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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/8104-h.zip b/8104-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58adfa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/8104-h.zip diff --git a/8104-h/8104-h.htm b/8104-h/8104-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d03c147 --- /dev/null +++ b/8104-h/8104-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4423 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The National Being, by 'A.E.' [George William Russell + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's National Being, by (A.E.)George William Russell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: National Being + Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity + +Author: (A.E.)George William Russell + +Release Date: July 29, 2009 [EBook #8104] +Last Updated: February 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + + + + +Produced by Jake Jaqua, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE NATIONAL BEING + </h1> + <h1> + Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By "A.E." [George William Russell] + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + To The Right Hon. Sir Horace Plunkett + </p> + <p> + A good many years ago you grafted a slip of poetry on your economic tree. + I do not know if you expected a hybrid. This essay may not be economics in + your sense of the word. It certainly is not poetry in my sense. The + Marriage of Heaven and Earth was foretold by the ancient prophets. I have + seen no signs of that union taking place, but I have been led to speculate + how they might be brought within hailing distance of each other. In my + philosophy of life, we are all responsible for the results of our actions + and their effects on others. This book is a consequence of your grafting + operation, and so I dedicate it to you.—A.E. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> XIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XX. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + In the year nineteen hundred and fourteen Anno Domini, amid a world + conflict, the birth of the infant State of Ireland was announced. Almost + unnoticed this birth, which in other times had been cried over the earth + with rejoicings or anger. Mars, the red planet of war, was in the + ascendant when it was born. Like other births famous in history, the child + had to be hidden away for a time, and could not with pride be shown to the + people as royal children were wont to be shown. Its enemies were + unforgiving, and its friends were distracted with mighty happenings in the + world. Hardly did they know whether it would not be deformed if it + survived: whether this was the Promised, or another child yet to be + conceived in the womb of the Mother of Parliaments. Battles were + threatened between two hosts, secular champions of two spiritual + traditions, to decide its fate. That such a conflict threatened showed + indeed that there was something of iron fibre in the infant, without which + in their make-up individuals or nations do nothing worthy of remembrance. + Hercules wrestled with twin serpents in his cradle, and there were twin + serpents of sectarianism ready to strangle this infant State of ours if + its guardians were not watchful, or if the infant was not itself strong + enough to destroy them. + </p> + <p> + It is about the State of Ireland, its character and future, I have here + written some kind of imaginative meditation. The State is a physical body + prepared for the incarnation of the soul of a race. The body of the + national soul may be spiritual or secular, aristocratic or democratic, + civil or militarist predominantly. One or other will be most powerful, and + the body of the race will by reflex action affect its soul, even as + through heredity the inherited tendencies and passions of the flesh affect + the indwelling spirit. Our brooding over the infant State must be dual, + concerned not only with the body but the soul. When we essay + self-government in Ireland our first ideas will, in all probability, be + borrowed from the Mother of Parliaments, just as children before they grow + to have a character of their own repeat the sentiments of their parents. + After a time, if there is anything in the theory of Irish nationality, we + will apply original principles as they are from time to time discovered to + be fundamental in Irish character. A child in the same way makes + discoveries about itself. The mood evoked by picture or poem reveals a + love of beauty; the harsh treatment of an animal provokes an outburst of + pity; some curiosity of nature draws forth the spirit of scientific + inquiry, and so, as the incidents of life reveal the innate affinities of + a child to itself, do the adventures of a nation gradually reveal to it + its own character and the will which is in it. + </p> + <p> + For all our passionate discussions over self-government we have had little + speculation over our own character or the nature of the civilization we + wished to create for ourselves. Nations rarely, if ever, start with a + complete ideal. Certainly we have no national ideals, no principles of + progress peculiar to ourselves in Ireland, which are a common possession + of our people. National ideals are the possession of a few people only. + Yet we must spread them in wide commonalty over Ireland if we are to + create a civilization worthy of our hopes and our ages of struggle and + sacrifice to attain the power to build. We must spread them in wide + commonalty because it is certain that democracy will prevail in Ireland. + The aristocratic classes with traditions of government, the manufacturing + classes with economic experience, will alike be secondary in Ireland to + the small farmers and the wage-earners in the towns. We must rely on the + ideas common among our people, and on their power to discern among their + countrymen the aristocracy of character and intellect. + </p> + <p> + Civilizations are externalizations of the soul and character of races. + They are majestic or mean according to the treasure of beauty, + imagination, will, and thought laid up in the soul of the people. That + great mid-European State, which while I write is at bay surrounded by + enemies, did not arrive at that pitch of power which made it dominant in + Europe simply by militarism. That military power depended on and was fed + by a vigorous intellectual life, and the most generally diffused education + and science existing perhaps in the world. The national being had been + enriched by a long succession of mighty thinkers. A great subjective life + and centuries of dream preceded a great objective manifestation of power + and wealth. The stir in the German Empire which has agitated Europe was, + at its root, the necessity laid on a powerful soul to surround itself with + equal external circumstance. That necessity is laid on all nations, on all + individuals, to make their external life correspond in some measure to + their internal dream. A lover of beauty will never contentedly live in a + house where all things are devoid of taste. An intellectual man will + loathe a disordered society. + </p> + <p> + We may say with certainty that the external circumstances of people are a + measure of their inner life. Our mean and disordered little country towns + in Ireland, with their drink-shops, their disregard of cleanliness or + beauty, accord with the character of the civilians who inhabit them. + Whenever we develop an intellectual life these things will be altered, but + not in priority to the spiritual mood. House by house, village by village, + the character of a civilization changes as the character of the + individuals change. When we begin to build up a lofty world within the + national soul, soon the country becomes beautiful and worthy of respect in + its externals. That building up of the inner world we have neglected. Our + excited political controversies, our playing at militarism, have tended to + bring men's thoughts from central depths to surfaces. Life is drawn to its + frontiers away from its spiritual base, and behind the surfaces we have + little to fall back on. Few of our notorieties could be trusted to think + out any economic or social problem thoroughly and efficiently. They have + been engaged in passionate attempts at the readjustment of the superficies + of things. What we require more than men of action at present are + scholars, economists, scientists, thinkers, educationalists, and + litterateurs, who will populate the desert depths of national + consciousness with real thought and turn the void into a fullness. We have + few reserves of intellectual life to draw upon when we come to the mighty + labor of nation-building. It will be indignantly denied, but I think it is + true to say that the vast majority of people in Ireland do not know the + difference between good and bad thinking, between the essential depths and + the shallows in humanity. How could people, who never read anything but + the newspapers, have any genuine knowledge of any subject on earth or much + imagination of anything beautiful in the heavens? + </p> + <p> + What too many people in Ireland mistake for thoughts are feelings. It is + enough to them to vent like or dislike, inherited prejudices or passions, + and they think when they have expressed feeling they have given utterance + to thought. The nature of our political controversies provoked passion, + and passion has become dominant in our politics. Passion truly is a power + in humanity, but it should never enter into national policy. It is a + dangerous element in human life, though it is an essential part of our + strangely compounded nature. But in national life it is the most dangerous + of all guides. There are springs of power in ourselves which in passion we + draw on and are amazed at their depth and intensity, yet we do not make + these the master light of our being, but rather those divine laws which we + have apprehended and brooded upon, and which shine with clear and steady + light in our souls. As creatures rise in the scale of being the dominant + factor in life changes. In vegetation it may be appetite; instinct in bird + and beast for man a life at once passionate and intellectual; but the + greater beings, the stars and planets, must wheel in the heavens under the + guidance of inexorable and inflexible law. Now the State is higher in the + scale of being than the individual, and it should be dominated solely by + moral and intellectual principles. These are not the outcome of passion or + prejudice, but of arduous thought. National ideals must be built up with + the same conscious deliberation of purpose as the architect of the + Parthenon conceived its lofty harmony of shining marble lines, or as the + architect of Rheims Cathedral designed its intricate magnificence and + mystery. Nations which form their ideals and marry them in the hurry of + passion are likely to repent without leisure, and they will not be able to + divorce those ideals without prolonged domestic squabbles and public + cleansing of dirty linen. If we are to build a body for the soul of + Ireland it ought not to be a matter of reckless estimates or + jerry-building. We have been told, during my lifetime at least, not to + criticize leaders, to trust leaders, and so intellectual discussion ceased + and the high principles on which national action should be based became + less and less understood, less and less common possessions. The nation was + not conceived of as a democracy freely discussing its laws but as a secret + society with political chiefs meeting in the dark and issuing orders. No + doubt our political chieftains loved their country, but love has many + degrees of expression from the basest to the highest. The basest love will + wreck everything, even the life of the beloved, to gratify ignoble + desires. The highest love conspires with the imaginative reason to bring + about every beautiful circumstance around the beloved which will permit of + the highest development of its life. There is no real love apart from this + intellectual brooding. Men who love Ireland ignobly brawl about her in + their cups, quarrel about her with their neighbor, allow no freedom of + thought of her or service of her other than their own, take to the cudgel + and the rifle, and join sectarian orders or lodges to ensure that Ireland + will be made in their own ignoble image. Those who love Ireland nobly + desire for her the highest of human destinies. They would ransack the ages + and accumulate wisdom to make Irish life seem as noble in men's eyes as + any the world has known. The better minds in every race, eliminating + passion and prejudice, by the exercise of the imaginative reason have + revealed to their countrymen ideals which they recognized were implicit in + national character. It is such discoveries we have yet to make about + ourselves to unite us to fulfill our destiny. We have to discover what is + fundamental in Irish character, the affections, leanings, tendencies + towards one or more of the eternal principles which have governed and + inspired all great human effort, all great civilizations from the dawn of + history. A nation is but a host of men united by some God-begotten mood, + some hope of liberty or dream of power or beauty or justice or + brotherhood, and until that master idea is manifested to us there is no + shining star to guide the ship of our destinies. + </p> + <p> + Our civilization must depend on the quality of thought engendered in the + national being. We have to do for Ireland—though we hope with less + arrogance—what the long and illustrious line of German thinkers, + scientists, poets, philosophers, and historians did for Germany, or what + the poets and artists of Greece did for the Athenians: and that is, to + create national ideals, which will dominate the policy of statesmen, the + actions of citizens, the universities, the social organizations, the + administration of State departments, and unite in one spirit urban and + rural life. Unless this is done Ireland will be like Portugal, or any of + the corrupt little penny-dreadful nationalities which so continually + disturb the peace of the world with internal revolutions and external + brawlings, and we shall only have achieved the mechanism of nationality, + but the spirit will have eluded us. + </p> + <p> + What I have written hereafter on the national being, my thoughts on an + Irish polity, are not to be taken as an attempt to deal with more than a + few essentials. I offer it to my countrymen, to start thought and + discussion upon the principles which should prevail in an Irish + civilization. If to readers in other countries the thought appears + primitive or elementary, I would like them to remember that we are at the + beginning of our activity as a nation, and we have yet to settle + fundamentals. Races hoary with political wisdom may look with disdain on + the attempts at political thinking by a new self-governing nationality, or + the theories of civilization discussed about the cradle of an infant + State. To childhood may be forgiven the elemental character of its thought + and its idealistic imaginations. They may not persist in developed + manhood; but if youth has never drawn heaven and earth together in its + imaginations, manhood will ever be undistinguished. This book only begins + a meditation in which, I hope, nobler imaginations and finer intellects + than mine will join hereafter, and help to raise the soul of Ireland + nigher to the ideal and its body nigher to its soul. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + The building up of a civilization is at once the noblest and the most + practical of all enterprises, in which human faculties are exalted to + their highest, and beauties and majesties are manifested in multitude as + they are never by solitary man or by disunited peoples. In the highest + civilizations the individual citizen is raised above himself and made part + of a greater life, which we may call the National Being. He enters into + it, and it becomes in oversoul to him, and gives to all his works a + character and grandeur and a relation to the works of his fellow-citizens, + so that all he does conspires with the labors of others for unity and + magnificence of effect. So ancient Egypt, with its temples, sphinxes, + pyramids, and symbolic decorations, seems to us as if it had been created + by one grandiose imagination; for even the lesser craftsmen, working on + the mummy case for the tomb, had much of the mystery and solemnity in + their work which is manifest in temple and pyramid. So the city States in + ancient Greece in their day were united by ideals to a harmony of art and + architecture and literature. Among the Athenians at their highest the + ideal of the State so wrought upon the individual that its service became + the overmastering passion of life, and in that great oration of Pericles, + where he told how the Athenian ideal inspired the citizens so that they + gave their bodies for the commonwealth, it seems to have been conceived of + as a kind of oversoul, a being made up of immortal deeds and heroic + spirits, influencing the living, a life within their life, molding their + spirits to its likeness. It appears almost as if in some of these ancient + famous communities the national ideal became a kind of tribal deity, that + began first with some great hero who died and was immortalized by the + poets, and whose character, continually glorified by them, grew at last so + great in song that he could not be regarded as less than a demi-god. We + can see in ancient Ireland that Cuchulain, the dark sad man of the earlier + tales, was rapidly becoming a divinity, a being who summed up in himself + all that the bards thought noblest in the spirit of their race; and if + Ireland had a happier history no doubt one generation of bardic + chroniclers after another would have molded that half-mythical figure into + the Irish ideal of all that was chivalrous, tender, heroic, and + magnanimous, and it would have been a star to youth, and the thought of it + a staff to the very noblest. Even as Cuchulain alone at the ford held it + against a host, so the ideal would have upheld the national soul in its + darkest hours, and stood in many a lonely place in the heart. The national + soul in a theocratic State is a god; in an aristocratic age it assumes the + character of a hero; and in a democracy it becomes a multitudinous being, + definite in character if the democracy is a real social organism. But + where the democracy is only loosely held together by the social order, the + national being is vague in character, is a mood too feeble to inspire + large masses of men to high policies in times of peace, and in times of + war it communicates frenzy, panic, and delirium. + </p> + <p> + None of our modern States create in us such an impression of being + spiritually oversouled by an ideal as the great States of the ancient + world. The leaders of nations too have lost that divine air that many + leaders of men wore in the past, and which made the populace rumor them as + divine incarnations. It is difficult to know to what to attribute this + degeneration. Perhaps the artists who create ideals are to blame. In + ancient Ireland, in Greece, and in India, the poets wrote about great + kings and heroes, enlarging on their fortitude of spirit, their chivalry + and generosity, creating in the popular mind an ideal of what a great man + was like; and men were influenced by the ideal created, and strove to win + the praise of the bards and to be recrowned by them a second time in great + poetry. So we had Cuchulain and Oscar in Ireland; Hector of Troy, Theseus + in Greece; Yudisthira, Rama, and Arjuna in India, all bard-created heroes + molding the minds of men to their image. It is the great defect of our + modern literature that it creates few such types. How hardly could one of + our modern public men be made the hero of an epic. It would be difficult + to find one who could be the subject of a genuine lyric. Whitman, himself + the most democratic poet of the modern world, felt this deficiency in the + literature of the later democracies, and lamented the absence of great + heroic figures. The poets have dropped out of the divine procession, and + sing a solitary song. They inspire nobody to be great, and failing any + finger-post in literature pointing to true greatness our democracies too + often take the huckster from his stall, the drunkard from his pot, the + lawyer from his court, and the company promoter from the director's chair, + and elect them as representative men. We certainly do this in Ireland. It + is—how many hundred years since greatness guided us? In Ireland our + history begins with the most ancient of any in a mythical era when earth + mingled with heaven. The gods departed, the half-gods also, hero and saint + after that, and we have dwindled down to a petty peasant nationality, + rural and urban life alike mean in their externals. Yet the cavalcade, for + all its tattered habiliments, has not lost spiritual dignity. There is + still some incorruptible spiritual atom in our people. We are still in + some relation to the divine order; and while that uncorrupted spiritual + atom still remains all things are possible if by some inspiration there + could be revealed to us a way back or forward to greatness, an Irish + polity in accord with national character. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + In formulating an Irish polity we have to take into account the change in + world conditions. A theocratic State we shall have no more. Every nation, + and our own along with them, is now made up of varied sects, and the + practical dominance of one religious idea would let loose illimitable + passions, the most intense the human spirit can feel. The way out of the + theocratic State was by the drawn sword and was lit by the martyr's fires. + The way back is unthinkable for all Protestant fears or Catholic + aspirations. Aristocracies, too, become impossible as rulers. The + aristocracy of character and intellect we may hope shall finally lead us, + but no aristocracy so by birth will renew its authority over us. The + character of great historic personages is gradually reflected in the mass. + The divine right of kings is followed by the idea of the divine right of + the people, and democracies finally become ungovernable save by + themselves. They have seen and heard too much of pride and greatness not + to have become, in some measure, proud and defiant of all authority except + their own. It may be said the history of democracies is not one to fill us + with confidence, but the truth is the world has yet to see the democratic + State, and of the yet untried we may think with hope. Beneath the Athenian + and other ancient democratic States lay a substratum of humanity in + slavery, and the culture, beauty, and bravery of these extraordinary + peoples were made possible by the workers in an underworld who had no part + in the bright civic life. + </p> + <p> + We have no more a real democracy in the world today. Democracy in politics + has in no country led to democracy in its economic life. We still have + autocracy in industry as firmly seated on its throne as theocratic king + ruling in the name of a god, or aristocracy ruling by military power; and + the forces represented by these twain, superseded by the autocrats of + industry, have become the allies of the power which took their place of + pride. Religion and rank, whether content or not with the subsidiary place + they now occupy, are most often courtiers of Mammon and support him on his + throne. For all the talk about democracy our social order is truly little + more democratic than Rome was under the Caesars, and our new rulers have + not, with all their wealth, created a beauty which we could imagine + after-generations brooding over with uplifted heart. + </p> + <p> + The people in theocratic States like Egypt or Chaldea, ruled in the name + of gods, saw rising out of the plains in which they lived an architecture + so mysterious and awe-inspiring that they might well believe the + master-minds who designed the temples were inspired from the Oversoul. The + aristocratic States reflected the love of beauty which is associated with + aristocracies. The oligarchies of wealth in our time, who have no divine + sanction to give dignity to their rule nor traditions of lordly life like + the aristocracies, have not in our day created beauty in the world. But + whatever of worth the ancient systems produced was not good enough to make + permanent their social order. Their civilizations, like ours, were built + on the unstable basis of a vast working-class with no real share in the + wealth and grandeur it helped to create. The character of his kingdom was + revealed in dream to Nebuchadnezzar by an image with a golden head and + feet of clay, and that image might stand as symbol of the empires the + world has known. There is in all a vast population living in an underworld + of labor whose freedom to vote confers on them no real power, and who are + most often scorned and neglected by those who profit by their labors. + Indifference turns to fear and hatred if labor organizes and gathers + power, or makes one motion of its myriad hands towards the sceptre held by + the autocrats of industry. When this class is maddened and revolts, + civilization shakes and totters like cities when the earthquake stirs + beneath their foundations. Can we master these arcane human forces? Can + we, by any device, draw this submerged humanity into the light and make + them real partners in the social order, not partners merely in the + political life of the nation, but, what is of more importance, in its + economic life? If we build our civilization without integrating labor into + its economic structure, it will wreck that civilization, and it will do + that more swiftly today than two thousand years ago, because there is no + longer the disparity of culture between high and low which existed in past + centuries. The son of the artisan, if he cares to read, may become almost + as fully master of the wisdom of Plato or Aristotle as if he had been at a + university. Emerson will speak to him of his divinity; Whitman, drunken + with the sun, will chant to him of his inheritance of the earth. He is + elevated by the poets and instructed by the economists. But there are not + thrones enough for all who are made wise in our social order, and failing + even to serve in the social heaven these men will spread revolt and reign + in the social hell. They are becoming too many for higher places to be + found for them in the national economy. They are increasing to a multitude + which must be considered, and the framers of a national polity must devise + a life for them where their new-found dignity of spirit will not be + abased. Men no more will be content under rulers of industry they do not + elect themselves than they were under political rulers claiming their + obedience in the name of God. They will not for long labor in industries + where they have no power to fix the conditions of their employment, as + they were not content with a political system which allowed them no power + to control legislation. Ireland must begin its imaginative reconstruction + of a civilization by first considering that type which, in the earlier + civilizations of the world, has been slave, serf, or servile, working + either on land or at industry, and must construct with reference to it. + These workers must be the central figures, and how their material, + intellectual, and spiritual needs are met must be the test of value of the + social order we evolve. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + In Ireland we begin naturally our consideration of this problem with the + folk of the country, pondering all the time upon our ideal—the + linking up of individuals with each other and with the nation. Since the + destruction of the ancient clans in Ireland almost every economic factor + in rural life has tended to separate the farmers from each other and from + the nation, and to bring about an isolation of action; and that was so + until the movement for the organization of agriculture was initiated by + Sir Horace Plunkett and his colleagues in that patriotic association, the + Irish Agricultural Organization Society. Though its actual achievement is + great; though it may be said to be the pivot round which Ireland has begun + to swing back to its traditional and natural communism in work, we still + have over the larger part of Ireland conditions prevailing which tend to + isolate the individual from the community. + </p> + <p> + When we examine rural Ireland, outside this new movement, we find + everywhere isolated and individualistic agricultural production, served + with regard to purchase and sale by private traders and dealers, who are + independent of economic control from the consumers or producers, or the + State. The tendency in the modern world to conduct industry in the grand + manner is not observable here. The first thing which strikes one who + travels through rural Ireland is the immense number of little shops. They + are scattered along the highways and at the crossroads; and where there + are a few families together in what is called a village, the number of + little shops crowded round these consumers is almost incredible. What are + all these little shops doing? They are supplying the farmers with domestic + requirements: with tea, sugar, flour, oil, implements, vessels, clothing, + and generally with drink. Every one of them almost is a little universal + provider. Every one of them has its own business organization, its + relations with wholesale houses in the greater towns. All of them procure + separately from others their bags of flour, their barrels of porter, their + stocks of tea, sugar, raisins, pots, pans, nails, twine, fertilizers, and + what not, and all these things come to them paying high rates to the + carriers for little loads. The trader's cart meets them at the station, + and at great expense the necessaries of life are brought together. In the + world-wide amalgamation of shoe-makers into boot factories, and smithies + into ironworks, which is going on in Europe and America, these little + shops have been overlooked. Nobody has tried to amalgamate them, or to + economize human effort or cheapen the distribution of the necessaries of + life. This work of distribution is carried on by all kinds of little + traders competing with each other, pulling the devil by the tail; doing + the work economically, so far as they themselves are concerned, because + they must, but doing it expensively for the district because they cannot + help it. They do not serve Ireland well. The genius of amalgamation and + organization cannot afford to pass by these shops, which spring up in + haphazard fashion, not because the country needs them, but because farmers + or traders have children to be provided for. To the ignorant this is the + easiest form of trade, and so many are started in life in one of these + little shops after an apprenticeship in another like it. These numerous + competitors of each other do not keep down prices. They increase them + rather by the unavoidable multiplication of expenses; and many of them, + taking advantage of the countryman's irregularity of income and his need + for credit, allow credit to a point where the small farmer becomes a tied + customer, who cannot pay all he owes, and who therefore dares not deal + elsewhere. These agencies for distribution do not by their nature enlarge + the farmer's economic knowledge. His vision beyond them to their sources + of supply is blocked, and in this respect he is debarred from any unity + with national producers other than his own class. + </p> + <p> + Let us now for a little consider the small farmer around whom have + gathered these multitudinous little agencies of distribution. What kind of + a being is he? We must deal with averages, and the small farmer is the + typical Irish countryman. The average area of an Irish farm is twenty-five + acres or thereabouts. There are hundreds of thousands who have more or + less. But we can imagine to ourselves an Irish farmer with twenty-five + acres to till, lord of a herd of four or five cows, a drift of sheep, a + litter of pigs, perhaps a mare and foal: call him Patrick Maloney and + accept him as symbol of his class. We will view him outside the operation + of the new co-operative policy, trying to obey the command to be fruitful + and replenish the earth. He is fruitful enough. There is no race suicide + in Ireland. His agriculture is largely traditional. It varied little in + the nineteenth century from the eighteenth, and the beginnings of the + twentieth century show little change in spite of a huge department of + agriculture. His butter, his eggs, his cattle, horses, pigs, and sheep are + sold to local dealers. He rarely knows where his produce goes to—whether + it is devoured in the next county or is sent across the Channel. It might + be pitched into the void for all he knows about its destiny. He might be + described almost as the primitive economic cave-man, the darkness of his + cave unillumined by any ray of general principles. As he is obstructed by + the traders in a general vision of production other than his own, so he is + obstructed by these dealers in a general vision of the final markets for + his produce. His reading is limited to the local papers, and these, + following the example of the modern press, carefully eliminate serious + thought as likely to deprive them of readers. But Patrick, for all his + economic backwardness, has a soul. The culture of the Gaelic poets and + story-tellers, while not often actually remembered, still lingers like a + fragrance about his mind. He lives and moves and has his being in the + loveliest nature, the skies over him ever cloudy like an opal; and the + mountains flow across his horizon in wave on wave of amethyst and pearl. + He has the unconscious depth of character of all who live and labor much + in the open air, in constant fellowship with the great companions—with + the earth and the sky and the fire in the sky. We ponder over Patrick, his + race and his country, brooding whether there is the seed of a Pericles in + Patrick's loins. Could we carve an Attica out of Ireland? + </p> + <p> + Before Patrick can become the father of a Pericles, before Ireland can + become an Attica, Patrick must be led out of his economic cave: his low + cunning in barter must be expanded into a knowledge of economic law—his + fanatical concentration on his family—begotten by the isolation and + individualism of his life—be sublimed into national affections; his + unconscious depths be sounded, his feeling for beauty be awakened by + contact with some of the great literature of the world. His mind is virgin + soil, and we may hope that, like all virgin soil, it will be immensely + fruitful when it is cultivated. How does the policy of co-working make + Patrick pass away from his old self? We can imagine him as a member of a + committee getting hints of a strange doctrine called science from his + creamery manager. He hears about bacteria, and these dark invisibles + replace, as the cause of bad butter-making, the wicked fairies of his + childhood. Watching this manager of his society he learns a new respect + for the man of special or expert knowledge. Discussing the business of his + association with other members he becomes something of a practical + economist. He knows now where his produce goes. He learns that he has to + compete with Americans, Europeans, and Colonials—indeed with the + farmers of the world, hitherto concealed from his view by a mountainous + mass of middle-men. He begins to be interested in these countries and + reads about them. He becomes a citizen of the world. His horizon is no + longer bounded by the wave of blue hills beyond his village. The roar of + the planet begins to sound in his ears. What is more important is that he + is becoming a better citizen of his own country. He meets on his committee + his religious and political opponents, not now discussing differences out + identities of interest. He also meets the delegates from other societies + in district conferences or general congresses, and those who meet thus + find their interests are common, and a new friendliness springs up between + North and South, and local co-operation leads on to national co-operation. + The best intellects, the best business men in the societies, meet in the + big centres as directors of federations and wholesales, and they get an + all-Ireland view of their industry. They see the parish from the point of + view of the nation, and this vision does not desert them when they go back + to the parish. They realize that their interests are bound up with + national interests, and they discuss legislation and administration with + practical knowledge. Eyes getting keener every year, minds getting more + instructed, begin to concentrate on Irish public men. Presently Patrick + will begin to seek for men of special knowledge and administrative ability + to manage Irish affairs. Ireland has hitherto been to Patrick a legend, a + being mentioned in romantic poetry, a little dark Rose, a mystic maiden, a + vague but very simple creature of tears and aspirations and revolts. He + now knows what a multitudinous being a nation is, and in contact with its + complexities Patrick's politics take on a new gravity, thoughtfulness, and + intellectual character. + </p> + <p> + Under the influence of these associations and the ideas pervading them our + typical Irish farmer gets drawn out of his agricultural sleep of the ages, + developing rapidly as mummy-wheat brought out of the tomb and exposed to + the eternal forces which stimulate and bring to life. I have taken an + individual as a type, and described the original circumstance and + illustrated the playing of the new forces on his mind. It is the only way + we can create a social order which will fit our character as the glove + fits the hand. Reasoning solely from abstract principles about justice, + democracy, the rights of man and the like, often leads us into futilities, + if not into dangerous political experiments. We have to see our typical + citizen in clear light, realize his deficiencies, ignorance, and + incapacity, and his possibilities of development, before we can wisely + enlarge his boundaries. The centre of the citizen is the home. His + circumference ought to be the nation. The vast majority of Irish citizens + rarely depart from their centre, or establish those vital relations with + their circumference which alone entitle them to the privileges of + citizenship, and enable them to act with political wisdom. An emotional + relationship is not enough. Our poets sang of a united Ireland, but the + unity they sang of was only a metaphor. It mainly meant separation from + another country. In that imaginary unity men were really separate from + each other. Individualism, fanatically centering itself on its family and + family interests, interfered on public boards to do jobs in the interests + of its kith and kin. The co-operative movement connects with living links + the home, the centre of Patrick's being, to the nation, the circumference + of his being. It connects him with the nation through membership of a + national movement, not for the political purposes which call on him for a + vote once every few years, but for economic purposes which affect him in + the course of his daily occupations. This organization of the most + numerous section of the Irish democracy into co-operative associations, as + it develops and embraces the majority, will tend to make the nation one + and indivisible and conscious of its unity. The individual, however meagre + his natural endowment of altruism, will be led to think of his community + as himself; because his income, his social pleasures even, depend on the + success of the local and national organizations with which he is + connected. The small farmers of former times pursued a petty business of + barter and haggle, fighting for their own hand against half the world + about them. The farmers of the new generation will grow up in a social + order, where all the transactions which narrowed their fathers' hearts + will be communal and national enterprises. How much that will mean in a + change of national character we can hardly realize, we who were born in an + Ireland where petty individualism was rampant, and where every child had + it borne in upon him that it had to fight its own corner in the world, + where the whole atmosphere about it tended to the hardening of the + personality. + </p> + <p> + We may hope and believe that this transformation of the social order will + make men truly citizens thinking in terms of the nation, identifying + national with personal interests. For those who believe there is a divine + seed in humanity, this atmosphere, if any, they may hope will promote the + swift blossoming of the divine seed which in the past, in favorable airs, + has made beauty or grandeur or spirituality the characteristics of ancient + civilizations in Greece, in Egypt, and in India. No one can work for his + race without the hope that the highest, or more than the highest, humanity + has reached will be within reach of his race also. We are all laying + foundations in dark places, putting the rough-hewn stones together in our + civilizations, hoping for the lofty edifice which will arise later and + make all the work glorious. And in Ireland, for all its melancholy + history, we may, knowing that we are human, dream that there is the seed + of a Pericles in Patrick's loins, and that we might carve an Attica out of + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + In Ireland we must of necessity give special thought to the needs of the + countryman, because our main industry is agriculture. We have few big + cities. Our great cities are almost all outside our own borders. They are + across the Atlantic. The surplus population of the countryside do not go + to our own towns but emigrate. The exodus does not enrich Limerick or + Galway, but New York. The absorption of life in great cities is really the + danger which most threatens the modern State with a decadence of its + humanity. In the United States, even in Canada, hardly has the pioneer + made a home in the wilderness when his sons and his daughters are allured + by the distant gleam of cities beyond the plains. In England the + countryside has almost ceased to be the mother of men—at least a + fruitful mother. We are face to face in Ireland with this problem, with no + crowded and towering cities to disguise the emptiness of the fields. It is + not a problem which lends itself to legislative solution. Whether there be + fair rents or no rents at all, the child of the peasant, yearning for a + fuller life, goes where life is at its fullest. We all desire life, and + that we might have it more abundantly,—the peasant as much as the + mystic thirsting for infinite being,—and in rural Ireland the needs + of life have been neglected. + </p> + <p> + The chief problem of Ireland—the problem which every nation in + greater or lesser measure will have to solve—is how to enable the + country-man, without journeying, to satisfy to the full his economic, + social, intellectual, and spiritual needs. We have made some tentative + efforts. The long war over the land, which resulted in the transference of + the land from landlord to cultivator, has advanced us part of the way, but + the Land Acts offered no complete solution. We were assured by hot + enthusiasts of the magic of proprietorship, but Ireland has not tilled a + single acre more since the Land Acts were passed. Our rural exodus + continued without any Moses to lead us to Jerusalems of our own. At every + station boys and girls bade farewell to their friends; and hardly had the + train steamed out when the natural exultation of adventure made the faces + of the emigrants glow because the world lay before them, and human + appetites the country could not satisfy were to be appeased at the end of + the journey. + </p> + <p> + How can we make the countryside in Ireland a place which nobody would + willingly emigrate from? When we begin to discuss this problem we soon + make the discovery that neither in the new world nor the old has there + been much first-class thinking on the life of the countryman. This will be + apparent if we compare the quality of thought which has been devoted to + the problems of the city State, or the constitution of widespread + dominions, from the days of Solon and Aristotle down to the time of + Alexander Hamilton, and compare it with the quality of thought which has + been brought to bear on the problems of the rural community. + </p> + <p> + On the labors of the countryman depend the whole strength and health, nay, + the very existence of society, yet, in almost every country, politics, + economics, and social reform are urban products, and the countryman gets + only the crumbs which fall from the political table. It seems to be so in + Canada and the States even, countries which we in Europe for long regarded + as mainly agricultural. It seems only yesterday to the imagination that + they were colonized, and yet we find the Minister of Agriculture in Canada + announcing a decline in the rural population in Eastern Canada. As + children sprung from the loins of diseased parents manifest at an early + age the same defects in their constitution, so Canada and the States, + though in their national childhood, seem already threatened by the same + disease from which classic Italy perished, and whose ravages today make + Great Britain seem to the acute diagnoser of political health to be like a + fruit—ruddy without, but eaten away within and rotten at the core. + One expects disease in old age, but not in youth. We expect young + countries to sow their wild oats, to have a few revolutions before they + settle down to national housekeeping; but we are not moved by these + troubles—the result of excessive energy—as we are by symptoms + of premature decay. No nation can be regarded as unhealthy when a virile + peasantry, contented with rural employments, however discontented with + other things, exists on its soil. The disease which has attacked our great + populations here and in America is a discontent with rural life. Nothing + which has been done hitherto seems able to promote content. It is true, + indeed, that science has gone out into the fields, but the labors of the + chemist, the bacteriologist, and the mechanical engineer are not enough to + ensure health. What is required is the art of the political thinker, the + imagination which creates a social order and adjusts it to human needs. + The physician who understands the general laws of human health is of more + importance to us here than the specialist. The genius of rural life has + not yet appeared. We have no fundamental philosophy concerning it, but we + have treasures of political wisdom dealing with humanity as a social + organism in the city States or as great nationalities. It might be worth + while inquiring to what extent the wisdom of a Solon, an Aristotle, a + Rousseau, or an Alexander Hamilton might be applied to the problem of the + rural community. After all, men are not so completely changed in character + by their rural environment that their social needs do not, to a large + extent, coincide with the needs of the townsman. They cannot be considered + as creatures of a different species. Yet statesmen who have devoted so + much thought to the constitution of empires and the organization of great + cities, who have studied their psychology, have almost always treated the + rural problem purely as an economic problem, as if agriculture was a + business only and not a life. + </p> + <p> + Our great nations and widespread empires arose in a haphazard fashion out + of city States and scattered tribal communities. The fusion of these into + larger entities, which could act jointly for offence or defense, so much + occupied the thoughts of their rulers that everything else was + subordinated to it. As a result, the details of our modern civilizations + are all wrong. There is an intensive life at a few great political or + industrial centres, and wide areas where there is stagnation and decay. + Stagnation is most obvious in rural districts. It is so general that it + has been often assumed that there was something inherent in rural life + which made the countryman slow in mind as his own cattle. But this is not + so, as I think can be shown. There is no reason why as intense, + intellectual, and progressive a life should not be possible in the country + as in the towns. The real reason for the stagnation is that the country + population is not organized. We often hear the expression, "the rural + community," but where do we find rural communities? There are rural + populations, but that is altogether a different thing. The word + "community" implies an association of people having common interests and + common possessions, bound together by laws and regulations which express + these common interests and ideals, and define the relation of the + individual to the community. Our rural populations are no more closely + connected, for the most part, than the shifting sands on the seashore. + Their life is almost entirely individualistic. There are personal + friendships, of course, but few economic or social partnerships. Everybody + pursues his own occupation without regard to the occupation of his + neighbors. If a man emigrates it does not affect the occupation of those + who farm the land all about him. They go on ploughing and digging, buying + and selling, just as before. They suffer no perceptible economic loss by + the departure of half-a-dozen men from the district. A true community + would, of course, be affected by the loss of its members. A co-operative + society, if it loses a dozen members, the milk of their cows, their orders + for fertilizers, seeds, and feeding-stuffs, receives serious injury to its + prosperity. There is a minimum of trade below which its business cannot + fall without bringing about a complete stoppage of its work and an + inability to pay its employees. That is the difference between a community + and an unorganized population. In the first the interests of the community + make a conscious and direct appeal to the individual, and the community, + in its turn, rapidly develops an interest in the welfare of the member. In + the second, the interest of the individual in the community is only + sentimental, and as there is no organization the community lets its units + slip away or disappear without comment or action. We had true rural + communities in ancient Ireland, though the organization was rather + military than economic. But the members of a clan had common interests. + They owned the land in common. It was a common interest to preserve it + intact. It was to their interest to have a numerous membership of the + clan, because it made it less liable to attack. Men were drawn by the + social order out of merely personal interests into a larger life. In their + organizations they were unconsciously groping, as all human organizations + are, towards the final solidarity of humanity—the federation of the + world. + </p> + <p> + Well, these old rural communities disappeared. The greater organizations + of nation or empire regarded the smaller communities jealously in the + past, and broke them up and gathered all the strings of power into capital + cities. The result was a growth of the State, with a local decay of civic, + patriotic, or public feeling, ending in bureaucracies and State + departments, where paid officials, devoid of intimacy with local needs, + replaced the services naturally and voluntarily rendered in an earlier + period. The rural population, no longer existing as a rural community, + sank into stagnation. There was no longer a common interest, a social + order turning their minds to larger than individual ends. Where feudalism + was preserved, the feudal chief, if the feeling of noblesse oblige was + strong, might act as a centre of progress, but where this was lacking + social decay set in. The difficulty of moving the countryman, which has + become traditional, is not due to the fact that he lives in the country, + but to the fact that he lives in an unorganized society. If in a city + people want an art gallery or public baths or recreation grounds, there is + a machinery which can be set in motion; there are corporations and urban + councils which can be approached. If public opinion is evident—and + it is easy to organize public opinion in a town—the city + representatives will consider the scheme, and if they approve and it is + within their power as a council, they are able to levy rates to finance + the art gallery, recreation grounds, public gardens, or whatever else. Now + let us go to a country district where there is no organization. It may be + obvious to one or two people that the place is perishing and the + intelligence of its humanity is decaying, lacking some centre of life. + They want a village hall, but how is it to be obtained? They begin talking + about it to this person or that. They ask these people to talk to their + friends, and the ripples go out weakening and widening for months, perhaps + for years. I know of districts where this has happened. There are hundreds + of parishes in Ireland where one or two men want co-operative societies or + village halls or rural libraries. They discuss the matter with their + neighbors, but find a complete ignorance on the subject, and consequent + lethargy. There is no social organism with a central life to stir. Before + enthusiasm can be kindled there must be some knowledge. The countryman + reads little, and it is a long and tedious business before enough people + are excited to bring them to the point of appealing to some expert to come + in and advise. + </p> + <p> + More changes often take place within a dozen years after a co-operative + society is first started than have taken place for a century previous. I + am familiar with a district—in the northwest of Ireland. It was a + most wretchedly poor district. The farmers were at the mercy of the + gombeen traders and the agricultural middlemen. Then a dozen years ago a + co-operative society was formed. I am sure that the oldest inhabitant + would agree with me that more changes for the better for farmers have + taken place since the co-operative society was started than he could + remember in all his previous life. The reign of the gombeen man is over. + The farmers control their own buying and selling. Their organization + markets for them the eggs and poultry. It procures seeds, fertilizers, and + domestic requirements. It turns the members' pigs into bacon. They have a + village hall and a woman's organization. They sell the products of the + women's industry. They have a co-operative band, social gatherings, and + concerts. They have spread out into half-a-dozen parishes, going southward + and westward with their propaganda, and in half-a-dozen years, in all that + district, previously without organization, there will be well-organized + farmers' guilds, concentrating in themselves the trade of their district, + having meeting-places where the opinion of the members can be taken, + having a machinery, committees, and executive officers to carry out + whatever may be decided on: and having funds, or profits, the joint + property of the community, which can be drawn upon to finance their + undertakings. It ought to be evident what a tremendous advantage it is to + farmers in a district to have such organizations, what a lever they can + pull and control. I have tried to indicate the difference between a rural + population and a rural community, between a people loosely knit together + by the vague ties of a common latitude and longitude, and people who are + closely knit together in an association and who form a true social + organism, a true rural community, where the general will can find + expression and society is malleable to the general will. I assert that + there never can be any progress in rural districts or any real prosperity + without such farmers' organizations or guilds. Wherever rural prosperity + is reported of any country inquire into it, and it will be found that it + depends on rural organization. Wherever there is rural decay, if it is + inquired into, it will be found that there was a rural population but no + rural community, no organization, no guild to promote common interests and + unite the countrymen in defense of them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. + </h2> + <p> + It is the business of the rural reformer to create the rural community. It + is the antecedent to the creation of a rural civilization. We have to + organize the community so that it can act as one body. It is not enough to + organize farmers in a district for one purpose only—in a credit + society, a dairy society, a fruit society, a bacon factory, or in a + co-operative store. All these may be and must be beginnings; but if they + do not develop and absorb all rural business into their organization they + will have little effect on character. No true social organism will have + been created. If people unite as consumers to buy together they only come + into contact on this one point; there is no general identity of interest. + If co-operative societies are specialized for this purpose or that—as + in Great Britain or on the Continent—to a large extent the + limitation of objects prevents a true social organism from being formed. + The latter has a tremendous effect on human character. The specialized + society only develops economic efficiency. The evolution of humanity + beyond its present level depends absolutely on its power to unite and + create true social organisms. Life in its higher forms is only possible + because of the union of myriads of tiny lives to form a larger being, + which manifests will, intelligence, affection, and the spiritual powers. + The life of the amoeba or any other unicellular organism is low compared + with the life in more complex organisms, like the ant or bee. Man is the + most highly developed living organism on the globe; yet his body is built + up of innumerable cells, each of which might be described as a tiny life + in itself. But they are built up in man into such a close association that + what affects one part of the body affects all. The pain which the whole + being feels if a part is wounded, if one cell in the human body is hurt, + should prove that to the least intelligent. The nervous system binds all + the tiny cells together, and they form in this totality a being infinitely + higher, more powerful, than the cells which compose it. They are able to + act together and achieve things impossible to the separated cells. Now + humanity today is, to some extent, like the individual cells. It is trying + to unite together to form a real organism, which will manifest higher + qualities of life than the individual can manifest. But very few of the + organisms created by society enable the individual to do this. The + joint-stock companies or capitalist concerns which bring men together at + this work or that do not yet make them feel their unity. Existence under a + common government effects this still less. Our modern states have not yet + succeeded in building up that true national life where all feel the + identity of interest; where the true civic or social feeling is engendered + and the individual bends all his efforts to the success of the community + on which his own depends; where, in fact, the ancient Greek conception of + citizenship is realized, and individuals are created who are ever + conscious of the identity of interest between themselves and their race. + In the old Greek civilizations this was possible because their States were + small, indeed their ideal State contained no more citizens than could be + affected by the voice of a single orator. Such small States, though they + produced the highest quality of life within themselves, are no longer + possible as political entities. We have to see whether we could not, + within our widespread nationalities, create communities by economic means, + where something of the same sense of solidarity of interest might be + engendered and the same quality of life maintained. I am greatly ambitious + for the rural community. But it is no use having mean ambitions. Unless + people believe the result of their labors will result in their equaling or + surpassing the best that has been done elsewhere, they will never get very + far. We in Ireland are in quest of a civilization. It is a great + adventure, the building up of a civilization—the noblest which could + be undertaken by any persons. It is at once the noblest and the most + practical of all enterprises, and I can conceive of no greater exaltation + for the spirit of man than the feeling that his race is acting nobly; and + that all together are performing a service, not only to each other, but to + humanity and those who come after them, and that their deeds will be + remembered. It may seem a grotesque juxtaposition of things essentially + different in character, to talk of national idealism and then of farming, + but it is not so. They are inseparable. The national idealism which will + not go out into the fields and deal with the fortunes of the working + farmers is false dealism. Our conception of a civilization must include, + nay, must begin with the life of the humblest, the life of the average man + or manual worker, for if we neglect them we will build in sand. The + neglected classes will wreck our civilization. The pioneers of a new + social order must think first of the average man in field or factory, and + so unite these and so inspire them that the noblest life will be possible + through their companionship. If you will not offer people the noblest and + best they will go in search of it. Unless the countryside can offer to + young men and women some satisfactory food for soul as well as body, it + will fail to attract or hold its population, and they will go to the + already overcrowded towns; and the lessening of rural production will + affect production in the cities and factories, and the problem of the + unemployed will get still keener. The problem is not only an economic + problem. It is a human one. Man does not live by cash alone, but by every + gift of fellowship and brotherly feeling society offers him. The final + urgings of men and women are towards humanity. Their desires are for the + perfecting of their own life, and as Whitman says, where the best men and + women are there the great city stands, though it is only a village. It is + one of the illusions of modern materialistic thought to suppose that as + high a quality of life is not possible in a village as in a great city, + and it ought to be one of the aims of rural reformers to dissipate this + fallacy, and to show that it is possible—not indeed to concentrate + wealth in country communities as in the cities—but that it is + possible to bring comfort enough to satisfy any reasonable person, and to + create a society where there will be intellectual life and human + interests. We will hear little then of the rural exodus. The country will + retain and increase its population and productiveness. Like attracts like. + Life draws life to itself. Intellect awakens intellect, and the country + will hold its own tug for tug with the towns. + </p> + <p> + Now it may be said I have talked a long while round and round the rural + community, but I have not suggested how it is to be created. I am coming + to that. It really cannot be created. It is a natural growth when the + right seed is planted. Co-operation is the seed. Let us consider Ireland. + Twenty-five years ago there was not a single co-operative society in the + country. Individualism was the mode of life. Every farmer manufactured and + sold as seemed best in his eyes. It was generally the worst possible way + he could have chosen. Then came Sir Horace Plunkett and his colleagues, + preaching co-operation. A creamery was established here, an agricultural + society there, and having planted the ideas it was some time before the + economic expert could decide whether they were planted in fertile soil. + But that question was decided many years ago. The co-operative society, + started for whatever purpose originally, is an omnivorous feeder, and it + exercises a magnetic influence on all agricultural activities; so that we + now have societies which buy milk, manufacture and sell butter, deal in + poultry and eggs, cure bacon, provide fertilizers, feeding-stuffs, seeds, + and machinery for their members, and even cater for every requirement of + the farmer's household. This magnetic power of attracting and absorbing to + themselves the various rural activities which the properly constituted + co-operative societies have, makes them develop rapidly, until in the + course of a decade or a generation there is created a real social + organism, where the members buy together, manufacture together, market + together, where finally their entire interests are bound up with the + interests of the community. I believe in half a century the whole business + of rural Ireland will be done co-operatively. This is not a wild surmise, + for we see exactly the same process going on in Denmark, Germany, Italy, + and every country where the co-operative seed was planted. Let us suppose + that in a generation all the rural industries are organized on + co-operative lines, what kind of a community should we expect to find as + the result? How would its members live? What would be their relations to + one another and their community? The agricultural scientist is making + great discoveries. The mechanical engineer goes from one triumph to + another. The chemist already could work wonders in our fields if there was + a machinery for him to work through. We cannot foretell the developments + in each branch, but we can see clearly that the organized community can + lay hold of discoveries and inventions which the individual farmer cannot. + It is little for the co-operative society to buy expensive threshing sets + and let its members have the use of them, but the individual farmer would + have to save a long time before he could raise several hundred pounds. The + society is a better buyer than the individual. It can buy things the + individual cannot buy. It is a better producer also. The plant for a + creamery is beyond the individual farmer; but our organized farmers in + Ireland, small though they are, find it no trouble to erect and equip a + creamery with plant costing two thousand pounds. The organized rural + community of the future will generate its own electricity at its central + buildings, and run not only its factories and other enterprises by this + power, but will supply light to the houses of its members and also + mechanical power to run machinery on the farm. One of our Irish societies + already supplies electric light for the town it works in. In the organized + rural community the eggs, milk, poultry, pigs, cattle, grain, and wheat + produced on the farm and not consumed, or required for further + agricultural production, will automatically be delivered to the + co-operative business centre of the district, where the manager of the + dairy will turn the milk into butter or cheese, and the skim milk will be + returned to feed the community's pigs. The poultry and egg department will + pack and dispatch the fowl and eggs to market. The mill will grind the + corn and return it ground to the member, or there may be a co-operative + bakery to which some of it may go. The pigs will be dealt with in the + abattoir, sent as fresh pork to the market or be turned into bacon to feed + the members. We may be certain that any intelligent rural community will + try to feed itself first, and will only sell the surplus. It will realize + that it will be unable to buy any food half as good as the food it + produces. The community will hold in common all the best machinery too + expensive for the members to buy individually. The agricultural laborers + will gradually become skilled mechanics, able to direct threshers, + binders, diggers, cultivators, and new implements we have no conception of + now. They will be members of the society, sharing in its profits in + proportion to their wages, even as the farmer will in proportion to his + trade. The co-operative community will have its own carpenters, smiths, + mechanics, employed in its workshop at repairs or in making those things + which can profitably be made locally. There may be a laundry where the + washing—a heavy burden for the women—will be done: for we may + be sure that every scrap of power generated will be utilized. One happy + invention after another will come to lighten the labor of life. There will + be, of course, a village hall with a library and gymnasium, where the boys + and girls will be made straight, athletic, and graceful. In the evenings, + when the work of the day is done, if we went into the village hall we + would find a dance going on or perhaps a concert. There might be a village + choir or band. There would be a committee-room where the council of the + community would meet once a week; for their enterprises would have grown, + and the business of such a parish community might easily be over one + hundred thousand pounds, and would require constant thought. There would + be no slackness on the part of the council in attending, because their + fortunes would depend on their communal enterprises, and they would have + to consider reports from the managers and officials of the various + departments. The co-operative community would be a busy place. In years + when the society was exceptionally prosperous, and earned larger profits + than usual on its trade, we should expect to find discussions in which all + the members would join as to the use to be made of these profits: whether + they should be altogether divided or what portion of them should be + devoted to some public purpose. We may be certain that there would be + animated discussions, because a real solidarity of feeling would have + arisen and a pride in the work of the community engendered, and they would + like to be able to outdo the good work done by the neighboring + communities. + </p> + <p> + One might like to endow the village school with a chemical laboratory, + another might want to decorate the village hall with reproductions of + famous pictures, another might suggest removing all the hedges and + planting the roadsides and lanes with gooseberry bushes, currant bushes, + and fruit trees, as they do in some German communes today. There would be + eloquent pleadings for this or that, for an intellectual heat would be + engendered in this human hive, and there would be no more illiterates or + ignoramuses. The teaching in the village school would be altered to suit + the new social order, and the children of the community would, we may be + certain, be instructed in everything necessary for the intelligent conduct + of the communal business. The spirit of rivalry between one community and + another, which exists today between neighboring creameries, would excite + the imagination of the members, and the organized community would be as + swift to act as the unorganized community is slow to act. Intelligence + would be organized as well as business. The women would have their own + associations, to promote domestic economy, care of the sick and the + children. The girls would have their own industries of embroidery, + crochet, lace, dress-making, weaving, spinning, or whatever new industries + the awakened intelligence of women may devise and lay hold of as the + peculiar labor of their sex. The business of distribution of the produce + and industries of the community would be carried on by great federations, + which would attend to export and sale of the products of thousands of + societies. Such communities would be real social organisms. The individual + would be free to do as he willed, but he would find that communal activity + would be infinitely more profitable than individual activity. We would + then have a real democracy carrying on its own business, and bringing + about reforms without pleading to, or begging of, the State, or intriguing + with or imploring the aid of political middlemen to get this, that, or the + other done for them. They would be self-respecting, because they would be + self-helping above all things. The national councils and meetings of + national federations would finally become the real Parliament of the + nation; for wherever all the economic power is centered, there also is + centered all the political power. And no politician would dare to + interfere with the organized industry of a nation. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing to prevent such communities being formed. They would be a + natural growth once the seed was planted. We see such communities + naturally growing up in Ireland, with perhaps a little stimulus from + outside from rural reformers and social enthusiasts. If this ideal of the + organized rural community is accepted there will be difficulties, of + course, and enemies to be encountered. The agricultural middleman is a + powerful person. He will rage furiously. He will organize all his forces + to keep the farmers in subjection, and to retain his peculiar functions of + fleecing the farmer as producer and the general public as consumer. But + unless we are determined to eliminate the middleman in agriculture we will + fall to effect anything worth while attempting. I would lay down certain + fundamental propositions which, I think, should be accepted without + reserve as a basis of reform. First, that the farmers must be organized to + have complete control over all the business connected with their industry. + Dual control is intolerable. Agriculture will never be in a satisfactory + condition if the farmer is relegated to the position of a manual worker on + his land; if he is denied the right of a manufacturer to buy the raw + materials of his industry on trade terms; if other people are to deal with + his raw materials, his milk, cream, fruit, vegetables, live stock, grain, + and other produce; and if these capitalist middle agencies are to + manufacture the farmers' raw material into butter, bacon, or whatever else + are to do all the marketing and export, paying farmers what they please on + the one hand, and charging the public as much as they can on the other + hand. The existence of these middle agencies is responsible for a large + proportion of the increased cost of living, which is the most acute + domestic problem of modern industrial communities. They have too much + power over the farmer, and are too expensive a luxury for the consumer. It + would be very unbusinesslike for any country to contemplate the permanence + in national life of a class whose personal interests are always leading + them to fleece both producer and consumer alike. So the first fundamental + idea for reformers to get into their minds is that farmers, through their + own co-operative organizations, must control the entire business connected + with agriculture. There will not be so much objection to co-operative sale + as to co-operative purchase by the farmers. But one is as necessary as the + other. We must bear in mind, what is too often forgotten, that farmers are + manufacturers, and as such are entitled to buy the raw materials for their + industry at wholesale prices. Every other kind of manufacturer in the + world gets trade terms when he buys. Those who buy—not to consume, + but to manufacture and sell again—get their requirements at + wholesale terms in every country in the world. If a publisher of books is + approached by a bookseller he gives that bookseller trade terms, because + he buys to sell again. If I, as a private individual, want one of those + books I must pay the full retail price. Even the cobbler, the carpenter, + the solitary artist, get trade terms. The farmer, who is as much a + manufacturer as the shipbuilder, or the factory proprietor, is as much + entitled to trade terms when he buys the raw materials for his industry. + His seeds, fertilizers, ploughs, implements, cake, feeding-stuffs are the + raw materials of his industry, which he uses to produce wheat, beef, + mutton, pork, or whatever else; and, in my opinion, there should be no + differentiation between the farmer when he buys and any other kind of + manufacturer. Is it any wonder that agriculture decays in countries where + the farmers are expected to buy at retail prices and sell at wholesale + prices? We must not, to save any friction, sell the rights of farmers. The + second proposition I lay down is that this necessary organization work + among the farmers must be carried on by an organizing body which is + entirely controlled by those interested in agriculture—farmers and + their friends. To ask the State or a State Department to undertake this + work is to ask a body influenced and often controlled by powerful + capitalists, and middle agencies which it should be the aim of the + organization to eliminate. The State can, without obstruction from any + quarter, give farmers a technical education in the science of farming; but + let it once interfere with business, and a horde of angry interests set to + work to hamper and limit by every possible means and compromises on + matters of principle, where no compromise ought to be permitted, are + almost inevitable. + </p> + <p> + A voluntary organizing body like the Irish Agricultural Organization + Society, which was the first to attempt the co-operative organization of + farmers in these islands, is the only kind of body which can pursue its + work fearlessly, unhampered by alien interests. The moment such a body + declares its aims, its declaration automatically separates the sheep from + the goats, and its enemies are outside and not inside. The organizing body + should be the heart and centre of the farmers' movement, and if the heart + has its allegiance divided, its work will be poor and ineffectual, and + very soon the farmers will fall away from it to follow more single-hearted + leaders. No trades union would admit representatives of capitalist + employers on its committee, and no organization of farmers should allow + alien or opposing interest on their councils to clog the machine or betray + the cause. This is the best advice I can give reformers. It is the result + of many years' experience in this work. An industry must have the same + freedom of movement as an individual in possession of all his powers. An + industry divided against itself can no more prosper than a household + divided against itself. By the means I have indicated the farmers can + become the masters of their own destinies, just as the urban workers can, + I think, by steadfastly applying the same principles, emancipate + themselves. It is a battle in which, as in all other battles, numbers and + moral superiority united are irresistible; and in the Irish struggle to + create a true democracy numbers and the power of moral ideas are with the + insurgents. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. + </h2> + <p> + It would be a bitter reproach on the household of our nation if there were + any unconsidered, who were left in poverty and without hope and outside + our brotherhood. We have not yet considered the agricultural laborer—the + proletarian of the countryside. His is, in a sense, the most difficult + problem of any. The basis of economic independence in his industry is the + possession of land, and that is not readily to be obtained in Ireland. The + earth does not upheave itself from beneath the sea and add new land to + that already above water in response to our need for it. Yet I would not + pass away from the rural laborer without, however inadequately, indicating + some curves in his future evolution. These laborers are not in Ireland + half so numerous as farmers, for it is a country of small holdings, where + the farmer and his family are themselves laborers. Labor is badly paid, + and, owing to the lack of continuous cropping of the land, it is often + left without employment at seasons when employment is most needed. No + class which is taken up today and dropped tomorrow will in modern times + remain long in a country. Employers often act as if they thought labor + could be taken up and laid down again like a pipe and tobacco. None have + contributed so to thicken the horde of Irish exiles as the rural laborers. + Three hundred thousand of them in less than my lifetime have left the + fields of Ireland for the factories of the new world. Yet I can only + rejoice if Irishmen, who are badly dealt with in their motherland, find an + ampler life and a more prosperous career in another land. A wage of ten or + eleven shillings a week will bind none but the unaspiring lout to his + country. But I would like to make Ireland a land which, because of the + human kindness in it, few would willingly leave. The agricultural + proletarian, like all other labor, should be organized in a national + union. That is bound to come. But the agricultural laborer should, I + think, no more than labor in the cities, make the raising of wages his + main or only object. He should rather strive to make himself economically + independent; or, in the alternative, seek for status by integration into + the co-operative communities of farmers by becoming a member, and by + pressing for permanent employment by the community rather than casual + employment by the individual. Agricultural labor undoubtedly will have to + struggle for better remuneration. Yet it has to be remembered that + agriculture is a protean industry. It is not like mining, where the + colliery produces coal and nothing but coal, and where the miners have a + practical monopoly of supply. If miners are dissatisfied with wages and + are well organized they can enforce their terms, and the colliery owners + may almost be indifferent, because they can charge the increased cost of + working to the public. But agriculture, as I said, is protean and changes + its forms perpetually. If tillage does not pay this year, next year the + farmer may have his land in grass. He reverts to the cheapest methods of + farming when prices are low, or labor asks a wage which the farmer + believes it would be unprofitable to pay. In this way pressure on the + farmer for extra wages might result in two men being employed to herd cows + where a dozen men were previously employed at tillage. The farmer cannot + easily—as the mine-owner—unload his burden on the general + public by the increase of prices. There are many difficulties, which seem + almost insoluble, if we propose to ourselves to integrate the rural + laborer into the general economic life of the country by making him a + partner in the industry he works on. But what I hope for most is first + that the natural evolution of the rural community, and the concentration + of individual manufacture, purchase and sale, into communal enterprises, + will lead to a very large co-operative ownership of expensive machinery, + which will necessitate the communal employment of labor. If this takes + place, as I hope it will, the rural laborer, instead of being a manual + worker using primitive implements, will have the status of a skilled + mechanic employed permanently by a cooperative community. He should be a + member of the society which employs him, and in the division of profits + receive in proportion to his wage, as the farmers in proportion to their + trade. + </p> + <p> + A second policy open to agricultural labor when it becomes organized is + the policy of collective farming. This I believe will and ought to receive + attention in the future. Co-operative societies of agricultural laborers + in Italy, Roumania, and elsewhere have rented land from landowners. They + then reallotted the land among themselves for individual cultivation, or + else worked it as a true co-operative enterprise with labor, purchase and + sale all communal enterprises, with considerable benefit to the members. + We can well understand a landowner not liking to divide his land into + small holdings, with all the attendant troubles which in Ireland beset a + landlord with small farmers on his estate. But I think landowners in + Ireland could be found who would rent land to a co-operative society of + skilled laborers who approached the owner with a well-thought-out scheme. + The success of one colony would lead to others being started, as happened + in Italy. + </p> + <p> + This solution of the problem of agricultural labor will be forced on us + for many reasons. The economic effects of the great European War, the + burden of debt piled on the participating nations, will make Ministers + shun schemes of reform involving a large use of national credit, or which + would increase the sum of national obligations. Land purchase on the old + term I believe cannot be continued. Yet we will demand the intensive + cultivation of the national estate, and increased production of wealth, + especially of food-stuffs. The large area of agricultural land laid down + for pasture is not so productive as tilled land, does not sustain so large + a population, and there will be more reasons in the future than in the + past for changing the character of farming in these areas. The policy of + collective farming offers a solution, and whatever Government is in power + should facilitate the settlement of men in cooperative colonies and + provide expert instructors as managers for the first year or two if + necessary. Such a policy would not be so expensive as land purchase, and + with fair rent fixed, hundreds of thousands of people could be planted + comfortably on the land in Ireland and produce more wealth from it than + could ever be produced from grazing lands, and agricultural workers and + the sons of farmers who now emigrate could become economically + independent. + </p> + <p> + I hope, also, that farmers, becoming more brotherly as their own + enterprises flourish, will welcome laborers into their co-operative + stores, credit banks, poultry and bee-keeping societies, and allow them + the benefits of cheap purchase, cheap credit, and of efficient marketing + of whatever the laborer may produce on his allotment. The growth of + national conscience and the spirit of human brotherhood, and a feeling of + shame that any should be poor and neglected in the national household, + will be needed to bring the rural laborer into the circle of national + life, and make him a willing worker in the general scheme. If farmers will + not, on their part, advance towards their laborers and bring them into the + co-operative community, then labor will be organized outside their + community and will be hostile, and will be always brooding and scheming to + strike a blow when the farmer can least bear it,—when the ground + must be tilled or the harvest gathered. And this, if peace cannot be made, + will result in a still greater decline of tillage and the continued flight + of the rural laborers, and the increase of the area in grass, and the + impoverishing of human life and national well-being. + </p> + <p> + Some policy to bring contentment to small holders and rural workers must + be formulated and acted upon. Agriculture is of more importance to the + nation than industry. Our task is to truly democratize civilization and + its agencies; to spread in widest commonalty culture, comfort, + intelligence, and happiness, and to give to the average man those things + which in an earlier age were the privileges of a few. The country is the + fountain of the life and health of a race. And this organization of the + country people into co-operative communities will educate them and make + them citizens in the true sense of the word, that is, people continually + conscious of their identity of interest with those about them. + </p> + <p> + It is by this conscious sense of solidarity of interest, which only the + organized co-operative community can engender in modern times, that the + higher achievements of humanity become possible. Religion has created this + spirit at times—witness the majestic cathedrals the Middle Ages + raised to manifest their faith. Political organization engendered the + passion of citizenship in the Greek States, and the Parthenon and a host + of lordly buildings crowned the hills and uplifted and filled with pride + the heart of the citizen. Our big countries, our big empires, and + republics, for all their military strength and science, and the wealth + which science has made it possible for man to win, do not create + citizenship because of the loose organization of society; because + individualism is rampant, and men, failing to understand the intricacies + of the vast and complex life of their country, fall back on private life + and private ambitions, and leave the honor of their country and the making + of laws and the application of the national revenues to a class of + professional politicians, in their turn in servitude to the interests + which supply party funds, and so we find corruption in high places and + cynicism in the people. It is necessary for the creation of citizens, for + the building up of a noble national life, that the social order should be + so organized that this sense of interdependence will be constantly felt. + It is also necessary for the preservation of the physical health and + beauty of our race that our people should live more in the country and + less in the cities. I believe it would be an excellent thing for humanity + if its civilization could be based on rural industry mainly and not on + urban industry. More and more men and women in our modern civilization + drift out of Nature, out of sweet air, health, strength, beauty, into the + cities, where in the third generation there is a rickety population, mean + in stature, vulgar or depraved in character, with the image of the devil + in mind and matter more than the image of Deity. Those who go like it at + first; but city life is like the roll spoken of by the prophet, which was + sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly. The first generation are + intoxicated by the new life, but in the third generation the cord is cut + which connected them with Nature, the Great Mother, and life shrivels up, + sundered from the source of life. Is there any prophet, any statesman, any + leader, who will—as Moses once led the Israelites out of the + Egyptian bondage—excite the human imagination and lead humanity back + to Nature, to sunlight, starlight, earth-breath, sweet air, beauty, + gaiety, and health? Is it impossible now to move humanity by great ideas, + as Mahomet fired his dark hosts to forgetfulness of life; or as Peter the + Hermit awakened Europe to a frenzy, so that it hurried its hot chivalry + across a continent to the Holy Land? Is not the earth mother of us all? + Are not our spirits clothed round with the substance of earth? Is it not + from Nature we draw life? Do we not perish without sunlight and fresh air? + Let us have no breath of air and in five minutes life is extinct. Yet in + the cities there is a slow poisoning of life going on day by day. The + lover of beauty may walk the streets of London or any big city and may + look into ten thousand faces and see none that is lovely. Is not the + return of man to a natural life on the earth a great enough idea to + inspire humanity? Is not the idea of a civilization amid the green trees + and fields under the smokeless sky alluring? Yes, but men say there is no + intellectual life working on the land. No intellectual life when man is + surrounded by mystery and miracle! When the mysterious forces which bring + to birth and life are yet undiscovered; when the earth is teeming with + life, and the dumb brown lips of the ridges are breathing mystery! Is not + the growth of a tree from a tiny cell hidden in the earth as provocative + of thought as the things men learn at the schools? Is not thought on these + things more interesting than the sophistries of the newspapers? It is only + in Nature, and by thought on the problems of Nature, that our intellect + grows to any real truth and draws near to the Mighty Mind which laid the + foundations of the world. + </p> + <p> + Our civilizations are a nightmare, a bad dream. They have no longer the + grandeur of Babylon or Nineveh. They grow meaner and meaner as they grow + more urbanized. What could be more depressing than the miles of + poverty-stricken streets around the heart of our modern cities? The memory + lies on one "heavy as frost and deep almost as life." It is terrible to + think of the children playing on the pavements; the depletion of vitality, + with artificial stimulus supplied from the flaring drink-shops. The spirit + grows heavy as if death lay on it while it moves amid such things. And + outside these places the clouds are flying overhead snowy and spiritual as + of old, the sun is shining, the winds are blowing, the fields are green, + the forests are murmuring leaf to leaf, but the magic that God made is + unknown to these poor folk. The creation of a rural civilization is the + greatest need of our time. It may not come in our days, but we can lay the + foundations of it, preparing the way for the true prophet when he will + come. The fight now is not to bring people back to the land, but to keep + those who are on the land contented, happy, and prosperous. And we must + begin by organizing them to defend what is left to them; to take back, + industry by industry, what was stolen from them. We must organize the + country people into communities, for without some kind of communal life + men hold no more together than the drifting sands by the seashore. There + is a natural order in which men have instinctively grouped themselves from + the dawn of time. It is as natural to them to do so as it is for bees to + build their hexagonal cells. If we read the history of civilization we + will find people in every land forming little clans co-operating together. + Then the ambition of rulers or warriors breaks them up; the greed of + powerful men puts an end to them. But, whether broken or not, the moment + the rural dweller is left to himself he begins again, with nature + prompting him, to form little clans—or nations rather—with his + fellows, and it is there life has been happiest. We did this in ancient + Ireland. The baronies whose names are on Irish land today and the counties + are survivals of these old co-operative colonies, where the men owned the + land together and elected their own leaders, and formed their own social + order and engendered passionate loyalties and affections. It was so in + every land under the sun. It was so in ancient India and in ancient Peru. + The European farmers, and we in Ireland along with them, are beginning + again the eternal task of building up a civilization in nature—the + task so often disturbed, the labor so often destroyed. And it is with the + hope that we in Ireland will build truly and nobly that I have put + together these thoughts on the rural community. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. + </h2> + <p> + We may now consider the proletarian in our cities. The worker in our + modern world is the subject of innumerable unapplied doctrines. The + lordliest things are predicated of him, which do not affect in the least + the relationship with him of those who employ his labor. The ancient + wisdom, as it is recounted to him on God's day, assures him of his + immortality: that the divine signature is over all his being, that in some + way he is co-related with the Eternal, that he is fashioned in a likeness + to It. He is a symbol of God Himself. He is the child of Deity. His life + is Its very breath. The Habitations of Eternity await his coming, and the + divine event to which he moves is the dwelling within him of the Divine + Mind, so that Deity may become his very self. So proud a tale is told of + him, and when he wakens on the morrow after the day of God he finds that + none will pay him reverence. He, the destined comrade of Seraphim and + Cherubim, is herded with other Children of the King in fetid slum and + murky alleys, where the devil hath his many mansions, where light and air, + the great purifiers, are already dimmed and corrupted before they do him + service. He is insecure in the labor by which he lives. He works today, + and tomorrow he may be told there is no further need for him, and his fate + and the fate of those dependent on him are not remembered by those who + dismissed him. If he dies, leaving wife or children, the social order + makes but the most inhuman provision for them. How ghastly is the + brotherhood of the State for its poor the workhouses declare, and our + social decrees which turn loving-kindness into official acts and make + legal and formal what should be natural impulse and the overflow of the + heart. So great a disparity exists between spiritual theory and the + realities of the social order that it might almost be said that spiritual + theory has no effect at all on our civilization, and its inhuman contours + seem softened at no point where we could say, "Here the Spirit has + mastery. Here God possesses the world." + </p> + <p> + The imagination, following the worker in our industrial system, sees him + laboring without security in his work, in despair, locked out, on strike, + living in slums, rarely with enough food for health, bringing children + into the world who suffer from malnutrition from their earliest years, a + pauper when his days of strength are passed. He dies in charitable + institutions. Though his labors are necessary he is yet not integrated + into the national economy. He has no share of his own in the wealth of the + nation. He cannot claim work as a right from the holders of economic + power, and this absolute dependence upon the autocrats of industry for a + livelihood is the greatest evil of any, for it puts a spiritual curse on + him and makes him in effect a slave. Instinctively he adopts a servile + attitude to those who can sentence him and his children to poverty and + hunger without trial or judgment by his peers. A hasty word, and he may be + told to draw his pay and begone. The spiritual wrong done him by the + social order is greater than the material ill, and that spiritual wrong is + no less a wrong because generation after generation of workers have grown + up and are habituated to it, and do not realize the oppression; because in + childhood circumstance and the black art of education alike conspire to + make the worker humble in heart and to take the crown and sceptre from his + spirit, and his elders are already tamed and obsequious. + </p> + <p> + Yet the workers in the modern world have great qualities. This class in + great masses will continually make sacrifices for the sake of a principle. + They have lived so long in the depths: many of them have reached the very + end of all the pain which is the utmost life can bear and have in their + character that fearlessness which comes from long endurance and + familiarity with the worst hardships. I am a literary man, a lover of + ideas, and I have found few people in my life who would sacrifice anything + for a social principle; but I will never forget the exultation with which + I realized in a great labor trouble, when the masters of industry issued a + document asking men on peril of dismissal to swear never to join a trades + union, that there were thousands of men in my own city who refused to + obey, though they had no membership or connection with the objectionable + association. Nearly all the real manhood of Dublin I found was among the + obscure myriads who are paid from twenty to thirty shillings a week. The + men who will sacrifice anything for brotherhood get rarer and rarer above + that limit of wealth. These men would not sign away their freedom, their + right to choose their own heroes and their own ideals. Most of them had no + strike funds to fall back on. They had wives and children depending on + them. Quietly and grimly they took through hunger the path to the Heavenly + City, yet nobody praised them, no one put a crown upon their brows. + Beneath their rags and poverty there was in these obscure men a nobility + of spirit. It is in these men and the men in the cabins in the country + that the hope of Ireland lies. The poor have always helped each other, and + it is they who listen eagerly to the preachers of a social order based on + brotherhood in industry. It is these workers, always necessary but never + yet integrated into the social order, who must be educated, who must be + provided for, who must be accepted fully as comrade in any scheme of life + to be devised and which would call itself Christian. That word, expressing + the noblest and most spiritual conception of humanity, has been so + degraded by misuse in the world that we could almost hate it with the + loathing we have for evil, if we did not know that Hell can as disguise + put on the outward garments of Heaven. Yet what is eternally true remains + pure and uncorrupted, and those who turn to it find it there—as all + finally must turn to it to fulfill their destiny of inevitable beauty. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. + </h2> + <p> + Often with sadness I hear people speak of industrial development in + Ireland, for I feel they contemplate no different system than that which + fills workers with despair in countries where it is more successfully + applied. All these energetic people are conspiring to build factories and + mills and to fill them with human labor, and they believe the more they do + this the better it will be for Ireland. They talk of Ireland as if it was + only admirable as a quantity rather than a quality. They express delight + at swelling statistics and increased trade, but where do we hear any + reflection on the quality of life engendered by this industrial + development? Our civilization is to differ in no way from any other. No + new ideal of life is suggested to differentiate us. We are to go on + exploiting human labor. Our working classes are to increase and multiply + and earn profits for an employing class, as labor has one from time + immemorial in Babylon, in Nineveh, in Rome, and in London today. But a + choice yet remains to us, because the character of our civilization is not + yet fixed. It is mainly germinal. It fills the spirit with weariness to + think of another nation following the old path, without thought or + imagination of other roads leading to new and more beautiful life. Every + now and then, when the world was still vast and full of undiscovered + wonders, some adventurers would leave the harbor, and steer their galleys + past the known coast and the familiar cities and over unraveled seas, + seeking some new land where life might be freer and ampler than that they + had known. Is the old daring gone? Are there not such spirits among us + ready to join in the noblest of all adventures—the building up of a + civilization—so that the human might reflect the divine order? In + the divine order there is both freedom and solidarity. It is the virtue of + the soul to be free and its nature to love; and when it is free and acts + by its own will it is most united with all other life. Those planetary + spirits who move in solemn motion about the heavens I do not conceive as + the slaves of Deity but as its adorers. But that material nature in which + the soul is embodied has the dividing quality of the prism, which resolves + pure light into distinct rays; and so on earth we get the principle of + freedom and the virtue of solidarity as separated ideals continually at + warfare with each other, and the reconcilement on earth of these + principles in man is the conquest of matter by the spirit. This dramatic + sundering on earth of virtues in unison in the heavens explains the + struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism, between nationality and + imperialism, between individualist and socialist, between dynamic and + static in philosophy. Indeed in the last analysis all human conflicts are + the balancing on earth of the manifestation of divine principles which are + one in the unmanifest spirit. + </p> + <p> + The civilization we create, the social order we build up, must provide for + essential freedom for the individual and for solidarity of the nation. Now + essential freedom is denied to men if they are in their condition servile. + Can we contemplate the permanent existence of a servile class in Ireland? + For, disguise it how we will, our present industrial system is practically + a form of slavery for the workers, differing in externals only from the + ages when the serf had a collar round his neck. He has now freedom to + change from master to master, and can even seek for a master in other + countries; but he must, in any case, accept the relation of servant to + master. The old slave could be whipped. In the new order the wage slave + can be starved, and the fact that many of the rulers of industry use their + power benevolently does not make the existing relation between employer + and employed right, or the social order one whose permanence can be + justified. Men will gladly labor if they feel that their labor conspires + with that of all other workers for the general good; but there is + something loathsome to the spirit in the condition of the labor market, + where labor is regarded as a commodity to be bought and sold like soap or + candles. For that truly describes how it is with labor in our industrial + system: we can buy labor, which means we can buy human life and thought, a + portion of God's being, and make a profit out of it. By so selling himself + the worker is enslaved and limited in a thousand ways. The power of + dismissal of one person by another at whim acts against independence of + character, or the free expression or opinion in thought, in politics, and + in religion. The soul is stunted in its growth, and spiritual life made + subordinate to material interests. To deny essential freedom to the soul + is the greatest of all crimes, and such denial has in all ages evoked the + deepest anger among men. When freedom has been threatened nations have + risen up maddened and exultant, and the clang of martial arms has been + heard and the stony kings of the past have been encountered in battle. In + Ireland we shall have our greatest fight of all to gain this freedom: not + alone material independence for man, but the freedom of the soul, its + right to choose its own heroes and its own ideals without let or hindrance + by other men. + </p> + <p> + We have many of the vices of a slave race, and we treat others as we have + been treated. Our national aspirations were overborne by material power, + and we in turn use cudgel and curse on our countrymen when they differ + from us in opinion and policy. Men, when they cannot match their intellect + against another's, suppress him and howl him down, putting faith in their + own brainlessness. I would make the most passionate plea for freedom in + Ireland: freedom for all to say the truth they feel or know. What right + have we to ask for ourselves what we deny to another? The bludgeon at + meetings is a blow struck against heaven. Those who will not argue or + reason are recreants against humanity, and are prowling back again on all + fours in their minds to the brute. It matters not in what holy name men + war with violence on freedom of thought, whether in the name of God or + nation they are enemies of both. We are only right in controversy when we + overcome by a superior beauty or truth. The first fundamental idea + inspiring an Irish polity should be this idea of freedom in all spheres of + thought, and it is most necessary to fight for this because the devil and + hell have organized their forces in this unfortunate land in sectarian and + secret societies, of which it might be written they love darkness rather + than light for the old God-given reasons. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. + </h2> + <p> + Whenever in Ireland there has been a revolt of labor it too often finds + arrayed against it the press, the law, and the police. All the great + powers are in entente. The press, without inquiry, begins a detestable + cant about labor agitators misleading ignorant men. Every wild phrase + uttered by an exasperated worker is quoted against the cause of labor, and + its grievances are suppressed. We are told nothing about how the worker + lives: what homes, what food, his wage will provide. The journalist holds + up a moral umbrella, protecting society from the fiery hail of conscience. + The baser sort of clergyman will take up the parable and begin advocating + a servile peace, glibly misinterpreting the divine teaching of love to + prove that the lamb should lie down inside the lion, and only so can it be + saved soul and body, forgetful that the peace which was Christ's gift to + humanity was the peace of God which passes all understanding, and that it + was a spiritual quietude, and that on earth—the underworld—the + gospel in realization was to bring not peace but a sword. + </p> + <p> + The law, assured of public opinion, then deals sternly with whatever + unfortunate life is driven into its pens. I am putting very mildly the + devilish reality, for society is so constituted that the public, kept in + ignorance of the real facts, believes that it is acting rightly, and so + the devil has conscience on his side and that divine power is turned to + infernal uses. What can labor oppose to this federation of State and + Church, of press and law, of capital and physical force to back capital, + when it sets about its own liberation and to institute a new social order + to replace autocracy in industry? Its allies are few. A rare thinker, + scientist, literary man, artist or clergyman, impelled by hatred of what + is ugly in life, will speak on its behalf, and may render some aid and + help to tear holes in that moral shield held up by the press, and may here + and there give to that blinded public a vision of the Hosts of the Lord + arrayed against it. But the only real power the workers can truly rely on + is their own. Nothing but a spiritual revolution or an economic revolution + will bring other classes into comradeship with them. The ideal labor + should set before itself is not a transitory improvement in its wage, + because a wage war never truly or permanently improves the position of + labor. This section or that may, relatively to its own past or the + position of other workers, improve itself; but capital is like a ship + which, however the tide rises or falls, floats upon it, and is not sunken + more deeply in the water at high tide than at low tide. Whenever any + burden is placed upon capital it immediately sets about unloading that + burden on the public. Wages might be doubled by Act of Parliament, and the + net result would be to double prices, if not to increase them still more. + The more the autocrats of industry are federated the more easily can they + unload on others any burden placed on them. + </p> + <p> + The value of money is simply what it will purchase at any time. If the + rulers of industry can halve the purchasing power of money while doubling + wages at the command of the State, logic leads us to assume that wages + boards, arbitration boards and the like can only be transitory in their + meliorating effect; and to pursue the attack on the autocrats of industry + by the road of wages alone is to attack them where they are impregnable, + and where, seeming to give way, they are all the while really losing + nothing, and are only fixing the wage system more permanently on those who + attack them. There are fiery spirits among the proletarians who hope that + militant labor will at last bring about the social revolution, taking the + earthly paradise by violence. They believe that if every worker dropped + his tools and absolutely refused to work under the old system, it would be + impossible to continue it. That is true, but those who advocate this + policy slur over many difficulties, and the relative power of endurance of + both parties. They do not, I think, take into account the immense power in + the hands of those who uphold the present system. Those who might be + expected to strike are not—at least in Ireland—a majority of + the population. They would have far fewer material resources to fall back + on than those others whose interests would lead them to preserve the + present social order. It is clear, too, when we analyze the forces at the + command of labor and capital, that the latter has attached to itself by + the bonds of self-interest the scientific men—engineers, inventors, + chemists, bacteriologists, designers, organizers, all the intellect of + industry—without which, in alliance with itself, revolting labor + would be unable to continue production as before. Labor so revolting might + indeed for a time bring the work of the nation to a standstill; but unless + it could by some means attract to itself men of the class described, it + would not be able to take the helm of the ship of industry and guide it + with knowledge as the holders of economic power have done in the past. A + policy of emancipation should provide labor with a means of attracting to + itself that kind of knowledge which is gained in universities, + laboratories, colleges of science, and, above all, in the actual guidance + of great industrial enterprises. In any trial of endurance those who start + with the greatest intellectual, moral, and material resources will win. + </p> + <p> + I do not deny that the strike is a powerful weapon in the hand of labor, + but it is one with which it is difficult to imagine labor dealing a + knock-out blow to the present social order. I believe in an orderly + evolution of society, at least in Ireland, and doubt whether by revolution + people can be raised to an intelligence, a humanity, or a nobility of + nature greater than they formerly possessed. Nobody can remain standing on + tiptoe. After a little time disorder subsides and some strong man leads + the inevitable reaction. In France people revolted against a decadent + monarchy, and in a dozen years they had a new emperor. In England they + beheaded a king as a protest against tyranny, and they got a dictator in + his place who took little or no account of parliaments; and finally a + second Charles, rather worse than the first, came to the throne. The + everlasting battle between light and darkness goes on stubbornly all the + time, and the gain of the Hosts of Light is inch by inch. Extraordinary + efforts, impetuous charges, which seem to win for a moment, too often + leave the attacking force tired and exhausted, and the forces of reaction + set in and overwhelm them. I am the friend of revolt if people cannot + stand the conditions they live under, and if they can see no other way. It + is better to be men than slaves. The French Revolution was a tragic + episode in history, but when people suffer intolerably and are insulted in + their despair it is inevitable blood will be shed. One can only say with + Whitman: + </p> + <p> + Pale, silent, stern, what could I say to that long-accrued retribution? + Could I wish humanity different Could I wish the people made of wood and + stone, or that there be no justice in destiny or time? + </p> + <p> + There is danger in revolution if the revolutionary spirit is much more advanced + than the intellectual, and moral qualities which alone can secure the + success of a revolt. These intellectual and moral qualities—the + skill to organize, the wisdom to control large undertakings, are not + natural gifts but the results of experience. They are evolutionary + products. The emancipation of labor, I believe, will not be gained by + revolution but by prolonged effort, continued month by month and year by + year, in which first this thing is adventured, then that: each enterprise + brings its own gifts of wisdom and experience, and there is no reaction, + because, instead of the violent use of certain powers, the whole being is + braced: experience, intellect, desire, all strong and working + harmoniously, press forward and support each other, and no enterprise is + undertaken where the intellect to carry it out is not present together + with the desire. It requires great intellectual and moral qualities to + bring about a revolution. A rage at present conditions is not enough. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. + </h2> + <p> + Our farmers are already free. The problem with them is not now concerned + with freedom, but how they may be brought into a solidarity with each + other and the nation. To make our proletarians free and masters of their + own energies, in unison with each other and the national being, is the + most pressing labor of the many before us. Unless there be economic + freedom there can be no other freedom. The right of no individual to + subsistence should be at the good will of any other individual. More than + mere comfort depends on it. There are eternal and august rights of the + soul to be safeguarded, and the economic position of men should be + protected by organization and democratic law. I have already discussed + some of the avenues through which workers in our time have looked with + hope. I have little belief that these roads lead anywhere but back to the + old City of Slavery, however they may seem to curve away at the outset. + The strike, on whatever scale, is no way to freedom, though the strike—or + the threat of it—may bring wages nearer to subsistence level. The + art of warfare is too much in the hands of specialists for trust to be + placed in revolution. A machine-gun with a few experts behind it is worth + a thousand revolutionary workers, however maddened they may be. Does + political action, on which so many rely, promise more? I do not believe it + does. I believe that to appeal to legislatures is to appeal to bodies + dominated by those interested in maintaining the present social order, + although they may act so as to redress the worst evils created by it. In + Ireland, for this generation at least, it would be impossible to secure in + a legislative assembly majorities representative of the class we wish to + see emancipated. It may seem as if I had closed all the paths out of the + social labyrinth; but the way to emancipation has, I think, already been + surveyed by pioneers. A policy of social reconstruction is practical, and + needs but steady persistence for its realization. That policy—I + refer to co-operative action—has been adopted in various forms by + workers in many countries; and what is needed here is to study and + coordinate these applications of co-working, and to form a general staff + of labor who will, on behalf of the workers, examine the weapons fashioned + by their class elsewhere, and who will draw up a plan of campaign as the + staff of an army do previous to military operations. It will be found that + economic action along co-operative lines has, in one country, barriers + placed before its expansion which could be set aside by supplementing this + action by methods elaborated by the genius of workers elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + It is not my purpose here to repeat in detail methods of organization, + partly technical, which can be found fully described in many admirable + books, but rather to indicate the order of advance, the methods of + coordination of these, and their final absorption and transformation in + the national being. There is a great deal of ignorance about things + essential to safe action. When men are filled with enthusiasm they are apt + to apply their new principles rashly in schemes which are bound to fall, + just as over-confident soldiers will in battle sometimes rush a position + prematurely which they cannot hold, because the general line of their army + has not advanced sufficiently to support them. Sacrifices are made with no + permanent result, and the morale of the army is injured. + </p> + <p> + In the rural districts the advance must, in the nature of things, be from + production to consumption, and with urban workers inversely from a control + over distribution to a mastery over production. I have often wondered over + the blindness of workers in towns in Ireland, who have made so little use + in the economic struggle of the freedom they have to spend their wage + where they choose. They speak of this struggle as the class war; but they + carry on the conflict most energetically where it is most difficult for + them to succeed, and hardly at all where it would be comparatively easy + for them to weaken the resources of their antagonists. In warfare much use + is made of flanking movements, which aim at cutting the enemy's + communication with his base of supply. Frontal attacks are dangerous. It + is equally true in economic warfare. The strike is a frontal attack, and + those they fight are entrenched deeply with all the artillery of the + State, the press, science, and wealth on their side. What would we think + of an army which, at the close of each week's fighting, voluntarily + surrendered to the enemy the ground, guns, ammunition, and prisoners + captured through the previous six days? Yet this is what our workers do. + The power opposed to them is mainly economic, though there is an + intellectual basis for it also. But the wages of the workers, little for + the individual, yet a large part of the national income if taken for the + mass, goes back to strengthen the system they protest against through + purchases of domestic requirements. The creation of co-operative stores + ought to be the first constructive policy adopted by Irish labor. It ought + to be as much a matter of class honor with them to be members of stores as + to be in the trade union of their craft. The store may be regarded as the + commissariat department of the army of labor. Many a strike has failed of + its object, and the workers have gone back defeated, because their neglect + of the commissariat made them unable to hold out for that last week when + both sides are desperate and at the end of their resources. But it is not + mainly as an aid to the strike that I advocate democratizing the + distributive trade, but because control over distribution gives a large + measure of control over production. The history of co-operative workshops + indicates that these have rarely been successful unless worked in + conjunction with distributive stores. The retail trader is not sympathetic + with co-operative production. As the cat is akin to the tiger, so is the + individual trader—no matter on how small a scale he operates—a + kinsman of the great autocrats of industry, and he will sympathize with + his economic kinsmen and will retail their goods in preference to those + produced in co-operative workshops. + </p> + <p> + The control of agencies of distribution by the workers at a certain stage + in their development enables them to start productive enterprises with + more safety and less expense in regard to advertisement than the + capitalist can. In fact the co-operative store, properly organized, + creates a tied trade for the output of co-operative workshops. It is a + source of financial aid to these, and will invest funds in them and assist + trades unions gradually to transform themselves into co-operative guilds + of producers which should be their ultimate ideal. As I shall show later + on, the store will enable the urban worker to enter into intimate alliance + with the rural producer. Their interests are really identical. In every + town in Ireland efforts should be made to democratize the distributive + agencies, and the workers will have many allies in this, driven by the + increased cost of living to search out the most economical agencies of + purchase. If the proletarians are not in a majority in Ireland—a + nation where the farmers are the most numerous single class—they + certainly form the majority in the cities; and the co-operative store, + while admitting to membership all who will apply, ought to be and would be + sympathetic with the efforts of labor to emancipate itself, and would be a + powerful lever in its hands. As the stores increase in number, an analysis + of their trade will reveal year by year in what directions co-operative + production of particular articles may safely be attempted. More and more + by this means the producing power and the capital at the disposal of the + worker will be placed at the service of democracy. The first steps are the + most difficult. In due time the workers will have educated a number of + their members, and will have attached to themselves men of proved capacity + to be the leaders in fresh enterprises, manufactures of one kind or + another, democratic banking institutions, all supporting each other and + leaning on each other and playing into each other's hands. + </p> + <p> + The extent to which this may be carried, and the opportunities for making + Ireland a co-operative democracy, I shall presently explain. I do not + regard any of these forms of co-operative organization as ideal or + permanent. The co-operative movement must be regarded rather as a great + turning movement on the part of humanity towards the ideal. The + co-operative organizations now being formed in Ireland and over the world + will, I am certain, persist and outlast this generation and the next, and + will grow into vaster things than we dream of; but the really important + change they will bring about in the minds of men will be psychological. + Men will become habituated to the thought of common action for the common + good. To get so far in civil life is a great step. Today our civil life is + a tangle of petty personal interests and competitions. The co-operative + movement is, as I have said, a vast turning movement of humanity + heavenwards, or, at least, to bring them face round to the Delectable + City. When this psychological change takes place the democratic + associations—which have grown up haphazard as the workers found it + easiest to create them—will be changed and remodeled by men who will + have the mass of people behind them in their efforts to make a more + majestic structure of society for the enlargement of the lives and spirits + of men. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. + </h2> + <p> + We have descended from the national soul to the material plane, and we + must still continue here for a time, because the doctrine that a sane mind + can only manifest through a sane body is as true in reference to the State + as to the individual, and necessitates a study of social fabrics. The soul + creates tendencies and habits in the body, and the body repeats these + vibrations automatically and infects the soul again with its old desires. + Our religious hatreds created sectarian organizations, and these react + again in the national soul, which would, I believe, willingly pass away + from that mood, but finds itself incarnated in organizations habituated to + sectarian action, and its energies are turned into these hateful channels + unwillingly. So a drunkard who now realizes that intemperance is rotting + his nature is conquered by the appetites he set up in the past, and with + his soul in rebellion he yet satisfies the craving in the body. The + individualism in our economic life reacts on the national being, and + prevents concerted action for the general good. We have yet to create + harmony of purpose in our economic life, and to bring together interests + long separated and unmindful of each other, and make them realize that + their interests are identical. It is one of the commonplaces of economics + that urban and rural interests are identical: but in truth the townsman + and the countryman have always acted as if their interests were opposed, + and they know very little of each other. I never like to let these + commonplaces of economics pass my frontiers unless they give the + countersign to the challenge for truth. People declare in the same way + that the interests of labor and capital are identical, and implore them + not to fight with one another. But the truth of that statement seems to me + to depend largely on whether capital owns labor or labor owns capital. As + an abstract proposition it is one of the economic formulae I would leave + instructions at my frontiers to have detained until further inquiry as to + its antecedents. All these statements may be true, but to make them + operative, to give them a dynamic rather than a static character, we must + convince people they are true by close argument and still more so by + realistic illustration. + </p> + <p> + To bring about a high nobility in the national soul we must make harmony + in its economic life, and the two main currents of economic energy—the + agricultural and urban—must be made to flow so that their action + will not defeat each other. Let us take the farmer first. How ought he to + wish to see life in the towns develop? Should he wish for the triumph of + labor or capital: the success of the co-operative movement, the triumph of + the multiple shop or the private trader, of guilds of workers or autocrats + of industry? Economic desires generally depend on the nature of the + industry men are engaged in. The jeweler would probably desire the + permanence of the social order which created most wealthy people who could + afford to buy his wares. The farmer's industry, if we consider it closely, + is the most democratic of any in its application to society. The produce + of the farm, in its final distribution, is divided into portions more or + less equal and conditioned in quantity by the digestive powers of an + individual. The wealthiest millionaire cannot eat more bread, butter, + meat, vegetables, or fruit than the manual laborer would eat if the latter + could afford to get such things. In fact he would eat rather less, because + the manual worker has a much better appetite, indeed requires more food. + It appears to be the interest of the farmer to support any urban movement + whose object it is to see that every worker in the towns is remunerated so + that he, his wife, and his children can procure as much food as they + require. Any underpaid worker in the towns is a wrong to the farmer—a + willing customer who yet cannot buy. If there is, let us say, a sum of + fifteen hundred pounds a week to be paid away in a town, it is to the + interest of farmers that that sum should be paid to a thousand men at the + rate of thirty shillings a week rather than to fifty men at thirty pounds + a week. In the case of the workers a greater part of the money will be + spent on food. But if fifty men have thirty pounds a week each, it will be + spent to satisfy the appetites of a much smaller number of people. A + larger proportion will be spent on furniture, pictures, motor-cars and + what not. It may be spent so as to give some kind of employment, but it + will not be a division of the money so much to the interests of the + farmer. However we analyze the problem it appears to be to the farmer's + interests to support democratic movements in the cities, certainly up to + the point where every worker in the towns has a wage which enables himself + and his family to eat all they require for health. It is also to the + interests of farmers to support any system of distribution of goods which + eliminates the element of profit in the sale. After the farmer gets his + price it is to his interests that food should be increased in cost as + little as possible when the article is transferred to the consumer, + because if farm produce has to bear too many profits it will be expensive + for the consumer, and there will be a lessened demand. So associations + like the co-operative stores, which aim at the elimination of the element + of profit in distribution, should be approved of by the farmers. + </p> + <p> + Now we come to the townsman again. Is it his interest to support the + farmers in his own country or to regard the world as his farm? The + argument on the economic side is not so clear, but it is, I think, just as + sound. If agriculture is neglected in any country the rural population + pour into the towns. The country becomes a fountain of blackleg labor. + Rural labor has no traditions of trade unionism, and takes any work at any + price. There are fewer people engaged in producing food, and its cost + rises. Food must be imported from abroad; and there is national + insecurity, as in times of war their is always the danger of the trade + routes overseas being blocked by an enemy, and this again has to be + provided against by heavy expenditure for militarist purposes. The farther + away an army is from its base the more insecure is its position, and the + same thing is true in the industrial life of nations. International trade + there must always be. It is one of the means by which the larger + solidarity of humanity is to be achieved; but that will never come about + until there is a nobler and more human life within the states, and we must + begin by perfecting national life before we consider empires and world + federations. So in this essay only the national being is considered. + </p> + <p> + I desire to unite countryman and townsman in one movement, and to make the + co-operative principle the basis of a national civilization. How are we to + prevent them fighting the old battle between producer and consumer? I + think that this can best be brought about by co-operative federations, + which will act for both in manufacture, purchase, and sale, and with which + both rural and urban associations will find it to their interest to be + affiliated. Now the townsman cannot to any extent supply food for his + stores by buying farms. To control agricultural production in that way + would necessitate a financial operation which the State would shrink from, + and which it would be impossible for urban cooperators to finance. We had + better make up our minds to let farmers be syndicalists, controlling + entirely the processes of agricultural production themselves. They will do + it better than the townsman could, more efficiently and more economically. + They will never be able, with the world in competition, to put up prices + artificially. How can the two main divisions of national life be brought + together in a national solidarity? We can find an answer if we remember + that farmers are not only producers but consumers. They do not go about + naked in the fields. They require clothes, furniture, tea, coffee, sugar, + oil, soap, candles, pots and pans—in fact the farmer's wife needs + nearly all the things the townsman's wife needs, except that she purchases + a little less food. But even here modern conditions are driving the farmer + to buy food in the shops rather than to produce it for himself on the + farm. Country bread is made in the bakery more and more. Butter, cheese, + and bacon are made in factories, and the farmer's tendency is to buy what + bread, bacon, and butter he requires, selling the milk to be made into + butter to a creamery, the grain to make the bread to a miller, and the + pigs to a factory. Co-operative distribution would be as advantageous to + the country as in the town. Already in Ireland a considerable number of + farmers' societies are enlarging their objects, and are turning what + originally were purely agricultural associations into general purposes + societies, where the farmer's wife can purchase her domestic requirements + as well as her man his machinery, fertilizers, feeding-stuffs, and seeds. + It would be to the interest of rural societies to deal with co-operative + wholesales just as much as it is in the interest of urban stores to do so. + It would be to their interest to take shares in these wholesales and + productive federations, and see that they cater for the farmer's interests + as much as for the townsman's. + </p> + <p> + The urban co-operators, on their side, will see the opportunities for + productive co-operation the union of rural and urban movements would + create. They naturally will desire to employ as many people as possible in + co-operative production. Farmers are surrounded by rings of all kinds: + machinery manufacturers who will not sell to their societies, manure + manufacturers' alliances who keep up prices. It is a great industry, this + of supplying the farmer with his fertilizers, feeding-stuffs, cake, + machinery. These rural co-operative societies are increasing in number + year by year. Farmers want clothes, hats, and boots: and the necessary + machinery for their industry is almost entirely of urban manufacture—ploughs, + binders, separators, harrows, and many other implements of tillage. It is + an immense industry and yet to be co-operatively exploited. In the towns + some progress has been made in distribution. But a nation depends upon its + wealth producers and not upon its consumers. Co-operators might double, + treble, or quadruple the distributive trade, and still occupy only a very + secondary position in national life unless they enter more largely upon + production. We will never make the co-operative idea the fundamental one + in the civilization of Ireland until we employ a very large part of the + population in production. Now we have at present, thanks to the energy of + the pioneers of agricultural co-operation, a new market opening in the + country for things which the townsman can produce. Does not this suggest + new productive urban enterprises? Does it not favor an evolution of + manufacturing industry, so that democratic control may finally replace the + autocratic control of the capitalist? The trades unions cannot do this + alone by following up any of their traditional policies. They cannot go + into trade on their own account with any guarantee of success unless they + are associated with agencies of distribution. But if co-operators—urban + and rural—through their federations invade more and more the field + of production they will draw to themselves the hearts and hopes of the + workers and idealists in the nation. People are really more concerned + about the making of an income than about the spending of it. It is a + necessity of our policy if it is to bring about the co-operative + commonwealth, that co-operators must adventure much more largely into + production than they have hitherto done. + </p> + <p> + Now let us see what we have come to. There is a country movement which is + not merely one for agricultural production. It is rapidly taking up the + distribution of goods. There is an urban movement not merely concerned + with distribution but entering upon production. They can be brought into + harmony if the same federations act for both branches of the movement. The + meeting-place of the two armies should be there. If this policy is adopted + there will gradually grow-up that unity of purpose between country and + urban workers which is the psychological basis and necessary precedent for + national action for the common good. The policy of identity of interest + must be real, and it can only be real when the identity of interest is + obvious, and it can only be made obvious when the symbols of that unity + and identity are visible day by day in buildings and manufactures, things + which are handled and seen, and in transactions which daily bring that + unity to mind. The old poetic ideal of a United Ireland was and could only + be a geographical expression, and not a human reality, so long as men were + individualist in economics and were competing and struggling with each + other for mastery. + </p> + <p> + By the co-operative commonwealth more is meant than a series of + organizations for economic purposes. We hope to create finally, by the + close texture of our organizations, that vivid sense of the identity of + interest of the people in this island which is the basis of citizenship, + and without which there can be no noble national life. Our great + nation-states have grown so large, so myriad are their populations, so + complicated are their interests, that most people in them really feel no + sense of brotherhood with each other. We have yet to create inside our + great nation-states social and economic organizations, which will make + this identity of interest real and evident, and not seem merely a + metaphor, as it does to most people today. The more the co-operative + movement does this for its members, the more points of contact they find + in it, the more will we tend to make out of it and its branches real + social organisms, which will become as closely knit psychically as + physically the cells in a human body are knit together. Our Irish + diversities of interest have made us world-famous; but such industrial and + agricultural organizations would swallow up these antagonisms, as the + serpents created by the black art of the Egyptian magicians were swallowed + up by the rod Aaron cast on the floor, and which was made animate by the + white magic of the Lord. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. + </h2> + <p> + It will appear to the idealist who has contemplated the heavens more + closely than the earth that the policy I advocate is one which only + tardily could be put into operation, and would be paltry and inadequate as + a basis for society. The idealist with the Golden Age already in his heart + believes he has only to erect the Golden Banner and display it for + multitudes to array themselves beneath its folds; therefore he advocates + not, as I do, a way to the life, but the life itself. I am sympathetic + with idealists in a hurry, but I do not think the world can be changed + suddenly by some heavenly alchemy, as St. Paul was smitten by a light from + the overworld. Such light from heaven is vouchsafed to individuals, but + never to nations, who progress by an orderly evolution in society. Though + the heart in us cries out continually, "Oh, hurry, hurry to the Golden + Age," though we think of revolutions, we know that the patient marshalling + of human forces is wisdom. We have to devise ways and means and light + every step clearly before the nation will leave its footing in some safe + if unattractive locality to plant itself elsewhere. The individual may be + reckless. The race never can be so, for it carries too great a burden and + too high destinies, and it is only when the gods wish to destroy or + chastise a race that they first make it mad. Not by revolutions can + humanity be perfected. I might quote from an old oracle, "The gods are + never so turned away from man as when he ascends to them by disorderly + methods." Our spirits may live in the Golden Age, but our bodily life + moves on slow feet, and needs the lantern on the path and the staff struck + carefully into the darkness before us to see that the path beyond is not a + morass, and the light not a will o' the wisp. + </p> + <p> + Other critics may say I would destroy the variety of civilization by the + inflexible application of a single idea. Well, I realize that the net + which is spread for Leviathan will not capture all the creatures of the + deep; and the complexity of human nature is such that it is impossible to + imagine a policy, however fitting in certain spheres of human activity, + which could be applied to the whole of life. What I think we should aim at + is making the co-operative idea fundamental in Irish life. But to say + fundamental is not to say absolute. Always there will be enter rising + persons—men of creative minds—who will break away from the + mass and who will insist, perhaps rightly, on an autocratic control of the + enterprises they found, which were made possible alone by their genius, + and which would not succeed unless every worker in the enterprise was + malleable by their will. It is unlikely that State action will cease, or + that any Government we may have will not respond to the appeal of the + people to do this, that, or the other for them which they are too indolent + to do for themselves, or which by the nature of things only governments + can undertake. For a principle to be fundamental in a country does not + mean that it must be absolute. I hope society in Ireland will be organized + that the idea of democratic control of its economic life will so pervade + Irish thought that it will be in the body politic what the spinal column + is to the body—the pillar on which it rests, the strongest single + factor in the body. Another illustration may make still clearer my + meaning. In a red sunsetting the glow is so powerful that green hills, + white houses, and blue waters, touched by its light, assume a ruddy color, + partly a local color, and partly a reflected light from the sun. Now in + the same way, what is most powerful in society multiplies images and + shadows of itself, and produces harmonies with itself which are yet not + identities. It is by a predominating idea that nations achieve the + practical unity of their citizens, and national progress becomes possible. + In the future structure of society I have no doubt there will be elements + to which the socialist, the syndicalist, the capitalist, and the + individualist will have contributed. By degrees it will be discovered what + enterprises are best directed by the State, by municipalities, by groups, + or by individuals. But if the idea of democratic control is predominant, + those enterprises which are otherwise directed will yet meet the prevalent + mood by adopting the ideas of the treatment of the workers enforced in + democratically controlled enterprises, and will in every respect, except + control, make their standards equal. All the needles of being point to the + centres where power is most manifested. The effects of the French + revolution—a democratic upheaval—invaded men's minds + everywhere. Even the autocratically ruled States, hitherto careless about + the people in their underworlds, had to make advances to democracy, and + give it some measure of the justice democracy threatened to deal to + itself. Without demanding absolutism I do desire a predominant democratic + character in our national enterprises, rather than a confused muddle or + struggle of interests where nothing really emerges except the egoism of + those who struggle. + </p> + <p> + It will be noticed that in all that has preceded I have referred little to + action by government, though it is on governments that democracies over + the world are now fixing all their hopes. They believe the State is the + right agency to bring about reforms and changes in society. And I must + here explain why I do not share their hopes. My distrust of the State in + economic reform is based on the belief that governments in great + nation-states, even representative governments, are not malleable by the + general will. They are too easily dominated by the holders of economic + power, are, in fact, always dominated by aristocracies with land or by the + aristocracies of wealth. It is the hand at the helm guides the ship. The + larger the State is the more easily do the holders of economic power gain + political power. The theory of representative government held good in + practice, I think, so long as parliaments were engaged in formulating + general rights, the right, for example, of the individual to think or + profess any religion he pleased; his right not to be deprived of liberty + or life without open trial by his fellow-citizens. So long as legislatures + were affirming or maintaining these rights, which rich and poor equally + desired, they were justified. But when legislatures began to intervene in + economic matters, in the struggles between rich and poor, between capital + and labor, it became at once apparent the holders of economic power had + also political power; and that the institution which operated fairly where + universal rights were considered did not operate fairly when there was a + conflict between particular interests. + </p> + <p> + The jury of the nation was found to be packed. At least nine-tenths of the + population in Great Britain, for example, belong to the wage-earning + class. At least nine-tenths of the members of legislatures belong to the + classes possessing land or capital. Now, why any member of the + wage-earning class should look with hope to such assemblies I cannot + understand. Their ideal is, or should be, economic freedom, together with + democratic control of industries, an ideal in every way opposed to the + ideal of the majority of the members of the legislatures. The fiction that + representative assemblies will work for the general good is proclaimed + with enthusiasm; but the moment we examine their actions we see it is not + so, and we discover the cause. Where the nation is capitalist and + capitalism is the dominant economic factor, legislatures invariably act to + uphold it, and legislation tends to fix the system more securely. We see + in Great Britain that wage-earners are now openly regarded by the + legislatures as a class who must not be allowed the same freedom in life + as the wealthy. They must be registered, inspected, and controlled in a + way which the wealthy would bitterly resent if the legislation referred to + themselves. After economic inferiority has been enforced on them by + capital, the stigma of human inferiority is attached to the wage-earners + by the legislature. But I must not be led away from my theme by the bitter + reflections which arise in one who lives in the Iron Age and knows it is + Iron, who feels at times like the lost wanderer on trackless fields of + ice, which never melt and will not until earth turns from its axis. + </p> + <p> + I wish to see society organized so that it shall be malleable to the + general will. But political and economic progress are obstructed because + existing political and economic organizations are almost entirely + unmalleable by the general will. Public opinion does not control the + press. The press, capitalistically controlled, creates public opinion. Our + legislators have grown so secure that they confess openly they have passed + measures which they knew would be hateful to the majority of citizens, and + which, if they had been voted on, would never have been passed. The theory + of representative government has broken down. To tell the truth, the life + of the nation is so complicated that it is difficult for the private + citizen to have any intelligent opinion about national policies, and we + can hardly blame the politician for despising the judgment of the private + citizen. Government departments are still less malleable by public opinion + than the legislature. For an individual to attack the policy of a + Government department is almost as hopeless a proceeding as if a laborer + were to take pickaxe and shovel and determine to level a mountain which + obstructed his view. Yet Government departments are supposed to be under + popular control. The Castle in Ireland, theoretically, was under popular + control, but it was adamantine in policy. If the cant about popular + control of legislation and Government departments is obviously untrue, how + much more is it in regard to public services like railways, gas works, + mines, the distribution of goods, manufacture, purchase and sale, which + are almost entirely under private control and where public interference is + bitterly resented and effectively opposed. What chance has the individual + who is aggrieved against the great carrying companies? To come lower down, + let us take the farmer in the fairs. What way has he of influencing the + jobbers and dealers to act honestly by him—they who have formed + rings to keep down the prices of cattle? Are they malleable to public + opinion? The farmers who have waited all day through a fair know they are + not. + </p> + <p> + When we consider the agencies through which people buy we find the same + thing. The increase of multiple shops, combines, and rings makes the use + of the limited power a man had to affect a dealer by transferring his + custom to another merchant to dwindle yearly. Everywhere we turn we find + this adamantine front presented by the legislature, the State departments, + by the agencies of production, distribution, or credit, and it is the + undemocratic organization of society which is responsible for nine-tenths + of our social troubles. All the vested interests backed up by economic and + political power conflict with the public welfare, and the general will, + which intends the good of all, can act no more than a paralyzed cripple + can walk. We would all choose the physique of the athlete, with his swift, + unfettered, easy movements, rather than the body of the cripple if we + could, and we have this choice before us in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + If we concentrate our efforts mainly on voluntary action, striving to make + the co-operative spirit predominant, the general will would manifest + itself through organizations malleable to that will, flexible and readily + adjusting themselves to the desires of the community. To effect reforms we + have not first to labor at the gigantic task of affecting national opinion + and securing the majorities necessary for national action. In any district + a hundred or two hundred men can at any time form co-operative societies + for production, purchase, sale, or credit, and can link themselves by + federation with other organizations like their own to secure greater + strength and economic efficiency. By following this policy steadily we + simplify our economic system, and reduce to fewer factors the forces in + conflict in society. We beget the predominance of one principle, and + enable that general will for good, which Rousseau theorized about, to find + agencies through which it can manifest freely, so changing society from + the static condition begot by conflict and obstruction to a dynamic + condition where energies and desires manifest freely. + </p> + <p> + The general will, as Rousseau demonstrated, always intends the good, and + if permitted to act would act in a large and noble way. The change from + static to dynamic, from fixed forms to fluid forms, has been coming + swiftly over the world owing to the liberation of thought, and this in + spite of the obstruction of a society organized, I might almost say, with + egomania as the predominant psychological factor. The ancient conception + of Nature as a manifestation of spirit is incarnating anew in the minds of + modern thinkers, and Nature is not conceived of as material, but as force + and continual motion; and they are trying to identify human will with this + arcane energy, and let the forces of Nature have freer play in humanity. + We begin to catch glimpses of civilizations as far exceeding ours as ours + surpasses society in the Stone Age. In all our democratic movements, in + these efforts towards the harmonious fusion of human forces, humanity is + obscurely intent on mightier collective exploits than anything conceived + of before. The nature of these energies manifesting in humanity I shall + try to indicate later on. But to let the general will have free play ought + to be the aim of those who wish to build up national organizations for + whatever purpose; and to let the general will have free play we require + something better than the English invention of representative government, + which, as it exists at present, is simply a device to enable all kinds of + compromises to be made on matters where there should be no compromise, as + if right and wrong could come to an agreement honestly to let things be + partly right and partly wrong. We are importing into Ireland some + political machinery of this antiquated pattern. I have written the + foregoing because I dread Irish people becoming slaves of this machine. I + fear the importers of this machinery will desire to make it do things it + can only do badly, and will set it to work with the ferocity of the new + broom and will make it an obstruction, so that the real genius of the + Irish people will be unable freely to manifest itself. The less we rely on + this machinery at present, and the more we desire a machinery of progress, + at once flexible and efficient, the better will it be for us later on. + What must be embodied in State action is the national will and the + national soul, and until that giant being is manifested it is dangerous to + let the pygmies set powers in motion which may enchain us for centuries to + come. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. + </h2> + <p> + It may seem I have spoken lightly of that infant whose birth I referred to + with more solemnity in the opening pages of this book, and indeed I am a + little dubious about that infant. The signature of the Irish mind is + nowhere present in it, and I look upon it with something of the hesitating + loyalty the inhabitant of a new Balkan State night feel for his imported + prince, doubtful whether that sovereign will reflect the will of his new + subjects or whether his policy will not constrain national character into + an alien mould. The signature of the Irish mind is not apparent anywhere + in this new machinery for self-government. Our politicians seem to have + been unaware that they had any wisdom to learn from the more obvious + failures of representative government as they knew it. So far, as I have + knowledge, no Irishman during the past century of effort for political + freedom took the trouble to think out a form of government befitting Irish + circumstance and character. We left it absolutely to those whom we + declared incapable of understanding us or governing us to devise for us a + system by which we might govern ourselves. I do not criticize those who + devised the new machinery of self-government, but those who did not devise + it, and who discouraged the exercise of political imagination in Ireland. + It is said of an artist that it was his fantasy first to paint his ideal + of womanly beauty, and, when this was done, to approximate it touch by + touch to the sitter, and when the sitter cried, "Ah, now it is growing + like!" the artist ceased, combining the maximum of ideal beauty possible + with the minimum of likeness. Now if we had thought out the ideal + structure of Irish government we might have offered it for criticism by + those in whose power it was to accept or reject, and have gradually + approximated it until a point was reached where the compromise left at + least something of our making and imagination in it. There is nothing of + us in the Act which is in abeyance as I write. I am less concerned with it + than with the creation of a social order, for the social order in a + country is the strong and fast fortress where national character is + created and preserved. A legislature may theoretically allow + self-government, but by its constitution may operate against national + character and its expression in a civilization. We have accepted the + principle of representative government, and that, I readily concede, is + the ideal principle, but the method by which a representative character is + to be given to State institutions we have not thought out at all. We have + committed the error our neighbors have committed of assuming that the + representative assembly which can legislate for general interests can deal + equally with particular interests; that the body of men who will act + unitedly so as to secure the liberty of person or liberty of thought, + which all desire for themselves, will also act wisely where class problems + and the development of particular industries are concerned. The whole + history of representative assemblies shows that the machinery adequate for + the furtherance and protection of general interests operates unjustly or + stupidly in practice against particular interests. The long neglect of + agriculture and the actual condition of the sweated are instances. I agree + that representative government is the ideal, but how is it to operate in + the legislature and still more in administration? Are government + departments to be controlled by Parliament or by the representatives of + the particular class to promote whose interests special departments were + created. I hold that the continuous efficiency of State departments can + only be maintained when they are controlled in respect of policy, not by + the casual politician whom the fluctuations of popular emotion places at + their head, but by the class or industry the State institution was created + to serve. A department of State can conceivably be preserved from + stagnation by a minister of strong will, who has a more profound knowledge + of the problems connected with his department than even his permanent + officials. He might vitalize them from above. But does the party system + yield us such Ministers? In practice is not high position the reward of + service to party? Is special knowledge demanded of the controller of a + Board of Trade or a Board of Agriculture? Do we not all know that the vast + majority of Ministers are controlled by the permanent officials of their + department. Failing great Ministers, the operations of a department may be + vitalized by control over its policy exercised, not by a general assembly + like Parliament, but by a board elected from the class or industry the + department ostensibly was created to serve. An agricultural department + controlled by a council or board composed solely of those making their + livelihood out of agriculture and elected solely by their own class, + would, we may be certain, be practical in its methods. It would receive + perpetual stimulus from those engaged in making their living by the + industry. Parliaments or senates should confine themselves to matters of + general interest, leaving particular or special interests to those who + understand them, to the specialists, and only intervene when national + interests are involved by a clashing of particular interests. Our State + institutions will never fulfill their functions efficiently until they are + subject in respect of policy not to general control, but the control of + the class they were created to serve. + </p> + <p> + That ideal can only be realized fully when all industries are organized. + But we should work towards it. Parliament may act as a kind of guardian of + the unorganized, but, once an industry is organized, once it has come of + age, it must resent domination by bodies without the special knowledge of + which it has the monopoly within itself. It should not tolerate domination + by the unexpert outsider, whatever may be his repute in other spheres. It + is only when industries are organized that the democratic system of + election can justify itself by results in administration. When a county, + let us say, chooses a member of Parliament to represent every interest, + only too often it chooses a man who can represent few interests except his + own. The greatest common denominator of the constituents is as a rule some + fluent utterer of platitudes. But if the farmers in a county, or the + manufacturers in a county, or the workers in a county, had each to choose + a man to represent them, we may be certain the farmers would choose one + whom they regarded as competent to interpret their needs, the + manufacturers a man of real ability, and labor would select its best + intelligence. Persons engaged in special work rarely fall to recognize the + best men in their own industry. Then they judge somewhat as experts, + whereas they are by no means experts when they are asked to select a + representative to represent everybody in every industry. To secure good + government I conceive we must have two kinds of representative assemblies + running concurrently with their spheres of influence well defined. One, + the supreme body, should be elected by counties or cities to deal with + general interests, taxation, justice, education, the duties and rights of + individual citizens as citizens. The other bodies should be elected by the + people engaged in particular occupations to control the policy of the + State institutions created to foster particular interests. The average man + will elect people to his mind whose deliberations will be in a sphere + where the ideas of the average man ought to be heard and must be + respected. The specialists in their department of industry will elect + experts to work in a sphere where their knowledge will be invaluable, and + where, if it is not present, there will be muddle. + </p> + <p> + The machinery of government ought never to be complicated, and ought to be + easily understood by the citizens. In Ireland, where we have at present no + thought of foreign policy, no question of army or navy, departments of + State should fall naturally into a few divisions concerned with + agriculture, education, local government, justice, police, and taxation. + The administration of some of these are matters of national concern, and + they should and must be under parliamentary control, and that control + should be jealously protected. Others are sectional, and these should be + controlled in respect of policy by persons representative of these + sections, and elected solely by them. I think there should also be a + department of Labor. I am not sure that the main work of the Minister in + charge ought not to be the organization of labor in its proper unions or + guilds. It is a work as important to the State as the organization of + agriculture, and indeed from a humanitarian point of view more urgent. + Nothing is more lamentable, nothing fills the heart more with despair, + than the multitude of isolated workers, sweated, unable to fix a price for + their work, ignorant of its true economic value; connected with no union, + unable to find any body to fall back on for help or advice in trouble, + neglected altogether by society, which yet has to pay a heavy price in + disease, charity, poor rates, and in social disorder for its neglect. Was + not the last Irish rising largely composed of those who were economically + neglected and oppressed? Society bears a heavier burden for its + indifference than it would bear if it accepted responsibility for the + organization of labor in its own defense. The State in these islands + recommends farmers to organize for the protection of their interests and + assists in the organization, and leaves the organized farmers free to use + their organizations as they will. As good a case could be made for the + State aiding in the organization of labor for the protection of its own + interests. A ministry of labor should seek out all wage-earners; where + there is no trade union one should be organized, and, where one exists, + all workers should be pressed to join it. Such a ministry ought to be the + city of refuge for the proletarian, and the Minister be the Father of + Labor, fighting its battles for an entry into humanity and its rightful + place in civilization. + </p> + <p> + If we consider the problem of representation, it should not be impossible + to devise a system of which the foundation might be the County Councils, + where there would be as sub-divisions, committees for local government, + agriculture, and technical instruction or trade to deal with local + administration in these matters. These committees should send + representatives to general councils of local government, agriculture, and + trade. The election should not be by the County Council as a body, but by + the committees, so that traders would have no voice in choosing a + representative for farmers, nor farmers interfere in the choice of + manufacturers or traders selecting a representative on a general Council + of Trade, and it should be regarded as ridiculous any such intervention as + for a War Office to claim it should have a voice along with the Admiralty + in the selection of captains and commanders of vessels of war. At these + general councils, which might meet twice a year for whatever number of + days may be expedient, general policies would be decided and boards + elected to ensure the carrying out by the officials of the policies + decided upon. By this process of selection men who had to control Boards + of Agriculture, Trade, or Local Government would be three times elected, + each time by a gradually decreasing electorate, with a gradually + increasing special knowledge of the matters to be dealt with. A really + useless person may contrive to be chosen as representative by a thousand + electors. It requires an able man to convince a committee of ten persons, + themselves more or less specialists, that his is the best brain among + them. Where national education, a thorny subject in Ireland, is concerned, + I think the educationalists in provinces might be asked to elect + representatives from their own profession on a Council of Education to act + as an advisory body to the Minister of Education. County Council elections + are not exactly means by which miracles of culture are discovered. A man + who came to be member of a board of control would at least have proved his + ability to others engaged on work like his own who have special knowledge + of it and of his capacity to deal with it. If this system was accepted, we + would not have traders on our Council of Agriculture protesting against + the farmers organizing their industry, because none but persons concerned + with agriculture would be a owed to be members of agricultural committees, + and this would, of course, involve the concentration of merchants and + manufacturers upon the work of a Board of Trade and the control of a + policy of technical instruction suitable for industrial workers, where + agricultural advisers in their turn would be out of place. Control so + exercised over the policy of State institutions would vitalize them, and + tend to make them enter more intimately into the department of national + effort they were created to foster. The stagnation which falls on most + Government departments is due to this, that the responsible heads rarely + have a knowledge great enough to enable them to inaugurate new methods, + that parliamentary control is never adequate, is rarely exercised with + knowledge, and there is always a party in power to defend the policy of + their Minister, for if one Minister is successfully attacked a whole party + goes out of power. We, in Ireland, should desire above all things + efficiency in our public servants. They will stagnate in their offices + unless they are continually stimulated by intimate connection with the + class they work for and who have a power of control. This system would + also, I believe, lead to less jobbery. Men in an assembly, where + theoretically every class and interest are represented, often conspire to + make bad appointments, because only a minority have knowledge of what + qualifications the official ought to have, and they are outvoted by + representatives who do their friends such good turns often in sheer + ignorance that they are betraying their constituents. Where specialists + have power, and where the well-being of their own industry is concerned, + they never willingly appoint the inefficient. Such an organization of our + County Council system would operate also to break up sectarian cliques. + The feeling of organized classes, farmers, or industrialists, concerned + about their own well-being, would oppose itself to sectarian sentiment + where its application was unfitting. + </p> + <p> + In the system of representative government I have outlined, we would have + one supreme or national assembly concerned with general interests, + justice, taxation, education, the apportioning of revenue to its various + uses, reserving to itself direct control over the policy of the + departments of treasury, police, judiciary, all that affects the citizens + equally; and, beneath it, other councils, representative of classes and + special interests, controlling the policy and administration of the State + departments concerned with their work. Where everybody was concerned + everybody would have that measure of control which a vote confers; where + particular interests were concerned these interests would not be hampered + in their development by the intervention of busybodies from outside. Of + course on matters where particular interests clashed with general + interests, or were unable to adjust themselves to other interests, the + supreme Assembly would have to decide. The more sectional interests are + removed from discussion in the National Assembly, and the more it confines + itself to general interests the more will it approximate to the ideal + sense, be less the haunt of greed, and more the vehicle of the national + will and the national being. + </p> + <p> + By the application of the principle of representative government now in + force, one is reminded of nothing so much as the palette of an artist who + had squeezed out the primary colors and mixed them into a greasy drab + tint, where the purity of every color was lost, or the most powerful + pigment was in dull domination. If the modification of the representative + principle I have outlined was in operation, with each interest or industry + organized, and freed from alien interference, the effect might be likened + to a disc with the seven primary colors raying from a centre, and made to + whirl where the motion produced rather the effect of pure light. We must + not mix the colors of national life until conflicting interests muddle + themselves into a gray drab of human futility, but strive, so far as + possible, to keep them pure and unmixed, each retaining its own peculiar + lustre, so that in their conjunction with others they will harmonize, as + do the pure primary colors, and in their motion make a light of true + intelligence to prevail in the national being. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV. + </h2> + <p> + No policy can succeed if it be not in accord with national character. If I + have misjudged that, what is written here is vain. It may be asked, can + any one abstract from the chaos which is Irish history a prevailing mood + or tendency recurring again and again, and assert these are fundamental? + It is difficult to define national character, even in long-established + States whose history lies open to the world; but it is most difficult in + Ireland, which for centuries has not acted by its own will from its own + centre, where national activity was mainly by way of protest against + external domination, or a readjustment of itself to external power. We can + no more deduce the political character of the Irish from the history of + the past seven hundred years than we can estimate the quality of genius in + an artist whom we have only seen when grappling with a burglar. The + political character of a people emerges only when they are shaping in + freedom their own civilization. To get a clue in Ireland we must slip by + those seven centuries of struggle and study national origins, as the + lexicographer, to get the exact meaning of a word, traces it to its + derivation. The greatest value our early history and literature has for us + is the value of a clue to character, to be returned to again and again in + the maze of our infinitely more complicated life and era. + </p> + <p> + In every nation which has been allowed free development, while it has the + qualities common to all humanity, it will be found that some one idea was + predominant, and in its predominance regrouped about itself other ideas. + With our neighbors I believe the idea of personal liberty has been the + inspiring motive of all that is best in its political development, + whatever the reactions and oppressions may have been. In ancient Attica + the idea of beauty, proportion, or harmony in life so pervaded the minds + of the citizens that the surplus revenues of the State were devoted to the + beautifying of the city. We find that love for beauty in its art, its + literature, its architecture; and to Plato, the highest mind in the + Athenian State, Deity itself appeared as Beauty in its very essence. That + mighty mid-European State, whose ambitions have upset the world, seems to + conceive of the State as power. Other races have had a passion for + justice, and have left codes of law which have profoundly affected the + life of nations which grew up long after they were dead. The cry of + ancient Israel for righteousness rings out above all other passions, and + its laws are essentially the laws of a people who desired that morality + should prevail. We have to discover for ourselves the ideas which lie at + the root of national character, and so inculcate these principles that + they will pervade the nation and make it a spiritual solidarity, and unite + the best minds in their service, and so control those passionate and + turbulent elements which are the cause of the downfall and wreckage of + nations by internal dissensions. I desire as much as any one to preserve + our national identity, and to make it worthy of preservation, and this can + only be done by the domination of some inspiring ideal which will draw all + hearts to it; which may at first have that element of strangeness in it + which Ben Jonson said was in all excellent beauty, and which will later + become—as all high things we love do finally become—familiar + to us, and nearer and closer to us than the beatings of our own hearts. + </p> + <p> + When ideals which really lie at the root of our being are first + proclaimed, all that is external in life protests. So were many great + reformers martyred, but they left their ideals behind them in the air, and + men breathed them and they became part of their very being. Nationality is + a state of consciousness, a mood of definite character in our intellectual + being, and it is not perceived first except in profound meditation; it + does not become apparent from superficial activities any more than we + could, by looking at the world and the tragic history of mankind, discover + that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. That knowledge comes to those who + go within themselves, and not to those who seek without for the way, the + truth, and the life. But, once proclaimed, the incorruptible spiritual + element in man intuitively recognizes it as truth, and it has a profound + effect on human action. There is, I believe, a powerful Irish character + which has begun to reassert itself in modern times, and this character is + in essentials what it was two thousand years ago. We discover its first + manifestation in the ancient clans. The clan was at once aristocratic and + democratic. It was aristocratic in leadership and democratic in its + economic basis. The most powerful character was elected as chief, while + the land was the property of the clan. That social order indicates the + true political character of the Irish. Races which last for thousands of + years do not change in essentials. They change in circumstance. They may + grow better or worse, but throughout their history the same fundamentals + appear and reassert themselves. We can see later in Irish literature or + politics, as powerful personalities emerged and expressed themselves, how + the ancient character persisted. Swift, Goldsmith, Berkeley, O'Grady, + Shaw, Wilde, Parnell, Davitt, Plunkett, and many others, however they + differed from each other, in so far as they betrayed a political + character, were intensely democratic in economic theory, adding that to an + aristocratic freedom of thought. That peculiar character, I believe, still + persists among our people in the mass, and it is by adopting a policy + which will enable it to manifest once more that we will create an Irish + civilization, which will fit our character as the glove fits the hand. + During the last quarter of a century of comparatively peaceful life the + co-operative principle has once more laid hold on the imagination of the + Irish townsman and the Irish countryman. The communal character is still + preserved. It still wills to express itself in its external aspects in a + communal civilization, in an economic brotherhood. That movement alone + provides in Ireland for the aristocratic and democratic elements in Irish + character. It brings into prominence the aristocracy of character and + intelligence which it is really the Irish nature to love, and its economic + basis is democratic. A large part of our failure to achieve anything + memorable in Ireland is due to the fact that, influenced by the example of + our great neighbors, we reversed the natural position of the aristocratic + and democratic elements in the national being. Instead of being democratic + in our economic life, with the aristocracy of character and intelligence + to lead us, we became meanly individualistic in our economics and meanly + democratic in leadership. That is, we allowed individualism—the + devilish doctrine of every man for himself—to be the keynote of our + economic life; where, above all things, the general good and not the + enrichment of the individual should be considered. For our leaders we + chose energetic, common-place types, and made them represent us in the + legislature; though it is in leadership above all that we need, not the + aristocracy of birth, but the aristocracy of character, intellect, and + will. We had not that aristocracy to lead us. We chose instead persons + whose ideas were in no respect nobler than the average to be our guides, + or rather to be guided by us. Yet when the aristocratic character + appeared, however imperfect, how it was adored! Ireland gave to Parnell—an + aristocratic character—the love which springs from the deeps of its + being, a love which it gave to none other in our time. + </p> + <p> + With our great neighbors what are our national characteristics were + reversed. They are an individualistic race. This individualism has + expressed itself in history and society in a thousand ways. Being + individualistic in economics, they were naturally democratic in politics. + They have a genius for choosing forcible average men as leaders. They + mistrust genius in high places, Intensely individualistic themselves, they + feared the aristocratic character in politics. They desired rather that + general principles should be asserted to encircle and keep safe their own + national eccentricity. They have gradually infected us with something of + their ways, and as they were not truly our ways we never made a success of + them. It is best for us to fall back on what is natural with us, what is + innate in character, what was visible among us in the earliest times, and + what, I still believe, persists among us—a respect for the + aristocratic intellect, for freedom of thought, ideals, poetry, and + imagination, as the qualities to be looked for in leaders, and a bias for + democracy in our economic life. We were more Irish truly in the heroic + ages. We would not then have taken, as we do today, the huckster or the + publican and make them our representative men, and allow them to corrupt + the national soul. Did not the whole vulgar mob of our politicians lately + unite to declare to the world that Irish nationality was impossible except + it was floated on a sea of liquor? The image of Kathleen ni Houlihan + anciently was beauty in the hearts of poets and dreamers. We often thought + her unwise, but never did we find her ignoble; never was she without a + flame of idealism in her eyes, until this ignoble crew declared alcohol to + be the only possible basis of Irish nationality. + </p> + <p> + In the remote past we find the national instincts of our people fully + manifested. We find in this early literature a love for the truth-teller + and for the hero. Indeed they did not choose as chieftains of their clans + men whom the bards could not sing. They reverenced wisdom, whether in + king, bard, or ollav, and at the same time there was a communal basis for + economic life. This heroic literature is, as our Standish O'Grady + declared, rather prophecy than history. It reveals what the highest + spirits deemed the highest, and what was said lay so close to the heart of + the race that it is still remembered and read. That literature discloses + the character of the national being, still to be manifested in a + civilization, and it must flame out before the tale which began among the + gods is closed. Whatever brings this communal character into our social + order, and at the same time desires the independent aristocratic + intellect, is in accord with the national tradition. The co-operative + movement is the modern expression of that mood. It is already making a + conquest of the Irish mind, and in its application to life predisposing + our people to respect for the man of special attainments, independent + character, and intellect. A social order which has made its economics + democratic in character needs such men above all things. It needs + aristocratic thinkers to save the social order from stagnation, the + disease which eats into all harmonious life. We shall succeed or fail in + Ireland as we succeed or fail to make democracy prevail in our economic + life, and aristocratic ideals to prevail in our political and intellectual + life. + </p> + <p> + In all things it is best for a people to obey the law of their own being. + The lion can never become the ox, and "one law for the lion and the ox is + oppression." + </p> + <p> + Now that the hammer of Thor is wrecking our civilizations, is destroying + the body of European nationalities, the spirit is freer to reshape the + world nearer to the heart's desire. Necessity will drive us along with the + rest to recast our social order and to fix our ideals. Necessity and our + own hearts should lead us to a brotherhood in industry. It should be + horrible to us the thought of the greedy profiteer, the pursuit of wealth + for oneself rather than the union of forces for the good of all and the + creation of a brotherly society. The efforts of individuals to amass for + themselves great personal wealth should be regarded as ignoble by society, + and as contrary to the national spirit, as it is indeed contrary to all + divine teaching. Our ideal should be economic harmony and intellectual + diversity. We should regard as alien to the national spirit all who would + make us think in flocks, and discipline us to an unintellectual commonalty + of belief. The life of the soul is a personal adventure, a quest for the + way and the truth and the life. It may be we shall find the ancient ways + to be the true ways, but if we are led to the truth blindfolded and + without personal effort, we are like those whom the Scripture condemns for + entering into Paradise, not by the straight gate, but over the wall, like + thieves and robbers. If we seek it for ourselves and come to it, we shall + be true initiates and masters in the guild. + </p> + <p> + No people seem to have greater natural intelligence than the Irish. No + people have been so unfortunately cursed with organizations which led them + to abnegate personal thought, and Ireland is an intellectual desert where + people read nothing and think nothing; where not fifty in a hundred + thousand could discern the quality of thought in the Politics of Aristotle + or the Republic of Plato as being in any way deeper than a leading article + in one of their daily papers. And we, whose external life is so mean, + whose ignorance of literature is so great, are yet flattered by the + suggestion that we have treasures of spiritual and intellectual life which + should not be debased by external influences, and so it comes about that + good literature is a thing unpurchasable except in some half-dozen of the + larger towns. Any system which would suppress the aristocratic, fearless, + independent intellect should be regarded as contrary to the Irish genius + and inimical to the national being. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. + </h2> + <p> + Among the many ways men have sought to create a national consciousness, a + fountain of pride to the individual citizen, is to build a strong body for + the great soul, and it would be an error to overlook—among other + modern uprisings of ancient Irish character—the revival of the + military spirit and its possible development in relation to the national + being. National solidarity may be brought about by pressure from without, + or by the fusion of the diverse elements in a nation by a heat engendered + from within. But to Create national solidarity by war is to attain but a + temporary and unreal unity, a gain like theirs who climb into the Kingdom + not by the straight gate, but over the wall like a robber. When one nation + is threatened by another, great national sacrifices will be made, and the + latent solidarity of its humanity be kindled. But when the war is over, + when the circumstances uniting the people for a time are past, that spirit + rapidly dies, and people begin their old antagonisms because the social + order, in its normal working, does not constantly promote a consciousness + of identity of interest. + </p> + <p> + Almost all the great European states have fortified their national being + by militarism. Everything almost in their development has been + subordinated to the necessities of national defense, and hence it is only + in times of war there is any real manifestation of national spirit. It is + only then that the citizens of the Iron Age feel a transitory brotherhood. + It is a paradoxical phenomenon, possible only in the Iron Age, that the + highest instances of national sacrifice are evoked by warfare—the + most barbarous of human enterprises. To make normal that spirit of unity + which is now only manifested in abnormal moments in history should be our + aim; and as it is the Iron Age, and material forces are more powerful than + spiritual, we must consider how these fierce energies can be put in + relation with the national being with least debasement of that being. If + the body of the national soul is too martial in character, it will by + reflex action communicate its character to the spirit, and make it harsh + and domineering, and unite against it in hatred all other nations. We have + seen that in Europe but yesterday. The predominance in the body of + militarist practice will finally drive out from the soul those + unfathomable spiritual elements which are the body's last source power in + conflict, and it will in the end defeat its own object, which is power. + When nations at war call up their reserves of humanity to the last man + capable of bearing arms, their leaders begin also to summon up those + bodiless moods and national sentiments which are the souls of races, and + their last and most profound sources of inspiration and deathless courage. + The war then becomes a conflict of civilizations and of spiritual ideals, + the aspirations and memories which constitute the fundamental basis of + those civilizations. Without the inspiration of great memories or of great + hopes, men are incapable of great sacrifices. They are rationalists, and + the preservation of the life they know grows to be a desire greater than + the immortality of the spiritual life of their race. A famous Japanese + general once said it was the power to hold out for the last desperate + quarter of an hour which won victories, and it is there spiritual stamina + reinforces physical power. It is a mood akin to the ecstasy of the martyr + through his burning. Though in these mad moments neither spiritual nor + material is consciously differentiated, the spiritual is there in a fiery + fusion with all other forces. If it is absent, the body unsupported may + take to its heels or will yield. It has played its only card, and has not + eternity to fling upon the table in a last gamble for victory. + </p> + <p> + A military organization may strengthen the national being, but if it + dominates it, it will impoverish its life. How little Sparta has given to + the world compared with Attica. Yet when national ideals have been created + they assume an immeasurably greater dignity when the citizens organize + themselves for the defense of their ideals, and are prepared to yield up + life itself as a sacrifice if by this the national being may be preserved. + A creed always gains respect through its martyrs. We may grant all this, + yet be doubtful whether a militarist organization should be the main + support of the national being in Ireland. The character of the ideal + should, I believe, be otherwise created, and I am not certain that it + could not be as well preserved and defended by a civil organization, such + as I have indicated, as by armed power. Our geographical position and the + slender population of our country also make it evident that the utmost + force Ireland could organize would make but a feeble barrier against + assault by any of the greater States. We have seen how Belgium, a country + with a population larger than that of Ireland, was thrust aside, crushed + and bleeding, by one stroke from the paw of its mighty neighbor.* The + military and political institutions of a small country are comparatively + easy to displace, but it would be a task infinitely more difficult to + destroy ideals or to extinguish a national being based on a social order, + democratic and co-operative in character, the soul of the country being + continually fed by institutions which, by their very nature, would be + almost impossible to alter unless destruction of the whole humanity of the + country was aimed at. National ideals, based on a co-operative social + order, would have the same power of resistance almost as a religion, which + is, of all things, most unconquerable by physical force, and, when it is + itself militant, the most powerful ally of military power. The aim of all + nations is to preserve their immortality. I do not oppose the creation of + a national army for this purpose. There are occasions when the manhood of + a nation must be prepared to yield life rather than submit to oppression, + when it must perish in self-contempt or resist by force what wrong would + be imposed by force. But I would like to point out that for a country in + the position of Ireland the surest means of preserving the national being + by the sacrifice and devotion of the people are economic and spiritual. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Since this book was written Ireland has had a tragic + illustration of the truth of what is urged in these pages. +</pre> + <p> + Our political life in the past has been sordid and unstable because we + were uncultured as a nation. National ideals have been the possession of + the few in Ireland, and have not been diffused. That is the cause of our + comparative failure as a nation. If we would create an Irish culture, and + spread it widely among our people, we would have the same unfathomable + sources of inspiration and sacrifice to draw upon in our acts as a nation + as the individual has who believes he is immortal, and that his life here + is but a temporary foray into time out of eternity. + </p> + <p> + Yet we have much to learn from the study of military organization. The + great problem of all civilizations is the creation of citizens: that is, + of people who are dominated by the ideal of the general welfare, who will + sink private desire and work harmoniously with their fellow-citizens for + the highest good of their race. While we may all agree that war brings + about an eruption of the arcane and elemental forces which lie normally in + the pit of human life, as the forces which cause earthquakes lie normally + asleep in the womb of the world, none the less we must admit that military + genius has discovered and applied with mastery a law of life which is of + the highest importance to civilization—far more important to civil + even than to military development—and that is the means by which the + individual will forget his personal danger and sacrifice life itself for + the general welfare. In no other organization will men in great masses so + entirely forget themselves as men will in battle under military + discipline. What is the cause of this? Can we discover how it is done and + apply the law to civil life? + </p> + <p> + The military discipline works miracles. The problem before the captains of + armies is to take the body of man, the most naturally egoistic of all + things, which hates pain and which will normally take to its legs in + danger and try to save itself, and to dominate it so that the body and the + soul inhabiting it will stand still and face all it loathes. And the + problem is solved in the vast majority of cases. After military training + the civilians who formerly would fly before a few policemen will manfully + and heroically stand, not the blows of a baton, but a whole hail of + bullets, a cannonade lasting through a day; nay, they will for weeks and + months, day by day, risk and lose life for a cause, for an idea, at a word + of command. They may not have half as good a cause to lose life for as + they had as a mob of angry civilians, but they will face death now, and + the chances of mutilation and agony worse than death. Can we inspire + civilians with the same passionate self-forgetfulness in the pursuit of + the higher ideals of peace? Men in a regiment have to a large extent the + personal interests abolished. The organization they now belong to supports + them and becomes their life. By their union with it a new being is + created. Exercise, drill, maneuver, accentuate that unity, and esprit de + corps arises, so that they feel their highest life is the corporate one; + and that feeling is fostered continually, until at last all the units, by + some law of the soul, are as it were in spite of themselves, in spite of + the legs which want to run, in spite of the body which trembles with fear, + constrained to move in obedience to the purpose of the whole organism + expressed by its controlling will; and so we get these devoted masses of + men who advance again and again under a hail more terrible than Dante + imagined falling in his vision of the fiery world. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing like it in civilian life, but yet the aim of the higher + minds in all civilizations is to create a similar devotion to civic + ideals, so that men will not only, as Pericles said, "give their bodies + for the commonwealth," but will devote mind, will, and imagination with + equal assiduity and self-surrender to the creation of a civilization which + will be the inheritance of all and a cause of pride to every one, and + which will bring to the individual a greater beauty and richness of life + than he could finally reach by the utmost private efforts of which he was + capable. + </p> + <p> + I believe that an organization of society, such as I have indicated, would + evolve gradually a similar passion for the general zeal, having, without + the stern restraint militarism imposes on its units, a like power of + turning the thoughts to the general good. + </p> + <p> + I may say also that to create a militarist organization, before the + natural principles to be safe-guarded are well understood and a common + possession of all the people in the country, would be a danger akin to the + peril of allowing children to play with firearms. We may find it a bad + business to create natural ideals as they are required, just as it is a + perilous business to try to create an army when a country is in a state of + war. If we do not rapidly create a national culture embodying the + fundamental ideas we wish to see prevailing in society our volunteer + armies will be subject to influences from the baser sort of politicians + who would force party aims on the country. We shall have a wretched future + unless the soul of the country can dominate the physical forces in it, + unless ideals of national conduct, liberty of speech and thought, of + justice and brotherhood, exist to inspire and guide it, and are recognized + by all and appealed to by all parties equally. + </p> + <p> + We are standing on the threshold of nationhood, and it is problems like + these we should be setting ourselves to solve, unless we are to be an + unimportant province of the world, a mere administrative area inhabited by + a quite undistinguished people. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII. + </h2> + <p> + But there are other methods of devotion to the national being possible to + us through collective action, and I was moved to imagine one, having once + received a letter from a bloodthirsty correspondent—one of that + rather numerous class whose minds are always loaded with ball cartridge, + whose fingers are always on the trigger, and who are always calling on the + authorities not to hesitate to shoot. He wrote to me during a railway + strike, advocating military conscription in order that railway men who + went out on strike could be called up by the military authorities, as the + French railway strikers were, and who were subject to martial law if they + disobeyed. I do not think with those who believe the venerable remedy of + blood-letting is the best cure for social maladies; and I would have + thought no more about that stern disciplinarian, but my mind went playing + about the idea of conscription, and there came to me some thoughts which I + wish to put on record in the hope that our people in some future, when the + social order will create public spirit and the passion for the State more + plentifully than it does today, may recur to the idea and apply it. Nearly + every State in the world demands from youth a couple of years' service in + the army. There they are trained to defend their country—even, if + necessary, to slay their own countrymen. There is much that is abhorrent + to the imagination in the idea of war, and I am altogether with that noble + body of men who are trying, by means of arbitration treaties, to solve + national differences by reason rather than by force. But we all recognize + something noble in the spirit of the nation where the community agrees + that every man shall give up some years of his life to the State for the + preservation of the State, and may be called upon to surrender life + absolutely in that service. While the manhood of a race does this on the + whole with cheerfulness, there must be something of high character in the + manhood of that nation. A certain gravity attaches to national decisions + which are made, as it were, upon the slopes of death, because none are + exempt from service, and there is no delirious mob ready to yell for a war + in which it does not run the risk of having its own dirty skin perforated + by bullets. In Ireland we have never had military conscription, for + reasons which are well known to all, and upon which I need not enter. I am + well satisfied it should be so, for it leaves open to us the possibility + of a much nobler service, one which has never yet been attempted by any + modern nation, and that is civil conscription. + </p> + <p> + I throw out this suggestion, which may hold the imagination of those who + have noble conceptions of what national life should be and what a nation + should work for, in the hope that some time it may fructify. There is a + prohibition laid on the people in this island against conscription for + military purposes. Is there any reason why we should not have conscription + for civil purposes? Why should not every young man in Ireland give up two + years of his life in a comradeship of labor with other young men, and be + employed under skilled direction in great works of public utility, in the + erection of public buildings, the beautifying of our cities, reclamation + of waste lands, afforestation, and other desirable objects? The principle + of service for the State for military purposes is admitted in every + country, even at last by the English-speaking peoples. It is easy to be + seen how this principle of conscription could be applied to infinitely + nobler ends—to the building up of a beautiful civilization—and + might make the country adopting it in less than half a century as + beautiful as ancient Attica or majestic as ancient Egypt. While other + nations take part of the life of young men for instruction in war, why + should not the State in Ireland, more nobly inspired, ask of its young men + that they should give equally of their lives to the State, not for the + destruction of life, but for the conservation of life? This service might + be asked from all—high and low, well and humbly born—except + from those who can plead the reasons which exempt people abroad from + military service. As things stand today, if the State undertakes any + public work, it does it more expensively by far than it would be if + undertaken by private enterprise. Every person puts up prices for the + State or for municipalities. Labor, land, and materials are all charged at + the highest possible rates, whereas if there was any really high + conception of citizenship and of the functions of the State, the citizens + would agree so that works of public utility, or those which conspired to + add to national dignity, should be done at least cost to the community. + Where there is no national sacrifice there is no national pride. Because + there is no national pride our modern civilizations show meanly compared + with the titanic architecture of the cities and majestic civilizations of + the past. We know from the ruins of these proud cities that he who walked + into ancient Rome, Athens, Thebes, Memphis and Babylon, walked amid + grandeurs which must have exalted the spirit. To walk into Manchester, + Sheffield, or Liverpool is to feel a weight upon the soul. There is no + national feeling for beauty in our industrial civilizations. + </p> + <p> + Let us suppose Ireland had through industrial conscription about fifty + thousand young men every year at its disposal under a national works + department. What could be done? First of all it would mean that every + young man in the country would have received an industrial training of + some kind. The work of technical instruction could be largely carried on + in connection with this industrial army. People talk of the benefit of + discipline and obedience secured by military service. This and much more + could be secured by a labor conscription. Every man in the island would + have got into the habit of work at a period of life when it is most + necessary, and when too many young men have no serious occupation. Parents + should welcome the training and discipline for their children, and + certificates of character and intelligence given by the department of + national works should open up prospects of rapid employment in the + ordinary industrial life of the country when the period of public service + was closed. For those engaged there would be a true comradeship in labor, + and the phrase, "the dignity of labor," about which so much cant has been + written, would have a real significance where young men were working + together for the public benefit with the knowledge that any completed work + would add to the health, beauty, dignity, and prosperity of the State. In + return for this labor the State should feed and clothe its industrial + army, educate them, and familiarize them with some branch of employment, + and make them more competent after this period of service was over to + engage in private enterprise. Two years of such training would dissipate + all the slackness, lack of precision, and laziness which are so often + apparent in young men who have never had any strict discipline in their + homes, and whom parental weakness has rendered unfit for the hard business + of life. + </p> + <p> + The benefit to those undergoing such a training would of itself justify + civil conscription; but when we come to think of the nation—what + might not be done by a State with a national labor army under its control? + Public works might be undertaken at a cost greatly below that which would + otherwise be incurred, and the estimates which now paralyze the State, + when it considers this really needed service or that, would assume a + different appearance, as it would be embracing in one enterprise technical + education and the accomplishment of beneficial works. With such an army + under skilled control the big cities could have playgrounds for the + children of the cities; public gardens, baths, gymnasiums, recreation + rooms, hospitals, and sanatoriums might be built; waste land reclaimed and + afforested, and the roadsides might be planted with fruit trees. National + schools, picture-galleries, public halls, libraries, and a thousand + enterprises which now hang fire because at present labor for public + service is the most expensive labor, all could be undertaken. If the State + becomes very poor, as indeed it is certain to be, it may be forced into + some such method of fulfilling its functions. Are we, with enormous + burdens of debt, to hang up every useful public work because of the + expense, and spend our lives in paying State debts while the body for whom + we work is unable, on account of the expense, to do anything for us in + return? If the State is to continue its functions we shall have to + commandeer people for its service in times of peace as is done in times of + war. There is hardly an argument which could be used to defend military + conscription which could not be equaled with as powerful an argument for + civil conscription. I am not at all sure that if the State in Ireland + decided to utilize two years of every young man's life for State purposes + that we could not disband most of our expensive constabulary and make + certain squads of our civil recruits responsible for the keeping of public + law and order, leaving only the officers as permanent professionals, for + of course there must be expert control of the conscripts. The postal + service might also be carried on largely by conscripted civilians. + </p> + <p> + This may appear a fantastic programme, but I would like to see it argued + out. It would create a real brotherhood in work, just as the army creates + in its own way a brotherhood between men in the same regiments. The nation + adopting civil conscription could clean itself up in a couple of + generations, so that in respect of public services it would be + incomparable. The alternative to this is to starve all public services, to + make the State simply the tax-collector, to pay the interest on a huge + debt, and so get it hated because it can do nothing except collect money + to pay the interest on a colossal national debt. Obviously the State as an + agency to bring about civilization cannot perform both services—pay + interest on huge public loans, and continue an expensive service. It must + find out some way in which public services can be continued, and if + possible improved, and the open way to that is civil conscription and the + assertion of a claim to two or three years of the work of every citizen + for civil purposes, just as it now asserts a claim on the services of + citizens for the defense of the State. As national debts are more and more + piled up, it has seemed to many that here must be an end to what was + called social reform, that we were entering on a black era, and no dawn + would show over Europe for another century. There is always a way out of + troubles if people are imaginative enough and brotherly enough to conceive + of it and bold enough to take action when they have found the way. The + real danger for society is that it may become spiritless and hidebound and + tamed, and have none of those high qualities necessary in face of peril, + and the more people get accustomed to thinking of bold schemes the better. + They will get over the first shock, and may be ready when the time comes + to put them into action. When a country is poor like Ireland and yet is + ambitious of greatness; when the aspect of its civilization is mean and + when it yet aspires to beauty; when its people are living under unsanitary + conditions and yet the longing is there to give health to all; when + Ireland is like this, its public men and its citizens might do much worse + than brood over the possibilities of industrial conscription, and of + revising the character of the purposes for which nations have hitherto + claimed service from their young citizens on behalf of the State. Debarred + by a fate not altogether unkind from training every citizen in the arts of + war Ireland might—if the love of country and the desire for service + are really so strong as we are told—suddenly become eminent among + the nations of the world by adopting a policy which in half a century + would make our mean cities and our backward countryside the most beautiful + in the modern world. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + I have not in all this written anything about the relations of Ireland + with other countries, or even with our neighbors, in whose political + household we have lived for so many centuries in intimate hostility. I + have considered this indeed, but did not wish, nor do I now wish, in + anything I may write, to say one word which would add to that old + hostility. Race hatred is the cheapest and basest of all national + passions, and it is the nature of hatred, as it is the nature of love, to + change us into the likeness of that which we contemplate. We grow nobly + like what we adore, and ignobly like what we hate; and no people in + Ireland became so anglicized in intellect and temperament, and even in the + manner of expression, as those who hated our neighbors most. All hatreds + long persisted in bring us to every baseness for which we hated others. + The only laws which we cannot break with impunity are divine laws, and no + law is more eternally sure in its workings than that which condemns us to + be even as that we condemned. Hate is the high commander of so many armies + that an inquiry into the origin of this passion is at least as needful as + histories of other contemporary notorieties. Not emperors or parliaments + alone raise armies, but this passion also. It will sustain nations in + defeat. When everything seems lost this wild captain will appear and the + scattered forces are reunited. They will be as oblivious of danger as if + they were divinely inspired, but if they win their battle it is to become + like the conquered foe. All great wars in history, all conquests, all + national antagonisms, result in an exchange of characteristics. It is + because I wish Ireland to be itself, to act from its own will and its own + centre, that I deprecate hatred as a force in national life. It is always + possible to win a cause without the aid of this base helper, who betrays + us ever in the hour of victory. + </p> + <p> + When a man finds the feeling of hate for another rising vehemently in + himself, he should take it as a warning that conscience is battling in his + own being with that very thing he loathes. Nations hate other nations for + the evil which is in themselves; but they are as little given to + self-analysis as individuals, and while they are right to overcome evil, + they should first try to understand the genesis of the passion in their + own nature. If we understand this, many of the ironies of history will be + intelligible. We will understand why it was that our countrymen in Ulster + and our countrymen in the rest of Ireland, who have denounced each other + so vehemently, should at last appear to have exchanged characteristics: + why in the North, having passionately protested against physical force + movements, no-rent manifestos, and contempt for Imperial Parliament, they + should have come themselves at last to organize a physical force movement, + should threaten to pay no taxes, and should refuse obedience to an Act of + Parliament. We will understand also why it was their opponents came + themselves to address to Ulster all the arguments and denunciations Ulster + had addressed to them. I do not point this out with intent to annoy, but + to illustrate by late history a law in national as well as human + psychology. If this unpopular psychology I have explained was adopted + everywhere as true, we would never hear expressions of hate. People would + realize they were first revealing and then stabbing their own characters + before the world. + </p> + <p> + Nations act towards other nations as their own citizens act towards each + other. When slavery existed in a State, if that nation attacked another it + was with intent to enslave. Where there is a fierce economic competition + between citizen and citizen then in war with another nation, the object of + the war is to destroy the trade of the enemy. If the citizens in any + country could develop harmonious life among themselves they would manifest + the friendliest feelings towards the people of other countries. We find + that it is just among groups of people who aim at harmonious life, + co-operators and socialists, that the strongest national impulses to + international brotherhood arise; and wars of domination are brought about + by the will of those who within a State are dominant over the fortunes of + the rest. Ireland, a small country, can only maintain its national + identity by moral and economic forces. Physically it must be overmastered + by most other European nations. Moral forces are really more powerful than + physical forces. One Christ changed the spiritual life of Europe; one + Buddha affected more myriads in Asia. + </p> + <p> + The co-operative ideal of brotherhood in industry has helped to make + stronger the ideal of the brotherhood of humanity, and no body of men in + any of the countries in the great War of our time regarded it with more + genuine sorrow than those who were already beginning to promote schemes + for international co-operation. It must be mainly in movements inspired + with the ideal of the brotherhood of man, that the spirit will be + generated which, in the future, shall make the idea of war so detestable + that statesmen will find it is impossible to think of that solution of + their disputes as they would think now of resorting to private + assassination of political opponents. The great tragedy of Europe was + brought about, not by the German Emperor, nor by Sir Edward Grey, nor by + the Czar, nor by any of the other chiefs ostensibly controlling foreign + policy, but by the nations themselves. These men may have been agents, but + their action would have been impossible if they did not realize that there + was a vast body of national feeling behind them not opposed to war. Their + citizens were in conflict with each other already, generating the moods + which lead on to war. Emperors, foreign secretaries, ambassadors, cabinet + ministers are not really powerful to move nations against their will. On + the whole, they act with the will of the nations, which they understand. + Let any one ruler try, for example, to change by edict the religion of his + subjects, and a week would see him bereft of place and power. They could + not do this, because the will of the nation would be against it. They + resort to war and prepare for it because the will of the nation is with + them, and this throws us back on the private citizens, who finally are + individually and collectively responsible for the actions of the State. In + the everlasting battle between good and evil, private soldiers are called + upon to fight as well as the captains, and it is only through the + intensive cultivation by individuals and races of the higher moral and + intellectual qualities, until in intensity they outweigh the mood and + passion of the rest, that war will finally become obsolete as the court of + appeal. When there is a panic of fire in a crowded building men are + suddenly tested as to character. Some will become frenzied madmen, + fighting and trampling their way out. Others will act nobly, forgetting + themselves. They have no time to think. What they are in their total make + up as human beings, overbalanced either for good or evil, appears in an + instant. Even so, some time in the heroic future, some nation in a crisis + will be weighed and will act nobly rather than passionately, and will be + prepared to risk national extinction rather than continue existence at the + price of killing myriads of other human beings, and it will oppose moral + and spiritual forces to material forces, and it will overcome the world by + making gentleness its might, as all great spiritual teachers have done. It + comes to this, we cannot overcome hatred by hatred or war by war, but by + the opposites of these. Evil is not overcome by evil but by good; and any + race like the Irish, eager for national life, ought to learn this truth—that + humanity will act towards their race as their race acts towards humanity. + The noble and the base alike beget their kin. Empires, ere they disappear, + see their own mirrored majesty arise in the looking-glass of time. Opposed + to the pride and pomp of Egypt were the pride and pomp of Chaldaea. + Echoing the beauty of the Greek city state were many lovely cities made in + their image. Carthage evoked Rome. The British Empire, by the natural + balance and opposition of things, called into being another empire with a + civilization of coal and steel, and with ambitions for colonies and for + naval power, and with that image of itself it must wrestle for empire. The + great armadas that throng the seas, the armed millions upon the earth + betray the fear in the minds of races, nay, the inner spiritual certitude + the soul has, that pride and lust of power must yet be humbled by their + kind. They must at last meet their equals face to face, called to them as + steel to magnet by some inner affinity. This is a law of life both for + individuals and races, and, when this is realized, we know nothing will + put an end to race conflicts except the equally determined and heroic + development of the spiritual, moral, and intellectual forces which disdain + to use the force and fury of material powers. + </p> + <p> + We may be assured that the divine law is not mocked, and it cannot be + deceived. As men sow so do they reap. The anger we create will rend us; + the love we give will return to us. Biologically, everything breeds true + to its type: moods and thoughts just as much as birds and beasts and + fishes. When I hear people raging against England or Germany or Russia I + know that rage will beget rage, and go on begetting it, and so the whole + devilish generation of passions will be continued. There are no nations to + whom the entire and loyal allegiance of man's spirit could be given. It + can only go out to the ideal empires and nationalities in the womb of + time, for whose coming we pray. Those countries of the future we must + carve out of the humanity of today, and we can begin building them up + within our present empires and nationalities just as we are building up + the co-operative movement in a social order antagonistic to it. The people + who are trying to create these new ideals in the world are outposts, + sentinels, and frontiersmen thrown out before the armies of the + intellectual and spiritual races yet to come into being. We can all enlist + in these armies and be comrades to the pioneers. I hope many will enlist + in Ireland. I would cry to our idealists to come out of this present-day + Irish Babylon, so filled with sectarian, political, and race hatreds, and + to work for the future. I believe profoundly, with the most extreme of + Nationalists, in the future of Ireland, and in the vision of light seen by + Bridget which she saw and confessed between hopes and tears to Patrick, + and that this is the Isle of Destiny and the destiny will be glorious and + not ignoble, and when our hour is come we will have something to give to + the world, and we will be proud to give rather than to grasp. Throughout + their history Irishmen have always wrought better for others than for + themselves, and when they unite in Ireland to work for each other, they + will direct into the right channel all that national capacity for devotion + to causes for which they are famed. We ought not only to desire to be at + peace with each other, but with the whole world, and this can only be + brought about by the individual citizen at all times protesting against + sectarian and national passions, and taking no part in them, coming out of + such angry parties altogether, as the people of the Lord were called by + the divine voice to come out of Babylon. It may seem a long way to set + things right, but it is the swift way and the royal road, and there is no + other; and nobody, no prophet crying before his time, will be listened to + until the people are ready for him. The congregation must gather before + the preacher can deliver what is in him to say. The economic brotherhood + which I have put forward as an Irish ideal would, in its realization, make + us at peace with ourselves, and if we are at peace with ourselves we will + be at peace with our neighbors and all other nations, and will wish them + the goodwill we have among ourselves, and will receive from them the same + goodwill. I do not believe in legal and formal solutions of national + antagonisms. While we generate animosities among ourselves we will always + display them to other nations, and I prefer to search out how it is + national hatreds are begotten, and to show how that cancer can be cut out + of the body politic. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIX. + </h2> + <p> + It seems inevitable that the domination of the individual by the State + must become ever greater. It is in the evolutionary process. The + amalgamation of individuals into nationalities and empires is as much in + the cosmic plan as the development of highly organized beings out of + unicellular organisms. I believe this process will continue until humanity + itself is so psychically knit together that, as a being, it will manifest + some form of cosmic consciousness in which the individual will share. Our + spiritual intuitions and the great religions of the world alike indicate + some such goal as that to which this turbulent cavalcade of humanity is + wending. A knowledge of this must be in our subconscious being, or we + would find the sacrifices men make for the State otherwise inexplicable. + The State, though now ostensibly secular, makes more imperious claims on + man than the ancient gods did. It lays hold of life. It asserts its right + to take father, brother, and son, and to send them to meet death in its + own defense. It denies them a choice or judgment as to whether its action + is right or wrong. Right or wrong, the individual must be prepared to give + his body for the commonwealth, and when one gives the body unresistingly, + one gives the soul also. The marvelous thing about the authority of the + State is that it is recognized by the vast majority of citizens. During + eras of peace the citizen may be always in conflict with the policy of the + State. He may call it a tyranny, but yet when it is in peril he will die + to preserve for it an immortal life. The hold the State establishes over + the spirit of man is the more wonderful when we look rearward on history, + and see with what labor and sacrifice the State was established. But we + see also how readily, once the union has been brought about, men will die + to preserve it, even although it is a tyranny, a bad State. For what do + they die unless the spirit in man has some inner certitude that the divine + event to which humanity tends is a unity of its multitudinous life, and + that a State—even a bad State—must be preserved by its + citizens, because it is at least an attempt at organic unity? It is a + simulacrum of the ideal; it contains the germ or possibility of that to + which the spirit of man is traveling. It disciplines the individual in + service to that greater being in which it will find its fulfillment, and a + bad State is better than no State at all. To be without a State is to + prowl backwards from the divinity before us to the beast behind us. + </p> + <p> + The power the State exerts is a spiritual power, acting on or through the + will of man. The volunteer armies do not really march to die with more + readiness than the conscript armies. The sacrifice is not readily + explicable by material causes. There is no material reason why the + proletarian—who has no property to defend, who is more or less sure + as a skilled craftsman of employment under any ruler—should concern + himself whether his ruler be King, Kaiser, or President. But not one in a + hundred proletarians really thinks like that. It is not the hope of + personal profit works upon men to risk life. Let some exploiter of + industry desire to employ a thousand men at dangerous work, with the risks + of death or disablement equal to those of war; let it be known that one in + six will be killed and another be disabled, and what sum will purchase the + service of workers? They will risk life for the State, though given a bare + subsistence or a pay which they would describe as inhuman if offered by + one of the autocrats of industry. Men working for the State will make the + most extraordinary sacrifices; but they stand stubbornly and sullenly as + disturbers and blockers of all industry which is run for private profit. + Is it not clear of the two policies for the State to adopt, to promote + personal interests among its citizens or to unite men for the general + good, that the first path is full of danger to the State, while through + the other men will march cheerfully, though it be to death, in defense of + the State. Something, a real life above the individual, acts through the + national being, and would almost suggest to us that Heaven cannot fully + manifest its will to humanity through the individual, but must utter + itself through multitudes. There must be an orchestration of humanity ere + it can echo divine melodies. In real truth we are all seeking in the + majesties we create for union with a greater Majesty. + </p> + <p> + I wrote in an earlier page that the ancient conception of Nature as a + manifestation of spirit was incarnating anew in the minds of modern + thinkers; that Nature was no longer conceived of as material or static in + condition, but as force and continual motion; that they were trying to + identify human will with this arcane energy, and let the forces of Nature + manifest with more power in society. The real nature of these energies + manifesting in humanity I do not know, but they have been hinted at in the + Scriptures, the oracles of the Oversoul, which speak of the whole creation + laboring upwards and the entry of humanity into the Divine Mind, and of + the re-introcession of That Itself with all Its myriad unity into Deity, + so that God might be all in all. I believe profoundly that men do not hold + the ideas of liberty or solidarity, which have moved them so powerfully, + merely as phantasies which are pleasant to the soul or make ease for the + body; but because, whether they struggle passionately for liberty or to + achieve a solidarity, in working for these two ideals, which seem in + conflict, they are divinely supported, in unison with the divine nature, + and energies as real as those the scientist studies—as electricity, + as magnetism, heat or light—do descend into the soul and reinforce + it with elemental energy. We are here for the purposes of soul, and there + can be no purpose in individualizing the soul if essential freedom is + denied to it and there is only a destiny. Wherever essential freedom, the + right of the spirit to choose its own heroes and its own ideals, is + denied, nations rise in rebellion. But the spirit in man is wrought in a + likeness to Deity, which is that harmony and unity of Being which upholds + the universe; and by the very nature of the spirit, while it asserts its + freedom, its impulses lead it to a harmony with all life, to a solidarity + or brotherhood with it. + </p> + <p> + All these ideals of freedom, of brotherhood, of power, of justice, of + beauty, which have been at one time or another the fundamental idea in + civilizations, are heaven-born, and descended from the divine world, + incarnating first in the highest minds in each race, perceived by them and + transmitted to their fellow-citizens; and it is the emergence or + manifestation of one or other of these ideals in a group which is the + beginning of a nation; and the more strongly the ideal is held the more + powerful becomes the national being, because the synchronous vibration of + many minds in harmony brings about almost unconsciously a psychic unity, a + coalescing of the subconscious being of many. It is that inner unity which + constitutes the national being. + </p> + <p> + The idea of the national being emerged at no recognizable point in our + history in Ireland. It is older than any name we know. It is not + earth-born, but the synthesis of many heroic and beautiful moments, and + these, it must be remembered, are divine in their origin. Every heroic + deed is an act of the spirit, and every perception of beauty is vision + with the divine eye, and not with the mortal sense. The spirit was subtly + intermingled with the shining of old romance, and it is no mere phantasy + which shows Ireland at its dawn in a misty light thronged with divine + figures, and beneath and nearer to us demi-gods and heroes fading into + recognizable men. The bards took cognizance only of the most notable + personalities who preceded them, and of these only the acts which had a + symbolic or spiritual significance; and these grew thrice refined as + generations of poets in enraptured musings along by the mountains or in + the woods brooded upon their heritage of story, until, as it passed from + age to age, the accumulated beauty grew greater than the beauty of the + hour. The dream began to enter into the children of our race, and turn + their thoughts from earth to that world in which it had its inception. + </p> + <p> + It was a common belief among the ancient peoples that each had a national + genius or deity who presided over them, in whose all-embracing mind they + were contained, and who was the shepherd of their destinies. We can + conceive of the national spirit in Ireland as first manifesting itself + through individual heroes or kings, and as the history of famous warriors + laid hold of the people, extending its influence until it created therein + the germs of a kindred nature. + </p> + <p> + An aristocracy of lordly and chivalrous heroes is bound in time to create + a great democracy by the reflection of their character in the mass, and + the idea of the divine right of kings is succeeded by the idea of the + divine right of the people. If this sequence cannot be traced in any one + respect with historical regularity, it is because of the complexity of + national life, its varied needs, the vicissitudes of history, and its + infinite changes of sentiment. But the threads are all taken up in the + end; and ideals which were forgotten and absent from the voices of men + will be found, when recurred to, to have grown to a rarer and more + spiritual beauty in their quiet abode in the heart. The seeds which were + sown at the beginning of a race bear their flowers and fruits towards its + close, and already antique names begin to stir us again with their power, + and the antique ideals to reincarnate in us and renew their dominion over + us. + </p> + <p> + They may not be recognized at first as a re-emergence of ancient moods. + The democratic economics of the ancient clans have vanished almost out of + memory, but the mood in which they were established reappears in those who + would create a communal or co-operative life in the nation into which + those ancient clans long since have melted. The instinct in the clans to + waive aside the weak and to seek for an aristocratic and powerful + character in their leaders reappears in the rising generation, who turn + from the utterer of platitudes to men of real intellect and strong will. + The object of democratic organization is to bring out the aristocratic + character in leadership, the vivid original personalities who act and + think from their own will and their own centres, who bring down fire from + the heaven of their spirits and quicken and vivify the mass, and make + democracies also to be great and fearless and free. A nation is dead where + men acknowledge only conventions. We must find out truth for ourselves, + becoming first initiates and finally masters in the guild of life. The + intellect of Ireland is in chains where it ought to be free, and we have + individualism in our economics which ought to be co-ordinated and sternly + disciplined out of the iniquity of free profiteering. To quicken the + intellect and imagination of Ireland, to co-ordinate our economic life for + the general good, should be the objects of national policy, and will + subserve the evolutionary purpose. The free imagination and the aspiring + mind alone climb into the higher spheres and deflect for us the ethereal + currents. It is the multitude of aristocratic thinkers who give glory to a + people and make them of service to other nations, and it is by the + character of the social order and the quality of brotherhood in it our + civilization will endure. Without love we are nothing. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XX. + </h2> + <p> + I beseech audience from the churches for these thoughts on our Irish + polity, and would recall to them their early history, how when the fiery + spirit of their Lord first manifested on earth, life, near to It, + reflected It as in a glowing glass, and impulses of true living arose. + Material possessions were held in common. There was no fierce talk of + Thine and Mine. His ancient law counseled poverty to the spirit, lest the + gates of Paradise should grow narrow before it like the eye of a needle. I + believe the fading hold the heavens have over the world is due to the + neglect of the economic basis of spiritual life. What profound spiritual + life can there be when the social order almost forces men to battle with + each other for the means of existence? I know well that no political + mechanics, nothing which is an economic device only, will of themselves be + able to affect the transfiguration of society and bring it under the + dominion of the spirit. For that, a far higher quality of thought and + action than is here indicated is necessary. The economist can provide the + daily bread, but that bread of the coming day which Christ wished his + followers to aspire to must come otherwise. That should be the labor of + the poets, artists, musicians, and of the heroic and aristocratic + characters who provide by their life an image to which life can be + modeled. Therefore I beseech audience not only of the churches, but of the + poets, writers, and thinkers of Ireland for their aid in this labor. They + alone can create in wide commonalty the ideals which can dominate society. + It is the work of the artist to create for us images of desirable life, to + manifest to us the ideal humanity, and to prefigure that vaster entity + which I have called the national being. I said in an earlier page that + part of the failure of Ireland must be laid to the poets who had dropped + out of the divine procession and sang a solitary song; to the writers who + had turned from contemplating the great to the portrayal of the little in + human nature. I know how difficult it is to constrain the spirit, and how + futile it is to ask artists or poets to create what they are not inspired + to create. But we can ask all men—artists, poets, litterateurs, and + scientists—to be citizens, and if they realize imaginatively the + spiritual conception of the State, we may assume that this imaginative + realization of the State will influence the labors of the mind, and what + is done will, consciously or unconsciously, have reference to that + collective being which must dominate society more and more, which will + dominate it as a tyranny if we fail in our labors, or liberate and make + more majestical the spirit of man if we imagine rightly. All greatness is + brought about by a conspiracy of the imagination and the will. Our + literature certainly manifests beauty, but not greatness or majesty, for + majesty only arises where there is an orchestration of humanity by some + mighty conductor; and as a people we shall never manifest the highest + qualities in literature or life until we are under the dominion of one, at + least, of the great fundamental ideas which have been the inspiration of + races. Our feebleness arises from our economic individualism. We + continually neutralize each other's efforts. Yet there is no less power in + humanity today than there ever was. We see now clearly what untamed + elemental fires lay underneath the seeming placidity of the world. There + was a feeling in society that, just as the earth itself had settled down + to be a habitable globe, and was forgetting its ancient ferocities of + earthquake that opened up gulfs between land and land and rended sea from + sea, so, too, humanity was losing those wilder energies we surmised in the + cave-dweller or the hunters of mastodon, mammoth, and cave-tiger. But it + was all a dream—a dream, we suspect, about the earth as well as + about humanity. While we indulged in these pleasing speculations on + society, the scientists of our generation were placing beyond question or + argument the doctrine of the indestructibility of energy and matter and we + may be sure that while there is immortal life there must be immortal + energies as its companions through time, and they will never be less + powerful than they are today or were in the morning of the world. There + will be no weakening of that mighty God-begotten brotherhood of elemental + powers; and, while we cannot hope that by the wastage of time these powers + will be feebler, we may hope that by an understanding of them we may get + mastery over them. The wild elephant of the woods, with a greater strength + than man's, has yet been trained to be his servant, and that arcane power + we call electricity, which, if it shoots out of its channel, shrivels up + the body of man, is now our servant. So we may hope, too, that the + elemental energies in humanity itself, which break out in wars and + Armageddons, will come under control. We should not hope that man will + ever be a less powerful being. To hope that would be to wish for his + degradation. We should wish him to become ever more and more powerful by + understanding himself, and by the unity of the spiritual faculties and the + elemental energies in him into one harmonious whole. At present he is + feeble because he is, to use the scriptural illustration, a house divided + against itself. + </p> + <p> + Our feebleness is due to the conflict of powers in us and our conflict + with each other. Get the two mightiest bulls in a herd, put them opposing + each other in a narrow passage, and they, being of equal strength, will + reduce each other to feebleness. Neither will make headway. Let them unite + together in their charge, and what will oppose them? Men at conflict in + their own hearts, opposing each other in the world, reduce themselves and + each other to wretchedness. The race which could eliminate the factors + which promote internal conflict in society and could organize human + energies in harmony, would be powerful beyond our wildest dreams. Every + now and then in world-history we come across instances of what organized + humanity could accomplish. There are fragments of an architecture so + majestic that they awe us as the high rocks of nature do, and they seem + almost like portions of nature itself, and truly they are so, being + portions of nature remade by man, who is also a nature energy of divine + origin. Europe by its conflicts today is reducing itself to barbarism and + powerlessness, and these conflicts arose out of the internal conflicts in + society, for individuals and nations act outside themselves as they act + inside themselves. The problem for Europe is to create a harmonious life, + and it is the problem for us in Ireland, and we will have to work this out + for ourselves. The creation of a harmonious life among a people must come + from within. It can never come by the imposition of an external law + imposed by another people: Never did master and slave work in true unison, + no matter how benevolent the master or how yielding the slave, for there + is in every man, no matter what his condition, a spark of divine life, and + it will always be ready to stir him out of subjection, as the fires of + earthquake lie below the cultivated plain. Man is a creature who has free + will, and it is by self-devised and self-checked efforts he will attain + his full human stature. So the problem of creating an organic life in + Ireland, a harmony of our people, a union of their efforts for the common + good and for the manifestation of whatever beauty, majesty, and + spirituality is in us, must be one we ourselves must solve for ourselves. + </p> + <p> + To be indifferent to the possibilities of human life, to ignore the + problem, is to turn our back on heaven, which fashioned the spirit of man + in its image. If the spirit of man has likeness to Deity, it means that if + it manifests itself fully in the world, the world too becomes a shadowy + likeness of the heavens, and our civilizations will make a harmony with + the diviner spheres. We give still a service of lip belief to the + Scriptures, yet active faith we have not. But they are true, yesterday, + today, and for ever; and we have still the root of the matter in us, for + when any one utters out of profound conviction his faith, there are always + multitudes ready to respond. What really prevents an organic unity in + Ireland is the economic individualism of our lives. The science of + economics deals with the efforts of men to mine out of nature the food, + minerals, and materials necessary to preserve life. There is nothing more + certain than that where men work alone or only with the aid of their + families they are little higher than the animals. When they tend to unite + civilization begins. Then arise the towers, the temples, the cities, the + achievements of the architect and engineer. The earth is tapped of its + arcane energies, the very air yields to us its mysterious powers. We + control the etheric waves and send the message of our deeds across the + ocean. Yet in the midst of these vast external manifestations of power, + multitudes of men and women live in squalor, isolated in their labors, + living in the slums of cities; and this, if we examine it, comes about + because the organization of human energies into a harmonious unity is not + complete. There is really no lack of food, clothing, building material, + land. Nature has provided bountifully for more myriads than we are likely + to see peopling the earth. But people compete with each other and + undersell each other, and those who labor are mulcted of their due, and + instead of turning to the earth—the inexhaustible mother—and + working unitedly for the common weal, they continue that fierce + competition and stultify each other's efforts and reduce each other to + wretchedness. Humanity is a house divided against itself. Those who feel + this to be true must gather round any movement which gives a hope for the + future, which indicates a policy by which the organic unity of society in + Ireland might be attained, and our people work harmoniously to make beauty + and health prevail in our civilization. What each gives up to society in + the making of a civilization he gets back a thousandfold. Now, the + co-operative movement alone of all movements in Ireland has aspired to + make an economic solidarity in Ireland. Whatever the aims of other + movements may be—and many of them have high ideals and are necessary + for the spiritual and intellectual development of our people—there + is none of them which has for aim the unity of economic life. They all + leave untouched this problem—how are we to organize society so that + people will not be in conflict with each other, will not nullify each + other's efforts, but all will conspire together for unity, so that none + shall be forgotten or oppressed or left out of our brotherhood? The policy + I put forward is incomplete and imperfect, and it must necessarily be so, + being mainly the work of one mind, and to complete it and perfect it there + must be many minds and many workers fired by the ideal. But I have + indicated in some completeness how the rural population could be + co-operatively organized, federated together, and how the urban population + could be organized and brought into a harmony of economic purpose with the + folk of the country. Within the limits of object these suggestions amount + to a policy for the nation. + </p> + <p> + If the tragic condition of the world leaves us unstirred, if we draw no + lessons from it, if there is no fiery stirring of will in Ireland to make + it a better place to live in, then indeed we may lose hope for our + country. Let us remember the most scornful condemnation in Scripture was + not given to the evil but to the indifferent: "Because thou art neither + hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth." Let us not be the + Laodiceans of Europe, listless and indifferent to human needs, swallowing + our whisky and our porter, stupefying our souls, while our poor are + sweated; letting the children of our cities die with more carelessness + about life than the people of any other European country, with sectarian + organization's crawling in secrecy like poisonous serpents through the + undergrowth of swamps and forests. The co-operative movement is at least + open and ideal in its aims and objects. It is national and not sectional. + It seeks the triumph of no section but the unity of our people, where + unity alone is possible. Our intransigents and extremists of all parties + are not hurt or wounded by their adhesion to the co-operative ideal. We + may make up our minds that the stubborn Irish temperament will never be + overcome, but it may be won, and the movement which invites all parties + and creeds into its ranks and gives them the largest opportunities of + working together and understanding each other, gives also the largest hope + of the gradual melting of old bitterness into a common tolerance where + what is best essentially wins; for all true triumphs are triumphs not of + force, but the conquest by a superior beauty of what is less beautiful. We + should aim at a society where people will be at harmony in their economic + life, will readily listen to different opinions from their own, will not + turn sour faces on those who do not think as they do, but will, by reason + and sympathy, comprehend each other and come at last, through sympathy and + affection, to a balancing of their diversities, as in that multitudinous + diversity, which is the universe, powers and dominions and elements are + balanced, and are guided harmoniously by the Shepherd of the Ages. + </p> + <p> + THE END <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's National Being, by (A.E.)George William Russell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + +***** This file should be named 8104-h.htm or 8104-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/0/8104/ + +Produced by Jake Jaqua, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: National Being + Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity + +Author: (A.E.)George William Russell + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8104] +Posting Date: July 29, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + + + + +Produced by Jake Jaqua + + + + + +THE NATIONAL BEING + +Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity + +By "A.E." [George William Russell] + + + +To The Right Hon. Sir Horace Plunkett + +A good many years ago you grafted a slip of poetry on your economic +tree. I do not know if you expected a hybrid. This essay may not be +economics in your sense of the word. It certainly is not poetry in my +sense. The Marriage of Heaven and Earth was foretold by the ancient +prophets. I have seen no signs of that union taking place, but I have +been led to speculate how they might be brought within hailing distance +of each other. In my philosophy of life, we are all responsible for +the results of our actions and their effects on others. This book is +a consequence of your grafting operation, and so I dedicate it to +you.--A.E. + + + + + +I. + + + +In the year nineteen hundred and fourteen Anno Domini, amid a world +conflict, the birth of the infant State of Ireland was announced. Almost +unnoticed this birth, which in other times had been cried over the +earth with rejoicings or anger. Mars, the red planet of war, was in the +ascendant when it was born. Like other births famous in history, the +child had to be hidden away for a time, and could not with pride be +shown to the people as royal children were wont to be shown. Its enemies +were unforgiving, and its friends were distracted with mighty happenings +in the world. Hardly did they know whether it would not be deformed if +it survived: whether this was the Promised, or another child yet to +be conceived in the womb of the Mother of Parliaments. Battles were +threatened between two hosts, secular champions of two spiritual +traditions, to decide its fate. That such a conflict threatened showed +indeed that there was something of iron fibre in the infant, without +which in their make-up individuals or nations do nothing worthy of +remembrance. Hercules wrestled with twin serpents in his cradle, and +there were twin serpents of sectarianism ready to strangle this infant +State of ours if its guardians were not watchful, or if the infant was +not itself strong enough to destroy them. + +It is about the State of Ireland, its character and future, I have here +written some kind of imaginative meditation. The State is a physical +body prepared for the incarnation of the soul of a race. The body of the +national soul may be spiritual or secular, aristocratic or democratic, +civil or militarist predominantly. One or other will be most powerful, +and the body of the race will by reflex action affect its soul, even +as through heredity the inherited tendencies and passions of the flesh +affect the indwelling spirit. Our brooding over the infant State must +be dual, concerned not only with the body but the soul. When we essay +self-government in Ireland our first ideas will, in all probability, be +borrowed from the Mother of Parliaments, just as children before they +grow to have a character of their own repeat the sentiments of their +parents. After a time, if there is anything in the theory of Irish +nationality, we will apply original principles as they are from time +to time discovered to be fundamental in Irish character. A child in the +same way makes discoveries about itself. The mood evoked by picture or +poem reveals a love of beauty; the harsh treatment of an animal provokes +an outburst of pity; some curiosity of nature draws forth the spirit of +scientific inquiry, and so, as the incidents of life reveal the innate +affinities of a child to itself, do the adventures of a nation gradually +reveal to it its own character and the will which is in it. + +For all our passionate discussions over self-government we have +had little speculation over our own character or the nature of the +civilization we wished to create for ourselves. Nations rarely, if ever, +start with a complete ideal. Certainly we have no national ideals, no +principles of progress peculiar to ourselves in Ireland, which are a +common possession of our people. National ideals are the possession of a +few people only. Yet we must spread them in wide commonalty over Ireland +if we are to create a civilization worthy of our hopes and our ages of +struggle and sacrifice to attain the power to build. We must spread them +in wide commonalty because it is certain that democracy will prevail +in Ireland. The aristocratic classes with traditions of government, the +manufacturing classes with economic experience, will alike be secondary +in Ireland to the small farmers and the wage-earners in the towns. We +must rely on the ideas common among our people, and on their power +to discern among their countrymen the aristocracy of character and +intellect. + +Civilizations are externalizations of the soul and character of +races. They are majestic or mean according to the treasure of beauty, +imagination, will, and thought laid up in the soul of the people. That +great mid-European State, which while I write is at bay surrounded by +enemies, did not arrive at that pitch of power which made it dominant in +Europe simply by militarism. That military power depended on and was +fed by a vigorous intellectual life, and the most generally diffused +education and science existing perhaps in the world. The national being +had been enriched by a long succession of mighty thinkers. A great +subjective life and centuries of dream preceded a great objective +manifestation of power and wealth. The stir in the German Empire which +has agitated Europe was, at its root, the necessity laid on a powerful +soul to surround itself with equal external circumstance. That necessity +is laid on all nations, on all individuals, to make their external life +correspond in some measure to their internal dream. A lover of beauty +will never contentedly live in a house where all things are devoid of +taste. An intellectual man will loathe a disordered society. + +We may say with certainty that the external circumstances of people are +a measure of their inner life. Our mean and disordered little country +towns in Ireland, with their drink-shops, their disregard of cleanliness +or beauty, accord with the character of the civilians who inhabit them. +Whenever we develop an intellectual life these things will be altered, +but not in priority to the spiritual mood. House by house, village by +village, the character of a civilization changes as the character of the +individuals change. When we begin to build up a lofty world within the +national soul, soon the country becomes beautiful and worthy of respect +in its externals. That building up of the inner world we have neglected. +Our excited political controversies, our playing at militarism, have +tended to bring men's thoughts from central depths to surfaces. Life +is drawn to its frontiers away from its spiritual base, and behind the +surfaces we have little to fall back on. Few of our notorieties could +be trusted to think out any economic or social problem thoroughly +and efficiently. They have been engaged in passionate attempts at the +readjustment of the superficies of things. What we require more than +men of action at present are scholars, economists, scientists, thinkers, +educationalists, and litterateurs, who will populate the desert depths +of national consciousness with real thought and turn the void into a +fullness. We have few reserves of intellectual life to draw upon when +we come to the mighty labor of nation-building. It will be indignantly +denied, but I think it is true to say that the vast majority of people +in Ireland do not know the difference between good and bad thinking, +between the essential depths and the shallows in humanity. How could +people, who never read anything but the newspapers, have any genuine +knowledge of any subject on earth or much imagination of anything +beautiful in the heavens? + +What too many people in Ireland mistake for thoughts are feelings. It +is enough to them to vent like or dislike, inherited prejudices or +passions, and they think when they have expressed feeling they have +given utterance to thought. The nature of our political controversies +provoked passion, and passion has become dominant in our politics. +Passion truly is a power in humanity, but it should never enter into +national policy. It is a dangerous element in human life, though it is +an essential part of our strangely compounded nature. But in national +life it is the most dangerous of all guides. There are springs of power +in ourselves which in passion we draw on and are amazed at their depth +and intensity, yet we do not make these the master light of our being, +but rather those divine laws which we have apprehended and brooded upon, +and which shine with clear and steady light in our souls. As creatures +rise in the scale of being the dominant factor in life changes. In +vegetation it may be appetite; instinct in bird and beast for man a life +at once passionate and intellectual; but the greater beings, the stars +and planets, must wheel in the heavens under the guidance of inexorable +and inflexible law. Now the State is higher in the scale of being +than the individual, and it should be dominated solely by moral and +intellectual principles. These are not the outcome of passion or +prejudice, but of arduous thought. National ideals must be built up +with the same conscious deliberation of purpose as the architect of the +Parthenon conceived its lofty harmony of shining marble lines, or as the +architect of Rheims Cathedral designed its intricate magnificence and +mystery. Nations which form their ideals and marry them in the hurry of +passion are likely to repent without leisure, and they will not be able +to divorce those ideals without prolonged domestic squabbles and public +cleansing of dirty linen. If we are to build a body for the soul +of Ireland it ought not to be a matter of reckless estimates or +jerry-building. We have been told, during my lifetime at least, not +to criticize leaders, to trust leaders, and so intellectual discussion +ceased and the high principles on which national action should be based +became less and less understood, less and less common possessions. The +nation was not conceived of as a democracy freely discussing its laws +but as a secret society with political chiefs meeting in the dark and +issuing orders. No doubt our political chieftains loved their country, +but love has many degrees of expression from the basest to the highest. +The basest love will wreck everything, even the life of the beloved, to +gratify ignoble desires. The highest love conspires with the imaginative +reason to bring about every beautiful circumstance around the beloved +which will permit of the highest development of its life. There is no +real love apart from this intellectual brooding. Men who love Ireland +ignobly brawl about her in their cups, quarrel about her with their +neighbor, allow no freedom of thought of her or service of her other +than their own, take to the cudgel and the rifle, and join sectarian +orders or lodges to ensure that Ireland will be made in their own +ignoble image. Those who love Ireland nobly desire for her the highest +of human destinies. They would ransack the ages and accumulate wisdom to +make Irish life seem as noble in men's eyes as any the world has known. +The better minds in every race, eliminating passion and prejudice, by +the exercise of the imaginative reason have revealed to their countrymen +ideals which they recognized were implicit in national character. It +is such discoveries we have yet to make about ourselves to unite us to +fulfill our destiny. We have to discover what is fundamental in Irish +character, the affections, leanings, tendencies towards one or more of +the eternal principles which have governed and inspired all great human +effort, all great civilizations from the dawn of history. A nation is +but a host of men united by some God-begotten mood, some hope of liberty +or dream of power or beauty or justice or brotherhood, and until that +master idea is manifested to us there is no shining star to guide the +ship of our destinies. + +Our civilization must depend on the quality of thought engendered in +the national being. We have to do for Ireland--though we hope with +less arrogance--what the long and illustrious line of German thinkers, +scientists, poets, philosophers, and historians did for Germany, or what +the poets and artists of Greece did for the Athenians: and that is, to +create national ideals, which will dominate the policy of statesmen, +the actions of citizens, the universities, the social organizations, the +administration of State departments, and unite in one spirit urban and +rural life. Unless this is done Ireland will be like Portugal, or any +of the corrupt little penny-dreadful nationalities which so continually +disturb the peace of the world with internal revolutions and external +brawlings, and we shall only have achieved the mechanism of nationality, +but the spirit will have eluded us. + +What I have written hereafter on the national being, my thoughts on an +Irish polity, are not to be taken as an attempt to deal with more than +a few essentials. I offer it to my countrymen, to start thought +and discussion upon the principles which should prevail in an Irish +civilization. If to readers in other countries the thought appears +primitive or elementary, I would like them to remember that we are at +the beginning of our activity as a nation, and we have yet to settle +fundamentals. Races hoary with political wisdom may look with disdain on +the attempts at political thinking by a new self-governing nationality, +or the theories of civilization discussed about the cradle of an infant +State. To childhood may be forgiven the elemental character of its +thought and its idealistic imaginations. They may not persist in +developed manhood; but if youth has never drawn heaven and earth +together in its imaginations, manhood will ever be undistinguished. This +book only begins a meditation in which, I hope, nobler imaginations and +finer intellects than mine will join hereafter, and help to raise the +soul of Ireland nigher to the ideal and its body nigher to its soul. + + + + + +II. + + + +The building up of a civilization is at once the noblest and the most +practical of all enterprises, in which human faculties are exalted to +their highest, and beauties and majesties are manifested in multitude as +they are never by solitary man or by disunited peoples. In the highest +civilizations the individual citizen is raised above himself and made +part of a greater life, which we may call the National Being. He enters +into it, and it becomes in oversoul to him, and gives to all his works +a character and grandeur and a relation to the works of his +fellow-citizens, so that all he does conspires with the labors of +others for unity and magnificence of effect. So ancient Egypt, with its +temples, sphinxes, pyramids, and symbolic decorations, seems to us as +if it had been created by one grandiose imagination; for even the lesser +craftsmen, working on the mummy case for the tomb, had much of the +mystery and solemnity in their work which is manifest in temple and +pyramid. So the city States in ancient Greece in their day were united +by ideals to a harmony of art and architecture and literature. Among the +Athenians at their highest the ideal of the State so wrought upon the +individual that its service became the overmastering passion of life, +and in that great oration of Pericles, where he told how the Athenian +ideal inspired the citizens so that they gave their bodies for the +commonwealth, it seems to have been conceived of as a kind of oversoul, +a being made up of immortal deeds and heroic spirits, influencing the +living, a life within their life, molding their spirits to its likeness. +It appears almost as if in some of these ancient famous communities the +national ideal became a kind of tribal deity, that began first with +some great hero who died and was immortalized by the poets, and whose +character, continually glorified by them, grew at last so great in song +that he could not be regarded as less than a demi-god. We can see in +ancient Ireland that Cuchulain, the dark sad man of the earlier tales, +was rapidly becoming a divinity, a being who summed up in himself all +that the bards thought noblest in the spirit of their race; and +if Ireland had a happier history no doubt one generation of bardic +chroniclers after another would have molded that half-mythical figure +into the Irish ideal of all that was chivalrous, tender, heroic, and +magnanimous, and it would have been a star to youth, and the thought of +it a staff to the very noblest. Even as Cuchulain alone at the ford held +it against a host, so the ideal would have upheld the national soul in +its darkest hours, and stood in many a lonely place in the heart. The +national soul in a theocratic State is a god; in an aristocratic age +it assumes the character of a hero; and in a democracy it becomes a +multitudinous being, definite in character if the democracy is a real +social organism. But where the democracy is only loosely held together +by the social order, the national being is vague in character, is a mood +too feeble to inspire large masses of men to high policies in times of +peace, and in times of war it communicates frenzy, panic, and delirium. + +None of our modern States create in us such an impression of being +spiritually oversouled by an ideal as the great States of the ancient +world. The leaders of nations too have lost that divine air that many +leaders of men wore in the past, and which made the populace rumor them +as divine incarnations. It is difficult to know to what to attribute +this degeneration. Perhaps the artists who create ideals are to blame. +In ancient Ireland, in Greece, and in India, the poets wrote about great +kings and heroes, enlarging on their fortitude of spirit, their chivalry +and generosity, creating in the popular mind an ideal of what a great +man was like; and men were influenced by the ideal created, and strove +to win the praise of the bards and to be recrowned by them a second time +in great poetry. So we had Cuchulain and Oscar in Ireland; Hector of +Troy, Theseus in Greece; Yudisthira, Rama, and Arjuna in India, all +bard-created heroes molding the minds of men to their image. It is the +great defect of our modern literature that it creates few such types. +How hardly could one of our modern public men be made the hero of an +epic. It would be difficult to find one who could be the subject of a +genuine lyric. Whitman, himself the most democratic poet of the modern +world, felt this deficiency in the literature of the later democracies, +and lamented the absence of great heroic figures. The poets have dropped +out of the divine procession, and sing a solitary song. They inspire +nobody to be great, and failing any finger-post in literature pointing +to true greatness our democracies too often take the huckster from his +stall, the drunkard from his pot, the lawyer from his court, and +the company promoter from the director's chair, and elect them as +representative men. We certainly do this in Ireland. It is--how many +hundred years since greatness guided us? In Ireland our history begins +with the most ancient of any in a mythical era when earth mingled with +heaven. The gods departed, the half-gods also, hero and saint after +that, and we have dwindled down to a petty peasant nationality, rural +and urban life alike mean in their externals. Yet the cavalcade, for all +its tattered habiliments, has not lost spiritual dignity. There is still +some incorruptible spiritual atom in our people. We are still in some +relation to the divine order; and while that uncorrupted spiritual atom +still remains all things are possible if by some inspiration there could +be revealed to us a way back or forward to greatness, an Irish polity in +accord with national character. + + + + + +III. + + + +In formulating an Irish polity we have to take into account the change +in world conditions. A theocratic State we shall have no more. Every +nation, and our own along with them, is now made up of varied sects, +and the practical dominance of one religious idea would let loose +illimitable passions, the most intense the human spirit can feel. The +way out of the theocratic State was by the drawn sword and was lit by +the martyr's fires. The way back is unthinkable for all Protestant +fears or Catholic aspirations. Aristocracies, too, become impossible +as rulers. The aristocracy of character and intellect we may hope shall +finally lead us, but no aristocracy so by birth will renew its authority +over us. The character of great historic personages is gradually +reflected in the mass. The divine right of kings is followed by the +idea of the divine right of the people, and democracies finally become +ungovernable save by themselves. They have seen and heard too much +of pride and greatness not to have become, in some measure, proud and +defiant of all authority except their own. It may be said the history of +democracies is not one to fill us with confidence, but the truth is the +world has yet to see the democratic State, and of the yet untried we +may think with hope. Beneath the Athenian and other ancient democratic +States lay a substratum of humanity in slavery, and the culture, beauty, +and bravery of these extraordinary peoples were made possible by the +workers in an underworld who had no part in the bright civic life. + +We have no more a real democracy in the world today. Democracy in +politics has in no country led to democracy in its economic life. We +still have autocracy in industry as firmly seated on its throne as +theocratic king ruling in the name of a god, or aristocracy ruling by +military power; and the forces represented by these twain, superseded +by the autocrats of industry, have become the allies of the power which +took their place of pride. Religion and rank, whether content or not +with the subsidiary place they now occupy, are most often courtiers of +Mammon and support him on his throne. For all the talk about democracy +our social order is truly little more democratic than Rome was under the +Caesars, and our new rulers have not, with all their wealth, created +a beauty which we could imagine after-generations brooding over with +uplifted heart. + +The people in theocratic States like Egypt or Chaldea, ruled in the +name of gods, saw rising out of the plains in which they lived an +architecture so mysterious and awe-inspiring that they might well +believe the master-minds who designed the temples were inspired from the +Oversoul. The aristocratic States reflected the love of beauty which is +associated with aristocracies. The oligarchies of wealth in our time, +who have no divine sanction to give dignity to their rule nor traditions +of lordly life like the aristocracies, have not in our day created +beauty in the world. But whatever of worth the ancient systems produced +was not good enough to make permanent their social order. Their +civilizations, like ours, were built on the unstable basis of a vast +working-class with no real share in the wealth and grandeur it helped +to create. The character of his kingdom was revealed in dream to +Nebuchadnezzar by an image with a golden head and feet of clay, and that +image might stand as symbol of the empires the world has known. There is +in all a vast population living in an underworld of labor whose freedom +to vote confers on them no real power, and who are most often scorned +and neglected by those who profit by their labors. Indifference turns +to fear and hatred if labor organizes and gathers power, or makes one +motion of its myriad hands towards the sceptre held by the autocrats of +industry. When this class is maddened and revolts, civilization +shakes and totters like cities when the earthquake stirs beneath their +foundations. Can we master these arcane human forces? Can we, by any +device, draw this submerged humanity into the light and make them real +partners in the social order, not partners merely in the political life +of the nation, but, what is of more importance, in its economic life? +If we build our civilization without integrating labor into its economic +structure, it will wreck that civilization, and it will do that more +swiftly today than two thousand years ago, because there is no longer +the disparity of culture between high and low which existed in past +centuries. The son of the artisan, if he cares to read, may become +almost as fully master of the wisdom of Plato or Aristotle as if he +had been at a university. Emerson will speak to him of his divinity; +Whitman, drunken with the sun, will chant to him of his inheritance of +the earth. He is elevated by the poets and instructed by the economists. +But there are not thrones enough for all who are made wise in our social +order, and failing even to serve in the social heaven these men will +spread revolt and reign in the social hell. They are becoming too many +for higher places to be found for them in the national economy. They are +increasing to a multitude which must be considered, and the framers of +a national polity must devise a life for them where their new-found +dignity of spirit will not be abased. Men no more will be content under +rulers of industry they do not elect themselves than they were under +political rulers claiming their obedience in the name of God. They will +not for long labor in industries where they have no power to fix +the conditions of their employment, as they were not content with a +political system which allowed them no power to control legislation. +Ireland must begin its imaginative reconstruction of a civilization by +first considering that type which, in the earlier civilizations of the +world, has been slave, serf, or servile, working either on land or at +industry, and must construct with reference to it. These workers must be +the central figures, and how their material, intellectual, and spiritual +needs are met must be the test of value of the social order we evolve. + + + + + +IV. + + + +In Ireland we begin naturally our consideration of this problem with the +folk of the country, pondering all the time upon our ideal--the linking +up of individuals with each other and with the nation. Since the +destruction of the ancient clans in Ireland almost every economic factor +in rural life has tended to separate the farmers from each other and +from the nation, and to bring about an isolation of action; and that was +so until the movement for the organization of agriculture was initiated +by Sir Horace Plunkett and his colleagues in that patriotic association, +the Irish Agricultural Organization Society. Though its actual +achievement is great; though it may be said to be the pivot round which +Ireland has begun to swing back to its traditional and natural communism +in work, we still have over the larger part of Ireland conditions +prevailing which tend to isolate the individual from the community. + +When we examine rural Ireland, outside this new movement, we find +everywhere isolated and individualistic agricultural production, served +with regard to purchase and sale by private traders and dealers, who are +independent of economic control from the consumers or producers, or the +State. The tendency in the modern world to conduct industry in the grand +manner is not observable here. The first thing which strikes one who +travels through rural Ireland is the immense number of little shops. +They are scattered along the highways and at the crossroads; and where +there are a few families together in what is called a village, +the number of little shops crowded round these consumers is almost +incredible. What are all these little shops doing? They are supplying +the farmers with domestic requirements: with tea, sugar, flour, oil, +implements, vessels, clothing, and generally with drink. Every one of +them almost is a little universal provider. Every one of them has its +own business organization, its relations with wholesale houses in the +greater towns. All of them procure separately from others their bags +of flour, their barrels of porter, their stocks of tea, sugar, raisins, +pots, pans, nails, twine, fertilizers, and what not, and all these +things come to them paying high rates to the carriers for little loads. +The trader's cart meets them at the station, and at great expense the +necessaries of life are brought together. In the world-wide amalgamation +of shoe-makers into boot factories, and smithies into ironworks, +which is going on in Europe and America, these little shops have been +overlooked. Nobody has tried to amalgamate them, or to economize human +effort or cheapen the distribution of the necessaries of life. This work +of distribution is carried on by all kinds of little traders competing +with each other, pulling the devil by the tail; doing the work +economically, so far as they themselves are concerned, because they +must, but doing it expensively for the district because they cannot +help it. They do not serve Ireland well. The genius of amalgamation and +organization cannot afford to pass by these shops, which spring up +in haphazard fashion, not because the country needs them, but because +farmers or traders have children to be provided for. To the ignorant +this is the easiest form of trade, and so many are started in life in +one of these little shops after an apprenticeship in another like it. +These numerous competitors of each other do not keep down prices. They +increase them rather by the unavoidable multiplication of expenses; +and many of them, taking advantage of the countryman's irregularity of +income and his need for credit, allow credit to a point where the small +farmer becomes a tied customer, who cannot pay all he owes, and who +therefore dares not deal elsewhere. These agencies for distribution do +not by their nature enlarge the farmer's economic knowledge. His vision +beyond them to their sources of supply is blocked, and in this respect +he is debarred from any unity with national producers other than his own +class. + +Let us now for a little consider the small farmer around whom have +gathered these multitudinous little agencies of distribution. What kind +of a being is he? We must deal with averages, and the small farmer +is the typical Irish countryman. The average area of an Irish farm is +twenty-five acres or thereabouts. There are hundreds of thousands who +have more or less. But we can imagine to ourselves an Irish farmer with +twenty-five acres to till, lord of a herd of four or five cows, a drift +of sheep, a litter of pigs, perhaps a mare and foal: call him Patrick +Maloney and accept him as symbol of his class. We will view him outside +the operation of the new co-operative policy, trying to obey the command +to be fruitful and replenish the earth. He is fruitful enough. There is +no race suicide in Ireland. His agriculture is largely traditional. It +varied little in the nineteenth century from the eighteenth, and the +beginnings of the twentieth century show little change in spite of +a huge department of agriculture. His butter, his eggs, his cattle, +horses, pigs, and sheep are sold to local dealers. He rarely knows where +his produce goes to--whether it is devoured in the next county or is +sent across the Channel. It might be pitched into the void for all he +knows about its destiny. He might be described almost as the primitive +economic cave-man, the darkness of his cave unillumined by any ray of +general principles. As he is obstructed by the traders in a general +vision of production other than his own, so he is obstructed by these +dealers in a general vision of the final markets for his produce. His +reading is limited to the local papers, and these, following the example +of the modern press, carefully eliminate serious thought as likely to +deprive them of readers. But Patrick, for all his economic backwardness, +has a soul. The culture of the Gaelic poets and story-tellers, while +not often actually remembered, still lingers like a fragrance about his +mind. He lives and moves and has his being in the loveliest nature, the +skies over him ever cloudy like an opal; and the mountains flow +across his horizon in wave on wave of amethyst and pearl. He has the +unconscious depth of character of all who live and labor much in the +open air, in constant fellowship with the great companions--with the +earth and the sky and the fire in the sky. We ponder over Patrick, his +race and his country, brooding whether there is the seed of a Pericles +in Patrick's loins. Could we carve an Attica out of Ireland? + +Before Patrick can become the father of a Pericles, before Ireland can +become an Attica, Patrick must be led out of his economic cave: his low +cunning in barter must be expanded into a knowledge of economic law--his +fanatical concentration on his family--begotten by the isolation and +individualism of his life--be sublimed into national affections; his +unconscious depths be sounded, his feeling for beauty be awakened by +contact with some of the great literature of the world. His mind is +virgin soil, and we may hope that, like all virgin soil, it will +be immensely fruitful when it is cultivated. How does the policy of +co-working make Patrick pass away from his old self? We can imagine him +as a member of a committee getting hints of a strange doctrine called +science from his creamery manager. He hears about bacteria, and these +dark invisibles replace, as the cause of bad butter-making, the wicked +fairies of his childhood. Watching this manager of his society he learns +a new respect for the man of special or expert knowledge. Discussing the +business of his association with other members he becomes something of a +practical economist. He knows now where his produce goes. He learns that +he has to compete with Americans, Europeans, and Colonials--indeed +with the farmers of the world, hitherto concealed from his view by a +mountainous mass of middle-men. He begins to be interested in these +countries and reads about them. He becomes a citizen of the world. +His horizon is no longer bounded by the wave of blue hills beyond his +village. The roar of the planet begins to sound in his ears. What +is more important is that he is becoming a better citizen of his +own country. He meets on his committee his religious and political +opponents, not now discussing differences out identities of interest. He +also meets the delegates from other societies in district conferences +or general congresses, and those who meet thus find their interests are +common, and a new friendliness springs up between North and South, +and local co-operation leads on to national co-operation. The best +intellects, the best business men in the societies, meet in the big +centres as directors of federations and wholesales, and they get an +all-Ireland view of their industry. They see the parish from the point +of view of the nation, and this vision does not desert them when they go +back to the parish. They realize that their interests are bound up with +national interests, and they discuss legislation and administration with +practical knowledge. Eyes getting keener every year, minds getting more +instructed, begin to concentrate on Irish public men. Presently Patrick +will begin to seek for men of special knowledge and administrative +ability to manage Irish affairs. Ireland has hitherto been to Patrick +a legend, a being mentioned in romantic poetry, a little dark Rose, a +mystic maiden, a vague but very simple creature of tears and aspirations +and revolts. He now knows what a multitudinous being a nation is, and in +contact with its complexities Patrick's politics take on a new gravity, +thoughtfulness, and intellectual character. + +Under the influence of these associations and the ideas pervading them +our typical Irish farmer gets drawn out of his agricultural sleep of +the ages, developing rapidly as mummy-wheat brought out of the tomb and +exposed to the eternal forces which stimulate and bring to life. I have +taken an individual as a type, and described the original circumstance +and illustrated the playing of the new forces on his mind. It is the +only way we can create a social order which will fit our character as +the glove fits the hand. Reasoning solely from abstract principles about +justice, democracy, the rights of man and the like, often leads us into +futilities, if not into dangerous political experiments. We have to see +our typical citizen in clear light, realize his deficiencies, ignorance, +and incapacity, and his possibilities of development, before we can +wisely enlarge his boundaries. The centre of the citizen is the home. +His circumference ought to be the nation. The vast majority of Irish +citizens rarely depart from their centre, or establish those vital +relations with their circumference which alone entitle them to the +privileges of citizenship, and enable them to act with political wisdom. +An emotional relationship is not enough. Our poets sang of a united +Ireland, but the unity they sang of was only a metaphor. It mainly meant +separation from another country. In that imaginary unity men were really +separate from each other. Individualism, fanatically centering itself on +its family and family interests, interfered on public boards to do jobs +in the interests of its kith and kin. The co-operative movement connects +with living links the home, the centre of Patrick's being, to the +nation, the circumference of his being. It connects him with the +nation through membership of a national movement, not for the political +purposes which call on him for a vote once every few years, but +for economic purposes which affect him in the course of his daily +occupations. This organization of the most numerous section of the Irish +democracy into co-operative associations, as it develops and embraces +the majority, will tend to make the nation one and indivisible and +conscious of its unity. The individual, however meagre his natural +endowment of altruism, will be led to think of his community as himself; +because his income, his social pleasures even, depend on the success +of the local and national organizations with which he is connected. The +small farmers of former times pursued a petty business of barter and +haggle, fighting for their own hand against half the world about them. +The farmers of the new generation will grow up in a social order, +where all the transactions which narrowed their fathers' hearts will be +communal and national enterprises. How much that will mean in a change +of national character we can hardly realize, we who were born in an +Ireland where petty individualism was rampant, and where every child had +it borne in upon him that it had to fight its own corner in the world, +where the whole atmosphere about it tended to the hardening of the +personality. + +We may hope and believe that this transformation of the social +order will make men truly citizens thinking in terms of the nation, +identifying national with personal interests. For those who believe +there is a divine seed in humanity, this atmosphere, if any, they may +hope will promote the swift blossoming of the divine seed which in the +past, in favorable airs, has made beauty or grandeur or spirituality +the characteristics of ancient civilizations in Greece, in Egypt, and in +India. No one can work for his race without the hope that the highest, +or more than the highest, humanity has reached will be within reach of +his race also. We are all laying foundations in dark places, putting the +rough-hewn stones together in our civilizations, hoping for the lofty +edifice which will arise later and make all the work glorious. And in +Ireland, for all its melancholy history, we may, knowing that we are +human, dream that there is the seed of a Pericles in Patrick's loins, +and that we might carve an Attica out of Ireland. + + + + + +V. + + + +In Ireland we must of necessity give special thought to the needs of the +countryman, because our main industry is agriculture. We have few big +cities. Our great cities are almost all outside our own borders. They +are across the Atlantic. The surplus population of the countryside +do not go to our own towns but emigrate. The exodus does not enrich +Limerick or Galway, but New York. The absorption of life in great +cities is really the danger which most threatens the modern State with a +decadence of its humanity. In the United States, even in Canada, hardly +has the pioneer made a home in the wilderness when his sons and his +daughters are allured by the distant gleam of cities beyond the plains. +In England the countryside has almost ceased to be the mother of men--at +least a fruitful mother. We are face to face in Ireland with this +problem, with no crowded and towering cities to disguise the emptiness +of the fields. It is not a problem which lends itself to legislative +solution. Whether there be fair rents or no rents at all, the child +of the peasant, yearning for a fuller life, goes where life is at +its fullest. We all desire life, and that we might have it more +abundantly,--the peasant as much as the mystic thirsting for infinite +being,--and in rural Ireland the needs of life have been neglected. + +The chief problem of Ireland--the problem which every nation in greater +or lesser measure will have to solve--is how to enable the country-man, +without journeying, to satisfy to the full his economic, social, +intellectual, and spiritual needs. We have made some tentative efforts. +The long war over the land, which resulted in the transference of the +land from landlord to cultivator, has advanced us part of the way, +but the Land Acts offered no complete solution. We were assured by hot +enthusiasts of the magic of proprietorship, but Ireland has not tilled +a single acre more since the Land Acts were passed. Our rural exodus +continued without any Moses to lead us to Jerusalems of our own. At +every station boys and girls bade farewell to their friends; and hardly +had the train steamed out when the natural exultation of adventure made +the faces of the emigrants glow because the world lay before them, and +human appetites the country could not satisfy were to be appeased at the +end of the journey. + +How can we make the countryside in Ireland a place which nobody would +willingly emigrate from? When we begin to discuss this problem we soon +make the discovery that neither in the new world nor the old has there +been much first-class thinking on the life of the countryman. This will +be apparent if we compare the quality of thought which has been devoted +to the problems of the city State, or the constitution of widespread +dominions, from the days of Solon and Aristotle down to the time of +Alexander Hamilton, and compare it with the quality of thought which has +been brought to bear on the problems of the rural community. + +On the labors of the countryman depend the whole strength and health, +nay, the very existence of society, yet, in almost every country, +politics, economics, and social reform are urban products, and the +countryman gets only the crumbs which fall from the political table. +It seems to be so in Canada and the States even, countries which we in +Europe for long regarded as mainly agricultural. It seems only yesterday +to the imagination that they were colonized, and yet we find the +Minister of Agriculture in Canada announcing a decline in the rural +population in Eastern Canada. As children sprung from the loins of +diseased parents manifest at an early age the same defects in their +constitution, so Canada and the States, though in their national +childhood, seem already threatened by the same disease from which +classic Italy perished, and whose ravages today make Great Britain seem +to the acute diagnoser of political health to be like a fruit--ruddy +without, but eaten away within and rotten at the core. One expects +disease in old age, but not in youth. We expect young countries to sow +their wild oats, to have a few revolutions before they settle down +to national housekeeping; but we are not moved by these troubles--the +result of excessive energy--as we are by symptoms of premature decay. No +nation can be regarded as unhealthy when a virile peasantry, contented +with rural employments, however discontented with other things, exists +on its soil. The disease which has attacked our great populations here +and in America is a discontent with rural life. Nothing which has been +done hitherto seems able to promote content. It is true, indeed, that +science has gone out into the fields, but the labors of the chemist, +the bacteriologist, and the mechanical engineer are not enough to +ensure health. What is required is the art of the political thinker, the +imagination which creates a social order and adjusts it to human needs. +The physician who understands the general laws of human health is of +more importance to us here than the specialist. The genius of rural life +has not yet appeared. We have no fundamental philosophy concerning it, +but we have treasures of political wisdom dealing with humanity as a +social organism in the city States or as great nationalities. It might +be worth while inquiring to what extent the wisdom of a Solon, an +Aristotle, a Rousseau, or an Alexander Hamilton might be applied to the +problem of the rural community. After all, men are not so completely +changed in character by their rural environment that their social needs +do not, to a large extent, coincide with the needs of the townsman. They +cannot be considered as creatures of a different species. Yet statesmen +who have devoted so much thought to the constitution of empires and the +organization of great cities, who have studied their psychology, have +almost always treated the rural problem purely as an economic problem, +as if agriculture was a business only and not a life. + +Our great nations and widespread empires arose in a haphazard fashion +out of city States and scattered tribal communities. The fusion of these +into larger entities, which could act jointly for offence or defense, +so much occupied the thoughts of their rulers that everything else was +subordinated to it. As a result, the details of our modern civilizations +are all wrong. There is an intensive life at a few great political or +industrial centres, and wide areas where there is stagnation and decay. +Stagnation is most obvious in rural districts. It is so general that it +has been often assumed that there was something inherent in rural life +which made the countryman slow in mind as his own cattle. But this is +not so, as I think can be shown. There is no reason why as intense, +intellectual, and progressive a life should not be possible in the +country as in the towns. The real reason for the stagnation is that the +country population is not organized. We often hear the expression, "the +rural community," but where do we find rural communities? There are +rural populations, but that is altogether a different thing. The word +"community" implies an association of people having common interests and +common possessions, bound together by laws and regulations which express +these common interests and ideals, and define the relation of the +individual to the community. Our rural populations are no more closely +connected, for the most part, than the shifting sands on the seashore. +Their life is almost entirely individualistic. There are personal +friendships, of course, but few economic or social partnerships. +Everybody pursues his own occupation without regard to the occupation of +his neighbors. If a man emigrates it does not affect the occupation of +those who farm the land all about him. They go on ploughing and digging, +buying and selling, just as before. They suffer no perceptible economic +loss by the departure of half-a-dozen men from the district. A true +community would, of course, be affected by the loss of its members. A +co-operative society, if it loses a dozen members, the milk of their +cows, their orders for fertilizers, seeds, and feeding-stuffs, receives +serious injury to its prosperity. There is a minimum of trade below +which its business cannot fall without bringing about a complete +stoppage of its work and an inability to pay its employees. That is the +difference between a community and an unorganized population. In the +first the interests of the community make a conscious and direct appeal +to the individual, and the community, in its turn, rapidly develops an +interest in the welfare of the member. In the second, the interest of +the individual in the community is only sentimental, and as there is no +organization the community lets its units slip away or disappear without +comment or action. We had true rural communities in ancient Ireland, +though the organization was rather military than economic. But the +members of a clan had common interests. They owned the land in common. +It was a common interest to preserve it intact. It was to their interest +to have a numerous membership of the clan, because it made it less +liable to attack. Men were drawn by the social order out of merely +personal interests into a larger life. In their organizations they were +unconsciously groping, as all human organizations are, towards the final +solidarity of humanity--the federation of the world. + +Well, these old rural communities disappeared. The greater organizations +of nation or empire regarded the smaller communities jealously in the +past, and broke them up and gathered all the strings of power into +capital cities. The result was a growth of the State, with a local decay +of civic, patriotic, or public feeling, ending in bureaucracies and +State departments, where paid officials, devoid of intimacy with local +needs, replaced the services naturally and voluntarily rendered in an +earlier period. The rural population, no longer existing as a rural +community, sank into stagnation. There was no longer a common interest, +a social order turning their minds to larger than individual ends. Where +feudalism was preserved, the feudal chief, if the feeling of noblesse +oblige was strong, might act as a centre of progress, but where this was +lacking social decay set in. The difficulty of moving the countryman, +which has become traditional, is not due to the fact that he lives in +the country, but to the fact that he lives in an unorganized society. +If in a city people want an art gallery or public baths or recreation +grounds, there is a machinery which can be set in motion; there are +corporations and urban councils which can be approached. If public +opinion is evident--and it is easy to organize public opinion in a +town--the city representatives will consider the scheme, and if they +approve and it is within their power as a council, they are able to levy +rates to finance the art gallery, recreation grounds, public gardens, +or whatever else. Now let us go to a country district where there is no +organization. It may be obvious to one or two people that the place is +perishing and the intelligence of its humanity is decaying, lacking some +centre of life. They want a village hall, but how is it to be obtained? +They begin talking about it to this person or that. They ask these +people to talk to their friends, and the ripples go out weakening and +widening for months, perhaps for years. I know of districts where this +has happened. There are hundreds of parishes in Ireland where one or +two men want co-operative societies or village halls or rural libraries. +They discuss the matter with their neighbors, but find a complete +ignorance on the subject, and consequent lethargy. There is no social +organism with a central life to stir. Before enthusiasm can be kindled +there must be some knowledge. The countryman reads little, and it is a +long and tedious business before enough people are excited to bring them +to the point of appealing to some expert to come in and advise. + +More changes often take place within a dozen years after a co-operative +society is first started than have taken place for a century previous. I +am familiar with a district--in the northwest of Ireland. It was a most +wretchedly poor district. The farmers were at the mercy of the gombeen +traders and the agricultural middlemen. Then a dozen years ago a +co-operative society was formed. I am sure that the oldest inhabitant +would agree with me that more changes for the better for farmers have +taken place since the co-operative society was started than he could +remember in all his previous life. The reign of the gombeen man is over. +The farmers control their own buying and selling. Their organization +markets for them the eggs and poultry. It procures seeds, fertilizers, +and domestic requirements. It turns the members' pigs into bacon. They +have a village hall and a woman's organization. They sell the products +of the women's industry. They have a co-operative band, social +gatherings, and concerts. They have spread out into half-a-dozen +parishes, going southward and westward with their propaganda, and +in half-a-dozen years, in all that district, previously without +organization, there will be well-organized farmers' guilds, +concentrating in themselves the trade of their district, having +meeting-places where the opinion of the members can be taken, having a +machinery, committees, and executive officers to carry out whatever may +be decided on: and having funds, or profits, the joint property of the +community, which can be drawn upon to finance their undertakings. It +ought to be evident what a tremendous advantage it is to farmers in +a district to have such organizations, what a lever they can pull +and control. I have tried to indicate the difference between a rural +population and a rural community, between a people loosely knit together +by the vague ties of a common latitude and longitude, and people who +are closely knit together in an association and who form a true social +organism, a true rural community, where the general will can find +expression and society is malleable to the general will. I assert +that there never can be any progress in rural districts or any real +prosperity without such farmers' organizations or guilds. Wherever rural +prosperity is reported of any country inquire into it, and it will be +found that it depends on rural organization. Wherever there is rural +decay, if it is inquired into, it will be found that there was a rural +population but no rural community, no organization, no guild to promote +common interests and unite the countrymen in defense of them. + + + + + +VI. + + + +It is the business of the rural reformer to create the rural community. +It is the antecedent to the creation of a rural civilization. We have to +organize the community so that it can act as one body. It is not enough +to organize farmers in a district for one purpose only--in a credit +society, a dairy society, a fruit society, a bacon factory, or in a +co-operative store. All these may be and must be beginnings; but if they +do not develop and absorb all rural business into their organization +they will have little effect on character. No true social organism will +have been created. If people unite as consumers to buy together they +only come into contact on this one point; there is no general identity +of interest. If co-operative societies are specialized for this purpose +or that--as in Great Britain or on the Continent--to a large extent the +limitation of objects prevents a true social organism from being formed. +The latter has a tremendous effect on human character. The specialized +society only develops economic efficiency. The evolution of humanity +beyond its present level depends absolutely on its power to unite and +create true social organisms. Life in its higher forms is only possible +because of the union of myriads of tiny lives to form a larger being, +which manifests will, intelligence, affection, and the spiritual powers. +The life of the amoeba or any other unicellular organism is low compared +with the life in more complex organisms, like the ant or bee. Man is +the most highly developed living organism on the globe; yet his body +is built up of innumerable cells, each of which might be described as +a tiny life in itself. But they are built up in man into such a close +association that what affects one part of the body affects all. The pain +which the whole being feels if a part is wounded, if one cell in the +human body is hurt, should prove that to the least intelligent. The +nervous system binds all the tiny cells together, and they form in this +totality a being infinitely higher, more powerful, than the cells which +compose it. They are able to act together and achieve things impossible +to the separated cells. Now humanity today is, to some extent, like +the individual cells. It is trying to unite together to form a real +organism, which will manifest higher qualities of life than the +individual can manifest. But very few of the organisms created by +society enable the individual to do this. The joint-stock companies or +capitalist concerns which bring men together at this work or that do +not yet make them feel their unity. Existence under a common government +effects this still less. Our modern states have not yet succeeded in +building up that true national life where all feel the identity of +interest; where the true civic or social feeling is engendered and the +individual bends all his efforts to the success of the community on +which his own depends; where, in fact, the ancient Greek conception +of citizenship is realized, and individuals are created who are ever +conscious of the identity of interest between themselves and their race. +In the old Greek civilizations this was possible because their States +were small, indeed their ideal State contained no more citizens than +could be affected by the voice of a single orator. Such small States, +though they produced the highest quality of life within themselves, +are no longer possible as political entities. We have to see whether we +could not, within our widespread nationalities, create communities +by economic means, where something of the same sense of solidarity of +interest might be engendered and the same quality of life maintained. +I am greatly ambitious for the rural community. But it is no use having +mean ambitions. Unless people believe the result of their labors will +result in their equaling or surpassing the best that has been done +elsewhere, they will never get very far. We in Ireland are in quest of +a civilization. It is a great adventure, the building up of a +civilization--the noblest which could be undertaken by any persons. It +is at once the noblest and the most practical of all enterprises, and +I can conceive of no greater exaltation for the spirit of man than +the feeling that his race is acting nobly; and that all together are +performing a service, not only to each other, but to humanity and those +who come after them, and that their deeds will be remembered. It may +seem a grotesque juxtaposition of things essentially different in +character, to talk of national idealism and then of farming, but it is +not so. They are inseparable. The national idealism which will not go +out into the fields and deal with the fortunes of the working farmers is +false dealism. Our conception of a civilization must include, nay, must +begin with the life of the humblest, the life of the average man +or manual worker, for if we neglect them we will build in sand. The +neglected classes will wreck our civilization. The pioneers of a new +social order must think first of the average man in field or factory, +and so unite these and so inspire them that the noblest life will be +possible through their companionship. If you will not offer people the +noblest and best they will go in search of it. Unless the countryside +can offer to young men and women some satisfactory food for soul as well +as body, it will fail to attract or hold its population, and they +will go to the already overcrowded towns; and the lessening of rural +production will affect production in the cities and factories, and the +problem of the unemployed will get still keener. The problem is not only +an economic problem. It is a human one. Man does not live by cash alone, +but by every gift of fellowship and brotherly feeling society offers +him. The final urgings of men and women are towards humanity. Their +desires are for the perfecting of their own life, and as Whitman says, +where the best men and women are there the great city stands, though it +is only a village. It is one of the illusions of modern materialistic +thought to suppose that as high a quality of life is not possible in a +village as in a great city, and it ought to be one of the aims of +rural reformers to dissipate this fallacy, and to show that it is +possible--not indeed to concentrate wealth in country communities as in +the cities--but that it is possible to bring comfort enough to satisfy +any reasonable person, and to create a society where there will be +intellectual life and human interests. We will hear little then of the +rural exodus. The country will retain and increase its population and +productiveness. Like attracts like. Life draws life to itself. Intellect +awakens intellect, and the country will hold its own tug for tug with +the towns. + +Now it may be said I have talked a long while round and round the rural +community, but I have not suggested how it is to be created. I am coming +to that. It really cannot be created. It is a natural growth when +the right seed is planted. Co-operation is the seed. Let us consider +Ireland. Twenty-five years ago there was not a single co-operative +society in the country. Individualism was the mode of life. Every farmer +manufactured and sold as seemed best in his eyes. It was generally the +worst possible way he could have chosen. Then came Sir Horace Plunkett +and his colleagues, preaching co-operation. A creamery was established +here, an agricultural society there, and having planted the ideas it +was some time before the economic expert could decide whether they were +planted in fertile soil. But that question was decided many years ago. +The co-operative society, started for whatever purpose originally, is +an omnivorous feeder, and it exercises a magnetic influence on all +agricultural activities; so that we now have societies which buy milk, +manufacture and sell butter, deal in poultry and eggs, cure bacon, +provide fertilizers, feeding-stuffs, seeds, and machinery for their +members, and even cater for every requirement of the farmer's household. +This magnetic power of attracting and absorbing to themselves the +various rural activities which the properly constituted co-operative +societies have, makes them develop rapidly, until in the course of a +decade or a generation there is created a real social organism, where +the members buy together, manufacture together, market together, where +finally their entire interests are bound up with the interests of the +community. I believe in half a century the whole business of rural +Ireland will be done co-operatively. This is not a wild surmise, for we +see exactly the same process going on in Denmark, Germany, Italy, and +every country where the co-operative seed was planted. Let us suppose +that in a generation all the rural industries are organized on +co-operative lines, what kind of a community should we expect to find as +the result? How would its members live? What would be their relations +to one another and their community? The agricultural scientist is making +great discoveries. The mechanical engineer goes from one triumph to +another. The chemist already could work wonders in our fields if +there was a machinery for him to work through. We cannot foretell the +developments in each branch, but we can see clearly that the organized +community can lay hold of discoveries and inventions which the +individual farmer cannot. It is little for the co-operative society to +buy expensive threshing sets and let its members have the use of them, +but the individual farmer would have to save a long time before he could +raise several hundred pounds. The society is a better buyer than the +individual. It can buy things the individual cannot buy. It is a better +producer also. The plant for a creamery is beyond the individual farmer; +but our organized farmers in Ireland, small though they are, find it no +trouble to erect and equip a creamery with plant costing two thousand +pounds. The organized rural community of the future will generate its +own electricity at its central buildings, and run not only its factories +and other enterprises by this power, but will supply light to the houses +of its members and also mechanical power to run machinery on the farm. +One of our Irish societies already supplies electric light for the town +it works in. In the organized rural community the eggs, milk, poultry, +pigs, cattle, grain, and wheat produced on the farm and not consumed, +or required for further agricultural production, will automatically be +delivered to the co-operative business centre of the district, where the +manager of the dairy will turn the milk into butter or cheese, and the +skim milk will be returned to feed the community's pigs. The poultry and +egg department will pack and dispatch the fowl and eggs to market. The +mill will grind the corn and return it ground to the member, or there +may be a co-operative bakery to which some of it may go. The pigs will +be dealt with in the abattoir, sent as fresh pork to the market or +be turned into bacon to feed the members. We may be certain that any +intelligent rural community will try to feed itself first, and will only +sell the surplus. It will realize that it will be unable to buy any food +half as good as the food it produces. The community will hold in +common all the best machinery too expensive for the members to buy +individually. The agricultural laborers will gradually become skilled +mechanics, able to direct threshers, binders, diggers, cultivators, and +new implements we have no conception of now. They will be members of the +society, sharing in its profits in proportion to their wages, even as +the farmer will in proportion to his trade. The co-operative community +will have its own carpenters, smiths, mechanics, employed in its +workshop at repairs or in making those things which can profitably be +made locally. There may be a laundry where the washing--a heavy burden +for the women--will be done: for we may be sure that every scrap of +power generated will be utilized. One happy invention after another will +come to lighten the labor of life. There will be, of course, a village +hall with a library and gymnasium, where the boys and girls will be made +straight, athletic, and graceful. In the evenings, when the work of +the day is done, if we went into the village hall we would find a dance +going on or perhaps a concert. There might be a village choir or band. +There would be a committee-room where the council of the community +would meet once a week; for their enterprises would have grown, and the +business of such a parish community might easily be over one hundred +thousand pounds, and would require constant thought. There would be +no slackness on the part of the council in attending, because their +fortunes would depend on their communal enterprises, and they would +have to consider reports from the managers and officials of the various +departments. The co-operative community would be a busy place. In years +when the society was exceptionally prosperous, and earned larger profits +than usual on its trade, we should expect to find discussions in which +all the members would join as to the use to be made of these profits: +whether they should be altogether divided or what portion of them should +be devoted to some public purpose. We may be certain that there would +be animated discussions, because a real solidarity of feeling would have +arisen and a pride in the work of the community engendered, and they +would like to be able to outdo the good work done by the neighboring +communities. + +One might like to endow the village school with a chemical laboratory, +another might want to decorate the village hall with reproductions +of famous pictures, another might suggest removing all the hedges and +planting the roadsides and lanes with gooseberry bushes, currant bushes, +and fruit trees, as they do in some German communes today. There would +be eloquent pleadings for this or that, for an intellectual heat would +be engendered in this human hive, and there would be no more illiterates +or ignoramuses. The teaching in the village school would be altered to +suit the new social order, and the children of the community would, +we may be certain, be instructed in everything necessary for the +intelligent conduct of the communal business. The spirit of rivalry +between one community and another, which exists today between +neighboring creameries, would excite the imagination of the members, +and the organized community would be as swift to act as the unorganized +community is slow to act. Intelligence would be organized as well +as business. The women would have their own associations, to promote +domestic economy, care of the sick and the children. The girls would +have their own industries of embroidery, crochet, lace, dress-making, +weaving, spinning, or whatever new industries the awakened intelligence +of women may devise and lay hold of as the peculiar labor of their +sex. The business of distribution of the produce and industries of the +community would be carried on by great federations, which would attend +to export and sale of the products of thousands of societies. Such +communities would be real social organisms. The individual would be free +to do as he willed, but he would find that communal activity would be +infinitely more profitable than individual activity. We would then +have a real democracy carrying on its own business, and bringing about +reforms without pleading to, or begging of, the State, or intriguing +with or imploring the aid of political middlemen to get this, that, or +the other done for them. They would be self-respecting, because they +would be self-helping above all things. The national councils and +meetings of national federations would finally become the real +Parliament of the nation; for wherever all the economic power is +centered, there also is centered all the political power. And no +politician would dare to interfere with the organized industry of a +nation. + +There is nothing to prevent such communities being formed. They would +be a natural growth once the seed was planted. We see such communities +naturally growing up in Ireland, with perhaps a little stimulus from +outside from rural reformers and social enthusiasts. If this ideal of +the organized rural community is accepted there will be difficulties, of +course, and enemies to be encountered. The agricultural middleman is a +powerful person. He will rage furiously. He will organize all his forces +to keep the farmers in subjection, and to retain his peculiar functions +of fleecing the farmer as producer and the general public as consumer. +But unless we are determined to eliminate the middleman in agriculture +we will fall to effect anything worth while attempting. I would lay +down certain fundamental propositions which, I think, should be accepted +without reserve as a basis of reform. First, that the farmers must be +organized to have complete control over all the business connected with +their industry. Dual control is intolerable. Agriculture will never be +in a satisfactory condition if the farmer is relegated to the position +of a manual worker on his land; if he is denied the right of a +manufacturer to buy the raw materials of his industry on trade terms; if +other people are to deal with his raw materials, his milk, cream, +fruit, vegetables, live stock, grain, and other produce; and if these +capitalist middle agencies are to manufacture the farmers' raw material +into butter, bacon, or whatever else are to do all the marketing and +export, paying farmers what they please on the one hand, and charging +the public as much as they can on the other hand. The existence of these +middle agencies is responsible for a large proportion of the increased +cost of living, which is the most acute domestic problem of modern +industrial communities. They have too much power over the farmer, +and are too expensive a luxury for the consumer. It would be very +unbusinesslike for any country to contemplate the permanence in national +life of a class whose personal interests are always leading them to +fleece both producer and consumer alike. So the first fundamental idea +for reformers to get into their minds is that farmers, through their own +co-operative organizations, must control the entire business connected +with agriculture. There will not be so much objection to co-operative +sale as to co-operative purchase by the farmers. But one is as necessary +as the other. We must bear in mind, what is too often forgotten, that +farmers are manufacturers, and as such are entitled to buy the raw +materials for their industry at wholesale prices. Every other kind +of manufacturer in the world gets trade terms when he buys. Those +who buy--not to consume, but to manufacture and sell again--get their +requirements at wholesale terms in every country in the world. If +a publisher of books is approached by a bookseller he gives that +bookseller trade terms, because he buys to sell again. If I, as a +private individual, want one of those books I must pay the full retail +price. Even the cobbler, the carpenter, the solitary artist, get trade +terms. The farmer, who is as much a manufacturer as the shipbuilder, or +the factory proprietor, is as much entitled to trade terms when he buys +the raw materials for his industry. His seeds, fertilizers, ploughs, +implements, cake, feeding-stuffs are the raw materials of his industry, +which he uses to produce wheat, beef, mutton, pork, or whatever else; +and, in my opinion, there should be no differentiation between the +farmer when he buys and any other kind of manufacturer. Is it any wonder +that agriculture decays in countries where the farmers are expected to +buy at retail prices and sell at wholesale prices? We must not, to save +any friction, sell the rights of farmers. The second proposition I lay +down is that this necessary organization work among the farmers must be +carried on by an organizing body which is entirely controlled by those +interested in agriculture--farmers and their friends. To ask the State +or a State Department to undertake this work is to ask a body influenced +and often controlled by powerful capitalists, and middle agencies which +it should be the aim of the organization to eliminate. The State can, +without obstruction from any quarter, give farmers a technical education +in the science of farming; but let it once interfere with business, +and a horde of angry interests set to work to hamper and limit by +every possible means and compromises on matters of principle, where no +compromise ought to be permitted, are almost inevitable. + +A voluntary organizing body like the Irish Agricultural Organization +Society, which was the first to attempt the co-operative organization of +farmers in these islands, is the only kind of body which can pursue its +work fearlessly, unhampered by alien interests. The moment such a body +declares its aims, its declaration automatically separates the sheep +from the goats, and its enemies are outside and not inside. The +organizing body should be the heart and centre of the farmers' movement, +and if the heart has its allegiance divided, its work will be poor and +ineffectual, and very soon the farmers will fall away from it to follow +more single-hearted leaders. No trades union would admit representatives +of capitalist employers on its committee, and no organization of farmers +should allow alien or opposing interest on their councils to clog +the machine or betray the cause. This is the best advice I can give +reformers. It is the result of many years' experience in this work. +An industry must have the same freedom of movement as an individual in +possession of all his powers. An industry divided against itself can +no more prosper than a household divided against itself. By the means +I have indicated the farmers can become the masters of their own +destinies, just as the urban workers can, I think, by steadfastly +applying the same principles, emancipate themselves. It is a battle in +which, as in all other battles, numbers and moral superiority united +are irresistible; and in the Irish struggle to create a true democracy +numbers and the power of moral ideas are with the insurgents. + + + + + +VII. + + + +It would be a bitter reproach on the household of our nation if there +were any unconsidered, who were left in poverty and without hope and +outside our brotherhood. We have not yet considered the agricultural +laborer--the proletarian of the countryside. His is, in a sense, the +most difficult problem of any. The basis of economic independence in +his industry is the possession of land, and that is not readily to be +obtained in Ireland. The earth does not upheave itself from beneath the +sea and add new land to that already above water in response to our +need for it. Yet I would not pass away from the rural laborer without, +however inadequately, indicating some curves in his future evolution. +These laborers are not in Ireland half so numerous as farmers, for it +is a country of small holdings, where the farmer and his family are +themselves laborers. Labor is badly paid, and, owing to the lack of +continuous cropping of the land, it is often left without employment at +seasons when employment is most needed. No class which is taken up today +and dropped tomorrow will in modern times remain long in a country. +Employers often act as if they thought labor could be taken up and laid +down again like a pipe and tobacco. None have contributed so to thicken +the horde of Irish exiles as the rural laborers. Three hundred thousand +of them in less than my lifetime have left the fields of Ireland for the +factories of the new world. Yet I can only rejoice if Irishmen, who are +badly dealt with in their motherland, find an ampler life and a more +prosperous career in another land. A wage of ten or eleven shillings a +week will bind none but the unaspiring lout to his country. But I would +like to make Ireland a land which, because of the human kindness in it, +few would willingly leave. The agricultural proletarian, like all other +labor, should be organized in a national union. That is bound to come. +But the agricultural laborer should, I think, no more than labor in the +cities, make the raising of wages his main or only object. He should +rather strive to make himself economically independent; or, in the +alternative, seek for status by integration into the co-operative +communities of farmers by becoming a member, and by pressing for +permanent employment by the community rather than casual employment by +the individual. Agricultural labor undoubtedly will have to struggle for +better remuneration. Yet it has to be remembered that agriculture is +a protean industry. It is not like mining, where the colliery produces +coal and nothing but coal, and where the miners have a practical +monopoly of supply. If miners are dissatisfied with wages and are well +organized they can enforce their terms, and the colliery owners may +almost be indifferent, because they can charge the increased cost +of working to the public. But agriculture, as I said, is protean and +changes its forms perpetually. If tillage does not pay this year, next +year the farmer may have his land in grass. He reverts to the cheapest +methods of farming when prices are low, or labor asks a wage which the +farmer believes it would be unprofitable to pay. In this way pressure +on the farmer for extra wages might result in two men being employed +to herd cows where a dozen men were previously employed at tillage. +The farmer cannot easily--as the mine-owner--unload his burden on the +general public by the increase of prices. There are many difficulties, +which seem almost insoluble, if we propose to ourselves to integrate the +rural laborer into the general economic life of the country by making +him a partner in the industry he works on. But what I hope for most +is first that the natural evolution of the rural community, and the +concentration of individual manufacture, purchase and sale, into +communal enterprises, will lead to a very large co-operative ownership +of expensive machinery, which will necessitate the communal employment +of labor. If this takes place, as I hope it will, the rural laborer, +instead of being a manual worker using primitive implements, will have +the status of a skilled mechanic employed permanently by a cooperative +community. He should be a member of the society which employs him, and +in the division of profits receive in proportion to his wage, as the +farmers in proportion to their trade. + +A second policy open to agricultural labor when it becomes organized +is the policy of collective farming. This I believe will and ought to +receive attention in the future. Co-operative societies of agricultural +laborers in Italy, Roumania, and elsewhere have rented land from +landowners. They then reallotted the land among themselves for +individual cultivation, or else worked it as a true co-operative +enterprise with labor, purchase and sale all communal enterprises, with +considerable benefit to the members. We can well understand a landowner +not liking to divide his land into small holdings, with all the +attendant troubles which in Ireland beset a landlord with small farmers +on his estate. But I think landowners in Ireland could be found who +would rent land to a co-operative society of skilled laborers who +approached the owner with a well-thought-out scheme. The success of one +colony would lead to others being started, as happened in Italy. + +This solution of the problem of agricultural labor will be forced on us +for many reasons. The economic effects of the great European War, the +burden of debt piled on the participating nations, will make Ministers +shun schemes of reform involving a large use of national credit, or +which would increase the sum of national obligations. Land purchase +on the old term I believe cannot be continued. Yet we will demand the +intensive cultivation of the national estate, and increased production +of wealth, especially of food-stuffs. The large area of agricultural +land laid down for pasture is not so productive as tilled land, does +not sustain so large a population, and there will be more reasons in the +future than in the past for changing the character of farming in these +areas. The policy of collective farming offers a solution, and whatever +Government is in power should facilitate the settlement of men in +cooperative colonies and provide expert instructors as managers for the +first year or two if necessary. Such a policy would not be so expensive +as land purchase, and with fair rent fixed, hundreds of thousands of +people could be planted comfortably on the land in Ireland and produce +more wealth from it than could ever be produced from grazing lands, +and agricultural workers and the sons of farmers who now emigrate could +become economically independent. + +I hope, also, that farmers, becoming more brotherly as their own +enterprises flourish, will welcome laborers into their co-operative +stores, credit banks, poultry and bee-keeping societies, and allow them +the benefits of cheap purchase, cheap credit, and of efficient marketing +of whatever the laborer may produce on his allotment. The growth of +national conscience and the spirit of human brotherhood, and a +feeling of shame that any should be poor and neglected in the national +household, will be needed to bring the rural laborer into the circle of +national life, and make him a willing worker in the general scheme. +If farmers will not, on their part, advance towards their laborers and +bring them into the co-operative community, then labor will be organized +outside their community and will be hostile, and will be always brooding +and scheming to strike a blow when the farmer can least bear it,--when +the ground must be tilled or the harvest gathered. And this, if peace +cannot be made, will result in a still greater decline of tillage and +the continued flight of the rural laborers, and the increase of the area +in grass, and the impoverishing of human life and national well-being. + +Some policy to bring contentment to small holders and rural workers must +be formulated and acted upon. Agriculture is of more importance to the +nation than industry. Our task is to truly democratize civilization +and its agencies; to spread in widest commonalty culture, comfort, +intelligence, and happiness, and to give to the average man those things +which in an earlier age were the privileges of a few. The country is the +fountain of the life and health of a race. And this organization of the +country people into co-operative communities will educate them and make +them citizens in the true sense of the word, that is, people continually +conscious of their identity of interest with those about them. + +It is by this conscious sense of solidarity of interest, which only the +organized co-operative community can engender in modern times, that the +higher achievements of humanity become possible. Religion has created +this spirit at times--witness the majestic cathedrals the Middle Ages +raised to manifest their faith. Political organization engendered the +passion of citizenship in the Greek States, and the Parthenon and a host +of lordly buildings crowned the hills and uplifted and filled with +pride the heart of the citizen. Our big countries, our big empires, and +republics, for all their military strength and science, and the wealth +which science has made it possible for man to win, do not create +citizenship because of the loose organization of society; because +individualism is rampant, and men, failing to understand the intricacies +of the vast and complex life of their country, fall back on private +life and private ambitions, and leave the honor of their country and the +making of laws and the application of the national revenues to a class +of professional politicians, in their turn in servitude to the interests +which supply party funds, and so we find corruption in high places and +cynicism in the people. It is necessary for the creation of citizens, +for the building up of a noble national life, that the social order +should be so organized that this sense of interdependence will be +constantly felt. It is also necessary for the preservation of the +physical health and beauty of our race that our people should live +more in the country and less in the cities. I believe it would be an +excellent thing for humanity if its civilization could be based on rural +industry mainly and not on urban industry. More and more men and women +in our modern civilization drift out of Nature, out of sweet air, +health, strength, beauty, into the cities, where in the third generation +there is a rickety population, mean in stature, vulgar or depraved in +character, with the image of the devil in mind and matter more than the +image of Deity. Those who go like it at first; but city life is like the +roll spoken of by the prophet, which was sweet in the mouth but bitter +in the belly. The first generation are intoxicated by the new life, +but in the third generation the cord is cut which connected them with +Nature, the Great Mother, and life shrivels up, sundered from the source +of life. Is there any prophet, any statesman, any leader, who will--as +Moses once led the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage--excite +the human imagination and lead humanity back to Nature, to sunlight, +starlight, earth-breath, sweet air, beauty, gaiety, and health? Is it +impossible now to move humanity by great ideas, as Mahomet fired his +dark hosts to forgetfulness of life; or as Peter the Hermit awakened +Europe to a frenzy, so that it hurried its hot chivalry across a +continent to the Holy Land? Is not the earth mother of us all? Are not +our spirits clothed round with the substance of earth? Is it not from +Nature we draw life? Do we not perish without sunlight and fresh air? +Let us have no breath of air and in five minutes life is extinct. Yet +in the cities there is a slow poisoning of life going on day by day. The +lover of beauty may walk the streets of London or any big city and may +look into ten thousand faces and see none that is lovely. Is not the +return of man to a natural life on the earth a great enough idea to +inspire humanity? Is not the idea of a civilization amid the green trees +and fields under the smokeless sky alluring? Yes, but men say there is +no intellectual life working on the land. No intellectual life when man +is surrounded by mystery and miracle! When the mysterious forces which +bring to birth and life are yet undiscovered; when the earth is teeming +with life, and the dumb brown lips of the ridges are breathing mystery! +Is not the growth of a tree from a tiny cell hidden in the earth as +provocative of thought as the things men learn at the schools? Is not +thought on these things more interesting than the sophistries of the +newspapers? It is only in Nature, and by thought on the problems of +Nature, that our intellect grows to any real truth and draws near to the +Mighty Mind which laid the foundations of the world. + +Our civilizations are a nightmare, a bad dream. They have no longer the +grandeur of Babylon or Nineveh. They grow meaner and meaner as they +grow more urbanized. What could be more depressing than the miles of +poverty-stricken streets around the heart of our modern cities? The +memory lies on one "heavy as frost and deep almost as life." It +is terrible to think of the children playing on the pavements; the +depletion of vitality, with artificial stimulus supplied from the +flaring drink-shops. The spirit grows heavy as if death lay on it while +it moves amid such things. And outside these places the clouds are +flying overhead snowy and spiritual as of old, the sun is shining, the +winds are blowing, the fields are green, the forests are murmuring leaf +to leaf, but the magic that God made is unknown to these poor folk. The +creation of a rural civilization is the greatest need of our time. +It may not come in our days, but we can lay the foundations of it, +preparing the way for the true prophet when he will come. The fight now +is not to bring people back to the land, but to keep those who are +on the land contented, happy, and prosperous. And we must begin by +organizing them to defend what is left to them; to take back, industry +by industry, what was stolen from them. We must organize the country +people into communities, for without some kind of communal life men hold +no more together than the drifting sands by the seashore. There is a +natural order in which men have instinctively grouped themselves from +the dawn of time. It is as natural to them to do so as it is for bees to +build their hexagonal cells. If we read the history of civilization +we will find people in every land forming little clans co-operating +together. Then the ambition of rulers or warriors breaks them up; the +greed of powerful men puts an end to them. But, whether broken or not, +the moment the rural dweller is left to himself he begins again, with +nature prompting him, to form little clans--or nations rather--with his +fellows, and it is there life has been happiest. We did this in ancient +Ireland. The baronies whose names are on Irish land today and the +counties are survivals of these old co-operative colonies, where the men +owned the land together and elected their own leaders, and formed their +own social order and engendered passionate loyalties and affections. It +was so in every land under the sun. It was so in ancient India and in +ancient Peru. The European farmers, and we in Ireland along with them, +are beginning again the eternal task of building up a civilization in +nature--the task so often disturbed, the labor so often destroyed. And +it is with the hope that we in Ireland will build truly and nobly that I +have put together these thoughts on the rural community. + + + + + +VIII. + + + +We may now consider the proletarian in our cities. The worker in our +modern world is the subject of innumerable unapplied doctrines. The +lordliest things are predicated of him, which do not affect in the least +the relationship with him of those who employ his labor. The ancient +wisdom, as it is recounted to him on God's day, assures him of his +immortality: that the divine signature is over all his being, that in +some way he is co-related with the Eternal, that he is fashioned in a +likeness to It. He is a symbol of God Himself. He is the child of Deity. +His life is Its very breath. The Habitations of Eternity await his +coming, and the divine event to which he moves is the dwelling within +him of the Divine Mind, so that Deity may become his very self. So proud +a tale is told of him, and when he wakens on the morrow after the day of +God he finds that none will pay him reverence. He, the destined comrade +of Seraphim and Cherubim, is herded with other Children of the King in +fetid slum and murky alleys, where the devil hath his many mansions, +where light and air, the great purifiers, are already dimmed and +corrupted before they do him service. He is insecure in the labor by +which he lives. He works today, and tomorrow he may be told there is no +further need for him, and his fate and the fate of those dependent on +him are not remembered by those who dismissed him. If he dies, leaving +wife or children, the social order makes but the most inhuman provision +for them. How ghastly is the brotherhood of the State for its poor the +workhouses declare, and our social decrees which turn loving-kindness +into official acts and make legal and formal what should be natural +impulse and the overflow of the heart. So great a disparity exists +between spiritual theory and the realities of the social order that it +might almost be said that spiritual theory has no effect at all on our +civilization, and its inhuman contours seem softened at no point where +we could say, "Here the Spirit has mastery. Here God possesses the +world." + +The imagination, following the worker in our industrial system, sees +him laboring without security in his work, in despair, locked out, on +strike, living in slums, rarely with enough food for health, bringing +children into the world who suffer from malnutrition from their earliest +years, a pauper when his days of strength are passed. He dies in +charitable institutions. Though his labors are necessary he is yet not +integrated into the national economy. He has no share of his own in the +wealth of the nation. He cannot claim work as a right from the holders +of economic power, and this absolute dependence upon the autocrats of +industry for a livelihood is the greatest evil of any, for it puts a +spiritual curse on him and makes him in effect a slave. Instinctively he +adopts a servile attitude to those who can sentence him and his children +to poverty and hunger without trial or judgment by his peers. A hasty +word, and he may be told to draw his pay and begone. The spiritual wrong +done him by the social order is greater than the material ill, and that +spiritual wrong is no less a wrong because generation after generation +of workers have grown up and are habituated to it, and do not realize +the oppression; because in childhood circumstance and the black art of +education alike conspire to make the worker humble in heart and to take +the crown and sceptre from his spirit, and his elders are already tamed +and obsequious. + +Yet the workers in the modern world have great qualities. This class +in great masses will continually make sacrifices for the sake of a +principle. They have lived so long in the depths: many of them have +reached the very end of all the pain which is the utmost life can bear +and have in their character that fearlessness which comes from long +endurance and familiarity with the worst hardships. I am a literary +man, a lover of ideas, and I have found few people in my life who would +sacrifice anything for a social principle; but I will never forget the +exultation with which I realized in a great labor trouble, when the +masters of industry issued a document asking men on peril of dismissal +to swear never to join a trades union, that there were thousands of men +in my own city who refused to obey, though they had no membership or +connection with the objectionable association. Nearly all the real +manhood of Dublin I found was among the obscure myriads who are paid +from twenty to thirty shillings a week. The men who will sacrifice +anything for brotherhood get rarer and rarer above that limit of wealth. +These men would not sign away their freedom, their right to choose their +own heroes and their own ideals. Most of them had no strike funds to +fall back on. They had wives and children depending on them. Quietly +and grimly they took through hunger the path to the Heavenly City, yet +nobody praised them, no one put a crown upon their brows. Beneath their +rags and poverty there was in these obscure men a nobility of spirit. It +is in these men and the men in the cabins in the country that the hope +of Ireland lies. The poor have always helped each other, and it is +they who listen eagerly to the preachers of a social order based on +brotherhood in industry. It is these workers, always necessary but never +yet integrated into the social order, who must be educated, who must +be provided for, who must be accepted fully as comrade in any scheme +of life to be devised and which would call itself Christian. That word, +expressing the noblest and most spiritual conception of humanity, has +been so degraded by misuse in the world that we could almost hate it +with the loathing we have for evil, if we did not know that Hell can as +disguise put on the outward garments of Heaven. Yet what is eternally +true remains pure and uncorrupted, and those who turn to it find it +there--as all finally must turn to it to fulfill their destiny of +inevitable beauty. + + + + + +IX. + + + +Often with sadness I hear people speak of industrial development in +Ireland, for I feel they contemplate no different system than that which +fills workers with despair in countries where it is more successfully +applied. All these energetic people are conspiring to build factories +and mills and to fill them with human labor, and they believe the more +they do this the better it will be for Ireland. They talk of Ireland +as if it was only admirable as a quantity rather than a quality. They +express delight at swelling statistics and increased trade, but where +do we hear any reflection on the quality of life engendered by this +industrial development? Our civilization is to differ in no way from any +other. No new ideal of life is suggested to differentiate us. We are to +go on exploiting human labor. Our working classes are to increase and +multiply and earn profits for an employing class, as labor has one from +time immemorial in Babylon, in Nineveh, in Rome, and in London +today. But a choice yet remains to us, because the character of our +civilization is not yet fixed. It is mainly germinal. It fills the +spirit with weariness to think of another nation following the old path, +without thought or imagination of other roads leading to new and more +beautiful life. Every now and then, when the world was still vast and +full of undiscovered wonders, some adventurers would leave the harbor, +and steer their galleys past the known coast and the familiar cities and +over unraveled seas, seeking some new land where life might be freer and +ampler than that they had known. Is the old daring gone? Are there +not such spirits among us ready to join in the noblest of all +adventures--the building up of a civilization--so that the human might +reflect the divine order? In the divine order there is both freedom and +solidarity. It is the virtue of the soul to be free and its nature to +love; and when it is free and acts by its own will it is most united +with all other life. Those planetary spirits who move in solemn motion +about the heavens I do not conceive as the slaves of Deity but as its +adorers. But that material nature in which the soul is embodied has the +dividing quality of the prism, which resolves pure light into distinct +rays; and so on earth we get the principle of freedom and the virtue of +solidarity as separated ideals continually at warfare with each other, +and the reconcilement on earth of these principles in man is the +conquest of matter by the spirit. This dramatic sundering on earth +of virtues in unison in the heavens explains the struggle between +Protestantism and Catholicism, between nationality and imperialism, +between individualist and socialist, between dynamic and static in +philosophy. Indeed in the last analysis all human conflicts are the +balancing on earth of the manifestation of divine principles which are +one in the unmanifest spirit. + +The civilization we create, the social order we build up, must provide +for essential freedom for the individual and for solidarity of the +nation. Now essential freedom is denied to men if they are in their +condition servile. Can we contemplate the permanent existence of a +servile class in Ireland? For, disguise it how we will, our present +industrial system is practically a form of slavery for the workers, +differing in externals only from the ages when the serf had a collar +round his neck. He has now freedom to change from master to master, and +can even seek for a master in other countries; but he must, in any +case, accept the relation of servant to master. The old slave could be +whipped. In the new order the wage slave can be starved, and the fact +that many of the rulers of industry use their power benevolently does +not make the existing relation between employer and employed right, or +the social order one whose permanence can be justified. Men will gladly +labor if they feel that their labor conspires with that of all other +workers for the general good; but there is something loathsome to the +spirit in the condition of the labor market, where labor is regarded as +a commodity to be bought and sold like soap or candles. For that truly +describes how it is with labor in our industrial system: we can buy +labor, which means we can buy human life and thought, a portion of God's +being, and make a profit out of it. By so selling himself the worker is +enslaved and limited in a thousand ways. The power of dismissal of one +person by another at whim acts against independence of character, or the +free expression or opinion in thought, in politics, and in religion. The +soul is stunted in its growth, and spiritual life made subordinate +to material interests. To deny essential freedom to the soul is the +greatest of all crimes, and such denial has in all ages evoked the +deepest anger among men. When freedom has been threatened nations have +risen up maddened and exultant, and the clang of martial arms has been +heard and the stony kings of the past have been encountered in battle. +In Ireland we shall have our greatest fight of all to gain this freedom: +not alone material independence for man, but the freedom of the soul, +its right to choose its own heroes and its own ideals without let or +hindrance by other men. + +We have many of the vices of a slave race, and we treat others as we +have been treated. Our national aspirations were overborne by material +power, and we in turn use cudgel and curse on our countrymen when they +differ from us in opinion and policy. Men, when they cannot match their +intellect against another's, suppress him and howl him down, putting +faith in their own brainlessness. I would make the most passionate plea +for freedom in Ireland: freedom for all to say the truth they feel or +know. What right have we to ask for ourselves what we deny to another? +The bludgeon at meetings is a blow struck against heaven. Those who will +not argue or reason are recreants against humanity, and are prowling +back again on all fours in their minds to the brute. It matters not in +what holy name men war with violence on freedom of thought, whether in +the name of God or nation they are enemies of both. We are only right +in controversy when we overcome by a superior beauty or truth. The +first fundamental idea inspiring an Irish polity should be this idea of +freedom in all spheres of thought, and it is most necessary to fight +for this because the devil and hell have organized their forces in this +unfortunate land in sectarian and secret societies, of which it might +be written they love darkness rather than light for the old God-given +reasons. + + + + + +X. + + + +Whenever in Ireland there has been a revolt of labor it too often finds +arrayed against it the press, the law, and the police. All the great +powers are in entente. The press, without inquiry, begins a detestable +cant about labor agitators misleading ignorant men. Every wild phrase +uttered by an exasperated worker is quoted against the cause of labor, +and its grievances are suppressed. We are told nothing about how +the worker lives: what homes, what food, his wage will provide. The +journalist holds up a moral umbrella, protecting society from the fiery +hail of conscience. The baser sort of clergyman will take up the parable +and begin advocating a servile peace, glibly misinterpreting the divine +teaching of love to prove that the lamb should lie down inside the lion, +and only so can it be saved soul and body, forgetful that the peace +which was Christ's gift to humanity was the peace of God which passes +all understanding, and that it was a spiritual quietude, and that on +earth--the underworld--the gospel in realization was to bring not peace +but a sword. + +The law, assured of public opinion, then deals sternly with whatever +unfortunate life is driven into its pens. I am putting very mildly the +devilish reality, for society is so constituted that the public, kept in +ignorance of the real facts, believes that it is acting rightly, and so +the devil has conscience on his side and that divine power is turned +to infernal uses. What can labor oppose to this federation of State and +Church, of press and law, of capital and physical force to back capital, +when it sets about its own liberation and to institute a new social +order to replace autocracy in industry? Its allies are few. A rare +thinker, scientist, literary man, artist or clergyman, impelled by +hatred of what is ugly in life, will speak on its behalf, and may render +some aid and help to tear holes in that moral shield held up by the +press, and may here and there give to that blinded public a vision of +the Hosts of the Lord arrayed against it. But the only real power +the workers can truly rely on is their own. Nothing but a spiritual +revolution or an economic revolution will bring other classes into +comradeship with them. The ideal labor should set before itself is not +a transitory improvement in its wage, because a wage war never truly or +permanently improves the position of labor. This section or that may, +relatively to its own past or the position of other workers, improve +itself; but capital is like a ship which, however the tide rises or +falls, floats upon it, and is not sunken more deeply in the water at +high tide than at low tide. Whenever any burden is placed upon capital +it immediately sets about unloading that burden on the public. Wages +might be doubled by Act of Parliament, and the net result would be +to double prices, if not to increase them still more. The more the +autocrats of industry are federated the more easily can they unload on +others any burden placed on them. + +The value of money is simply what it will purchase at any time. If +the rulers of industry can halve the purchasing power of money while +doubling wages at the command of the State, logic leads us to assume +that wages boards, arbitration boards and the like can only be +transitory in their meliorating effect; and to pursue the attack on the +autocrats of industry by the road of wages alone is to attack them where +they are impregnable, and where, seeming to give way, they are all the +while really losing nothing, and are only fixing the wage system more +permanently on those who attack them. There are fiery spirits among the +proletarians who hope that militant labor will at last bring about the +social revolution, taking the earthly paradise by violence. They believe +that if every worker dropped his tools and absolutely refused to work +under the old system, it would be impossible to continue it. That is +true, but those who advocate this policy slur over many difficulties, +and the relative power of endurance of both parties. They do not, I +think, take into account the immense power in the hands of those who +uphold the present system. Those who might be expected to strike are +not--at least in Ireland--a majority of the population. They would have +far fewer material resources to fall back on than those others whose +interests would lead them to preserve the present social order. It +is clear, too, when we analyze the forces at the command of labor +and capital, that the latter has attached to itself by the bonds of +self-interest the scientific men--engineers, inventors, chemists, +bacteriologists, designers, organizers, all the intellect of +industry--without which, in alliance with itself, revolting labor would +be unable to continue production as before. Labor so revolting might +indeed for a time bring the work of the nation to a standstill; but +unless it could by some means attract to itself men of the class +described, it would not be able to take the helm of the ship of industry +and guide it with knowledge as the holders of economic power have done +in the past. A policy of emancipation should provide labor with a +means of attracting to itself that kind of knowledge which is gained in +universities, laboratories, colleges of science, and, above all, in +the actual guidance of great industrial enterprises. In any trial of +endurance those who start with the greatest intellectual, moral, and +material resources will win. + +I do not deny that the strike is a powerful weapon in the hand of labor, +but it is one with which it is difficult to imagine labor dealing a +knock-out blow to the present social order. I believe in an orderly +evolution of society, at least in Ireland, and doubt whether by +revolution people can be raised to an intelligence, a humanity, or a +nobility of nature greater than they formerly possessed. Nobody can +remain standing on tiptoe. After a little time disorder subsides and +some strong man leads the inevitable reaction. In France people revolted +against a decadent monarchy, and in a dozen years they had a new +emperor. In England they beheaded a king as a protest against tyranny, +and they got a dictator in his place who took little or no account of +parliaments; and finally a second Charles, rather worse than the first, +came to the throne. The everlasting battle between light and darkness +goes on stubbornly all the time, and the gain of the Hosts of Light is +inch by inch. Extraordinary efforts, impetuous charges, which seem +to win for a moment, too often leave the attacking force tired and +exhausted, and the forces of reaction set in and overwhelm them. I am +the friend of revolt if people cannot stand the conditions they live +under, and if they can see no other way. It is better to be men than +slaves. The French Revolution was a tragic episode in history, but +when people suffer intolerably and are insulted in their despair it is +inevitable blood will be shed. One can only say with Whitman: + +Pale, silent, stern, what could I say to that long-accrued retribution? +Could I wish humanity different Could I wish the people made of wood and +stone, or that there be no justice in destiny or time? + +There is danger in revolution if the revolutionary spirit is much more +advanced than the intellectual, and moral qualities which alone +can secure the success of a revolt. These intellectual and moral +qualities--the skill to organize, the wisdom to control large +undertakings, are not natural gifts but the results of experience. They +are evolutionary products. The emancipation of labor, I believe, will +not be gained by revolution but by prolonged effort, continued month by +month and year by year, in which first this thing is adventured, then +that: each enterprise brings its own gifts of wisdom and experience, +and there is no reaction, because, instead of the violent use of certain +powers, the whole being is braced: experience, intellect, desire, all +strong and working harmoniously, press forward and support each other, +and no enterprise is undertaken where the intellect to carry it out is +not present together with the desire. It requires great intellectual +and moral qualities to bring about a revolution. A rage at present +conditions is not enough. + + + + + +XI. + + + +Our farmers are already free. The problem with them is not now concerned +with freedom, but how they may be brought into a solidarity with each +other and the nation. To make our proletarians free and masters of their +own energies, in unison with each other and the national being, is the +most pressing labor of the many before us. Unless there be economic +freedom there can be no other freedom. The right of no individual to +subsistence should be at the good will of any other individual. More +than mere comfort depends on it. There are eternal and august rights of +the soul to be safeguarded, and the economic position of men should be +protected by organization and democratic law. I have already discussed +some of the avenues through which workers in our time have looked with +hope. I have little belief that these roads lead anywhere but back to +the old City of Slavery, however they may seem to curve away at the +outset. The strike, on whatever scale, is no way to freedom, though +the strike--or the threat of it--may bring wages nearer to subsistence +level. The art of warfare is too much in the hands of specialists for +trust to be placed in revolution. A machine-gun with a few experts +behind it is worth a thousand revolutionary workers, however maddened +they may be. Does political action, on which so many rely, promise more? +I do not believe it does. I believe that to appeal to legislatures is +to appeal to bodies dominated by those interested in maintaining the +present social order, although they may act so as to redress the worst +evils created by it. In Ireland, for this generation at least, it +would be impossible to secure in a legislative assembly majorities +representative of the class we wish to see emancipated. It may seem as +if I had closed all the paths out of the social labyrinth; but the +way to emancipation has, I think, already been surveyed by pioneers. +A policy of social reconstruction is practical, and needs but steady +persistence for its realization. That policy--I refer to co-operative +action--has been adopted in various forms by workers in many countries; +and what is needed here is to study and coordinate these applications of +co-working, and to form a general staff of labor who will, on behalf of +the workers, examine the weapons fashioned by their class elsewhere, and +who will draw up a plan of campaign as the staff of an army do previous +to military operations. It will be found that economic action along +co-operative lines has, in one country, barriers placed before its +expansion which could be set aside by supplementing this action by +methods elaborated by the genius of workers elsewhere. + +It is not my purpose here to repeat in detail methods of organization, +partly technical, which can be found fully described in many admirable +books, but rather to indicate the order of advance, the methods of +coordination of these, and their final absorption and transformation +in the national being. There is a great deal of ignorance about things +essential to safe action. When men are filled with enthusiasm they are +apt to apply their new principles rashly in schemes which are bound to +fall, just as over-confident soldiers will in battle sometimes rush a +position prematurely which they cannot hold, because the general line of +their army has not advanced sufficiently to support them. Sacrifices are +made with no permanent result, and the morale of the army is injured. + +In the rural districts the advance must, in the nature of things, be +from production to consumption, and with urban workers inversely from +a control over distribution to a mastery over production. I have often +wondered over the blindness of workers in towns in Ireland, who have +made so little use in the economic struggle of the freedom they have to +spend their wage where they choose. They speak of this struggle as the +class war; but they carry on the conflict most energetically where it is +most difficult for them to succeed, and hardly at all where it would +be comparatively easy for them to weaken the resources of their +antagonists. In warfare much use is made of flanking movements, which +aim at cutting the enemy's communication with his base of supply. +Frontal attacks are dangerous. It is equally true in economic warfare. +The strike is a frontal attack, and those they fight are entrenched +deeply with all the artillery of the State, the press, science, and +wealth on their side. What would we think of an army which, at the +close of each week's fighting, voluntarily surrendered to the enemy the +ground, guns, ammunition, and prisoners captured through the previous +six days? Yet this is what our workers do. The power opposed to them is +mainly economic, though there is an intellectual basis for it also. But +the wages of the workers, little for the individual, yet a large part of +the national income if taken for the mass, goes back to strengthen the +system they protest against through purchases of domestic requirements. +The creation of co-operative stores ought to be the first constructive +policy adopted by Irish labor. It ought to be as much a matter of class +honor with them to be members of stores as to be in the trade union of +their craft. The store may be regarded as the commissariat department +of the army of labor. Many a strike has failed of its object, and +the workers have gone back defeated, because their neglect of the +commissariat made them unable to hold out for that last week when both +sides are desperate and at the end of their resources. But it is +not mainly as an aid to the strike that I advocate democratizing the +distributive trade, but because control over distribution gives a +large measure of control over production. The history of co-operative +workshops indicates that these have rarely been successful unless +worked in conjunction with distributive stores. The retail trader is +not sympathetic with co-operative production. As the cat is akin to the +tiger, so is the individual trader--no matter on how small a scale he +operates--a kinsman of the great autocrats of industry, and he will +sympathize with his economic kinsmen and will retail their goods in +preference to those produced in co-operative workshops. + +The control of agencies of distribution by the workers at a certain +stage in their development enables them to start productive enterprises +with more safety and less expense in regard to advertisement than the +capitalist can. In fact the co-operative store, properly organized, +creates a tied trade for the output of co-operative workshops. It is +a source of financial aid to these, and will invest funds in them and +assist trades unions gradually to transform themselves into co-operative +guilds of producers which should be their ultimate ideal. As I shall +show later on, the store will enable the urban worker to enter into +intimate alliance with the rural producer. Their interests are +really identical. In every town in Ireland efforts should be made to +democratize the distributive agencies, and the workers will have many +allies in this, driven by the increased cost of living to search out the +most economical agencies of purchase. If the proletarians are not in a +majority in Ireland--a nation where the farmers are the most numerous +single class--they certainly form the majority in the cities; and the +co-operative store, while admitting to membership all who will apply, +ought to be and would be sympathetic with the efforts of labor to +emancipate itself, and would be a powerful lever in its hands. As the +stores increase in number, an analysis of their trade will reveal +year by year in what directions co-operative production of particular +articles may safely be attempted. More and more by this means the +producing power and the capital at the disposal of the worker will +be placed at the service of democracy. The first steps are the most +difficult. In due time the workers will have educated a number of their +members, and will have attached to themselves men of proved capacity +to be the leaders in fresh enterprises, manufactures of one kind or +another, democratic banking institutions, all supporting each other and +leaning on each other and playing into each other's hands. + +The extent to which this may be carried, and the opportunities for +making Ireland a co-operative democracy, I shall presently explain. I do +not regard any of these forms of co-operative organization as ideal or +permanent. The co-operative movement must be regarded rather as a +great turning movement on the part of humanity towards the ideal. The +co-operative organizations now being formed in Ireland and over the +world will, I am certain, persist and outlast this generation and the +next, and will grow into vaster things than we dream of; but the really +important change they will bring about in the minds of men will be +psychological. Men will become habituated to the thought of common +action for the common good. To get so far in civil life is a great +step. Today our civil life is a tangle of petty personal interests +and competitions. The co-operative movement is, as I have said, a vast +turning movement of humanity heavenwards, or, at least, to bring them +face round to the Delectable City. When this psychological change takes +place the democratic associations--which have grown up haphazard as the +workers found it easiest to create them--will be changed and remodeled +by men who will have the mass of people behind them in their efforts +to make a more majestic structure of society for the enlargement of the +lives and spirits of men. + + + + + +XII. + + + +We have descended from the national soul to the material plane, and we +must still continue here for a time, because the doctrine that a sane +mind can only manifest through a sane body is as true in reference +to the State as to the individual, and necessitates a study of social +fabrics. The soul creates tendencies and habits in the body, and the +body repeats these vibrations automatically and infects the soul +again with its old desires. Our religious hatreds created sectarian +organizations, and these react again in the national soul, which +would, I believe, willingly pass away from that mood, but finds itself +incarnated in organizations habituated to sectarian action, and its +energies are turned into these hateful channels unwillingly. So a +drunkard who now realizes that intemperance is rotting his nature is +conquered by the appetites he set up in the past, and with his soul in +rebellion he yet satisfies the craving in the body. The individualism in +our economic life reacts on the national being, and prevents concerted +action for the general good. We have yet to create harmony of purpose +in our economic life, and to bring together interests long separated and +unmindful of each other, and make them realize that their interests are +identical. It is one of the commonplaces of economics that urban +and rural interests are identical: but in truth the townsman and the +countryman have always acted as if their interests were opposed, +and they know very little of each other. I never like to let these +commonplaces of economics pass my frontiers unless they give the +countersign to the challenge for truth. People declare in the same way +that the interests of labor and capital are identical, and implore them +not to fight with one another. But the truth of that statement seems +to me to depend largely on whether capital owns labor or labor owns +capital. As an abstract proposition it is one of the economic formulae I +would leave instructions at my frontiers to have detained until further +inquiry as to its antecedents. All these statements may be true, but +to make them operative, to give them a dynamic rather than a static +character, we must convince people they are true by close argument and +still more so by realistic illustration. + +To bring about a high nobility in the national soul we must make harmony +in its economic life, and the two main currents of economic energy--the +agricultural and urban--must be made to flow so that their action will +not defeat each other. Let us take the farmer first. How ought he to +wish to see life in the towns develop? Should he wish for the triumph of +labor or capital: the success of the co-operative movement, the triumph +of the multiple shop or the private trader, of guilds of workers or +autocrats of industry? Economic desires generally depend on the nature +of the industry men are engaged in. The jeweler would probably desire +the permanence of the social order which created most wealthy people who +could afford to buy his wares. The farmer's industry, if we consider it +closely, is the most democratic of any in its application to society. +The produce of the farm, in its final distribution, is divided into +portions more or less equal and conditioned in quantity by the digestive +powers of an individual. The wealthiest millionaire cannot eat more +bread, butter, meat, vegetables, or fruit than the manual laborer would +eat if the latter could afford to get such things. In fact he would +eat rather less, because the manual worker has a much better appetite, +indeed requires more food. It appears to be the interest of the farmer +to support any urban movement whose object it is to see that every +worker in the towns is remunerated so that he, his wife, and his +children can procure as much food as they require. Any underpaid worker +in the towns is a wrong to the farmer--a willing customer who yet cannot +buy. If there is, let us say, a sum of fifteen hundred pounds a week to +be paid away in a town, it is to the interest of farmers that that sum +should be paid to a thousand men at the rate of thirty shillings a week +rather than to fifty men at thirty pounds a week. In the case of the +workers a greater part of the money will be spent on food. But if fifty +men have thirty pounds a week each, it will be spent to satisfy the +appetites of a much smaller number of people. A larger proportion will +be spent on furniture, pictures, motor-cars and what not. It may be +spent so as to give some kind of employment, but it will not be a +division of the money so much to the interests of the farmer. However +we analyze the problem it appears to be to the farmer's interests to +support democratic movements in the cities, certainly up to the point +where every worker in the towns has a wage which enables himself and his +family to eat all they require for health. It is also to the interests +of farmers to support any system of distribution of goods which +eliminates the element of profit in the sale. After the farmer gets his +price it is to his interests that food should be increased in cost as +little as possible when the article is transferred to the consumer, +because if farm produce has to bear too many profits it will be +expensive for the consumer, and there will be a lessened demand. So +associations like the co-operative stores, which aim at the elimination +of the element of profit in distribution, should be approved of by the +farmers. + +Now we come to the townsman again. Is it his interest to support the +farmers in his own country or to regard the world as his farm? The +argument on the economic side is not so clear, but it is, I think, +just as sound. If agriculture is neglected in any country the rural +population pour into the towns. The country becomes a fountain of +blackleg labor. Rural labor has no traditions of trade unionism, and +takes any work at any price. There are fewer people engaged in producing +food, and its cost rises. Food must be imported from abroad; and there +is national insecurity, as in times of war their is always the danger of +the trade routes overseas being blocked by an enemy, and this again has +to be provided against by heavy expenditure for militarist purposes. The +farther away an army is from its base the more insecure is its +position, and the same thing is true in the industrial life of nations. +International trade there must always be. It is one of the means by +which the larger solidarity of humanity is to be achieved; but that will +never come about until there is a nobler and more human life within the +states, and we must begin by perfecting national life before we consider +empires and world federations. So in this essay only the national being +is considered. + +I desire to unite countryman and townsman in one movement, and to make +the co-operative principle the basis of a national civilization. How +are we to prevent them fighting the old battle between producer and +consumer? I think that this can best be brought about by co-operative +federations, which will act for both in manufacture, purchase, and sale, +and with which both rural and urban associations will find it to their +interest to be affiliated. Now the townsman cannot to any extent supply +food for his stores by buying farms. To control agricultural production +in that way would necessitate a financial operation which the +State would shrink from, and which it would be impossible for urban +cooperators to finance. We had better make up our minds to let farmers +be syndicalists, controlling entirely the processes of agricultural +production themselves. They will do it better than the townsman could, +more efficiently and more economically. They will never be able, with +the world in competition, to put up prices artificially. How can the +two main divisions of national life be brought together in a national +solidarity? We can find an answer if we remember that farmers are not +only producers but consumers. They do not go about naked in the fields. +They require clothes, furniture, tea, coffee, sugar, oil, soap, candles, +pots and pans--in fact the farmer's wife needs nearly all the things the +townsman's wife needs, except that she purchases a little less food. But +even here modern conditions are driving the farmer to buy food in the +shops rather than to produce it for himself on the farm. Country bread +is made in the bakery more and more. Butter, cheese, and bacon are made +in factories, and the farmer's tendency is to buy what bread, bacon, +and butter he requires, selling the milk to be made into butter to a +creamery, the grain to make the bread to a miller, and the pigs to +a factory. Co-operative distribution would be as advantageous to the +country as in the town. Already in Ireland a considerable number of +farmers' societies are enlarging their objects, and are turning what +originally were purely agricultural associations into general +purposes societies, where the farmer's wife can purchase her +domestic requirements as well as her man his machinery, fertilizers, +feeding-stuffs, and seeds. It would be to the interest of rural +societies to deal with co-operative wholesales just as much as it is in +the interest of urban stores to do so. It would be to their interest to +take shares in these wholesales and productive federations, and see that +they cater for the farmer's interests as much as for the townsman's. + +The urban co-operators, on their side, will see the opportunities for +productive co-operation the union of rural and urban movements would +create. They naturally will desire to employ as many people as possible +in co-operative production. Farmers are surrounded by rings of all +kinds: machinery manufacturers who will not sell to their societies, +manure manufacturers' alliances who keep up prices. It is a great +industry, this of supplying the farmer with his fertilizers, +feeding-stuffs, cake, machinery. These rural co-operative societies +are increasing in number year by year. Farmers want clothes, hats, and +boots: and the necessary machinery for their industry is almost entirely +of urban manufacture--ploughs, binders, separators, harrows, and many +other implements of tillage. It is an immense industry and yet to be +co-operatively exploited. In the towns some progress has been made in +distribution. But a nation depends upon its wealth producers and not +upon its consumers. Co-operators might double, treble, or quadruple the +distributive trade, and still occupy only a very secondary position in +national life unless they enter more largely upon production. We will +never make the co-operative idea the fundamental one in the civilization +of Ireland until we employ a very large part of the population in +production. Now we have at present, thanks to the energy of the pioneers +of agricultural co-operation, a new market opening in the country +for things which the townsman can produce. Does not this suggest +new productive urban enterprises? Does it not favor an evolution of +manufacturing industry, so that democratic control may finally replace +the autocratic control of the capitalist? The trades unions cannot +do this alone by following up any of their traditional policies. They +cannot go into trade on their own account with any guarantee of success +unless they are associated with agencies of distribution. But if +co-operators--urban and rural--through their federations invade more and +more the field of production they will draw to themselves the hearts and +hopes of the workers and idealists in the nation. People are really more +concerned about the making of an income than about the spending of it. +It is a necessity of our policy if it is to bring about the co-operative +commonwealth, that co-operators must adventure much more largely into +production than they have hitherto done. + +Now let us see what we have come to. There is a country movement which +is not merely one for agricultural production. It is rapidly taking +up the distribution of goods. There is an urban movement not merely +concerned with distribution but entering upon production. They can be +brought into harmony if the same federations act for both branches of +the movement. The meeting-place of the two armies should be there. +If this policy is adopted there will gradually grow-up that unity of +purpose between country and urban workers which is the psychological +basis and necessary precedent for national action for the common good. +The policy of identity of interest must be real, and it can only be +real when the identity of interest is obvious, and it can only be made +obvious when the symbols of that unity and identity are visible day by +day in buildings and manufactures, things which are handled and seen, +and in transactions which daily bring that unity to mind. The old +poetic ideal of a United Ireland was and could only be a geographical +expression, and not a human reality, so long as men were individualist +in economics and were competing and struggling with each other for +mastery. + +By the co-operative commonwealth more is meant than a series of +organizations for economic purposes. We hope to create finally, by the +close texture of our organizations, that vivid sense of the identity of +interest of the people in this island which is the basis of citizenship, +and without which there can be no noble national life. Our great +nation-states have grown so large, so myriad are their populations, so +complicated are their interests, that most people in them really feel no +sense of brotherhood with each other. We have yet to create inside our +great nation-states social and economic organizations, which will +make this identity of interest real and evident, and not seem merely +a metaphor, as it does to most people today. The more the co-operative +movement does this for its members, the more points of contact they find +in it, the more will we tend to make out of it and its branches real +social organisms, which will become as closely knit psychically as +physically the cells in a human body are knit together. Our Irish +diversities of interest have made us world-famous; but such industrial +and agricultural organizations would swallow up these antagonisms, as +the serpents created by the black art of the Egyptian magicians were +swallowed up by the rod Aaron cast on the floor, and which was made +animate by the white magic of the Lord. + + + + + +XIII. + + + +It will appear to the idealist who has contemplated the heavens more +closely than the earth that the policy I advocate is one which only +tardily could be put into operation, and would be paltry and inadequate +as a basis for society. The idealist with the Golden Age already in his +heart believes he has only to erect the Golden Banner and display it for +multitudes to array themselves beneath its folds; therefore he advocates +not, as I do, a way to the life, but the life itself. I am sympathetic +with idealists in a hurry, but I do not think the world can be changed +suddenly by some heavenly alchemy, as St. Paul was smitten by a light +from the overworld. Such light from heaven is vouchsafed to individuals, +but never to nations, who progress by an orderly evolution in society. +Though the heart in us cries out continually, "Oh, hurry, hurry to the +Golden Age," though we think of revolutions, we know that the patient +marshalling of human forces is wisdom. We have to devise ways and means +and light every step clearly before the nation will leave its footing +in some safe if unattractive locality to plant itself elsewhere. The +individual may be reckless. The race never can be so, for it carries too +great a burden and too high destinies, and it is only when the gods +wish to destroy or chastise a race that they first make it mad. Not by +revolutions can humanity be perfected. I might quote from an old oracle, +"The gods are never so turned away from man as when he ascends to them +by disorderly methods." Our spirits may live in the Golden Age, but our +bodily life moves on slow feet, and needs the lantern on the path and +the staff struck carefully into the darkness before us to see that the +path beyond is not a morass, and the light not a will o' the wisp. + +Other critics may say I would destroy the variety of civilization by the +inflexible application of a single idea. Well, I realize that the net +which is spread for Leviathan will not capture all the creatures of the +deep; and the complexity of human nature is such that it is impossible +to imagine a policy, however fitting in certain spheres of human +activity, which could be applied to the whole of life. What I think we +should aim at is making the co-operative idea fundamental in Irish life. +But to say fundamental is not to say absolute. Always there will be +enter rising persons--men of creative minds--who will break away from +the mass and who will insist, perhaps rightly, on an autocratic control +of the enterprises they found, which were made possible alone by +their genius, and which would not succeed unless every worker in the +enterprise was malleable by their will. It is unlikely that State action +will cease, or that any Government we may have will not respond to the +appeal of the people to do this, that, or the other for them which they +are too indolent to do for themselves, or which by the nature of things +only governments can undertake. For a principle to be fundamental in +a country does not mean that it must be absolute. I hope society in +Ireland will be organized that the idea of democratic control of its +economic life will so pervade Irish thought that it will be in the body +politic what the spinal column is to the body--the pillar on which it +rests, the strongest single factor in the body. Another illustration +may make still clearer my meaning. In a red sunsetting the glow is so +powerful that green hills, white houses, and blue waters, touched by +its light, assume a ruddy color, partly a local color, and partly a +reflected light from the sun. Now in the same way, what is most powerful +in society multiplies images and shadows of itself, and produces +harmonies with itself which are yet not identities. It is by a +predominating idea that nations achieve the practical unity of their +citizens, and national progress becomes possible. In the future +structure of society I have no doubt there will be elements to which the +socialist, the syndicalist, the capitalist, and the individualist will +have contributed. By degrees it will be discovered what enterprises +are best directed by the State, by municipalities, by groups, or by +individuals. But if the idea of democratic control is predominant, those +enterprises which are otherwise directed will yet meet the prevalent +mood by adopting the ideas of the treatment of the workers enforced in +democratically controlled enterprises, and will in every respect, except +control, make their standards equal. All the needles of being point to +the centres where power is most manifested. The effects of the French +revolution--a democratic upheaval--invaded men's minds everywhere. Even +the autocratically ruled States, hitherto careless about the people in +their underworlds, had to make advances to democracy, and give it some +measure of the justice democracy threatened to deal to itself. Without +demanding absolutism I do desire a predominant democratic character in +our national enterprises, rather than a confused muddle or struggle of +interests where nothing really emerges except the egoism of those who +struggle. + +It will be noticed that in all that has preceded I have referred little +to action by government, though it is on governments that democracies +over the world are now fixing all their hopes. They believe the State +is the right agency to bring about reforms and changes in society. And +I must here explain why I do not share their hopes. My distrust of the +State in economic reform is based on the belief that governments in +great nation-states, even representative governments, are not malleable +by the general will. They are too easily dominated by the holders of +economic power, are, in fact, always dominated by aristocracies with +land or by the aristocracies of wealth. It is the hand at the helm +guides the ship. The larger the State is the more easily do the holders +of economic power gain political power. The theory of representative +government held good in practice, I think, so long as parliaments were +engaged in formulating general rights, the right, for example, of the +individual to think or profess any religion he pleased; his right not +to be deprived of liberty or life without open trial by his +fellow-citizens. So long as legislatures were affirming or maintaining +these rights, which rich and poor equally desired, they were justified. +But when legislatures began to intervene in economic matters, in the +struggles between rich and poor, between capital and labor, it became +at once apparent the holders of economic power had also political power; +and that the institution which operated fairly where universal rights +were considered did not operate fairly when there was a conflict between +particular interests. + +The jury of the nation was found to be packed. At least nine-tenths of +the population in Great Britain, for example, belong to the wage-earning +class. At least nine-tenths of the members of legislatures belong to +the classes possessing land or capital. Now, why any member of the +wage-earning class should look with hope to such assemblies I cannot +understand. Their ideal is, or should be, economic freedom, together +with democratic control of industries, an ideal in every way opposed +to the ideal of the majority of the members of the legislatures. The +fiction that representative assemblies will work for the general good is +proclaimed with enthusiasm; but the moment we examine their actions +we see it is not so, and we discover the cause. Where the nation is +capitalist and capitalism is the dominant economic factor, legislatures +invariably act to uphold it, and legislation tends to fix the system +more securely. We see in Great Britain that wage-earners are now openly +regarded by the legislatures as a class who must not be allowed the same +freedom in life as the wealthy. They must be registered, inspected, +and controlled in a way which the wealthy would bitterly resent if the +legislation referred to themselves. After economic inferiority has been +enforced on them by capital, the stigma of human inferiority is attached +to the wage-earners by the legislature. But I must not be led away from +my theme by the bitter reflections which arise in one who lives in the +Iron Age and knows it is Iron, who feels at times like the lost wanderer +on trackless fields of ice, which never melt and will not until earth +turns from its axis. + +I wish to see society organized so that it shall be malleable to the +general will. But political and economic progress are obstructed because +existing political and economic organizations are almost entirely +unmalleable by the general will. Public opinion does not control the +press. The press, capitalistically controlled, creates public opinion. +Our legislators have grown so secure that they confess openly they have +passed measures which they knew would be hateful to the majority of +citizens, and which, if they had been voted on, would never have been +passed. The theory of representative government has broken down. To tell +the truth, the life of the nation is so complicated that it is difficult +for the private citizen to have any intelligent opinion about national +policies, and we can hardly blame the politician for despising the +judgment of the private citizen. Government departments are still less +malleable by public opinion than the legislature. For an individual to +attack the policy of a Government department is almost as hopeless a +proceeding as if a laborer were to take pickaxe and shovel and +determine to level a mountain which obstructed his view. Yet Government +departments are supposed to be under popular control. The Castle in +Ireland, theoretically, was under popular control, but it was adamantine +in policy. If the cant about popular control of legislation and +Government departments is obviously untrue, how much more is it +in regard to public services like railways, gas works, mines, the +distribution of goods, manufacture, purchase and sale, which are almost +entirely under private control and where public interference is bitterly +resented and effectively opposed. What chance has the individual who is +aggrieved against the great carrying companies? To come lower down, +let us take the farmer in the fairs. What way has he of influencing the +jobbers and dealers to act honestly by him--they who have formed rings +to keep down the prices of cattle? Are they malleable to public opinion? +The farmers who have waited all day through a fair know they are not. + +When we consider the agencies through which people buy we find the same +thing. The increase of multiple shops, combines, and rings makes the use +of the limited power a man had to affect a dealer by transferring his +custom to another merchant to dwindle yearly. Everywhere we turn we +find this adamantine front presented by the legislature, the State +departments, by the agencies of production, distribution, or credit, and +it is the undemocratic organization of society which is responsible for +nine-tenths of our social troubles. All the vested interests backed up +by economic and political power conflict with the public welfare, and +the general will, which intends the good of all, can act no more than +a paralyzed cripple can walk. We would all choose the physique of the +athlete, with his swift, unfettered, easy movements, rather than the +body of the cripple if we could, and we have this choice before us in +Ireland. + +If we concentrate our efforts mainly on voluntary action, striving +to make the co-operative spirit predominant, the general will would +manifest itself through organizations malleable to that will, flexible +and readily adjusting themselves to the desires of the community. +To effect reforms we have not first to labor at the gigantic task of +affecting national opinion and securing the majorities necessary for +national action. In any district a hundred or two hundred men can at +any time form co-operative societies for production, purchase, sale, or +credit, and can link themselves by federation with other organizations +like their own to secure greater strength and economic efficiency. By +following this policy steadily we simplify our economic system, and +reduce to fewer factors the forces in conflict in society. We beget the +predominance of one principle, and enable that general will for good, +which Rousseau theorized about, to find agencies through which it can +manifest freely, so changing society from the static condition begot +by conflict and obstruction to a dynamic condition where energies and +desires manifest freely. + +The general will, as Rousseau demonstrated, always intends the good, and +if permitted to act would act in a large and noble way. The change from +static to dynamic, from fixed forms to fluid forms, has been coming +swiftly over the world owing to the liberation of thought, and this in +spite of the obstruction of a society organized, I might almost say, +with egomania as the predominant psychological factor. The ancient +conception of Nature as a manifestation of spirit is incarnating anew +in the minds of modern thinkers, and Nature is not conceived of as +material, but as force and continual motion; and they are trying to +identify human will with this arcane energy, and let the forces of +Nature have freer play in humanity. We begin to catch glimpses of +civilizations as far exceeding ours as ours surpasses society in the +Stone Age. In all our democratic movements, in these efforts towards +the harmonious fusion of human forces, humanity is obscurely intent +on mightier collective exploits than anything conceived of before. The +nature of these energies manifesting in humanity I shall try to indicate +later on. But to let the general will have free play ought to be the +aim of those who wish to build up national organizations for whatever +purpose; and to let the general will have free play we require something +better than the English invention of representative government, which, +as it exists at present, is simply a device to enable all kinds of +compromises to be made on matters where there should be no compromise, +as if right and wrong could come to an agreement honestly to let things +be partly right and partly wrong. We are importing into Ireland some +political machinery of this antiquated pattern. I have written the +foregoing because I dread Irish people becoming slaves of this machine. +I fear the importers of this machinery will desire to make it do things +it can only do badly, and will set it to work with the ferocity of the +new broom and will make it an obstruction, so that the real genius of +the Irish people will be unable freely to manifest itself. The less we +rely on this machinery at present, and the more we desire a machinery of +progress, at once flexible and efficient, the better will it be for us +later on. What must be embodied in State action is the national will +and the national soul, and until that giant being is manifested it is +dangerous to let the pygmies set powers in motion which may enchain us +for centuries to come. + + + + + +XIV. + + + +It may seem I have spoken lightly of that infant whose birth I referred +to with more solemnity in the opening pages of this book, and indeed I +am a little dubious about that infant. The signature of the Irish mind +is nowhere present in it, and I look upon it with something of the +hesitating loyalty the inhabitant of a new Balkan State night feel for +his imported prince, doubtful whether that sovereign will reflect +the will of his new subjects or whether his policy will not constrain +national character into an alien mould. The signature of the Irish mind +is not apparent anywhere in this new machinery for self-government. Our +politicians seem to have been unaware that they had any wisdom to learn +from the more obvious failures of representative government as they knew +it. So far, as I have knowledge, no Irishman during the past century +of effort for political freedom took the trouble to think out a form +of government befitting Irish circumstance and character. We left it +absolutely to those whom we declared incapable of understanding us +or governing us to devise for us a system by which we might govern +ourselves. I do not criticize those who devised the new machinery of +self-government, but those who did not devise it, and who discouraged +the exercise of political imagination in Ireland. It is said of an +artist that it was his fantasy first to paint his ideal of womanly +beauty, and, when this was done, to approximate it touch by touch to +the sitter, and when the sitter cried, "Ah, now it is growing like!" the +artist ceased, combining the maximum of ideal beauty possible with the +minimum of likeness. Now if we had thought out the ideal structure of +Irish government we might have offered it for criticism by those in +whose power it was to accept or reject, and have gradually approximated +it until a point was reached where the compromise left at least +something of our making and imagination in it. There is nothing of us +in the Act which is in abeyance as I write. I am less concerned with +it than with the creation of a social order, for the social order in +a country is the strong and fast fortress where national character +is created and preserved. A legislature may theoretically allow +self-government, but by its constitution may operate against national +character and its expression in a civilization. We have accepted the +principle of representative government, and that, I readily concede, is +the ideal principle, but the method by which a representative character +is to be given to State institutions we have not thought out at all. We +have committed the error our neighbors have committed of assuming that +the representative assembly which can legislate for general interests +can deal equally with particular interests; that the body of men who +will act unitedly so as to secure the liberty of person or liberty of +thought, which all desire for themselves, will also act wisely where +class problems and the development of particular industries are +concerned. The whole history of representative assemblies shows that +the machinery adequate for the furtherance and protection of general +interests operates unjustly or stupidly in practice against particular +interests. The long neglect of agriculture and the actual condition of +the sweated are instances. I agree that representative government is +the ideal, but how is it to operate in the legislature and still more +in administration? Are government departments to be controlled by +Parliament or by the representatives of the particular class to promote +whose interests special departments were created. I hold that the +continuous efficiency of State departments can only be maintained when +they are controlled in respect of policy, not by the casual politician +whom the fluctuations of popular emotion places at their head, but by +the class or industry the State institution was created to serve. A +department of State can conceivably be preserved from stagnation by +a minister of strong will, who has a more profound knowledge of +the problems connected with his department than even his permanent +officials. He might vitalize them from above. But does the party system +yield us such Ministers? In practice is not high position the reward of +service to party? Is special knowledge demanded of the controller of a +Board of Trade or a Board of Agriculture? Do we not all know that the +vast majority of Ministers are controlled by the permanent officials +of their department. Failing great Ministers, the operations of a +department may be vitalized by control over its policy exercised, not +by a general assembly like Parliament, but by a board elected from the +class or industry the department ostensibly was created to serve. An +agricultural department controlled by a council or board composed solely +of those making their livelihood out of agriculture and elected solely +by their own class, would, we may be certain, be practical in its +methods. It would receive perpetual stimulus from those engaged in +making their living by the industry. Parliaments or senates should +confine themselves to matters of general interest, leaving particular or +special interests to those who understand them, to the specialists, and +only intervene when national interests are involved by a clashing of +particular interests. Our State institutions will never fulfill their +functions efficiently until they are subject in respect of policy not +to general control, but the control of the class they were created to +serve. + +That ideal can only be realized fully when all industries are organized. +But we should work towards it. Parliament may act as a kind of guardian +of the unorganized, but, once an industry is organized, once it has +come of age, it must resent domination by bodies without the special +knowledge of which it has the monopoly within itself. It should not +tolerate domination by the unexpert outsider, whatever may be his repute +in other spheres. It is only when industries are organized that +the democratic system of election can justify itself by results +in administration. When a county, let us say, chooses a member of +Parliament to represent every interest, only too often it chooses a +man who can represent few interests except his own. The greatest common +denominator of the constituents is as a rule some fluent utterer of +platitudes. But if the farmers in a county, or the manufacturers in +a county, or the workers in a county, had each to choose a man to +represent them, we may be certain the farmers would choose one whom they +regarded as competent to interpret their needs, the manufacturers a man +of real ability, and labor would select its best intelligence. Persons +engaged in special work rarely fall to recognize the best men in their +own industry. Then they judge somewhat as experts, whereas they are +by no means experts when they are asked to select a representative +to represent everybody in every industry. To secure good government I +conceive we must have two kinds of representative assemblies running +concurrently with their spheres of influence well defined. One, the +supreme body, should be elected by counties or cities to deal with +general interests, taxation, justice, education, the duties and rights +of individual citizens as citizens. The other bodies should be elected +by the people engaged in particular occupations to control the policy +of the State institutions created to foster particular interests. The +average man will elect people to his mind whose deliberations will be in +a sphere where the ideas of the average man ought to be heard and must +be respected. The specialists in their department of industry will elect +experts to work in a sphere where their knowledge will be invaluable, +and where, if it is not present, there will be muddle. + +The machinery of government ought never to be complicated, and ought +to be easily understood by the citizens. In Ireland, where we have +at present no thought of foreign policy, no question of army or +navy, departments of State should fall naturally into a few divisions +concerned with agriculture, education, local government, justice, +police, and taxation. The administration of some of these are matters +of national concern, and they should and must be under parliamentary +control, and that control should be jealously protected. Others are +sectional, and these should be controlled in respect of policy by +persons representative of these sections, and elected solely by them. I +think there should also be a department of Labor. I am not sure that the +main work of the Minister in charge ought not to be the organization of +labor in its proper unions or guilds. It is a work as important to the +State as the organization of agriculture, and indeed from a humanitarian +point of view more urgent. Nothing is more lamentable, nothing fills +the heart more with despair, than the multitude of isolated workers, +sweated, unable to fix a price for their work, ignorant of its true +economic value; connected with no union, unable to find any body to fall +back on for help or advice in trouble, neglected altogether by society, +which yet has to pay a heavy price in disease, charity, poor rates, +and in social disorder for its neglect. Was not the last Irish rising +largely composed of those who were economically neglected and oppressed? +Society bears a heavier burden for its indifference than it would bear +if it accepted responsibility for the organization of labor in its own +defense. The State in these islands recommends farmers to organize for +the protection of their interests and assists in the organization, and +leaves the organized farmers free to use their organizations as +they will. As good a case could be made for the State aiding in the +organization of labor for the protection of its own interests. A +ministry of labor should seek out all wage-earners; where there is no +trade union one should be organized, and, where one exists, all workers +should be pressed to join it. Such a ministry ought to be the city of +refuge for the proletarian, and the Minister be the Father of Labor, +fighting its battles for an entry into humanity and its rightful place +in civilization. + +If we consider the problem of representation, it should not be +impossible to devise a system of which the foundation might be the +County Councils, where there would be as sub-divisions, committees for +local government, agriculture, and technical instruction or trade to +deal with local administration in these matters. These committees +should send representatives to general councils of local government, +agriculture, and trade. The election should not be by the County Council +as a body, but by the committees, so that traders would have no voice +in choosing a representative for farmers, nor farmers interfere in +the choice of manufacturers or traders selecting a representative on a +general Council of Trade, and it should be regarded as ridiculous any +such intervention as for a War Office to claim it should have a voice +along with the Admiralty in the selection of captains and commanders of +vessels of war. At these general councils, which might meet twice a year +for whatever number of days may be expedient, general policies would be +decided and boards elected to ensure the carrying out by the officials +of the policies decided upon. By this process of selection men who had +to control Boards of Agriculture, Trade, or Local Government would be +three times elected, each time by a gradually decreasing electorate, +with a gradually increasing special knowledge of the matters to be +dealt with. A really useless person may contrive to be chosen as +representative by a thousand electors. It requires an able man +to convince a committee of ten persons, themselves more or less +specialists, that his is the best brain among them. Where national +education, a thorny subject in Ireland, is concerned, I think the +educationalists in provinces might be asked to elect representatives +from their own profession on a Council of Education to act as an +advisory body to the Minister of Education. County Council elections are +not exactly means by which miracles of culture are discovered. A man who +came to be member of a board of control would at least have proved +his ability to others engaged on work like his own who have special +knowledge of it and of his capacity to deal with it. If this system +was accepted, we would not have traders on our Council of Agriculture +protesting against the farmers organizing their industry, because none +but persons concerned with agriculture would be a owed to be members +of agricultural committees, and this would, of course, involve the +concentration of merchants and manufacturers upon the work of a Board of +Trade and the control of a policy of technical instruction suitable for +industrial workers, where agricultural advisers in their turn would be +out of place. Control so exercised over the policy of State institutions +would vitalize them, and tend to make them enter more intimately into +the department of national effort they were created to foster. The +stagnation which falls on most Government departments is due to this, +that the responsible heads rarely have a knowledge great enough to +enable them to inaugurate new methods, that parliamentary control is +never adequate, is rarely exercised with knowledge, and there is always +a party in power to defend the policy of their Minister, for if one +Minister is successfully attacked a whole party goes out of power. We, +in Ireland, should desire above all things efficiency in our public +servants. They will stagnate in their offices unless they are +continually stimulated by intimate connection with the class they work +for and who have a power of control. This system would also, I believe, +lead to less jobbery. Men in an assembly, where theoretically every +class and interest are represented, often conspire to make bad +appointments, because only a minority have knowledge of what +qualifications the official ought to have, and they are outvoted by +representatives who do their friends such good turns often in sheer +ignorance that they are betraying their constituents. Where specialists +have power, and where the well-being of their own industry is concerned, +they never willingly appoint the inefficient. Such an organization +of our County Council system would operate also to break up sectarian +cliques. The feeling of organized classes, farmers, or industrialists, +concerned about their own well-being, would oppose itself to sectarian +sentiment where its application was unfitting. + +In the system of representative government I have outlined, we would +have one supreme or national assembly concerned with general interests, +justice, taxation, education, the apportioning of revenue to its +various uses, reserving to itself direct control over the policy of +the departments of treasury, police, judiciary, all that affects the +citizens equally; and, beneath it, other councils, representative of +classes and special interests, controlling the policy and administration +of the State departments concerned with their work. Where everybody +was concerned everybody would have that measure of control which a vote +confers; where particular interests were concerned these interests would +not be hampered in their development by the intervention of busybodies +from outside. Of course on matters where particular interests clashed +with general interests, or were unable to adjust themselves to other +interests, the supreme Assembly would have to decide. The more sectional +interests are removed from discussion in the National Assembly, and +the more it confines itself to general interests the more will it +approximate to the ideal sense, be less the haunt of greed, and more the +vehicle of the national will and the national being. + +By the application of the principle of representative government now in +force, one is reminded of nothing so much as the palette of an artist +who had squeezed out the primary colors and mixed them into a greasy +drab tint, where the purity of every color was lost, or the most +powerful pigment was in dull domination. If the modification of the +representative principle I have outlined was in operation, with each +interest or industry organized, and freed from alien interference, the +effect might be likened to a disc with the seven primary colors raying +from a centre, and made to whirl where the motion produced rather the +effect of pure light. We must not mix the colors of national life +until conflicting interests muddle themselves into a gray drab of human +futility, but strive, so far as possible, to keep them pure and unmixed, +each retaining its own peculiar lustre, so that in their conjunction +with others they will harmonize, as do the pure primary colors, and +in their motion make a light of true intelligence to prevail in the +national being. + + + + + +XV. + + + +No policy can succeed if it be not in accord with national character. +If I have misjudged that, what is written here is vain. It may be asked, +can any one abstract from the chaos which is Irish history a prevailing +mood or tendency recurring again and again, and assert these are +fundamental? It is difficult to define national character, even in +long-established States whose history lies open to the world; but it is +most difficult in Ireland, which for centuries has not acted by its own +will from its own centre, where national activity was mainly by way +of protest against external domination, or a readjustment of itself to +external power. We can no more deduce the political character of the +Irish from the history of the past seven hundred years than we can +estimate the quality of genius in an artist whom we have only seen when +grappling with a burglar. The political character of a people emerges +only when they are shaping in freedom their own civilization. To get a +clue in Ireland we must slip by those seven centuries of struggle and +study national origins, as the lexicographer, to get the exact meaning +of a word, traces it to its derivation. The greatest value our early +history and literature has for us is the value of a clue to character, +to be returned to again and again in the maze of our infinitely more +complicated life and era. + +In every nation which has been allowed free development, while it has +the qualities common to all humanity, it will be found that some one +idea was predominant, and in its predominance regrouped about itself +other ideas. With our neighbors I believe the idea of personal liberty +has been the inspiring motive of all that is best in its political +development, whatever the reactions and oppressions may have been. In +ancient Attica the idea of beauty, proportion, or harmony in life so +pervaded the minds of the citizens that the surplus revenues of the +State were devoted to the beautifying of the city. We find that love for +beauty in its art, its literature, its architecture; and to Plato, the +highest mind in the Athenian State, Deity itself appeared as Beauty in +its very essence. That mighty mid-European State, whose ambitions have +upset the world, seems to conceive of the State as power. Other races +have had a passion for justice, and have left codes of law which have +profoundly affected the life of nations which grew up long after they +were dead. The cry of ancient Israel for righteousness rings out above +all other passions, and its laws are essentially the laws of a people +who desired that morality should prevail. We have to discover for +ourselves the ideas which lie at the root of national character, and so +inculcate these principles that they will pervade the nation and make it +a spiritual solidarity, and unite the best minds in their service, and +so control those passionate and turbulent elements which are the cause +of the downfall and wreckage of nations by internal dissensions. I +desire as much as any one to preserve our national identity, and to make +it worthy of preservation, and this can only be done by the domination +of some inspiring ideal which will draw all hearts to it; which may at +first have that element of strangeness in it which Ben Jonson said was +in all excellent beauty, and which will later become--as all high things +we love do finally become--familiar to us, and nearer and closer to us +than the beatings of our own hearts. + +When ideals which really lie at the root of our being are first +proclaimed, all that is external in life protests. So were many great +reformers martyred, but they left their ideals behind them in the +air, and men breathed them and they became part of their very being. +Nationality is a state of consciousness, a mood of definite character in +our intellectual being, and it is not perceived first except in profound +meditation; it does not become apparent from superficial activities any +more than we could, by looking at the world and the tragic history +of mankind, discover that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. That +knowledge comes to those who go within themselves, and not to those who +seek without for the way, the truth, and the life. But, once proclaimed, +the incorruptible spiritual element in man intuitively recognizes it +as truth, and it has a profound effect on human action. There is, I +believe, a powerful Irish character which has begun to reassert itself +in modern times, and this character is in essentials what it was two +thousand years ago. We discover its first manifestation in the ancient +clans. The clan was at once aristocratic and democratic. It was +aristocratic in leadership and democratic in its economic basis. The +most powerful character was elected as chief, while the land was the +property of the clan. That social order indicates the true political +character of the Irish. Races which last for thousands of years do not +change in essentials. They change in circumstance. They may grow better +or worse, but throughout their history the same fundamentals appear and +reassert themselves. We can see later in Irish literature or politics, +as powerful personalities emerged and expressed themselves, how the +ancient character persisted. Swift, Goldsmith, Berkeley, O'Grady, Shaw, +Wilde, Parnell, Davitt, Plunkett, and many others, however they differed +from each other, in so far as they betrayed a political character, were +intensely democratic in economic theory, adding that to an aristocratic +freedom of thought. That peculiar character, I believe, still persists +among our people in the mass, and it is by adopting a policy which +will enable it to manifest once more that we will create an Irish +civilization, which will fit our character as the glove fits the hand. +During the last quarter of a century of comparatively peaceful life the +co-operative principle has once more laid hold on the imagination of the +Irish townsman and the Irish countryman. The communal character is still +preserved. It still wills to express itself in its external aspects in +a communal civilization, in an economic brotherhood. That movement alone +provides in Ireland for the aristocratic and democratic elements in +Irish character. It brings into prominence the aristocracy of character +and intelligence which it is really the Irish nature to love, and its +economic basis is democratic. A large part of our failure to achieve +anything memorable in Ireland is due to the fact that, influenced by the +example of our great neighbors, we reversed the natural position of the +aristocratic and democratic elements in the national being. Instead of +being democratic in our economic life, with the aristocracy of character +and intelligence to lead us, we became meanly individualistic in our +economics and meanly democratic in leadership. That is, we allowed +individualism--the devilish doctrine of every man for himself--to be the +keynote of our economic life; where, above all things, the general good +and not the enrichment of the individual should be considered. For our +leaders we chose energetic, common-place types, and made them represent +us in the legislature; though it is in leadership above all that we +need, not the aristocracy of birth, but the aristocracy of character, +intellect, and will. We had not that aristocracy to lead us. We chose +instead persons whose ideas were in no respect nobler than the +average to be our guides, or rather to be guided by us. Yet when the +aristocratic character appeared, however imperfect, how it was adored! +Ireland gave to Parnell--an aristocratic character--the love which +springs from the deeps of its being, a love which it gave to none other +in our time. + +With our great neighbors what are our national characteristics were +reversed. They are an individualistic race. This individualism has +expressed itself in history and society in a thousand ways. Being +individualistic in economics, they were naturally democratic in +politics. They have a genius for choosing forcible average men as +leaders. They mistrust genius in high places, Intensely individualistic +themselves, they feared the aristocratic character in politics. They +desired rather that general principles should be asserted to encircle +and keep safe their own national eccentricity. They have gradually +infected us with something of their ways, and as they were not truly our +ways we never made a success of them. It is best for us to fall back on +what is natural with us, what is innate in character, what was visible +among us in the earliest times, and what, I still believe, persists +among us--a respect for the aristocratic intellect, for freedom of +thought, ideals, poetry, and imagination, as the qualities to be looked +for in leaders, and a bias for democracy in our economic life. We were +more Irish truly in the heroic ages. We would not then have taken, as we +do today, the huckster or the publican and make them our representative +men, and allow them to corrupt the national soul. Did not the whole +vulgar mob of our politicians lately unite to declare to the world +that Irish nationality was impossible except it was floated on a sea of +liquor? The image of Kathleen ni Houlihan anciently was beauty in the +hearts of poets and dreamers. We often thought her unwise, but never did +we find her ignoble; never was she without a flame of idealism in her +eyes, until this ignoble crew declared alcohol to be the only possible +basis of Irish nationality. + +In the remote past we find the national instincts of our people fully +manifested. We find in this early literature a love for the truth-teller +and for the hero. Indeed they did not choose as chieftains of their +clans men whom the bards could not sing. They reverenced wisdom, whether +in king, bard, or ollav, and at the same time there was a communal basis +for economic life. This heroic literature is, as our Standish O'Grady +declared, rather prophecy than history. It reveals what the highest +spirits deemed the highest, and what was said lay so close to the +heart of the race that it is still remembered and read. That literature +discloses the character of the national being, still to be manifested in +a civilization, and it must flame out before the tale which began among +the gods is closed. Whatever brings this communal character into our +social order, and at the same time desires the independent aristocratic +intellect, is in accord with the national tradition. The co-operative +movement is the modern expression of that mood. It is already making a +conquest of the Irish mind, and in its application to life predisposing +our people to respect for the man of special attainments, independent +character, and intellect. A social order which has made its economics +democratic in character needs such men above all things. It needs +aristocratic thinkers to save the social order from stagnation, the +disease which eats into all harmonious life. We shall succeed or fail in +Ireland as we succeed or fail to make democracy prevail in our +economic life, and aristocratic ideals to prevail in our political and +intellectual life. + +In all things it is best for a people to obey the law of their own +being. The lion can never become the ox, and "one law for the lion and +the ox is oppression." + +Now that the hammer of Thor is wrecking our civilizations, is destroying +the body of European nationalities, the spirit is freer to reshape the +world nearer to the heart's desire. Necessity will drive us along with +the rest to recast our social order and to fix our ideals. Necessity and +our own hearts should lead us to a brotherhood in industry. It should +be horrible to us the thought of the greedy profiteer, the pursuit of +wealth for oneself rather than the union of forces for the good of all +and the creation of a brotherly society. The efforts of individuals to +amass for themselves great personal wealth should be regarded as ignoble +by society, and as contrary to the national spirit, as it is indeed +contrary to all divine teaching. Our ideal should be economic harmony +and intellectual diversity. We should regard as alien to the national +spirit all who would make us think in flocks, and discipline us to an +unintellectual commonalty of belief. The life of the soul is a personal +adventure, a quest for the way and the truth and the life. It may be we +shall find the ancient ways to be the true ways, but if we are led to +the truth blindfolded and without personal effort, we are like those +whom the Scripture condemns for entering into Paradise, not by the +straight gate, but over the wall, like thieves and robbers. If we seek +it for ourselves and come to it, we shall be true initiates and masters +in the guild. + +No people seem to have greater natural intelligence than the Irish. No +people have been so unfortunately cursed with organizations which led +them to abnegate personal thought, and Ireland is an intellectual +desert where people read nothing and think nothing; where not fifty in a +hundred thousand could discern the quality of thought in the Politics +of Aristotle or the Republic of Plato as being in any way deeper than +a leading article in one of their daily papers. And we, whose external +life is so mean, whose ignorance of literature is so great, are yet +flattered by the suggestion that we have treasures of spiritual and +intellectual life which should not be debased by external influences, +and so it comes about that good literature is a thing unpurchasable +except in some half-dozen of the larger towns. Any system which would +suppress the aristocratic, fearless, independent intellect should be +regarded as contrary to the Irish genius and inimical to the national +being. + + + + + +XVI. + + + +Among the many ways men have sought to create a national consciousness, +a fountain of pride to the individual citizen, is to build a strong body +for the great soul, and it would be an error to overlook--among other +modern uprisings of ancient Irish character--the revival of the military +spirit and its possible development in relation to the national being. +National solidarity may be brought about by pressure from without, or by +the fusion of the diverse elements in a nation by a heat engendered +from within. But to Create national solidarity by war is to attain but +a temporary and unreal unity, a gain like theirs who climb into the +Kingdom not by the straight gate, but over the wall like a robber. When +one nation is threatened by another, great national sacrifices will be +made, and the latent solidarity of its humanity be kindled. But when the +war is over, when the circumstances uniting the people for a time are +past, that spirit rapidly dies, and people begin their old antagonisms +because the social order, in its normal working, does not constantly +promote a consciousness of identity of interest. + +Almost all the great European states have fortified their national +being by militarism. Everything almost in their development has been +subordinated to the necessities of national defense, and hence it is +only in times of war there is any real manifestation of national spirit. +It is only then that the citizens of the Iron Age feel a transitory +brotherhood. It is a paradoxical phenomenon, possible only in the Iron +Age, that the highest instances of national sacrifice are evoked by +warfare--the most barbarous of human enterprises. To make normal that +spirit of unity which is now only manifested in abnormal moments in +history should be our aim; and as it is the Iron Age, and material +forces are more powerful than spiritual, we must consider how these +fierce energies can be put in relation with the national being with +least debasement of that being. If the body of the national soul is too +martial in character, it will by reflex action communicate its character +to the spirit, and make it harsh and domineering, and unite against it +in hatred all other nations. We have seen that in Europe but yesterday. +The predominance in the body of militarist practice will finally drive +out from the soul those unfathomable spiritual elements which are the +body's last source power in conflict, and it will in the end defeat its +own object, which is power. When nations at war call up their reserves +of humanity to the last man capable of bearing arms, their leaders begin +also to summon up those bodiless moods and national sentiments which +are the souls of races, and their last and most profound sources of +inspiration and deathless courage. The war then becomes a conflict of +civilizations and of spiritual ideals, the aspirations and memories +which constitute the fundamental basis of those civilizations. Without +the inspiration of great memories or of great hopes, men are incapable +of great sacrifices. They are rationalists, and the preservation of the +life they know grows to be a desire greater than the immortality of the +spiritual life of their race. A famous Japanese general once said it was +the power to hold out for the last desperate quarter of an hour which +won victories, and it is there spiritual stamina reinforces physical +power. It is a mood akin to the ecstasy of the martyr through his +burning. Though in these mad moments neither spiritual nor material is +consciously differentiated, the spiritual is there in a fiery fusion +with all other forces. If it is absent, the body unsupported may take +to its heels or will yield. It has played its only card, and has not +eternity to fling upon the table in a last gamble for victory. + +A military organization may strengthen the national being, but if it +dominates it, it will impoverish its life. How little Sparta has given +to the world compared with Attica. Yet when national ideals have been +created they assume an immeasurably greater dignity when the citizens +organize themselves for the defense of their ideals, and are prepared to +yield up life itself as a sacrifice if by this the national being may +be preserved. A creed always gains respect through its martyrs. We may +grant all this, yet be doubtful whether a militarist organization should +be the main support of the national being in Ireland. The character of +the ideal should, I believe, be otherwise created, and I am not +certain that it could not be as well preserved and defended by a +civil organization, such as I have indicated, as by armed power. Our +geographical position and the slender population of our country also +make it evident that the utmost force Ireland could organize would make +but a feeble barrier against assault by any of the greater States. We +have seen how Belgium, a country with a population larger than that of +Ireland, was thrust aside, crushed and bleeding, by one stroke from the +paw of its mighty neighbor.* The military and political institutions of +a small country are comparatively easy to displace, but it would be +a task infinitely more difficult to destroy ideals or to extinguish a +national being based on a social order, democratic and co-operative in +character, the soul of the country being continually fed by institutions +which, by their very nature, would be almost impossible to alter unless +destruction of the whole humanity of the country was aimed at. National +ideals, based on a co-operative social order, would have the same +power of resistance almost as a religion, which is, of all things, most +unconquerable by physical force, and, when it is itself militant, the +most powerful ally of military power. The aim of all nations is to +preserve their immortality. I do not oppose the creation of a national +army for this purpose. There are occasions when the manhood of a nation +must be prepared to yield life rather than submit to oppression, when +it must perish in self-contempt or resist by force what wrong would be +imposed by force. But I would like to point out that for a country in +the position of Ireland the surest means of preserving the national +being by the sacrifice and devotion of the people are economic and +spiritual. + + * Since this book was written Ireland has had a tragic + illustration of the truth of what is urged in these pages. + + +Our political life in the past has been sordid and unstable because we +were uncultured as a nation. National ideals have been the possession of +the few in Ireland, and have not been diffused. That is the cause of our +comparative failure as a nation. If we would create an Irish culture, +and spread it widely among our people, we would have the same +unfathomable sources of inspiration and sacrifice to draw upon in our +acts as a nation as the individual has who believes he is immortal, and +that his life here is but a temporary foray into time out of eternity. + +Yet we have much to learn from the study of military organization. The +great problem of all civilizations is the creation of citizens: that +is, of people who are dominated by the ideal of the general welfare, +who will sink private desire and work harmoniously with their +fellow-citizens for the highest good of their race. While we may all +agree that war brings about an eruption of the arcane and elemental +forces which lie normally in the pit of human life, as the forces which +cause earthquakes lie normally asleep in the womb of the world, none the +less we must admit that military genius has discovered and applied +with mastery a law of life which is of the highest importance to +civilization--far more important to civil even than to military +development--and that is the means by which the individual will forget +his personal danger and sacrifice life itself for the general welfare. +In no other organization will men in great masses so entirely forget +themselves as men will in battle under military discipline. What is the +cause of this? Can we discover how it is done and apply the law to civil +life? + +The military discipline works miracles. The problem before the captains +of armies is to take the body of man, the most naturally egoistic of +all things, which hates pain and which will normally take to its legs in +danger and try to save itself, and to dominate it so that the body and +the soul inhabiting it will stand still and face all it loathes. And the +problem is solved in the vast majority of cases. After military training +the civilians who formerly would fly before a few policemen will +manfully and heroically stand, not the blows of a baton, but a whole +hail of bullets, a cannonade lasting through a day; nay, they will for +weeks and months, day by day, risk and lose life for a cause, for an +idea, at a word of command. They may not have half as good a cause to +lose life for as they had as a mob of angry civilians, but they will +face death now, and the chances of mutilation and agony worse +than death. Can we inspire civilians with the same passionate +self-forgetfulness in the pursuit of the higher ideals of peace? Men in +a regiment have to a large extent the personal interests abolished. The +organization they now belong to supports them and becomes their life. By +their union with it a new being is created. Exercise, drill, maneuver, +accentuate that unity, and esprit de corps arises, so that they feel +their highest life is the corporate one; and that feeling is fostered +continually, until at last all the units, by some law of the soul, are +as it were in spite of themselves, in spite of the legs which want to +run, in spite of the body which trembles with fear, constrained to +move in obedience to the purpose of the whole organism expressed by its +controlling will; and so we get these devoted masses of men who advance +again and again under a hail more terrible than Dante imagined falling +in his vision of the fiery world. + +There is nothing like it in civilian life, but yet the aim of the higher +minds in all civilizations is to create a similar devotion to civic +ideals, so that men will not only, as Pericles said, "give their bodies +for the commonwealth," but will devote mind, will, and imagination with +equal assiduity and self-surrender to the creation of a civilization +which will be the inheritance of all and a cause of pride to every one, +and which will bring to the individual a greater beauty and richness of +life than he could finally reach by the utmost private efforts of which +he was capable. + +I believe that an organization of society, such as I have indicated, +would evolve gradually a similar passion for the general zeal, having, +without the stern restraint militarism imposes on its units, a like +power of turning the thoughts to the general good. + +I may say also that to create a militarist organization, before the +natural principles to be safe-guarded are well understood and a common +possession of all the people in the country, would be a danger akin to +the peril of allowing children to play with firearms. We may find it a +bad business to create natural ideals as they are required, just as it +is a perilous business to try to create an army when a country is in a +state of war. If we do not rapidly create a national culture embodying +the fundamental ideas we wish to see prevailing in society our volunteer +armies will be subject to influences from the baser sort of politicians +who would force party aims on the country. We shall have a wretched +future unless the soul of the country can dominate the physical forces +in it, unless ideals of national conduct, liberty of speech and thought, +of justice and brotherhood, exist to inspire and guide it, and are +recognized by all and appealed to by all parties equally. + +We are standing on the threshold of nationhood, and it is problems like +these we should be setting ourselves to solve, unless we are to be an +unimportant province of the world, a mere administrative area inhabited +by a quite undistinguished people. + + + + + +XVII. + + + +But there are other methods of devotion to the national being possible +to us through collective action, and I was moved to imagine one, having +once received a letter from a bloodthirsty correspondent--one of that +rather numerous class whose minds are always loaded with ball cartridge, +whose fingers are always on the trigger, and who are always calling +on the authorities not to hesitate to shoot. He wrote to me during a +railway strike, advocating military conscription in order that +railway men who went out on strike could be called up by the military +authorities, as the French railway strikers were, and who were subject +to martial law if they disobeyed. I do not think with those who believe +the venerable remedy of blood-letting is the best cure for social +maladies; and I would have thought no more about that stern +disciplinarian, but my mind went playing about the idea of conscription, +and there came to me some thoughts which I wish to put on record in the +hope that our people in some future, when the social order will create +public spirit and the passion for the State more plentifully than it +does today, may recur to the idea and apply it. Nearly every State in +the world demands from youth a couple of years' service in the army. +There they are trained to defend their country--even, if necessary, +to slay their own countrymen. There is much that is abhorrent to the +imagination in the idea of war, and I am altogether with that noble +body of men who are trying, by means of arbitration treaties, to +solve national differences by reason rather than by force. But we +all recognize something noble in the spirit of the nation where the +community agrees that every man shall give up some years of his life to +the State for the preservation of the State, and may be called upon to +surrender life absolutely in that service. While the manhood of a race +does this on the whole with cheerfulness, there must be something of +high character in the manhood of that nation. A certain gravity attaches +to national decisions which are made, as it were, upon the slopes of +death, because none are exempt from service, and there is no delirious +mob ready to yell for a war in which it does not run the risk of having +its own dirty skin perforated by bullets. In Ireland we have never had +military conscription, for reasons which are well known to all, and +upon which I need not enter. I am well satisfied it should be so, for +it leaves open to us the possibility of a much nobler service, one which +has never yet been attempted by any modern nation, and that is civil +conscription. + +I throw out this suggestion, which may hold the imagination of those who +have noble conceptions of what national life should be and what a nation +should work for, in the hope that some time it may fructify. There is a +prohibition laid on the people in this island against conscription +for military purposes. Is there any reason why we should not have +conscription for civil purposes? Why should not every young man in +Ireland give up two years of his life in a comradeship of labor with +other young men, and be employed under skilled direction in great works +of public utility, in the erection of public buildings, the beautifying +of our cities, reclamation of waste lands, afforestation, and other +desirable objects? The principle of service for the State for +military purposes is admitted in every country, even at last by the +English-speaking peoples. It is easy to be seen how this principle of +conscription could be applied to infinitely nobler ends--to the building +up of a beautiful civilization--and might make the country adopting it +in less than half a century as beautiful as ancient Attica or majestic +as ancient Egypt. While other nations take part of the life of young men +for instruction in war, why should not the State in Ireland, more nobly +inspired, ask of its young men that they should give equally of their +lives to the State, not for the destruction of life, but for the +conservation of life? This service might be asked from all--high and +low, well and humbly born--except from those who can plead the reasons +which exempt people abroad from military service. As things stand today, +if the State undertakes any public work, it does it more expensively by +far than it would be if undertaken by private enterprise. Every person +puts up prices for the State or for municipalities. Labor, land, and +materials are all charged at the highest possible rates, whereas if +there was any really high conception of citizenship and of the functions +of the State, the citizens would agree so that works of public utility, +or those which conspired to add to national dignity, should be done at +least cost to the community. Where there is no national sacrifice there +is no national pride. Because there is no national pride our modern +civilizations show meanly compared with the titanic architecture of the +cities and majestic civilizations of the past. We know from the ruins of +these proud cities that he who walked into ancient Rome, Athens, Thebes, +Memphis and Babylon, walked amid grandeurs which must have exalted the +spirit. To walk into Manchester, Sheffield, or Liverpool is to feel a +weight upon the soul. There is no national feeling for beauty in our +industrial civilizations. + +Let us suppose Ireland had through industrial conscription about fifty +thousand young men every year at its disposal under a national works +department. What could be done? First of all it would mean that every +young man in the country would have received an industrial training of +some kind. The work of technical instruction could be largely carried on +in connection with this industrial army. People talk of the benefit of +discipline and obedience secured by military service. This and much more +could be secured by a labor conscription. Every man in the island would +have got into the habit of work at a period of life when it is most +necessary, and when too many young men have no serious occupation. +Parents should welcome the training and discipline for their children, +and certificates of character and intelligence given by the department +of national works should open up prospects of rapid employment in +the ordinary industrial life of the country when the period of public +service was closed. For those engaged there would be a true comradeship +in labor, and the phrase, "the dignity of labor," about which so much +cant has been written, would have a real significance where young men +were working together for the public benefit with the knowledge that any +completed work would add to the health, beauty, dignity, and prosperity +of the State. In return for this labor the State should feed and clothe +its industrial army, educate them, and familiarize them with some branch +of employment, and make them more competent after this period of service +was over to engage in private enterprise. Two years of such training +would dissipate all the slackness, lack of precision, and laziness +which are so often apparent in young men who have never had any strict +discipline in their homes, and whom parental weakness has rendered unfit +for the hard business of life. + +The benefit to those undergoing such a training would of itself justify +civil conscription; but when we come to think of the nation--what might +not be done by a State with a national labor army under its control? +Public works might be undertaken at a cost greatly below that which +would otherwise be incurred, and the estimates which now paralyze the +State, when it considers this really needed service or that, would +assume a different appearance, as it would be embracing in one +enterprise technical education and the accomplishment of beneficial +works. With such an army under skilled control the big cities could +have playgrounds for the children of the cities; public gardens, baths, +gymnasiums, recreation rooms, hospitals, and sanatoriums might be built; +waste land reclaimed and afforested, and the roadsides might be planted +with fruit trees. National schools, picture-galleries, public halls, +libraries, and a thousand enterprises which now hang fire because at +present labor for public service is the most expensive labor, all could +be undertaken. If the State becomes very poor, as indeed it is certain +to be, it may be forced into some such method of fulfilling its +functions. Are we, with enormous burdens of debt, to hang up every +useful public work because of the expense, and spend our lives in paying +State debts while the body for whom we work is unable, on account of the +expense, to do anything for us in return? If the State is to continue +its functions we shall have to commandeer people for its service in +times of peace as is done in times of war. There is hardly an argument +which could be used to defend military conscription which could not be +equaled with as powerful an argument for civil conscription. I am not +at all sure that if the State in Ireland decided to utilize two years of +every young man's life for State purposes that we could not disband +most of our expensive constabulary and make certain squads of our civil +recruits responsible for the keeping of public law and order, leaving +only the officers as permanent professionals, for of course there must +be expert control of the conscripts. The postal service might also be +carried on largely by conscripted civilians. + +This may appear a fantastic programme, but I would like to see it +argued out. It would create a real brotherhood in work, just as the army +creates in its own way a brotherhood between men in the same regiments. +The nation adopting civil conscription could clean itself up in a +couple of generations, so that in respect of public services it would be +incomparable. The alternative to this is to starve all public services, +to make the State simply the tax-collector, to pay the interest on a +huge debt, and so get it hated because it can do nothing except collect +money to pay the interest on a colossal national debt. Obviously the +State as an agency to bring about civilization cannot perform both +services--pay interest on huge public loans, and continue an expensive +service. It must find out some way in which public services can be +continued, and if possible improved, and the open way to that is civil +conscription and the assertion of a claim to two or three years of the +work of every citizen for civil purposes, just as it now asserts a claim +on the services of citizens for the defense of the State. As national +debts are more and more piled up, it has seemed to many that here must +be an end to what was called social reform, that we were entering on a +black era, and no dawn would show over Europe for another century. There +is always a way out of troubles if people are imaginative enough and +brotherly enough to conceive of it and bold enough to take action when +they have found the way. The real danger for society is that it may +become spiritless and hidebound and tamed, and have none of those high +qualities necessary in face of peril, and the more people get accustomed +to thinking of bold schemes the better. They will get over the first +shock, and may be ready when the time comes to put them into action. +When a country is poor like Ireland and yet is ambitious of greatness; +when the aspect of its civilization is mean and when it yet aspires to +beauty; when its people are living under unsanitary conditions and yet +the longing is there to give health to all; when Ireland is like this, +its public men and its citizens might do much worse than brood over the +possibilities of industrial conscription, and of revising the character +of the purposes for which nations have hitherto claimed service from +their young citizens on behalf of the State. Debarred by a fate not +altogether unkind from training every citizen in the arts of war Ireland +might--if the love of country and the desire for service are really so +strong as we are told--suddenly become eminent among the nations of the +world by adopting a policy which in half a century would make our mean +cities and our backward countryside the most beautiful in the modern +world. + + + + + +XVIII. + + + +I have not in all this written anything about the relations of Ireland +with other countries, or even with our neighbors, in whose political +household we have lived for so many centuries in intimate hostility. +I have considered this indeed, but did not wish, nor do I now wish, +in anything I may write, to say one word which would add to that old +hostility. Race hatred is the cheapest and basest of all national +passions, and it is the nature of hatred, as it is the nature of love, +to change us into the likeness of that which we contemplate. We grow +nobly like what we adore, and ignobly like what we hate; and no people +in Ireland became so anglicized in intellect and temperament, and even +in the manner of expression, as those who hated our neighbors most. All +hatreds long persisted in bring us to every baseness for which we hated +others. The only laws which we cannot break with impunity are divine +laws, and no law is more eternally sure in its workings than that which +condemns us to be even as that we condemned. Hate is the high commander +of so many armies that an inquiry into the origin of this passion is +at least as needful as histories of other contemporary notorieties. Not +emperors or parliaments alone raise armies, but this passion also. It +will sustain nations in defeat. When everything seems lost this wild +captain will appear and the scattered forces are reunited. They will be +as oblivious of danger as if they were divinely inspired, but if they +win their battle it is to become like the conquered foe. All great +wars in history, all conquests, all national antagonisms, result in an +exchange of characteristics. It is because I wish Ireland to be itself, +to act from its own will and its own centre, that I deprecate hatred as +a force in national life. It is always possible to win a cause without +the aid of this base helper, who betrays us ever in the hour of victory. + +When a man finds the feeling of hate for another rising vehemently in +himself, he should take it as a warning that conscience is battling +in his own being with that very thing he loathes. Nations hate other +nations for the evil which is in themselves; but they are as little +given to self-analysis as individuals, and while they are right to +overcome evil, they should first try to understand the genesis of the +passion in their own nature. If we understand this, many of the ironies +of history will be intelligible. We will understand why it was that our +countrymen in Ulster and our countrymen in the rest of Ireland, who +have denounced each other so vehemently, should at last appear to +have exchanged characteristics: why in the North, having passionately +protested against physical force movements, no-rent manifestos, and +contempt for Imperial Parliament, they should have come themselves at +last to organize a physical force movement, should threaten to pay no +taxes, and should refuse obedience to an Act of Parliament. We will +understand also why it was their opponents came themselves to address to +Ulster all the arguments and denunciations Ulster had addressed to them. +I do not point this out with intent to annoy, but to illustrate by late +history a law in national as well as human psychology. If this unpopular +psychology I have explained was adopted everywhere as true, we would +never hear expressions of hate. People would realize they were first +revealing and then stabbing their own characters before the world. + +Nations act towards other nations as their own citizens act towards each +other. When slavery existed in a State, if that nation attacked +another it was with intent to enslave. Where there is a fierce economic +competition between citizen and citizen then in war with another nation, +the object of the war is to destroy the trade of the enemy. If the +citizens in any country could develop harmonious life among themselves +they would manifest the friendliest feelings towards the people of other +countries. We find that it is just among groups of people who aim +at harmonious life, co-operators and socialists, that the strongest +national impulses to international brotherhood arise; and wars of +domination are brought about by the will of those who within a State are +dominant over the fortunes of the rest. Ireland, a small country, +can only maintain its national identity by moral and economic forces. +Physically it must be overmastered by most other European nations. Moral +forces are really more powerful than physical forces. One Christ changed +the spiritual life of Europe; one Buddha affected more myriads in Asia. + +The co-operative ideal of brotherhood in industry has helped to make +stronger the ideal of the brotherhood of humanity, and no body of men in +any of the countries in the great War of our time regarded it with more +genuine sorrow than those who were already beginning to promote schemes +for international co-operation. It must be mainly in movements inspired +with the ideal of the brotherhood of man, that the spirit will be +generated which, in the future, shall make the idea of war so detestable +that statesmen will find it is impossible to think of that solution +of their disputes as they would think now of resorting to private +assassination of political opponents. The great tragedy of Europe was +brought about, not by the German Emperor, nor by Sir Edward Grey, nor by +the Czar, nor by any of the other chiefs ostensibly controlling foreign +policy, but by the nations themselves. These men may have been agents, +but their action would have been impossible if they did not realize that +there was a vast body of national feeling behind them not opposed to +war. Their citizens were in conflict with each other already, generating +the moods which lead on to war. Emperors, foreign secretaries, +ambassadors, cabinet ministers are not really powerful to move nations +against their will. On the whole, they act with the will of the nations, +which they understand. Let any one ruler try, for example, to change by +edict the religion of his subjects, and a week would see him bereft of +place and power. They could not do this, because the will of the nation +would be against it. They resort to war and prepare for it because the +will of the nation is with them, and this throws us back on the private +citizens, who finally are individually and collectively responsible for +the actions of the State. In the everlasting battle between good and +evil, private soldiers are called upon to fight as well as the captains, +and it is only through the intensive cultivation by individuals and +races of the higher moral and intellectual qualities, until in intensity +they outweigh the mood and passion of the rest, that war will finally +become obsolete as the court of appeal. When there is a panic of fire +in a crowded building men are suddenly tested as to character. Some will +become frenzied madmen, fighting and trampling their way out. Others +will act nobly, forgetting themselves. They have no time to think. What +they are in their total make up as human beings, overbalanced either for +good or evil, appears in an instant. Even so, some time in the heroic +future, some nation in a crisis will be weighed and will act nobly +rather than passionately, and will be prepared to risk national +extinction rather than continue existence at the price of killing +myriads of other human beings, and it will oppose moral and spiritual +forces to material forces, and it will overcome the world by making +gentleness its might, as all great spiritual teachers have done. It +comes to this, we cannot overcome hatred by hatred or war by war, but +by the opposites of these. Evil is not overcome by evil but by good; and +any race like the Irish, eager for national life, ought to learn this +truth--that humanity will act towards their race as their race acts +towards humanity. The noble and the base alike beget their kin. +Empires, ere they disappear, see their own mirrored majesty arise in the +looking-glass of time. Opposed to the pride and pomp of Egypt were the +pride and pomp of Chaldaea. Echoing the beauty of the Greek city state +were many lovely cities made in their image. Carthage evoked Rome. The +British Empire, by the natural balance and opposition of things, called +into being another empire with a civilization of coal and steel, and +with ambitions for colonies and for naval power, and with that image +of itself it must wrestle for empire. The great armadas that throng the +seas, the armed millions upon the earth betray the fear in the minds of +races, nay, the inner spiritual certitude the soul has, that pride and +lust of power must yet be humbled by their kind. They must at last meet +their equals face to face, called to them as steel to magnet by some +inner affinity. This is a law of life both for individuals and races, +and, when this is realized, we know nothing will put an end to race +conflicts except the equally determined and heroic development of the +spiritual, moral, and intellectual forces which disdain to use the force +and fury of material powers. + +We may be assured that the divine law is not mocked, and it cannot be +deceived. As men sow so do they reap. The anger we create will rend us; +the love we give will return to us. Biologically, everything breeds true +to its type: moods and thoughts just as much as birds and beasts and +fishes. When I hear people raging against England or Germany or Russia I +know that rage will beget rage, and go on begetting it, and so the whole +devilish generation of passions will be continued. There are no nations +to whom the entire and loyal allegiance of man's spirit could be given. +It can only go out to the ideal empires and nationalities in the womb +of time, for whose coming we pray. Those countries of the future we must +carve out of the humanity of today, and we can begin building them up +within our present empires and nationalities just as we are building +up the co-operative movement in a social order antagonistic to it. +The people who are trying to create these new ideals in the world are +outposts, sentinels, and frontiersmen thrown out before the armies of +the intellectual and spiritual races yet to come into being. We can all +enlist in these armies and be comrades to the pioneers. I hope many +will enlist in Ireland. I would cry to our idealists to come out of this +present-day Irish Babylon, so filled with sectarian, political, and race +hatreds, and to work for the future. I believe profoundly, with the most +extreme of Nationalists, in the future of Ireland, and in the vision +of light seen by Bridget which she saw and confessed between hopes and +tears to Patrick, and that this is the Isle of Destiny and the destiny +will be glorious and not ignoble, and when our hour is come we will have +something to give to the world, and we will be proud to give rather than +to grasp. Throughout their history Irishmen have always wrought better +for others than for themselves, and when they unite in Ireland to +work for each other, they will direct into the right channel all that +national capacity for devotion to causes for which they are famed. We +ought not only to desire to be at peace with each other, but with +the whole world, and this can only be brought about by the individual +citizen at all times protesting against sectarian and national passions, +and taking no part in them, coming out of such angry parties altogether, +as the people of the Lord were called by the divine voice to come out of +Babylon. It may seem a long way to set things right, but it is the swift +way and the royal road, and there is no other; and nobody, no prophet +crying before his time, will be listened to until the people are ready +for him. The congregation must gather before the preacher can deliver +what is in him to say. The economic brotherhood which I have put forward +as an Irish ideal would, in its realization, make us at peace with +ourselves, and if we are at peace with ourselves we will be at peace +with our neighbors and all other nations, and will wish them the +goodwill we have among ourselves, and will receive from them the same +goodwill. I do not believe in legal and formal solutions of national +antagonisms. While we generate animosities among ourselves we will +always display them to other nations, and I prefer to search out how it +is national hatreds are begotten, and to show how that cancer can be cut +out of the body politic. + + + + + +XIX. + + + +It seems inevitable that the domination of the individual by the +State must become ever greater. It is in the evolutionary process. The +amalgamation of individuals into nationalities and empires is as much +in the cosmic plan as the development of highly organized beings out +of unicellular organisms. I believe this process will continue until +humanity itself is so psychically knit together that, as a being, it +will manifest some form of cosmic consciousness in which the individual +will share. Our spiritual intuitions and the great religions of the +world alike indicate some such goal as that to which this turbulent +cavalcade of humanity is wending. A knowledge of this must be in our +subconscious being, or we would find the sacrifices men make for the +State otherwise inexplicable. The State, though now ostensibly secular, +makes more imperious claims on man than the ancient gods did. It lays +hold of life. It asserts its right to take father, brother, and son, and +to send them to meet death in its own defense. It denies them a choice +or judgment as to whether its action is right or wrong. Right or wrong, +the individual must be prepared to give his body for the commonwealth, +and when one gives the body unresistingly, one gives the soul also. +The marvelous thing about the authority of the State is that it is +recognized by the vast majority of citizens. During eras of peace the +citizen may be always in conflict with the policy of the State. He may +call it a tyranny, but yet when it is in peril he will die to preserve +for it an immortal life. The hold the State establishes over the spirit +of man is the more wonderful when we look rearward on history, and see +with what labor and sacrifice the State was established. But we see +also how readily, once the union has been brought about, men will die +to preserve it, even although it is a tyranny, a bad State. For what +do they die unless the spirit in man has some inner certitude that the +divine event to which humanity tends is a unity of its multitudinous +life, and that a State--even a bad State--must be preserved by its +citizens, because it is at least an attempt at organic unity? It is a +simulacrum of the ideal; it contains the germ or possibility of that to +which the spirit of man is traveling. It disciplines the individual in +service to that greater being in which it will find its fulfillment, and +a bad State is better than no State at all. To be without a State is to +prowl backwards from the divinity before us to the beast behind us. + +The power the State exerts is a spiritual power, acting on or through +the will of man. The volunteer armies do not really march to die with +more readiness than the conscript armies. The sacrifice is not readily +explicable by material causes. There is no material reason why the +proletarian--who has no property to defend, who is more or less sure +as a skilled craftsman of employment under any ruler--should concern +himself whether his ruler be King, Kaiser, or President. But not one in +a hundred proletarians really thinks like that. It is not the hope +of personal profit works upon men to risk life. Let some exploiter of +industry desire to employ a thousand men at dangerous work, with the +risks of death or disablement equal to those of war; let it be known +that one in six will be killed and another be disabled, and what sum +will purchase the service of workers? They will risk life for the State, +though given a bare subsistence or a pay which they would describe as +inhuman if offered by one of the autocrats of industry. Men working for +the State will make the most extraordinary sacrifices; but they stand +stubbornly and sullenly as disturbers and blockers of all industry which +is run for private profit. Is it not clear of the two policies for the +State to adopt, to promote personal interests among its citizens or to +unite men for the general good, that the first path is full of danger to +the State, while through the other men will march cheerfully, though it +be to death, in defense of the State. Something, a real life above the +individual, acts through the national being, and would almost suggest +to us that Heaven cannot fully manifest its will to humanity through the +individual, but must utter itself through multitudes. There must be an +orchestration of humanity ere it can echo divine melodies. In real truth +we are all seeking in the majesties we create for union with a greater +Majesty. + +I wrote in an earlier page that the ancient conception of Nature as +a manifestation of spirit was incarnating anew in the minds of modern +thinkers; that Nature was no longer conceived of as material or static +in condition, but as force and continual motion; that they were trying +to identify human will with this arcane energy, and let the forces of +Nature manifest with more power in society. The real nature of these +energies manifesting in humanity I do not know, but they have been +hinted at in the Scriptures, the oracles of the Oversoul, which speak of +the whole creation laboring upwards and the entry of humanity into the +Divine Mind, and of the re-introcession of That Itself with all Its +myriad unity into Deity, so that God might be all in all. I believe +profoundly that men do not hold the ideas of liberty or solidarity, +which have moved them so powerfully, merely as phantasies which are +pleasant to the soul or make ease for the body; but because, whether +they struggle passionately for liberty or to achieve a solidarity, in +working for these two ideals, which seem in conflict, they are divinely +supported, in unison with the divine nature, and energies as real as +those the scientist studies--as electricity, as magnetism, heat or +light--do descend into the soul and reinforce it with elemental energy. +We are here for the purposes of soul, and there can be no purpose in +individualizing the soul if essential freedom is denied to it and there +is only a destiny. Wherever essential freedom, the right of the spirit +to choose its own heroes and its own ideals, is denied, nations rise +in rebellion. But the spirit in man is wrought in a likeness to Deity, +which is that harmony and unity of Being which upholds the universe; +and by the very nature of the spirit, while it asserts its freedom, +its impulses lead it to a harmony with all life, to a solidarity or +brotherhood with it. + +All these ideals of freedom, of brotherhood, of power, of justice, of +beauty, which have been at one time or another the fundamental idea in +civilizations, are heaven-born, and descended from the divine world, +incarnating first in the highest minds in each race, perceived by them +and transmitted to their fellow-citizens; and it is the emergence or +manifestation of one or other of these ideals in a group which is the +beginning of a nation; and the more strongly the ideal is held the more +powerful becomes the national being, because the synchronous vibration +of many minds in harmony brings about almost unconsciously a psychic +unity, a coalescing of the subconscious being of many. It is that inner +unity which constitutes the national being. + +The idea of the national being emerged at no recognizable point in +our history in Ireland. It is older than any name we know. It is not +earth-born, but the synthesis of many heroic and beautiful moments, and +these, it must be remembered, are divine in their origin. Every heroic +deed is an act of the spirit, and every perception of beauty is vision +with the divine eye, and not with the mortal sense. The spirit was +subtly intermingled with the shining of old romance, and it is no mere +phantasy which shows Ireland at its dawn in a misty light thronged with +divine figures, and beneath and nearer to us demi-gods and heroes +fading into recognizable men. The bards took cognizance only of the +most notable personalities who preceded them, and of these only the acts +which had a symbolic or spiritual significance; and these grew thrice +refined as generations of poets in enraptured musings along by the +mountains or in the woods brooded upon their heritage of story, until, +as it passed from age to age, the accumulated beauty grew greater than +the beauty of the hour. The dream began to enter into the children of +our race, and turn their thoughts from earth to that world in which it +had its inception. + +It was a common belief among the ancient peoples that each had a +national genius or deity who presided over them, in whose all-embracing +mind they were contained, and who was the shepherd of their destinies. +We can conceive of the national spirit in Ireland as first manifesting +itself through individual heroes or kings, and as the history of famous +warriors laid hold of the people, extending its influence until it +created therein the germs of a kindred nature. + +An aristocracy of lordly and chivalrous heroes is bound in time to +create a great democracy by the reflection of their character in the +mass, and the idea of the divine right of kings is succeeded by the idea +of the divine right of the people. If this sequence cannot be traced +in any one respect with historical regularity, it is because of the +complexity of national life, its varied needs, the vicissitudes of +history, and its infinite changes of sentiment. But the threads are all +taken up in the end; and ideals which were forgotten and absent from the +voices of men will be found, when recurred to, to have grown to a rarer +and more spiritual beauty in their quiet abode in the heart. The seeds +which were sown at the beginning of a race bear their flowers and fruits +towards its close, and already antique names begin to stir us again with +their power, and the antique ideals to reincarnate in us and renew their +dominion over us. + +They may not be recognized at first as a re-emergence of ancient moods. +The democratic economics of the ancient clans have vanished almost out +of memory, but the mood in which they were established reappears in +those who would create a communal or co-operative life in the nation +into which those ancient clans long since have melted. The instinct in +the clans to waive aside the weak and to seek for an aristocratic and +powerful character in their leaders reappears in the rising generation, +who turn from the utterer of platitudes to men of real intellect and +strong will. The object of democratic organization is to bring out the +aristocratic character in leadership, the vivid original personalities +who act and think from their own will and their own centres, who bring +down fire from the heaven of their spirits and quicken and vivify the +mass, and make democracies also to be great and fearless and free. A +nation is dead where men acknowledge only conventions. We must find out +truth for ourselves, becoming first initiates and finally masters in the +guild of life. The intellect of Ireland is in chains where it ought to +be free, and we have individualism in our economics which ought to +be co-ordinated and sternly disciplined out of the iniquity of free +profiteering. To quicken the intellect and imagination of Ireland, +to co-ordinate our economic life for the general good, should be the +objects of national policy, and will subserve the evolutionary purpose. +The free imagination and the aspiring mind alone climb into the higher +spheres and deflect for us the ethereal currents. It is the multitude +of aristocratic thinkers who give glory to a people and make them of +service to other nations, and it is by the character of the social +order and the quality of brotherhood in it our civilization will endure. +Without love we are nothing. + + + + + +XX. + + + +I beseech audience from the churches for these thoughts on our Irish +polity, and would recall to them their early history, how when the +fiery spirit of their Lord first manifested on earth, life, near to It, +reflected It as in a glowing glass, and impulses of true living arose. +Material possessions were held in common. There was no fierce talk of +Thine and Mine. His ancient law counseled poverty to the spirit, lest +the gates of Paradise should grow narrow before it like the eye of a +needle. I believe the fading hold the heavens have over the world is due +to the neglect of the economic basis of spiritual life. What profound +spiritual life can there be when the social order almost forces men to +battle with each other for the means of existence? I know well that no +political mechanics, nothing which is an economic device only, will of +themselves be able to affect the transfiguration of society and bring +it under the dominion of the spirit. For that, a far higher quality of +thought and action than is here indicated is necessary. The economist +can provide the daily bread, but that bread of the coming day which +Christ wished his followers to aspire to must come otherwise. That +should be the labor of the poets, artists, musicians, and of the heroic +and aristocratic characters who provide by their life an image to +which life can be modeled. Therefore I beseech audience not only of the +churches, but of the poets, writers, and thinkers of Ireland for their +aid in this labor. They alone can create in wide commonalty the ideals +which can dominate society. It is the work of the artist to create for +us images of desirable life, to manifest to us the ideal humanity, and +to prefigure that vaster entity which I have called the national being. +I said in an earlier page that part of the failure of Ireland must be +laid to the poets who had dropped out of the divine procession and sang +a solitary song; to the writers who had turned from contemplating +the great to the portrayal of the little in human nature. I know how +difficult it is to constrain the spirit, and how futile it is to ask +artists or poets to create what they are not inspired to create. But +we can ask all men--artists, poets, litterateurs, and scientists--to be +citizens, and if they realize imaginatively the spiritual conception of +the State, we may assume that this imaginative realization of the +State will influence the labors of the mind, and what is done will, +consciously or unconsciously, have reference to that collective being +which must dominate society more and more, which will dominate it as a +tyranny if we fail in our labors, or liberate and make more majestical +the spirit of man if we imagine rightly. All greatness is brought +about by a conspiracy of the imagination and the will. Our literature +certainly manifests beauty, but not greatness or majesty, for majesty +only arises where there is an orchestration of humanity by some mighty +conductor; and as a people we shall never manifest the highest qualities +in literature or life until we are under the dominion of one, at least, +of the great fundamental ideas which have been the inspiration of races. +Our feebleness arises from our economic individualism. We continually +neutralize each other's efforts. Yet there is no less power in humanity +today than there ever was. We see now clearly what untamed elemental +fires lay underneath the seeming placidity of the world. There was a +feeling in society that, just as the earth itself had settled down to +be a habitable globe, and was forgetting its ancient ferocities of +earthquake that opened up gulfs between land and land and rended sea +from sea, so, too, humanity was losing those wilder energies we surmised +in the cave-dweller or the hunters of mastodon, mammoth, and cave-tiger. +But it was all a dream--a dream, we suspect, about the earth as well +as about humanity. While we indulged in these pleasing speculations on +society, the scientists of our generation were placing beyond question +or argument the doctrine of the indestructibility of energy and matter +and we may be sure that while there is immortal life there must be +immortal energies as its companions through time, and they will never be +less powerful than they are today or were in the morning of the world. +There will be no weakening of that mighty God-begotten brotherhood of +elemental powers; and, while we cannot hope that by the wastage of time +these powers will be feebler, we may hope that by an understanding of +them we may get mastery over them. The wild elephant of the woods, with +a greater strength than man's, has yet been trained to be his servant, +and that arcane power we call electricity, which, if it shoots out of +its channel, shrivels up the body of man, is now our servant. So we may +hope, too, that the elemental energies in humanity itself, which break +out in wars and Armageddons, will come under control. We should not hope +that man will ever be a less powerful being. To hope that would be to +wish for his degradation. We should wish him to become ever more +and more powerful by understanding himself, and by the unity of +the spiritual faculties and the elemental energies in him into one +harmonious whole. At present he is feeble because he is, to use the +scriptural illustration, a house divided against itself. + +Our feebleness is due to the conflict of powers in us and our conflict +with each other. Get the two mightiest bulls in a herd, put them +opposing each other in a narrow passage, and they, being of equal +strength, will reduce each other to feebleness. Neither will make +headway. Let them unite together in their charge, and what will oppose +them? Men at conflict in their own hearts, opposing each other in the +world, reduce themselves and each other to wretchedness. The race which +could eliminate the factors which promote internal conflict in society +and could organize human energies in harmony, would be powerful beyond +our wildest dreams. Every now and then in world-history we come across +instances of what organized humanity could accomplish. There are +fragments of an architecture so majestic that they awe us as the high +rocks of nature do, and they seem almost like portions of nature itself, +and truly they are so, being portions of nature remade by man, who is +also a nature energy of divine origin. Europe by its conflicts today +is reducing itself to barbarism and powerlessness, and these conflicts +arose out of the internal conflicts in society, for individuals and +nations act outside themselves as they act inside themselves. The +problem for Europe is to create a harmonious life, and it is the problem +for us in Ireland, and we will have to work this out for ourselves. The +creation of a harmonious life among a people must come from within. It +can never come by the imposition of an external law imposed by another +people: Never did master and slave work in true unison, no matter how +benevolent the master or how yielding the slave, for there is in every +man, no matter what his condition, a spark of divine life, and it +will always be ready to stir him out of subjection, as the fires of +earthquake lie below the cultivated plain. Man is a creature who has +free will, and it is by self-devised and self-checked efforts he will +attain his full human stature. So the problem of creating an organic +life in Ireland, a harmony of our people, a union of their efforts for +the common good and for the manifestation of whatever beauty, majesty, +and spirituality is in us, must be one we ourselves must solve for +ourselves. + +To be indifferent to the possibilities of human life, to ignore the +problem, is to turn our back on heaven, which fashioned the spirit of +man in its image. If the spirit of man has likeness to Deity, it means +that if it manifests itself fully in the world, the world too becomes +a shadowy likeness of the heavens, and our civilizations will make a +harmony with the diviner spheres. We give still a service of lip belief +to the Scriptures, yet active faith we have not. But they are true, +yesterday, today, and for ever; and we have still the root of the matter +in us, for when any one utters out of profound conviction his faith, +there are always multitudes ready to respond. What really prevents an +organic unity in Ireland is the economic individualism of our lives. The +science of economics deals with the efforts of men to mine out of nature +the food, minerals, and materials necessary to preserve life. There is +nothing more certain than that where men work alone or only with the +aid of their families they are little higher than the animals. When they +tend to unite civilization begins. Then arise the towers, the temples, +the cities, the achievements of the architect and engineer. The earth is +tapped of its arcane energies, the very air yields to us its mysterious +powers. We control the etheric waves and send the message of our deeds +across the ocean. Yet in the midst of these vast external manifestations +of power, multitudes of men and women live in squalor, isolated in their +labors, living in the slums of cities; and this, if we examine it, comes +about because the organization of human energies into a harmonious unity +is not complete. There is really no lack of food, clothing, building +material, land. Nature has provided bountifully for more myriads than we +are likely to see peopling the earth. But people compete with each other +and undersell each other, and those who labor are mulcted of their +due, and instead of turning to the earth--the inexhaustible mother--and +working unitedly for the common weal, they continue that fierce +competition and stultify each other's efforts and reduce each other to +wretchedness. Humanity is a house divided against itself. Those who feel +this to be true must gather round any movement which gives a hope for +the future, which indicates a policy by which the organic unity of +society in Ireland might be attained, and our people work harmoniously +to make beauty and health prevail in our civilization. What each +gives up to society in the making of a civilization he gets back a +thousandfold. Now, the co-operative movement alone of all movements in +Ireland has aspired to make an economic solidarity in Ireland. Whatever +the aims of other movements may be--and many of them have high ideals +and are necessary for the spiritual and intellectual development of our +people--there is none of them which has for aim the unity of economic +life. They all leave untouched this problem--how are we to organize +society so that people will not be in conflict with each other, will not +nullify each other's efforts, but all will conspire together for +unity, so that none shall be forgotten or oppressed or left out of our +brotherhood? The policy I put forward is incomplete and imperfect, and +it must necessarily be so, being mainly the work of one mind, and to +complete it and perfect it there must be many minds and many workers +fired by the ideal. But I have indicated in some completeness how the +rural population could be co-operatively organized, federated together, +and how the urban population could be organized and brought into a +harmony of economic purpose with the folk of the country. Within the +limits of object these suggestions amount to a policy for the nation. + +If the tragic condition of the world leaves us unstirred, if we draw +no lessons from it, if there is no fiery stirring of will in Ireland to +make it a better place to live in, then indeed we may lose hope for our +country. Let us remember the most scornful condemnation in Scripture was +not given to the evil but to the indifferent: "Because thou art neither +hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth." Let us not be the +Laodiceans of Europe, listless and indifferent to human needs, +swallowing our whisky and our porter, stupefying our souls, while our +poor are sweated; letting the children of our cities die with more +carelessness about life than the people of any other European country, +with sectarian organization's crawling in secrecy like poisonous +serpents through the undergrowth of swamps and forests. The co-operative +movement is at least open and ideal in its aims and objects. It is +national and not sectional. It seeks the triumph of no section but the +unity of our people, where unity alone is possible. Our intransigents +and extremists of all parties are not hurt or wounded by their adhesion +to the co-operative ideal. We may make up our minds that the stubborn +Irish temperament will never be overcome, but it may be won, and the +movement which invites all parties and creeds into its ranks and gives +them the largest opportunities of working together and understanding +each other, gives also the largest hope of the gradual melting of old +bitterness into a common tolerance where what is best essentially wins; +for all true triumphs are triumphs not of force, but the conquest by a +superior beauty of what is less beautiful. We should aim at a society +where people will be at harmony in their economic life, will readily +listen to different opinions from their own, will not turn sour faces +on those who do not think as they do, but will, by reason and sympathy, +comprehend each other and come at last, through sympathy and affection, +to a balancing of their diversities, as in that multitudinous diversity, +which is the universe, powers and dominions and elements are balanced, +and are guided harmoniously by the Shepherd of the Ages. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's National Being, by (A.E.)George William Russell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + +***** This file should be named 8104.txt or 8104.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/0/8104/ + +Produced by Jake Jaqua + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: National Being + Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity + +Author: (A.E.)George William Russell + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8104] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 15, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + + + + +Produced by Jake Jaqua + + + + +THE NATIONAL BEING Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity--A.E. [George +William Russell] + + + +To The Right Hon. Sir Horace Plunkett + +A good many years ago you grafted a slip of poetry on your economic +tree. I do not know if you expected a hybrid. This essay may not be +economics in your sense of the word. It certainly is not poetry in my +sense. The Marriage of Heaven and Earth was foretold by the ancient +prophets. I have seen no signs of that union taking place, but I have +been led to speculate how they might be brought within hailing distance +of each other. In my philosophy of life, we are all responsible for the +results of our actions and their effects on others. This book is a +consequence of your grafting operation, and so I dedicate it to you.-- +A.E. + + + + + +I. + + + +In the year nineteen hundred and fourteen Anno Domini, amid a world +conflict, the birth of the infant State of Ireland was announced. Almost +unnoticed this birth, which in other times had been cried over the earth +with rejoicings or anger. Mars, the red planet of war, was in the +ascendant when it was born. Like other births famous in history, the +child had to be hidden away for a time, and could not with pride be +shown to the people as royal children were wont to be shown. Its +enemies were unforgiving, and its friends were distracted with mighty +happenings in the world. Hardly did they know whether it would not be +deformed if it survived: whether this was the Promised, or another +child yet to be conceived in the womb of the Mother of Parliaments. +Battles were threatened between two hosts, secular champions of two +spiritual traditions, to decide its fate. That such a conflict +threatened showed indeed that there was something of iron fibre in the +infant, without which in their make-up individuals or nations do nothing +worthy of remembrance. Hercules wrestled with twin serpents in his +cradle, and there were twin serpents of sectarianism ready to strangle +this infant State of ours if its guardians were not watchful, or if the +infant was not itself strong enough to destroy them. + +It is about the State of Ireland, its character and future, I have here +written some kind of imaginative meditation. The State is a physical +body prepared for the incarnation of the soul of a race. The body of the +national soul may be spiritual or secular, aristocratic or democratic, +civil or militarist predominantly. One or other will be most powerful, +and the body of the race will by reflex action affect its soul, even as +through heredity the inherited tendencies and passions of the flesh +affect the indwelling spirit. Our brooding over the infant State must +be dual, concerned not only with the body but the soul. When we essay +self-government in Ireland our first ideas will, in all probability, be +borrowed from the Mother of Parliaments, just as children before they +grow to have a character of their own repeat the sentiments of their +parents. After a time, if there is anything in the theory of Irish +nationality, we will apply original principles as they are from time to +time discovered to be fundamental in Irish character. A child in the +same way makes discoveries about itself. The mood evoked by picture or +poem reveals a love of beauty; the harsh treatment of an animal +provokes an outburst of pity; some curiosity of nature draws forth the +spirit of scientific inquiry, and so, as the incidents of life reveal +the innate affinities of a child to itself, do the adventures of a +nation gradually reveal to it its own character and the will which is in +it. + +For all our passionate discussions over self-government we have had +little speculation over our own character or the nature of the +civilization we wished to create for ourselves. Nations rarely, if +ever, start with a complete ideal. Certainly we have no national +ideals, no principles of progress peculiar to ourselves in Ireland, +which are a common possession of our people. National ideals are the +possession of a few people only. Yet we must spread them in wide +commonalty over Ireland if we are to create a civilization worthy of our +hopes and our ages of struggle and sacrifice to attain the power to +build. We must spread them in wide commonalty because it is certain +that democracy will prevail in Ireland. The aristocratic classes with +traditions of government, the manufacturing classes with economic +experience, will alike be secondary in Ireland to the small farmers and +the wage-earners in the towns. We must rely on the ideas common among +our people, and on their power to discern among their countrymen the +aristocracy of character and intellect. + +Civilizations are externalizations of the soul and character of races. +They are majestic or mean according to the treasure of beauty, +imagination, will, and thought laid up in the soul of the people. That +great mid-European State, which while I write is at bay surrounded by +enemies, did not arrive at that pitch of power which made it dominant in +Europe simply by militarism. That military power depended on and was +fed by a vigorous intellectual life, and the most generally diffused +education and science existing perhaps in the world. The national being +had been enriched by a long succession of mighty thinkers. A great +subjective life and centuries of dream preceded a great objective +manifestation of power and wealth. The stir in the German Empire which +has agitated Europe was, at its root, the necessity laid on a powerful +soul to surround itself with equal external circumstance. That +necessity is laid on all nations, on all individuals, to make their +external life correspond in some measure to their internal dream. A +lover of beauty will never contentedly live in a house where all things +are devoid of taste. An intellectual man will loathe a disordered +society. + +We may say with certainty that the external circumstances of people are +a measure of their inner life. Our mean and disordered little country +towns in Ireland, with their drink-shops, their disregard of cleanliness +or beauty, accord with the character of the civilians who inhabit them. +Whenever we develop an intellectual life these things will be altered, +but not in priority to the spiritual mood. House by house, village by +village, the character of a civilization changes as the character of the +individuals change. When we begin to build up a lofty world within the +national soul, soon the country becomes beautiful and worthy of respect +in its externals. That building up of the inner world we have +neglected. Our excited political controversies, our playing at +militarism, have tended to bring men's thoughts from central depths to +surfaces. Life is drawn to its frontiers away from its spiritual base, +and behind the surfaces we have little to fall back on. Few of our +notorieties could be trusted to think out any economic or social problem +thoroughly and efficiently. They have been engaged in passionate +attempts at the readjustment of the superficies of things. What we +require more than men of action at present are scholars, economists, +scientists, thinkers, educationalists, and litterateurs, who will +populate the desert depths of national consciousness with real thought +and turn the void into a fullness. We have few reserves of intellectual +life to draw upon when we come to the mighty labor of nation-building. +It will be indignantly denied, but I think it is true to say that the +vast majority of people in Ireland do not know the difference between +good and bad thinking, between the essential depths and the shallows in +humanity. How could people, who never read anything but the newspapers, +have any genuine knowledge of any subject on earth or much imagination +of anything beautiful in the heavens? + +What too many people in Ireland mistake for thoughts are feelings. It is +enough to them to vent like or dislike, inherited prejudices or +passions, and they think when they have expressed feeling they have +given utterance to thought. The nature of our political controversies +provoked passion, and passion has become dominant in our politics. +Passion truly is a power in humanity, but it should never enter into +national policy. It is a dangerous element in human life, though it is +an essential part of our strangely compounded nature. But in national +life it is the most dangerous of all guides. There are springs of power +in ourselves which in passion we draw on and are amazed at their depth +and intensity, yet we do not make these the master light of our being, +but rather those divine laws which we have apprehended and brooded upon, +and which shine with clear and steady light in our souls. As creatures +rise in the scale of being the dominant factor in life changes. In +vegetation it may be appetite; instinct in bird and beast for man a +life at once passionate and intellectual; but the greater beings, the +stars and planets, must wheel in the heavens under the guidance of +inexorable and inflexible law. Now the State is higher in the scale of +being than the individual, and it should be dominated solely by moral +and intellectual principles. These are not the outcome of passion or +prejudice, but of arduous thought. National ideals must be built up +with the same conscious deliberation of purpose as the architect of the +Parthenon conceived its lofty harmony of shining marble lines, or as the +architect of Rheims Cathedral designed its intricate magnificence and +mystery. Nations which form their ideals and marry them in the hurry of +passion are likely to repent without leisure, and they will not be able +to divorce those ideals without prolonged domestic squabbles and public +cleansing of dirty linen. If we are to build a body for the soul of +Ireland it ought not to be a matter of reckless estimates or jerry- +building. We have been told, during my lifetime at least, not to +criticize leaders, to trust leaders, and so intellectual discussion +ceased and the high principles on which national action should be based +became less and less understood, less and less common possessions. The +nation was not conceived of as a democracy freely discussing its laws +but as a secret society with political chiefs meeting in the dark and +issuing orders. No doubt our political chieftains loved their country, +but love has many degrees of expression from the basest to the highest. +The basest love will wreck everything, even the life of the beloved, to +gratify ignoble desires. The highest love conspires with the +imaginative reason to bring about every beautiful circumstance around +the beloved which will permit of the highest development of its life. +There is no real love apart from this intellectual brooding. Men who +love Ireland ignobly brawl about her in their cups, quarrel about her +with their neighbor, allow no freedom of thought of her or service of +her other than their own, take to the cudgel and the rifle, and join +sectarian orders or lodges to ensure that Ireland will be made in their +own ignoble image. Those who love Ireland nobly desire for her the +highest of human destinies. They would ransack the ages and accumulate +wisdom to make Irish life seem as noble in men's eyes as any the world +has known. The better minds in every race, eliminating passion and +prejudice, by the exercise of the imaginative reason have revealed to +their countrymen ideals which they recognized were implicit in national +character. It is such discoveries we have yet to make about ourselves +to unite us to fulfill our destiny. We have to discover what is +fundamental in Irish character, the affections, leanings, tendencies +towards one or more of the eternal principles which have governed and +inspired all great human effort, all great civilizations from the dawn +of history. A nation is but a host of men united by some God-begotten +mood, some hope of liberty or dream of power or beauty or justice or +brotherhood, and until that master idea is manifested to us there is no +shining star to guide the ship of our destinies. + +Our civilization must depend on the quality of thought engendered in the +national being. We have to do for Ireland--though we hope with less +arrogance--what the long and illustrious line of German thinkers, +scientists, poets, philosophers, and historians did for Germany, or what +the poets and artists of Greece did for the Athenians: and that is, to +create national ideals, which will dominate the policy of statesmen, the +actions of citizens, the universities, the social organizations, the +administration of State departments, and unite in one spirit urban and +rural life. Unless this is done Ireland will be like Portugal, or any +of the corrupt little penny-dreadful nationalities which so continually +disturb the peace of the world with internal revolutions and external +brawlings, and we shall only have achieved the mechanism of nationality, +but the spirit will have eluded us. + +What I have written hereafter on the national being, my thoughts on an +Irish polity, are not to be taken as an attempt to deal with more than a +few essentials. I offer it to my countrymen, to start thought and +discussion upon the principles which should prevail in an Irish +civilization. If to readers in other countries the thought appears +primitive or elementary, I would like them to remember that we are at +the beginning of our activity as a nation, and we have yet to settle +fundamentals. Races hoary with political wisdom may look with disdain +on the attempts at political thinking by a new self-governing +nationality, or the theories of civilization discussed about the cradle +of an infant State. To childhood may be forgiven the elemental +character of its thought and its idealistic imaginations. They may not +persist in developed manhood; but if youth has never drawn heaven and +earth together in its imaginations, manhood will ever be +undistinguished. This book only begins a meditation in which, I hope, +nobler imaginations and finer intellects than mine will join hereafter, +and help to raise the soul of Ireland nigher to the ideal and its body +nigher to its soul. + + + + + +II. + + + +The building up of a civilization is at once the noblest and the most +practical of all enterprises, in which human faculties are exalted to +their highest, and beauties and majesties are manifested in multitude as +they are never by solitary man or by disunited peoples. In the highest +civilizations the individual citizen is raised above himself and made +part of a greater life, which we may call the National Being. He enters +into it, and it becomes in oversoul to him, and gives to all his works a +character and grandeur and a relation to the works of his fellow- +citizens, so that all he does conspires with the labors of others for +unity and magnificence of effect. So ancient Egypt, with its temples, +sphinxes, pyramids, and symbolic decorations, seems to us as if it had +been created by one grandiose imagination; for even the lesser +craftsmen, working on the mummy case for the tomb, had much of the +mystery and solemnity in their work which is manifest in temple and +pyramid. So the city States in ancient Greece in their day were united +by ideals to a harmony of art and architecture and literature. Among +the Athenians at their highest the ideal of the State so wrought upon +the individual that its service became the overmastering passion of +life, and in that great oration of Pericles, where he told how the +Athenian ideal inspired the citizens so that they gave their bodies for +the commonwealth, it seems to have been conceived of as a kind of +oversoul, a being made up of immortal deeds and heroic spirits, +influencing the living, a life within their life, molding their spirits +to its likeness. It appears almost as if in some of these ancient +famous communities the national ideal became a kind of tribal deity, +that began first with some great hero who died and was immortalized by +the poets, and whose character, continually glorified by them, grew at +last so great in song that he could not be regarded as less than a demi- +god. We can see in ancient Ireland that Cuchulain, the dark sad man of +the earlier tales, was rapidly becoming a divinity, a being who summed +up in himself all that the bards thought noblest in the spirit of their +race; and if Ireland had a happier history no doubt one generation of +bardic chroniclers after another would have molded that half-mythical +figure into the Irish ideal of all that was chivalrous, tender, heroic, +and magnanimous, and it would have been a star to youth, and the thought +of it a staff to the very noblest. Even as Cuchulain alone at the ford +held it against a host, so the ideal would have upheld the national soul +in its darkest hours, and stood in many a lonely place in the heart. +The national soul in a theocratic State is a god; in an aristocratic +age it assumes the character of a hero; and in a democracy it becomes a +multitudinous being, definite in character if the democracy is a real +social organism. But where the democracy is only loosely held together +by the social order, the national being is vague in character, is a mood +too feeble to inspire large masses of men to high policies in times of +peace, and in times of war it communicates frenzy, panic, and delirium. + +None of our modern States create in us such an impression of being +spiritually oversouled by an ideal as the great States of the ancient +world. The leaders of nations too have lost that divine air that many +leaders of men wore in the past, and which made the populace rumor them +as divine incarnations. It is difficult to know to what to attribute +this degeneration. Perhaps the artists who create ideals are to blame. +In ancient Ireland, in Greece, and in India, the poets wrote about great +kings and heroes, enlarging on their fortitude of spirit, their chivalry +and generosity, creating in the popular mind an ideal of what a great +man was like; and men were influenced by the ideal created, and strove +to win the praise of the bards and to be recrowned by them a second time +in great poetry. So we had Cuchulain and Oscar in Ireland; Hector of +Troy, Theseus in Greece; Yudisthira, Rama, and Arjuna in India, all +bard-created heroes molding the minds of men to their image. It is the +great defect of our modern literature that it creates few such types. +How hardly could one of our modern public men be made the hero of an +epic. It would be difficult to find one who could be the subject of a +genuine lyric. Whitman, himself the most democratic poet of the modern +world, felt this deficiency in the literature of the later democracies, +and lamented the absence of great heroic figures. The poets have dropped +out of the divine procession, and sing a solitary song. They inspire +nobody to be great, and failing any finger-post in literature pointing +to true greatness our democracies too often take the huckster from his +stall, the drunkard from his pot, the lawyer from his court, and the +company promoter from the director's chair, and elect them as +representative men. We certainly do this in Ireland. It is--how many +hundred years since greatness guided us? In Ireland our history begins +with the most ancient of any in a mythical era when earth mingled with +heaven. The gods departed, the half-gods also, hero and saint after +that, and we have dwindled down to a petty peasant nationality, rural +and urban life alike mean in their externals. Yet the cavalcade, for +all its tattered habiliments, has not lost spiritual dignity. There is +still some incorruptible spiritual atom in our people. We are still in +some relation to the divine order; and while that uncorrupted spiritual +atom still remains all things are possible if by some inspiration there +could be revealed to us a way back or forward to greatness, an Irish +polity in accord with national character. + + + + + +III. + + + +In formulating an Irish polity we have to take into account the change +in world conditions. A theocratic State we shall have no more. Every +nation, and our own along with them, is now made up of varied sects, and +the practical dominance of one religious idea would let loose +illimitable passions, the most intense the human spirit can feel. The +way out of the theocratic State was by the drawn sword and was lit by +the martyr's fires. The way back is unthinkable for all Protestant +fears or Catholic aspirations. Aristocracies, too, become impossible as +rulers. The aristocracy of character and intellect we may hope shall +finally lead us, but no aristocracy so by birth will renew its authority +over us. The character of great historic personages is gradually +reflected in the mass. The divine right of kings is followed by the +idea of the divine right of the people, and democracies finally become +ungovernable save by themselves. They have seen and heard too much of +pride and greatness not to have become, in some measure, proud and +defiant of all authority except their own. It may be said the history +of democracies is not one to fill us with confidence, but the truth is +the world has yet to see the democratic State, and of the yet untried we +may think with hope. Beneath the Athenian and other ancient democratic +States lay a substratum of humanity in slavery, and the culture, beauty, +and bravery of these extraordinary peoples were made possible by the +workers in an underworld who had no part in the bright civic life. + +We have no more a real democracy in the world today. Democracy in +politics has in no country led to democracy in its economic life. We +still have autocracy in industry as firmly seated on its throne as +theocratic king ruling in the name of a god, or aristocracy ruling by +military power; and the forces represented by these twain, superseded +by the autocrats of industry, have become the allies of the power which +took their place of pride. Religion and rank, whether content or not +with the subsidiary place they now occupy, are most often courtiers of +Mammon and support him on his throne. For all the talk about democracy +our social order is truly little more democratic than Rome was under the +Caesars, and our new rulers have not, with all their wealth, created a +beauty which we could imagine after-generations brooding over with +uplifted heart. + +The people in theocratic States like Egypt or Chaldea, ruled in the name +of gods, saw rising out of the plains in which they lived an +architecture so mysterious and awe-inspiring that they might well +believe the master-minds who designed the temples were inspired from the +Oversoul. The aristocratic States reflected the love of beauty which is +associated with aristocracies. The oligarchies of wealth in our time, +who have no divine sanction to give dignity to their rule nor traditions +of lordly life like the aristocracies, have not in our day created +beauty in the world. But whatever of worth the ancient systems produced +was not good enough to make permanent their social order. Their +civilizations, like ours, were built on the unstable basis of a vast +working-class with no real share in the wealth and grandeur it helped to +create. The character of his kingdom was revealed in dream to +Nebuchadnezzar by an image with a golden head and feet of clay, and that +image might stand as symbol of the empires the world has known. There +is in all a vast population living in an underworld of labor whose +freedom to vote confers on them no real power, and who are most often +scorned and neglected by those who profit by their labors. Indifference +turns to fear and hatred if labor organizes and gathers power, or makes +one motion of its myriad hands towards the sceptre held by the autocrats +of industry. When this class is maddened and revolts, civilization +shakes and totters like cities when the earthquake stirs beneath their +foundations. Can we master these arcane human forces? Can we, by any +device, draw this submerged humanity into the light and make them real +partners in the social order, not partners merely in the political life +of the nation, but, what is of more importance, in its economic life? +If we build our civilization without integrating labor into its economic +structure, it will wreck that civilization, and it will do that more +swiftly today than two thousand years ago, because there is no longer +the disparity of culture between high and low which existed in past +centuries. The son of the artisan, if he cares to read, may become +almost as fully master of the wisdom of Plato or Aristotle as if he had +been at a university. Emerson will speak to him of his divinity; +Whitman, drunken with the sun, will chant to him of his inheritance of +the earth. He is elevated by the poets and instructed by the +economists. But there are not thrones enough for all who are made wise +in our social order, and failing even to serve in the social heaven +these men will spread revolt and reign in the social hell. They are +becoming too many for higher places to be found for them in the national +economy. They are increasing to a multitude which must be considered, +and the framers of a national polity must devise a life for them where +their new-found dignity of spirit will not be abased. Men no more will +be content under rulers of industry they do not elect themselves than +they were under political rulers claiming their obedience in the name of +God. They will not for long labor in industries where they have no +power to fix the conditions of their employment, as they were not +content with a political system which allowed them no power to control +legislation. Ireland must begin its imaginative reconstruction of a +civilization by first considering that type which, in the earlier +civilizations of the world, has been slave, serf, or servile, working +either on land or at industry, and must construct with reference to it. +These workers must be the central figures, and how their material, +intellectual, and spiritual needs are met must be the test of value of +the social order we evolve. + + + + + +IV. + + + +In Ireland we begin naturally our consideration of this problem with the +folk of the country, pondering all the time upon our ideal--the linking +up of individuals with each other and with the nation. Since the +destruction of the ancient clans in Ireland almost every economic factor +in rural life has tended to separate the farmers from each other and +from the nation, and to bring about an isolation of action; and that +was so until the movement for the organization of agriculture was +initiated by Sir Horace Plunkett and his colleagues in that patriotic +association, the Irish Agricultural Organization Society. Though its +actual achievement is great; though it may be said to be the pivot +round which Ireland has begun to swing back to its traditional and +natural communism in work, we still have over the larger part of Ireland +conditions prevailing which tend to isolate the individual from the +community. + +When we examine rural Ireland, outside this new movement, we find +everywhere isolated and individualistic agricultural production, served +with regard to purchase and sale by private traders and dealers, who are +independent of economic control from the consumers or producers, or the +State. The tendency in the modern world to conduct industry in the +grand manner is not observable here. The first thing which strikes one +who travels through rural Ireland is the immense number of little shops. +They are scattered along the highways and at the crossroads; and where +there are a few families together in what is called a village, the +number of little shops crowded round these consumers is almost +incredible. What are all these little shops doing? They are supplying +the farmers with domestic requirements: with tea, sugar, flour, oil, +implements, vessels, clothing, and generally with drink. Every one of +them almost is a little universal provider. Every one of them has its +own business organization, its relations with wholesale houses in the +greater towns. All of them procure separately from others their bags of +flour, their barrels of porter, their stocks of tea, sugar, raisins, +pots, pans, nails, twine, fertilizers, and what not, and all these +things come to them paying high rates to the carriers for little loads. +The trader's cart meets them at the station, and at great expense the +necessaries of life are brought together. In the world-wide +amalgamation of shoe-makers into boot factories, and smithies into +ironworks, which is going on in Europe and America, these little shops +have been overlooked. Nobody has tried to amalgamate them, or to +economize human effort or cheapen the distribution of the necessaries of +life. This work of distribution is carried on by all kinds of little +traders competing with each other, pulling the devil by the tail; doing +the work economically, so far as they themselves are concerned, because +they must, but doing it expensively for the district because they cannot +help it. They do not serve Ireland well. The genius of amalgamation and +organization cannot afford to pass by these shops, which spring up in +haphazard fashion, not because the country needs them, but because +farmers or traders have children to be provided for. To the ignorant +this is the easiest form of trade, and so many are started in life in +one of these little shops after an apprenticeship in another like it. +These numerous competitors of each other do not keep down prices. They +increase them rather by the unavoidable multiplication of expenses; and +many of them, taking advantage of the countryman's irregularity of +income and his need for credit, allow credit to a point where the small +farmer becomes a tied customer, who cannot pay all he owes, and who +therefore dares not deal elsewhere. These agencies for distribution do +not by their nature enlarge the farmer's economic knowledge. His vision +beyond them to their sources of supply is blocked, and in this respect +he is debarred from any unity with national producers other than his own +class. + +Let us now for a little consider the small farmer around whom have +gathered these multitudinous little agencies of distribution. What kind +of a being is he? We must deal with averages, and the small farmer is +the typical Irish countryman. The average area of an Irish farm is +twenty-five acres or thereabouts. There are hundreds of thousands who +have more or less. But we can imagine to ourselves an Irish farmer with +twenty-five acres to till, lord of a herd of four or five cows, a drift +of sheep, a litter of pigs, perhaps a mare and foal: call him Patrick +Maloney and accept him as symbol of his class. We will view him outside +the operation of the new co-operative policy, trying to obey the command +to be fruitful and replenish the earth. He is fruitful enough. There +is no race suicide in Ireland. His agriculture is largely traditional. +It varied little in the nineteenth century from the eighteenth, and the +beginnings of the twentieth century show little change in spite of a +huge department of agriculture. His butter, his eggs, his cattle, +horses, pigs, and sheep are sold to local dealers. He rarely knows +where his produce goes to--whether it is devoured in the next county or +is sent across the Channel. It might be pitched into the void for all +he knows about its destiny. He might be described almost as the +primitive economic cave-man, the darkness of his cave unillumined by any +ray of general principles. As he is obstructed by the traders in a +general vision of production other than his own, so he is obstructed by +these dealers in a general vision of the final markets for his produce. +His reading is limited to the local papers, and these, following the +example of the modern press, carefully eliminate serious thought as +likely to deprive them of readers. But Patrick, for all his economic +backwardness, has a soul. The culture of the Gaelic poets and story- +tellers, while not often actually remembered, still lingers like a +fragrance about his mind. He lives and moves and has his being in the +loveliest nature, the skies over him ever cloudy like an opal; and the +mountains flow across his horizon in wave on wave of amethyst and pearl. +He has the unconscious depth of character of all who live and labor much +in the open air, in constant fellowship with the great companions--with +the earth and the sky and the fire in the sky. We ponder over Patrick, +his race and his country, brooding whether there is the seed of a +Pericles in Patrick's loins. Could we carve an Attica out of Ireland? + +Before Patrick can become the father of a Pericles, before Ireland can +become an Attica, Patrick must be led out of his economic cave: his low +cunning in barter must be expanded into a knowledge of economic law--his +fanatical concentration on his family--begotten by the isolation and +individualism of his life--be sublimed into national affections; his +unconscious depths be sounded, his feeling for beauty be awakened by +contact with some of the great literature of the world. His mind is +virgin soil, and we may hope that, like all virgin soil, it will be +immensely fruitful when it is cultivated. How does the policy of +co-working make Patrick pass away from his old self? We can imagine him +as a member of a committee getting hints of a strange doctrine called +science from his creamery manager. He hears about bacteria, and these +dark invisibles replace, as the cause of bad butter-making, the wicked +fairies of his childhood. Watching this manager of his society he learns +a new respect for the man of special or expert knowledge. Discussing +the business of his association with other members he becomes something +of a practical economist. He knows now where his produce goes. He +learns that he has to compete with Americans, Europeans, and Colonials-- +indeed with the farmers of the world, hitherto concealed from his view +by a mountainous mass of middle-men. He begins to be interested in +these countries and reads about them. He becomes a citizen of the +world. His horizon is no longer bounded by the wave of blue hills +beyond his village. The roar of the planet begins to sound in his ears. +What is more important is that he is becoming a better citizen of his +own country. He meets on his committee his religious and political +opponents, not now discussing differences out identities of interest. +He also meets the delegates from other societies in district conferences +or general congresses, and those who meet thus find their interests are +common, and a new friendliness springs up between North and South, and +local co-operation leads on to national co-operation. The best +intellects, the best business men in the societies, meet in the big +centres as directors of federations and wholesales, and they get an all- +Ireland view of their industry. They see the parish from the point of +view of the nation, and this vision does not desert them when they go +back to the parish. They realize that their interests are bound up with +national interests, and they discuss legislation and administration with +practical knowledge. Eyes getting keener every year, minds getting more +instructed, begin to concentrate on Irish public men. Presently Patrick +will begin to seek for men of special knowledge and administrative +ability to manage Irish affairs. Ireland has hitherto been to Patrick a +legend, a being mentioned in romantic poetry, a little dark Rose, a +mystic maiden, a vague but very simple creature of tears and aspirations +and revolts. He now knows what a multitudinous being a nation is, and in +contact with its complexities Patrick's politics take on a new gravity, +thoughtfulness, and intellectual character. + +Under the influence of these associations and the ideas pervading them +our typical Irish farmer gets drawn out of his agricultural sleep of the +ages, developing rapidly as mummy-wheat brought out of the tomb and +exposed to the eternal forces which stimulate and bring to life. I have +taken an individual as a type, and described the original circumstance +and illustrated the playing of the new forces on his mind. It is the +only way we can create a social order which will fit our character as +the glove fits the hand. Reasoning solely from abstract principles about +justice, democracy, the rights of man and the like, often leads us into +futilities, if not into dangerous political experiments. We have to see +our typical citizen in clear light, realize his deficiencies, ignorance, +and incapacity, and his possibilities of development, before we can +wisely enlarge his boundaries. The centre of the citizen is the home. +His circumference ought to be the nation. The vast majority of Irish +citizens rarely depart from their centre, or establish those vital +relations with their circumference which alone entitle them to the +privileges of citizenship, and enable them to act with political wisdom. +An emotional relationship is not enough. Our poets sang of a united +Ireland, but the unity they sang of was only a metaphor. It mainly +meant separation from another country. In that imaginary unity men were +really separate from each other. Individualism, fanatically centering +itself on its family and family interests, interfered on public boards +to do jobs in the interests of its kith and kin. The co-operative +movement connects with living links the home, the centre of Patrick's +being, to the nation, the circumference of his being. It connects him +with the nation through membership of a national movement, not for the +political purposes which call on him for a vote once every few years, +but for economic purposes which affect him in the course of his daily +occupations. This organization of the most numerous section of the +Irish democracy into co-operative associations, as it develops and +embraces the majority, will tend to make the nation one and indivisible +and conscious of its unity. The individual, however meagre his natural +endowment of altruism, will be led to think of his community as himself; +because his income, his social pleasures even, depend on the success of +the local and national organizations with which he is connected. The +small farmers of former times pursued a petty business of barter and +haggle, fighting for their own hand against half the world about them. +The farmers of the new generation will grow up in a social order, where +all the transactions which narrowed their fathers' hearts will be +communal and national enterprises. How much that will mean in a change +of national character we can hardly realize, we who were born in an +Ireland where petty individualism was rampant, and where every child had +it borne in upon him that it had to fight its own corner in the world, +where the whole atmosphere about it tended to the hardening of the +personality. + +We may hope and believe that this transformation of the social order +will make men truly citizens thinking in terms of the nation, +identifying national with personal interests. For those who believe +there is a divine seed in humanity, this atmosphere, if any, they may +hope will promote the swift blossoming of the divine seed which in the +past, in favorable airs, has made beauty or grandeur or spirituality the +characteristics of ancient civilizations in Greece, in Egypt, and in +India. No one can work for his race without the hope that the highest, +or more than the highest, humanity has reached will be within reach of +his race also. We are all laying foundations in dark places, putting +the rough-hewn stones together in our civilizations, hoping for the +lofty edifice which will arise later and make all the work glorious. +And in Ireland, for all its melancholy history, we may, knowing that we +are human, dream that there is the seed of a Pericles in Patrick's +loins, and that we might carve an Attica out of Ireland. + + + + + +V. + + + +In Ireland we must of necessity give special thought to the needs of the +countryman, because our main industry is agriculture. We have few big +cities. Our great cities are almost all outside our own borders. They +are across the Atlantic. The surplus population of the countryside do +not go to our own towns but emigrate. The exodus does not enrich +Limerick or Galway, but New York. The absorption of life in great +cities is really the danger which most threatens the modern State with a +decadence of its humanity. In the United States, even in Canada, hardly +has the pioneer made a home in the wilderness when his sons and his +daughters are allured by the distant gleam of cities beyond the plains. +In England the countryside has almost ceased to be the mother of men--at +least a fruitful mother. We are face to face in Ireland with this +problem, with no crowded and towering cities to disguise the emptiness +of the fields. It is not a problem which lends itself to legislative +solution. Whether there be fair rents or no rents at all, the child of +the peasant, yearning for a fuller life, goes where life is at its +fullest. We all desire life, and that we might have it more +abundantly,--the peasant as much as the mystic thirsting for infinite +being,--and in rural Ireland the needs of life have been neglected. + +The chief problem of Ireland--the problem which every nation in greater +or lesser measure will have to solve--is how to enable the country-man, +without journeying, to satisfy to the full his economic, social, +intellectual, and spiritual needs. We have made some tentative efforts. +The long war over the land, which resulted in the transference of the +land from landlord to cultivator, has advanced us part of the way, but +the Land Acts offered no complete solution. We were assured by hot +enthusiasts of the magic of proprietorship, but Ireland has not tilled a +single acre more since the Land Acts were passed. Our rural exodus +continued without any Moses to lead us to Jerusalems of our own. At +every station boys and girls bade farewell to their friends; and hardly +had the train steamed out when the natural exultation of adventure made +the faces of the emigrants glow because the world lay before them, and +human appetites the country could not satisfy were to be appeased at the +end of the journey. + +How can we make the countryside in Ireland a place which nobody would +willingly emigrate from? When we begin to discuss this problem we soon +make the discovery that neither in the new world nor the old has there +been much first-class thinking on the life of the countryman. This will +be apparent if we compare the quality of thought which has been devoted +to the problems of the city State, or the constitution of widespread +dominions, from the days of Solon and Aristotle down to the time of +Alexander Hamilton, and compare it with the quality of thought which has +been brought to bear on the problems of the rural community. + +On the labors of the countryman depend the whole strength and health, +nay, the very existence of society, yet, in almost every country, +politics, economics, and social reform are urban products, and the +countryman gets only the crumbs which fall from the political table. It +seems to be so in Canada and the States even, countries which we in +Europe for long regarded as mainly agricultural. It seems only +yesterday to the imagination that they were colonized, and yet we find +the Minister of Agriculture in Canada announcing a decline in the rural +population in Eastern Canada. As children sprung from the loins of +diseased parents manifest at an early age the same defects in their +constitution, so Canada and the States, though in their national +childhood, seem already threatened by the same disease from which +classic Italy perished, and whose ravages today make Great Britain seem +to the acute diagnoser of political health to be like a fruit--ruddy +without, but eaten away within and rotten at the core. One expects +disease in old age, but not in youth. We expect young countries to sow +their wild oats, to have a few revolutions before they settle down to +national housekeeping; but we are not moved by these troubles--the +result of excessive energy--as we are by symptoms of premature decay. +No nation can be regarded as unhealthy when a virile peasantry, +contented with rural employments, however discontented with other +things, exists on its soil. The disease which has attacked our great +populations here and in America is a discontent with rural life. +Nothing which has been done hitherto seems able to promote content. It +is true, indeed, that science has gone out into the fields, but the +labors of the chemist, the bacteriologist, and the mechanical engineer +are not enough to ensure health. What is required is the art of the +political thinker, the imagination which creates a social order and +adjusts it to human needs. The physician who understands the general +laws of human health is of more importance to us here than the +specialist. The genius of rural life has not yet appeared. We have no +fundamental philosophy concerning it, but we have treasures of political +wisdom dealing with humanity as a social organism in the city States or +as great nationalities. It might be worth while inquiring to what +extent the wisdom of a Solon, an Aristotle, a Rousseau, or an Alexander +Hamilton might be applied to the problem of the rural community. After +all, men are not so completely changed in character by their rural +environment that their social needs do not, to a large extent, coincide +with the needs of the townsman. They cannot be considered as creatures +of a different species. Yet statesmen who have devoted so much thought +to the constitution of empires and the organization of great cities, who +have studied their psychology, have almost always treated the rural +problem purely as an economic problem, as if agriculture was a business +only and not a life. + +Our great nations and widespread empires arose in a haphazard fashion +out of city States and scattered tribal communities. The fusion of +these into larger entities, which could act jointly for offence or +defense, so much occupied the thoughts of their rulers that everything +else was subordinated to it. As a result, the details of our modern +civilizations are all wrong. There is an intensive life at a few great +political or industrial centres, and wide areas where there is +stagnation and decay. Stagnation is most obvious in rural districts. +It is so general that it has been often assumed that there was something +inherent in rural life which made the countryman slow in mind as his own +cattle. But this is not so, as I think can be shown. There is no +reason why as intense, intellectual, and progressive a life should not +be possible in the country as in the towns. The real reason for the +stagnation is that the country population is not organized. We often +hear the expression, "the rural community," but where do we find rural +communities? There are rural populations, but that is altogether a +different thing. The word "community" implies an association of people +having common interests and common possessions, bound together by laws +and regulations which express these common interests and ideals, and +define the relation of the individual to the community. Our rural +populations are no more closely connected, for the most part, than the +shifting sands on the seashore. Their life is almost entirely +individualistic. There are personal friendships, of course, but few +economic or social partnerships. Everybody pursues his own occupation +without regard to the occupation of his neighbors. If a man emigrates +it does not affect the occupation of those who farm the land all about +him. They go on ploughing and digging, buying and selling, just as +before. They suffer no perceptible economic loss by the departure of +half-a-dozen men from the district. A true community would, of course, +be affected by the loss of its members. A co-operative society, if it +loses a dozen members, the milk of their cows, their orders for +fertilizers, seeds, and feeding-stuffs, receives serious injury to its +prosperity. There is a minimum of trade below which its business cannot +fall without bringing about a complete stoppage of its work and an +inability to pay its employees. That is the difference between a +community and an unorganized population. In the first the interests of +the community make a conscious and direct appeal to the individual, and +the community, in its turn, rapidly develops an interest in the welfare +of the member. In the second, the interest of the individual in the +community is only sentimental, and as there is no organization the +community lets its units slip away or disappear without comment or +action. We had true rural communities in ancient Ireland, though the +organization was rather military than economic. But the members of a +clan had common interests. They owned the land in common. It was a +common interest to preserve it intact. It was to their interest to have +a numerous membership of the clan, because it made it less liable to +attack. Men were drawn by the social order out of merely personal +interests into a larger life. In their organizations they were +unconsciously groping, as all human organizations are, towards the final +solidarity of humanity--the federation of the world. + +Well, these old rural communities disappeared. The greater +organizations of nation or empire regarded the smaller communities +jealously in the past, and broke them up and gathered all the strings of +power into capital cities. The result was a growth of the State, with a +local decay of civic, patriotic, or public feeling, ending in +bureaucracies and State departments, where paid officials, devoid of +intimacy with local needs, replaced the services naturally and +voluntarily rendered in an earlier period. The rural population, no +longer existing as a rural community, sank into stagnation. There was no +longer a common interest, a social order turning their minds to larger +than individual ends. Where feudalism was preserved, the feudal chief, +if the feeling of noblesse oblige was strong, might act as a centre of +progress, but where this was lacking social decay set in. The +difficulty of moving the countryman, which has become traditional, is +not due to the fact that he lives in the country, but to the fact that +he lives in an unorganized society. If in a city people want an art +gallery or public baths or recreation grounds, there is a machinery +which can be set in motion; there are corporations and urban councils +which can be approached. If public opinion is evident--and it is easy +to organize public opinion in a town--the city representatives will +consider the scheme, and if they approve and it is within their power as +a council, they are able to levy rates to finance the art gallery, +recreation grounds, public gardens, or whatever else. Now let us go to +a country district where there is no organization. It may be obvious to +one or two people that the place is perishing and the intelligence of +its humanity is decaying, lacking some centre of life. They want a +village hall, but how is it to be obtained? They begin talking about it +to this person or that. They ask these people to talk to their friends, +and the ripples go out weakening and widening for months, perhaps for +years. I know of districts where this has happened. There are hundreds +of parishes in Ireland where one or two men want co-operative societies +or village halls or rural libraries. They discuss the matter with their +neighbors, but find a complete ignorance on the subject, and consequent +lethargy. There is no social organism with a central life to stir. +Before enthusiasm can be kindled there must be some knowledge. The +countryman reads little, and it is a long and tedious business before +enough people are excited to bring them to the point of appealing to +some expert to come in and advise. + +More changes often take place within a dozen years after a co-operative +society is first started than have taken place for a century previous. +I am familiar with a district--in the northwest of Ireland. It was a +most wretchedly poor district. The farmers were at the mercy of the +gombeen traders and the agricultural middlemen. Then a dozen years ago +a co-operative society was formed. I am sure that the oldest inhabitant +would agree with me that more changes for the better for farmers have +taken place since the co-operative society was started than he could +remember in all his previous life. The reign of the gombeen man is +over. The farmers control their own buying and selling. Their +organization markets for them the eggs and poultry. It procures seeds, +fertilizers, and domestic requirements. It turns the members' pigs into +bacon. They have a village hall and a woman's organization. They sell +the products of the women's industry. They have a co-operative band, +social gatherings, and concerts. They have spread out into half-a-dozen +parishes, going southward and westward with their propaganda, and in +half-a-dozen years, in all that district, previously without +organization, there will be well-organized farmers' guilds, +concentrating in themselves the trade of their district, having meeting- +places where the opinion of the members can be taken, having a +machinery, committees, and executive officers to carry out whatever may +be decided on: and having funds, or profits, the joint property of the +community, which can be drawn upon to finance their undertakings. It +ought to be evident what a tremendous advantage it is to farmers in a +district to have such organizations, what a lever they can pull and +control. I have tried to indicate the difference between a rural +population and a rural community, between a people loosely knit together +by the vague ties of a common latitude and longitude, and people who are +closely knit together in an association and who form a true social +organism, a true rural community, where the general will can find +expression and society is malleable to the general will. I assert that +there never can be any progress in rural districts or any real +prosperity without such farmers' organizations or guilds. Wherever +rural prosperity is reported of any country inquire into it, and it will +be found that it depends on rural organization. Wherever there is rural +decay, if it is inquired into, it will be found that there was a rural +population but no rural community, no organization, no guild to promote +common interests and unite the countrymen in defense of them. + + + + + +VI. + + + +It is the business of the rural reformer to create the rural community. +It is the antecedent to the creation of a rural civilization. We have +to organize the community so that it can act as one body. It is not +enough to organize farmers in a district for one purpose only--in a +credit society, a dairy society, a fruit society, a bacon factory, or in +a co-operative store. All these may be and must be beginnings; but if +they do not develop and absorb all rural business into their +organization they will have little effect on character. No true social +organism will have been created. If people unite as consumers to buy +together they only come into contact on this one point; there is no +general identity of interest. If co-operative societies are specialized +for this purpose or that--as in Great Britain or on the Continent--to a +large extent the limitation of objects prevents a true social organism +from being formed. The latter has a tremendous effect on human +character. The specialized society only develops economic efficiency. +The evolution of humanity beyond its present level depends absolutely on +its power to unite and create true social organisms. Life in its higher +forms is only possible because of the union of myriads of tiny lives to +form a larger being, which manifests will, intelligence, affection, and +the spiritual powers. The life of the amoeba or any other unicellular +organism is low compared with the life in more complex organisms, like +the ant or bee. Man is the most highly developed living organism on the +globe; yet his body is built up of innumerable cells, each of which +might be described as a tiny life in itself. But they are built up in +man into such a close association that what affects one part of the body +affects all. The pain which the whole being feels if a part is wounded, +if one cell in the human body is hurt, should prove that to the least +intelligent. The nervous system binds all the tiny cells together, and +they form in this totality a being infinitely higher, more powerful, +than the cells which compose it. They are able to act together and +achieve things impossible to the separated cells. Now humanity today +is, to some extent, like the individual cells. It is trying to unite +together to form a real organism, which will manifest higher qualities +of life than the individual can manifest. But very few of the organisms +created by society enable the individual to do this. The joint-stock +companies or capitalist concerns which bring men together at this work +or that do not yet make them feel their unity. Existence under a common +government effects this still less. Our modern states have not yet +succeeded in building up that true national life where all feel the +identity of interest; where the true civic or social feeling is +engendered and the individual bends all his efforts to the success of +the community on which his own depends; where, in fact, the ancient +Greek conception of citizenship is realized, and individuals are created +who are ever conscious of the identity of interest between themselves +and their race. In the old Greek civilizations this was possible +because their States were small, indeed their ideal State contained no +more citizens than could be affected by the voice of a single orator. +Such small States, though they produced the highest quality of life +within themselves, are no longer possible as political entities. We +have to see whether we could not, within our widespread nationalities, +create communities by economic means, where something of the same sense +of solidarity of interest might be engendered and the same quality of +life maintained. I am greatly ambitious for the rural community. But +it is no use having mean ambitions. Unless people believe the result of +their labors will result in their equaling or surpassing the best that +has been done elsewhere, they will never get very far. We in Ireland +are in quest of a civilization. It is a great adventure, the building up +of a civilization--the noblest which could be undertaken by any persons. +It is at once the noblest and the most practical of all enterprises, and +I can conceive of no greater exaltation for the spirit of man than the +feeling that his race is acting nobly; and that all together are +performing a service, not only to each other, but to humanity and those +who come after them, and that their deeds will be remembered. It may +seem a grotesque juxtaposition of things essentially different in +character, to talk of national idealism and then of farming, but it is +not so. They are inseparable. The national idealism which will not go +out into the fields and deal with the fortunes of the working farmers is +false dealism. Our conception of a civilization must include, nay, must +begin with the life of the humblest, the life of the average man or +manual worker, for if we neglect them we will build in sand. The +neglected classes will wreck our civilization. The pioneers of a new +social order must think first of the average man in field or factory, +and so unite these and so inspire them that the noblest life will be +possible through their companionship. If you will not offer people the +noblest and best they will go in search of it. Unless the countryside +can offer to young men and women some satisfactory food for soul as well +as body, it will fail to attract or hold its population, and they will +go to the already overcrowded towns; and the lessening of rural +production will affect production in the cities and factories, and the +problem of the unemployed will get still keener. The problem is not +only an economic problem. It is a human one. Man does not live by cash +alone, but by every gift of fellowship and brotherly feeling society +offers him. The final urgings of men and women are towards humanity. +Their desires are for the perfecting of their own life, and as Whitman +says, where the best men and women are there the great city stands, +though it is only a village. It is one of the illusions of modern +materialistic thought to suppose that as high a quality of life is not +possible in a village as in a great city, and it ought to be one of the +aims of rural reformers to dissipate this fallacy, and to show that it +is possible--not indeed to concentrate wealth in country communities as +in the cities--but that it is possible to bring comfort enough to +satisfy any reasonable person, and to create a society where there will +be intellectual life and human interests. We will hear little then of +the rural exodus. The country will retain and increase its population +and productiveness. Like attracts like. Life draws life to itself. +Intellect awakens intellect, and the country will hold its own tug for +tug with the towns. + +Now it may be said I have talked a long while round and round the rural +community, but I have not suggested how it is to be created. I am coming +to that. It really cannot be created. It is a natural growth when the +right seed is planted. Co-operation is the seed. Let us consider +Ireland. Twenty-five years ago there was not a single co-operative +society in the country. Individualism was the mode of life. Every +farmer manufactured and sold as seemed best in his eyes. It was +generally the worst possible way he could have chosen. Then came Sir +Horace Plunkett and his colleagues, preaching co-operation. A creamery +was established here, an agricultural society there, and having planted +the ideas it was some time before the economic expert could decide +whether they were planted in fertile soil. But that question was +decided many years ago. The co-operative society, started for whatever +purpose originally, is an omnivorous feeder, and it exercises a magnetic +influence on all agricultural activities; so that we now have societies +which buy milk, manufacture and sell butter, deal in poultry and eggs, +cure bacon, provide fertilizers, feeding-stuffs, seeds, and machinery +for their members, and even cater for every requirement of the farmer's +household. This magnetic power of attracting and absorbing to +themselves the various rural activities which the properly constituted +co-operative societies have, makes them develop rapidly, until in the +course of a decade or a generation there is created a real social +organism, where the members buy together, manufacture together, market +together, where finally their entire interests are bound up with the +interests of the community. I believe in half a century the whole +business of rural Ireland will be done co-operatively. This is not a +wild surmise, for we see exactly the same process going on in Denmark, +Germany, Italy, and every country where the co-operative seed was +planted. Let us suppose that in a generation all the rural industries +are organized on co-operative lines, what kind of a community should we +expect to find as the result? How would its members live? What would +be their relations to one another and their community? The agricultural +scientist is making great discoveries. The mechanical engineer goes +from one triumph to another. The chemist already could work wonders in +our fields if there was a machinery for him to work through. We cannot +foretell the developments in each branch, but we can see clearly that +the organized community can lay hold of discoveries and inventions which +the individual farmer cannot. It is little for the co-operative society +to buy expensive threshing sets and let its members have the use of +them, but the individual farmer would have to save a long time before he +could raise several hundred pounds. The society is a better buyer than +the individual. It can buy things the individual cannot buy. It is a +better producer also. The plant for a creamery is beyond the individual +farmer; but our organized farmers in Ireland, small though they are, +find it no trouble to erect and equip a creamery with plant costing two +thousand pounds. The organized rural community of the future will +generate its own electricity at its central buildings, and run not only +its factories and other enterprises by this power, but will supply light +to the houses of its members and also mechanical power to run machinery +on the farm. One of our Irish societies already supplies electric light +for the town it works in. In the organized rural community the eggs, +milk, poultry, pigs, cattle, grain, and wheat produced on the farm and +not consumed, or required for further agricultural production, will +automatically be delivered to the co-operative business centre of the +district, where the manager of the dairy will turn the milk into butter +or cheese, and the skim milk will be returned to feed the community's +pigs. The poultry and egg department will pack and dispatch the fowl +and eggs to market. The mill will grind the corn and return it ground to +the member, or there may be a co-operative bakery to which some of it +may go. The pigs will be dealt with in the abattoir, sent as fresh pork +to the market or be turned into bacon to feed the members. We may be +certain that any intelligent rural community will try to feed itself +first, and will only sell the surplus. It will realize that it will be +unable to buy any food half as good as the food it produces. The +community will hold in common all the best machinery too expensive for +the members to buy individually. The agricultural laborers will +gradually become skilled mechanics, able to direct threshers, binders, +diggers, cultivators, and new implements we have no conception of now. +They will be members of the society, sharing in its profits in +proportion to their wages, even as the farmer will in proportion to his +trade. The co-operative community will have its own carpenters, smiths, +mechanics, employed in its workshop at repairs or in making those things +which can profitably be made locally. There may be a laundry where the +washing--a heavy burden for the women--will be done: for we may be sure +that every scrap of power generated will be utilized. One happy +invention after another will come to lighten the labor of life. There +will be, of course, a village hall with a library and gymnasium, where +the boys and girls will be made straight, athletic, and graceful. In the +evenings, when the work of the day is done, if we went into the village +hall we would find a dance going on or perhaps a concert. There might be +a village choir or band. There would be a committee-room where the +council of the community would meet once a week; for their enterprises +would have grown, and the business of such a parish community might +easily be over one hundred thousand pounds, and would require constant +thought. There would be no slackness on the part of the council in +attending, because their fortunes would depend on their communal +enterprises, and they would have to consider reports from the managers +and officials of the various departments. The co-operative community +would be a busy place. In years when the society was exceptionally +prosperous, and earned larger profits than usual on its trade, we should +expect to find discussions in which all the members would join as to the +use to be made of these profits: whether they should be altogether +divided or what portion of them should be devoted to some public +purpose. We may be certain that there would be animated discussions, +because a real solidarity of feeling would have arisen and a pride in +the work of the community engendered, and they would like to be able to +outdo the good work done by the neighboring communities. + +One might like to endow the village school with a chemical laboratory, +another might want to decorate the village hall with reproductions of +famous pictures, another might suggest removing all the hedges and +planting the roadsides and lanes with gooseberry bushes, currant bushes, +and fruit trees, as they do in some German communes today. There would +be eloquent pleadings for this or that, for an intellectual heat would +be engendered in this human hive, and there would be no more illiterates +or ignoramuses. The teaching in the village school would be altered to +suit the new social order, and the children of the community would, we +may be certain, be instructed in everything necessary for the +intelligent conduct of the communal business. The spirit of rivalry +between one community and another, which exists today between +neighboring creameries, would excite the imagination of the members, and +the organized community would be as swift to act as the unorganized +community is slow to act. Intelligence would be organized as well as +business. The women would have their own associations, to promote +domestic economy, care of the sick and the children. The girls would +have their own industries of embroidery, crochet, lace, dress-making, +weaving, spinning, or whatever new industries the awakened intelligence +of women may devise and lay hold of as the peculiar labor of their sex. +The business of distribution of the produce and industries of the +community would be carried on by great federations, which would attend +to export and sale of the products of thousands of societies. Such +communities would be real social organisms. The individual would be +free to do as he willed, but he would find that communal activity would +be infinitely more profitable than individual activity. We would then +have a real democracy carrying on its own business, and bringing about +reforms without pleading to, or begging of, the State, or intriguing +with or imploring the aid of political middlemen to get this, that, or +the other done for them. They would be self-respecting, because they +would be self-helping above all things. The national councils and +meetings of national federations would finally become the real +Parliament of the nation; for wherever all the economic power is +centered, there also is centered all the political power. And no +politician would dare to interfere with the organized industry of a +nation. + +There is nothing to prevent such communities being formed. They would +be a natural growth once the seed was planted. We see such communities +naturally growing up in Ireland, with perhaps a little stimulus from +outside from rural reformers and social enthusiasts. If this ideal of +the organized rural community is accepted there will be difficulties, of +course, and enemies to be encountered. The agricultural middleman is a +powerful person. He will rage furiously. He will organize all his +forces to keep the farmers in subjection, and to retain his peculiar +functions of fleecing the farmer as producer and the general public as +consumer. But unless we are determined to eliminate the middleman in +agriculture we will fall to effect anything worth while attempting. I +would lay down certain fundamental propositions which, I think, should +be accepted without reserve as a basis of reform. First, that the +farmers must be organized to have complete control over all the business +connected with their industry. Dual control is intolerable. Agriculture +will never be in a satisfactory condition if the farmer is relegated to +the position of a manual worker on his land; if he is denied the right +of a manufacturer to buy the raw materials of his industry on trade +terms; if other people are to deal with his raw materials, his milk, +cream, fruit, vegetables, live stock, grain, and other produce; and if +these capitalist middle agencies are to manufacture the farmers' raw +material into butter, bacon, or whatever else are to do all the +marketing and export, paying farmers what they please on the one hand, +and charging the public as much as they can on the other hand. The +existence of these middle agencies is responsible for a large proportion +of the increased cost of living, which is the most acute domestic +problem of modern industrial communities. They have too much power over +the farmer, and are too expensive a luxury for the consumer. It would +be very unbusinesslike for any country to contemplate the permanence in +national life of a class whose personal interests are always leading +them to fleece both producer and consumer alike. So the first +fundamental idea for reformers to get into their minds is that farmers, +through their own co-operative organizations, must control the entire +business connected with agriculture. There will not be so much +objection to co-operative sale as to co-operative purchase by the +farmers. But one is as necessary as the other. We must bear in mind, +what is too often forgotten, that farmers are manufacturers, and as such +are entitled to buy the raw materials for their industry at wholesale +prices. Every other kind of manufacturer in the world gets trade terms +when he buys. Those who buy--not to consume, but to manufacture and +sell again--get their requirements at wholesale terms in every country +in the world. If a publisher of books is approached by a bookseller he +gives that bookseller trade terms, because he buys to sell again. If I, +as a private individual, want one of those books I must pay the full +retail price. Even the cobbler, the carpenter, the solitary artist, get +trade terms. The farmer, who is as much a manufacturer as the +shipbuilder, or the factory proprietor, is as much entitled to trade +terms when he buys the raw materials for his industry. His seeds, +fertilizers, ploughs, implements, cake, feeding-stuffs are the raw +materials of his industry, which he uses to produce wheat, beef, mutton, +pork, or whatever else; and, in my opinion, there should be no +differentiation between the farmer when he buys and any other kind of +manufacturer. Is it any wonder that agriculture decays in countries +where the farmers are expected to buy at retail prices and sell at +wholesale prices? We must not, to save any friction, sell the rights of +farmers. The second proposition I lay down is that this necessary +organization work among the farmers must be carried on by an organizing +body which is entirely controlled by those interested in agriculture-- +farmers and their friends. To ask the State or a State Department to +undertake this work is to ask a body influenced and often controlled by +powerful capitalists, and middle agencies which it should be the aim of +the organization to eliminate. The State can, without obstruction from +any quarter, give farmers a technical education in the science of +farming; but let it once interfere with business, and a horde of angry +interests set to work to hamper and limit by every possible means and +compromises on matters of principle, where no compromise ought to be +permitted, are almost inevitable. + +A voluntary organizing body like the Irish Agricultural Organization +Society, which was the first to attempt the co-operative organization of +farmers in these islands, is the only kind of body which can pursue its +work fearlessly, unhampered by alien interests. The moment such a body +declares its aims, its declaration automatically separates the sheep +from the goats, and its enemies are outside and not inside. The +organizing body should be the heart and centre of the farmers' movement, +and if the heart has its allegiance divided, its work will be poor and +ineffectual, and very soon the farmers will fall away from it to follow +more single-hearted leaders. No trades union would admit +representatives of capitalist employers on its committee, and no +organization of farmers should allow alien or opposing interest on their +councils to clog the machine or betray the cause. This is the best +advice I can give reformers. It is the result of many years' experience +in this work. An industry must have the same freedom of movement as an +individual in possession of all his powers. An industry divided against +itself can no more prosper than a household divided against itself. By +the means I have indicated the farmers can become the masters of their +own destinies, just as the urban workers can, I think, by steadfastly +applying the same principles, emancipate themselves. It is a battle in +which, as in all other battles, numbers and moral superiority united are +irresistible; and in the Irish struggle to create a true democracy +numbers and the power of moral ideas are with the insurgents. + + + + + +VII. + + + +It would be a bitter reproach on the household of our nation if there +were any unconsidered, who were left in poverty and without hope and +outside our brotherhood. We have not yet considered the agricultural +laborer--the proletarian of the countryside. His is, in a sense, the +most difficult problem of any. The basis of economic independence in +his industry is the possession of land, and that is not readily to be +obtained in Ireland. The earth does not upheave itself from beneath the +sea and add new land to that already above water in response to our need +for it. Yet I would not pass away from the rural laborer without, +however inadequately, indicating some curves in his future evolution. +These laborers are not in Ireland half so numerous as farmers, for it is +a country of small holdings, where the farmer and his family are +themselves laborers. Labor is badly paid, and, owing to the lack of +continuous cropping of the land, it is often left without employment at +seasons when employment is most needed. No class which is taken up +today and dropped tomorrow will in modern times remain long in a +country. Employers often act as if they thought labor could be taken up +and laid down again like a pipe and tobacco. None have contributed so +to thicken the horde of Irish exiles as the rural laborers. Three +hundred thousand of them in less than my lifetime have left the fields +of Ireland for the factories of the new world. Yet I can only rejoice +if Irishmen, who are badly dealt with in their motherland, find an +ampler life and a more prosperous career in another land. A wage of ten +or eleven shillings a week will bind none but the unaspiring lout to his +country. But I would like to make Ireland a land which, because of the +human kindness in it, few would willingly leave. The agricultural +proletarian, like all other labor, should be organized in a national +union. That is bound to come. But the agricultural laborer should, I +think, no more than labor in the cities, make the raising of wages his +main or only object. He should rather strive to make himself +economically independent; or, in the alternative, seek for status by +integration into the co-operative communities of farmers by becoming a +member, and by pressing for permanent employment by the community rather +than casual employment by the individual. Agricultural labor +undoubtedly will have to struggle for better remuneration. Yet it has +to be remembered that agriculture is a protean industry. It is not like +mining, where the colliery produces coal and nothing but coal, and where +the miners have a practical monopoly of supply. If miners are +dissatisfied with wages and are well organized they can enforce their +terms, and the colliery owners may almost be indifferent, because they +can charge the increased cost of working to the public. But agriculture, +as I said, is protean and changes its forms perpetually. If tillage +does not pay this year, next year the farmer may have his land in grass. +He reverts to the cheapest methods of farming when prices are low, or +labor asks a wage which the farmer believes it would be unprofitable to +pay. In this way pressure on the farmer for extra wages might result in +two men being employed to herd cows where a dozen men were previously +employed at tillage. The farmer cannot easily--as the mine-owner-- +unload his burden on the general public by the increase of prices. There +are many difficulties, which seem almost insoluble, if we propose to +ourselves to integrate the rural laborer into the general economic life +of the country by making him a partner in the industry he works on. But +what I hope for most is first that the natural evolution of the rural +community, and the concentration of individual manufacture, purchase and +sale, into communal enterprises, will lead to a very large co-operative +ownership of expensive machinery, which will necessitate the communal +employment of labor. If this takes place, as I hope it will, the rural +laborer, instead of being a manual worker using primitive implements, +will have the status of a skilled mechanic employed permanently by a +cooperative community. He should be a member of the society which employs +him, and in the division of profits receive in proportion to his wage, +as the farmers in proportion to their trade. + +A second policy open to agricultural labor when it becomes organized is +the policy of collective farming. This I believe will and ought to +receive attention in the future. Co-operative societies of agricultural +laborers in Italy, Roumania, and elsewhere have rented land from +landowners. They then reallotted the land among themselves for +individual cultivation, or else worked it as a true co-operative +enterprise with labor, purchase and sale all communal enterprises, with +considerable benefit to the members. We can well understand a landowner +not liking to divide his land into small holdings, with all the +attendant troubles which in Ireland beset a landlord with small farmers +on his estate. But I think landowners in Ireland could be found who +would rent land to a co-operative society of skilled laborers who +approached the owner with a well-thought-out scheme. The success of one +colony would lead to others being started, as happened in Italy. + +This solution of the problem of agricultural labor will be forced on us +for many reasons. The economic effects of the great European War, the +burden of debt piled on the participating nations, will make Ministers +shun schemes of reform involving a large use of national credit, or +which would increase the sum of national obligations. Land purchase on +the old term I believe cannot be continued. Yet we will demand the +intensive cultivation of the national estate, and increased production +of wealth, especially of food-stuffs. The large area of agricultural +land laid down for pasture is not so productive as tilled land, does not +sustain so large a population, and there will be more reasons in the +future than in the past for changing the character of farming in these +areas. The policy of collective farming offers a solution, and whatever +Government is in power should facilitate the settlement of men in +cooperative colonies and provide expert instructors as managers for the +first year or two if necessary. Such a policy would not be so expensive +as land purchase, and with fair rent fixed, hundreds of thousands of +people could be planted comfortably on the land in Ireland and produce +more wealth from it than could ever be produced from grazing lands, and +agricultural workers and the sons of farmers who now emigrate could +become economically independent. + +I hope, also, that farmers, becoming more brotherly as their own +enterprises flourish, will welcome laborers into their co-operative +stores, credit banks, poultry and bee-keeping societies, and allow them +the benefits of cheap purchase, cheap credit, and of efficient marketing +of whatever the laborer may produce on his allotment. The growth of +national conscience and the spirit of human brotherhood, and a feeling +of shame that any should be poor and neglected in the national +household, will be needed to bring the rural laborer into the circle of +national life, and make him a willing worker in the general scheme. If +farmers will not, on their part, advance towards their laborers and +bring them into the co-operative community, then labor will be organized +outside their community and will be hostile, and will be always brooding +and scheming to strike a blow when the farmer can least bear it,--when +the ground must be tilled or the harvest gathered. And this, if peace +cannot be made, will result in a still greater decline of tillage and +the continued flight of the rural laborers, and the increase of the area +in grass, and the impoverishing of human life and national well-being. + +Some policy to bring contentment to small holders and rural workers must +be formulated and acted upon. Agriculture is of more importance to the +nation than industry. Our task is to truly democratize civilization and +its agencies; to spread in widest commonalty culture, comfort, +intelligence, and happiness, and to give to the average man those things +which in an earlier age were the privileges of a few. The country is +the fountain of the life and health of a race. And this organization of +the country people into co-operative communities will educate them and +make them citizens in the true sense of the word, that is, people +continually conscious of their identity of interest with those about +them. + +It is by this conscious sense of solidarity of interest, which only the +organized co-operative community can engender in modern times, that the +higher achievements of humanity become possible. Religion has created +this spirit at times--witness the majestic cathedrals the Middle Ages +raised to manifest their faith. Political organization engendered the +passion of citizenship in the Greek States, and the Parthenon and a host +of lordly buildings crowned the hills and uplifted and filled with pride +the heart of the citizen. Our big countries, our big empires, and +republics, for all their military strength and science, and the wealth +which science has made it possible for man to win, do not create +citizenship because of the loose organization of society; because +individualism is rampant, and men, failing to understand the intricacies +of the vast and complex life of their country, fall back on private life +and private ambitions, and leave the honor of their country and the +making of laws and the application of the national revenues to a class +of professional politicians, in their turn in servitude to the interests +which supply party funds, and so we find corruption in high places and +cynicism in the people. It is necessary for the creation of citizens, +for the building up of a noble national life, that the social order +should be so organized that this sense of interdependence will be +constantly felt. It is also necessary for the preservation of the +physical health and beauty of our race that our people should live more +in the country and less in the cities. I believe it would be an +excellent thing for humanity if its civilization could be based on rural +industry mainly and not on urban industry. More and more men and women +in our modern civilization drift out of Nature, out of sweet air, +health, strength, beauty, into the cities, where in the third generation +there is a rickety population, mean in stature, vulgar or depraved in +character, with the image of the devil in mind and matter more than the +image of Deity. Those who go like it at first; but city life is like +the roll spoken of by the prophet, which was sweet in the mouth but +bitter in the belly. The first generation are intoxicated by the new +life, but in the third generation the cord is cut which connected them +with Nature, the Great Mother, and life shrivels up, sundered from the +source of life. Is there any prophet, any statesman, any leader, who +will--as Moses once led the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage-- +excite the human imagination and lead humanity back to Nature, to +sunlight, starlight, earth-breath, sweet air, beauty, gaiety, and +health? Is it impossible now to move humanity by great ideas, as +Mahomet fired his dark hosts to forgetfulness of life; or as Peter the +Hermit awakened Europe to a frenzy, so that it hurried its hot chivalry +across a continent to the Holy Land? Is not the earth mother of us all? +Are not our spirits clothed round with the substance of earth? Is it +not from Nature we draw life? Do we not perish without sunlight and +fresh air? Let us have no breath of air and in five minutes life is +extinct. Yet in the cities there is a slow poisoning of life going on +day by day. The lover of beauty may walk the streets of London or any +big city and may look into ten thousand faces and see none that is +lovely. Is not the return of man to a natural life on the earth a great +enough idea to inspire humanity? Is not the idea of a civilization amid +the green trees and fields under the smokeless sky alluring? Yes, but +men say there is no intellectual life working on the land. No +intellectual life when man is surrounded by mystery and miracle! When +the mysterious forces which bring to birth and life are yet +undiscovered; when the earth is teeming with life, and the dumb brown +lips of the ridges are breathing mystery! Is not the growth of a tree +from a tiny cell hidden in the earth as provocative of thought as the +things men learn at the schools? Is not thought on these things more +interesting than the sophistries of the newspapers? It is only in +Nature, and by thought on the problems of Nature, that our intellect +grows to any real truth and draws near to the Mighty Mind which laid the +foundations of the world. + +Our civilizations are a nightmare, a bad dream. They have no longer the +grandeur of Babylon or Nineveh. They grow meaner and meaner as they +grow more urbanized. What could be more depressing than the miles of +poverty-stricken streets around the heart of our modern cities? The +memory lies on one "heavy as frost and deep almost as life." It is +terrible to think of the children playing on the pavements; the +depletion of vitality, with artificial stimulus supplied from the +flaring drink-shops. The spirit grows heavy as if death lay on it while +it moves amid such things. And outside these places the clouds are +flying overhead snowy and spiritual as of old, the sun is shining, the +winds are blowing, the fields are green, the forests are murmuring leaf +to leaf, but the magic that God made is unknown to these poor folk. The +creation of a rural civilization is the greatest need of our time. It +may not come in our days, but we can lay the foundations of it, +preparing the way for the true prophet when he will come. The fight now +is not to bring people back to the land, but to keep those who are on +the land contented, happy, and prosperous. And we must begin by +organizing them to defend what is left to them; to take back, industry +by industry, what was stolen from them. We must organize the country +people into communities, for without some kind of communal life men hold +no more together than the drifting sands by the seashore. There is a +natural order in which men have instinctively grouped themselves from +the dawn of time. It is as natural to them to do so as it is for bees +to build their hexagonal cells. If we read the history of civilization +we will find people in every land forming little clans co-operating +together. Then the ambition of rulers or warriors breaks them up; the +greed of powerful men puts an end to them. But, whether broken or not, +the moment the rural dweller is left to himself he begins again, with +nature prompting him, to form little clans--or nations rather--with his +fellows, and it is there life has been happiest. We did this in ancient +Ireland. The baronies whose names are on Irish land today and the +counties are survivals of these old co-operative colonies, where the men +owned the land together and elected their own leaders, and formed their +own social order and engendered passionate loyalties and affections. It +was so in every land under the sun. It was so in ancient India and in +ancient Peru. The European farmers, and we in Ireland along with them, +are beginning again the eternal task of building up a civilization in +nature--the task so often disturbed, the labor so often destroyed. And +it is with the hope that we in Ireland will build truly and nobly that I +have put together these thoughts on the rural community. + + + + + +VIII. + + + +We may now consider the proletarian in our cities. The worker in our +modern world is the subject of innumerable unapplied doctrines. The +lordliest things are predicated of him, which do not affect in the least +the relationship with him of those who employ his labor. The ancient +wisdom, as it is recounted to him on God's day, assures him of his +immortality: that the divine signature is over all his being, that in +some way he is co-related with the Eternal, that he is fashioned in a +likeness to It. He is a symbol of God Himself. He is the child of +Deity. His life is Its very breath. The Habitations of Eternity await +his coming, and the divine event to which he moves is the dwelling +within him of the Divine Mind, so that Deity may become his very self. +So proud a tale is told of him, and when he wakens on the morrow after +the day of God he finds that none will pay him reverence. He, the +destined comrade of Seraphim and Cherubim, is herded with other Children +of the King in fetid slum and murky alleys, where the devil hath his +many mansions, where light and air, the great purifiers, are already +dimmed and corrupted before they do him service. He is insecure in the +labor by which he lives. He works today, and tomorrow he may be told +there is no further need for him, and his fate and the fate of those +dependent on him are not remembered by those who dismissed him. If he +dies, leaving wife or children, the social order makes but the most +inhuman provision for them. How ghastly is the brotherhood of the State +for its poor the workhouses declare, and our social decrees which turn +loving-kindness into official acts and make legal and formal what should +be natural impulse and the overflow of the heart. So great a disparity +exists between spiritual theory and the realities of the social order +that it might almost be said that spiritual theory has no effect at all +on our civilization, and its inhuman contours seem softened at no point +where we could say, "Here the Spirit has mastery. Here God possesses +the world." + +The imagination, following the worker in our industrial system, sees him +laboring without security in his work, in despair, locked out, on +strike, living in slums, rarely with enough food for health, bringing +children into the world who suffer from malnutrition from their earliest +years, a pauper when his days of strength are passed. He dies in +charitable institutions. Though his labors are necessary he is yet not +integrated into the national economy. He has no share of his own in the +wealth of the nation. He cannot claim work as a right from the holders +of economic power, and this absolute dependence upon the autocrats of +industry for a livelihood is the greatest evil of any, for it puts a +spiritual curse on him and makes him in effect a slave. Instinctively +he adopts a servile attitude to those who can sentence him and his +children to poverty and hunger without trial or judgment by his peers. +A hasty word, and he may be told to draw his pay and begone. The +spiritual wrong done him by the social order is greater than the +material ill, and that spiritual wrong is no less a wrong because +generation after generation of workers have grown up and are habituated +to it, and do not realize the oppression; because in childhood +circumstance and the black art of education alike conspire to make the +worker humble in heart and to take the crown and sceptre from his +spirit, and his elders are already tamed and obsequious. + +Yet the workers in the modern world have great qualities. This class in +great masses will continually make sacrifices for the sake of a +principle. They have lived so long in the depths: many of them have +reached the very end of all the pain which is the utmost life can bear +and have in their character that fearlessness which comes from long +endurance and familiarity with the worst hardships. I am a literary +man, a lover of ideas, and I have found few people in my life who would +sacrifice anything for a social principle; but I will never forget the +exultation with which I realized in a great labor trouble, when the +masters of industry issued a document asking men on peril of dismissal +to swear never to join a trades union, that there were thousands of men +in my own city who refused to obey, though they had no membership or +connection with the objectionable association. Nearly all the real +manhood of Dublin I found was among the obscure myriads who are paid +from twenty to thirty shillings a week. The men who will sacrifice +anything for brotherhood get rarer and rarer above that limit of wealth. +These men would not sign away their freedom, their right to choose their +own heroes and their own ideals. Most of them had no strike funds to +fall back on. They had wives and children depending on them. Quietly +and grimly they took through hunger the path to the Heavenly City, yet +nobody praised them, no one put a crown upon their brows. Beneath their +rags and poverty there was in these obscure men a nobility of spirit. +It is in these men and the men in the cabins in the country that the +hope of Ireland lies. The poor have always helped each other, and it is +they who listen eagerly to the preachers of a social order based on +brotherhood in industry. It is these workers, always necessary but +never yet integrated into the social order, who must be educated, who +must be provided for, who must be accepted fully as comrade in any +scheme of life to be devised and which would call itself Christian. +That word, expressing the noblest and most spiritual conception of +humanity, has been so degraded by misuse in the world that we could +almost hate it with the loathing we have for evil, if we did not know +that Hell can as disguise put on the outward garments of Heaven. Yet +what is eternally true remains pure and uncorrupted, and those who turn +to it find it there--as all finally must turn to it to fulfill their +destiny of inevitable beauty. + + + + + +IX. + + + +Often with sadness I hear people speak of industrial development in +Ireland, for I feel they contemplate no different system than that which +fills workers with despair in countries where it is more successfully +applied. All these energetic people are conspiring to build factories +and mills and to fill them with human labor, and they believe the more +they do this the better it will be for Ireland. They talk of Ireland as +if it was only admirable as a quantity rather than a quality. They +express delight at swelling statistics and increased trade, but where do +we hear any reflection on the quality of life engendered by this +industrial development? Our civilization is to differ in no way from +any other. No new ideal of life is suggested to differentiate us. We +are to go on exploiting human labor. Our working classes are to +increase and multiply and earn profits for an employing class, as labor +has one from time immemorial in Babylon, in Nineveh, in Rome, and in +London today. But a choice yet remains to us, because the character of +our civilization is not yet fixed. It is mainly germinal. It fills the +spirit with weariness to think of another nation following the old path, +without thought or imagination of other roads leading to new and more +beautiful life. Every now and then, when the world was still vast and +full of undiscovered wonders, some adventurers would leave the harbor, +and steer their galleys past the known coast and the familiar cities and +over unraveled seas, seeking some new land where life might be freer and +ampler than that they had known. Is the old daring gone? Are there not +such spirits among us ready to join in the noblest of all adventures-- +the building up of a civilization--so that the human might reflect the +divine order? In the divine order there is both freedom and solidarity. +It is the virtue of the soul to be free and its nature to love; and +when it is free and acts by its own will it is most united with all +other life. Those planetary spirits who move in solemn motion about the +heavens I do not conceive as the slaves of Deity but as its adorers. +But that material nature in which the soul is embodied has the dividing +quality of the prism, which resolves pure light into distinct rays; and +so on earth we get the principle of freedom and the virtue of solidarity +as separated ideals continually at warfare with each other, and the +reconcilement on earth of these principles in man is the conquest of +matter by the spirit. This dramatic sundering on earth of virtues in +unison in the heavens explains the struggle between Protestantism and +Catholicism, between nationality and imperialism, between individualist +and socialist, between dynamic and static in philosophy. Indeed in the +last analysis all human conflicts are the balancing on earth of the +manifestation of divine principles which are one in the unmanifest +spirit. + +The civilization we create, the social order we build up, must provide +for essential freedom for the individual and for solidarity of the +nation. Now essential freedom is denied to men if they are in their +condition servile. Can we contemplate the permanent existence of a +servile class in Ireland? For, disguise it how we will, our present +industrial system is practically a form of slavery for the workers, +differing in externals only from the ages when the serf had a collar +round his neck. He has now freedom to change from master to master, and +can even seek for a master in other countries; but he must, in any +case, accept the relation of servant to master. The old slave could be +whipped. In the new order the wage slave can be starved, and the fact +that many of the rulers of industry use their power benevolently does +not make the existing relation between employer and employed right, or +the social order one whose permanence can be justified. Men will gladly +labor if they feel that their labor conspires with that of all other +workers for the general good; but there is something loathsome to the +spirit in the condition of the labor market, where labor is regarded as +a commodity to be bought and sold like soap or candles. For that truly +describes how it is with labor in our industrial system: we can buy +labor, which means we can buy human life and thought, a portion of God's +being, and make a profit out of it. By so selling himself the worker is +enslaved and limited in a thousand ways. The power of dismissal of one +person by another at whim acts against independence of character, or the +free expression or opinion in thought, in politics, and in religion. The +soul is stunted in its growth, and spiritual life made subordinate to +material interests. To deny essential freedom to the soul is the +greatest of all crimes, and such denial has in all ages evoked the +deepest anger among men. When freedom has been threatened nations have +risen up maddened and exultant, and the clang of martial arms has been +heard and the stony kings of the past have been encountered in battle. +In Ireland we shall have our greatest fight of all to gain this freedom: +not alone material independence for man, but the freedom of the soul, +its right to choose its own heroes and its own ideals without let or +hindrance by other men. + +We have many of the vices of a slave race, and we treat others as we +have been treated. Our national aspirations were overborne by material +power, and we in turn use cudgel and curse on our countrymen when they +differ from us in opinion and policy. Men, when they cannot match their +intellect against another's, suppress him and howl him down, putting +faith in their own brainlessness. I would make the most passionate plea +for freedom in Ireland: freedom for all to say the truth they feel or +know. What right have we to ask for ourselves what we deny to another? +The bludgeon at meetings is a blow struck against heaven. Those who +will not argue or reason are recreants against humanity, and are +prowling back again on all fours in their minds to the brute. It +matters not in what holy name men war with violence on freedom of +thought, whether in the name of God or nation they are enemies of both. +We are only right in controversy when we overcome by a superior beauty +or truth. The first fundamental idea inspiring an Irish polity should be +this idea of freedom in all spheres of thought, and it is most +necessary to fight for this because the devil and hell have organized +their forces in this unfortunate land in sectarian and secret societies, +of which it might be written they love darkness rather than light for +the old God-given reasons. + + + + + +X. + + + +Whenever in Ireland there has been a revolt of labor it too often finds +arrayed against it the press, the law, and the police. All the great +powers are in entente. The press, without inquiry, begins a detestable +cant about labor agitators misleading ignorant men. Every wild phrase +uttered by an exasperated worker is quoted against the cause of labor, +and its grievances are suppressed. We are told nothing about how the +worker lives: what homes, what food, his wage will provide. The +journalist holds up a moral umbrella, protecting society from the fiery +hail of conscience. The baser sort of clergyman will take up the +parable and begin advocating a servile peace, glibly misinterpreting the +divine teaching of love to prove that the lamb should lie down inside +the lion, and only so can it be saved soul and body, forgetful that the +peace which was Christ's gift to humanity was the peace of God which +passes all understanding, and that it was a spiritual quietude, and that +on earth--the underworld--the gospel in realization was to bring not +peace but a sword. + +The law, assured of public opinion, then deals sternly with whatever +unfortunate life is driven into its pens. I am putting very mildly the +devilish reality, for society is so constituted that the public, kept in +ignorance of the real facts, believes that it is acting rightly, and so +the devil has conscience on his side and that divine power is turned to +infernal uses. What can labor oppose to this federation of State and +Church, of press and law, of capital and physical force to back capital, +when it sets about its own liberation and to institute a new social +order to replace autocracy in industry? Its allies are few. A rare +thinker, scientist, literary man, artist or clergyman, impelled by +hatred of what is ugly in life, will speak on its behalf, and may render +some aid and help to tear holes in that moral shield held up by the +press, and may here and there give to that blinded public a vision of +the Hosts of the Lord arrayed against it. But the only real power the +workers can truly rely on is their own. Nothing but a spiritual +revolution or an economic revolution will bring other classes into +comradeship with them. The ideal labor should set before itself is not a +transitory improvement in its wage, because a wage war never truly or +permanently improves the position of labor. This section or that may, +relatively to its own past or the position of other workers, improve +itself; but capital is like a ship which, however the tide rises or +falls, floats upon it, and is not sunken more deeply in the water at +high tide than at low tide. Whenever any burden is placed upon capital +it immediately sets about unloading that burden on the public. Wages +might be doubled by Act of Parliament, and the net result would be to +double prices, if not to increase them still more. The more the +autocrats of industry are federated the more easily can they unload on +others any burden placed on them. + +The value of money is simply what it will purchase at any time. If the +rulers of industry can halve the purchasing power of money while +doubling wages at the command of the State, logic leads us to assume +that wages boards, arbitration boards and the like can only be +transitory in their meliorating effect; and to pursue the attack on the +autocrats of industry by the road of wages alone is to attack them where +they are impregnable, and where, seeming to give way, they are all the +while really losing nothing, and are only fixing the wage system more +permanently on those who attack them. There are fiery spirits among the +proletarians who hope that militant labor will at last bring about the +social revolution, taking the earthly paradise by violence. They +believe that if every worker dropped his tools and absolutely refused to +work under the old system, it would be impossible to continue it. That +is true, but those who advocate this policy slur over many difficulties, +and the relative power of endurance of both parties. They do not, I +think, take into account the immense power in the hands of those who +uphold the present system. Those who might be expected to strike are +not--at least in Ireland--a majority of the population. They would have +far fewer material resources to fall back on than those others whose +interests would lead them to preserve the present social order. It is +clear, too, when we analyze the forces at the command of labor and +capital, that the latter has attached to itself by the bonds of self- +interest the scientific men--engineers, inventors, chemists, +bacteriologists, designers, organizers, all the intellect of industry-- +without which, in alliance with itself, revolting labor would be unable +to continue production as before. Labor so revolting might indeed for a +time bring the work of the nation to a standstill; but unless it could +by some means attract to itself men of the class described, it would not +be able to take the helm of the ship of industry and guide it with +knowledge as the holders of economic power have done in the past. A +policy of emancipation should provide labor with a means of attracting +to itself that kind of knowledge which is gained in universities, +laboratories, colleges of science, and, above all, in the actual +guidance of great industrial enterprises. In any trial of endurance +those who start with the greatest intellectual, moral, and material +resources will win. + +I do not deny that the strike is a powerful weapon in the hand of labor, +but it is one with which it is difficult to imagine labor dealing a +knock-out blow to the present social order. I believe in an orderly +evolution of society, at least in Ireland, and doubt whether by +revolution people can be raised to an intelligence, a humanity, or a +nobility of nature greater than they formerly possessed. Nobody can +remain standing on tiptoe. After a little time disorder subsides and +some strong man leads the inevitable reaction. In France people +revolted against a decadent monarchy, and in a dozen years they had a +new emperor. In England they beheaded a king as a protest against +tyranny, and they got a dictator in his place who took little or no +account of parliaments; and finally a second Charles, rather worse than +the first, came to the throne. The everlasting battle between light and +darkness goes on stubbornly all the time, and the gain of the Hosts of +Light is inch by inch. Extraordinary efforts, impetuous charges, which +seem to win for a moment, too often leave the attacking force tired and +exhausted, and the forces of reaction set in and overwhelm them. I am +the friend of revolt if people cannot stand the conditions they live +under, and if they can see no other way. It is better to be men than +slaves. The French Revolution was a tragic episode in history, but when +people suffer intolerably and are insulted in their despair it is +inevitable blood will be shed. One can only say with Whitman: + +Pale, silent, stern, what could I say to that long-accrued retribution? +Could I wish humanity different Could I wish the people made of wood and +stone, or that there be no justice in destiny or time? + +There is danger in revolution if the revolutionary spirit is much more +advanced than the intellectual, and moral qualities which alone can +secure the success of a revolt. These intellectual and moral qualities +--the skill to organize, the wisdom to control large undertakings, are +not natural gifts but the results of experience. They are evolutionary +products. The emancipation of labor, I believe, will not be gained by +revolution but by prolonged effort, continued month by month and year by +year, in which first this thing is adventured, then that: each +enterprise brings its own gifts of wisdom and experience, and there is +no reaction, because, instead of the violent use of certain powers, the +whole being is braced: experience, intellect, desire, all strong and +working harmoniously, press forward and support each other, and no +enterprise is undertaken where the intellect to carry it out is not +present together with the desire. It requires great intellectual and +moral qualities to bring about a revolution. A rage at present +conditions is not enough. + + + + + +XI. + + + +Our farmers are already free. The problem with them is not now +concerned with freedom, but how they may be brought into a solidarity +with each other and the nation. To make our proletarians free and +masters of their own energies, in unison with each other and the +national being, is the most pressing labor of the many before us. +Unless there be economic freedom there can be no other freedom. The +right of no individual to subsistence should be at the good will of any +other individual. More than mere comfort depends on it. There are +eternal and august rights of the soul to be safeguarded, and the +economic position of men should be protected by organization and +democratic law. I have already discussed some of the avenues through +which workers in our time have looked with hope. I have little belief +that these roads lead anywhere but back to the old City of Slavery, +however they may seem to curve away at the outset. The strike, on +whatever scale, is no way to freedom, though the strike--or the threat +of it--may bring wages nearer to subsistence level. The art of warfare +is too much in the hands of specialists for trust to be placed in +revolution. A machine-gun with a few experts behind it is worth a +thousand revolutionary workers, however maddened they may be. Does +political action, on which so many rely, promise more? I do not believe +it does. I believe that to appeal to legislatures is to appeal to +bodies dominated by those interested in maintaining the present social +order, although they may act so as to redress the worst evils created by +it. In Ireland, for this generation at least, it would be impossible to +secure in a legislative assembly majorities representative of the class +we wish to see emancipated. It may seem as if I had closed all the paths +out of the social labyrinth; but the way to emancipation has, I think, +already been surveyed by pioneers. A policy of social reconstruction is +practical, and needs but steady persistence for its realization. That +policy--I refer to co-operative action--has been adopted in various +forms by workers in many countries; and what is needed here is to study +and coordinate these applications of co-working, and to form a general +staff of labor who will, on behalf of the workers, examine the weapons +fashioned by their class elsewhere, and who will draw up a plan of +campaign as the staff of an army do previous to military operations. It +will be found that economic action along co-operative lines has, in one +country, barriers placed before its expansion which could be set aside +by supplementing this action by methods elaborated by the genius of +workers elsewhere. + +It is not my purpose here to repeat in detail methods of organization, +partly technical, which can be found fully described in many admirable +books, but rather to indicate the order of advance, the methods of +coordination of these, and their final absorption and transformation in +the national being. There is a great deal of ignorance about things +essential to safe action. When men are filled with enthusiasm they are +apt to apply their new principles rashly in schemes which are bound to +fall, just as over-confident soldiers will in battle sometimes rush a +position prematurely which they cannot hold, because the general line of +their army has not advanced sufficiently to support them. Sacrifices +are made with no permanent result, and the morale of the army is +injured. + +In the rural districts the advance must, in the nature of things, be +from production to consumption, and with urban workers inversely from a +control over distribution to a mastery over production. I have often +wondered over the blindness of workers in towns in Ireland, who have +made so little use in the economic struggle of the freedom they have to +spend their wage where they choose. They speak of this struggle as the +class war; but they carry on the conflict most energetically where it +is most difficult for them to succeed, and hardly at all where it would +be comparatively easy for them to weaken the resources of their +antagonists. In warfare much use is made of flanking movements, which +aim at cutting the enemy's communication with his base of supply. +Frontal attacks are dangerous. It is equally true in economic warfare. +The strike is a frontal attack, and those they fight are entrenched +deeply with all the artillery of the State, the press, science, and +wealth on their side. What would we think of an army which, at the +close of each week's fighting, voluntarily surrendered to the enemy the +ground, guns, ammunition, and prisoners captured through the previous +six days? Yet this is what our workers do. The power opposed to them +is mainly economic, though there is an intellectual basis for it also. +But the wages of the workers, little for the individual, yet a large +part of the national income if taken for the mass, goes back to +strengthen the system they protest against through purchases of domestic +requirements. The creation of co-operative stores ought to be the first +constructive policy adopted by Irish labor. It ought to be as much a +matter of class honor with them to be members of stores as to be in the +trade union of their craft. The store may be regarded as the +commissariat department of the army of labor. Many a strike has failed +of its object, and the workers have gone back defeated, because their +neglect of the commissariat made them unable to hold out for that last +week when both sides are desperate and at the end of their resources. +But it is not mainly as an aid to the strike that I advocate +democratizing the distributive trade, but because control over +distribution gives a large measure of control over production. The +history of co-operative workshops indicates that these have rarely been +successful unless worked in conjunction with distributive stores. The +retail trader is not sympathetic with co-operative production. As the +cat is akin to the tiger, so is the individual trader--no matter on how +small a scale he operates--a kinsman of the great autocrats of industry, +and he will sympathize with his economic kinsmen and will retail their +goods in preference to those produced in co-operative workshops. + +The control of agencies of distribution by the workers at a certain +stage in their development enables them to start productive enterprises +with more safety and less expense in regard to advertisement than the +capitalist can. In fact the co-operative store, properly organized, +creates a tied trade for the output of co-operative workshops. It is a +source of financial aid to these, and will invest funds in them and +assist trades unions gradually to transform themselves into co-operative +guilds of producers which should be their ultimate ideal. As I shall +show later on, the store will enable the urban worker to enter into +intimate alliance with the rural producer. Their interests are really +identical. In every town in Ireland efforts should be made to +democratize the distributive agencies, and the workers will have many +allies in this, driven by the increased cost of living to search out the +most economical agencies of purchase. If the proletarians are not in a +majority in Ireland--a nation where the farmers are the most numerous +single class--they certainly form the majority in the cities; and the +co-operative store, while admitting to membership all who will apply, +ought to be and would be sympathetic with the efforts of labor to +emancipate itself, and would be a powerful lever in its hands. As the +stores increase in number, an analysis of their trade will reveal year +by year in what directions co-operative production of particular +articles may safely be attempted. More and more by this means the +producing power and the capital at the disposal of the worker will be +placed at the service of democracy. The first steps are the most +difficult. In due time the workers will have educated a number of their +members, and will have attached to themselves men of proved capacity to +be the leaders in fresh enterprises, manufactures of one kind or +another, democratic banking institutions, all supporting each other and +leaning on each other and playing into each other's hands. + +The extent to which this may be carried, and the opportunities for +making Ireland a co-operative democracy, I shall presently explain. I +do not regard any of these forms of co-operative organization as ideal +or permanent. The co-operative movement must be regarded rather as a +great turning movement on the part of humanity towards the ideal. The +co-operative organizations now being formed in Ireland and over the +world will, I am certain, persist and outlast this generation and the +next, and will grow into vaster things than we dream of; but the really +important change they will bring about in the minds of men will be +psychological. Men will become habituated to the thought of common +action for the common good. To get so far in civil life is a great +step. Today our civil life is a tangle of petty personal interests and +competitions. The co-operative movement is, as I have said, a vast +turning movement of humanity heavenwards, or, at least, to bring them +face round to the Delectable City. When this psychological change takes +place the democratic associations--which have grown up haphazard as the +workers found it easiest to create them--will be changed and remodeled +by men who will have the mass of people behind them in their efforts to +make a more majestic structure of society for the enlargement of the +lives and spirits of men. + + + + + +XII. + + + +We have descended from the national soul to the material plane, and we +must still continue here for a time, because the doctrine that a sane +mind can only manifest through a sane body is as true in reference to +the State as to the individual, and necessitates a study of social +fabrics. The soul creates tendencies and habits in the body, and the +body repeats these vibrations automatically and infects the soul again +with its old desires. Our religious hatreds created sectarian +organizations, and these react again in the national soul, which would, +I believe, willingly pass away from that mood, but finds itself +incarnated in organizations habituated to sectarian action, and its +energies are turned into these hateful channels unwillingly. So a +drunkard who now realizes that intemperance is rotting his nature is +conquered by the appetites he set up in the past, and with his soul in +rebellion he yet satisfies the craving in the body. The individualism +in our economic life reacts on the national being, and prevents +concerted action for the general good. We have yet to create harmony of +purpose in our economic life, and to bring together interests long +separated and unmindful of each other, and make them realize that their +interests are identical. It is one of the commonplaces of economics +that urban and rural interests are identical: but in truth the townsman +and the countryman have always acted as if their interests were opposed, +and they know very little of each other. I never like to let these +commonplaces of economics pass my frontiers unless they give the +countersign to the challenge for truth. People declare in the same way +that the interests of labor and capital are identical, and implore them +not to fight with one another. But the truth of that statement seems to +me to depend largely on whether capital owns labor or labor owns +capital. As an abstract proposition it is one of the economic formulae +I would leave instructions at my frontiers to have detained until +further inquiry as to its antecedents. All these statements may be +true, but to make them operative, to give them a dynamic rather than a +static character, we must convince people they are true by close +argument and still more so by realistic illustration. + +To bring about a high nobility in the national soul we must make harmony +in its economic life, and the two main currents of economic energy--the +agricultural and urban--must be made to flow so that their action will +not defeat each other. Let us take the farmer first. How ought he to +wish to see life in the towns develop? Should he wish for the triumph of +labor or capital: the success of the co-operative movement, the triumph +of the multiple shop or the private trader, of guilds of workers or +autocrats of industry? Economic desires generally depend on the nature +of the industry men are engaged in. The jeweler would probably desire +the permanence of the social order which created most wealthy people who +could afford to buy his wares. The farmer's industry, if we consider it +closely, is the most democratic of any in its application to society. +The produce of the farm, in its final distribution, is divided into +portions more or less equal and conditioned in quantity by the digestive +powers of an individual. The wealthiest millionaire cannot eat more +bread, butter, meat, vegetables, or fruit than the manual laborer would +eat if the latter could afford to get such things. In fact he would eat +rather less, because the manual worker has a much better appetite, +indeed requires more food. It appears to be the interest of the farmer +to support any urban movement whose object it is to see that every +worker in the towns is remunerated so that he, his wife, and his +children can procure as much food as they require. Any underpaid worker +in the towns is a wrong to the farmer--a willing customer who yet cannot +buy. If there is, let us say, a sum of fifteen hundred pounds a week to +be paid away in a town, it is to the interest of farmers that that sum +should be paid to a thousand men at the rate of thirty shillings a week +rather than to fifty men at thirty pounds a week. In the case of the +workers a greater part of the money will be spent on food. But if fifty +men have thirty pounds a week each, it will be spent to satisfy the +appetites of a much smaller number of people. A larger proportion will +be spent on furniture, pictures, motor-cars and what not. It may be +spent so as to give some kind of employment, but it will not be a +division of the money so much to the interests of the farmer. However +we analyze the problem it appears to be to the farmer's interests to +support democratic movements in the cities, certainly up to the point +where every worker in the towns has a wage which enables himself and his +family to eat all they require for health. It is also to the interests +of farmers to support any system of distribution of goods which +eliminates the element of profit in the sale. After the farmer gets his +price it is to his interests that food should be increased in cost as +little as possible when the article is transferred to the consumer, +because if farm produce has to bear too many profits it will be +expensive for the consumer, and there will be a lessened demand. So +associations like the co-operative stores, which aim at the elimination +of the element of profit in distribution, should be approved of by the +farmers. + +Now we come to the townsman again. Is it his interest to support the +farmers in his own country or to regard the world as his farm? The +argument on the economic side is not so clear, but it is, I think, just +as sound. If agriculture is neglected in any country the rural +population pour into the towns. The country becomes a fountain of +blackleg labor. Rural labor has no traditions of trade unionism, and +takes any work at any price. There are fewer people engaged in +producing food, and its cost rises. Food must be imported from abroad; +and there is national insecurity, as in times of war their is always the +danger of the trade routes overseas being blocked by an enemy, and this +again has to be provided against by heavy expenditure for militarist +purposes. The farther away an army is from its base the more insecure +is its position, and the same thing is true in the industrial life of +nations. International trade there must always be. It is one of the +means by which the larger solidarity of humanity is to be achieved; but +that will never come about until there is a nobler and more human life +within the states, and we must begin by perfecting national life before +we consider empires and world federations. So in this essay only the +national being is considered. + +I desire to unite countryman and townsman in one movement, and to make +the co-operative principle the basis of a national civilization. How are +we to prevent them fighting the old battle between producer and +consumer? I think that this can best be brought about by co-operative +federations, which will act for both in manufacture, purchase, and sale, +and with which both rural and urban associations will find it to their +interest to be affiliated. Now the townsman cannot to any extent supply +food for his stores by buying farms. To control agricultural production +in that way would necessitate a financial operation which the State +would shrink from, and which it would be impossible for urban +cooperators to finance. We had better make up our minds to let farmers +be syndicalists, controlling entirely the processes of agricultural +production themselves. They will do it better than the townsman could, +more efficiently and more economically. They will never be able, with +the world in competition, to put up prices artificially. How can the +two main divisions of national life be brought together in a national +solidarity? We can find an answer if we remember that farmers are not +only producers but consumers. They do not go about naked in the fields. +They require clothes, furniture, tea, coffee, sugar, oil, soap, candles, +pots and pans--in fact the farmer's wife needs nearly all the things the +townsman's wife needs, except that she purchases a little less food. +But even here modern conditions are driving the farmer to buy food in +the shops rather than to produce it for himself on the farm. Country +bread is made in the bakery more and more. Butter, cheese, and bacon +are made in factories, and the farmer's tendency is to buy what bread, +bacon, and butter he requires, selling the milk to be made into butter +to a creamery, the grain to make the bread to a miller, and the pigs to +a factory. Co-operative distribution would be as advantageous to the +country as in the town. Already in Ireland a considerable number of +farmers' societies are enlarging their objects, and are turning what +originally were purely agricultural associations into general purposes +societies, where the farmer's wife can purchase her d omestic +requirements as well as her man his machinery, fertilizers, feeding- +stuffs, and seeds. It would be to the interest of rural societies to +deal with co-operative wholesales just as much as it is in the interest +of urban stores to do so. It would be to their interest to take shares +in these wholesales and productive federations, and see that they cater +for the farmer's interests as much as for the townsman's. + +The urban co-operators, on their side, will see the opportunities for +productive co-operation the union of rural and urban movements would +create. They naturally will desire to employ as many people as possible +in co-operative production. Farmers are surrounded by rings of all +kinds: machinery manufacturers who will not sell to their societies, +manure manufacturers' alliances who keep up prices. It is a great +industry, this of supplying the farmer with his fertilizers, feeding- +stuffs, cake, machinery. These rural co-operative societies are +increasing in number year by year. Farmers want clothes, hats, and +boots: and the necessary machinery for their industry is almost +entirely of urban manufacture--ploughs, binders, separators, harrows, +and many other implements of tillage. It is an immense industry and yet +to be co-operatively exploited. In the towns some progress has been made +in distribution. But a nation depends upon its wealth producers and not +upon its consumers. Co-operators might double, treble, or quadruple the +distributive trade, and still occupy only a very secondary position in +national life unless they enter more largely upon production. We will +never make the co-operative idea the fundamental one in the civilization +of Ireland until we employ a very large part of the population in +production. Now we have at present, thanks to the energy of the +pioneers of agricultural co-operation, a new market opening in the +country for things which the townsman can produce. Does not this +suggest new productive urban enterprises? Does it not favor an +evolution of manufacturing industry, so that democratic control may +finally replace the autocratic control of the capitalist? The trades +unions cannot do this alone by following up any of their traditional +policies. They cannot go into trade on their own account with any +guarantee of success unless they are associated with agencies of +distribution. But if co-operators--urban and rural--through their +federations invade more and more the field of production they will draw +to themselves the hearts and hopes of the workers and idealists in the +nation. People are really more concerned about the making of an income +than about the spending of it. It is a necessity of our policy if it is +to bring about the co-operative commonwealth, that co-operators must +adventure much more largely into production than they have hitherto +done. + +Now let us see what we have come to. There is a country movement which +is not merely one for agricultural production. It is rapidly taking up +the distribution of goods. There is an urban movement not merely +concerned with distribution but entering upon production. They can be +brought into harmony if the same federations act for both branches of +the movement. The meeting-place of the two armies should be there. If +this policy is adopted there will gradually grow-up that unity of +purpose between country and urban workers which is the psychological +basis and necessary precedent for national action for the common good. +The policy of identity of interest must be real, and it can only be real +when the identity of interest is obvious, and it can only be made +obvious when the symbols of that unity and identity are visible day by +day in buildings and manufactures, things which are handled and seen, +and in transactions which daily bring that unity to mind. The old +poetic ideal of a United Ireland was and could only be a geographical +expression, and not a human reality, so long as men were individualist +in economics and were competing and struggling with each other for +mastery. + +By the co-operative commonwealth more is meant than a series of +organizations for economic purposes. We hope to create finally, by the +close texture of our organizations, that vivid sense of the identity of +interest of the people in this island which is the basis of citizenship, +and without which there can be no noble national life. Our great +nation-states have grown so large, so myriad are their populations, so +complicated are their interests, that most people in them really feel no +sense of brotherhood with each other. We have yet to create inside our +great nation-states social and economic organizations, which will make +this identity of interest real and evident, and not seem merely a +metaphor, as it does to most people today. The more the co-operative +movement does this for its members, the more points of contact they find +in it, the more will we tend to make out of it and its branches real +social organisms, which will become as closely knit psychically as +physically the cells in a human body are knit together. Our Irish +diversities of interest have made us world-famous; but such industrial +and agricultural organizations would swallow up these antagonisms, as +the serpents created by the black art of the Egyptian magicians were +swallowed up by the rod Aaron cast on the floor, and which was made +animate by the white magic of the Lord. + + + + + +XIII. + + + +It will appear to the idealist who has contemplated the heavens more +closely than the earth that the policy I advocate is one which only +tardily could be put into operation, and would be paltry and inadequate +as a basis for society. The idealist with the Golden Age already in his +heart believes he has only to erect the Golden Banner and display it for +multitudes to array themselves beneath its folds; therefore he +advocates not, as I do, a way to the life, but the life itself. I am +sympathetic with idealists in a hurry, but I do not think the world can +be changed suddenly by some heavenly alchemy, as St. Paul was smitten by +a light from the overworld. Such light from heaven is vouchsafed to +individuals, but never to nations, who progress by an orderly evolution +in society. Though the heart in us cries out continually, "Oh, hurry, +hurry to the Golden Age," though we think of revolutions, we know that +the patient marshalling of human forces is wisdom. We have to devise +ways and means and light every step clearly before the nation will leave +its footing in some safe if unattractive locality to plant itself +elsewhere. The individual may be reckless. The race never can be so, +for it carries too great a burden and too high destinies, and it is only +when the gods wish to destroy or chastise a race that they first make it +mad. Not by revolutions can humanity be perfected. I might quote from +an old oracle, "The gods are never so turned away from man as when he +ascends to them by disorderly methods." Our spirits may live in the +Golden Age, but our bodily life moves on slow feet, and needs the +lantern on the path and the staff struck carefully into the darkness +before us to see that the path beyond is not a morass, and the light not +a will o' the wisp. + +Other critics may say I would destroy the variety of civilization by the +inflexible application of a single idea. Well, I realize that the net +which is spread for Leviathan will not capture all the creatures of the +deep; and the complexity of human nature is such that it is impossible +to imagine a policy, however fitting in certain spheres of human +activity, which could be applied to the whole of life. What I think we +should aim at is making the co-operative idea fundamental in Irish life. +But to say fundamental is not to say absolute. Always there will be +enter rising persons--men of creative minds--who will break away from +the mass and who will insist, perhaps rightly, on an autocratic control +of the enterprises they found, which were made possible alone by their +genius, and which would not succeed unless every worker in the +enterprise was malleable by their will. It is unlikely that State +action will cease, or that any Government we may have will not respond +to the appeal of the people to do this, that, or the other for them +which they are too indolent to do for themselves, or which by the nature +of things only governments can undertake. For a principle to be +fundamental in a country does not mean that it must be absolute. I hope +society in Ireland will be organized that the idea of democratic control +of its economic life will so pervade Irish thought that it will be in +the body politic what the spinal column is to the body--the pillar on +which it rests, the strongest single factor in the body. Another +illustration may make still clearer my meaning. In a red sunsetting the +glow is so powerful that green hills, white houses, and blue waters, +touched by its light, assume a ruddy color, partly a local color, and +partly a reflected light from the sun. Now in the same way, what is +most powerful in society multiplies images and shadows of itself, and +produces harmonies with itself which are yet not identities. It is by a +predominating idea that nations achieve the practical unity of their +citizens, and national progress becomes possible. In the future +structure of society I have no doubt there will be elements to which the +socialist, the syndicalist, the capitalist, and the individualist will +have contributed. By degrees it will be discovered what enterprises are +best directed by the State, by municipalities, by groups, or by +individuals. But if the idea of democratic control is predominant, +those enterprises which are otherwise directed will yet meet the +prevalent mood by adopting the ideas of the treatment of the workers +enforced in democratically controlled enterprises, and will in every +respect, except control, make their standards equal. All the needles of +being point to the centres where power is most manifested. The effects +of the French revolution--a democratic upheaval--invaded men's minds +everywhere. Even the autocratically ruled States, hitherto careless +about the people in their underworlds, had to make advances to +democracy, and give it some measure of the justice democracy threatened +to deal to itself. Without demanding absolutism I do desire a +predominant democratic character in our national enterprises, rather +than a confused muddle or struggle of interests where nothing really +emerges except the egoism of those who struggle. + +It will be noticed that in all that has preceded I have referred little +to action by government, though it is on governments that democracies +over the world are now fixing all their hopes. They believe the State +is the right agency to bring about reforms and changes in society. And +I must here explain why I do not share their hopes. My distrust of the +State in economic reform is based on the belief that governments in +great nation-states, even representative governments, are not malleable +by the general will. They are too easily dominated by the holders of +economic power, are, in fact, always dominated by aristocracies with +land or by the aristocracies of wealth. It is the hand at the helm +guides the ship. The larger the State is the more easily do the holders +of economic power gain political power. The theory of representative +government held good in practice, I think, so long as parliaments were +engaged in formulating general rights, the right, for example, of the +individual to think or profess any religion he pleased; his right not +to be deprived of liberty or life without open trial by his fellow- +citizens. So long as legislatures were affirming or maintaining these +rights, which rich and poor equally desired, they were justified. But +when legislatures began to intervene in economic matters, in the +struggles between rich and poor, between capital and labor, it became at +once apparent the holders of economic power had also political power; +and that the institution which operated fairly where universal rights +were considered did not operate fairly when there was a conflict between +particular interests. + +The jury of the nation was found to be packed. At least nine-tenths of +the population in Great Britain, for example, belong to the wage-earning +class. At least nine-tenths of the members of legislatures belong to +the classes possessing land or capital. Now, why any member of the +wage-earning class should look with hope to such assemblies I cannot +understand. Their ideal is, or should be, economic freedom, together +with democratic control of industries, an ideal in every way opposed to +the ideal of the majority of the members of the legislatures. The +fiction that representative assemblies will work for the general good is +proclaimed with enthusiasm; but the moment we examine their actions we +see it is not so, and we discover the cause. Where the nation is +capitalist and capitalism is the dominant economic factor, legislatures +invariably act to uphold it, and legislation tends to fix the system +more securely. We see in Great Britain that wage-earners are now openly +regarded by the legislatures as a class who must not be allowed the same +freedom in life as the wealthy. They must be registered, inspected, and +controlled in a way which the wealthy would bitterly resent if the +legislation referred to themselves. After economic inferiority has been +enforced on them by capital, the stigma of human inferiority is attached +to the wage-earners by the legislature. But I must not be led away from +my theme by the bitter reflections which arise in one who lives in the +Iron Age and knows it is Iron, who feels at times like the lost wanderer +on trackless fields of ice, which never melt and will not until earth +turns from its axis. + +I wish to see society organized so that it shall be malleable to the +general will. But political and economic progress are obstructed +because existing political and economic organizations are almost +entirely unmalleable by the general will. Public opinion does not +control the press. The press, capitalistically controlled, creates +public opinion. Our legislators have grown so secure that they confess +openly they have passed measures which they knew would be hateful to the +majority of citizens, and which, if they had been voted on, would never +have been passed. The theory of representative government has broken +down. To tell the truth, the life of the nation is so complicated that +it is difficult for the private citizen to have any intelligent opinion +about national policies, and we can hardly blame the politician for +despising the judgment of the private citizen. Government departments +are still less malleable by public opinion than the legislature. For an +individual to attack the policy of a Government department is almost as +hopeless a proceeding as if a laborer were to take pickaxe and shovel +and determine to level a mountain which obstructed his view. Yet +Government departments are supposed to be under popular control. The +Castle in Ireland, theoretically, was under popular control, but it was +adamantine in policy. If the cant about popular control of legislation +and Government departments is obviously untrue, how much more is it in +regard to public services like railways, gas works, mines, the +distribution of goods, manufacture, purchase and sale, which are almost +entirely under private control and where public interference is bitterly +resented and effectively opposed. What chance has the individual who is +aggrieved against the great carrying companies? To come lower down, let +us take the farmer in the fairs. What way has he of influencing the +jobbers and dealers to act honestly by him--they who have formed rings +to keep down the prices of cattle? Are they malleable to public +opinion? The farmers who have waited all day through a fair know they +are not. + +When we consider the agencies through which people buy we find the same +thing. The increase of multiple shops, combines, and rings makes the +use of the limited power a man had to affect a dealer by transferring +his custom to another merchant to dwindle yearly. Everywhere we turn we +find this adamantine front presented by the legislature, the State +departments, by the agencies of production, distribution, or credit, and +it is the undemocratic organization of society which is responsible for +nine-tenths of our social troubles. All the vested interests backed up +by economic and political power conflict with the public welfare, and +the general will, which intends the good of all, can act no more than a +paralyzed cripple can walk. We would all choose the physique of the +athlete, with his swift, unfettered, easy movements, rather than the +body of the cripple if we could, and we have this choice before us in +Ireland. + +If we concentrate our efforts mainly on voluntary action, striving to +make the co-operative spirit predominant, the general will would +manifest itself through organizations malleable to that will, flexible +and readily adjusting themselves to the desires of the community. To +effect reforms we have not first to labor at the gigantic task of +affecting national opinion and securing the majorities necessary for +national action. In any district a hundred or two hundred men can at +any time form co-operative societies for production, purchase, sale, or +credit, and can link themselves by federation with other organizations +like their own to secure greater strength and economic efficiency. By +following this policy steadily we simplify our economic system, and +reduce to fewer factors the forces in conflict in society. We beget the +predominance of one principle, and enable that general will for good, +which Rousseau theorized about, to find agencies through which it can +manifest freely, so changing society from the static condition begot by +conflict and obstruction to a dynamic condition where energies and +desires manifest freely. + +The general will, as Rousseau demonstrated, always intends the good, and +if permitted to act would act in a large and noble way. The change from +static to dynamic, from fixed forms to fluid forms, has been coming +swiftly over the world owing to the liberation of thought, and this in +spite of the obstruction of a society organized, I might almost say, +with egomania as the predominant psychological factor. The ancient +conception of Nature as a manifestation of spirit is incarnating anew in +the minds of modern thinkers, and Nature is not conceived of as +material, but as force and continual motion; and they are trying to +identify human will with this arcane energy, and let the forces of +Nature have freer play in humanity. We begin to catch glimpses of +civilizations as far exceeding ours as ours surpasses society in the +Stone Age. In all our democratic movements, in these efforts towards +the harmonious fusion of human forces, humanity is obscurely intent on +mightier collective exploits than anything conceived of before. The +nature of these energies manifesting in humanity I shall try to indicate +later on. But to let the general will have free play ought to be the +aim of those who wish to build up national organizations for whatever +purpose; and to let the general will have free play we require something +better than the English invention of representative government, which, +as it exists at present, is simply a device to enable all kinds of +compromises to be made on matters where there should be no compromise, +as if right and wrong could come to an agreement honestly to let things +be partly right and partly wrong. We are importing into Ireland some +political machinery of this antiquated pattern. I have written the +foregoing because I dread Irish people becoming slaves of this machine. +I fear the importers of this machinery will desire to make it do things +it can only do badly, and will set it to work with the ferocity of the +new broom and will make it an obstruction, so that the real genius of +the Irish people will be unable freely to manifest itself. The less we +rely on this machinery at present, and the more we desire a machinery of +progress, at once flexible and efficient, the better will it be for us +later on. What must be embodied in State action is the national will +and the national soul, and until that giant being is manifested it is +dangerous to let the pygmies set powers in motion which may enchain us +for centuries to come. + + + + + +XIV. + + + +It may seem I have spoken lightly of that infant whose birth I referred +to with more solemnity in the opening pages of this book, and indeed I +am a little dubious about that infant. The signature of the Irish mind +is nowhere present in it, and I look upon it with something of the +hesitating loyalty the inhabitant of a new Balkan State night feel for +his imported prince, doubtful whether that sovereign will reflect the +will of his new subjects or whether his policy will not constrain +national character into an alien mould. The signature of the Irish mind +is not apparent anywhere in this new machinery for self-government. Our +politicians seem to have been unaware that they had any wisdom to learn +from the more obvious failures of representative government as they knew +it. So far, as I have knowledge, no Irishman during the past century of +effort for political freedom took the trouble to think out a form of +government befitting Irish circumstance and character. We left it +absolutely to those whom we declared incapable of understanding us or +governing us to devise for us a system by which we might govern +ourselves. I do not criticize those who devised the new machinery of +self-government, but those who did not devise it, and who discouraged +the exercise of political imagination in Ireland. It is said of an +artist that it was his fantasy first to paint his ideal of womanly +beauty, and, when this was done, to approximate it touch by touch to the +sitter, and when the sitter cried, "Ah, now it is growing like!" the +artist ceased, combining the maximum of ideal beauty possible with the +minimum of likeness. Now if we had thought out the ideal structure of +Irish government we might have offered it for criticism by those in +whose power it was to accept or reject, and have gradually approximated +it until a point was reached where the compromise left at least +something of our making and imagination in it. There is nothing of us +in the Act which is in abeyance as I write. I am less concerned with it +than with the creation of a social order, for the social order in a +country is the strong and fast fortress where national character is +created and preserved. A legislature may theoretically allow self- +government, but by its constitution may operate against national +character and its expression in a civilization. We have accepted the +principle of representative government, and that, I readily concede, is +the ideal principle, but the method by which a representative character +is to be given to State institutions we have not thought out at all. We +have committed the error our neighbors have committed of assuming that +the representative assembly which can legislate for general interests +can deal equally with particular interests; that the body of men who +will act unitedly so as to secure the liberty of person or liberty of +thought, which all desire for themselves, will also act wisely where +class problems and the development of particular industries are +concerned. The whole history of representative assemblies shows that +the machinery adequate for the furtherance and protection of general +interests operates unjustly or stupidly in practice against particular +interests. The long neglect of agriculture and the actual condition of +the sweated are instances. I agree that representative government is +the ideal, but how is it to operate in the legislature and still more in +administration? Are government departments to be controlled by +Parliament or by the representatives of the particular class to promote +whose interests special departments were created. I hold that the +continuous efficiency of State departments can only be maintained when +they are controlled in respect of policy, not by the casual politician +whom the fluctuations of popular emotion places at their head, but by +the class or industry the State institution was created to serve. A +department of State can conceivably be preserved from stagnation by a +minister of strong will, who has a more profound knowledge of the +problems connected with his department than even his permanent +officials. He might vitalize them from above. But does the party system +yield us such Ministers? In practice is not high position the reward of +service to party? Is special knowledge demanded of the controller of a +Board of Trade or a Board of Agriculture? Do we not all know that the +vast majority of Ministers are controlled by the permanent officials of +their department. Failing great Ministers, the operations of a +department may be vitalized by control over its policy exercised, not by +a general assembly like Parliament, but by a board elected from the +class or industry the department ostensibly was created to serve. An +agricultural department controlled by a council or board composed solely +of those making their livelihood out of agriculture and elected solely +by their own class, would, we may be certain, be practical in its +methods. It would receive perpetual stimulus from those engaged in +making their living by the industry. Parliaments or senates should +confine themselves to matters of general interest, leaving particular or +special interests to those who understand them, to the specialists, and +only intervene when national interests are involved by a clashing of +particular interests. Our State institutions will never fulfill their +functions efficiently until they are subject in respect of policy not to +general control, but the control of the class they were created to +serve. + +That ideal can only be realized fully when all industries are organized. +But we should work towards it. Parliament may act as a kind of guardian +of the unorganized, but, once an industry is organized, once it has come +of age, it must resent domination by bodies without the special +knowledge of which it has the monopoly within itself. It should not +tolerate domination by the unexpert outsider, whatever may be his repute +in other spheres. It is only when industries are organized that the +democratic system of election can justify itself by results in +administration. When a county, let us say, chooses a member of +Parliament to represent every interest, only too often it chooses a man +who can represent few interests except his own. The greatest common +denominator of the constituents is as a rule some fluent utterer of +platitudes. But if the farmers in a county, or the manufacturers in a +county, or the workers in a county, had each to choose a man to +represent them, we may be certain the farmers would choose one whom they +regarded as competent to interpret their needs, the manufacturers a man +of real ability, and labor would select its best intelligence. Persons +engaged in special work rarely fall to recognize the best men in their +own industry. Then they judge somewhat as experts, whereas they are by +no means experts when they are asked to select a representative to +represent everybody in every industry. To secure good government I +conceive we must have two kinds of representative assemblies running +concurrently with their spheres of influence well defined. One, the +supreme body, should be elected by counties or cities to deal with +general interests, taxation, justice, education, the duties and rights +of individual citizens as citizens. The other bodies should be elected +by the people engaged in particular occupations to control the policy of +the State institutions created to foster particular interests. The +average man will elect people to his mind whose deliberations will be in +a sphere where the ideas of the average man ought to be heard and must +be respected. The specialists in their department of industry will +elect experts to work in a sphere where their knowledge will be +invaluable, and where, if it is not present, there will be muddle. + +The machinery of government ought never to be complicated, and ought to +be easily understood by the citizens. In Ireland, where we have at +present no thought of foreign policy, no question of army or navy, +departments of State should fall naturally into a few divisions +concerned with agriculture, education, local government, justice, +police, and taxation. The administration of some of these are matters +of national concern, and they should and must be under parliamentary +control, and that control should be jealously protected. Others are +sectional, and these should be controlled in respect of policy by +persons representative of these sections, and elected solely by them. I +think there should also be a department of Labor. I am not sure that the +main work of the Minister in charge ought not to be the organization of +labor in its proper unions or guilds. It is a work as important to the +State as the organization of agriculture, and indeed from a humanitarian +point of view more urgent. Nothing is more lamentable, nothing fills +the heart more with despair, than the multitude of isolated workers, +sweated, unable to fix a price for their work, ignorant of its true +economic value; connected with no union, unable to find any body to +fall back on for help or advice in trouble, neglected altogether by +society, which yet has to pay a heavy price in disease, charity, poor +rates, and in social disorder for its neglect. Was not the last Irish +rising largely composed of those who were economically neglected and +oppressed? Society bears a heavier burden for its indifference than it +would bear if it accepted responsibility for the organization of labor +in its own defense. The State in these islands recommends farmers to +organize for the protection of their interests and assists in the +organization, and leaves the organized farmers free to use their +organizations as they will. As good a case could be made for the State +aiding in the organization of labor for the protection of its own +interests. A ministry of labor should seek out all wage-earners; where +there is no trade union one should be organized, and, where one exists, +all workers should be pressed to join it. Such a ministry ought to be +the city of refuge for the proletarian, and the Minister be the Father +of Labor, fighting its battles for an entry into humanity and its +rightful place in civilization. + +If we consider the problem of representation, it should not be +impossible to devise a system of which the foundation might be the +County Councils, where there would be as sub-divisions, committees for +local government, agriculture, and technical instruction or trade to +deal with local administration in these matters. These committees +should send representatives to general councils of local government, +agriculture, and trade. The election should not be by the County +Council as a body, but by the committees, so that traders would have no +voice in choosing a representative for farmers, nor farmers interfere in +the choice of manufacturers or traders selecting a representative on a +general Council of Trade, and it should be regarded as ridiculous any +such intervention as for a War Office to claim it should have a voice +along with the Admiralty in the selection of captains and commanders of +vessels of war. At these general councils, which might meet twice a +year for whatever number of days may be expedient, general policies +would be decided and boards elected to ensure the carrying out by the +officials of the policies decided upon. By this process of selection +men who had to control Boards of Agriculture, Trade, or Local Government +would be three times elected, each time by a gradually decreasing +electorate, with a gradually increasing special knowledge of the matters +to be dealt with. A really useless person may contrive to be chosen as +representative by a thousand electors. It requires an able man to +convince a committee of ten persons, themselves more or less +specialists, that his is the best brain among them. Where national +education, a thorny subject in Ireland, is concerned, I think the +educationalists in provinces might be asked to elect representatives +from their own profession on a Council of Education to act as an +advisory body to the Minister of Education. County Council elections +are not exactly means by which miracles of culture are discovered. A +man who came to be member of a board of control would at least have +proved his ability to others engaged on work like his own who have +special knowledge of it and of his capacity to deal with it. If this +system was accepted, we would not have traders on our Council of +Agriculture protesting against the farmers organizing their industry, +because none but persons concerned with agriculture would be a owed to +be members of agricultural committees, and this would, of course, +involve the concentration of merchants and manufacturers upon the work +of a Board of Trade and the control of a policy of technical instruction +suitable for industrial workers, where agricultural advisers in their +turn would be out of place. Control so exercised over the policy of +State institutions would vitalize them, and tend to make them enter more +intimately into the department of national effort they were created to +foster. The stagnation which falls on most Government departments is +due to this, that the responsible heads rarely have a knowledge great +enough to enable them to inaugurate new methods, that parliamentary +control is never adequate, is rarely exercised with knowledge, and there +is always a party in power to defend the policy of their Minister, for +if one Minister is successfully attacked a whole party goes out of +power. We, in Ireland, should desire above all things efficiency in our +public servants. They will stagnate in their offices unless they are +continually stimulated by intimate connection with the class they work +for and who have a power of control. This system would also, I believe, +lead to less jobbery. Men in an assembly, where theoretically every +class and interest are represented, often conspire to make bad +appointments, because only a minority have knowledge of what +qualifications the official ought to have, and they are outvoted by +representatives who do their friends such good turns often in sheer +ignorance that they are betraying their constituents. Where specialists +have power, and where the well-being of their own industry is concerned, +they never willingly appoint the inefficient. Such an organization of +our County Council system would operate also to break up sectarian +cliques. The feeling of organized classes, farmers, or industrialists, +concerned about their own well-being, would oppose itself to sectarian +sentiment where its application was unfitting. + +In the system of representative government I have outlined, we would +have one supreme or national assembly concerned with general interests, +justice, taxation, education, the apportioning of revenue to its various +uses, reserving to itself direct control over the policy of the +departments of treasury, police, judiciary, all that affects the +citizens equally; and, beneath it, other councils, representative of +classes and special interests, controlling the policy and administration +of the State departments concerned with their work. Where everybody was +concerned everybody would have that measure of control which a vote +confers; where particular interests were concerned these interests +would not be hampered in their development by the intervention of +busybodies from outside. Of course on matters where particular interests +clashed with general interests, or were unable to adjust themselves to +other interests, the supreme Assembly would have to decide. The more +sectional interests are removed from discussion in the National +Assembly, and the more it confines itself to general interests the more +will it approximate to the ideal sense, be less the haunt of greed, and +more the vehicle of the national will and the national being. + +By the application of the principle of representative government now in +force, one is reminded of nothing so much as the palette of an artist +who had squeezed out the primary colors and mixed them into a greasy +drab tint, where the purity of every color was lost, or the most +powerful pigment was in dull domination. If the modification of the +representative principle I have outlined was in operation, with each +interest or industry organized, and freed from alien interference, the +effect might be likened to a disc with the seven primary colors raying +from a centre, and made to whirl where the motion produced rather the +effect of pure light. We must not mix the colors of national life until +conflicting interests muddle themselves into a gray drab of human +futility, but strive, so far as possible, to keep them pure and unmixed, +each retaining its own peculiar lustre, so that in their conjunction +with others they will harmonize, as do the pure primary colors, and in +their motion make a light of true intelligence to prevail in the +national being. + + + + + +XV. + + + +No policy can succeed if it be not in accord with national character. If +I have misjudged that, what is written here is vain. It may be asked, +can any one abstract from the chaos which is Irish history a prevailing +mood or tendency recurring again and again, and assert these are +fundamental? It is difficult to define national character, even in +long-established States whose history lies open to the world; but it is +most difficult in Ireland, which for centuries has not acted by its own +will from its own centre, where national activity was mainly by way of +protest against external domination, or a readjustment of itself to +external power. We can no more deduce the political character of the +Irish from the history of the past seven hundred years than we can +estimate the quality of genius in an artist whom we have only seen when +grappling with a burglar. The political character of a people emerges +only when they are shaping in freedom their own civilization. To get a +clue in Ireland we must slip by those seven centuries of struggle and +study national origins, as the lexicographer, to get the exact meaning +of a word, traces it to its derivation. The greatest value our early +history and literature has for us is the value of a clue to character, +to be returned to again and again in the maze of our infinitely more +complicated life and era. + +In every nation which has been allowed free development, while it has +the qualities common to all humanity, it will be found that some one +idea was predominant, and in its predominance regrouped about itself +other ideas. With our neighbors I believe the idea of personal liberty +has been the inspiring motive of all that is best in its political +development, whatever the reactions and oppressions may have been. In +ancient Attica the idea of beauty, proportion, or harmony in life so +pervaded the minds of the citizens that the surplus revenues of the +State were devoted to the beautifying of the city. We find that love +for beauty in its art, its literature, its architecture; and to Plato, +the highest mind in the Athenian State, Deity itself appeared as Beauty +in its very essence. That mighty mid-European State, whose ambitions +have upset the world, seems to conceive of the State as power. Other +races have had a passion for justice, and have left codes of law which +have profoundly affected the life of nations which grew up long after +they were dead. The cry of ancient Israel for righteousness rings out +above all other passions, and its laws are essentially the laws of a +people who desired that morality should prevail. We have to discover +for ourselves the ideas which lie at the root of national character, and +so inculcate these principles that they will pervade the nation and make +it a spiritual solidarity, and unite the best minds in their service, +and so control those passionate and turbulent elements which are the +cause of the downfall and wreckage of nations by internal dissensions. +I desire as much as any one to preserve our national identity, and to +make it worthy of preservation, and this can only be done by the +domination of some inspiring ideal which will draw all hearts to it; +which may at first have that element of strangeness in it which Ben +Jonson said was in all excellent beauty, and which will later become--as +all high things we love do finally become--familiar to us, and nearer +and closer to us than the beatings of our own hearts. + +When ideals which really lie at the root of our being are first +proclaimed, all that is external in life protests. So were many great +reformers martyred, but they left their ideals behind them in the air, +and men breathed them and they became part of their very being. +Nationality is a state of consciousness, a mood of definite character in +our intellectual being, and it is not perceived first except in profound +meditation; it does not become apparent from superficial activities any +more than we could, by looking at the world and the tragic history of +mankind, discover that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. That +knowledge comes to those who go within themselves, and not to those who +seek without for the way, the truth, and the life. But, once +proclaimed, the incorruptible spiritual element in man intuitively +recognizes it as truth, and it has a profound effect on human action. +There is, I believe, a powerful Irish character which has begun to +reassert itself in modern times, and this character is in essentials +what it was two thousand years ago. We discover its first manifestation +in the ancient clans. The clan was at once aristocratic and democratic. +It was aristocratic in leadership and democratic in its economic basis. +The most powerful character was elected as chief, while the land was the +property of the clan. That social order indicates the true political +character of the Irish. Races which last for thousands of years do not +change in essentials. They change in circumstance. They may grow better +or worse, but throughout their history the same fundamentals appear and +reassert themselves. We can see later in Irish literature or politics, +as powerful personalities emerged and expressed themselves, how the +ancient character persisted. Swift, Goldsmith, Berkeley, O'Grady, Shaw, +Wilde, Parnell, Davitt, Plunkett, and many others, however they differed +from each other, in so far as they betrayed a political character, were +intensely democratic in economic theory, adding that to an aristocratic +freedom of thought. That peculiar character, I believe, still persists +among our people in the mass, and it is by adopting a policy which will +enable it to manifest once more that we will create an Irish +civilization, which will fit our character as the glove fits the hand. +During the last quarter of a century of comparatively peaceful life the +co-operative principle has once more laid hold on the imagination of the +Irish townsman and the Irish countryman. The communal character is +still preserved. It still wills to express itself in its external +aspects in a communal civilization, in an economic brotherhood. That +movement alone provides in Ireland for the aristocratic and democratic +elements in Irish character. It brings into prominence the aristocracy +of character and intelligence which it is really the Irish nature to +love, and its economic basis is democratic. A large part of our failure +to achieve anything memorable in Ireland is due to the fact that, +influenced by the example of our great neighbors, we reversed the +natural position of the aristocratic and democratic elements in the +national being. Instead of being democratic in our economic life, with +the aristocracy of character and intelligence to lead us, we became +meanly individualistic in our economics and meanly democratic in +leadership. That is, we allowed individualism--the devilish doctrine of +every man for himself--to be the keynote of our economic life; where, +above all things, the general good and not the enrichment of the +individual should be considered. For our leaders we chose energetic, +common-place types, and made them represent us in the legislature; +though it is in leadership above all that we need, not the aristocracy +of birth, but the aristocracy of character, intellect, and will. We had +not that aristocracy to lead us. We chose instead persons whose ideas +were in no respect nobler than the average to be our guides, or rather +to be guided by us. Yet when the aristocratic character appeared, +however imperfect, how it was adored! Ireland gave to Parnell--an +aristocratic character--the love which springs from the deeps of its +being, a love which it gave to none other in our time. + +With our great neighbors what are our national characteristics were +reversed. They are an individualistic race. This individualism has +expressed itself in history and society in a thousand ways. Being +individualistic in economics, they were naturally democratic in +politics. They have a genius for choosing forcible average men as +leaders. They mistrust genius in high places, Intensely individualistic +themselves, they feared the aristocratic character in politics. They +desired rather that general principles should be asserted to encircle +and keep safe their own national eccentricity. They have gradually +infected us with something of their ways, and as they were not truly our +ways we never made a success of them. It is best for us to fall back on +what is natural with us, what is innate in character, what was visible +among us in the earliest times, and what, I still believe, persists +among us--a respect for the aristocratic intellect, for freedom of +thought, ideals, poetry, and imagination, as the qualities to be looked +for in leaders, and a bias for democracy in our economic life. We were +more Irish truly in the heroic ages. We would not then have taken, as +we do today, the huckster or the publican and make them our +representative men, and allow them to corrupt the national soul. Did +not the whole vulgar mob of our politicians lately unite to declare to +the world that Irish nationality was impossible except it was floated on +a sea of liquor? The image of Kathleen ni Houlihan anciently was beauty +in the hearts of poets and dreamers. We often thought her unwise, but +never did we find her ignoble; never was she without a flame of +idealism in her eyes, until this ignoble crew declared alcohol to be the +only possible basis of Irish nationality. + +In the remote past we find the national instincts of our people fully +manifested. We find in this early literature a love for the truth- +teller and for the hero. Indeed they did not choose as chieftains of +their clans men whom the bards could not sing. They reverenced wisdom, +whether in king, bard, or ollav, and at the same time there was a +communal basis for economic life. This heroic literature is, as our +Standish O'Grady declared, rather prophecy than history. It reveals +what the highest spirits deemed the highest, and what was said lay so +close to the heart of the race that it is still remembered and read. +That literature discloses the character of the national being, still to +be manifested in a civilization, and it must flame out before the tale +which began among the gods is closed. Whatever brings this communal +character into our social order, and at the same time desires the +independent aristocratic intellect, is in accord with the national +tradition. The co-operative movement is the modern expression of that +mood. It is already making a conquest of the Irish mind, and in its +application to life predisposing our people to respect for the man of +special attainments, independent character, and intellect. A social +order which has made its economics democratic in character needs such +men above all things. It needs aristocratic thinkers to save the social +order from stagnation, the disease which eats into all harmonious life. +We shall succeed or fail in Ireland as we succeed or fail to make +democracy prevail in our economic life, and aristocratic ideals to +prevail in our political and intellectual life. + +In all things it is best for a people to obey the law of their own +being. The lion can never become the ox, and "one law for the lion and +the ox is oppression." + +Now that the hammer of Thor is wrecking our civilizations, is destroying +the body of European nationalities, the spirit is freer to reshape the +world nearer to the heart's desire. Necessity will drive us along with +the rest to recast our social order and to fix our ideals. Necessity +and our own hearts should lead us to a brotherhood in industry. It +should be horrible to us the thought of the greedy profiteer, the +pursuit of wealth for oneself rather than the union of forces for the +good of all and the creation of a brotherly society. The efforts of +individuals to amass for themselves great personal wealth should be +regarded as ignoble by society, and as contrary to the national spirit, +as it is indeed contrary to all divine teaching. Our ideal should be +economic harmony and intellectual diversity. We should regard as alien +to the national spirit all who would make us think in flocks, and +discipline us to an unintellectual commonalty of belief. The life of +the soul is a personal adventure, a quest for the way and the truth and +the life. It may be we shall find the ancient ways to be the true ways, +but if we are led to the truth blindfolded and without personal effort, +we are like those whom the Scripture condemns for entering into +Paradise, not by the straight gate, but over the wall, like thieves and +robbers. If we seek it for ourselves and come to it, we shall be true +initiates and masters in the guild. + +No people seem to have greater natural intelligence than the Irish. No +people have been so unfortunately cursed with organizations which led +them to abnegate personal thought, and Ireland is an intellectual desert +where people read nothing and think nothing; where not fifty in a +hundred thousand could discern the quality of thought in the Politics of +Aristotle or the Republic of Plato as being in any way deeper than a +leading article in one of their daily papers. And we, whose external +life is so mean, whose ignorance of literature is so great, are yet +flattered by the suggestion that we have treasures of spiritual and +intellectual life which should not be debased by external influences, +and so it comes about that good literature is a thing unpurchasable +except in some half-dozen of the larger towns. Any system which would +suppress the aristocratic, fearless, independent intellect should be +regarded as contrary to the Irish genius and inimical to the national +being. + + + + + +XVI. + + + +Among the many ways men have sought to create a national consciousness, +a fountain of pride to the individual citizen, is to build a strong body +for the great soul, and it would be an error to overlook--among other +modern uprisings of ancient Irish character--the revival of the military +spirit and its possible development in relation to the national being. +National solidarity may be brought about by pressure from without, or by +the fusion of the diverse elements in a nation by a heat engendered from +within. But to Create national solidarity by war is to attain but a +temporary and unreal unity, a gain like theirs who climb into the +Kingdom not by the straight gate, but over the wall like a robber. When +one nation is threatened by another, great national sacrifices will be +made, and the latent solidarity of its humanity be kindled. But when +the war is over, when the circumstances uniting the people for a time +are past, that spirit rapidly dies, and people begin their old +antagonisms because the social order, in its normal working, does not +constantly promote a consciousness of identity of interest. + +Almost all the great European states have fortified their national being +by militarism. Everything almost in their development has been +subordinated to the necessities of national defense, and hence it is +only in times of war there is any real manifestation of national spirit. +It is only then that the citizens of the Iron Age feel a transitory +brotherhood. It is a paradoxical phenomenon, possible only in the Iron +Age, that the highest instances of national sacrifice are evoked by +warfare--the most barbarous of human enterprises. To make normal that +spirit of unity which is now only manifested in abnormal moments in +history should be our aim; and as it is the Iron Age, and material +forces are more powerful than spiritual, we must consider how these +fierce energies can be put in relation with the national being with +least debasement of that being. If the body of the national soul is too +martial in character, it will by reflex action communicate its character +to the spirit, and make it harsh and domineering, and unite against it +in hatred all other nations. We have seen that in Europe but yesterday. +The predominance in the body of militarist practice will finally drive +out from the soul those unfathomable spiritual elements which are the +body's last source power in conflict, and it will in the end defeat its +own object, which is power. When nations at war call up their reserves +of humanity to the last man capable of bearing arms, their leaders begin +also to summon up those bodiless moods and national sentiments which are +the souls of races, and their last and most profound sources of +inspiration and deathless courage. The war then becomes a conflict of +civilizations and of spiritual ideals, the aspirations and memories +which constitute the fundamental basis of those civilizations. Without +the inspiration of great memories or of great hopes, men are incapable +of great sacrifices. They are rationalists, and the preservation of the +life they know grows to be a desire greater than the immortality of the +spiritual life of their race. A famous Japanese general once said it +was the power to hold out for the last desperate quarter of an hour +which won victories, and it is there spiritual stamina reinforces +physical power. It is a mood akin to the ecstasy of the martyr through +his burning. Though in these mad moments neither spiritual nor material +is consciously differentiated, the spiritual is there in a fiery fusion +with all other forces. If it is absent, the body unsupported may take +to its heels or will yield. It has played its only card, and has not +eternity to fling upon the table in a last gamble for victory. + +A military organization may strengthen the national being, but if it +dominates it, it will impoverish its life. How little Sparta has given +to the world compared with Attica. Yet when national ideals have been +created they assume an immeasurably greater dignity when the citizens +organize themselves for the defense of their ideals, and are prepared to +yield up life itself as a sacrifice if by this the national being may be +preserved. A creed always gains respect through its martyrs. We may +grant all this, yet be doubtful whether a militarist organization should +be the main support of the national being in Ireland. The character of +the ideal should, I believe, be otherwise created, and I am not certain +that it could not be as well preserved and defended by a civil +organization, such as I have indicated, as by armed power. Our +geographical position and the slender population of our country also +make it evident that the utmost force Ireland could organize would make +but a feeble barrier against assault by any of the greater States. We +have seen how Belgium, a country with a population larger than that of +Ireland, was thrust aside, crushed and bleeding, by one stroke from the +paw of its mighty neighbor.* The military and political institutions of +a small country are comparatively easy to displace, but it would be a +task infinitely more difficult to destroy ideals or to extinguish a +national being based on a social order, democratic and co-operative in +character, the soul of the country being continually fed by institutions +which, by their very nature, would be almost impossible to alter unless +destruction of the whole humanity of the country was aimed at. National +ideals, based on a co-operative social order, would have the same power +of resistance almost as a religion, which is, of all things, most +unconquerable by physical force, and, when it is itself militant, the +most powerful ally of military power. The aim of all nations is to +preserve their immortality. I do not oppose the creation of a national +army for this purpose. There are occasions when the manhood of a nation +must be prepared to yield life rather than submit to oppression, when it +must perish in self-contempt or resist by force what wrong would be +imposed by force. But I would like to point out that for a country in +the position of Ireland the surest means of preserving the national +being by the sacrifice and devotion of the people are economic and +spiritual. + +------------------* Since this book was written Ireland has had a tragic +illustration of the truth of what is urged in these pages. ------------- + + +Our political life in the past has been sordid and unstable because we +were uncultured as a nation. National ideals have been the possession +of the few in Ireland, and have not been diffused. That is the cause of +our comparative failure as a nation. If we would create an Irish +culture, and spread it widely among our people, we would have the same +unfathomable sources of inspiration and sacrifice to draw upon in our +acts as a nation as the individual has who believes he is immortal, and +that his life here is but a temporary foray into time out of eternity. + +Yet we have much to learn from the study of military organization. The +great problem of all civilizations is the creation of citizens: that is, +of people who are dominated by the ideal of the general welfare, who +will sink private desire and work harmoniously with their fellow- +citizens for the highest good of their race. While we may all agree +that war brings about an eruption of the arcane and elemental forces +which lie normally in the pit of human life, as the forces which cause +earthquakes lie normally asleep in the womb of the world, none the less +we must admit that military genius has discovered and applied with +mastery a law of life which is of the highest importance to +civilization--far more important to civil even than to military +development--and that is the means by which the individual will forget +his personal danger and sacrifice life itself for the general welfare. +In no other organization will men in great masses so entirely forget +themselves as men will in battle under military discipline. What is the +cause of this? Can we discover how it is done and apply the law to +civil life? + +The military discipline works miracles. The problem before the captains +of armies is to take the body of man, the most naturally egoistic of all +things, which hates pain and which will normally take to its legs in +danger and try to save itself, and to dominate it so that the body and +the soul inhabiting it will stand still and face all it loathes. And +the problem is solved in the vast majority of cases. After military +training the civilians who formerly would fly before a few policemen +will manfully and heroically stand, not the blows of a baton, but a +whole hail of bullets, a cannonade lasting through a day; nay, they +will for weeks and months, day by day, risk and lose life for a cause, +for an idea, at a word of command. They may not have half as good a +cause to lose life for as they had as a mob of angry civilians, but they +will face death now, and the chances of mutilation and agony worse than +death. Can we inspire civilians with the same passionate self- +forgetfulness in the pursuit of the higher ideals of peace? Men in a +regiment have to a large extent the personal interests abolished. The +organization they now belong to supports them and becomes their life. +By their union with it a new being is created. Exercise, drill, +maneuver, accentuate that unity, and esprit de corps arises, so that +they feel their highest life is the corporate one; and that feeling is +fostered continually, until at last all the units, by some law of the +soul, are as it were in spite of themselves, in spite of the legs which +want to run, in spite of the body which trembles with fear, constrained +to move in obedience to the purpose of the whole organism expressed by +its controlling will; and so we get these devoted masses of men who +advance again and again under a hail more terrible than Dante imagined +falling in his vision of the fiery world. + +There is nothing like it in civilian life, but yet the aim of the higher +minds in all civilizations is to create a similar devotion to civic +ideals, so that men will not only, as Pericles said, "give their bodies +for the commonwealth," but will devote mind, will, and imagination with +equal assiduity and self-surrender to the creation of a civilization +which will be the inheritance of all and a cause of pride to every one, +and which will bring to the individual a greater beauty and richness of +life than he could finally reach by the utmost private efforts of which +he was capable. + +I believe that an organization of society, such as I have indicated, +would evolve gradually a similar passion for the general zeal, having, +without the stern restraint militarism imposes on its units, a like +power of turning the thoughts to the general good. + +I may say also that to create a militarist organization, before the +natural principles to be safe-guarded are well understood and a common +possession of all the people in the country, would be a danger akin to +the peril of allowing children to play with firearms. We may find it a +bad business to create natural ideals as they are required, just as it +is a perilous business to try to create an army when a country is in a +state of war. If we do not rapidly create a national culture embodying +the fundamental ideas we wish to see prevailing in society our volunteer +armies will be subject to influences from the baser sort of politicians +who would force party aims on the country. We shall have a wretched +future unless the soul of the country can dominate the physical forces +in it, unless ideals of national conduct, liberty of speech and thought, +of justice and brotherhood, exist to inspire and guide it, and are +recognized by all and appealed to by all parties equally. + +We are standing on the threshold of nationhood, and it is problems like +these we should be setting ourselves to solve, unless we are to be an +unimportant province of the world, a mere administrative area inhabited +by a quite undistinguished people. + + + + + +XVII. + + + +But there are other methods of devotion to the national being possible +to us through collective action, and I was moved to imagine one, having +once received a letter from a bloodthirsty correspondent--one of that +rather numerous class whose minds are always loaded with ball cartridge, +whose fingers are always on the trigger, and who are always calling on +the authorities not to hesitate to shoot. He wrote to me during a +railway strike, advocating military conscription in order that railway +men who went out on strike could be called up by the military +authorities, as the French railway strikers were, and who were subject +to martial law if they disobeyed. I do not think with those who believe +the venerable remedy of blood-letting is the best cure for social +maladies; and I would have thought no more about that stern +disciplinarian, but my mind went playing about the idea of conscription, +and there came to me some thoughts which I wish to put on record in the +hope that our people in some future, when the social order will create +public spirit and the passion for the State more plentifully than it +does today, may recur to the idea and apply it. Nearly every State in +the world demands from youth a couple of years' service in the army. +There they are trained to defend their country--even, if necessary, to +slay their own countrymen. There is much that is abhorrent to the +imagination in the idea of war, and I am altogether with that noble body +of men who are trying, by means of arbitration treaties, to solve +national differences by reason rather than by force. But we all +recognize something noble in the spirit of the nation where the +community agrees that every man shall give up some years of his life to +the State for the preservation of the State, and may be called upon to +surrender life absolutely in that service. While the manhood of a race +does this on the whole with cheerfulness, there must be something of +high character in the manhood of that nation. A certain gravity +attaches to national decisions which are made, as it were, upon the +slopes of death, because none are exempt from service, and there is no +delirious mob ready to yell for a war in which it does not run the risk +of having its own dirty skin perforated by bullets. In Ireland we have +never had military conscription, for reasons which are well known to +all, and upon which I need not enter. I am well satisfied it should be +so, for it leaves open to us the possibility of a much nobler service, +one which has never yet been attempted by any modern nation, and that is +civil conscription. + +I throw out this suggestion, which may hold the imagination of those who +have noble conceptions of what national life should be and what a nation +should work for, in the hope that some time it may fructify. There is a +prohibition laid on the people in this island against conscription for +military purposes. Is there any reason why we should not have +conscription for civil purposes? Why should not every young man in +Ireland give up two years of his life in a comradeship of labor with +other young men, and be employed under skilled direction in great works +of public utility, in the erection of public buildings, the beautifying +of our cities, reclamation of waste lands, afforestation, and other +desirable objects? The principle of service for the State for military +purposes is admitted in every country, even at last by the English- +speaking peoples. It is easy to be seen how this principle of +conscription could be applied to infinitely nobler ends--to the building +up of a beautiful civilization--and might make the country adopting it +in less than half a century as beautiful as ancient Attica or majestic +as ancient Egypt. While other nations take part of the life of young +men for instruction in war, why should not the State in Ireland, more +nobly inspired, ask of its young men that they should give equally of +their lives to the State, not for the destruction of life, but for the +conservation of life? This service might be asked from all--high and +low, well and humbly born--except from those who can plead the reasons +which exempt people abroad from military service. As things stand +today, if the State undertakes any public work, it does it more +expensively by far than it would be if undertaken by private enterprise. +Every person puts up prices for the State or for municipalities. Labor, +land, and materials are all charged at the highest possible rates, +whereas if there was any really high conception of citizenship and of +the functions of the State, the citizens would agree so that works of +public utility, or those which conspired to add to national dignity, +should be done at least cost to the community. Where there is no +national sacrifice there is no national pride. Because there is no +national pride our modern civilizations show meanly compared with the +titanic architecture of the cities and majestic civilizations of the +past. We know from the ruins of these proud cities that he who walked +into ancient Rome, Athens, Thebes, Memphis and Babylon, walked amid +grandeurs which must have exalted the spirit. To walk into Manchester, +Sheffield, or Liverpool is to feel a weight upon the soul. There is no +national feeling for beauty in our industrial civilizations. + +Let us suppose Ireland had through industrial conscription about fifty +thousand young men every year at its disposal under a national works +department. What could be done? First of all it would mean that every +young man in the country would have received an industrial training of +some kind. The work of technical instruction could be largely carried +on in connection with this industrial army. People talk of the benefit +of discipline and obedience secured by military service. This and much +more could be secured by a labor conscription. Every man in the island +would have got into the habit of work at a period of life when it is +most necessary, and when too many young men have no serious occupation. +Parents should welcome the training and discipline for their children, +and certificates of character and intelligence given by the department +of national works should open up prospects of rapid employment in the +ordinary industrial life of the country when the period of public +service was closed. For those engaged there would be a true comradeship +in labor, and the phrase, "the dignity of labor," about which so much +cant has been written, would have a real significance where young men +were working together for the public benefit with the knowledge that any +completed work would add to the health, beauty, dignity, and prosperity +of the State. In return for this labor the State should feed and clothe +its industrial army, educate them, and familiarize them with some branch +of employment, and make them more competent after this period of service +was over to engage in private enterprise. Two years of such training +would dissipate all the slackness, lack of precision, and laziness which +are so often apparent in young men who have never had any strict +discipline in their homes, and whom parental weakness has rendered unfit +for the hard usiness of life. + +The benefit to those undergoing such a training would of itself justify +civil conscription; but when we come to think of the nation--what might +not be done by a State with a national labor army under its control? +Public works might be undertaken at a cost greatly below that which +would otherwise be incurred, and the estimates which now paralyze the +State, when it considers this really needed service or that, would +assume a different appearance, as it would be embracing in one +enterprise technical education and the accomplishment of beneficial +works. With such an army under skilled control the big cities could +have playgrounds for the children of the cities; public gardens, baths, +gymnasiums, recreation rooms, hospitals, and sanatoriums might be built; +waste land reclaimed and afforested, and the roadsides might be planted +with fruit trees. National schools, picture-galleries, public halls, +libraries, and a thousand enterprises which now hang fire because at +present labor for public service is the most expensive labor, all could +be undertaken. If the State becomes very poor, as indeed it is certain +to be, it may be forced into some such method of fulfilling its +functions. Are we, with enormous burdens of debt, to hang up every +useful public work because of the expense, and spend our lives in paying +State debts while the body for whom we work is unable, on account of the +expense, to do anything for us in return? If the State is to continue +its functions we shall have to commandeer people for its service in +times of peace as is done in times of war. There is hardly an argument +which could be used to defend military conscription which could not be +equaled with as powerful an argument for civil conscription. I am not +at all sure that if the State in Ireland decided to utilize two years of +every young man's life for State purposes that we could not disband most +of our expensive constabulary and make certain squads of our civil +recruits responsible for the keeping of public law and order, leaving +only the officers as permanent professionals, for of course there must +be expert control of the conscripts. The postal service might also be +carried on largely by conscripted civilians. + +This may appear a fantastic programme, but I would like to see it argued +out. It would create a real brotherhood in work, just as the army +creates in its own way a brotherhood between men in the same regiments. +The nation adopting civil conscription could clean itself up in a couple +of generations, so that in respect of public services it would be +incomparable. The alternative to this is to starve all public services, +to make the State simply the tax-collector, to pay the interest on a +huge debt, and so get it hated because it can do nothing except collect +money to pay the interest on a colossal national debt. Obviously the +State as an agency to bring about civilization cannot perform both +services--pay interest on huge public loans, and continue an expensive +service. It must find out some way in which public services can be +continued, and if possible improved, and the open way to that is civil +conscription and the assertion of a claim to two or three years of the +work of every citizen for civil purposes, just as it now asserts a claim +on the services of citizens for the defense of the State. As national +debts are more and more piled up, it has seemed to many that here must +be an end to what was called social reform, that we were entering on a +black era, and no dawn would show over Europe for another century. +There is always a way out of troubles if people are imaginative enough +and brotherly enough to conceive of it and bold enough to take action +when they have found the way. The real danger for society is that it may +become spiritless and hidebound and tamed, and have none of those high +qualities necessary in face of peril, and the more people get accustomed +to thinking of bold schemes the better. They will get over the first +shock, and may be ready when the time comes to put them into action. +When a country is poor like Ireland and yet is ambitious of greatness; +when the aspect of its civilization is mean and when it yet aspires to +beauty; when its people are living under unsanitary conditions and yet +the longing is there to give health to all; when Ireland is like this, +its public men and its citizens might do much worse than brood over the +possibilities of industrial conscription, and of revising the character +of the purposes for which nations have hitherto claimed service from +their young citizens on behalf of the State. Debarred by a fate not +altogether unkind from training every citizen in the arts of war Ireland +might--if the love of country and the desire for service are really so +strong as we are told--suddenly become eminent among the nations of the +world by adopting a policy which in half a century would make our mean +cities and our backward countryside the most beautiful in the modern +world. + + + + + +XVIII. + + + +I have not in all this written anything about the relations of Ireland +with other countries, or even with our neighbors, in whose political +household we have lived for so many centuries in intimate hostility. I +have considered this indeed, but did not wish, nor do I now wish, in +anything I may write, to say one word which would add to that old +hostility. Race hatred is the cheapest and basest of all national +passions, and it is the nature of hatred, as it is the nature of love, +to change us into the likeness of that which we contemplate. We grow +nobly like what we adore, and ignobly like what we hate; and no people +in Ireland became so anglicized in intellect and temperament, and even +in the manner of expression, as those who hated our neighbors most. All +hatreds long persisted in bring us to every baseness for which we hated +others. The only laws which we cannot break with impunity are divine +laws, and no law is more eternally sure in its workings than that which +condemns us to be even as that we condemned. Hate is the high commander +of so many armies that an inquiry into the origin of this passion is at +least as needful as histories of other contemporary notorieties. Not +emperors or parliaments alone raise armies, but this passion also. It +will sustain nations in defeat. When everything seems lost this wild +captain will appear and the scattered forces are reunited. They will be +as oblivious of danger as if they were divinely inspired, but if they +win their battle it is to become like the conquered foe. All great wars +in history, all conquests, all national antagonisms, result in an +exchange of characteristics. It is because I wish Ireland to be itself, +to act from its own will and its own centre, that I deprecate hatred as +a force in national life. It is always possible to win a cause without +the aid of this base helper, who betrays us ever in the hour of victory. + +When a man finds the feeling of hate for another rising vehemently in +himself, he should take it as a warning that conscience is battling in +his own being with that very thing he loathes. Nations hate other +nations for the evil which is in themselves; but they are as little +given to self-analysis as individuals, and while they are right to +overcome evil, they should first try to understand the genesis of the +passion in their own nature. If we understand this, many of the ironies +of history will be intelligible. We will understand why it was that our +countrymen in Ulster and our countrymen in the rest of Ireland, who have +denounced each other so vehemently, should at last appear to have +exchanged characteristics: why in the North, having passionately +protested against physical force movements, no-rent manifestos, and +contempt for Imperial Parliament, they should have come themselves at +last to organize a physical force movement, should threaten to pay no +taxes, and should refuse obedience to an Act of Parliament. We will +understand also why it was their opponents came themselves to address to +Ulster all the arguments and denunciations Ulster had addressed to them. +I do not point this out with intent to annoy, but to illustrate by late +history a law in national as well as human psychology. If this +unpopular psychology I have explained was adopted everywhere as true, we +would never hear expressions of hate. People would realize they were +first revealing and then stabbing their own characters before the world. + +Nations act towards other nations as their own citizens act towards each +other. When slavery existed in a State, if that nation attacked another +it was with intent to enslave. Where there is a fierce economic +competition between citizen and citizen then in war with another nation, +the object of the war is to destroy the trade of the enemy. If the +citizens in any country could develop harmonious life among themselves +they would manifest the friendliest feelings towards the people of other +countries. We find that it is just among groups of people who aim at +harmonious life, co-operators and socialists, that the strongest +national impulses to international brotherhood arise; and wars of +domination are brought about by the will of those who within a State are +dominant over the fortunes of the rest. Ireland, a small country, can +only maintain its national identity by moral and economic forces. +Physically it must be overmastered by most other European nations. +Moral forces are really more powerful than physical forces. One Christ +changed the spiritual life of Europe; one Buddha affected more myriads +in Asia. + +The co-operative ideal of brotherhood in industry has helped to make +stronger the ideal of the brotherhood of humanity, and no body of men in +any of the countries in the great War of our time regarded it with more +genuine sorrow than those who were already beginning to promote schemes +for international co-operation. It must be mainly in movements inspired +with the ideal of the brotherhood of man, that the spirit will be +generated which, in the future, shall make the idea of war so detestable +that statesmen will find it is impossible to think of that solution of +their disputes as they would think now of resorting to private +assassination of political opponents. The great tragedy of Europe was +brought about, not by the German Emperor, nor by Sir Edward Grey, nor by +the Czar, nor by any of the other chiefs ostensibly controlling foreign +policy, but by the nations themselves. These men may have been agents, +but their action would have been impossible if they did not realize that +there was a vast body of national feeling behind them not opposed to +war. Their citizens were in conflict with each other already, generating +the moods which lead on to war. Emperors, foreign secretaries, +ambassadors, cabinet ministers are not really powerful to move nations +against their will. On the whole, they act with the will of the +nations, which they understand. Let any one ruler try, for example, to +change by edict the religion of his subjects, and a week would see him +bereft of place and power. They could not do this, because the will of +the nation would be against it. They resort to war and prepare for it +because the will of the nation is with them, and this throws us back on +the private citizens, who finally are individually and collectively +responsible for the actions of the State. In the everlasting battle +between good and evil, private soldiers are called upon to fight as well +as the captains, and it is only through the intensive cultivation by +individuals and races of the higher moral and intellectual qualities, +until in intensity they outweigh the mood and passion of the rest, that +war will finally become obsolete as the court of appeal. When there is +a panic of fire in a crowded building men are suddenly tested as to +character. Some will become frenzied madmen, fighting and trampling +their way out. Others will act nobly, forgetting themselves. They have +no time to think. What they are in their total make up as human beings, +overbalanced either for good or evil, appears in an instant. Even so, +some time in the heroic future, some nation in a crisis will be weighed +and will act nobly rather than passionately, and will be prepared to +risk national extinction rather than continue existence at the price of +killing myriads of other human beings, and it will oppose moral and +spiritual forces to material forces, and it will overcome the world by +making gentleness its might, as all great spiritual teachers have done. +It comes to this, we cannot overcome hatred by hatred or war by war, but +by the opposites of these. Evil is not overcome by evil but by good; +and any race like the Irish, eager for national life, ought to learn +this truth--that humanity will act towards their race as their race acts +towards humanity. The noble and the base alike beget their kin. +Empires, ere they disappear, see their own mirrored majesty arise in the +looking-glass of time. Opposed to the pride and pomp of Egypt were the +pride and pomp of Chaldaea. Echoing the beauty of the Greek city state +were many lovely cities made in their image. Carthage evoked Rome. The +British Empire, by the natural balance and opposition of things, called +into being another empire with a civilization of coal and steel, and +with ambitions for colonies and for naval power, and with that image of +itself it must wrestle for empire. The great armadas that throng the +seas, the armed millions upon the earth betray the fear in the minds of +races, nay, the inner spiritual certitude the soul has, that pride and +lust of power must yet be humbled by their kind. They must at last meet +their equals face to face, called to them as steel to magnet by some +inner affinity. This is a law of life both for individuals and races, +and, when this is realized, we know nothing will put an end to race +conflicts except the equally determined and heroic development of the +spiritual, moral, and intellectual forces which disdain to use the force +and fury of material powers. + +We may be assured that the divine law is not mocked, and it cannot be +deceived. As men sow so do they reap. The anger we create will rend +us; the love we give will return to us. Biologically, everything +breeds true to its type: moods and thoughts just as much as birds and +beasts and fishes. When I hear people raging against England or Germany +or Russia I know that rage will beget rage, and go on begetting it, and +so the whole devilish generation of passions will be continued. There +are no nations to whom the entire and loyal allegiance of man's spirit +could be given. It can only go out to the ideal empires and +nationalities in the womb of time, for whose coming we pray. Those +countries of the future we must carve out of the humanity of today, and +we can begin building them up within our present empires and +nationalities just as we are building up the co-operative movement in a +social order antagonistic to it. The people who are trying to create +these new ideals in the world are outposts, sentinels, and frontiersmen +thrown out before the armies of the intellectual and spiritual races yet +to come into being. We can all enlist in these armies and be comrades +to the pioneers. I hope many will enlist in Ireland. I would cry to +our idealists to come out of this present-day Irish Babylon, so filled +with sectarian, political, and race hatreds, and to work for the future. +I believe profoundly, with the most extreme of Nationalists, in the +future of Ireland, and in the vision of light seen by Bridget which she +saw and confessed between hopes and tears to Patrick, and that this is +the Isle of Destiny and the destiny will be glorious and not ignoble, +and when our hour is come we will have something to give to the world, +and we will be proud to give rather than to grasp. Throughout their +history Irishmen have always wrought better for others than for +themselves, and when they unite in Ireland to work for each other, they +will direct into the right channel all that national capacity for +devotion to causes for which they are famed. We ought not only to +desire to be at peace with each other, but with the whole world, and +this can only be brought about by the individual citizen at all times +protesting against sectarian and national passions, and taking no part +in them, coming out of such angry parties altogether, as the people of +the Lord were called by the divine voice to come out of Babylon. It may +seem a long way to set things right, but it is the swift way and the +royal road, and there is no other; and nobody, no prophet crying before +his time, will be listened to until the people are ready for him. The +congregation must gather before the preacher can deliver what is in him +to say. The economic brotherhood which I have put forward as an Irish +ideal would, in its realization, make us at peace with ourselves, and if +we are at peace with ourselves we will be at peace with our neighbors +and all other nations, and will wish them the goodwill we have among +ourselves, and will receive from them the same goodwill. I do not +believe in legal and formal solutions of national antagonisms. While we +generate animosities among ourselves we will always display them to +other nations, and I prefer to search out how it is national hatreds are +begotten, and to show how that cancer can be cut out of the body +politic. + + + + + +XIX. + + + +It seems inevitable that the domination of the individual by the State +must become ever greater. It is in the evolutionary process. The +amalgamation of individuals into nationalities and empires is as much in +the cosmic plan as the development of highly organized beings out of +unicellular organisms. I believe this process will continue until +humanity itself is so psychically knit together that, as a being, it +will manifest some form of cosmic consciousness in which the individual +will share. Our spiritual intuitions and the great religions of the +world alike indicate some such goal as that to which this turbulent +cavalcade of humanity is wending. A knowledge of this must be in our +subconscious being, or we would find the sacrifices men make for the +State otherwise inexplicable. The State, though now ostensibly secular, +makes more imperious claims on man than the ancient gods did. It lays +hold of life. It asserts its right to take father, brother, and son, and +to send them to meet death in its own defense. It denies them a choice +or judgment as to whether its action is right or wrong. Right or +wrong, the individual must be prepared to give his body for the +commonwealth, and when one gives the body unresistingly, one gives the +soul also. The marvelous thing about the authority of the State is that +it is recognized by the vast majority of citizens. During eras of peace +the citizen may be always in conflict with the policy of the State. He +may call it a tyranny, but yet when it is in peril he will die to +preserve for it an immortal life. The hold the State establishes over +the spirit of man is the more wonderful when we look rearward on +history, and see with what labor and sacrifice the State was +established. But we see also how readily, once the union has been +brought about, men will die to preserve it, even although it is a +tyranny, a bad State. For what do they die unless the spirit in man has +some inner certitude that the divine event to which humanity tends is a +unity of its multitudinous life, and that a State--even a bad State-- +must be preserved by its citizens, because it is at least an attempt at +organic unity? It is a simulacrum of the ideal; it contains the germ +or possibility of that to which the spirit of man is traveling. It +disciplines the individual in service to that greater being in which it +will find its fulfillment, and a bad State is better than no State at +all. To be without a State is to prowl backwards from the divinity +before us to the beast behind us. + +The power the State exerts is a spiritual power, acting on or through +the will of man. The volunteer armies do not really march to die with +more readiness than the conscript armies. The sacrifice is not readily +explicable by material causes. There is no material reason why the +proletarian--who has no property to defend, who is more or less sure as +a skilled craftsman of employment under any ruler--should concern +himself whether his ruler be King, Kaiser, or President. But not one in +a hundred proletarians really thinks like that. It is not the hope of +personal profit works upon men to risk life. Let some exploiter of +industry desire to employ a thousand men at dangerous work, with the +risks of death or disablement equal to those of war; let it be known +that one in six will be killed and another be disabled, and what sum +will purchase the service of workers? They will risk life for the +State, though given a bare subsistence or a pay which they would +describe as inhuman if offered by one of the autocrats of industry. Men +working for the State will make the most extraordinary sacrifices; but +they stand stubbornly and sullenly as disturbers and blockers of all +industry which is run for private profit. Is it not clear of the two +policies for the State to adopt, to promote personal interests among its +citizens or to unite men for the general good, that the first path is +full of danger to the State, while through the other men will march +cheerfully, though it be to death, in defense of the State. Something, a +real life above the individual, acts through the national being, and +would almost suggest to us that Heaven cannot fully manifest its will to +humanity through the individual, but must utter itself through +multitudes. There must be an orchestration of humanity ere it can echo +divine melodies. In real truth we are all seeking in the majesties we +create for union with a greater Majesty. + +I wrote in an earlier page that the ancient conception of Nature as a +manifestation of spirit was incarnating anew in the minds of modern +thinkers; that Nature was no longer conceived of as material or static +in condition, but as force and continual motion; that they were trying +to identify human will with this arcane energy, and let the forces of +Nature manifest with more power in society. The real nature of these +energies manifesting in humanity I do not know, but they have been +hinted at in the Scriptures, the oracles of the Oversoul, which speak of +the whole creation laboring upwards and the entry of humanity into the +Divine Mind, and of the re-introcession of That Itself with all Its +myriad unity into Deity, so that God might be all in all. I believe +profoundly that men do not hold the ideas of liberty or solidarity, +which have moved them so powerfully, merely as phantasies which are +pleasant to the soul or make ease for the body; but because, whether +they struggle passionately for liberty or to achieve a solidarity, in +working for these two ideals, which seem in conflict, they are divinely +supported, in unison with the divine nature, and energies as real as +those the scientist studies--as electricity, as magnetism, heat or +light--do descend into the soul and reinforce it with elemental energy. +We are here for the purposes of soul, and there can be no purpose in +individualizing the soul if essential freedom is denied to it and there +is only a destiny. Wherever essential freedom, the right of the spirit +to choose its own heroes and its own ideals, is denied, nations rise in +rebellion. But the spirit in man is wrought in a likeness to Deity, +which is that harmony and unity of Being which upholds the universe; +and by the very nature of the spirit, while it asserts its freedom, its +impulses lead it to a harmony with all life, to a solidarity or +brotherhood with it. + +All these ideals of freedom, of brotherhood, of power, of justice, of +beauty, which have been at one time or another the fundamental idea in +civilizations, are heaven-born, and descended from the divine world, +incarnating first in the highest minds in each race, perceived by them +and transmitted to their fellow-citizens; and it is the emergence or +manifestation of one or other of these ideals in a group which is the +beginning of a nation; and the more strongly the ideal is held the more +powerful becomes the national being, because the synchronous vibration +of many minds in harmony brings about almost unconsciously a psychic +unity, a coalescing of the subconscious being of many. It is that inner +unity which constitutes the national being. + +The idea of the national being emerged at no recognizable point in our +history in Ireland. It is older than any name we know. It is not +earth-born, but the synthesis of many heroic and beautiful moments, and +these, it must be remembered, are divine in their origin. Every heroic +deed is an act of the spirit, and every perception of beauty is vision +with the divine eye, and not with the mortal sense. The spirit was +subtly intermingled with the shining of old romance, and it is no mere +phantasy which shows Ireland at its dawn in a misty light thronged with +divine figures, and beneath and nearer to us demi-gods and heroes fading +into recognizable men. The bards took cognizance only of the most +notable personalities who preceded them, and of these only the acts +which had a symbolic or spiritual significance; and these grew thrice +refined as generations of poets in enraptured musings along by the +mountains or in the woods brooded upon their heritage of story, until, +as it passed from age to age, the accumulated beauty grew greater than +the beauty of the hour. The dream began to enter into the children of +our race, and turn their thoughts from earth to that world in which it +had its inception. + +It was a common belief among the ancient peoples that each had a +national genius or deity who presided over them, in whose all-embracing +mind they were contained, and who was the shepherd of their destinies. +We can conceive of the national spirit in Ireland as first manifesting +itself through individual heroes or kings, and as the history of famous +warriors laid hold of the people, extending its influence until it +created therein the germs of a kindred nature. + +An aristocracy of lordly and chivalrous heroes is bound in time to +create a great democracy by the reflection of their character in the +mass, and the idea of the divine right of kings is succeeded by the idea +of the divine right of the people. If this sequence cannot be traced in +any one respect with historical regularity, it is because of the +complexity of national life, its varied needs, the vicissitudes of +history, and its infinite changes of sentiment. But the threads are all +taken up in the end; and ideals which were forgotten and absent from +the voices of men will be found, when recurred to, to have grown to a +rarer and more spiritual beauty in their quiet abode in the heart. The +seeds which were sown at the beginning of a race bear their flowers and +fruits towards its close, and already antique names begin to stir us +again with their power, and the antique ideals to reincarnate in us and +renew their dominion over us. + +They may not be recognized at first as a re-emergence of ancient moods. +The democratic economics of the ancient clans have vanished almost out +of memory, but the mood in which they were established reappears in +those who would create a communal or co-operative life in the nation +into which those ancient clans long since have melted. The instinct in +the clans to waive aside the weak and to seek for an aristocratic and +powerful character in their leaders reappears in the rising generation, +who turn from the utterer of platitudes to men of real intellect and +strong will. The object of democratic organization is to bring out the +aristocratic character in leadership, the vivid original personalities +who act and think from their own will and their own centres, who bring +down fire from the heaven of their spirits and quicken and vivify the +mass, and make democracies also to be great and fearless and free. A +nation is dead where men acknowledge only conventions. We must find out +truth for ourselves, becoming first initiates and finally masters in the +guild of life. The intellect of Ireland is in chains where it ought to +be free, and we have individualism in our economics which ought to be +co-ordinated and sternly disciplined out of the iniquity of free +profiteering. To quicken the intellect and imagination of Ireland, to +co-ordinate our economic life for the general good, should be the +objects of national policy, and will subserve the evolutionary purpose. +The free imagination and the aspiring mind alone climb into the higher +spheres and deflect for us the ethereal currents. It is the multitude +of aristocratic thinkers who give glory to a people and make them of +service to other nations, and it is by the character of the social order +and the quality of brotherhood in it our civilization will endure. +Without love we are nothing. + + + + + +XX. + + + +I beseech audience from the churches for these thoughts on our Irish +polity, and would recall to them their early history, how when the fiery +spirit of their Lord first manifested on earth, life, near to It, +reflected It as in a glowing glass, and impulses of true living arose. +Material possessions were held in common. There was no fierce talk of +Thine and Mine. His ancient law counseled poverty to the spirit, lest +the gates of Paradise should grow narrow before it like the eye of a +needle. I believe the fading hold the heavens have over the world is +due to the neglect of the economic basis of spiritual life. What +profound spiritual life can there be when the social order almost forces +men to battle with each other for the means of existence? I know well +that no political mechanics, nothing which is an economic device only, +will of themselves be able to affect the transfiguration of society and +bring it under the dominion of the spirit. For that, a far higher +quality of thought and action than is here indicated is necessary. The +economist can provide the daily bread, but that bread of the coming day +which Christ wished his followers to aspire to must come otherwise. +That should be the labor of the poets, artists, musicians, and of the +heroic and aristocratic characters who provide by their life an image to +which life can be modeled. Therefore I beseech audience not only of the +churches, but of the poets, writers, and thinkers of Ireland for their +aid in this labor. They alone can create in wide commonalty the ideals +which can dominate society. It is the work of the artist to create for +us images of desirable life, to manifest to us the ideal humanity, and +to prefigure that vaster entity which I have called the national being. +I said in an earlier page that part of the failure of Ireland must be +laid to the poets who had dropped out of the divine procession and sang +a solitary song; to the writers who had turned from contemplating the +great to the portrayal of the little in human nature. I know how +difficult it is to constrain the spirit, and how futile it is to ask +artists or poets to create what they are not inspired to create. But we +can ask all men--artists, poets, litterateurs, and scientists--to be +citizens, and if they realize imaginatively the spiritual conception of +the State, we may assume that this imaginative realization of the State +will influence the labors of the mind, and what is done will, +consciously or unconsciously, have reference to that collective being +which must dominate society more and more, which will dominate it as a +tyranny if we fail in our labors, or liberate and make more majestical +the spirit of man if we imagine rightly. All greatness is brought about +by a conspiracy of the imagination and the will. Our literature +certainly manifests beauty, but not greatness or majesty, for majesty +only arises where there is an orchestration of humanity by some mighty +conductor; and as a people we shall never manifest the highest +qualities in literature or life until we are under the dominion of one, +at least, of the great fundamental ideas which have been the inspiration +of races. Our feebleness arises from our economic individualism. We +continually neutralize each other's efforts. Yet there is no less power +in humanity today than there ever was. We see now clearly what untamed +elemental fires lay underneath the seeming placidity of the world. +There was a feeling in society that, just as the earth itself had +settled down to be a habitable globe, and was forgetting its ancient +ferocities of earthquake that opened up gulfs between land and land and +rended sea from sea, so, too, humanity was losing those wilder energies +we surmised in the cave-dweller or the hunters of mastodon, mammoth, and +cave-tiger. But it was all a dream--a dream, we suspect, about the +earth as well as about humanity. While we indulged in these pleasing +speculations on society, the scientists of our generation were placing +beyond question or argument the doctrine of the indestructibility of +energy and matter and we may be sure that while there is immortal life +there must be immortal energies as its companions through time, and they +will never be less powerful than they are today or were in the morning +of the world. There will be no weakening of that mighty God-begotten +brotherhood of elemental powers; and, while we cannot hope that by the +wastage of time these powers will be feebler, we may hope that by an +understanding of them we may get mastery over them. The wild elephant +of the woods, with a greater strength than man's, has yet been trained +to be his servant, and that arcane power we call electricity, which, if +it shoots out of its channel, shrivels up the body of man, is now our +servant. So we may hope, too, that the elemental energies in humanity +itself, which break out in wars and Armageddons, will come under +control. We should not hope that man will ever be a less powerful +being. To hope that would be to wish for his degradation. We should +wish him to become ever more and more powerful by understanding himself, +and by the unity of the spiritual faculties and the elemental energies +in him into one harmonious whole. At present he is feeble because he +is, to use the scriptural illustration, a house divided against itself. + +Our feebleness is due to the conflict of powers in us and our conflict +with each other. Get the two mightiest bulls in a herd, put them +opposing each other in a narrow passage, and they, being of equal +strength, will reduce each other to feebleness. Neither will make +headway. Let them unite together in their charge, and what will oppose +them? Men at conflict in their own hearts, opposing each other in the +world, reduce themselves and each other to wretchedness. The race which +could eliminate the factors which promote internal conflict in society +and could organize human energies in harmony, would be powerful beyond +our wildest dreams. Every now and then in world-history we come across +instances of what organized humanity could accomplish. There are +fragments of an architecture so majestic that they awe us as the high +rocks of nature do, and they seem almost like portions of nature itself, +and truly they are so, being portions of nature remade by man, who is +also a nature energy of divine origin. Europe by its conflicts today is +reducing itself to barbarism and powerlessness, and these conflicts +arose out of the internal conflicts in society, for individuals and +nations act outside themselves as they act inside themselves. The +problem for Europe is to create a harmonious life, and it is the problem +for us in Ireland, and we will have to work this out for ourselves. The +creation of a harmonious life among a people must come from within. It +can never come by the imposition of an external law imposed by another +people: Never did master and slave work in true unison, no matter how +benevolent the master or how yielding the slave, for there is in every +man, no matter what his condition, a spark of divine life, and it will +always be ready to stir him out of subjection, as the fires of +earthquake lie below the cultivated plain. Man is a creature who has +free will, and it is by self-devised and self-checked efforts he will +attain his full human stature. So the problem of creating an organic +life in Ireland, a harmony of our people, a union of their efforts for +the common good and for the manifestation of whatever beauty, majesty, +and spirituality is in us, must be one we ourselves must solve for +ourselves. + +To be indifferent to the possibilities of human life, to ignore the +problem, is to turn our back on heaven, which fashioned the spirit of +man in its image. If the spirit of man has likeness to Deity, it means +that if it manifests itself fully in the world, the world too becomes a +shadowy likeness of the heavens, and our civilizations will make a +harmony with the diviner spheres. We give still a service of lip belief +to the Scriptures, yet active faith we have not. But they are true, +yesterday, today, and for ever; and we have still the root of the +matter in us, for when any one utters out of profound conviction his +faith, there are always multitudes ready to respond. What really +prevents an organic unity in Ireland is the economic individualism of +our lives. The science of economics deals with the efforts of men to +mine out of nature the food, minerals, and materials necessary to +preserve life. There is nothing more certain than that where men work +alone or only with the aid of their families they are little higher than +the animals. When they tend to unite civilization begins. Then arise +the towers, the temples, the cities, the achievements of the architect +and engineer. The earth is tapped of its arcane energies, the very air +yields to us its mysterious powers. We control the etheric waves and +send the message of our deeds across the ocean. Yet in the midst of +these vast external manifestations of power, multitudes of men and women +live in squalor, isolated in their labors, living in the slums of +cities; and this, if we examine it, comes about because the +organization of human energies into a harmonious unity is not complete. +There is really no lack of food, clothing, building material, land. +Nature has provided bountifully for more myriads than we are likely to +see peopling the earth. But people compete with each other and +undersell each other, and those who labor are mulcted of their due, and +instead of turning to the earth--the inexhaustible mother--and working +unitedly for the common weal, they continue that fierce competition and +stultify each other's efforts and reduce each other to wretchedness. +Humanity is a house divided against itself. Those who feel this to be +true must gather round any movement which gives a hope for the future, +which indicates a policy by which the organic unity of society in +Ireland might be attained, and our people work harmoniously to make +beauty and health prevail in our civilization. What each gives up to +society in the making of a civilization he gets back a thousandfold. +Now, the co-operative movement alone of all movements in Ireland has +aspired to make an economic solidarity in Ireland. Whatever the aims of +other movements may be--and many of them have high ideals and are +necessary for the spiritual and intellectual development of our people-- +there is none of them which has for aim the unity of economic life. +They all leave untouched this problem--how are we to organize society so +that people will not be in conflict with each other, will not nullify +each other's efforts, but all will conspire together for unity, so that +none shall be forgotten or oppressed or left out of our brotherhood? +The policy I put forward is incomplete and imperfect, and it must +necessarily be so, being mainly the work of one mind, and to complete it +and perfect it there must be many minds and many workers fired by the +ideal. But I have indicated in some completeness how the rural +population could be co-operatively organized, federated together, and +how the urban population could be organized and brought into a harmony +of economic purpose with the folk of the country. Within the limits of +object these suggestions amount to a policy for the nation. + +If the tragic condition of the world leaves us unstirred, if we draw no +lessons from it, if there is no fiery stirring of will in Ireland to +make it a better place to live in, then indeed we may lose hope for our +country. Let us remember the most scornful condemnation in Scripture +was not given to the evil but to the indifferent: "Because thou art +neither hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth." Let us not be +the Laodiceans of Europe, listless and indifferent to human needs, +swallowing our whisky and our porter, stupefying our souls, while our +poor are sweated; letting the children of our cities die with more +carelessness about life than the people of any other European country, +with sectarian organization's crawling in secrecy like poisonous +serpents through the undergrowth of swamps and forests. The co- +operative movement is at least open and ideal in its aims and objects. +It is national and not sectional. It seeks the triumph of no section +but the unity of our people, where unity alone is possible. Our +intransigents and extremists of all parties are not hurt or wounded by +their adhesion to the co-operative ideal. We may make up our minds that +the stubborn Irish temperament will never be overcome, but it may be +won, and the movement which invites all parties and creeds into its +ranks and gives them the largest opportunities of working together and +understanding each other, gives also the largest hope of the gradual +melting of old bitterness into a common tolerance where what is best +essentially wins; for all true triumphs are triumphs not of force, but +the conquest by a superior beauty of what is less beautiful. We should +aim at a society where people will be at harmony in their economic life, +will readily listen to different opinions from their own, will not turn +sour faces on those who do not think as they do, but will, by reason and +sympathy, comprehend each other and come at last, through sympathy and +affection, to a balancing of their diversities, as in that multitudinous +diversity, which is the universe, powers and dominions and elements are +balanced, and are guided harmoniously by the Shepherd of the Ages. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's National Being, by (A.E.)George William Russell + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL BEING *** + +This file should be named irpol10.txt or irpol10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, irpol11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, irpol10a.txt + +Produced by Jake Jaqua + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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