s3 (1)

lsquoThe Politics of the FuturersquoAn Unknown Text by Eacutemile Durkheim

Jennifer Mergy

In April 1917 the daily newspaper La Deacutepecircche de Toulouse ndash The ToulouseWire ndash published Durkheimrsquos response to a survey entitled lsquoThe Politics ofthe Futurersquo1 Along with a number of politicians economists and intellectu-als the sociologist was asked to give his opinion on party politics after theend of the war and specifically on the countryrsquos economic reconstruction

We know that in the previous year Durkheim met one of the erarsquos great-est journalists La Deacutepecircchersquos co-editor and radical republican Arthur Huc2

who offered him a regular contribution to the Toulouse daily Durkheimdeclined3 without excluding the possibility of preparing a piece on the re-publican party and how it might open up to socialism (1998a 518) Duringthe war Durkheim set out to renew socialist tenets because he was con-vinced that Marxist socialism and a certain sort of internationalism hadmoved away from the foundations and traditions of French socialism (ibid543) He also offered his help to an organization that regrouped represen-tatives from leftist movements the SFIO (Section franccedilaise de lrsquoInterna-tionale ouvriegravere) in particular its general secretary Louis Dubreuilh4

In this context and shortly after Arthur Hucrsquos visit Durkheim wrote toMauss and in reference to Huc lsquoHe has written to me again since then toask me to write something to show the republican party the direction itshould go in to prepare it in advance for a revision of its programmersquo(ibid 518)

Durkheim did not hesitate to contribute to surveys5 but it is known thathe seldom wrote for a newspaper6 Durkheimrsquos text for La Deacutepecircche is prob-ably the last one published during his lifetime7 As to when it was actuallywritten it is possible to situate it in MayndashJune 1916 accordingly well beforeits publication He had fewer obligations at that time his health was rela-tively stable and his work allowed him temporary relief from the shock ofhis sonrsquos death lsquolife triumphs over deathrsquo (ibid 507)8 Writing from Biar-ritz on 27 April 1916 Durkheim told Mauss lsquoSo I feel fully ready to resumeactive life I regret having almost nothing very much in view to occupy me

Durkheimian Studies Volume 15 2009 7ndash14 Durkheim Press doi103167ds2009150103 ISSN 1362-024X

except my collaboration with La Deacutepecircchersquo (ibid 519) A week later Durk-heim confided to his nephew

But in fifteen days the book containing the lsquolettersrsquo will be printed my com-mission on foreigners will have finished its work at the end of May I shall thenhave a lot of chores and long hard labour off my hands It must not be like thatPerhaps now I should try to write for La Deacutepecircche (ibid 521)9

In February 1917 La Deacutepecircche published the first responses to its surveywhich had two questions Like others questioned Durkheim did notrespond to the first considering the exercise impossible from a scientificstandpoint or imprudent for political reasons10 (1) Is it necessary to antic-ipate a profound change after the war in the political situation (2) Is therenot reason to suppose that the economic issue will have to be placed at theforefront of party programmes

Durkheimrsquos analysis of lsquoThe Politics of the Futurersquo resembles his re-sponse to the enquiry on lsquoThe School of the Futurersquo (1916c) In this articlehe takes up again the idea of Francersquos moral greatness to illustrate the im-portance of attachment to the group respect for rules and discipline butalso to mobilize the action of the French around a common goal the warwhich has become the objective of all individual acts Moreover in theimmediate post-war period collective action will not be able to make dowith material interests a lsquogreat nationrsquo measures itself by the degree of itsmoral conduct11 The morality of the future must base itself on membershipin the nation provided that it takes into account on a priority basis theweight of history with its ideals of justice and humanity

Part of the interest of this text is that we rediscover in it other themespresent in Durkheimrsquos early works He returns to the issue of occupationalgroups that play the intermediary role between the State and private indi-viduals in encouraging the latter to participate in social life In his previouswritings12 Durkheim insists on the practical necessity of groups to organizeand circumscribe economic activity as the State is unable to manage every-thing In 1917 the organization of the modern economy developed on anational and international scale does not cease to be a concern Howeverthe town-based corporative system seems little adapted to cope with thenew needs of the market of large industrial enterprises14

The experience of the war led Durkheim to highlight the role of the Stateequally in both the French and English cases Once again he criticizes theclassical economists for their lsquofalse antagonism between individual andStatersquo in his insistence that economic organization is a vehicle of socialinterests in coming about it is hardly according to the motives of an ego-istic and utilitarian individualism15 The Statersquos social obligations in eco-nomic matters which gave rise to numerous debates since the FrenchRevolution will more than ever be on the agenda after the war In 1917 the

Jennifer Mergy

8

issue for Durkheim was not therefore an increase in production but rathera re-organization of economic activity and a better distribution of profits soas to return to the principles of Saint-Simonian socialism16

To that end socialism lsquoconsists in a linkage of industrial functions to theStatersquo ([1928a] 1971 61) To link17 and not to subordinate economic activ-ity to the State since the latterrsquos function consists in organizing and regu-lating via centralization the disparate mass of individual activities18 TheDurkheimian conception of the State explains this position the Stateshould not have its own interests unlike a Colbertian or mercantilist Stateor a State set above civil society as according to Heinrich von Treitschke Insum it is necessary to place politics (the State) and the economy at the ser-vice of society

In this text the centralizing function of the State opens the way to thenationalization of enterprises19 so as to make them lsquopublic servicesrsquo an ideadear to his former colleague at Bordeaux the jurist Leacuteon Duguit This inter-ventionist approach was already present in the unfinished study History ofSocialism a course given by Durkheim at Bordeaux in 1895ndash189620 and itstheoretical framework is taken up again in lsquoThe Politics of the Futurersquo In ithe observes that the development of a state apparatus is relatively recentand is in line with a historical movement that follows on from the forma-tion of national societies and from economic and political centralization([1928a] 1971 70ndash72) The State without becoming more absolute playsan ever more active role in the organization of economic activity The warhas only reinforced this tendency in expanding the role of the State

However if Durkheim attributes to the State the function of a social in-stitution it is only in the name of collective utility that it becomes centralfor regulating the distribution of capital Durkheim subordinates economicto social ends because the former involve individual appetites that areinsatiable hence lsquomorbidrsquo (ibid 225) On this point the author sets him-self apart from Saint-Simon and his disciple Armand Bazard who foundedthe society for a would-be religion having lsquofor its theology science andindustry as a cultrsquo (ibid 257) Above and external to the individual it is nec-essary that moderating forces of a moral order serve to neutralize and dis-cipline individual caprices (ibid 223)

In post-war France what is to be this moral foundation At the begin-ning of his text Durkheim evokes the transition from a lsquocritical periodrsquo inwhich the traditional structure must adapt itself to new national aspira-tions sometimes unconscious21 It contrasts with an lsquoorganic periodrsquo totake up the Saint-Simonian distinction developed by Bazard and that Durk-heim discusses in Socialism (ibid 224) If the critical period is one of ques-tioning of destruction of conflicting individual activities ndash cf lsquoa sort ofdeclinersquo (ibid 238) ndash the organic period is characterized by reconstructionand co-ordinated social activity thanks to a maximum of order and com-

lsquoThe Politics of the Futurersquo An Unknown Text by Eacutemile Durkheim

9

mon beliefs that serve as the moral basis However Durkheim separateshimself from both Saint-Simonian and Comtian thought by his conceptionof modern society in which the lsquocriticalrsquo and lsquoorganicrsquo periods co-exist andone extends into the other The situation after the war would be a paradig-matic case of an intermediate period which would see systems of beliefbeing born and dying off in which new forces would oppose themselves tothe established order in which criticism and faith would co-exist (ibid238ndash240 247ndash250)

The work of re-organizing society is not just a sociologistrsquos recommen-dation ([1890a] 1970a 225) this is borne out by the experience of the warwhich has brought home to the entire population the role of the social con-science The sense of solidarity is no longer unique to sociologists TheEuropean conflict is proof that individuals can subordinate their interests tothose of society through the sacrifices they make something that makes thewar a unique experience or lsquowithout parallelrsquo Durkheim explains that with-out this constant generalized effort the lsquosense of the socialrsquo returns to alatent state Hence the necessary effort to maintain national solidarity inpeacetime moreover this idea is also found in many other responses to thesame survey taken by La Deacutepecircche for example that of Leacuteon Bourgeois

A year and a half after he wrote this text Durkheim died on 17 Novem-ber 1917 that is immediately following Georges Clemenceaursquos accession topower after a wave of defeatism and pacifism and the disintegration of thelsquoSacred Unionrsquo The philosopher Gabriel Seacuteailles Durkheimrsquos former col-league at the Eacutecole Normale Supeacuterieure wrote in La Deacutepecircche

M Eacutemile Durckheim22 has just diedhellip France not only loses in him a distin-guished scholar who was an honour to her throughout the world she loses agood citizen who never dissociated himself from public affairs Concernedabout the aftermath of the war he saw the necessity more pressing than everto organize our democracy by giving it a sense of order in the practice of lib-erty Social science led him to politics like theory to its applications and hehad undertaken a commitment to explain to the readers of La Deacutepecircche the ideasthat came to him through command of the laws of human society (Seacuteailles1917 1)

Notes

1 This article was translated by J Mergy and W Watts Miller from lsquoldquoLa Poli-tique de Demainrdquo Un texte inconnu drsquoEmile Durkheimrsquo Durkheimian StudiesEtudes durkheimiennes ns 5 1999 1ndash7 An extract of Durkheimrsquos responseis cited by Louis Narquet (1918 634) picked up on and translated by StevenLukes (1973 554) who does not give details about the original article Wehave rediscovered the text by going through La Deacutepecircche at the time LaDeacutepecircche du Midi (Toulouse) See also Lerner (1975)

Jennifer Mergy

10

2 Together with his sister-in lawrsquos husband the radical-socialist senator MauriceSarraut Arthur Huc ran La Deacutepecircche de Toulouse a regional daily newspa-per that was highly regarded at the time both at a local and national level Aclose friend of Marshal Joffre and of Gambetta Huc was a free-thinker ananti-clericalist and a free-mason who signed many of his articles under thepseudonyms Homodeacutei or Pierre et Paul (lsquoMan of Godrsquo or lsquoPeter and Paulrsquo)Founded in 1870 [the year of the collapse of Louis-Napoleonrsquos so-called lsquoSec-ond Empirersquo (translatorsrsquo note)] La Deacutepecircche had the sub-title Journal ofDemocracy and was the oracle of radical thought Among its columnists weremany distinguished intellectuals politicians and economists Alphonse AulardCeacutelestin Bougleacute Joseph Paul-Boncour Edouard Herriot Paul Painleveacute AlbertSarraut (Mauricersquos brother) Aimeacute Berthod Eacutemile Borel Gaston Jeacuteze andGeorges Scelle

3 According to Mauss Durkheim was always consistent on the issue of partypolitics from the Dreyfus Affair up until the war He did not belong to a partyand opted for aligning with the lsquomiddle groundrsquo Nevertheless he was not apo-litical for example he criticized the idea of an international working class SeeMauss ([1928] 1971 29)

4 In January 1915 on the advice of the socialist Marcel Sembat Durkheimmade contact with the Jauresian socialists and editors of LrsquoHumaniteacute PierreRenaudel (the leader of the majority) and Jean Longuet (one of the leaders ofthe minority and Karl Marxrsquos grandson) He wanted information that wouldhelp with the spread of socialist views to neutral countries specifically in hisQui a voulu la guerre (1915b) To discuss the Socialist Party Durkheim alsolinked up with Marious Moutet deputy for the Rhone In August 1916 heagain confirmed his availability to Dubreuilh Renaud and Moutet at the sametime expressing the need to maintain the unity of the SFIO and to excludethe idea of an international working class from the countryrsquos socialism SeeDurkheim (1998a 426 430 437 446 449 492 498 540ndash543 547)

5 Durkheim (1897f 1899b 1899c 1899d 1902d 1904e 1905b 1907c 1908e1908f 1916c)

6 We have located three cases 1901h 1907e 1915g7 According to Lukesrsquos bibliography the only text to appear in 1917 before

Durkheimrsquos death was the obituary for his son Andreacute but we do not knowthe month in which it appeared (1917a) In the case of posthumous publica-tions we can cite one of these 1917b The pages on ethics written betweenMarch and September represent probably the last text that Durkheim workedon before passing (1920a)

8 The death of Andreacute Durkheim was confirmed to his father on 24 February 19169 Durkheim had finished his contribution to Lettres agrave tous les Franccedilais (1916a)

At the time he was a member of the Commission for the review of residencepermits and of the Committee on the situation of Russian refugees This wasorganized by the Ministry of the Interior for whom he made a report in Feb-ruary 1916 (1990a) as well as the one completed in July 1916 (1993a) SeeDurkheim (1998a 499 537ndash538)

10 The majority of those who responded to the surveyrsquos first question reflectedon the experience of the lsquoSacred Unionrsquo ndash as it was called by Raymond Poin-


11

careacute and which was the term given to the politics of national reconciliationadopted in 1914 by the leader of the government Reneacute Viviani

11 Moral concern with the idea of the nation appears in other responses to thesurvey for example that of Charles Richet

12 Durkheim (1902b 1921a 47ndash48 [1928a] 1971 201 229 1950a 46ndash51) 13 Durkheim ([1893c] 1970a [1921b] 1971 49) On the moral aspect see Durk-

heim ([1893c] 1970a 229ndash230 [1921b] 1971 223ndash234 and also 1897a book3 ch 3)

14 On the growth of an international corporative spirit see Durkheim ([1928a]1971 201)

15 Durkheim ([1898c] 1970a 262 [1899e] 1975b III 171 [1958a] 1975b III177ndash178)

16 Emphasis on the organization of production appears in two other responses tothe same survey This idea is evoked in Durkheim ([1893c] 1970a 232 235)

17 Durkheim ([1893c] 1970a 231 235 [1928a] 1971 48 61 69)18 Durkheim ([1893c] 1970a 230ndash231 [1928a] 1971 48ndash49 51)19 Although how monopolies operate in practice is not necessarily socialist ndash see

Durkheim ([1928a] 1971 43)20 Socialism is especially present in Durkheimrsquos work in the years 1893ndash1898

after which the undertaking of the Anneacutee sociologique takes centre stage ndash seeMauss ([1925] 1969 III 483 505)

21 On the emergence of new lsquonational aspirationsrsquo but in an lsquounconsciousprocessrsquo see Durkheimrsquos article on the French Revolution ([1890a] 1970a 216)

22 Durkheimrsquos contemporaries often wrote his name in this way

References

Durkheim Eacute [1890a] 1970a lsquoLes principes de 1789 et la sociologiersquo In 1970a215ndash225

____ [1893c] 1970a lsquoNote sur la deacutefinition du socialismersquo In 1970a 226ndash235____ 1897a Le suicide Paris Alcan____ 1897f Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur lrsquoœuvre de H Tainersquo Revue blanche 13

287ndash291 reprinted in 1975b I 171ndash177____ [1898c] 1970a lsquoLrsquoindividualisme et les intellectuelsrsquo In 1970a 261ndash278____ 1899b Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur la guerre et le militarismersquo LrsquoHumaniteacute

nouvelle May 50ndash52 reprinted in 1975b III 160ndash164____ 1899c Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur lrsquointroduction de la sociologie dans

lrsquoenseignement secondairersquo Revue internationale de sociologie 7 679reprinted in 1975b I 51ndash52

____ 1899d Contribution to H Dagan Enquecircte sur lrsquoantiseacutemitisme Paris Stockpp 59ndash63 reprinted in 1975b II 252ndash254

____ [1899e] 1975b Review of S Merlino Formes et essence du socialisme In1975b III 163ndash172

____ 1901h Review of a conference on lsquoReligion et libre penseacuteersquo La PetiteGironde 24 May reprinted in 1975b I 425ndash427

Jennifer Mergy

12

____ 1902b lsquoPreface on Occupational Groupsrsquo In La Division du travail social2nd edition Paris Alcan pp indashxxxvi

____ 1902d Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur lrsquoinfluence allemandersquo Mercure deFrance 44 647ndash648 reprinted in 1975b I 400

____ 1904e Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur lrsquoeacutelite intellectuel et la deacutemocratiersquoRevue bleue 5th series 1 705ndash706 reprinted in 1970a 279ndash281

____ 1905b Contribution to lsquoLa morale sans dieu essai de solution collectiversquoLa revue 59 306ndash308 reprinted in 1975b II 334ndash337

____ 1907c Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte internationale sur la question religieusersquoMercure de France 67 51 reprinted in 1975b II 169ndash170

____ 1907e lsquoO Hamelinrsquo Le Temps 18 September reprinted in 1975b I 428ndash429____ 1908e Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur lrsquoimpuissance parlementairersquo La Revue

63 396ndash397 reprinted in 1975b III 189____ 1908f Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur la sociologiersquo Les documents du progreacutes

2 131ndash132 reprinted in 1975b I 58ndash61____ 1915b Qui a voulu la guerre Les origines de la guerre drsquoapreacutes les documents

diplomatiques Paris Colin____ 1915g lsquoFrench Rebut Germanyrsquos Bad Faith Accusationsrsquo New York Tribune

18 April reprinted in Durkheimian StudiesEtudes durkheimiennes ns 31997 pp 2ndash10

____ 1916a Lettres agrave tous les Franccedilais Paris Comiteacute de publication____ 1916c lsquoLa grandeur morale de la Francersquo Manuel geacuteneacuteral de lrsquoInstruction

primaire Journal hebdomadaire des instituteurs et des institutrices 8 January217ndash218 reprinted in Revue franccedilaise de sociologie 17 1976 pp 193ndash195

____ 1917a lsquoAndreacute Durkheimrsquo Obituary in Annuaire de lrsquoAssociation amicale desanciens eacutelegraveves de lrsquoEacutecole normale supeacuterieure pp 201ndash205 reprinted in 1975bI 446ndash452

____ 1917b Contributions to discussion of lsquoVocabulaire technique et critique dela philosophiersquo Bulletin de la Socieacutete franccedilaise de philosophie 15 1ndash2 (onlsquosocietyrsquo) 57 (on lsquothe sacredrsquo) reprinted in 1975b I 71 and 1975b II 64ndash65

____ 1917c Contribution to lsquoEnquecircte sur la politique de demainrsquo La Deacutepecircche deToulouse 17 April 1ndash2 reprinted in Durkheimian StudiesEtudes durk-heimiennes ns 5 1999 pp 8ndash12

____ 1920a lsquoIntroduction agrave la moralersquo Revue philosophique 89 79ndash97 reprintedin 1975b II 313ndash331

____ 1921a lsquoLa famille conjugalersquo Revue philosophique 90 1ndash14 reprinted in1975b III 35ndash49

____ [1921b] 1971 lsquoDeacutefinition du socialismersquo In [1928a] 1971 35ndash57 ____ [1928a] 1971 Le socialisme Paris Presses Universitaires de France____ 1950a Leccedilons de sociologie Paris Presses Universitaires de France____ [1958a] 1975b lsquoLrsquoEacutetatrsquo Revue philosophique 148 433ndash437 reprinted in

1975b III 172ndash178____ 1970a La science sociale et lrsquoaction Ed Jean-Claude Filloux Paris Presses

Universitaires de France____ 1975b Textes 3 vols Ed Victor Karady Paris Minuit ____ 1990a lsquoRapport sur la situation des Russes du deacutepartement de la Seinersquo

feacutevrier 1916 in Genegraveses 2 168ndash177


13

____ 1993a lsquoNote sur les mesures ayant pour objet drsquoobliger les russes reacutefugieacutesen Angleterrre srsquoengager dans lrsquoarmeacutee anglaise ou agrave rejoindre lrsquoarmeacutee russersquo14 juillet 1916 in Etudes durkheimiennesDurkheim Studies 5 6ndash8

____ 1998a Lettres agrave Marcel Mauss Eds Philippe Besnard and Marcel FournierParis Presses Universitaires de France

Lerner H 1975 La Deacutepecircche de Toulouse Journale de la deacutemocratie Contributionagrave lrsquohistoire du radicalisme franccedilais sous la Troisiegraveme Reacutepublique 1870ndash1945 3vols Thesis Universiteacute de Paris X Nanterre

Lukes S 1973 Eacutemile Durkheim His Life and Work London Allen LaneMauss M [1925] 1969 lsquoIn memoriam Lrsquoœuvre ineacutedite de Durkheim et de ses

collaborateursrsquo Œuvres III Paris Minuit pp 473ndash499____ [1928] 1971 lsquoIntroduction to E Durkheimrsquo Le socialisme Paris Presses

Universitaires de France pp 27ndash31Narquet L 1918 lsquoLa transformation de la mentaliteacute franccedilaisersquo Mercure de

France n 480 16 June 618ndash636Seacuteailles G 1917 lsquoEacutemile Durckheimrsquo [sic] La Deacutepecircche de Toulouse 15 December 1

Jennifer Mergy

14

except my collaboration with La Deacutepecircchersquo (ibid 519) A week later Durk-heim confided to his nephew

But in fifteen days the book containing the lsquolettersrsquo will be printed my com-mission on foreigners will have finished its work at the end of May I shall thenhave a lot of chores and long hard labour off my hands It must not be like thatPerhaps now I should try to write for La Deacutepecircche (ibid 521)9

In February 1917 La Deacutepecircche published the first responses to its surveywhich had two questions Like others questioned Durkheim did notrespond to the first considering the exercise impossible from a scientificstandpoint or imprudent for political reasons10 (1) Is it necessary to antic-ipate a profound change after the war in the political situation (2) Is therenot reason to suppose that the economic issue will have to be placed at theforefront of party programmes

Durkheimrsquos analysis of lsquoThe Politics of the Futurersquo resembles his re-sponse to the enquiry on lsquoThe School of the Futurersquo (1916c) In this articlehe takes up again the idea of Francersquos moral greatness to illustrate the im-portance of attachment to the group respect for rules and discipline butalso to mobilize the action of the French around a common goal the warwhich has become the objective of all individual acts Moreover in theimmediate post-war period collective action will not be able to make dowith material interests a lsquogreat nationrsquo measures itself by the degree of itsmoral conduct11 The morality of the future must base itself on membershipin the nation provided that it takes into account on a priority basis theweight of history with its ideals of justice and humanity

Part of the interest of this text is that we rediscover in it other themespresent in Durkheimrsquos early works He returns to the issue of occupationalgroups that play the intermediary role between the State and private indi-viduals in encouraging the latter to participate in social life In his previouswritings12 Durkheim insists on the practical necessity of groups to organizeand circumscribe economic activity as the State is unable to manage every-thing In 1917 the organization of the modern economy developed on anational and international scale does not cease to be a concern Howeverthe town-based corporative system seems little adapted to cope with thenew needs of the market of large industrial enterprises14

The experience of the war led Durkheim to highlight the role of the Stateequally in both the French and English cases Once again he criticizes theclassical economists for their lsquofalse antagonism between individual andStatersquo in his insistence that economic organization is a vehicle of socialinterests in coming about it is hardly according to the motives of an ego-istic and utilitarian individualism15 The Statersquos social obligations in eco-nomic matters which gave rise to numerous debates since the FrenchRevolution will more than ever be on the agenda after the war In 1917 the

Jennifer Mergy

8







9





Notes


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References









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s3 (1)

Documents

Transcript of s3 (1)