideas of the +last century, or the social ideas of to-day are assuredly not +very elevated. Philosophically considered, they can only be +regarded as somewhat sorry errors, and yet their power has been +and will be immense, and they will count for a long time to come +among the most essential factors that determine the conduct of +States. + +Even when an idea has undergone the transformations which render +it accessible to crowds, it only exerts influence when, by +various processes which we shall examine elsewhere, it has +entered the domain of the unconscious, when indeed it has become +a sentiment, for which much time is required. + +For it must not be supposed that merely because the justness of +an idea has been proved it can be productive of effective action +even on cultivated minds. This fact may be quickly appreciated +by noting how slight is the influence of the clearest +demonstration on the majority of men. Evidence, if it be very +plain, may be accepted by an educated person, but the convert +will be quickly brought back by his unconscious self to his +original conceptions. See him again after the lapse of a few +days and he will put forward afresh his old arguments in exactly +the same terms. He is in reality under the influence of anterior +ideas, that have become sentiments, and it is such ideas alone +that influence the more recondite motives of our acts and +utterances. It cannot be otherwise in the case of crowds. + +When by various processes an idea has ended by penetrating into +the minds of crowds, it possesses an irresistible power, and +brings about a series of effects, opposition to which is +bootless. The philosophical ideas which resulted in the French +Revolution took nearly a century to implant themselves in the +mind of the crowd. Their irresistible force, when once they had +taken root, is known. The striving of an entire nation towards +the conquest of social equality, and the realisation of abstract +rights and ideal liberties, caused the tottering of all thrones +and profoundly disturbed the Western world. During twenty years +the nations were engaged in internecine conflict, and Europe +witnessed hecatombs that would have terrified Ghengis Khan and +Tamerlane. The world had never seen on such a scale what may +result from the promulgation of an idea. + +A long time is necessary for ideas to establish themselves in the +minds of crowds, but just as long a time is needed for them to be +eradicated. For this reason crowds, as far as ideas are +concerned, are always several generations behind learned men and +philosophers. All statesmen are well aware to-day of the +admixture of error contained in the fundamental ideas I referred +to a short while back, but as the influence of these ideas is +still very powerful they are obliged to govern in accordance with +principles in the truth of which they have ceased to believe. + + +2. THE REASONING POWER OF CROWDS + + +It cannot absolutely be said that crowds do not reason and are +not to be influenced by reasoning. + +However, the arguments they employ and those which are capable of +influencing them are, from a logical point of view, of such an +inferior kind that it is only by way of analogy that they can be +described as reasoning. + +The inferior reasoning of crowds is based, just as is reasoning +of a high order, on the association of ideas, but between the +ideas associated by crowds there are only apparent bonds of +analogy or succession. The mode of reasoning of crowds resembles +that of the Esquimaux who, knowing from experience that ice, a +transparent body, melts in the mouth, concludes that glass, also +a transparent body, should also melt in the mouth; or that of the +savage who imagines that by eating the heart of a courageous foe +he acquires his bravery; or of the workman who, having been +exploited by one employer of labour, immediately concludes that +all employers exploit their men. + +The characteristics of the reasoning of crowds are the +association of dissimilar things possessing a merely apparent +connection between each other, and the immediate generalisation +of particular cases. It is arguments of this kind that are +always presented to crowds by those who know how to manage them. +They are the only arguments by which crowds are to be influenced. +A chain of logical argumentation is totally incomprehensible to +crowds, and for this reason it is permissible to say that they do +not reason or that they reason falsely and are not to be +influenced by reasoning. Astonishment is felt at times on +reading certain speeches at their weakness, and yet they had an +enormous influence on the crowds which listened to them, but it +is forgotten that they were intended to persuade collectivities +and not to be read by philosophers. An orator in intimate +communication with a crowd can evoke images by which it will be +seduced. If he is successful his object has been attained, and +twenty volumes of harangues--always the outcome of +reflection--are not worth the few phrases which appealed to the +brains it was required to convince. + +It would be superfluous to add that the powerlessness of crowds +to reason aright prevents them displaying any trace of the +critical spirit, prevents them, that is, from being capable of +discerning truth from error, or of forming a precise judgment on +any matter. Judgments accepted by crowds are merely judgments +forced upon them and never judgments adopted after discussion. +In regard to this matter the individuals who do not rise above +the level of a crowd are numerous. The ease with which certain +opinions obtain general acceptance results more especially from +the impossibility experienced by the majority of men of forming +an opinion peculiar to themselves and based on reasoning of their +own. + + +3. THE IMAGINATION OF CROWDS + + +Just as is the case with respect to persons in whom the reasoning +power is absent, the figurative imagination of crowds is very +powerful, very active and very susceptible of being keenly +impressed. The images evoked in their mind by a personage, an +event, an accident, are almost as lifelike as the reality. +Crowds are to some extent in the position of the sleeper whose +reason, suspended for the time being, allows the arousing in his +mind of images of extreme intensity which would quickly be +dissipated could they be submitted to the action of reflection. +Crowds, being incapable both of reflection and of reasoning, are +devoid of the notion of improbability; and it is to be noted that +in a general way it is the most improbable things that are the +most striking. + +This is why it happens that it is always the marvellous and +legendary side of events that more specially strike crowds. When +a civilisation is analysed it is seen that, in reality, it is the +marvellous and the legendary that are its true supports. +Appearances have always played a much more important part than +reality in history, where the unreal is always of greater moment +than the real. + +Crowds being only capable of thinking in images are only to be +impressed by images. It is only images that terrify or attract +them and become motives of action. + +For this reason theatrical representations, in which the image is +shown in its most clearly visible shape, always have an enormous +influence on crowds. Bread and spectacular shows constituted for +the plebeians of ancient Rome the ideal of happiness, and they +asked for nothing more. Throughout the successive ages this +ideal has scarcely varied. Nothing has a greater effect on the +imagination of crowds of every category than theatrical +representations. The entire audience experiences at the same +time the same emotions, and if these emotions are not at once +transformed into acts, it is because the most unconscious +spectator cannot ignore that he is the victim of illusions, and +that he has laughed or wept over imaginary adventures. +Sometimes, however, the sentiments suggested by the images are so +strong that they tend, like habitual suggestions, to transform +themselves into acts. The story has often been told of the +manager of a popular theatre who, in consequence of his only +playing sombre dramas, was obliged to have the actor who took the +part of the traitor protected on his leaving the theatre, to +defend him against the violence of the spectators, indignant at +the crimes, imaginary though they were, which the traitor had +committed. We have here, in my opinion, one of the most +remarkable indications of the mental state of crowds, and +especially of the facility with which they are suggestioned. The +unreal has almost as much influence on them as the real. They +have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two. + +The power of conquerors and the strength of States is based on +the popular imagination. It is more particularly by working upon +this imagination that crowds are led. All great historical +facts, the rise of Buddhism, of Christianity, of Islamism, the +Reformation, the French Revolution, and, in our own time, the +threatening invasion of Socialism are the direct or indirect +consequences of strong impressions produced on the imagination of +the crowd. + +Moreover, all the great statesmen of every age and every country, +including the most absolute despots, have regarded the popular +imagination as the basis of their power, and they have never +attempted to govern in opposition to it "It was by becoming a +Catholic," said Napoleon to the Council of State, "that I +terminated the Vendeen war. By becoming a Mussulman that I +obtained a footing in Egypt. By becoming an Ultramontane that I +won over the Italian priests, and had I to govern a nation of +Jews I would rebuild Solomon's temple." Never perhaps since +Alexander and Caesar has any great man better understood how the +imagination of the crowd should be impressed. His constant +preoccupation was to strike it. He bore it in mind in his +victories, in his harangues, in his speeches, in all his acts. +On his deathbed it was still in his thoughts. + +How is the imagination of crowds to be impressed? We shall soon +see. Let us confine ourselves for the moment to saying that the +feat is never to be achieved by attempting to work upon the +intelligence or reasoning faculty, that is to say, by way of +demonstration. It was not by means of cunning rhetoric that +Antony succeeded in making the populace rise against the +murderers of Caesar; it was by reading his will to the multitude +and pointing to his corpse. + +Whatever strikes the imagination of crowds presents itself under +the shape of a startling and very clear image, freed from all +accessory explanation, or merely having as accompaniment a few +marvellous or mysterious facts: examples in point are a great +victory, a great miracle, a great crime, or a great hope. Things +must be laid before the crowd as a whole, and their genesis must +never be indicated. A hundred petty crimes or petty accidents +will not strike the imagination of crowds in the least, whereas a +single great crime or a single great accident will profoundly +impress them, even though the results be infinitely less +disastrous than those of the hundred small accidents put +together. The epidemic of influenza, which caused the death but +a few years ago of five thousand persons in Paris alone, made +very little impression on the popular imagination. The reason +was that this veritable hecatomb was not embodied in any visible +image, but was only learnt from statistical information furnished +weekly. An accident which should have caused the death of only +five hundred instead of five thousand persons, but on the same +day and in public, as the outcome of an accident appealing +strongly to the eye, by the fall, for instance, of the Eiffel +Tower, would have produced, on the contrary, an immense +impression on the imagination of the crowd. The probable loss of +a transatlantic steamer that was supposed, in the absence of +news, to have gone down in mid-ocean profoundly impressed the +imagination of the crowd for a whole week. Yet official +statistics show that 850 sailing vessels and 203 steamers were +lost in the year 1894 alone. The crowd, however, was never for a +moment concerned by these successive losses, much more important +though they were as far as regards the destruction of life and +property, than the loss of the Atlantic liner in question could +possibly have been. + +It is not, then, the facts in themselves that strike the popular +imagination, but the way in which they take place and are brought +under notice. It is necessary that by their condensation, if I +may thus express myself, they should produce a startling image +which fills and besets the mind. To know the art of impressing +the imagination of crowds is to know at the same time the art of +governing them. + + +CHAPTER IV + +A RELIGIOUS SHAPE ASSUMED BY ALL THE CONVICTIONS OF CROWDS + +What is meant by the religious sentiment--It is independent of +the worship of a divinity--Its characteristics--The strength of +convictions assuming a religious shape--Various examples--Popular +gods have never disappeared--New forms under which they are +revived--Religious forms of atheism--Importance of these notions +from the historical point of view-- The Reformation, Saint +Bartholomew, the Terror, and all analogous events are the result +of the religious sentiments of crowds and not of the will of +isolated individuals. + + +We have shown that crowds do not reason, that they accept or +reject ideas as a whole, that they tolerate neither discussion +nor contradiction, and that the suggestions brought to bear on +them invade the entire field of their understanding and tend at +once to transform themselves into acts. We have shown that +crowds suitably influenced are ready to sacrifice themselves for +the ideal with which they have been inspired. We have also seen +that they only entertain violent and extreme sentiments, that in +their case sympathy quickly becomes adoration, and antipathy +almost as soon as it is aroused is transformed into hatred. +These general indications furnish us already with a presentiment +of the nature of the convictions of crowds. + +When these convictions are closely examined, whether at epochs +marked by fervent religious faith, or by great political +upheavals such as those of the last century, it is apparent that +they always assume a peculiar form which I cannot better define +than by giving it the name of a religious sentiment. + +This sentiment has very simple characteristics, such as worship +of a being supposed superior, fear of the power with which the +being is credited, blind submission to its commands, inability to +discuss its dogmas, the desire to spread them, and a tendency to +consider as enemies all by whom they are not accepted. Whether +such a sentiment apply to an invisible God, to a wooden or stone +idol, to a hero or to a political conception, provided that it +presents the preceding characteristics, its essence always +remains religious. The supernatural and the miraculous are found +to be present to the same extent. Crowds unconsciously accord a +mysterious power to the political formula or the victorious +leader that for the moment arouses their enthusiasm. + +A person is not religious solely when he worships a divinity, but +when he puts all the resources of his mind, the complete +submission of his will, and the whole-souled ardour of fanaticism +at the service of a cause or an individual who becomes the goal +and guide of his thoughts and actions. + +Intolerance and fanaticism are the necessary accompaniments of +the religious sentiment. They are inevitably displayed by those +who believe themselves in the possession of the secret of earthly +or eternal happiness. These two characteristics are to be found +in all men grouped together when they are inspired by a +conviction of any kind. The Jacobins of the Reign of Terror were +at bottom as religious as the Catholics of the Inquisition, and +their cruel ardour proceeded from the same source. + +The convictions of crowds assume those characteristics of blind +submission, fierce intolerance, and the need of violent +propaganda which are inherent in the religious sentiment, and it +is for this reason that it may be said that all their beliefs +have a religious form. The hero acclaimed by a crowd is a +veritable god for that crowd. Napoleon was such a god for +fifteen years, and a divinity never had more fervent worshippers +or sent men to their death with greater ease. The Christian and +Pagan Gods never exercised a more absolute empire over the minds +that had fallen under their sway. + +All founders of religious or political creeds have established +them solely because they were successful in inspiring crowds with +those fanatical sentiments which have as result that men find +their happiness in worship and obedience and are ready to lay +down their lives for their idol. This has been the case at all +epochs. Fustel de Coulanges, in his excellent work on Roman +Gaul, justly remarks that the Roman Empire was in no wise +maintained by force, but by the religious admiration it inspired. +"It would be without a parallel in the history of the world," he +observes rightly, "that a form of government held in popular +detestation should have lasted for five centuries. . . . It +would be inexplicable that the thirty legions of the Empire +should have constrained a hundred million men to obedience." The +reason of their obedience was that the Emperor, who personified +the greatness of Rome, was worshipped like a divinity by +unanimous consent. There were altars in honour of the Emperor in +the smallest townships of his realm. "From one end of the Empire +to the other a new religion was seen to arise in those days which +had for its divinities the emperors themselves. Some years +before the Christian era the whole of Gaul, represented by sixty +cities, built in common a temple near the town of Lyons in honour +of Augustus. . . . Its priests, elected by the united Gallic +cities, were the principal personages in their country. . . . It +is impossible to attribute all this to fear and servility. Whole +nations are not servile, and especially for three centuries. It +was not the courtiers who worshipped the prince, it was Rome, and +it was not Rome merely, but it was Gaul, it was Spain, it was +Greece and Asia." + +To-day the majority of the great men who have swayed men's minds +no longer have altars, but they have statues, or their portraits +are in the hands of their admirers, and the cult of which they +are the object is not notably different from that accorded to +their predecessors. An understanding of the philosophy of +history is only to be got by a thorough appreciation of this +fundamental point of the psychology of crowds. The crowd demands +a god before everything else. + +It must not be supposed that these are the superstitions of a +bygone age which reason has definitely banished. Sentiment has +never been vanquished in its eternal conflict with reason. +Crowds will hear no more of the words divinity and religion, in +whose name they were so long enslaved; but they have never +possessed so many fetishes as in the last hundred years, and the +old divinities have never had so many statues and altars raised +in their honour. Those who in recent years have studied the +popular movement known under the name of Boulangism have been +able to see with what ease the religious instincts of crowds are +ready to revive. There was not a country inn that did not +possess the hero's portrait. He was credited with the power of +remedying all injustices and all evils, and thousands of men +would have given their lives for him. Great might have been his +place in history had his character been at all on a level with +his legendary reputation. + +It is thus a very useless commonplace to assert that a religion +is necessary for the masses, because all political, divine, and +social creeds only take root among them on the condition of +always assuming the religious shape--a shape which obviates the +danger of discussion. Were it possible to induce the masses to +adopt atheism, this belief would exhibit all the intolerant +ardour of a religious sentiment, and in its exterior forms would +soon become a cult. The evolution of the small Positivist sect +furnishes us a curious proof in point. What happened to the +Nihilist whose story is related by that profound thinker +Dostoiewsky has quickly happened to the Positivists. Illumined +one day by the light of reason he broke the images of divinities +and saints that adorned the altar of a chapel, extinguished the +candles, and, without losing a moment, replaced the destroyed +objects by the works of atheistic philosophers such as Buchner +and Moleschott, after which he piously relighted the candles. +The object of his religious beliefs had been transformed, but can +it be truthfully said that his religious sentiments had changed? + +Certain historical events--and they are precisely the most +important--I again repeat, are not to be understood unless one +has attained to an appreciation of the religious form which the +convictions of crowds always assume in the long run. There are +social phenomena that need to be studied far more from the point +of view of the psychologist than from that of the naturalist. +The great historian Taine has only studied the Revolution as a +naturalist, and on this account the real genesis of events has +often escaped him. He has perfectly observed the facts, but from +want of having studied the psychology of crowds he has not always +been able to trace their causes. The facts having appalled him +by their bloodthirsty, anarchic, and ferocious side, he has +scarcely seen in the heroes of the great drama anything more than +a horde of epileptic savages abandoning themselves without +restraint to their instincts. The violence of the Revolution, +its massacres, its need of propaganda, its declarations of war +upon all things, are only to be properly explained by reflecting +that the Revolution was merely the establishment of a new +religious belief in the mind of the masses. The Reformation, the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew, the French religious wars, the +Inquisition, the Reign of Terror are phenomena of an identical +kind, brought about by crowds animated by those religious +sentiments which necessarily lead those imbued with them to +pitilessly extirpate by fire and sword whoever is opposed to the +establishment of the new faith. The methods of the Inquisition +are those of all whose convictions are genuine and sturdy. Their +convictions would not deserve these epithets did they resort to +other methods. + +Upheavals analogous to those I have just cited are only possible +when it is the soul of the masses that brings them about. The +most absolute despots could not cause them. When historians tell +us that the massacre of Saint Bartholomew was the work of a king, +they show themselves as ignorant of the psychology of crowds as +of that of sovereigns. Manifestations of this order can only +proceed from the soul of crowds. The most absolute power of the +most despotic monarch can scarcely do more than hasten or retard +the moment of their apparition. The massacre of Saint +Bartholomew or the religious wars were no more the work of kings +than the Reign of Terror was the work of Robespierre, Danton, or +Saint Just. At the bottom of such events is always to be found +the working of the soul of the masses, and never the power of +potentates. + + + +BOOK II + +THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +REMOTE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS + +Preparatory factors of the beliefs of crowds--The origin of the +beliefs of crowds is the consequence of a preliminary process of +elaboration-- Study of the different factors of these beliefs. +1. RACE. The predominating influence it exercises--It +represents the suggestions of ancestors. 2. TRADITIONS. +They are the synthesis of the soul of the race--Social importance +of traditions--How, after having been necessary they become +harmful--Crowds are the most obstinate maintainers of traditional +ideas. 3. TIME. It prepares in succession the establishment +of beliefs and then their destruction. It is by the aid of this +factor that order may proceed from chaos. 4. POLITICAL AND +SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. Erroneous idea of their part--Their +influence extremely weak--They are effects, not causes--Nations +are incapable of choosing what appear to them the best +institutions--Institutions are labels which shelter the most +dissimilar things under the same title-- How institutions may +come to be created--Certain institutions theoretically bad, such +as centralisation obligatory for certain nations. 5. +INSTITUTIONS AND EDUCATION. Falsity of prevalent ideas as to the +influence of instruction on crowds-- Statistical +indications--Demoralising effect of Latin system of +education--Part instruction might play--Examples furnished by +various peoples. + + +Having studied the mental constitution of crowds and become +acquainted with their modes of feeling, thinking, and reasoning, +we shall now proceed to examine how their opinions and beliefs +arise and become established. + +The factors which determine these opinions and beliefs are of two +kinds: remote factors and immediate factors. + +The remote factors are those which render crowds capable of +adopting certain convictions and absolutely refractory to the +acceptance of others. These factors prepare the ground in which +are suddenly seen to germinate certain new ideas whose force and +consequences are a cause of astonishment, though they are only +spontaneous in appearance. The outburst and putting in practice +of certain ideas among crowds present at times a startling +suddenness. This is only a superficial effect, behind which must +be sought a preliminary and preparatory action of long duration. + +The immediate factors are those which, coming on the top of this +long, preparatory working, in whose absence they would remain +without effect, serve as the source of active persuasion on +crowds; that is, they are the factors which cause the idea to +take shape and set it loose with all its consequences. The +resolutions by which collectivities are suddenly carried away +arise out of these immediate factors; it is due to them that a +riot breaks out or a strike is decided upon, and to them that +enormous majorities invest one man with power to overthrow a +government. + +The successive action of these two kinds of factors is to be +traced in all great historical events. The French Revolution--to +cite but one of the most striking of such events--had among its +remote factors the writings of the philosophers, the exactions of +the nobility, and the progress of scientific thought. The mind +of the masses, thus prepared, was then easily roused by such +immediate factors as the speeches of orators, and the resistance +of the court party to insignificant reforms. + +Among the remote factors there are some of a general nature, +which are found to underlie all the beliefs and opinions of +crowds. They are race, traditions, time, institutions, and +education. + +We now proceed to study the influence of these different factors. + +1. RACE + + +This factor, race, must be placed in the first rank, for in +itself it far surpasses in importance all the others. We have +sufficiently studied it in another work; it is therefore needless +to deal with it again. We showed, in a previous volume, what an +historical race is, and how, its character once formed, it +possesses, as the result of the laws of heredity such power that +its beliefs, institutions, and arts--in a word, all the elements +of its civilisation--are merely the outward expression of its +genius. We showed that the power of the race is such that no +element can pass from one people to another without undergoing +the most profound transformations.[7] + + +[7] The novelty of this proposition being still considerable and +history being quite unintelligible without it, I devoted four +chapters to its demonstration in my last book ("The Psychological +Laws of the Evolution of Peoples"). From it the reader will see +that, in spite of fallacious appearances, neither language, +religion, arts, or, in a word, any element of civilisation, can +pass, intact, from one people to another. + + + +Environment, circumstances, and events represent the social +suggestions of the moment. They may have a considerable +influence, but this influence is always momentary if it be +contrary to the suggestions of the race; that is, to those which +are inherited by a nation from the entire series of its +ancestors. + +We shall have occasion in several of the chapters of this work to +touch again upon racial influence, and to show that this +influence is so great that it dominates the characteristics +peculiar to the genius of crowds. It follows from this fact that +the crowds of different countries offer very considerable +differences of beliefs and conduct and are not to be influenced +in the same manner. + + +2. TRADITIONS + + +Traditions represent the ideas, the needs, and the sentiments of +the past. They are the synthesis of the race, and weigh upon us +with immense force. + +The biological sciences have been transformed since embryology +has shown the immense influence of the past on the evolution of +living beings; and the historical sciences will not undergo a +less change when this conception has become more widespread. As +yet it is not sufficiently general, and many statesmen are still +no further advanced than the theorists of the last century, who +believed that a society could break off with its past and be +entirely recast on lines suggested solely by the light of reason. + +A people is an organism created by the past, and, like every +other organism, it can only be modified by slow hereditary +accumulations. + +It is tradition that guides men, and more especially so when they +are in a crowd. The changes they can effect in their traditions +with any ease, merely bear, as I have often repeated, upon names +and outward forms. + +This circumstance is not to be regretted. Neither a national +genius nor civilisation would be possible without traditions. In +consequence man's two great concerns since he has existed have +been to create a network of traditions which he afterwards +endeavours to destroy when their beneficial effects have worn +themselves out. Civilisation is impossible without traditions, +and progress impossible without the destruction of those +traditions. The difficulty, and it is an immense difficulty, is +to find a proper equilibrium between stability and variability. +Should a people allow its customs to become too firmly rooted, it +can no longer change, and becomes, like China, incapable of +improvement. Violent revolutions are in this case of no avail; +for what happens is that either the broken fragments of the chain +are pieced together again and the past resumes its empire without +change, or the fragments remain apart and decadence soon succeeds +anarchy. + +The ideal for a people is in consequence to preserve the +institutions of the past, merely changing them insensibly and +little by little. This ideal is difficult to realise. The +Romans in ancient and the English in modern times are almost +alone in having realised it. + +It is precisely crowds that cling the most tenaciously to +traditional ideas and oppose their being changed with the most +obstinacy. This is notably the case with the category of crowds +constituting castes. I have already insisted upon the +conservative spirit of crowds, and shown that the most violent +rebellions merely end in a changing of words and terms. At the +end of the last century, in the presence of destroyed churches, +of priests expelled the country or guillotined, it might have +been thought that the old religious ideas had lost all their +strength, and yet a few years had barely lapsed before the +abolished system of public worship had to be re-established in +deference to universal demands.[8] + + +[8] The report of the ex-Conventionist, Fourcroy, quoted by +Taine, is very clear on this point. + +"What is everywhere seen with respect to the keeping of Sunday +and attendance at the churches proves that the majority of +Frenchmen desire to return to their old usages and that it is no +longer opportune to resist this natural tendency. . . . The +great majority of men stand in need of religion, public worship, +and priests. IT IS AN ERROR OF SOME MODERN PHILOSOPHERS, BY +WHICH I MYSELF HAVE BEEN LED AWAY, to believe in the possibility +of instruction being so general as to destroy religious +prejudices, which for a great number of unfortunate persons are a +source of consolation. . . . The mass of the people, then, must +be allowed its priests, its altars, and its public worship." + + + +Blotted out for a moment, the old traditions had resumed their +sway. + +No example could better display the power of tradition on the +mind of crowds. The most redoubtable idols do not dwell in +temples, nor the most despotic tyrants in palaces; both the one +and the other can be broken in an instant. But the invisible +masters that reign in our innermost selves are safe from every +effort at revolt, and only yield to the slow wearing away of +centuries. + + +3. TIME + + +In social as in biological problems time is one of the most +energetic factors. It is the sole real creator and the sole +great destroyer. It is time that has made mountains with grains +of sand and raised the obscure cell of geological eras to human +dignity. The action of centuries is sufficient to transform any +given phenomenon. It has been justly observed that an ant with +enough time at its disposal could level Mount Blanc. A being +possessed of the magical force of varying time at his will would +have the power attributed by believers to God. + +In this place, however, we have only to concern ourselves with +the influence of time on the genesis of the opinions of crowds. +Its action from this point of view is still immense. Dependent +upon it are the great forces such as race, which cannot form +themselves without it. It causes the birth, the growth, and the +death of all beliefs. It is by the aid of time that they acquire +their strength and also by its aid that they lose it. + +It is time in particular that prepares the opinions and beliefs +of crowds, or at least the soil on which they will germinate. +This is why certain ideas are realisable at one epoch and not at +another. It is time that accumulates that immense detritus of +beliefs and thoughts on which the ideas of a given period spring +up. They do not grow at hazard and by chance; the roots of each +of them strike down into a long past. When they blossom it is +time that has prepared their blooming; and to arrive at a notion +of their genesis it is always back in the past that it is +necessary to search. They are the daughters of the past and the +mothers of the future, but throughout the slaves of time. + +Time, in consequence, is our veritable master, and it suffices to +leave it free to act to see all things transformed. At the +present day we are very uneasy with regard to the threatening +aspirations of the masses and the destructions and upheavals +foreboded thereby. Time, without other aid, will see to the +restoration of equilibrium. "No form of government," M. Lavisse +very properly writes, "was founded in a day. Political and +social organisations are works that demand centuries. The feudal +system existed for centuries in a shapeless, chaotic state before +it found its laws; absolute monarchy also existed for centuries +before arriving at regular methods of government, and these +periods of expectancy were extremely troubled." + + +4. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS + + +The idea that institutions can remedy the defects of societies, +that national progress is the consequence of the improvement of +institutions and governments, and that social changes can be +effected by decrees-- this idea, I say, is still generally +accepted. It was the starting-point of the French Revolution, +and the social theories of the present day are based upon it. + +The most continuous experience has been unsuccessful in shaking +this grave delusion. Philosophers and historians have +endeavoured in vain to prove its absurdity, but yet they have had +no difficulty in demonstrating that institutions are the outcome +of ideas, sentiments, and customs, and that ideas, sentiments, +and customs are not to be recast by recasting legislative codes. +A nation does not choose its institutions at will any more than +it chooses the colour of its hair or its eyes. Institutions and +governments are the product of the race. They are not the +creators of an epoch, but are created by it. Peoples are not +governed in accordance with their caprices of the moment, but as +their character determines that they shall be governed. +Centuries are required to form a political system and centuries +needed to change it. Institutions have no intrinsic virtue: in +themselves they are neither good nor bad. Those which are good +at a given moment for a given people may be harmful in the +extreme for another nation. + +Moreover, it is in no way in the power of a people to really +change its institutions. Undoubtedly, at the cost of violent +revolutions, it can change their name, but in their essence they +remain unmodified. The names are mere futile labels with which +an historian who goes to the bottom of things need scarcely +concern himself. It is in this way, for instance, that +England,[9] the most democratic country in the world, lives, +nevertheless, under a monarchical regime, whereas the countries +in which the most oppressive despotism is rampant are the +Spanish-American Republics, in spite of their republican +constitutions. The destinies of peoples are determined by their +character and not by their government. I have endeavoured to +establish this view in my previous volume by setting forth +categorical examples. + + +[9] The most advanced republicans, even of the United States, +recognise this fact. The American magazine, The Forum, recently +gave categorical expression to the opinion in terms which I +reproduce here from the Review of Reviews for December, 1894:-- + +"It should never be forgotten, even by the most ardent enemies of +an aristocracy, that England is to-day the most democratic +country of the universe, the country in which the rights of the +individual are most respected, and in which the individual +possesses the most liberty." + + + +To lose time in the manufacture of cut-and-dried constitutions +is, in consequence, a puerile task, the useless labour of an +ignorant rhetorician. Necessity and time undertake the charge of +elaborating constitutions when we are wise enough to allow these +two factors to act. This is the plan the Anglo-Saxons have +adopted, as their great historian, Macaulay, teaches us in a +passage that the politicians of all Latin countries ought to +learn by heart. After having shown all the good that can be +accomplished by laws which appear from the point of view of pure +reason a chaos of absurdities and contradictions, he compares the +scores of constitutions that have been engulfed in the +convulsions of the Latin peoples with that of England, and points +out that the latter has only been very slowly changed part by +part, under the influence of immediate necessities and never of +speculative reasoning. + +"To think nothing of symmetry and much of convenience; never to +remove an anomaly merely because it is an anomaly; never to +innovate except when some grievance is felt; never to innovate +except so far as to get rid of the grievance; never to lay down +any proposition of wider extent than the particular case for +which it is necessary to provide; these are the rules which have, +from the age of John to the age of Victoria, generally guided the +deliberations of our two hundred and fifty Parliaments." + +It would be necessary to take one by one the laws and +institutions of each people to show to what extent they are the +expression of the needs of each race and are incapable, for that +reason, of being violently transformed. It is possible, for, +instance, to indulge in philosophical dissertations on the +advantages and disadvantages of centralisation; but when we see a +people composed of very different races devote a thousand years +of efforts to attaining to this centralisation; when we observe +that a great revolution, having for object the destruction of all +the institutions of the past, has been forced to respect this +centralisation, and has even strengthened it; under these +circumstances we should admit that it is the outcome of imperious +needs, that it is a condition of the existence of the nation in +question, and we should pity the poor mental range of politicians +who talk of destroying it. Could they by chance succeed in this +attempt, their success would at once be the signal for a +frightful civil war,[10] which, moreover, would immediately bring +back a new system of centralisation much more oppressive than the +old. + + +[10] If a comparison be made between the profound religious and +political dissensions which separate the various parties in +France, and are more especially the result of social questions, +and the separatist tendencies which were manifested at the time +of the Revolution, and began to again display themselves towards +the close of the Franco-German war, it will be seen that the +different races represented in France are still far from being +completely blended. The vigorous centralisation of the +Revolution and the creation of artificial departments destined to +bring about the fusion of the ancient provinces was certainly its +most useful work. Were it possible to bring about the +decentralisation which is to-day preoccupying minds lacking in +foresight, the achievement would promptly have for consequence +the most sanguinary disorders. To overlook this fact is to leave +out of account the entire history of France. + + + +The conclusion to be drawn from what precedes is, that it is not +in institutions that the means is to be sought of profoundly +influencing the genius of the masses. When we see certain +countries, such as the United States, reach a high degree of +prosperity under democratic institutions, while others, such as +the Spanish-American Republics, are found existing in a pitiable +state of anarchy under absolutely similar institutions, we should +admit that these institutions are as foreign to the greatness of +the one as to the decadence of the others. Peoples are governed +by their character, and all institutions which are not intimately +modelled on that character merely represent a borrowed garment, a +transitory disguise. No doubt sanguinary wars and violent +revolutions have been undertaken, and will continue to be +undertaken, to impose institutions to which is attributed, as to +the relics of saints, the supernatural power of creating welfare. +It may be said, then, in one sense, that institutions react on +the mind of the crowd inasmuch as they engender such upheavals. +But in reality it is not the institutions that react in this +manner, since we know that, whether triumphant or vanquished, +they possess in themselves no virtue. It is illusions and words +that have influenced the mind of the crowd, and especially +words-- words which are as powerful as they are chimerical, and +whose astonishing sway we shall shortly demonstrate. + + +5. INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATION + + +Foremost among the dominant ideas of the present epoch is to be +found the notion that instruction is capable of considerably +changing men, and has for its unfailing consequence to improve +them and even to make them equal. By the mere fact of its being +constantly repeated, this assertion has ended by becoming one of +the most steadfast democratic dogmas. It would be as difficult +now to attack it as it would have been formerly to have attacked +the dogmas of the Church. + +On this point, however, as on many others, democratic ideas are +in profound disagreement with the results of psychology and +experience. Many eminent philosophers, among them Herbert +Spencer, have had no difficulty in showing that instruction +neither renders a man more moral nor happier, that it changes +neither his instincts nor his hereditary passions, and that at +times--for this to happen it need only be badly directed--it is +much more pernicious than useful. Statisticians have brought +confirmation of these views by telling us that criminality +increases with the generalisation of instruction, or at any rate +of a certain kind of instruction, and that the worst enemies of +society, the anarchists, are recruited among the prize-winners of +schools; while in a recent work a distinguished magistrate, M. +Adolphe Guillot, made the observation that at present 3,000 +educated criminals are met with for every 1,000 illiterate +delinquents, and that in fifty years the criminal percentage of +the population has passed from 227 to 552 for every 100,000 +inhabitants, an increase of 133 per cent. He has also noted in +common with his colleagues that criminality is particularly on +the increase among young persons, for whom, as is known, +gratuitous and obligatory schooling has--in France--replaced +apprenticeship. + +It is not assuredly--and nobody has ever maintained this +proposition-- that well-directed instruction may not give very +useful practical results, if not in the sense of raising the +standard of morality, at least in that of developing professional +capacity. Unfortunately the Latin peoples, especially in the +last twenty-five years, have based their systems of instruction +on very erroneous principles, and in spite of the observations of +the most eminent minds, such as Breal, Fustel de Coulanges, +Taine, and many others, they persist in their lamentable +mistakes. I have myself shown, in a work published some time +ago, that the French system of education transforms the majority +of those who have undergone it into enemies of society, and +recruits numerous disciples for the worst forms of socialism. + +The primary danger of this system of education--very properly +qualified as Latin--consists in the fact that it is based on the +fundamental psychological error that the intelligence is +developed by the learning by heart of text-books. Adopting this +view, the endeavour has been made to enforce a knowledge of as +many hand-books as possible. From the primary school till he +leaves the university a young man does nothing but acquire books +by heart without his judgment or personal initiative being ever +called into play. Education consists for him in reciting by +heart and obeying. + +"Learning lessons, knowing by heart a grammar or a compendium, +repeating well and imitating well--that," writes a former +Minister of Public Instruction, M. Jules Simon, "is a ludicrous +form of education whose every effort is an act of faith tacitly +admitting the infallibility of the master, and whose only results +are a belittling of ourselves and a rendering of us impotent." + +Were this education merely useless, one might confine one's self +to expressing compassion for the unhappy children who, instead of +making needful studies at the primary school, are instructed in +the genealogy of the sons of Clotaire, the conflicts between +Neustria and Austrasia, or zoological classifications. But the +system presents a far more serious danger. It gives those who +have been submitted to it a violent dislike to the state of life +in which they were born, and an intense desire to escape from it. +The working man no longer wishes to remain a working man, or the +peasant to continue a peasant, while the most humble members of +the middle classes admit of no possible career for their sons +except that of State-paid functionaries. Instead of preparing +men for life French schools solely prepare them to occupy public +functions, in which success can be attained without any necessity +for self-direction or the exhibition of the least glimmer of +personal initiative. At the bottom of the social ladder the +system creates an army of proletarians discontented with their +lot and always ready to revolt, while at the summit it brings +into being a frivolous bourgeoisie, at once sceptical and +credulous, having a superstitious confidence in the State, whom +it regards as a sort of Providence, but without forgetting to +display towards it a ceaseless hostility, always laying its own +faults to the door of the Government, and incapable of the least +enterprise without the intervention of the authorities. + +The State, which manufactures by dint of textbooks all these +persons possessing diplomas, can only utilise a small number of +them, and is forced to leave the others without employment. It +is obliged in consequence to resign itself to feeding the first +mentioned and to having the others as its enemies. From the top +to the bottom of the social pyramid, from the humblest clerk to +the professor and the prefect, the immense mass of persons +boasting diplomas besiege the professions. While a business man +has the greatest difficulty in finding an agent to represent him +in the colonies, thousands of candidates solicit the most modest +official posts. There are 20,000 schoolmasters and mistresses +without employment in the department of the Seine alone, all of +them persons who, disdaining the fields or the workshops, look to +the State for their livelihood. The number of the chosen being +restricted, that of the discontented is perforce immense. The +latter are ready for any revolution, whoever be its chiefs and +whatever the goal they aim at. The acquisition of knowledge for +which no use can be found is a sure method of driving a man to +revolt.[11] + + +[11] This phenomenon, moreover, is not peculiar to the Latin +peoples. It is also to be observed in China, which is also a +country in the hands of a solid hierarchy of mandarins or +functionaries, and where a function is obtained, as in France, by +competitive examination, in which the only test is the +imperturbable recitation of bulky manuals. The army of educated +persons without employment is considered in China at the present +day as a veritable national calamity. It is the same in India +where, since the English have opened schools, not for educating +purposes, as is the case in England itself, but simply to furnish +the indigenous inhabitants with instruction, there has been +formed a special class of educated persons, the Baboos, who, when +they do not obtain employment, become the irreconcilable enemies +of the English rule. In the case of all the Baboos, whether +provided with employment or not, the first effect of their +instruction has been to lower their standard of morality. This +is a fact on which I have insisted at length in my book, "The +Civilisations of India"--a fact, too, which has been observed by +all authors who have visited the great peninsula. + + + +It is evidently too late to retrace our steps. Experience alone, +that supreme educator of peoples, will be at pains to show us our +mistake. It alone will be powerful enough to prove the necessity +of replacing our odious text-books and our pitiable examinations +by industrial instruction capable of inducing our young men to +return to the fields, to the workshop, and to the colonial +enterprise which they avoid to-day at all costs. + +The professional instruction which all enlightened minds are now +demanding was the instruction received in the past by our +forefathers. It is still in vigour at the present day among the +nations who rule the world by their force of will, their +initiative, and their spirit of enterprise. In a series of +remarkable pages, whose principal passages I reproduce further +on, a great thinker, M. Taine, has clearly shown that our former +system of education was approximately that in vogue to-day in +England and America, and in a remarkable parallel between the +Latin and Anglo-Saxon systems he has plainly pointed out the +consequences of the two methods. + +One might consent, perhaps, at a pinch, to continue to accept all +the disadvantages of our classical education, although it +produced nothing but discontented men, and men unfitted for their +station in life, did the superficial acquisition of so much +knowledge, the faultless repeating by heart of so many +text-books, raise the level of intelligence. But does it really +raise this level? Alas, no! The conditions of success in life +are the possession of judgment, experience, initiative, and +character--qualities which are not bestowed by books. Books are +dictionaries, which it is useful to consult, but of which it is +perfectly useless to have lengthy portions in one's head. + +How is it possible for professional instruction to develop the +intelligence in a measure quite beyond the reach of classical +instruction? This has been well shown by M. Taine. + +"Ideas, he says, are only formed in their natural and normal +surroundings; the promotion of the growth is effected by the +innumerable impressions appealing to the senses which a young man +receives daily in the workshop, the mine, the law court, the +study, the builder's yard, the hospital; at the sight of tools, +materials, and operations; in the presence of customers, workers, +and labour, of work well or ill done, costly or lucrative. In +such a way are obtained those trifling perceptions of detail of +the eyes, the ear, the hands, and even the sense of smell, which, +picked up involuntarily, and silently elaborated, take shape +within the learner, and suggest to him sooner or, later this or +that new combination, simplification, economy, improvement, or +invention. The young Frenchman is deprived, and precisely at the +age when they are most fruitful, of all these precious contacts, +of all these indispensable elements of assimilation. For seven +or eight years on end he is shut up in a school, and is cut off +from that direct personal experience which would give him a keen +and exact notion of men and things and of the various ways of +handling them." + +" . . . At least nine out of ten have wasted their time and pains +during several years of their life--telling, important, even +decisive years. Among such are to be counted, first of all, the +half or two-thirds of those who present themselves for +examination--I refer to those who are rejected; and then among +those who are successful, who obtain a degree, a certificate, a +diploma, there is still a half or two-thirds--I refer to the +overworked. Too much has been demanded of them by exacting that +on a given day, on a chair or before a board, they should, for +two hours in succession, and with respect to a group of sciences, +be living repertories of all human knowledge. In point of fact +they were that, or nearly so, for two hours on that particular +day, but a month later they are so no longer. They could not go +through the examination again. Their too numerous and too +burdensome acquisitions slip incessantly from their mind, and are +not replaced. Their mental vigour has declined, their fertile +capacity for growth has dried up, the fully-developed man +appears, and he is often a used-up man. Settled down, married, +resigned to turning in a circle, and indefinitely in the same +circle, he shuts himself up in his confined function, which he +fulfils adequately, but nothing more. Such is the average yield: +assuredly the receipts do not balance the expenditure. In +England or America, where, as in France previous to 1789, the +contrary proceeding is adopted, the outcome obtained is equal or +superior." + + +The illustrious psychologist subsequently shows us the difference +between our system and that of the Anglo-Saxons. The latter do +not possess our innumerable special schools. With them +instruction is not based on book-learning, but on object lessons. +The engineer, for example, is trained in a workshop, and never at +a school; a method which allows of each individual reaching the +level his intelligence permits of. He becomes a workman or a +foreman if he can get no further, an engineer if his aptitudes +take him as far. This manner of proceeding is much more +democratic and of much greater benefit to society than that of +making the whole career of an individual depend on an +examination, lasting a few hours, and undergone at the age of +nineteen or twenty. + + +"In the hospital, the mine, the factory, in the architect's or +the lawyer's office, the student, who makes a start while very +young, goes through his apprenticeship, stage by stage, much as +does with us a law clerk in his office, or an artist in his +studio. Previously, and before making a practical beginning, he +has had an opportunity of following some general and summary +course of instruction, so as to have a framework ready prepared +in which to store the observations he is shortly to make. +Furthermore he is able, as a rule, to avail himself of sundry +technical courses which he can follow in his leisure hours, so as +to co-ordinate step by step the daily experience he is gathering. +Under such a system the practical capabilities increase and +develop of themselves in exact proportion to the faculties of the +student, and in the direction requisite for his future task and +the special work for which from now onwards he desires to fit +himself. By this means in England or the United States a young +man is quickly in a position to develop his capacity to the +utmost. At twenty-five years of age, and much sooner if the +material and the parts are there, he is not merely a useful +performer, he is capable also of spontaneous enterprise; he is +not only a part of a machine, but also a motor. In France, where +the contrary system prevails--in France, which with each +succeeding generation is falling more and more into line with +China--the sum total of the wasted forces is enormous." + + +The great philosopher arrives at the following conclusion with +respect to the growing incongruity between our Latin system of +education and the requirements of practical life:-- + + +"In the three stages of instruction, those of childhood, +adolescence and youth, the theoretical and pedagogic preparation +by books on the school benches has lengthened out and become +overcharged in view of the examination, the degree, the diploma, +and the certificate, and solely in this view, and by the worst +methods, by the application of an unnatural and anti-social +regime, by the excessive postponement of the practical +apprenticeship, by our boarding-school system, by artificial +training and mechanical cramming, by overwork, without thought +for the time that is to follow, for the adult age and the +functions of the man, without regard for the real world on which +the young man will shortly be thrown, for the society in which we +move and to which he must be adapted or be taught to resign +himself in advance, for the struggle in which humanity is +engaged, and in which to defend himself and to keep his footing +he ought previously to have been equipped, armed, trained, and +hardened. This indispensable equipment, this acquisition of more +importance than any other, this sturdy common sense and nerve and +will-power our schools do not procure the young Frenchman; on the +contrary, far from qualifying him for his approaching and +definite state, they disqualify him. In consequence, his entry +into the world and his first steps in the field of action are +most often merely a succession of painful falls, whose effect is +that he long remains wounded and bruised, and sometimes disabled +for life. The test is severe and dangerous. In the course of it +the mental and moral equilibrium is affected, and runs the risk +of not being re-established. Too sudden and complete disillusion +has supervened. The deceptions have been too great, the +disappointments too keen."[12] + + +[12] Taine, "Le Regime moderne," vol. ii., 1894. These pages are +almost the last that Taine wrote. They resume admirably the +results of the great philosopher's long experience. +Unfortunately they are in my opinion totally incomprehensible for +such of our university professors who have not lived abroad. +Education is the only means at our disposal of influencing to +some extent the mind of a nation, and it is profoundly saddening +to have to think that there is scarcely any one in France who can +arrive at understanding that our present system of teaching is a +grave cause of rapid decadence, which instead of elevating our +youth, lowers and perverts it. + +A useful comparison may be made between Taine's pages and the +observations on American education recently made by M. Paul +Bourget in his excellent book, "Outre-Mer." He, too, after +having noted that our education merely produces narrow-minded +bourgeois, lacking in initiative and will-power, or +anarchists--"those two equally harmful types of the civilised +man, who degenerates into impotent platitude or insane +destructiveness"--he too, I say, draws a comparison that cannot +be the object of too much reflection between our French lycees +(public schools), those factories of degeneration, and the +American schools, which prepare a man admirably for life. The +gulf existing between truly democratic nations and those who have +democracy in their speeches, but in no wise in their thoughts, is +clearly brought out in this comparison. + + + +Have we digressed in what precedes from the psychology of crowds? +Assuredly not. If we desire to understand the ideas and beliefs +that are germinating to-day in the masses, and will spring up +to-morrow, it is necessary to know how the ground has been +prepared. The instruction given the youth of a country allows of +a knowledge of what that country will one day be. The education +accorded the present generation justifies the most gloomy +previsions. It is in part by instruction and education that the +mind of the masses is improved or deteriorated. It was necessary +in consequence to show how this mind has been fashioned by the +system in vogue, and how the mass of the indifferent and the +neutral has become progressively an army of the discontented +ready to obey all the suggestions of utopians and rhetoricians. +It is in the schoolroom that socialists and anarchists are found +nowadays, and that the way is being paved for the approaching +period of decadence for the Latin peoples. + + +CHAPTER II + +THE IMMEDIATE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + +1. IMAGES, WORDS AND FORMULAE. The magical power of words +and formulae--The power of words bound up with the images they +evoke, and independent of their real sense--These images vary +from age to age, and from race to race--The wear and tear of +words--Examples of the considerable variations of sense of +much-used words--The political utility of baptizing old things +with new names when the words by which they were designated +produced an unfavourable impression on the masses-- variations of +the sense of words in consequence of race differences--The +different meanings of the word "democracy" in Europe and America. +2. ILLUSIONS. Their importance--They are to be found at the +root of all civilisations--The social necessity of +illusions--Crowds always prefer them to truths. 3. +EXPERIENCE. Experience alone can fix in the mind of crowds truths +become necessary and destroy illusions grown +dangerous--Experience is only effective on the condition that it +be frequently repeated--The cost of the experiences requisite to +persuade crowds. 4. REASON. The nullity of its influence on +crowds--Crowds only to be influenced by their unconscious +sentiments-- The role of logic in history--The secret causes of +improbable events. + + +We have just investigated the remote and preparatory factors +which give the mind of crowds a special receptivity, and make +possible therein the growth of certain sentiments and certain +ideas. It now remains for us to study the factors capable of +acting in a direct manner. We shall see in a forthcoming chapter +how these factors should be put in force in order that they may +produce their full effect. + +In the first part of this work we studied the sentiments, ideas, +and methods of reasoning of collective bodies, and from the +knowledge thus acquired it would evidently be possible to deduce +in a general way the means of making an impression on their mind. +We already know what strikes the imagination of crowds, and are +acquainted with the power and contagiousness of suggestions, of +those especially that are presented under the form of images. +However, as suggestions may proceed from very different sources, +the factors capable of acting on the minds of crowds may differ +considerably. It is necessary, then, to study them separately. +This is not a useless study. Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx +of ancient fable: it is necessary to arrive at a solution of the +problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to +being devoured by them. + +1. IMAGES, WORDS, AND FORMULAS + + +When studying the imagination of crowds we saw that it is +particularly open to the impressions produced by images. These +images do not always lie ready to hand, but it is possible to +evoke them by the judicious employment of words and formulas. +Handled with art, they possess in sober truth the mysterious +power formerly attributed to them by the adepts of magic. They +cause the birth in the minds of crowds of the most formidable +tempests, which in turn they are capable of stilling. A pyramid +far loftier than that of old Cheops could be raised merely with +the bones of men who have been victims of the power of words and +formulas. + +The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is +quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense +is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most +influence. Such, for example, are the terms democracy, +socialism, equality, liberty, &c., whose meaning is so vague that +bulky volumes do not suffice to precisely fix it. Yet it is +certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short +syllables, as if they contained the solution of all problems. +They synthesise the most diverse unconscious aspirations and the +hope of their realisation. + +Reason and arguments are incapable of combatting certain words +and formulas. They are uttered with solemnity in the presence of +crowds, and as soon as they have been pronounced an expression of +respect is visible on every countenance, and all heads are bowed. +By many they are considered as natural forces, as supernatural +powers. They evoke grandiose and vague images in men's minds, +but this very vagueness that wraps them in obscurity augments +their mysterious power. They are the mysterious divinities +hidden behind the tabernacle, which the devout only approach in +fear and trembling. + +The images evoked by words being independent of their sense, they +vary from age to age and from people to people, the formulas +remaining identical. Certain transitory images are attached to +certain words: the word is merely as it were the button of an +electric bell that calls them up. + +All words and all formulas do not possess the power of evoking +images, while there are some which have once had this power, but +lose it in the course of use, and cease to waken any response in +the mind. They then become vain sounds, whose principal utility +is to relieve the person who employs them of the obligation of +thinking. Armed with a small stock of formulas and commonplaces +learnt while we are young, we possess all that is needed to +traverse life without the tiring necessity of having to reflect +on anything whatever. + +If any particular language be studied, it is seen that the words +of which it is composed change rather slowly in the course of +ages, while the images these words evoke or the meaning attached +to them changes ceaselessly. This is the reason why, in another +work, I have arrived at the conclusion that the absolute +translation of a language, especially of a dead language, is +totally impossible. What do we do in reality when we substitute +a French for a Latin, Greek, or Sanscrit expression, or even when +we endeavour to understand a book written in our own tongue two +or three centuries back? We merely put the images and ideas with +which modern life has endowed our intelligence in the place of +absolutely distinct notions and images which ancient life had +brought into being in the mind of races submitted to conditions +of existence having no analogy with our own. When the men of the +Revolution imagined they were copying the Greeks and Romans, what +were they doing except giving to ancient words a sense the latter +had never had? What resemblance can possibly exist between the +institutions of the Greeks and those designated to-day by +corresponding words? A republic at that epoch was an essentially +aristocratic institution, formed of a reunion of petty despots +ruling over a crowd of slaves kept in the most absolute +subjection. These communal aristocracies, based on slavery, +could not have existed for a moment without it. + +The word "liberty," again, what signification could it have in +any way resembling that we attribute to it to-day at a period +when the possibility of the liberty of thought was not even +suspected, and when there was no greater and more exceptional +crime than that of discussing the gods, the laws and the customs +of the city? What did such a word as "fatherland" signify to an +Athenian or Spartan unless it were the cult of Athens or Sparta, +and in no wise that of Greece, composed of rival cities always at +war with each other? What meaning had the same word "fatherland" +among the ancient Gauls, divided into rival tribes and races, and +possessing different languages and religions, and who were easily +vanquished by Caesar because he always found allies among them? +It was Rome that made a country of Gaul by endowing it with +political and religious unity. Without going back so far, +scarcely two centuries ago, is it to be believed that this same +notion of a fatherland was conceived to have the same meaning as +at present by French princes like the great Conde, who allied +themselves with the foreigner against their sovereign? And yet +again, the same word had it not a sense very different from the +modern for the French royalist emigrants, who thought they obeyed +the laws of honour in fighting against France, and who from their +point of view did indeed obey them, since the feudal law bound +the vassal to the lord and not to the soil, so that where the +sovereign was there was the true fatherland? + +Numerous are the words whose meaning has thus profoundly changed +from age to age--words which we can only arrive at understanding +in the sense in which they were formerly understood after a long +effort. It has been said with truth that much study is necessary +merely to arrive at conceiving what was signified to our great +grandfathers by such words as the "king" and the "royal family." +What, then, is likely to be the case with terms still more +complex? + +Words, then, have only mobile and transitory significations which +change from age to age and people to people; and when we desire +to exert an influence by their means on the crowd what it is +requisite to know is the meaning given them by the crowd at a +given moment, and not the meaning which they formerly had or may +yet have for individuals of a different mental constitution. + +Thus, when crowds have come, as the result of political upheavals +or changes of belief, to acquire a profound antipathy for the +images evoked by certain words, the first duty of the true +statesman is to change the words without, of course, laying hands +on the things themselves, the latter being too intimately bound +up with the inherited constitution to be transformed. The +judicious Tocqueville long ago made the remark that the work of +the consulate and the empire consisted more particularly in the +clothing with new words of the greater part of the institutions +of the past--that is to say, in replacing words evoking +disagreeable images in the imagination of the crowd by other +words of which the novelty prevented such evocations. The +"taille" or tallage has become the land tax; the "gabelle," the +tax on salt; the "aids," the indirect contributions and the +consolidated duties; the tax on trade companies and guilds, the +license, &c. + +One of the most essential functions of statesmen consists, then, +in baptizing with popular or, at any rate, indifferent words +things the crowd cannot endure under their old names. The power +of words is so great that it suffices to designate in well-chosen +terms the most odious things to make them acceptable to crowds. +Taine justly observes that it was by invoking liberty and +fraternity--words very popular at the time-- that the Jacobins +were able "to install a despotism worthy of Dahomey, a tribunal +similar to that of the Inquisition, and to accomplish human +hecatombs akin to those of ancient Mexico." The art of those who +govern, as is the case with the art of advocates, consists above +all in the science of employing words. One of the greatest +difficulties of this art is, that in one and the same society the +same words most often have very different meanings for the +different social classes, who employ in appearance the same +words, but never speak the same language. + +In the preceding examples it is especially time that has been +made to intervene as the principal factor in the changing of the +meaning of words. If, however, we also make race intervene, we +shall then see that, at the same period, among peoples equally +civilised but of different race, the same words very often +correspond to extremely dissimilar ideas. It is impossible to +understand these differences without having travelled much, and +for this reason I shall not insist upon them. I shall confine +myself to observing that it is precisely the words most often +employed by the masses which among different peoples possess the +most different meanings. Such is the case, for instance, with +the words "democracy" and "socialism" in such frequent use +nowadays. + +In reality they correspond to quite contrary ideas and images in +the Latin and Anglo-Saxon mind. For the Latin peoples the word +"democracy" signifies more especially the subordination of the +will and the initiative of the individual to the will and the +initiative of the community represented by the State. It is the +State that is charged, to a greater and greater degree, with the +direction of everything, the centralisation, the monopolisation, +and the manufacture of everything. To the State it is that all +parties without exception, radicals, socialists, or monarchists, +constantly appeal. Among the Anglo-Saxons and notably in America +this same word "democracy" signifies, on the contrary, the +intense development of the will of the individual, and as +complete a subordination as possible of the State, which, with +the exception of the police, the army, and diplomatic relations, +is not allowed the direction of anything, not even of public +instruction. It is seen, then, that the same word which +signifies for one people the subordination of the will and the +initiative of the individual and the preponderance of the State, +signifies for another the excessive development of the will and +the initiative of the individual and the complete subordination +of the State.[13] + + +[13] In my book, "The Psychological Laws of the Evolution of +Peoples," I have insisted at length on the differences which +distinguish the Latin democratic ideal from the Anglo-Saxon +democratic ideal. Independently, and as the result of his +travels, M. Paul Bourget has arrived, in his quite recent book, +"Outre-Mer," at conclusions almost identical with mine. + + + +2. ILLUSIONS + + +From the dawn of civilisation onwards crowds have always +undergone the influence of illusions. It is to the creators of +illusions that they have raised more temples, statues, and altars +than to any other class of men. Whether it be the religious +illusions of the past or the philosophic and social illusions of +the present, these formidable sovereign powers are always found +at the head of all the civilisations that have successively +flourished on our planet. It is in their name that were built +the temples of Chaldea and Egypt and the religious edifices of +the Middle Ages, and that a vast upheaval shook the whole of +Europe a century ago, and there is not one of our political, +artistic, or social conceptions that is free from their powerful +impress. Occasionally, at the cost of terrible disturbances, man +overthrows them, but he seems condemned to always set them up +again. Without them he would never have emerged from his +primitive barbarian state, and without them again he would soon +return to it. Doubtless they are futile shadows; but these +children of our dreams have forced the nations to create whatever +the arts may boast of splendour or civilisation of greatness. + +"If one destroyed in museums and libraries, if one hurled down on +the flagstones before the churches all the works and all the +monuments of art that religions have inspired, what would remain +of the great dreams of humanity? To give to men that portion of +hope and illusion without which they cannot live, such is the +reason for the existence of gods, heroes, and poets. During +fifty years science appeared to undertake this task. But science +has been compromised in hearts hungering after the ideal, because +it does not dare to be lavish enough of promises, because it +cannot lie."[14] + + +[14] Daniel Lesueur. + + + +The philosophers of the last century devoted themselves with +fervour to the destruction of the religious, political, and +social illusions on which our forefathers had lived for a long +tale of centuries. By destroying them they have dried up the +springs of hope and resignation. Behind the immolated chimeras +they came face to face with the blind and silent forces of +nature, which are inexorable to weakness and ignore pity. + +Notwithstanding all its progress, philosophy has been unable as +yet to offer the masses any ideal that can charm them; but, as +they must have their illusions at all cost, they turn +instinctively, as the insect seeks the light, to the rhetoricians +who accord them what they want. Not truth, but error has always +been the chief factor in the evolution of nations, and the reason +why socialism is so powerful to-day is that it constitutes the +last illusion that is still vital. In spite of all scientific +demonstrations it continues on the increase. Its principal +strength lies in the fact that it is championed by minds +sufficiently ignorant of things as they are in reality to venture +boldly to promise mankind happiness. The social illusion reigns +to-day upon all the heaped-up ruins of the past, and to it +belongs the future. The masses have never thirsted after truth. +They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, +preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can +supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever +attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. + + +3. EXPERIENCE + + +Experience constitutes almost the only effective process by which +a truth may be solidly established in the mind of the masses, and +illusions grown too dangerous be destroyed. To this end, +however, it is necessary that the experience should take place on +a very large scale, and be very frequently repeated. The +experiences undergone by one generation are useless, as a rule, +for the generation that follows, which is the reason why +historical facts, cited with a view to demonstration, serve no +purpose. Their only utility is to prove to what an extent +experiences need to be repeated from age to age to exert any +influence, or to be successful in merely shaking an erroneous +opinion when it is solidly implanted in the mind of the masses. + +Our century and that which preceded it will doubtless be alluded +to by historians as an era of curious experiments, which in no +other age have been tried in such number. + +The most gigantic of these experiments was the French Revolution. +To find out that a society is not to be refashioned from top to +bottom in accordance with the dictates of pure reason, it was +necessary that several millions of men should be massacred and +that Europe should be profoundly disturbed for a period of twenty +years. To prove to us experimentally that dictators cost the +nations who acclaim them dear, two ruinous experiences have been +required in fifty years, and in spite of their clearness they do +not seem to have been sufficiently convincing. The first, +nevertheless, cost three millions of men and an invasion, the +second involved a loss of territory, and carried in its wake the +necessity for permanent armies. A third was almost attempted not +long since, and will assuredly be attempted one day. To bring an +entire nation to admit that the huge German army was not, as was +currently alleged thirty years ago, a sort of harmless national +guard,[15] the terrible war which cost us so dear had to take +place. To bring about the recognition that Protection ruins the +nations who adopt it, at least twenty years of disastrous +experience will be needful. These examples might be indefinitely +multiplied. + + +[15] The opinion of the crowd was formed in this case by those +rough-and-ready associations of dissimilar things, the mechanism +of which I have previously explained. The French national guard +of that period, being composed of peaceable shopkeepers, utterly +lacking in discipline and quite incapable of being taken +seriously, whatever bore a similar name, evoked the same +conception and was considered in consequence as harmless. The +error of the crowd was shared at the time by its leaders, as +happens so often in connection with opinions dealing with +generalisations. In a speech made in the Chamber on the 31st of +December, 1867, and quoted in a book by M. E. Ollivier that has +appeared recently, a statesman who often followed the opinion of +the crowd but was never in advance of it--I allude to M. +Thiers--declared that Prussia only possessed a national guard +analogous to that of France, and in consequence without +importance, in addition to a regular army about equal to the +French regular army; assertions about as accurate as the +predictions of the same statesman as to the insignificant future +reserved for railways. + + + +4. REASON + + +In enumerating the factors capable of making an impression on the +minds of crowds all mention of reason might be dispensed with, +were it not necessary to point out the negative value of its +influence. + +We have already shown that crowds are not to be influenced by +reasoning, and can only comprehend rough-and-ready associations +of ideas. The orators who know how to make an impression upon +them always appeal in consequence to their sentiments and never +to their reason. The laws of logic have no action on crowds.[16] +To bring home conviction to crowds it is necessary first of all +to thoroughly comprehend the sentiments by which they are +animated, to pretend to share these sentiments, then to endeavour +to modify them by calling up, by means of rudimentary +associations, certain eminently suggestive notions, to be +capable, if need be, of going back to the point of view from +which a start was made, and, above all, to divine from instant to +instant the sentiments to which one's discourse is giving birth. +This necessity of ceaselessly varying one's language in +accordance with the effect produced at the moment of speaking +deprives from the outset a prepared and studied harangue of all +efficaciousness. In such a speech the orator follows his own +line of thought, not that of his hearers, and from this fact +alone his influence is annihilated. + + +[16] My first observations with regard to the art of impressing +crowds and touching the slight assistance to be derived in this +connection from the rules of logic date back to the seige of +Paris, to the day when I saw conducted to the Louvre, where the +Government was then sitting, Marshal V----, whom a furious crowd +asserted they had surprised in the act of taking the plans of the +fortifications to sell them to the Prussians. A member of the +Government (G. P----), a very celebrated orator, came out to +harangue the crowd, which was demanding the immediate execution +of the prisoner. I had expected that the speaker would point out +the absurdity of the accusation by remarking that the accused +Marshal was positively one of those who had constructed the +fortifications, the plan of which, moreover, was on sale at every +booksellers. To my immense stupefaction--I was very young +then--the speech was on quite different lines. "Justice shall be +done," exclaimed the orator, advancing towards the prisoner, "and +pitiless justice. Let the Government of the National Defence +conclude your inquiry. In the meantime we will keep the prisoner +in custody." At once calmed by this apparent concession, the +crowd broke up, and a quarter of an hour later the Marshal was +able to return home. He would infallibly have been torn in +pieces had the speaker treated the infuriated crowd to the +logical arguments that my extreme youth induced me to consider as +very convincing. + + + +Logical minds, accustomed to be convinced by a chain of somewhat +close reasoning, cannot avoid having recourse to this mode of +persuasion when addressing crowds, and the inability of their +arguments always surprises them. "The usual mathematical +consequences based on the syllogism--that is, on associations of +identities--are imperative . . ." writes a logician. "This +imperativeness would enforce the assent even of an inorganic mass +were it capable of following associations of identities." This +is doubtless true, but a crowd is no more capable than an +inorganic mass of following such associations, nor even of +understanding them. If the attempt be made to convince by +reasoning primitive minds--savages or children, for instance--the +slight value possessed by this method of arguing will be +understood. + +It is not even necessary to descend so low as primitive beings to +obtain an insight into the utter powerlessness of reasoning when +it has to fight against sentiment. Let us merely call to mind +how tenacious, for centuries long, have been religious +superstitions in contradiction with the simplest logic. For +nearly two thousand years the most luminous geniuses have bowed +before their laws, and modern times have to be reached for their +veracity to be merely contested. The Middle Ages and the +Renaissance possessed many enlightened men, but not a single man +who attained by reasoning to an appreciation of the childish side +of his superstitions, or who promulgated even a slight doubt as +to the misdeeds of the devil or the necessity of burning +sorcerers. + +Should it be regretted that crowds are never guided by reason? +We would not venture to affirm it. Without a doubt human reason +would not have availed to spur humanity along the path of +civilisation with the ardour and hardihood its illusions have +done. These illusions, the offspring of those unconscious forces +by which we are led, were doubtless necessary. Every race +carries in its mental constitution the laws of its destiny, and +it is, perhaps, these laws that it obeys with a resistless +impulse, even in the case of those of its impulses which +apparently are the most unreasoned. It seems at times as if +nations were submitted to secret forces analogous to those which +compel the acorn to transform itself into an oak or a comet to +follow its orbit. + +What little insight we can get into these forces must be sought +for in the general course of the evolution of a people, and not +in the isolated facts from which this evolution appears at times +to proceed. Were these facts alone to be taken into +consideration, history would seem to be the result of a series of +improbable chances. It was improbable that a Galilean carpenter +should become for two thousand years an all-powerful God in whose +name the most important civilisations were founded; improbable, +too, that a few bands of Arabs, emerging from their deserts, +should conquer the greater part of the old Graco-Roman world, and +establish an empire greater than that of Alexander; improbable, +again, that in Europe, at an advanced period of its development, +and when authority throughout it had been systematically +hierarchised, an obscure lieutenant of artillery should have +succeeded in reigning over a multitude of peoples and kings. + +Let us leave reason, then, to philosophers, and not insist too +strongly on its intervention in the governing of men. It is not +by reason, but most often in spite of it, that are created those +sentiments that are the mainsprings of all +civilisation--sentiments such as honour, self- sacrifice, +religious faith, patriotism, and the love of glory. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LEADERS OF CROWDS AND THEIR MEANS OF PERSUASION + +1. THE LEADERS OF CROWDS. The instinctive need of all +beings forming a crowd to obey a leader--The psychology of the +leaders of crowds--They alone can endow crowds with faith and +organise them--The leaders forcibly despotic--Classification of +the leaders--The part played by the will. 2. THE MEANS OF +ACTION OF THE LEADERS. Affirmation, repetition, contagion--The +respective part of these different factors--The way in which +contagion may spread from the lower to the upper classes in a +society--A popular opinion soon becomes a general opinion. +3. PRESTIGE. Definition of prestige and classification of its +different kinds--Acquired prestige and personal prestige--Various +examples--The way in which prestige is destroyed. + + +We are now acquainted with the mental constitution of crowds, and +we also know what are the motives capable of making an impression +on their mind. It remains to investigate how these motives may +be set in action, and by whom they may usefully be turned to +practical account. + +1. THE LEADERS OF CROWDS. + + +As soon as a certain number of living beings are gathered +together, whether they be animals or men, they place themselves +instinctively under the authority of a chief. + +In the case of human crowds the chief is often nothing more than +a ringleader or agitator, but as such he plays a considerable +part. His will is the nucleus around which the opinions of the +crowd are grouped and attain to identity. He constitutes the +first element towards the organisation of heterogeneous crowds, +and paves the way for their organisation in sects; in the +meantime he directs them. A crowd is a servile flock that is +incapable of ever doing without a master. + +The leader has most often started as one of the led. He has +himself been hypnotised by the idea, whose apostle he has since +become. It has taken possession of him to such a degree that +everything outside it vanishes, and that every contrary opinion +appears to him an error or a superstition. An example in point +is Robespierre, hypnotised by the philosophical ideas of +Rousseau, and employing the methods of the Inquisition to +propagate them. + +The leaders we speak of are more frequently men of action than +thinkers. They are not gifted with keen foresight, nor could +they be, as this quality generally conduces to doubt and +inactivity. They are especially recruited from the ranks of +those morbidly nervous, excitable, half-deranged persons who are +bordering on madness. However absurd may be the idea they uphold +or the goal they pursue, their convictions are so strong that all +reasoning is lost upon them. Contempt and persecution do not +affect them, or only serve to excite them the more. They +sacrifice their personal interest, their family--everything. The +very instinct of self-preservation is entirely obliterated in +them, and so much so that often the only recompense they solicit +is that of martyrdom. The intensity of their faith gives great +power of suggestion to their words. The multitude is always +ready to listen to the strong-willed man, who knows how to impose +himself upon it. Men gathered in a crowd lose all force of will, +and turn instinctively to the person who possesses the quality +they lack. + +Nations have never lacked leaders, but all of the latter have by +no means been animated by those strong convictions proper to +apostles. These leaders are often subtle rhetoricians, seeking +only their own personal interest, and endeavouring to persuade by +flattering base instincts. The influence they can assert in this +manner may be very great, but it is always ephemeral. The men of +ardent convictions who have stirred the soul of crowds, the Peter +the Hermits, the Luthers, the Savonarolas, the men of the French +Revolution, have only exercised their fascination after having +been themselves fascinated first of all by a creed. They are +then able to call up in the souls of their fellows that +formidable force known as faith, which renders a man the absolute +slave of his dream. + +The arousing of faith--whether religious, political, or social, +whether faith in a work, in a person, or an idea--has always been +the function of the great leaders of crowds, and it is on this +account that their influence is always very great. Of all the +forces at the disposal of humanity, faith has always been one of +the most tremendous, and the gospel rightly attributes to it the +power of moving mountains. To endow a man with faith is to +multiply his strength tenfold. The great events of history have +been brought about by obscure believers, who have had little +beyond their faith in their favour. It is not by the aid of the +learned or of philosophers, and still less of sceptics, that have +been built up the great religions which have swayed the world, or +the vast empires which have spread from one hemisphere to the +other. + +In the cases just cited, however, we are dealing with great +leaders, and they are so few in number that history can easily +reckon them up. They form the summit of a continuous series, +which extends from these powerful masters of men down to the +workman who, in the smoky atmosphere of an inn, slowly fascinates +his comrades by ceaselessly drumming into their ears a few set +phrases, whose purport he scarcely comprehends, but the +application of which, according to him, must surely bring about +the realisation of all dreams and of every hope. + +In every social sphere, from the highest to the lowest, as soon +as a man ceases to be isolated he speedily falls under the +influence of a leader. The majority of men, especially among the +masses, do not possess clear and reasoned ideas on any subject +whatever outside their own speciality. The leader serves them as +guide. It is just possible that he may be replaced, though very +inefficiently, by the periodical publications which manufacture +opinions for their readers and supply them with ready- made +phrases which dispense them of the trouble of reasoning. + +The leaders of crowds wield a very despotic authority, and this +despotism indeed is a condition of their obtaining a following. +It has often been remarked how easily they extort obedience, +although without any means of backing up their authority, from +the most turbulent section of the working classes. They fix the +hours of labour and the rate of wages, and they decree strikes, +which are begun and ended at the hour they ordain. + +At the present day these leaders and agitators tend more and more +to usurp the place of the public authorities in proportion as the +latter allow themselves to be called in question and shorn of +their strength. The tyranny of these new masters has for result +that the crowds obey them much more docilely than they have +obeyed any government. If in consequence of some accident or +other the leaders should be removed from the scene the crowd +returns to its original state of a collectivity without cohesion +or force of resistance. During the last strike of the Parisian +omnibus employes the arrest of the two leaders who were directing +it was at once sufficient to bring it to an end. It is the need +not of liberty but of servitude that is always predominant in the +soul of crowds. They are so bent on obedience that they +instinctively submit to whoever declares himself their master. + +These ringleaders and agitators may be divided into two clearly +defined classes. The one includes the men who are energetic and +possess, but only intermittently, much strength of will, the +other the men, far rarer than the preceding, whose strength of +will is enduring. The first mentioned are violent, brave, and +audacious. They are more especially useful to direct a violent +enterprise suddenly decided on, to carry the masses with them in +spite of danger, and to transform into heroes the men who but +yesterday were recruits. Men of this kind were Ney and Murat +under the First Empire, and such a man in our own time was +Garibaldi, a talentless but energetic adventurer who succeeded +with a handful of men in laying hands on the ancient kingdom of +Naples, defended though it was by a disciplined army. + +Still, though the energy of leaders of this class is a force to +be reckoned with, it is transitory, and scarcely outlasts the +exciting cause that has brought it into play. When they have +returned to their ordinary course of life the heroes animated by +energy of this description often evince, as was the case with +those I have just cited, the most astonishing weakness of +character. They seem incapable of reflection and of conducting +themselves under the simplest circumstances, although they had +been able to lead others. These men are leaders who cannot +exercise their function except on the condition that they be led +themselves and continually stimulated, that they have always as +their beacon a man or an idea, that they follow a line of conduct +clearly traced. The second category of leaders, that of men of +enduring strength of will, have, in spite of a less brilliant +aspect, a much more considerable influence. In this category are +to be found the true founders of religions and great +undertakings: St. Paul, Mahomet, Christopher Columbus, and de +Lesseps, for example. Whether they be intelligent or +narrow-minded is of no importance: the world belongs to them. +The persistent will-force they possess is an immensely rare and +immensely powerful faculty to which everything yields. What a +strong and continuous will is capable of is not always properly +appreciated. Nothing resists it; neither nature, gods, nor man. + +The most recent example of what can be effected by a strong and +continuous will is afforded us by the illustrious man who +separated the Eastern and Western worlds, and accomplished a task +that during three thousand years had been attempted in vain by +the greatest sovereigns. He failed later in an identical +enterprise, but then had intervened old age, to which everything, +even the will, succumbs. + +When it is desired to show what may be done by mere strength of +will, all that is necessary is to relate in detail the history of +the difficulties that had to be surmounted in connection with the +cutting of the Suez Canal. An ocular witness, Dr. Cazalis, has +summed up in a few striking lines the entire story of this great +work, recounted by its immortal author. + +"From day to day, episode by episode, he told the stupendous +story of the canal. He told of all he had had to vanquish, of +the impossible he had made possible, of all the opposition he +encountered, of the coalition against him, and the +disappointments, the reverses, the defeats which had been +unavailing to discourage or depress him. He recalled how England +had combatted him, attacking him without cessation, how Egypt and +France had hesitated, how the French Consul had been foremost in +his opposition to the early stages of the work, and the nature of +the opposition he had met with, the attempt to force his workmen +to desert from thirst by refusing them fresh water; how the +Minister of Marine and the engineers, all responsible men of +experienced and scientific training, had naturally all been +hostile, were all certain on scientific grounds that disaster was +at hand, had calculated its coming, foretelling it for such a day +and hour as an eclipse is foretold." + +The book which relates the lives of all these great leaders would +not contain many names, but these names have been bound up with +the most important events in the history of civilisation. + + +2. THE MEANS OF ACTION OF THE LEADERS: AFFIRMATION, REPETITION, CONTAGION + + +When it is wanted to stir up a crowd for a short space of time, +to induce it to commit an act of any nature--to pillage a palace, +or to die in defence of a stronghold or a barricade, for +instance--the crowd must be acted upon by rapid suggestion, among +which example is the most powerful in its effect. To attain this +end, however, it is necessary that the crowd should have been +previously prepared by certain circumstances, and, above all, +that he who wishes to work upon it should possess the quality to +be studied farther on, to which I give the name of prestige. + +When, however, it is proposed to imbue the mind of a crowd with +ideas and beliefs--with modern social theories, for instance--the +leaders have recourse to different expedients. The principal of +them are three in number and clearly defined--affirmation, +repetition, and contagion. Their action is somewhat slow, but +its effects, once produced, are very lasting. + +Affirmation pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all +proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the +mind of crowds. The conciser an affirmation is, the more +destitute of every appearance of proof and demonstration, the +more weight it carries. The religious books and the legal codes +of all ages have always resorted to simple affirmation. +Statesmen called upon to defend a political cause, and commercial +men pushing the sale of their products by means of advertising +are acquainted with the value of affirmation. + +Affirmation, however, has no real influence unless it be +constantly repeated, and so far as possible in the same terms. +It was Napoleon, I believe, who said that there is only one +figure in rhetoric of serious importance, namely, repetition. +The thing affirmed comes by repetition to fix itself in the mind +in such a way that it is accepted in the end as a demonstrated +truth. + +The influence of repetition on crowds is comprehensible when the +power is seen which it exercises on the most enlightened minds. +This power is due to the fact that the repeated statement is +embedded in the long run in those profound regions of our +unconscious selves in which the motives of our actions are +forged. At the end of a certain time we have forgotten who is +the author of the repeated assertion, and we finish by believing +it. To this circumstance is due the astonishing power of +advertisements. When we have read a hundred, a thousand, times +that X's chocolate is the best, we imagine we have heard it said +in many quarters, and we end by acquiring the certitude that such +is the fact. When we have read a thousand times that Y's flour +has cured the most illustrious persons of the most obstinate +maladies, we are tempted at last to try it when suffering from an +illness of a similar kind. If we always read in the same papers +that A is an arrant scamp and B a most honest man we finish by +being convinced that this is the truth, unless, indeed, we are +given to reading another paper of the contrary opinion, in which +the two qualifications are reversed. Affirmation and repetition +are alone powerful enough to combat each other. + +When an affirmation has been sufficiently repeated and there is +unanimity in this repetition--as has occurred in the case of +certain famous financial undertakings rich enough to purchase +every assistance-- what is called a current of opinion is formed +and the powerful mechanism of contagion intervenes. Ideas, +sentiments, emotions, and beliefs possess in crowds a contagious +power as intense as that of microbes. This phenomenon is very +natural, since it is observed even in animals when they are +together in number. Should a horse in a stable take to biting +his manger the other horses in the stable will imitate him. A +panic that has seized on a few sheep will soon extend to the +whole flock. In the case of men collected in a crowd all +emotions are very rapidly contagious, which explains the +suddenness of panics. Brain disorders, like madness, are +themselves contagious. The frequency of madness among doctors +who are specialists for the mad is notorious. Indeed, forms of +madness have recently been cited--agoraphobia, for +instance--which are communicable from men to animals. + +For individuals to succumb to contagion their simultaneous +presence on the same spot is not indispensable. The action of +contagion may be felt from a distance under the influence of +events which give all minds an individual trend and the +characteristics peculiar to crowds. This is especially the case +when men's minds have been prepared to undergo the influence in +question by those remote factors of which I have made a study +above. An example in point is the revolutionary movement of +1848, which, after breaking out in Paris, spread rapidly over a +great part of Europe and shook a number of thrones. + +Imitation, to which so much influence is attributed in social +phenomena, is in reality a mere effect of contagion. Having +shown its influence elsewhere, I shall confine myself to +reproducing what I said on the subject fifteen years ago. My +remarks have since been developed by other writers in recent +publications. + +"Man, like animals, has a natural tendency to imitation. +Imitation is a necessity for him, provided always that the +imitation is quite easy. It is this necessity that makes the +influence of what is called fashion so powerful. Whether in the +matter of opinions, ideas, literary manifestations, or merely of +dress, how many persons are bold enough to run counter to the +fashion? It is by examples not by arguments that crowds are +guided. At every period there exists a small number of +individualities which react upon the remainder and are imitated +by the unconscious mass. It is needful however, that these +individualities should not be in too pronounced disagreement with +received ideas. Were they so, to imitate them would be too +difficult and their influence would be nil. For this very reason +men who are too superior to their epoch are generally without +influence upon it. The line of separation is too strongly +marked. For the same reason too Europeans, in spite of all the +advantages of their civilisation, have so insignificant an +influence on Eastern people; they differ from them to too great +an extent. + +"The dual action of the past and of reciprocal imitation renders, +in the long run, all the men of the same country and the same +period so alike that even in the case of individuals who would +seem destined to escape this double influence, such as +philosophers, learned men, and men of letters, thought and style +have a family air which enables the age to which they belong to +be immediately recognised. It is not necessary to talk for long +with an individual to attain to a thorough knowledge of what he +reads, of his habitual occupations, and of the surroundings amid +which he lives."[17] + + +[17] Gustave le Bon, "L'Homme et les Societes," vol. ii. p. 116. +1881. + + + +Contagion is so powerful that it forces upon individuals not only +certain opinions, but certain modes of feeling as well. +Contagion is the cause of the contempt in which, at a given +period, certain works are held--the example of "Tannhauser" may +be cited--which, a few years later, for the same reason are +admired by those who were foremost in criticising them. + +The opinions and beliefs of crowds are specially propagated by +contagion, but never by reasoning. The conceptions at present +rife among the working classes have been acquired at the +public-house as the result of affirmation, repetition, and +contagion, and indeed the mode of creation of the beliefs of +crowds of every age has scarcely been different. Renan justly +institutes a comparison between the first founders of +Christianity and "the socialist working men spreading their ideas +from public-house to public-house"; while Voltaire had already +observed in connection with the Christian religion that "for more +than a hundred years it was only embraced by the vilest +riff-raff." + +It will be noted that in cases analogous to those I have just +cited, contagion, after having been at work among the popular +classes, has spread to the higher classes of society. This is +what we see happening at the present day with regard to the +socialist doctrines which are beginning to be held by those who +will yet be their first victims. Contagion is so powerful a +force that even the sentiment of personal interest disappears +under its action. + +This is the explanation of the fact that every opinion adopted by +the populace always ends in implanting itself with great vigour +in the highest social strata, however obvious be the absurdity of +the triumphant opinion. This reaction of the lower upon the +higher social classes is the more curious, owing to the +circumstance that the beliefs of the crowd always have their +origin to a greater or less extent in some higher idea, which has +often remained without influence in the sphere in which it was +evolved. Leaders and agitators, subjugated by this higher idea, +take hold of it, distort it and create a sect which distorts it +afresh, and then propagates it amongst the masses, who carry the +process of deformation still further. Become a popular truth the +idea returns, as it were, to its source and exerts an influence +on the upper classes of a nation. In the long run it is +intelligence that shapes the destiny of the world, but very +indirectly. The philosophers who evolve ideas have long since +returned to dust, when, as the result of the process I have just +described, the fruit of their reflection ends by triumphing. + + +3. PRESTIGE + + +Great power is given to ideas propagated by affirmation, +repetition, and contagion by the circumstance that they acquire +in time that mysterious force known as prestige. + +Whatever has been a ruling power in the world, whether it be +ideas or men, has in the main enforced its authority by means of +that irresistible force expressed by the word "prestige." The +term is one whose meaning is grasped by everybody, but the word +is employed in ways too different for it to be easy to define it. +Prestige may involve such sentiments as admiration or fear. +Occasionally even these sentiments are its basis, but it can +perfectly well exist without them. The greatest measure of +prestige is possessed by the dead, by beings, that is, of whom we +do not stand in fear--by Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, and Buddha, +for example. On the other hand, there are fictive beings whom we +do not admire--the monstrous divinities of the subterranean +temples of India, for instance--but who strike us nevertheless as +endowed with a great prestige. + +Prestige in reality is a sort of domination exercised on our mind +by an individual, a work, or an idea. This domination entirely +paralyses our critical faculty, and fills our soul with +astonishment and respect. The sentiment provoked is +inexplicable, like all sentiments, but it would appear to be of +the same kind as the fascination to which a magnetised person is +subjected. Prestige is the mainspring of all authority. Neither +gods, kings, nor women have ever reigned without it. + +The various kinds of prestige may be grouped under two principal +heads: acquired prestige and personal prestige. Acquired +prestige is that resulting from name, fortune, and reputation. +It may be independent of personal prestige. Personal prestige, +on the contrary, is something essentially peculiar to the +individual; it may coexist with reputation, glory, and fortune, +or be strengthened by them, but it is perfectly capable of +existing in their absence. + +Acquired or artificial prestige is much the most common. The +mere fact that an individual occupies a certain position, +possesses a certain fortune, or bears certain titles, endows him +with prestige, however slight his own personal worth. A soldier +in uniform, a judge in his robes, always enjoys prestige. Pascal +has very properly noted the necessity for judges of robes and +wigs. Without them they would be stripped of half their +authority. The most unbending socialist is always somewhat +impressed by the sight of a prince or a marquis; and the +assumption of such titles makes the robbing of tradesmen an easy +matter.[18] + + +[18] The influence of titles, decorations, and uniforms on crowds +is to be traced in all countries, even in those in which the +sentiment of personal independence is the most strongly +developed. I quote in this connection a curious passage from a +recent book of travel, on the prestige enjoyed in England by +great persons. + +"I had observed, under various circumstances, the peculiar sort +of intoxication produced in the most reasonable Englishmen by the +contact or sight of an English peer. + +"Provided his fortune enables him to keep up his rank, he is sure +of their affection in advance, and brought into contact with him +they are so enchanted as to put up with anything at his hands. +They may be seen to redden with pleasure at his approach, and if +he speaks to them their suppressed joy increases their redness, +and causes their eyes to gleam with unusual brilliance. Respect +for nobility is in their blood, so to speak, as with Spaniards +the love of dancing, with Germans that of music, and with +Frenchmen the liking for revolutions. Their passion for horses +and Shakespeare is less violent, the satisfaction and pride they +derive from these sources a less integral part of their being. +There is a considerable sale for books dealing with the peerage, +and go where one will they are to be found, like the Bible, in +all hands." + + + + +The prestige of which I have just spoken is exercised by persons; +side by side with it may be placed that exercised by opinions, +literary and artistic works, &c. Prestige of the latter kind is +most often merely the result of accumulated repetitions. +History, literary and artistic history especially, being nothing +more than the repetition of identical judgments, which nobody +endeavours to verify, every one ends by repeating what he learnt +at school, till there come to be names and things which nobody +would venture to meddle with. For a modern reader the perusal of +Homer results incontestably in immense boredom; but who would +venture to say so? The Parthenon, in its present state, is a +wretched ruin, utterly destitute of interest, but it is endowed +with such prestige that it does not appear to us as it really is, +but with all its accompaniment of historic memories. The special +characteristic of prestige is to prevent us seeing things as they +are and to entirely paralyse our judgment. Crowds always, and +individuals as a rule, stand in need of ready-made opinions on +all subjects. The popularity of these opinions is independent of +the measure of truth or error they contain, and is solely +regulated by their prestige. + +I now come to personal prestige. Its nature is very different +from that of artificial or acquired prestige, with which I have +just been concerned. It is a faculty independent of all titles, +of all authority, and possessed by a small number of persons whom +it enables to exercise a veritably magnetic fascination on those +around them, although they are socially their equals, and lack +all ordinary means of domination. They force the acceptance of +their ideas and sentiments on those about them, and they are +obeyed as is the tamer of wild beasts by the animal that could +easily devour him. + +The great leaders of crowds, such as Buddha, Jesus, Mahomet, Joan +of Arc, and Napoleon, have possessed this form of prestige in a +high degree, and to this endowment is more particularly due the +position they attained. Gods, heroes, and dogmas win their way +in the world of their own inward strength. They are not to be +discussed: they disappear, indeed, as soon as discussed. + +The great personages I have just cited were in possession of +their power of fascination long before they became illustrious, +and would never have become so without it. It is evident, for +instance, that Napoleon at the zenith of his glory enjoyed an +immense prestige by the mere fact of his power, but he was +already endowed in part with this prestige when he was without +power and completely unknown. When, an obscure general, he was +sent, thanks to influential protection, to command the army of +Italy, he found himself among rough generals who were of a mind +to give a hostile reception to the young intruder dispatched them +by the Directory. From the very beginning, from the first +interview, without the aid of speeches, gestures, or threats, at +the first sight of the man who was to become great they were +vanquished. Taine furnishes a curious account of this interview +taken from contemporary memoirs. + + +"The generals of division, amongst others Augereau, a sort of +swashbuckler, uncouth and heroic, proud of his height and his +bravery, arrive at the staff quarters very badly disposed towards +the little upstart dispatched them from Paris. On the strength +of the description of him that has been given them, Augereau is +inclined to be insolent and insubordinate; a favourite of Barras, +a general who owes his rank to the events of Vendemiaire who has +won his grade by street-fighting, who is looked upon as bearish, +because he is always thinking in solitude, of poor aspect, and +with the reputation of a mathematician and dreamer. They are +introduced, and Bonaparte keeps them waiting. At last he +appears, girt with his sword; he puts on his hat, explains the +measures he has taken, gives his orders, and dismisses them. +Augereau has remained silent; it is only when he is outside that +he regains his self-possession and is able to deliver himself of +his customary oaths. He admits with Massena that this little +devil of a general has inspired him with awe; he cannot +understand the ascendency by which from the very first he has +felt himself overwhelmed." + + +Become a great man, his prestige increased in proportion as his +glory grew, and came to be at least equal to that of a divinity +in the eyes of those devoted to him. General Vandamme, a rough, +typical soldier of the Revolution, even more brutal and energetic +than Augereau, said of him to Marshal d'Arnano in 1815, as on one +occasion they mounted together the stairs of the Tuileries: +"That devil of a man exercises a fascination on me that I cannot +explain even to myself, and in such a degree that, though I fear +neither God nor devil, when I am in his presence I am ready to +tremble like a child, and he could make me go through the eye of +a needle to throw myself into the fire." + +Napoleon exercised a like fascination on all who came into +contact with him.[19] + + +[19] Thoroughly conscious of his prestige, Napoleon was aware +that he added to it by treating rather worse than stable lads the +great personages around him, and among whom figured some of those +celebrated men of the Convention of whom Europe had stood in +dread. The gossip of the period abounds in illustrations of this +fact. One day, in the midst of a Council of State, Napoleon +grossly insults Beugnot, treating him as one might an unmannerly +valet. The effect produced, he goes up to him and says, "Well, +stupid, have you found your head again?" Whereupon Beugnot, tall +as a drum-major, bows very low, and the little man raising his +hand, takes the tall one by the ear, "an intoxicating sign of +favour," writes Beugnot, "the familiar gesture of the master who +waxes gracious." Such examples give a clear idea of the degree +of base platitude that prestige can provoke. They enable us to +understand the immense contempt of the great despot for the men +surrounding him--men whom he merely looked upon as "food for +powder." + + + +Davoust used to say, talking of Maret's devotion and of his own: +"Had the Emperor said to us, `It is important in the interest of +my policy that Paris should be destroyed without a single person +leaving it or escaping,' Maret I am sure would have kept the +secret, but he could not have abstained from compromising himself +by seeing that his family got clear of the city. On the other +hand, I, for fear of letting the truth leak out, would have let +my wife and children stay." + +It is necessary to bear in mind the astounding power exerted by +fascination of this order to understand that marvellous return +from the Isle of Elba, that lightning-like conquest of France by +an isolated man confronted by all the organised forces of a great +country that might have been supposed weary of his tyranny. He +had merely to cast a look at the generals sent to lay hands on +him, and who had sworn to accomplish their mission. All of them +submitted without discussion. + + +"Napoleon," writes the English General Wolseley, "lands in France +almost alone, a fugitive from the small island of Elba which was +his kingdom, and succeeded in a few weeks, without bloodshed, in +upsetting all organised authority in France under its legitimate +king; is it possible for the personal ascendency of a man to +affirm itself in a more astonishing manner? But from the +beginning to the end of this campaign, which was his last, how +remarkable too is the ascendency he exercised over the Allies, +obliging them to follow his initiative, and how near he came to +crushing them!" + + +His prestige outlived him and continued to grow. It is his +prestige that made an emperor of his obscure nephew. How +powerful is his memory still is seen in the resurrection of his +legend in progress at the present day. Ill-treat men as you +will, massacre them by millions, be the cause of invasion upon +invasion, all is permitted you if you possess prestige in a +sufficient degree and the talent necessary to uphold it. + +I have invoked, no doubt, in this case a quite exceptional +example of prestige, but one it was useful to cite to make clear +the genesis of great religions, great doctrines, and great +empires. Were it not for the power exerted on the crowd by +prestige, such growths would be incomprehensible. + +Prestige, however, is not based solely on personal ascendency, +military glory, and religious terror; it may have a more modest +origin and still be considerable. Our century furnishes several +examples. One of the most striking ones that posterity will +recall from age to age will be supplied by the history of the +illustrious man who modified the face of the globe and the +commercial relations of the nations by separating two continents. +He succeeded in his enterprise owing to his immense strength of +will, but also owing to the fascination he exercised on those +surrounding him. To overcome the unanimous opposition he met +with, he had only to show himself. He would speak briefly, and +in face of the charm he exerted his opponents became his friends. +The English in particular strenuously opposed his scheme; he had +only to put in an appearance in England to rally all suffrages. +In later years, when he passed Southampton, the bells were rung +on his passage; and at the present day a movement is on foot in +England to raise a statue in his honour. + +"Having vanquished whatever there is to vanquish, men and things, +marshes, rocks, and sandy wastes," he had ceased to believe in +obstacles, and wished to begin Suez over again at Panama. He +began again with the same methods as of old; but he had aged, +and, besides, the faith that moves mountains does not move them +if they are too lofty. The mountains resisted, and the +catastrophe that ensued destroyed the glittering aureole of glory +that enveloped the hero. His life teaches how prestige can grow +and how it can vanish. After rivalling in greatness the most +famous heroes of history, he was lowered by the magistrates of +his country to the ranks of the vilest criminals. When he died +his coffin, unattended, traversed an indifferent crowd. Foreign +sovereigns are alone in rendering homage to his memory as to that +of one of the greatest men that history has known.[20] + + +[20] An Austrian paper, the Neue Freie Presse, of Vienna, has +indulged on the subject of the destiny of de Lesseps in +reflections marked by a most judicious psychological insight. I +therefore reproduce them here:-- + +"After the condemnation of Ferdinand de Lesseps one has no longer +the right to be astonished at the sad end of Christopher +Columbus. If Ferdinand de Lesseps were a rogue every noble +illusion is a crime. Antiquity would have crowned the memory of +de Lesseps with an aureole of glory, and would have made him +drink from the bowl of nectar in the midst of Olympus, for he has +altered the face of the earth and accomplished works which make +the creation more perfect. The President of the Court of Appeal +has immortalised himself by condemning Ferdinand de Lesseps, for +the nations will always demand the name of the man who was not +afraid to debase his century by investing with the convict's cap +an aged man, whose life redounded to the glory of his +contemporaries. + +"Let there be no more talk in the future of inflexible justice, +there where reigns a bureaucratic hatred of audacious feats. The +nations have need of audacious men who believe in themselves and +overcome every obstacle without concern for their personal +safety. Genius cannot be prudent; by dint of prudence it could +never enlarge the sphere of human activity. + +". . . Ferdinand de Lesseps has known the intoxication of triumph +and the bitterness of disappointment--Suez and Panama. At this +point the heart revolts at the morality of success. When de +Lesseps had succeeded in joining two seas princes and nations +rendered him their homage; to-day, when he meets with failure +among the rocks of the Cordilleras, he is nothing but a vulgar +rogue. . . . In this result we see a war between the classes of +society, the discontent of bureaucrats and employes, who take +their revenge with the aid of the criminal code on those who +would raise themselves above their fellows. . . . Modern +legislators are filled with embarrassment when confronted by the +lofty ideas due to human genius; the public comprehends such +ideas still less, and it is easy for an advocate-general to prove +that Stanley is a murderer and de Lesseps a deceiver." + + + +Still, the various examples that have just been cited represent +extreme cases. To fix in detail the psychology of prestige, it +would be necessary to place them at the extremity of a series, +which would range from the founders of religions and empires to +the private individual who endeavours to dazzle his neighbours by +a new coat or a decoration. + +Between the extreme limits of this series would find a place all +the forms of prestige resulting from the different elements +composing a civilisation--sciences, arts, literature, &c.--and it +would be seen that prestige constitutes the fundamental element +of persuasion. Consciously or not, the being, the idea, or the +thing possessing prestige is immediately imitated in consequence +of contagion, and forces an entire generation to adopt certain +modes of feeling and of giving expression to its thought. This +imitation, moreover, is, as a rule, unconscious, which accounts +for the fact that it is perfect. The modern painters who copy +the pale colouring and the stiff attitudes of some of the +Primitives are scarcely alive to the source of their inspiration. +They believe in their own sincerity, whereas, if an eminent +master had not revived this form of art, people would have +continued blind to all but its naive and inferior sides. Those +artists who, after the manner of another illustrious master, +inundate their canvasses with violet shades do not see in nature +more violet than was detected there fifty years ago; but they are +influenced, "suggestioned," by the personal and special +impressions of a painter who, in spite of this eccentricity, was +successful in acquiring great prestige. Similar examples might +be brought forward in connection with all the elements of +civilisation. + +It is seen from what precedes that a number of factors may be +concerned in the genesis of prestige; among them success was +always one of the most important. Every successful man, every +idea that forces itself into recognition, ceases, ipso facto, to +be called in question. The proof that success is one of the +principal stepping-stones to prestige is that the disappearance +of the one is almost always followed by the disappearance of the +other. The hero whom the crowd acclaimed yesterday is insulted +to-day should he have been overtaken by failure. The reaction, +indeed, will be the stronger in proportion as the prestige has +been great. The crowd in this case considers the fallen hero as +an equal, and takes its revenge for having bowed to a superiority +whose existence it no longer admits. While Robespierre was +causing the execution of his colleagues and of a great number of +his contemporaries, he possessed an immense prestige. When the +transposition of a few votes deprived him of power, he +immediately lost his prestige, and the crowd followed him to the +guillotine with the self-same imprecations with which shortly +before it had pursued his victims. Believers always break the +statues of their former gods with every symptom of fury. + +Prestige lost by want of success disappears in a brief space of +time. It can also be worn away, but more slowly by being +subjected to discussion. This latter power, however, is +exceedingly sure. From the moment prestige is called in question +it ceases to be prestige. The gods and men who have kept their +prestige for long have never tolerated discussion. For the crowd +to admire, it must be kept at a distance. + + +CHAPTER IV + +LIMITATIONS OF THE VARIABILITY OF THE BELIEFS AND OPINIONS OF CROWDS + +1. FIXED BELIEFS. The invariability of certain general +beliefs--They shape the course of a civilisation--The difficulty +of uprooting them--In what respect intolerance is a virtue in a +people--The philosophic absurdity of a belief cannot interfere +with its spreading. 2. THE CHANGEABLE OPINIONS OF CROWDS. +The extreme mobility of opinions which do not arise from general +beliefs--Apparent variations of ideas and beliefs in less than a +century--The real limits of these variations--The matters +effected by the variation--The disappearance at present in +progress of general beliefs, and the extreme diffusion of the +newspaper press, have for result that opinions are nowadays more +and more changeable--Why the opinions of crowds tend on the +majority of subjects towards indifference--Governments now +powerless to direct opinion as they formerly did--Opinions +prevented to-day from being tyrannical on account of their +exceeding divergency. + + +1. FIXED BELIEFS + +A close parallel exists between the anatomical and psychological +characteristics of living beings. In these anatomical +characteristics certain invariable, or slightly variable, +elements are met with, to change which the lapse is necessary of +geological ages. Side by side with these fixed, indestructible +features are to be found others extremely changeable, which the +art of the breeder or horticulturist may easily modify, and at +times to such an extent as to conceal the fundamental +characteristics from an observer at all inattentive. + +The same phenomenon is observed in the case of moral +characteristics. Alongside the unalterable psychological +elements of a race, mobile and changeable elements are to be +encountered. For this reason, in studying the beliefs and +opinions of a people, the presence is always detected of a fixed +groundwork on which are engrafted opinions as changing as the +surface sand on a rock. + +The opinions and beliefs of crowds may be divided, then, into two +very distinct classes. On the one hand we have great permanent +beliefs, which endure for several centuries, and on which an +entire civilisation may rest. Such, for instance, in the past +were feudalism, Christianity, and Protestantism; and such, in our +own time, are the nationalist principle and contemporary +democratic and social ideas. In the second place, there are the +transitory, changing opinions, the outcome, as a rule, of general +conceptions, of which every age sees the birth and disappearance; +examples in point are the theories which mould literature and the +arts--those, for instance, which produced romanticism, +naturalism, mysticism, &c. Opinions of this order are as +superficial, as a rule, as fashion, and as changeable. They may +be compared to the ripples which ceaselessly arise and vanish on +the surface of a deep lake. + +The great generalised beliefs are very restricted in number. +Their rise and fall form the culminating points of the history of +every historic race. They constitute the real framework of +civilisation. + +It is easy to imbue the mind of crowds with a passing opinion, +but very difficult to implant therein a lasting belief. However, +a belief of this latter description once established, it is +equally difficult to uproot it. It is usually only to be changed +at the cost of violent revolutions. Even revolutions can only +avail when the belief has almost entirely lost its sway over +men's minds. In that case revolutions serve to finally sweep +away what had already been almost cast aside, though the force of +habit prevented its complete abandonment. The beginning of a +revolution is in reality the end of a belief. + +The precise moment at which a great belief is doomed is easily +recognisable; it is the moment when its value begins to be called +in question. Every general belief being little else than a +fiction, it can only survive on the condition that it be not +subjected to examination. + +But even when a belief is severely shaken, the institutions to +which it has given rise retain their strength and disappear but +slowly. Finally, when the belief has completely lost its force, +all that rested upon it is soon involved in ruin. As yet a +nation has never been able to change its beliefs without being +condemned at the same time to transform all the elements of its +civilisation. The nation continues this process of +transformation until it has alighted on and accepted a new +general belief: until this juncture it is perforce in a state of +anarchy. General beliefs are the indispensable pillars of +civilisations; they determine the trend of ideas. They alone are +capable of inspiring faith and creating a sense of duty. + +Nations have always been conscious of the utility of acquiring +general beliefs, and have instinctively understood that their +disappearance would be the signal for their own decline. In the +case of the Romans, the fanatical cult of Rome was the belief +that made them masters of the world, and when the belief had died +out Rome was doomed to die. As for the barbarians who destroyed +the Roman civilisation, it was only when they had acquired +certain commonly accepted beliefs that they attained a measure of +cohesion and emerged from anarchy. + +Plainly it is not for nothing that nations have always displayed +intolerance in the defence of their opinions. This intolerance, +open as it is to criticism from the philosophic standpoint, +represents in the life of a people the most necessary of virtues. +It was to found or uphold general beliefs that so many victims +were sent to the stake in the Middle Ages and that so many +inventors and innovators have died in despair even if they have +escaped martyrdom. It is in defence, too, of such beliefs that +the world has been so often the scene of the direst disorder, and +that so many millions of men have died on the battlefield, and +will yet die there. + +There are great difficulties in the way of establishing a general +belief, but when it is definitely implanted its power is for a +long time to come invincible, and however false it be +philosophically it imposes itself upon the most luminous +intelligence. Have not the European peoples regarded as +incontrovertible for more than fifteen centuries religious +legends which, closely examined, are as barbarous[21] as those of +Moloch? The frightful absurdity of the legend of a God who +revenges himself for the disobedience of one of his creatures by +inflicting horrible tortures on his son remained unperceived +during many centuries. Such potent geniuses as a Galileo, a +Newton, and a Leibnitz never supposed for an instant that the +truth of such dogmas could be called in question. Nothing can be +more typical than this fact of the hypnotising effect of general +beliefs, but at the same time nothing can mark more decisively +the humiliating limitations of our intelligence. + + +[21] Barbarous, philosophically speaking, I mean. In practice +they have created an entirely new civilisation, and for fifteen +centuries have given mankind a glimpse of those enchanted realms +of generous dreams and of hope which he will know no more. + + + +As soon as a new dogma is implanted in the mind of crowds it +becomes the source of inspiration whence are evolved its +institutions, arts, and mode of existence. The sway it exerts +over men's minds under these circumstances is absolute. Men of +action have no thought beyond realising the accepted belief, +legislators beyond applying it, while philosophers, artists, and +men of letters are solely preoccupied with its expression under +various shapes. + +From the fundamental belief transient accessory ideas may arise, +but they always bear the impress of the belief from which they +have sprung. The Egyptian civilisation, the European +civilisation of the Middle Ages, the Mussulman civilisation of +the Arabs are all the outcome of a small number of religious +beliefs which have left their mark on the least important +elements of these civilisations and allow of their immediate +recognition. + +Thus it is that, thanks to general beliefs, the men of every age +are enveloped in a network of traditions, opinions, and customs +which render them all alike, and from whose yoke they cannot +extricate themselves. Men are guided in their conduct above all +by their beliefs and by the customs that are the consequence of +those beliefs. These beliefs and customs regulate the smallest +acts of our existence, and the most independent spirit cannot +escape their influence. The tyranny exercised unconsciously on +men's minds is the only real tyranny, because it cannot be fought +against. Tiberius, Ghengis Khan, and Napoleon were assuredly +redoubtable tyrants, but from the depth of their graves Moses, +Buddha, Jesus, and Mahomet have exerted on the human soul a far +profounder despotism. A conspiracy may overthrow a tyrant, but +what can it avail against a firmly established belief? In its +violent struggle with Roman Catholicism it is the French +Revolution that has been vanquished, and this in spite of the +fact that the sympathy of the crowd was apparently on its side, +and in spite of recourse to destructive measures as pitiless as +those of the Inquisition. The only real tyrants that humanity +has known have always been the memories of its dead or the +illusions it has forged itself. + +The philosophic absurdity that often marks general beliefs has +never been an obstacle to their triumph. Indeed the triumph of +such beliefs would seem impossible unless on the condition that +they offer some mysterious absurdity. In consequence, the +evident weakness of the socialist beliefs of to-day will not +prevent them triumphing among the masses. Their real inferiority +to all religious beliefs is solely the result of this +consideration, that the ideal of happiness offered by the latter +being realisable only in a future life, it was beyond the power +of anybody to contest it. The socialist ideal of happiness being +intended to be realised on earth, the vanity of its promises will +at once appear as soon as the first efforts towards their +realisation are made, and simultaneously the new belief will +entirely lose its prestige. Its strength, in consequence, will +only increase until the day when, having triumphed, its practical +realisation shall commence. For this reason, while the new +religion exerts to begin with, like all those that have preceded +it, a destructive influence, it will be unable, in the future, to +play a creative part. + + +2. THE CHANGEABLE OPINIONS OF CROWDS + + +Above the substratum of fixed beliefs, whose power we have just +demonstrated, is found an overlying growth of opinions, ideas, +and thoughts which are incessantly springing up and dying out. +Some of them exist but for a day, and the more important scarcely +outlive a generation. We have already noted that the changes +which supervene in opinions of this order are at times far more +superficial than real, and that they are always affected by +racial considerations. When examining, for instance, the +political institutions of France we showed that parties to all +appearance utterly distinct--royalists, radicals, imperialists, +socialists, &c.--have an ideal absolutely identical, and that +this ideal is solely dependent on the mental structure of the +French race, since a quite contrary ideal is found under +analogous names among other races. Neither the name given to +opinions nor deceptive adaptations alter the essence of things. +The men of the Great Revolution, saturated with Latin literature, +who (their eyes fixed on the Roman Republic), adopted its laws, +its fasces, and its togas, did not become Romans because they +were under the empire of a powerful historical suggestion. The +task of the philosopher is to investigate what it is which +subsists of ancient beliefs beneath their apparent changes, and +to identify amid the moving flux of opinions the part determined +by general beliefs and the genius of the race. + +In the absence of this philosophic test it might be supposed that +crowds change their political or religious beliefs frequently and +at will. All history, whether political, religious, artistic, or +literary, seems to prove that such is the case. + +As an example, let us take a very short period of French history, +merely that from 1790 to 1820, a period of thirty years' +duration, that of a generation. In the course of it we see the +crowd at first monarchical become very revolutionary, then very +imperialist, and again very monarchical. In the matter of +religion it gravitates in the same lapse of time from Catholicism +to atheism, then towards deism, and then returns to the most +pronounced forms of Catholicism. These changes take place not +only amongst the masses, but also amongst those who direct them. +We observe with astonishment the prominent men of the Convention, +the sworn enemies of kings, men who would have neither gods nor +masters, become the humble servants of Napoleon, and afterwards, +under Louis XVIII., piously carry candles in religious +processions. + +Numerous, too, are the changes in the opinions of the crowd in +the course of the following seventy years. The "Perfidious +Albion" of the opening of the century is the ally of France under +Napoleon's heir; Russia, twice invaded by France, which looked on +with satisfaction at French reverses, becomes its friend. + +In literature, art, and philosophy the successive evolutions of +opinion are more rapid still. Romanticism, naturalism, +mysticism, &c., spring up and die out in turn. The artist and +the writer applauded yesterday are treated on the morrow with +profound contempt. + +When, however, we analyse all these changes in appearance so far +reaching, what do we find? All those that are in opposition with +the general beliefs and sentiments of the race are of transient +duration, and the diverted stream soon resumes its course. The +opinions which are not linked to any general belief or sentiment +of the race, and which in consequence cannot possess stability, +are at the mercy of every chance, or, if the expression be +preferred, of every change in the surrounding circumstances. +Formed by suggestion and contagion, they are always momentary; +they crop up and disappear as rapidly on occasion as the +sandhills formed by the wind on the sea-coast. + +At the present day the changeable opinions of crowds are greater +in number than they ever were, and for three different reasons. + +The first is that as the old beliefs are losing their influence +to a greater and greater extent, they are ceasing to shape the +ephemeral opinions of the moment as they did in the past. The +weakening of general beliefs clears the ground for a crop of +haphazard opinions without a past or a future. + +The second reason is that the power of crowds being on the +increase, and this power being less and less counterbalanced, the +extreme mobility of ideas, which we have seen to be a peculiarity +of crowds, can manifest itself without let or hindrance. + +Finally, the third reason is the recent development of the +newspaper press, by whose agency the most contrary opinions are +being continually brought before the attention of crowds. The +suggestions that might result from each individual opinion are +soon destroyed by suggestions of an opposite character. The +consequence is that no opinion succeeds in becoming widespread, +and that the existence of all of them is ephemeral. An opinion +nowadays dies out before it has found a sufficiently wide +acceptance to become general. + +A phenomenon quite new in the world's history, and most +characteristic of the present age, has resulted from these +different causes; I allude to the powerlessness of governments to +direct opinion. + +In the past, and in no very distant past, the action of +governments and the influence of a few writers and a very small +number of newspapers constituted the real reflectors of public +opinion. To-day the writers have lost all influence, and the +newspapers only reflect opinion. As for statesmen, far from +directing opinion, their only endeavour is to follow it. They +have a dread of opinion, which amounts at times to terror, and +causes them to adopt an utterly unstable line of conduct. + +The opinion of crowds tends, then, more and more to become the +supreme guiding principle in politics. It goes so far to-day as +to force on alliances, as has been seen recently in the case of +the Franco-Russian alliance, which is solely the outcome of a +popular movement. A curious symptom of the present time is to +observe popes, kings, and emperors consent to be interviewed as a +means of submitting their views on a given subject to the +judgment of crowds. Formerly it might have been correct to say +that politics were not a matter of sentiment. Can the same be +said to-day, when politics are more and more swayed by the +impulse of changeable crowds, who are uninfluenced by reason and +can only be guided by sentiment? + +As to the press, which formerly directed opinion, it has had, +like governments, to humble itself before the power of crowds. +It wields, no doubt, a considerable influence, but only because +it is exclusively the reflection of the opinions of crowds and of +their incessant variations. Become a mere agency for the supply +of information, the press has renounced all endeavour to enforce +an idea or a doctrine. It follows all the changes of public +thought, obliged to do so by the necessities of competition under +pain of losing its readers. The old staid and influential organs +of the past, such as the Constitutionnel, the Debats, or the +Siecle, which were accepted as oracles by the preceding +generation, have disappeared or have become typical modern +papers, in which a maximum of news is sandwiched in between light +articles, society gossip, and financial puffs. There can be no +question to-day of a paper rich enough to allow its contributors +to air their personal opinions, and such opinions would be of +slight weight with readers who only ask to be kept informed or to +be amused, and who suspect every affirmation of being prompted by +motives of speculation. Even the critics have ceased to be able +to assure the success of a book or a play. They are capable of +doing harm, but not of doing a service. The papers are so +conscious of the uselessness of everything in the shape of +criticism or personal opinion, that they have reached the point +of suppressing literary criticism, confining themselves to citing +the title of a book, and appending a "puff" of two or three +lines.[22] In twenty years' time the same fate will probably +have overtaken theatrical criticism. + + +[22] These remarks refer to the French newspaper press.--Note of +the Translator. + + + +The close watching of the course of opinion has become to-day the +principal preoccupation of the press and of governments. The +effect produced by an event, a legislative proposal, a speech, is +without intermission what they require to know, and the task is +not easy, for nothing is more mobile and changeable than the +thought of crowds, and nothing more frequent than to see them +execrate to-day what they applauded yesterday. + +This total absence of any sort of direction of opinion, and at +the same time the destruction of general beliefs, have had for +final result an extreme divergency of convictions of every order, +and a growing indifference on the part of crowds to everything +that does not plainly touch their immediate interests. Questions +of doctrine, such as socialism, only recruit champions boasting +genuine convictions among the quite illiterate classes, among the +workers in mines and factories, for instance. Members of the +lower middle class, and working men possessing some degree of +instruction, have either become utterly sceptical or extremely +unstable in their opinions. + +The evolution which has been effected in this direction in the +last twenty-five years is striking. During the preceding period, +comparatively near us though it is, opinions still had a certain +general trend; they had their origin in the acceptance of some +fundamental belief. By the mere fact that an individual was a +monarchist he possessed inevitably certain clearly defined ideas +in history as well as in science, while by the mere fact that he +was a republican, his ideas were quite contrary. A monarchist +was well aware that men are not descended from monkeys, and a +republican was not less well aware that such is in truth their +descent. It was the duty of the monarchist to speak with horror, +and of the republican to speak with veneration, of the great +Revolution. There were certain names, such as those of +Robespierre and Marat, that had to be uttered with an air of +religious devotion, and other names, such as those of Caesar, +Augustus, or Napoleon, that ought never to be mentioned +unaccompanied by a torrent of invective. Even in the French +Sorbonne this ingenuous fashion of conceiving history was +general.[23] + + +[23] There are pages in the books of the French official +professors of history that are very curious from this point of +view. They prove too how little the critical spirit is developed +by the system of university education in vogue in France. I cite +as an example the following extracts from the "French Revolution" +of M. Rambaud, professor of history at the Sorbonne: + +"The taking of the Bastille was a culminating event in the +history not only of France, but of all Europe; and inaugurated a +new epoch in the history of the world!" + +With respect to Robespierre, we learn with stupefaction that "his +dictatorship was based more especially on opinion, persuasion, +and moral authority; it was a sort of pontificate in the hands of +a virtuous man!" (pp. 91 and 220.) + + + +At the present day, as the result of discussion and analysis, all +opinions are losing their prestige; their distinctive features +are rapidly worn away, and few survive capable of arousing our +enthusiasm. The man of modern times is more and more a prey to +indifference. + +The general wearing away of opinions should not be too greatly +deplored. That it is a symptom of decadence in the life of a +people cannot be contested. It is certain that men of immense, +of almost supernatural insight, that apostles, leaders of +crowds--men, in a word, of genuine and strong convictions--exert +a far greater force than men who deny, who criticise, or who are +indifferent, but it must not be forgotten that, given the power +possessed at present by crowds, were a single opinion to acquire +sufficient prestige to enforce its general acceptance, it would +soon be endowed with so tyrannical a strength that everything +would have to bend before it, and the era of free discussion +would be closed for a long time. Crowds are occasionally +easy-going masters, as were Heliogabalus and Tiberius, but they +are also violently capricious. A civilisation, when the moment +has come for crowds to acquire a high hand over it, is at the +mercy of too many chances to endure for long. Could anything +postpone for a while the hour of its ruin, it would be precisely +the extreme instability of the opinions of crowds and their +growing indifference with respect to all general beliefs. + + + +BOOK III + +THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF +CROWDS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CLASSIFICATION OF CROWDS + +The general divisions of crowds--Their classification. 1. +HETEROGENEOUS CROWDS. Different varieties of them--The influence +of race--The spirit of the crowd is weak in proportion as the +spirit of the race is strong--The spirit of the race represents +the civilised state and the spirit of the crowd the barbarian +state. 2. HOMOGENEOUS CROWDS. Their different +varieties--Sects, castes, and classes. + + +We have sketched in this work the general characteristics common +to psychological crowds. It remains to point out the particular +characteristics which accompany those of a general order in the +different categories of collectivities, when they are transformed +into a crowd under the influences of the proper exciting causes. +We will, first of all, set forth in a few words a classification +of crowds. + +Our starting-point will be the simple multitude. Its most +inferior form is met with when the multitude is composed of +individuals belonging to different races. In this case its only +common bond of union is the will, more or less respected of a +chief. The barbarians of very diverse origin who during several +centuries invaded the Roman Empire, may be cited as a specimen of +multitudes of this kind. + +On a higher level than these multitudes composed of different +races are those which under certain influences have acquired +common characteristics, and have ended by forming a single race. +They present at times characteristics peculiar to crowds, but +these characteristics are overruled to a greater or less extent +by racial considerations. + +These two kinds of multitudes may, under certain influences +investigated in this work, be transformed into organised or +psychological crowds. We shall break up these organised crowds +into the following divisions:-- + + 1. Anonymous crowds (street + crowds, for example). +A. Heterogeneous 2. Crowds not anonymous + crowds. (juries, parliamentary assemblies, + &c.). + 1. Sects (political sects, + religious sects, &c.). + 2. Castes (the military caste, +B. Homogeneous the priestly caste, the + crowds. working caste, &c.). + 3. Classes (the middle classes, + the peasant classes, &c.). + + +We will point out briefly the distinguishing characteristics of +these different categories of crowds. + + +1. HETEROGENEOUS CROWDS + + +It is these collectivities whose characteristics have been +studied in this volume. They are composed of individuals of any +description, of any profession, and any degree of intelligence. + +We are now aware that by the mere fact that men form part of a +crowd engaged in action, their collective psychology differs +essentially from their individual psychology, and their +intelligence is affected by this differentiation. We have seen +that intelligence is without influence in collectivities, they +being solely under the sway of unconscious sentiments. + +A fundamental factor, that of race, allows of a tolerably +thorough differentiation of the various heterogeneous crowds. + +We have often referred already to the part played by race, and +have shown it to be the most powerful of the factors capable of +determining men's actions. Its action is also to be traced in +the character of crowds. A crowd composed of individuals +assembled at haphazard, but all of them Englishmen or Chinamen, +will differ widely from another crowd also composed of +individuals of any and every description, but of other +races--Russians, Frenchmen, or Spaniards, for example. + +The wide divergencies which their inherited mental constitution +creates in men's modes of feeling and thinking at once come into +prominence when, which rarely happens, circumstances gather +together in the same crowd and in fairly equal proportions +individuals of different nationality, and this occurs, however +identical in appearance be the interests which provoked the +gathering. The efforts made by the socialists to assemble in +great congresses the representatives of the working-class +populations of different countries, have always ended in the most +pronounced discord. A Latin crowd, however revolutionary or +however conservative it be supposed, will invariably appeal to +the intervention of the State to realise its demands. It is +always distinguished by a marked tendency towards centralisation +and by a leaning, more or less pronounced, in favour of a +dictatorship. An English or an American crowd, on the contrary, +sets no store on the State, and only appeals to private +initiative. A French crowd lays particular weight on equality +and an English crowd on liberty. These differences of race +explain how it is that there are almost as many different forms +of socialism and democracy as there are nations. + +The genius of the race, then, exerts a paramount influence upon +the dispositions of a crowd. It is the powerful underlying force +that limits its changes of humour. It should be considered as an +essential law that THE INFERIOR CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWDS ARE THE +LESS ACCENTUATED IN PROPORTION AS THE SPIRIT OF THE RACE IS +STRONG. The crowd state and the domination of crowds is +equivalent to the barbarian state, or to a return to it. It is +by the acquisition of a solidly constituted collective spirit +that the race frees itself to a greater and greater extent from +the unreflecting power of crowds, and emerges from the barbarian +state. The only important classification to be made of +heterogeneous crowds, apart from that based on racial +considerations, is to separate them into anonymous crowds, such +as street crowds, and crowds not anonymous--deliberative +assemblies and juries, for example. The sentiment of +responsibility absent from crowds of the first description and +developed in those of the second often gives a very different +tendency to their respective acts. + + +2. HOMOGENEOUS CROWDS + + +Homogeneous crowds include: 1. Sects; 2. Castes; 3. Classes. + + +The SECT represents the first step in the process of organisation +of homogeneous crowds. A sect includes individuals differing +greatly as to their education, their professions, and the class +of society to which they belong, and with their common beliefs as +the connecting link. Examples in point are religious and +political sects. + +The CASTE represents the highest degree of organisation of which +the crowd is susceptible. While the sect includes individuals of +very different professions, degrees of education and social +surrounding, who are only linked together by the beliefs they +hold in common, the caste is composed of individuals of the same +profession, and in consequence similarly educated and of much the +same social status. Examples in point are the military and +priestly castes. + +The CLASS is formed of individuals of diverse origin, linked +together not by a community of beliefs, as are the members of a +sect, or by common professional occupations, as are the members +of a caste, but by certain interests and certain habits of life +and education almost identical. The middle class and the +agricultural class are examples. + +Being only concerned in this work with heterogeneous crowds, and +reserving the study of homogeneous crowds (sects, castes, and +classes) for another volume, I shall not insist here on the +characteristics of crowds of this latter kind. I shall conclude +this study of heterogeneous crowds by the examination of a few +typical and distinct categories of crowds. + + + +CHAPTER II + +CROWDS TERMED CRIMINAL CROWDS + +Crowds termed criminal crowds--A crowd may be legally yet not +psychologically criminal--The absolute unconsciousness of the +acts of crowds--Various examples--Psychology of the authors of +the September massacres--Their reasoning, their sensibility, +their ferocity, and their morality. + + +Owing to the fact that crowds, after a period of excitement, +enter upon a purely automatic and unconscious state, in which +they are guided by suggestion, it seems difficult to qualify them +in any case as criminal. I only retain this erroneous +qualification because it has been definitely brought into vogue +by recent psychological investigations. Certain acts of crowds +are assuredly criminal, if considered merely in themselves, but +criminal in that case in the same way as the act of a tiger +devouring a Hindoo, after allowing its young to maul him for +their amusement. + +The usual motive of the crimes of crowds is a powerful +suggestion, and the individuals who take part in such crimes are +afterwards convinced that they have acted in obedience to duty, +which is far from being the case with the ordinary criminal. + +The history of the crimes committed by crowds illustrates what +precedes. + +The murder of M. de Launay, the governor of the Bastille, may be +cited as a typical example. After the taking of the fortress the +governor, surrounded by a very excited crowd, was dealt blows +from every direction. It was proposed to hang him, to cut off +his head, to tie him to a horse's tail. While struggling, he +accidently kicked one of those present. Some one proposed, and +his suggestion was at once received with acclamation by the +crowd, that the individual who had been kicked should cut the +governor's throat. + +"The individual in question, a cook out of work, whose chief +reason for being at the Bastille was idle curiosity as to what +was going on, esteems, that since such is the general opinion, +the action is patriotic and even believes he deserves a medal for +having destroyed a monster. With a sword that is lent him he +strikes the bared neck, but the weapon being somewhat blunt and +not cutting, he takes from his pocket a small black-handled knife +and (in his capacity of cook he would be experienced in cutting +up meat) successfully effects the operation." + +The working of the process indicated above is clearly seen in +this example. We have obedience to a suggestion, which is all +the stronger because of its collective origin, and the murderer's +conviction that he has committed a very meritorious act, a +conviction the more natural seeing that he enjoys the unanimous +approval of his fellow-citizens. An act of this kind may be +considered crime legally but not psychologically. + +The general characteristics of criminal crowds are precisely the +same as those we have met with in all crowds: openness to +suggestion, credulity, mobility, the exaggeration of the +sentiments good or bad, the manifestation of certain forms of +morality, &c. + +We shall find all these characteristics present in a crowd which +has left behind it in French history the most sinister +memories--the crowd which perpetrated the September massacres. +In point of fact it offers much similarity with the crowd that +committed the Saint Bartholomew massacres. I borrow the details +from the narration of M. Taine, who took them from contemporary +sources. + +It is not known exactly who gave the order or made the suggestion +to empty the prisons by massacring the prisoners. Whether it was +Danton, as is probable, or another does not matter; the one +interesting fact for us is the powerful suggestion received by +the crowd charged with the massacre. + +The crowd of murderers numbered some three hundred persons, and +was a perfectly typical heterogeneous crowd. With the exception +of a very small number of professional scoundrels, it was +composed in the main of shopkeepers and artisans of every trade: +bootmakers, locksmiths, hairdressers, masons, clerks, messengers, +&c. Under the influence of the suggestion received they are +perfectly convinced, as was the cook referred to above, that they +are accomplishing a patriotic duty. They fill a double office, +being at once judge and executioner, but they do not for a moment +regard themselves as criminals. + +Deeply conscious of the importance of their duty, they begin by +forming a sort of tribunal, and in connection with this act the +ingenuousness of crowds and their rudimentary conception of +justice are seen immediately. In consideration of the large +number of the accused, it is decided that, to begin with, the +nobles, priests, officers, and members of the king's +household--in a word, all the individuals whose mere profession +is proof of their guilt in the eyes of a good patriot--shall be +slaughtered in a body, there being no need for a special decision +in their case. The remainder shall be judged on their personal +appearance and their reputation. In this way the rudimentary +conscience of the crowd is satisfied. It will now be able to +proceed legally with the massacre, and to give free scope to +those instincts of ferocity whose genesis I have set forth +elsewhere, they being instincts which collectivities always have +it in them to develop to a high degree. These instincts, +however--as is regularly the case in crowds--will not prevent the +manifestation of other and contrary sentiments, such as a +tenderheartedness often as extreme as the ferocity. + +"They have the expansive sympathy and prompt sensibility of the +Parisian working man. At the Abbaye, one of the federates, +learning that the prisoners had been left without water for +twenty-six hours, was bent on putting the gaoler to death, and +would have done so but for the prayers of the prisoners +themselves. When a prisoner is acquitted (by the improvised +tribunal) every one, guards and slaughterers included, embraces +him with transports of joy and applauds frantically," after which +the wholesale massacre is recommenced. During its progress a +pleasant gaiety never ceases to reign. There is dancing and +singing around the corpses, and benches are arranged "for the +ladies," delighted to witness the killing of aristocrats. The +exhibition continues, moreover, of a special description of +justice. + +A slaughterer at the Abbaye having complained that the ladies +placed at a little distance saw badly, and that only a few of +those present had the pleasure of striking the aristocrats, the +justice of the observation is admitted, and it is decided that +the victims shall be made to pass slowly between two rows of +slaughterers, who shall be under the obligation to strike with +the back of the sword only so as to prolong the agony. At the +prison de la Force the victims are stripped stark naked and +literally "carved" for half an hour, after which, when every one +has had a good view, they are finished off by a blow that lays +bare their entrails. + +The slaughterers, too, have their scruples and exhibit that moral +sense whose existence in crowds we have already pointed out. +They refuse to appropriate the money and jewels of the victims, +taking them to the table of the committees. + +Those rudimentary forms of reasoning, characteristic of the mind +of crowds, are always to be traced in all their acts. Thus, +after the slaughter of the 1,200 or 1,500 enemies of the nation, +some one makes the remark, and his suggestion is at once adopted, +that the other prisons, those containing aged beggars, vagabonds, +and young prisoners, hold in reality useless mouths, of which it +would be well on that account to get rid. Besides, among them +there should certainly be enemies of the people, a woman of the +name of Delarue, for instance, the widow of a poisoner: "She +must be furious at being in prison, if she could she would set +fire to Paris: she must have said so, she has said so. Another +good riddance." The demonstration appears convincing, and the +prisoners are massacred without exception, included in the number +being some fifty children of from twelve to seventeen years of +age, who, of course, might themselves have become enemies of the +nation, and of whom in consequence it was clearly well to be rid. + +At the end of a week's work, all these operations being brought +to an end, the slaughterers can think of reposing themselves. +Profoundly convinced that they have deserved well of their +country, they went to the authorities and demanded a recompense. +The most zealous went so far as to claim a medal. + +The history of the Commune of 1871 affords several facts +analogous to those which precede. Given the growing influence of +crowds and the successive capitulations before them of those in +authority, we are destined to witness many others of a like +nature. + + +CHAPTER III + +CRIMINAL JURIES + +Criminal juries--General characteristics of juries--statistics +show that their decisions are independent of their +composition--The manner in which an impression may be made on +juries--The style and influence of argument--The methods of +persuasion of celebrated counsel--The nature of those crimes for +which juries are respectively indulgent or severe--The utility of +the jury as an institution, and the danger that would result from +its place being taken by magistrates. + + +Being unable to study here every category of jury, I shall only +examine the most important--that of the juries of the Court of +Assize. These juries afford an excellent example of the +heterogeneous crowd that is not anonymous. We shall find them +display suggestibility and but slight capacity for reasoning, +while they are open to the influence of the leaders of crowds, +and they are guided in the main by unconscious sentiments. In +the course of this investigation we shall have occasion to +observe some interesting examples of the errors that may be made +by persons not versed in the psychology of crowds. + +Juries, in the first place, furnish us a good example of the +slight importance of the mental level of the different elements +composing a crowd, so far as the decisions it comes to are +concerned. We have seen that when a deliberative assembly is +called upon to give its opinion on a question of a character not +entirely technical, intelligence stands for nothing. For +instance, a gathering of scientific men or of artists, owing to +the mere fact that they form an assemblage, will not deliver +judgments on general subjects sensibly different from those +rendered by a gathering of masons or grocers. At various +periods, and in particular previous to 1848, the French +administration instituted a careful choice among the persons +summoned to form a jury, picking the jurors from among the +enlightened classes; choosing professors, functionaries, men of +letters, &c. At the present day jurors are recruited for the +most part from among small tradesmen, petty capitalists, and +employes. Yet, to the great astonishment of specialist writers, +whatever the composition of the jury has been, its decisions have +been identical. Even the magistrates, hostile as they are to the +institution of the jury, have had to recognise the exactness of +the assertion. M. Berard des Glajeux, a former President of the +Court of Assizes, expresses himself on the subject in his +"Memoirs" in the following terms:-- + + +"The selection of jurymen is to-day in reality in the hands of +the municipal councillors, who put people down on the list or +eliminate them from it in accordance with the political and +electoral preoccupations inherent in their situation. . . . The +majority of the jurors chosen are persons engaged in trade, but +persons of less importance than formerly, and employes belonging +to certain branches of the administration. . . . Both opinions +and professions counting for nothing once the role of judge +assumed, many of the jurymen having the ardour of neophytes, and +men of the best intentions being similarly disposed in humble +situations, the spirit of the jury has not changed: ITS VERDICTS +HAVE REMAINED THE SAME." + + +Of the passage just cited the conclusions, which are just, are to +be borne in mind and not the explanations, which are weak. Too +much astonishment should not be felt at this weakness, for, as a +rule, counsel equally with magistrates seem to be ignorant of the +psychology of crowds and, in consequence, of juries. I find a +proof of this statement in a fact related by the author just +quoted. He remarks that Lachaud, one of the most illustrious +barristers practising in the Court of Assize, made systematic use +of his right to object to a juror in the case of all individuals +of intelligence on the list. Yet experience--and experience +alone--has ended by acquainting us with the utter uselessness of +these objections. This is proved by the fact that at the present +day public prosecutors and barristers, at any rate those +belonging to the Parisian bar, have entirely renounced their +right to object to a juror; still, as M. des Glajeux remarks, the +verdicts have not changed, "they are neither better nor worse." + +Like all crowds, juries are very strongly impressed by +sentimental considerations, and very slightly by argument. "They +cannot resist the sight," writes a barrister, "of a mother giving +its child the breast, or of orphans." "It is sufficient that a +woman should be of agreeable appearance," says M. des Glajeux, +"to win the benevolence of the jury." + +Without pity for crimes of which it appears possible they might +themselves be the victims--such crimes, moreover, are the most +dangerous for society--juries, on the contrary, are very +indulgent in the case of breaches of the law whose motive is +passion. They are rarely severe on infanticide by girl-mothers, +or hard on the young woman who throws vitriol at the man who has +seduced and deserted her, for the reason that they feel +instinctively that society runs but slight danger from such +crimes,[24] and that in a country in which the law does not +protect deserted girls the crime of the girl who avenges herself +is rather useful than harmful, inasmuch as it frightens future +seducers in advance. + + +[24] It is to be remarked, in passing, that this division of +crimes into those dangerous and those not dangerous for society, +which is well and instinctively made by juries is far from being +unjust. The object of criminal laws is evidently to protect +society against dangerous criminals and not to avenge it. On the +other hand, the French code, and above all the minds of the +French magistrates, are still deeply imbued with the spirit of +vengeance characteristic of the old primitive law, and the term +"vindicte" (prosecution, from the Latin vindicta, vengeance) is +still in daily use. A proof of this tendency on the part of the +magistrates is found in the refusal by many of them to apply +Berenger's law, which allows of a condemned person not undergoing +his sentence unless he repeats his crime. Yet no magistrate can +be ignorant, for the fact is proved by statistics, that the +application of a punishment inflicted for the first time +infallibly leads to further crime on the part of the person +punished. When judges set free a sentenced person it always +seems to them that society has not been avenged. Rather than not +avenge it they prefer to create a dangerous, confirmed criminal. + + + +Juries, like all crowds, are profoundly impressed by prestige, +and President des Glajeux very properly remarks that, very +democratic as juries are in their composition, they are very +aristocratic in their likes and dislikes: "Name, birth, great +wealth, celebrity, the assistance of an illustrious counsel, +everything in the nature of distinction or that lends brilliancy +to the accused, stands him in extremely good stead." + +The chief concern of a good counsel should be to work upon the +feelings of the jury, and, as with all crowds, to argue but +little, or only to employ rudimentary modes of reasoning. An +English barrister, famous for his successes in the assize courts, +has well set forth the line of action to be followed:-- + + +"While pleading he would attentively observe the jury. The most +favourable opportunity has been reached. By dint of insight and +experience the counsel reads the effect of each phrase on the +faces of the jurymen, and draws his conclusions in consequence. +His first step is to be sure which members of the jury are +already favourable to his cause. It is short work to definitely +gain their adhesion, and having done so he turns his attention to +the members who seem, on the contrary, ill-disposed, and +endeavours to discover why they are hostile to the accused. This +is the delicate part of his task, for there may be an infinity of +reasons for condemning a man, apart from the sentiment of +justice." + + +These few lines resume the entire mechanism of the art of +oratory, and we see why the speech prepared in advance has so +slight an effect, it being necessary to be able to modify the +terms employed from moment to moment in accordance with the +impression produced. + +The orator does not require to convert to his views all the +members of a jury, but only the leading spirits among it who will +determine the general opinion. As in all crowds, so in juries +there are a small number of individuals who serve as guides to +the rest. "I have found by experience," says the counsel cited +above, "that one or two energetic men suffice to carry the rest +of the jury with them." It is those two or three whom it is +necessary to convince by skilful suggestions. First of all, and +above all, it is necessary to please them. The man forming part +of a crowd whom one has succeeded in pleasing is on the point of +being convinced, and is quite disposed to accept as excellent any +arguments that may be offered him. I detach the following +anecdote from an interesting account of M. Lachaud, alluded to +above:-- + + +"It is well known that during all the speeches he would deliver +in the course of an assize sessions, Lachaud never lost sight of +the two or three jurymen whom he knew or felt to be influential +but obstinate. As a rule he was successful in winning over these +refractory jurors. On one occasion, however, in the provinces, +he had to deal with a juryman whom he plied in vain for +three-quarters of an hour with his most cunning arguments; the +man was the seventh juryman, the first on the second bench. The +case was desperate. Suddenly, in the middle of a passionate +demonstration, Lachaud stopped short, and addressing the +President of the court said: `Would you give instructions for +the curtain there in front to be drawn? The seventh juryman is +blinded by the sun.' The juryman in question reddened, smiled, +and expressed his thanks. He was won over for the defence." + + +Many writers, some of them most distinguished, have started of +late a strong campaign against the institution of the jury, +although it is the only protection we have against the errors, +really very frequent, of a caste that is under no control.[25] A +portion of these writers advocate a jury recruited solely from +the ranks of the enlightened classes; but we have already proved +that even in this case the verdicts would be identical with those +returned under the present system. Other writers, taking their +stand on the errors committed by juries, would abolish the jury +and replace it by judges. It is difficult to see how these +would-be reformers can forget that the errors for which the jury +is blamed were committed in the first instance by judges, and +that when the accused person comes before a jury he has already +been held to be guilty by several magistrates, by the juge +d'instruction, the public prosecutor, and the Court of +Arraignment. It should thus be clear that were the accused to be +definitely judged by magistrates instead of by jurymen, he would +lose his only chance of being admitted innocent. The errors of +juries have always been first of all the errors of magistrates. +It is solely the magistrates, then, who should be blamed when +particularly monstrous judicial errors crop up, such, for +instance, as the quite recent condemnation of Dr. L---- who, +prosecuted by a juge d'instruction, of excessive stupidity, on +the strength of the denunciation of a half-idiot girl, who +accused the doctor of having performed an illegal operation upon +her for thirty francs, would have been sent to penal servitude +but for an explosion of public indignation, which had for result +that he was immediately set at liberty by the Chief of the State. +The honourable character given the condemned man by all his +fellow-citizens made the grossness of the blunder self-evident. +The magistrates themselves admitted it, and yet out of caste +considerations they did all they could to prevent the pardon +being signed. In all similar affairs the jury, confronted with +technical details it is unable to understand, naturally hearkens +to the public prosecutor, arguing that, after all, the affair has +been investigated by magistrates trained to unravel the most +intricate situations. Who, then, are the real authors of the +error--the jurymen or the magistrates? We should cling +vigorously to the jury. It constitutes, perhaps, the only +category of crowd that cannot be replaced by any individuality. +It alone can temper the severity of the law, which, equal for +all, ought in principle to be blind and to take no cognisance of +particular cases. Inaccessible to pity, and heeding nothing but +the text of the law, the judge in his professional severity would +visit with the same penalty the burglar guilty of murder and the +wretched girl whom poverty and her abandonment by her seducer +have driven to infanticide. The jury, on the other hand, +instinctively feels that the seduced girl is much less guilty +than the seducer, who, however, is not touched by the law, and +that she deserves every indulgence. + + +[25] The magistracy is, in point of fact, the only administration +whose acts are under no control. In spite of all its +revolutions, democratic France does not possess that right of +habeas corpus of which England is so proud. We have banished all +the tyrants, but have set up a magistrate in each city who +disposes at will of the honour and liberty of the citizens. An +insignificant juge d'instruction (an examining magistrate who has +no exact counterpart in England.--Trans.), fresh from the +university, possesses the revolting power of sending to prison at +will persons of the most considerable standing, on a simple +supposition on his part of their guilt, and without being obliged +to justify his act to any one. Under the pretext of pursuing his +investigation he can keep these persons in prison for six months +or even a year, and free them at last without owing them either +an indemnity or excuses. The warrant in France is the exact +equivalent of the lettre de cachet, with this difference, that +the latter, with the use of which the monarchy was so justly +reproached, could only be resorted to by persons occupying a very +high position, while the warrant is an instrument in the hands of +a whole class of citizens which is far from passing for being +very enlightened or very independent. + + + +Being well acquainted with the psychology of castes, and also +with the psychology of other categories of crowds, I do not +perceive a single case in which, wrongly accused of a crime, I +should not prefer to have to deal with a jury rather than with +magistrates. I should have some chance that my innocence would +be recognised by the former and not the slightest chance that it +would be admitted by the latter. The power of crowds is to be +dreaded, but the power of certain castes is to be dreaded yet +more. Crowds are open to conviction; castes never are. + + +CHAPTER IV + +ELECTORAL CROWDS + +General characteristics of electoral crowds--The manner of +persuading them--The qualities that should be possessed by a +candidate--Necessity of prestige--Why working men and peasants so +rarely choose candidates from their own class--The influence of +words and formulas on the elector--The general aspect of election +oratory--How the opinions of the elector are formed--The power of +political committees--They represent the most redoubtable form of +tyranny--The committees of the Revolution-- Universal suffrage +cannot be replaced in spite of its slight psychological +value--Why it is that the votes recorded would remain the same +even if the right of voting were restricted to a limited class of +citizens--What universal suffrage expresses in all countries. + + +ELECTORAL crowds--that is to say, collectivities invested with +the power of electing the holders of certain +functions--constitute heterogeneous crowds, but as their action +is confined to a single clearly determined matter, namely, to +choosing between different candidates, they present only a few of +the characteristics previously described. Of the characteristics +peculiar to crowds, they display in particular but slight +aptitude for reasoning, the absence of the critical spirit, +irritability, credulity, and simplicity. In their decision, +moreover, is to be traced the influence of the leaders of crowds +and the part played by the factors we have enumerated: +affirmation, repetition, prestige, and contagion. + +Let us examine by what methods electoral crowds are to be +persuaded. It will be easy to deduce their psychology from the +methods that are most successful. + +It is of primary importance that the candidate should possess +prestige. Personal prestige can only be replaced by that +resulting from wealth. Talent and even genius are not elements +of success of serious importance. + +Of capital importance, on the other hand, is the necessity for +the candidate of possessing prestige, of being able, that is, to +force himself upon the electorate without discussion. The reason +why the electors, of whom a majority are working men or peasants, +so rarely choose a man from their own ranks to represent them is +that such a person enjoys no prestige among them. When, by +chance, they do elect a man who is their equal, it is as a rule +for subsidiary reasons--for instance, to spite an eminent man, or +an influential employer of labour on whom the elector is in daily +dependence, and whose master he has the illusion he becomes in +this way for a moment. + +The possession of prestige does not suffice, however, to assure +the success of a candidate. The elector stickles in particular +for the flattery of his greed and vanity. He must be overwhelmed +with the most extravagant blandishments, and there must be no +hesitation in making him the most fantastic promises. If he is a +working man it is impossible to go too far in insulting and +stigmatising employers of labour. As for the rival candidate, an +effort must be made to destroy his chance by establishing by dint +of affirmation, repetition, and contagion that he is an arrant +scoundrel, and that it is a matter of common knowledge that he +has been guilty of several crimes. It is, of course, useless to +trouble about any semblance of proof. Should the adversary be +ill-acquainted with the psychology of crowds he will try to +justify himself by arguments instead of confining himself to +replying to one set of affirmations by another; and he will have +no chance whatever of being successful. + +The candidate's written programme should not be too categorical, +since later on his adversaries might bring it up against him; in +his verbal programme, however, there cannot be too much +exaggeration. The most important reforms may be fearlessly +promised. At the moment they are made these exaggerations +produce a great effect, and they are not binding for the future, +it being a matter of constant observation that the elector never +troubles himself to know how far the candidate he has returned +has followed out the electoral programme he applauded, and in +virtue of which the election was supposed to have been secured. + +In what precedes, all the factors of persuasion which we have +described are to be recognised. We shall come across them again +in the action exerted by words and formulas, whose magical sway +we have already insisted upon. An orator who knows how to make +use of these means of persuasion can do what he will with a +crowd. Expressions such as infamous capital, vile exploiters, +the admirable working man, the socialisation of wealth, &c., +always produce the same effect, although already somewhat worn by +use. But the candidate who hits on a new formula as devoid as +possible of precise meaning, and apt in consequence to flatter +the most varied aspirations, infallibly obtains a success. The +sanguinary Spanish revolution of 1873 was brought about by one of +these magical phrases of complex meaning on which everybody can +put his own interpretation. A contemporary writer has described +the launching of this phrase in terms that deserve to be +quoted:-- + + +"The radicals have made the discovery that a centralised republic +is a monarchy in disguise, and to humour them the Cortes had +unanimously proclaimed a FEDERAL REPUBLIC, though none of the +voters could have explained what it was he had just voted for. +This formula, however, delighted everybody; the joy was +intoxicating, delirious. The reign of virtue and happiness had +just been inaugurated on earth. A republican whose opponent +refused him the title of federalist considered himself to be +mortally insulted. People addressed each other in the streets +with the words: `Long live the federal republic!' After which +the praises were sung of the mystic virtue of the absence of +discipline in the army, and of the autonomy of the soldiers. +What was understood by the `federal republic?' There were those +who took it to mean the emancipation of the provinces, +institutions akin to those of the United States and +administrative decentralisation; others had in view the abolition +of all authority and the speedy commencement of the great social +liquidation. The socialists of Barcelona and Andalusia stood out +for the absolute sovereignty of the communes; they proposed to +endow Spain with ten thousand independent municipalities, to +legislate on their own account, and their creation to be +accompanied by the suppression of the police and the army. In +the southern provinces the insurrection was soon seen to spread +from town to town and village to village. Directly a village had +made its pronunciamento its first care was to destroy the +telegraph wires and the railway lines so as to cut off all +communication with its neighbours and Madrid. The sorriest +hamlet was determined to stand on its own bottom. Federation had +given place to cantonalism, marked by massacres, incendiarism, +and every description of brutality, and bloody saturnalia were +celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the land." + + +With respect to the influence that may be exerted by reasoning on +the minds of electors, to harbour the least doubt on this subject +can only be the result of never having read the reports of an +electioneering meeting. In such a gathering affirmations, +invectives, and sometimes blows are exchanged, but never +arguments. Should silence be established for a moment it is +because some one present, having the reputation of a "tough +customer," has announced that he is about to heckle the candidate +by putting him one of those embarrassing questions which are +always the joy of the audience. The satisfaction, however, of +the opposition party is shortlived, for the voice of the +questioner is soon drowned in the uproar made by his adversaries. +The following reports of public meetings, chosen from hundreds of +similar examples, and taken from the daily papers, may be +considered as typical:-- + +"One of the organisers of the meeting having asked the assembly +to elect a president, the storm bursts. The anarchists leap on +to the platform to take the committee table by storm. The +socialists make an energetic defence; blows are exchanged, and +each party accuses the other of being spies in the pay of the +Government, &c. . . . A citizen leaves the hall with a black +eye. + +"The committee is at length installed as best it may be in the +midst of the tumult, and the right to speak devolves upon +`Comrade' X. + +"The orator starts a vigorous attack on the socialists, who +interrupt him with shouts of `Idiot, scoundrel, blackguard!' &c., +epithets to which Comrade X. replies by setting forth a theory +according to which the socialists are `idiots' or `jokers.'" + +"The Allemanist party had organised yesterday evening, in the +Hall of Commerce, in the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, a great +meeting, preliminary to the workers' fete of the 1st of May. The +watchword of the meeting was `Calm and Tranquillity!' + +"Comrade G---- alludes to the socialists as `idiots' and +`humbugs.' + +"At these words there is an exchange of invectives and orators +and audience come to blows. Chairs, tables, and benches are +converted into weapons," &c., &c. + + +It is not to be imagined for a moment that this description of +discussion is peculiar to a determined class of electors and +dependent on their social position. In every anonymous assembly +whatever, though it be composed exclusively of highly educated +persons, discussion always assumes the same shape. I have shown +that when men are collected in a crowd there is a tendency +towards their mental levelling at work, and proof of this is to +be found at every turn. Take, for example, the following extract +from a report of a meeting composed exclusively of students, +which I borrow from the Temps of 13th of February, 1895:-- + + +"The tumult only increased as the evening went on; I do not +believe that a single orator succeeded in uttering two sentences +without being interrupted. At every instant there came shouts +from this or that direction or from every direction at once. +Applause was intermingled with hissing, violent discussions were +in progress between individual members of the audience, sticks +were brandished threateningly, others beat a tattoo on the floor, +and the interrupters were greeted with yells of `Put him out!' or +`Let him speak!' + +"M. C---- lavished such epithets as odious and cowardly, +monstrous, vile, venal and vindictive, on the Association, which +he declared he wanted to destroy," &c., &c. + + +How, it may be asked, can an elector form an opinion under such +conditions? To put such a question is to harbour a strange +delusion as to the measure of liberty that may be enjoyed by a +collectivity. Crowds have opinions that have been imposed upon +them, but they never boast reasoned opinions. In the case under +consideration the opinions and votes of the electors are in the +hands of the election committees, whose leading spirits are, as a +rule, publicans, their influence over the working men, to whom +they allow credit, being great. "Do you know what an election +committee is?" writes M. Scherer, one of the most valiant +champions of present-day democracy. "It is neither more nor less +than the corner-stone of our institutions, the masterpiece of the +political machine. France is governed to-day by the election +committees."[26] + + +[26] Committees under whatever name, clubs, syndicates, &c., +constitute perhaps the most redoubtable danger resulting from the +power of crowds. They represent in reality the most impersonal +and, in consequence, the most oppressive form of tyranny. The +leaders who direct the committees being supposed to speak and act +in the name of a collectivity, are freed from all responsibility, +and are in a position to do just as they choose. The most savage +tyrant has never ventured even to dream of such proscriptions as +those ordained by the committees of the Revolution. Barras has +declared that they decimated the convention, picking off its +members at their pleasure. So long as he was able to speak in +their name, Robespierre wielded absolute power. The moment this +frightful dictator separated himself from them, for reasons of +personal pride, he was lost. The reign of crowds is the reign of +committees, that is, of the leaders of crowds. A severer +despotism cannot be imagined. + + + +To exert an influence over them is not difficult, provided the +candidate be in himself acceptable and possess adequate financial +resources. According to the admissions of the donors, three +millions of francs sufficed to secure the repeated elections of +General Boulanger. + +Such is the psychology of electoral crowds. It is identical with +that of other crowds: neither better nor worse. + +In consequence I draw no conclusion against universal suffrage +from what precedes. Had I to settle its fate, I should preserve +it as it is for practical reasons, which are to be deduced in +point of fact from our investigation of the psychology of crowds. +On this account I shall proceed to set them forth. + +No doubt the weak side of universal suffrage is too obvious to be +overlooked. It cannot be gainsaid that civilisation has been the +work of a small minority of superior intelligences constituting +the culminating point of a pyramid, whose stages, widening in +proportion to the decrease of mental power, represent the masses +of a nation. The greatness of a civilisation cannot assuredly +depend upon the votes given by inferior elements boasting solely +numerical strength. Doubtless, too, the votes recorded by crowds +are often very dangerous. They have already cost us several +invasions, and in view of the triumph of socialism, for which +they are preparing the way, it is probable that the vagaries of +popular sovereignty will cost us still more dearly. + +Excellent, however, as these objections are in theory, in +practice they lose all force, as will be admitted if the +invincible strength be remembered of ideas transformed into +dogmas. The dogma of the sovereignty of crowds is as little +defensible, from the philosophical point of view, as the +religious dogmas of the Middle Ages, but it enjoys at present the +same absolute power they formerly enjoyed. It is as unattackable +in consequence as in the past were our religious ideas. Imagine +a modern freethinker miraculously transported into the midst of +the Middle Ages. Do you suppose that, after having ascertained +the sovereign power of the religious ideas that were then in +force, he would have been tempted to attack them? Having fallen +into the hands of a judge disposed to send him to the stake, +under the imputation of having concluded a pact with the devil, +or of having been present at the witches sabbath, would it have +occurred to him to call in question the existence of the devil or +of the sabbath? It were as wise to oppose cyclones with +discussion as the beliefs of crowds. The dogma of universal +suffrage possesses to-day the power the Christian dogmas formerly +possessed. Orators and writers allude to it with a respect and +adulation that never fell to the share of Louis XIV. In +consequence the same position must be taken up with regard to it +as with regard to all religious dogmas. Time alone can act upon +them. + +Besides, it would be the more useless to attempt to undermine +this dogma, inasmuch as it has an appearance of reasonableness in +its favour. "In an era of equality," Tocqueville justly remarks, +"men have no faith in each other on account of their being all +alike; yet this same similitude gives them an almost limitless +confidence in the judgment of the public, the reason being that +it does not appear probable that, all men being equally +enlightened, truth and numerical superiority should not go hand +in hand." + +Must it be believed that with a restricted suffrage--a suffrage +restricted to those intellectually capable if it be desired--an +improvement would be effected in the votes of crowds? I cannot +admit for a moment that this would be the case, and that for the +reasons I have already given touching the mental inferiority of +all collectivities, whatever their composition. In a crowd men +always tend to the same level, and, on general questions, a vote, +recorded by forty academicians is no better than that of forty +water-carriers. I do not in the least believe that any of the +votes for which universal suffrage is blamed--the +re-establishment of the Empire, for instance-- would have fallen +out differently had the voters been exclusively recruited among +learned and liberally educated men. It does not follow because +an individual knows Greek or mathematics, is an architect, a +veterinary surgeon, a doctor, or a barrister, that he is endowed +with a special intelligence of social questions. All our +political economists are highly educated, being for the most part +professors or academicians, yet is there a single general +question--protection, bimetallism, &c.--on which they have +succeeded in agreeing? The explanation is that their science is +only a very attenuated form of our universal ignorance. With +regard to social problems, owing to the number of unknown +quantities they offer, men are substantially, equally ignorant. + +In consequence, were the electorate solely composed of persons +stuffed with sciences their votes would be no better than those +emitted at present. They would be guided in the main by their +sentiments and by party spirit. We should be spared none of the +difficulties we now have to contend with, and we should certainly +be subjected to the oppressive tyranny of castes. + +Whether the suffrage of crowds be restricted or general, whether +it be exercised under a republic or a monarchy, in France, in +Belgium, in Greece, in Portugal, or in Spain, it is everywhere +identical; and, when all is said and done, it is the expression +of the unconscious aspirations and needs of the race. In each +country the average opinions of those elected represent the +genius of the race, and they will be found not to alter sensibly +from one generation to another. + +It is seen, then, that we are confronted once more by the +fundamental notion of race, which we have come across so often, +and on this other notion, which is the outcome of the first, that +institutions and governments play but a small part in the life of +a people. Peoples are guided in the main by the genius of their +race, that is, by that inherited residue of qualities of which +the genius is the sum total. Race and the slavery of our daily +necessities are the mysterious master-causes that rule our +destiny. + + +CHAPTER V + +PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES + +Parliamentary crowds present most of the characteristics common +to heterogeneous crowds that are not anonymous--The simplicity of +their opinions--Their suggestibility and its limits--Their +indestructible, fixed opinions and their changed opinions--The +reason of the predominance of indecision--The role of the +leaders--The reason of their prestige--They are the true masters +of an assembly whose votes, on that account, are merely those of +a small minority--The absolute power they exercise--The elements +of their oratorical art--Phrases and images--The psychological +necessity the leaders are under of being in a general way of +stubborn convictions and narrow-minded--It is impossible for a +speaker without prestige to obtain recognition for his +arguments-- The exaggeration of the sentiments, whether good or +bad, of assemblies-- At certain moments they become +automatic--The sittings of the Convention--Cases in which an +assembly loses the characteristics of crowds--The influence of +specialists when technical questions arise--The advantages and +dangers of a parliamentary system in all countries--It is adapted +to modern needs; but it involves financial waste and the +progressive curtailment of all liberty--Conclusion. + + +In parliamentary assemblies we have an example of heterogeneous +crowds that are not anonymous. Although the mode of election of +their members varies from epoch to epoch, and from nation to +nation, they present very similar characteristics. In this case +the influence of the race makes itself felt to weaken or +exaggerate the characteristics common to crowds, but not to +prevent their manifestation. The parliamentary assemblies of the +most widely different countries, of Greece, Italy, Portugal, +Spain, France, and America present great analogies in their +debates and votes, and leave the respective governments face to +face with identical difficulties. + +Moreover, the parliamentary system represents the ideal of all +modern civilised peoples. The system is the expression of the +idea, psychologically erroneous, but generally admitted, that a +large gathering of men is much more capable than a small number +of coming to a wise and independent decision on a given subject. + +The general characteristics of crowds are to be met with in +parliamentary assemblies: intellectual simplicity, irritability, +suggestibility, the exaggeration of the sentiments and the +preponderating influence of a few leaders. In consequence, +however, of their special composition parliamentary crowds offer +some distinctive features, which we shall point out shortly. + +Simplicity in their opinions is one of their most important +characteristics. In the case of all parties, and more especially +so far as the Latin peoples are concerned, an invariable tendency +is met with in crowds of this kind to solve the most complicated +social problems by the simplest abstract principles and general +laws applicable to all cases. Naturally the principles vary with +the party; but owing to the mere fact that the individual members +are a part of a crowd, they are always inclined to exaggerate the +worth of their principles, and to push them to their extreme +consequences. In consequence parliaments are more especially +representative of extreme opinions. + +The most perfect example of the ingenuous simplification of +opinions peculiar to assemblies is offered by the Jacobins of the +French Revolution. Dogmatic and logical to a man, and their +brains full of vague generalities, they busied themselves with +the application of fixed-principles without concerning themselves +with events. It has been said of them, with reason, that they +went through the Revolution without witnessing it. With the aid +of the very simple dogmas that served them as guide, they +imagined they could recast society from top to bottom, and cause +a highly refined civilisation to return to a very anterior phase +of the social evolution. The methods they resorted to to realise +their dream wore the same stamp of absolute ingenuousness. They +confined themselves, in reality, to destroying what stood in +their way. All of them, moreover--Girondists, the Men of the +Mountain, the Thermidorians, &c.--were alike animated by the same +spirit. + +Parliamentary crowds are very open to suggestion; and, as in the +case of all crowds, the suggestion comes from leaders possessing +prestige; but the suggestibility of parliamentary assemblies has +very clearly defined limits, which it is important to point out. + +On all questions of local or regional interest every member of an +assembly has fixed, unalterable opinions, which no amount of +argument can shake. The talent of a Demosthenes would be +powerless to change the vote of a Deputy on such questions as +protection or the privilege of distilling alcohol, questions in +which the interests of influential electors are involved. The +suggestion emanating from these electors and undergone before the +time to vote arrives, sufficiently outweighs suggestions from any +other source to annul them and to maintain an absolute fixity of +opinion.[27] + + +[27] The following reflection of an English parliamentarian of +long experience doubtless applies to these opinions, fixed +beforehand, and rendered unalterable by electioneering +necessities: "During the fifty years that I have sat at +Westminster, I have listened to thousands of speeches; but few of +them have changed my opinion, not one of them has changed my +vote." + + + +On general questions--the overthrow of a Cabinet, the imposition +of a tax, &c.--there is no longer any fixity of opinion, and the +suggestions of leaders can exert an influence, though not in +quite the same way as in an ordinary crowd. Every party has its +leaders, who possess occasionally an equal influence. The result +is that the Deputy finds himself placed between two contrary +suggestions, and is inevitably made to hesitate. This explains +how it is that he is often seen to vote in contrary fashion in an +interval of a quarter of an hour or to add to a law an article +which nullifies it; for instance, to withdraw from employers of +labour the right of choosing and dismissing their workmen, and +then to very nearly annul this measure by an amendment. + +It is for the same reason that every Chamber that is returned has +some very stable opinions, and other opinions that are very +shifting. On the whole, the general questions being the more +numerous, indecision is predominant in the Chamber--the +indecision which results from the ever- present fear of the +elector, the suggestion received from whom is always latent, and +tends to counterbalance the influence of the leaders. + +Still, it is the leaders who are definitely the masters in those +numerous discussions, with regard to the subject-matter of which +the members of an assembly are without strong preconceived +opinions. + +The necessity for these leaders is evident, since, under the name +of heads of groups, they are met with in the assemblies of every +country. They are the real rulers of an assembly. Men forming a +crowd cannot do without a master, whence it results that the +votes of an assembly only represent, as a rule, the opinions of a +small minority. + +The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the +arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. +The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance +lose their prestige, their influence disappears. + +The prestige of these political leaders is individual, and +independent of name or celebrity: a fact of which M. Jules Simon +gives us some very curious examples in his remarks on the +prominent men of the Assembly of 1848, of which he was a +member:-- + + +"Two months before he was all-powerful, Louis Napoleon was +entirely without the least importance. + +"Victor Hugo mounted the tribune. He failed to achieve success. +He was listened to as Felix Pyat was listened to, but he did not +obtain as much applause. `I don't like his ideas,' Vaulabelle +said to me, speaking of Felix Pyat,' but he is one of the +greatest writers and the greatest orator of France.' Edgar +Quinet, in spite of his exceptional and powerful intelligence, +was held in no esteem whatever. He had been popular for awhile +before the opening of the Assembly; in the Assembly he had no +popularity. + +"The splendour of genius makes itself less felt in political +assemblies than anywhere else. They only give heed to eloquence +appropriate to the time and place and to party services, not to +services rendered the country. For homage to be rendered +Lamartine in 1848 and Thiers in 1871, the stimulant was needed of +urgent, inexorable interest. As soon as the danger was passed +the parliamentary world forgot in the same instant its gratitude +and its fright." + + +I have quoted the preceding passage for the sake of the facts it +contains, not of the explanations it offers, their psychology +being somewhat poor. A crowd would at once lose its character of +a crowd were it to credit its leaders with their services, +whether of a party nature or rendered their country. The crowd +that obeys a leader is under the influence of his prestige, and +its submission is not dictated by any sentiment of interest or +gratitude. + +In consequence the leader endowed with sufficient prestige wields +almost absolute power. The immense influence exerted during a +long series of years, thanks to his prestige, by a celebrated +Deputy,[28] beaten at the last general election in consequence of +certain financial events, is well known. He had only to give the +signal and Cabinets were overthrown. A writer has clearly +indicated the scope of his action in the following lines:-- + + +[28] M. Clemenceau.--Note of the Translator. + + + +"It is due, in the main, to M. X---- that we paid three times as +dearly as we should have done for Tonkin, that we remained so +long on a precarious footing in Madagascar, that we were +defrauded of an empire in the region of the Lower Niger, and that +we have lost the preponderating situation we used to occupy in +Egypt. The theories of M. X---- have cost us more territories +than the disasters of Napoleon I." + + +We must not harbour too bitter a grudge against the leader in +question. It is plain that he has cost us very dear; but a great +part of his influence was due to the fact that he followed public +opinion, which, in colonial matters, was far from being at the +time what it has since become. A leader is seldom in advance of +public opinion; almost always all he does is to follow it and to +espouse all its errors. + +The means of persuasion of the leaders we are dealing with, apart +from their prestige, consist in the factors we have already +enumerated several times. To make a skilful use of these +resources a leader must have arrived at a comprehension, at least +in an unconscious manner, of the psychology of crowds, and must +know how to address them. He should be aware, in particular, of +the fascinating influence of words, phrases, and images. He +should possess a special description of eloquence, composed of +energetic affirmations--unburdened with proofs-- and impressive +images, accompanied by very summary arguments. This is a kind of +eloquence that is met with in all assemblies, the English +Parliament included, the most serious though it is of all. + + +"Debates in the House of Commons," says the English philosopher +Maine, "may be constantly read in which the entire discussion is +confined to an exchange of rather weak generalities and rather +violent personalities. General formulas of this description +exercise a prodigious influence on the imagination of a pure +democracy. It will always be easy to make a crowd accept general +assertions, presented in striking terms, although they have never +been verified, and are perhaps not susceptible of verification." + + +Too much importance cannot be attached to the "striking terms" +alluded to in the above quotation. We have already insisted, on +several occasions, on the special power of words and formulas. +They must be chosen in such a way as to evoke very vivid images. +The following phrase, taken from a speech by one of the leaders +of our assemblies, affords an excellent example:-- + + +"When the same vessel shall bear away to the fever-haunted lands +of our penitentiary settlements the politician of shady +reputation and the anarchist guilty of murder, the pair will be +able to converse together, and they will appear to each other as +the two complementary aspects of one and the same state of +society." + + +The image thus evoked is very vivid, and all the adversaries of +the speaker felt themselves threatened by it. They conjured up a +double vision of the fever-haunted country and the vessel that +may carry them away; for is it not possible that they are +included in the somewhat ill-defined category of the politicians +menaced? They experienced the lurking fear that the men of the +Convention must have felt whom the vague speeches of Robespierre +threatened with the guillotine, and who, under the influence of +this fear, invariably yielded to him. + +It is all to the interest of the leaders to indulge in the most +improbable exaggerations. The speaker of whom I have just cited +a sentence was able to affirm, without arousing violent +protestations, that bankers and priests had subsidised the +throwers of bombs, and that the directors of the great financial +companies deserve the same punishment as anarchists. +Affirmations of this kind are always effective with crowds. The +affirmation is never too violent, the declamation never too +threatening. Nothing intimidates the audience more than this +sort of eloquence. Those present are afraid that if they protest +they will be put down as traitors or accomplices. + +As I have said, this peculiar style of eloquence has ever been of +sovereign effect in all assemblies. In times of crisis its power +is still further accentuated. The speeches of the great orators +of the assemblies of the French Revolution are very interesting +reading from this point of view. At every instant they thought +themselves obliged to pause in order to denounce crime and exalt +virtue, after which they would burst forth into imprecations +against tyrants, and swear to live free men or perish. Those +present rose to their feet, applauded furiously, and then, +calmed, took their seats again. + +On occasion, the leader may be intelligent and highly educated, +but the possession of these qualities does him, as a rule, more +harm than good. By showing how complex things are, by allowing +of explanation and promoting comprehension, intelligence always +renders its owner indulgent, and blunts, in a large measure, that +intensity and violence of conviction needful for apostles. The +great leaders of crowds of all ages, and those of the Revolution +in particular, have been of lamentably narrow intellect; while it +is precisely those whose intelligence has been the most +restricted who have exercised the greatest influence. + +The speeches of the most celebrated of them, of Robespierre, +frequently astound one by their incoherence: by merely reading +them no plausible explanation is to be found of the great part +played by the powerful dictator:-- + + +"The commonplaces and redundancies of pedagogic eloquence and +Latin culture at the service of a mind childish rather than +undistinguished, and limited in its notions of attack and defence +to the defiant attitude of schoolboys. Not an idea, not a happy +turn of phrase, or a telling hit: a storm of declamation that +leaves us bored. After a dose of this unexhilarating reading one +is attempted to exclaim `Oh!' with the amiable Camille +Desmoulins." + + +It is terrible at times to think of the power that strong +conviction combined with extreme narrowness of mind gives a man +possessing prestige. It is none the less necessary that these +conditions should be satisfied for a man to ignore obstacles and +display strength of will in a high measure. Crowds instinctively +recognise in men of energy and conviction the masters they are +always in need of. + +In a parliamentary assembly the success of a speech depends +almost solely on the prestige possessed by the speaker, and not +at all on the arguments he brings forward. The best proof of +this is that when for one cause or another a speaker loses his +prestige, he loses simultaneously all his influence, that is, his +power of influencing votes at will. + +When an unknown speaker comes forward with a speech containing +good arguments, but only arguments, the chances are that he will +only obtain a hearing. A Deputy who is a psychologist of +insight, M. Desaubes, has recently traced in the following lines +the portrait of the Deputy who lacks prestige:-- + + +"When he takes his place in the tribune he draws a document from +his portfolio, spreads it out methodically before him, and makes +a start with assurance. + +"He flatters himself that he will implant in the minds of his +audience the conviction by which he is himself animated. He has +weighed and reweighed his arguments; he is well primed with +figures and proofs; he is certain he will convince his hearers. +In the face of the evidence he is to adduce all resistance would +be futile. He begins, confident in the justice of his cause, and +relying upon the attention of his colleagues, whose only anxiety, +of course, is to subscribe to the truth. + +"He speaks, and is at once surprised at the restlessness of the +House, and a little annoyed by the noise that is being made. + +"How is it silence is not kept? Why this general inattention? +What are those Deputies thinking about who are engaged in +conversation? What urgent motive has induced this or that Deputy +to quit his seat? + +"An expression of uneasiness crosses his face; he frowns and +stops. Encouraged by the President, he begins again, raising his +voice. He is only listened to all the less. He lends emphasis +to his words, and gesticulates: the noise around him increases. +He can no longer hear himself, and again stops; finally, afraid +that his silence may provoke the dreaded cry, `The Closure!' he +starts off again. The clamour becomes unbearable." + + +When parliamentary assemblies reach a certain pitch of excitement +they become identical with ordinary heterogeneous crowds, and +their sentiments in consequence present the peculiarity of being +always extreme. They will be seen to commit acts of the greatest +heroism or the worst excesses. The individual is no longer +himself, and so entirely is this the case that he will vote +measures most adverse to his personal interests. + +The history of the French Revolution shows to what an extent +assemblies are capable of losing their self-consciousness, and of +obeying suggestions most contrary to their interests. It was an +enormous sacrifice for the nobility to renounce its privileges, +yet it did so without hesitation on a famous night during the +sittings of the Constituant Assembly. By renouncing their +inviolability the men of the Convention placed themselves under a +perpetual menace of death and yet they took this step, and were +not afraid to decimate their own ranks, though perfectly aware +that the scaffold to which they were sending their colleagues +to-day might be their own fate to-morrow. The truth is they had +attained to that completely automatic state which I have +described elsewhere, and no consideration would hinder them from +yielding to the suggestions by which they were hypnotised. The +following passage from the memoirs of one of them, +Billaud-Varennes, is absolutely typical on this score: "The +decisions with which we have been so reproached," he says, "WERE +NOT DESIRED BY US TWO DAYS, A SINGLE DAY BEFORE THEY WERE TAKEN: +IT WAS THE CRISIS AND NOTHING ELSE THAT GAVE RISE TO THEM." +Nothing can be more accurate. + +The same phenomena of unconsciousness were to be witnessed during +all the stormy sittings of the Convention. + + +"They approved and decreed measures," says Taine, "which they +held in horror--measures which were not only stupid and foolish, +but measures that were crimes--the murder of innocent men, the +murder of their friends. The Left, supported by the Right, +unanimously and amid loud applause, sent to the scaffold Danton, +its natural chief, and the great promoter and leader of the +Revolution. Unanimously and amid the greatest applause the +Right, supported by the Left, votes the worst decrees of the +revolutionary government. Unanimously and amid cries of +admiration and enthusiasm, amid demonstrations of passionate +sympathy for Collot d'Herbois, Couthon, and Robespierre, the +Convention by spontaneous and repeated re-elections keeps in +office the homicidal government which the Plain detests because +it is homicidal, and the Mountain detests because it is decimated +by it. The Plain and the Mountain, the majority and the +minority, finish by consenting to help on their own suicide. The +22 Prairial the entire Convention offered itself to the +executioner; the 8 Thermidor, during the first quarter of an hour +that followed Robespierre's speech, it did the same thing again." + +This picture may appear sombre. Yet it is accurate. +Parliamentary assemblies, sufficiently excited and hypnotised, +offer the same characteristics. They become an unstable flock, +obedient to every impulsion. The following description of the +Assembly of 1848 is due to M. Spuller, a parliamentarian whose +faith in democracy is above suspicion. I reproduce it from the +Revue litteraire, and it is thoroughly typical. It offers an +example of all the exaggerated sentiments which I have described +as characteristic of crowds, and of that excessive changeableness +which permits of assemblies passing, from moment to moment, from +one set of sentiments to another entirely opposite. + + +"The Republican party was brought to its perdition by its +divisions, its jealousies, its suspicions, and, in turn, its +blind confidence and its limitless hopes. Its ingenuousness and +candour were only equalled by its universal mistrust. An absence +of all sense of legality, of all comprehension of discipline, +together with boundless terrors and illusions; the peasant and +the child are on a level in these respects. Their calm is as +great as their impatience; their ferocity is equal to their +docility. This condition is the natural consequence of a +temperament that is not formed and of the lack of education. +Nothing astonishes such persons, and everything disconcerts them. +Trembling with fear or brave to the point of heroism, they would +go through fire and water or fly from a shadow. + +"They are ignorant of cause and effect and of the connecting +links between events. They are as promptly discouraged as they +are exalted, they are subject to every description of panic, they +are always either too highly strung or too downcast, but never in +the mood or the measure the situation would require. More fluid +than water they reflect every line and assume every shape. What +sort of a foundation for a government can they be expected to +supply?" + + +Fortunately all the characteristics just described as to be met +with in parliamentary assemblies are in no wise constantly +displayed. Such assemblies only constitute crowds at certain +moments. The individuals composing them retain their +individuality in a great number of cases, which explains how it +is that an assembly is able to turn out excellent technical laws. +It is true that the author of these laws is a specialist who has +prepared them in the quiet of his study, and that in reality the +law voted is the work of an individual and not of an assembly. +These laws are naturally the best. They are only liable to have +disastrous results when a series of amendments has converted them +into the outcome of a collective effort. The work of a crowd is +always inferior, whatever its nature, to that of an isolated +individual. It is specialists who safeguard assemblies from +passing ill-advised or unworkable measures. The specialist in +this case is a temporary leader of crowds. The Assembly is +without influence on him, but he has influence over the Assembly. + +In spite of all the difficulties attending their working, +parliamentary assemblies are the best form of government mankind +has discovered as yet, and more especially the best means it has +found to escape the yoke of personal tyrannies. They constitute +assuredly the ideal government at any rate for philosophers, +thinkers, writers, artists, and learned men--in a word, for all +those who form the cream of a civilisation. + +Moreover, in reality they only present two serious dangers, one +being inevitable financial waste, and the other the progressive +restriction of the liberty of the individual. + +The first of these dangers is the necessary consequence of the +exigencies and want of foresight of electoral crowds. Should a +member of an assembly propose a measure giving apparent +satisfaction to democratic ideas, should he bring in a Bill, for +instance, to assure old-age pensions to all workers, and to +increase the wages of any class of State employes, the other +Deputies, victims of suggestion in their dread of their electors, +will not venture to seem to disregard the interests of the latter +by rejecting the proposed measure, although well aware they are +imposing a fresh strain on the Budget and necessitating the +creation of new taxes. It is impossible for them to hesitate to +give their votes. The consequences of the increase of +expenditure are remote and will not entail disagreeable +consequences for them personally, while the consequences of a +negative vote might clearly come to light when they next present +themselves for re-election. + +In addition to this first cause of an exaggerated expenditure +there is another not less imperative--the necessity of voting all +grants for local purposes. A Deputy is unable to oppose grants +of this kind because they represent once more the exigencies of +the electors, and because each individual Deputy can only obtain +what he requires for his own constituency on the condition of +acceding to similar demands on the part of his colleagues.[29] + + +[29] In its issue of April 6, 1895, the Economiste published a +curious review of the figures that may be reached by expenditure +caused solely by electoral considerations, and notably of the +outlay on railways. To put Langayes (a town of 3,000 +inhabitants, situated on a mountain) in communication with Puy, a +railway is voted that will cost 15 millions of francs. Seven +millions are to be spent to put Beaumont (3,500 inhabitants) in +communication with Castel-Sarrazin; 7 millions to put Oust (a +village of 523 inhabitants) in communication with Seix (1,200 +inhabitants); 6 millions to put Prade in communication with the +hamlet of Olette (747 inhabitants), &c. In 1895 alone 90 +millions of francs were voted for railways of only local utility. +There is other no less important expenditure necessitated also by +electioneering considerations. The law instituting workingmen's +pensions will soon involve a minimum annual outlay of 165 +millions, according to the Minister of Finance, and of 800 +millions according to the academician M. Leroy-Beaulieu. It is +evident that the continued growth of expenditure of this kind +must end in bankruptcy. Many European countries--Portugal, +Greece, Spain, Turkey--have reached this stage, and others, such +as Italy, will soon be reduced to the same extremity. Still too +much alarm need not be felt at this state of things, since the +public has successively consented to put up with the reduction of +four-fifths in the payment of their coupons by these different +countries. Bankruptcy under these ingenious conditions allows +the equilibrium of Budgets difficult to balance to be instantly +restored. Moreover, wars, socialism, and economic conflicts hold +in store for us a profusion of other catastrophes in the period +of universal disintegration we are traversing, and it is +necessary to be resigned to living from hand to mouth without too +much concern for a future we cannot control. + + + +The second of the dangers referred to above--the inevitable +restrictions on liberty consummated by parliamentary +assemblies--is apparently less obvious, but is, nevertheless, +very real. It is the result of the innumerable laws--having +always a restrictive action--which parliaments consider +themselves obliged to vote and to whose consequences, owing to +their shortsightedness, they are in a great measure blind. + +The danger must indeed be most inevitable, since even England +itself, which assuredly offers the most popular type of the +parliamentary regime, the type in which the representative is +most independent of his elector, has been unable to escape it. +Herbert Spencer has shown, in a work already old, that the +increase of apparent liberty must needs be followed by the +decrease of real liberty. Returning to this contention in his +recent book, "The Individual versus the State," he thus expresses +himself with regard to the English Parliament:-- + + +"Legislation since this period has followed the course, I pointed +out. Rapidly multiplying dictatorial measures have continually +tended to restrict individual liberties, and this in two ways. +Regulations have been established every year in greater number, +imposing a constraint on the citizen in matters in which his acts +were formerly completely free, and forcing him to accomplish acts +which he was formerly at liberty to accomplish or not to +accomplish at will. At the same time heavier and heavier public, +and especially local, burdens have still further restricted his +liberty by diminishing the portion of his profits he can spend as +he chooses, and by augmenting the portion which is taken from him +to be spent according to the good pleasure of the public +authorities." + + +This progressive restriction of liberties shows itself in every +country in a special shape which Herbert Spencer has not pointed +out; it is that the passing of these innumerable series of +legislative measures, all of them in a general way of a +restrictive order, conduces necessarily to augment the number, +the power, and the influence of the functionaries charged with +their application. These functionaries tend in this way to +become the veritable masters of civilised countries. Their power +is all the greater owing to the fact that, amidst the incessant +transfer of authority, the administrative caste is alone in being +untouched by these changes, is alone in possessing +irresponsibility, impersonality, and perpetuity. There is no +more oppressive despotism than that which presents itself under +this triple form. + +This incessant creation of restrictive laws and regulations, +surrounding the pettiest actions of existence with the most +complicated formalities, inevitably has for its result the +confining within narrower and narrower limits of the sphere in +which the citizen may move freely. Victims of the delusion that +equality and liberty are the better assured by the multiplication +of laws, nations daily consent to put up with trammels +increasingly burdensome. They do not accept this legislation +with impunity. Accustomed to put up with every yoke, they soon +end by desiring servitude, and lose all spontaneousness and +energy. They are then no more than vain shadows, passive, +unresisting and powerless automata. + +Arrived at this point, the individual is bound to seek outside +himself the forces he no longer finds within him. The functions +of governments necessarily increase in proportion as the +indifference and helplessness of the citizens grow. They it is +who must necessarily exhibit the initiative, enterprising, and +guiding spirit in which private persons are lacking. It falls on +them to undertake everything, direct everything, and take +everything under their protection. The State becomes an +all-powerful god. Still experience shows that the power of such +gods was never either very durable or very strong. + +This progressive restriction of all liberties in the case of +certain peoples, in spite of an outward license that gives them +the illusion that these liberties are still in their possession, +seems at least as much a consequence of their old age as of any +particular system. It constitutes one of the precursory symptoms +of that decadent phase which up to now no civilisation has +escaped. + +Judging by the lessons of the past, and by the symptoms that +strike the attention on every side, several of our modern +civilisations have reached that phase of extreme old age which +precedes decadence. It seems inevitable that all peoples should +pass through identical phases of existence, since history is so +often seen to repeat its course. + +It is easy to note briefly these common phases of the evolution +of civilisations, and I shall terminate this work with a summary +of them. This rapid sketch will perhaps throw some gleams of +light on the causes of the power at present wielded by crowds. + +If we examine in their main lines the genesis of the greatness +and of the fall of the civilisations that preceded our own, what +do we see? + +At the dawn of civilisation a swarm of men of various origin, +brought together by the chances of migrations, invasions, and +conquests. Of different blood, and of equally different +languages and beliefs, the only common bond of union between +these men is the half-recognised law of a chief. The +psychological characteristics of crowds are present in an eminent +degree in these confused agglomerations. They have the transient +cohesion of crowds, their heroism, their weaknesses, their +impulsiveness, and their violence. Nothing is stable in +connection with them. They are barbarians. + +At length time accomplishes its work. The identity of +surroundings, the repeated intermingling of races, the +necessities of life in common exert their influence. The +assemblage of dissimilar units begins to blend into a whole, to +form a race; that is, an aggregate possessing common +characteristics and sentiments to which heredity will give +greater and greater fixity. The crowd has become a people, and +this people is able to emerge from its barbarous state. However, +it will only entirely emerge therefrom when, after long efforts, +struggles necessarily repeated, and innumerable recommencements, +it shall have acquired an ideal. The nature of this ideal is of +slight importance; whether it be the cult of Rome, the might of +Athens, or the triumph of Allah, it will suffice to endow all the +individuals of the race that is forming with perfect unity of +sentiment and thought. + +At this stage a new civilisation, with its institutions, its +beliefs, and its arts, may be born. In pursuit of its ideal, the +race will acquire in succession the qualities necessary to give +it splendour, vigour, and grandeur. At times no doubt it will +still be a crowd, but henceforth, beneath the mobile and changing +characteristics of crowds, is found a solid substratum, the +genius of the race which confines within narrow limits the +transformations of a nation and overrules the play of chance. + +After having exerted its creative action, time begins that work +of destruction from which neither gods nor men escape. Having +reached a certain level of strength and complexity a civilisation +ceases to grow, and having ceased to grow it is condemned to a +speedy decline. The hour of its old age has struck. + +This inevitable hour is always marked by the weakening of the +ideal that was the mainstay of the race. In proportion as this +ideal pales all the religious, political, and social structures +inspired by it begin to be shaken. + +With the progressive perishing of its ideal the race loses more +and more the qualities that lent it its cohesion, its unity, and +its strength. The personality and intelligence of the individual +may increase, but at the same time this collective egoism of the +race is replaced by an excessive development of the egoism of the +individual, accompanied by a weakening of character and a +lessening of the capacity for action. What constituted a people, +a unity, a whole, becomes in the end an agglomeration of +individualities lacking cohesion, and artificially held together +for a time by its traditions and institutions. It is at this +stage that men, divided by their interests and aspirations, and +incapable any longer of self-government, require directing in +their pettiest acts, and that the State exerts an absorbing +influence. + +With the definite loss of its old ideal the genius of the race +entirely disappears; it is a mere swarm of isolated individuals +and returns to its original state--that of a crowd. Without +consistency and without a future, it has all the transitory +characteristics of crowds. Its civilisation is now without +stability, and at the mercy of every chance. The populace is +sovereign, and the tide of barbarism mounts. The civilisation +may still seem brilliant because it possesses an outward front, +the work of a long past, but it is in reality an edifice +crumbling to ruin, which nothing supports, and destined to fall +in at the first storm. + +To pass in pursuit of an ideal from the barbarous to the +civilised state, and then, when this ideal has lost its virtue, +to decline and die, such is the cycle of the life of a people. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Crowd, by Gustave le Bon + diff --git a/old/445.zip b/old/445.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3223511 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/445.zip |