"Architecture or Revolution": Taylorism, Technocracy, and Social ...

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Social Democratie: Un projet urbain ideal no. 11/12, p. 1223. typique: agglomeration parisienne 1919- 1939, Paris, Institut d'Etudes et de Recherches Architecturales et Urbaines, Ministere d l'Environment et du Cadre de Vie, C.O.R.D.A., 77 73 028 00 202 7501, n.d. 48 The postwar "call to order" is evident in both the political and cultural spheres. For a discussion of the conservative reaction on the cultural sphere, see Universit6 de Saint- Etienne, Retour a l'ordre, and especially 58 Alexander de Senger, Le Cheval de troie du bolchevisme, Bienne, Editions du Chandelier, 1931. The best discussion of de Senger's text, as well as of Mauclair's L'Architecture va-t- 40 Georges Benoit-Levy, La Formation de la Silver's excellent article, "Purism: Straight- elle mourir?, is still Gauthier's Le Corburace, Vichy, n.d., cited in Phillips, "New- Corporatist Praxis," p. 406. 41 Benoit-Levy, Paris s'entendu, Nice, Societe Generale d'Imprimerie, 1927, pp. 42-43; idem, La Cite-jardin, Paris, Jouve, 1904. La Cite-jardin predates the widespread introduction of Taylorism in France, but it relates directly to ideas of rationalization of production. Benoit-Levy opened the text with a quotation from the Le Play's Saint- Simonian text, L'Organisation du travail. He argued for the need for "ville modeles" to accompany "ateliers models." For ening Up after the Great War," Artform 15, no. 7 (March 1977), pp. 56-63; also his dissertation, "Esprit de Corps." 49 Many of the strongest advocates of European economic integration were advocates of industrial modernization. Loucheur served as president of the French Pan-Europe committee, and was followed upon his death in 1931 by Mercier. Both were associates of Le Corbusier, as was the internationalist Paul Otlet, Le Corbusier's client for the Mundaneam. The Pan-Europe movement was founded after World War I by Count Coudenhovesier. See also Jacques Gubler, Nationalisme et internationalisme dans l'architecture modeme de la Suisse, Lausanne, L'Age d'homme, 1975. 59 Le Corbusier, Towards, p. 261. 60 Paul Lafitte, "A propos de la Grand Crise," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 16, p. 1900. 61 Ibid., p. 1889. 62 Hertz, "Balbutiements de l'esprit politique III," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 24; Jean Lurgat, "Le Cartel des Ind6pendants," ibid. Benoit-Levy's influence on Le Corbusier, see Paul V. Turner, "The Education of Le Corbusier: A Study of the Development of Le Corbusier's Thought, 1900-1920," dissertation, Harvard University, 1971, pp. 129-33. 42 Fayol, Management, p. 96. During the war, Le Corbusier studied at the Bibliotheque Nationale Alfred de Foville's L'Enquete sur les conditions de l'habitation en France, Les Maisons Types, Paris, 1894. The book, utilizing Foville's research with the Section des Sciences Economiques et Sociales du Comit6 des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques of the Musee Social, is an early illustration of social engineering. In contrast to earlier academic studies such as Charles Gamier's L'Habitation humaine, the book proposes a new scientific and statistical approach to design; implicit is a notion of potential social reform. See Gregh, "The Dom-ino Idea," p. 82; Taylor, Pessac, p. 1. 43 Devinat, Scientific Management, p. 78; Dubreuil, Standards, pp. 10-11. 44 Le Corbusier published Perret's drawings for a concrete house in "Maison en Serie" and Gamier's Cit6 Industrielle" in "Trois rappels a MM. les Architectes," Esprit Nouveau no. 4. Perret's drawings, however, were omitted in Vers une architecture. Kalegi, a European nobleman of international 63 Hertz, L'Esprit Nouveau no. 24. ancestry. See Richard F. Kuisel, Ernest 64 Mercier, French Maier, "Between Technocrat, Taylorism and Technoc- Berkeley, University of California Press, 1967, p. 73. racy," p. 38. For the broader world vision of French Tay- 65 Le Corbusier, Towards, p. 254. lorists, see Merkle, Managment and Ideol- 66 Le ogy, p. 137. Corbusier, "La Grand Ville," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 23, in Le Corbusier, City, p. 50 Le Corbusier, "Nos moyens," L'Esprit 102. Nouveau no. 27, in Le Corbusier, City, p. 67 La Direction, "Ce 140. que nous avons fait, ce que nous ferons," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 51 Ibid., pp. 147-48,296. 11/12, pp. 1212, 1213. 52 Camille Mauclair, L'Architecture va-t-elle 68 L'Esprit Nouveau no. 11/12, p. 1372; ibid. mourir? La crise du "panbetonnisme inte- no. 10, p. 1202. gral," Paris, Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1933, 69 Francis p. 38. Delaisi, "Faut-il emettre 150 milliards de billets de banque?" L'Esprit Nou- 53 The association of forms with national iden- veau no. 8, pp. 927-934; see also n. 43 tity or patriotic allegiance was most common above. Le Corbusier wrote in Urbanisme, p. throughout World War I and the 1920s. 277, that he had hoped to give the chapter Ozenfant in his article in L'Esprit Nouveau "Chiffres" to Francis Delaisi to write. on Villa Schwob (1916) addressed this issue: 70 Le "even nationalism has become mixed Corbusier, City, pp. 251-72, 302. up with it and certain fine spirits have decreed 71 Le Corbusier, Urbanisme, p. 285. This that the straight line is German (witness the phrase does not appear in Etchell's translation. Pantheon, the Egyptian temples, and palaces 72 Le of Gabriel). The straight line is one of the Corbusier, La Ville radieuse, Paris, L'Architecture rights of man." (Julien Caron [pseudonym d'Aujourd'hui, 1935. Translated into for Ozenfant], "Une Villa de Le Corbu- English by Pamela Knight, Eleanor sier," L'Esprit Nouveau no. Levieux, and Derek Coltman, in Le Corbu- 6, pp. 679-704; Julien Caron, "Villa of Le sier, The Radiant City, New York, Orion Corbusier," trans. Joan Ochman, Oppositions no. Press, 1964, 15/16 p. 120; idem, City, p. 256. 45 Le Corbusier, Towards, pp. 263-64. [Winter/Spring 1979] p. 187-97.) Later, in Urbanisme, Le Corbusier also disputes claims that the straight line is German, Le Corbusier, City, p. 23. See Silver, "Esprit de corps," for an extended and perceptive discussion of art and national identity during this period. 73 Benoit-Levy, Paris s'entendu, pp. 22-23. The translation is from Phillips, "New- Corporatist Praxis," p. 405. 74 Henri Hertz, "Balbutiements de l'esprit politique," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 21; "Balbutiements II," ibid. no. 22; "Balbutiements III," ibid. no. 24. Although Hertz found "impuretes" in the Radical Party, he believed that it was the only hope for a renewal of "I'esprit publique. " Later Hertz wrote for the communist review Europe. 46 L'Esprit Nouveau, revue internationale hebdomadaire d'economique no. 1 (January 1921). This was the only issue of this review dedicated to the discussion of "Economie politique, Economie nationale, Economie internationale, Science et Industrie, Meth- odologie." For a discussion of L'Esprit Nouveau, see Robert Gabetti and Carlo Olmo, Le Corbusier e l'Esprit Nouveau, Turin, Giulio Einaudi, 1975; Frangoise Will-Levaillant, "Norme et forme a travers L'Esprit Nouveau," Universit6 de Saint- Etienne, Retour a l'ordre, pp. 241-76. An adequate analysis of the social and political ideas of the review remains to be done. 47 N.D.L.R., note to R. Chenevier, "Wilson et l'humanisme franqais," L'Esprit Nouveau 146 ArtJournal 54 Erik Satie, "Cahiers d'un mammifere," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 7, p. 833. 55 R. Chenevier, "La Vie frangaise," L'Esprit Nouveau, no. 6, pp. 705-14; idem, "Wilson et l'humanisme frangais," ibid., no. 11/12, pp. 1223-30; idem "Ou meme la politique anti-sovietique," ibid., no. 9, pp. 1045-51. 56 L'Esprit Nouveau, no. 16, p. 1969; Henri Hertz, "Lenine," ibid., no. 21. 57 L'Esprit Nouveau, no. 15, p. 1727. See also Hertz, "Wilson," ibid., no. 22. 75 Le Corbusier, Towards, pp. 219, 245. 76 Paul Dermee, "Andr6 Gide," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 25. 77 The importance of Proudhon to the L'Esprit Nouveau group is expressed in R. Chene-
vier's article "L'Esthetique de Proudhon," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 4, pp. 444 48. 89 Le Corbusier to Bruya, October 11, 1932, Fondation Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier expressed his admiration of Ernest Mercier in his preface page to the 1963 publication of The Radiant City: Mobilization of the land for the common good (the Redressement Francais has published this thesis). The President of the Redressement Francais was Ernest Mercier, President of Est-Lumiere (1928). He wanted to face his country with a crucial decision: to exploit the land of the nation. Thirty-five years have passed!!! At the conclusion of his work Precisions sur un etat present de l'architecture et de l'urbanisme, Paris, Editions Cres, 1930; reprint ed. Paris, Vincent Freal, 1960, p. 249. Le Corbusier, under the title "Un Institut de France de l'epoque machiniste," published excerpts of a letter to Lucien Romier, after Mercier, the most important figure in the Redressement. The letter, written in February 1928, expresses Le Corbusier's hope in this organization composed of "capitaines d'industrie." For other references in Precisions to the Redressement, see pp. 144, 176-77, 187, 190. 90 The account of Ernest Mercier and the Redressement Frangais is drawn from Kuisel's Ernest Mercier. 91 The Esprit Nouveau contributor Francis Delaisi worked on one of the first Cahiers series, Echanges commerciaux. 101 Alexander Werth, The Twilight of France 1933-1940, ed. D.W. Brogan, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1942, p. 4. 102 Le Corbusier, The Radiant City, p. 8. 103 Le Corbusier, "L'Authorit6 devant les taches contemporaines," L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (September 1935), pp. 22-23; reprinted in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui no. 158 (May 1971), 87. 104 For a discussion of Le Corbusier's partici- pation in this movement, see Fishman, Utopias, pp. 213-42; Mary McLeod, "Le Corbusier and Algiers," "Plans: Bibliog- raphy," Oppositions no. 19/20 (Winter/ Spring 1980), pp. 55-85, 185-89. 105 Le Corbusier, "Descartes est-il ameri- cain?" Plans no. 7 (July 1931); translated into English in Le Corbusier, The Radiant City, p. 129. 106 Kuisel, Ernest Mercier, p. 87. 107 Maier, "Between Taylorism," p. 38. 108 This phrase of Luigi Pirandello (1929) is quoted by Antonio Gramsci in his essay "Americanism and Fordism," in Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, New York, International Publishers, 1971, pp. 279-322. In this contemporary analysis, Gramsci argued that Americanism and Fordism in Europe did not constitute the beginning of a "new historical epoch" and that little had been actually changed in the "charcter of the relationships between fundamental groups." 92 Le Corbusier, in his article "R6flexions a 78 Le Corbusier, Towards, p. 268. propos de la loi Loucheur," Revue des 109 Leandre Vaillat, "La Tendance interna- 79 Henry Ford, My Life and Work, New Vivantes annee York, 2, no. 8 (August 1928), pp. tionale a l'exposition des arts decoratifs," Arno Press, 1973, p. 3. 239-45, expressed many of the ideas result- L'Illustration no. 4313 (October 31, 1925), ing from his work with Redressement Fran- pp. 459. 80 Le Corbusier, L'Almanach d'Architecture gais. In a footnote, p. 243, he referred to the Moderne, Paris, Les 110 Walter Editions Cres, 1925, p. urbanism study committee and its Rathenau, "Critique de proposal L'Esprit 145. of a law on the "recuperation of Allemand," L'Esprit Nouveau no. 9, surplus pp. 1093-1106. This issue value." See also his came out in interview with Charles July 81 Taylor, Pessac, p. 7. 1921, Kunstler, "Pourra-t-on bientot se just following the first Wiesbaden loger? conference between Louis Loucheur and 82 Le Corbusier, Towards, p. 222. Une enquete sur la loi Loucheur," Septem- Walter Rathenau. Loucheur and Rathenau ber 83 Le Corbusier, City, pp. 275-76. 27, 1928 (no reference, Fondation Le attempted to work out an agreement by Corbusier). which 84 L[e] C[orbusier] S[augnier], "Les Maisons Germany would meet its reparation 'Voisin,'" L'Esprit Nouveau no. 93 2, Bulletin, June 19, 1928, cited in Kuisel, pp. p. payments in German goods and workman- 211-15. 86; H. Prost and G. Monsarrat, L' Urbanisme, ship. Twenty-five thousand houses made Paris, Editions de la S.A.P.E., n.d. in Germany were to be erected in the devas- 85 For a detailed account of the development of tated region. The plans called for a stanthis project, see 94 Le Taylor, Pessac. Corbusier, Vers le Paris de l'epoque dardized house plan with concrete plaster machiniste, Rapport provisoire, Supplement double 86 Le walls, the Corbusier, Radiant, p. 13. intervening space filled au Bulletin du Redressement Francais, Febwith compressed peat. The roofs, of slate 87 Le Corbusier owned a copy of a brochure ruary 15, 1928, 14 pp., idem, Pour bdtir: or tile, were to be made locally; all other standardiser et published by Michelin et Cie. in 1925, contayloriser, Supplement du materials were to be provided by Germany. Bulletin du Redressement cerning their successful efforts to Francais, May 1, Taylorize Although Rathenau's essay, written in 1918, the construction of a company housing com- 1928, 8pp. makes no reference to this agreement, the plex built at Clermont-Ferrand. Le Corbusier 95 Le Corbusier, Vers le Paris, p. 6. publication of the article in the midst of a and Pierre Jeanneret are said to have visited lively discussion in the French press and in 96 this Ibid., p. 11. complex (Taylor, Pessac, p. 24). parliament can be interpreted as an endorse- 97 88 Louis Renault, like many of the Ibid., industrialists, p. 14. ment by Ozenfant and Le Corbusier of the did work in proposal. Many feared that payment in conjunction with the government. 98 Le Corbusier, Pour bdtir, p. 8. kind, as Much of opposed to money, was contrary to the housing that he sponsored was 99 built under the H.B.M. program. But, as Kuisel, Ernest Mercier, p. 86. the Versailles treaty, and that the influx of German with many social reforms in goods and workmen would result the twenties, the 100 Le Corbusier, "R6flexions a propos de la in a German "colonization" of a region initiation came from the private sector. loi Loucheur," p. 239. that the German armies had only recently ravaged (MacDonald, Reconstruction in France, p. 253). 111 Mauclair, L'Architecture, especially pp. 35-45. 112 Albert Thibaudet, Les Idees politiques de la France, Paris, Stock, Delamain et Boutelleau, 1932, pp. 66-68; Bulletin du Redressement Francais, July 1932, p. 11, as cited by Kuisel, Ernest Mercier, p. 38. Kuisel's critique of Mercier was a source for my analysis of Le Corbusier's political ineffectiveness in the twenties. Mary McLeod teaches archtectural history and design at the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia University. Summer 1983 147
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