The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

19'72 THE ECONOMIC-POWER SYNDROME 215essary, in The Revolt of theMasses, to distinguish in his discussionof governmental power betweenpolitical aggression and politicalrule. Observing the plainfact that Napoleon's conquest ofSpain obviously did not accordwith the opinion of the Spanishpeople, he said: "It is necessary todistinguish between a process ofaggression and a state of rule."The distinction, however, is bothunnecessary and misleading;Napoleon could subjugate Spainonly because its whole people, relativeto the people of France fromwhom Napoleon derived his power,amounted to a minority. The samesituation prevails between the peopleof Russia and the people ofCzechoslovakia today. The powerof Russia to quell the Czech revoltwas founded in the opinion of theRussian people, or at any rate ofthe .ruling majority of Russians,that it was better to support theirgovernment in its domination ofthe Czechs than to withhold suchsupport. I dare say that the samephenomena of majority rule determinedthe events in this countryin the period 1861-65. Theopinion of Northerners prevailedover the opinion of Southernersbecause there were more of themand they had more hardware. ·It is important to observe thecomprehensiveness and uniformityof the relationship between opinionand power. Within Spain duringthe Napoleonic wars, or Czechoslovakiatoday, or the SouthernStates during the War betweenthe States, the situation was notdifferent in kind from the situationbetween those countries andthe aggressors who subjugatedthem. Within each, the government,resting upon the opinion ofthe majority, similarly subjugatednonconsenting internal minorities.The government of Napoleon hadto deal with recalcitrants not onlyin Spain but also in France; andthe same was true within theNorthern States in 1861-65 and istrue today within Russia.The internal government of anystate, in brief, while resting aslong as it lasts upon the opinionof the consenting majority, imposesits will by force upon a nonconsentingminority. That is thespecific nature of governmentpower.I have had to emphasize, thepoint because it is common in ourtime to overlook this feature ofpolitical power, and because, inoverlooking this obvious feature,much of the confusion relating toeconomic power rests.The sharp difference betweeneconomic power and political powerdoes not reside in their respectivefoundations; both kinds of powerrest in opinion. The significant differencebetween economic and po-