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GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

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7&O ETHICS AND POLITICS: <strong>THE</strong> MODlfcHS<br />

itruggle to overthrow Capitalism and to establish Communism<br />

in its place would be bitter and protracted, and<br />

would entail a st<strong>at</strong>e of affairs indistinguishable from civil<br />

war. Now the effect of a prolonged civil war upon the<br />

closely-knit economic and social fabric of a modern industrial<br />

St<strong>at</strong>e would be disastrous* In particular, it would<br />

involve a breakdown of the social services, as a result of<br />

which a large part of the popul<strong>at</strong>ion would be brought to<br />

the verge of starv<strong>at</strong>ion. Under the prolonged applic<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

of such conditions, social order might itself dissolve in<br />

anarchy and chaos. If it did succeed in maintaining itself,<br />

it is only too likely th<strong>at</strong> the price of its maintenance would<br />

be the establishment of an iron military dict<strong>at</strong>orship, under<br />

which the hardly-won liberties and carefully built-up<br />

system of checks and balances upon which the democracies<br />

of Western Europe and America are based would be irre-<br />

vocably destroyed. Hence Fascism is, under modern condi-<br />

tions, the most probable outcome ofa revolutionary <strong>at</strong>tempt<br />

to overthrow Capitalism*<br />

(4) Th<strong>at</strong> Power Once Attained is never Voluntarily<br />

Let us suppose, however, th<strong>at</strong> the <strong>at</strong>tempt to introduce<br />

a socialist society by means of a revolutionary coup fttot<br />

were successful. If history is any guide, the government<br />

th<strong>at</strong> resulted would be no friend to liberty. Liberty is<br />

always diminished during periods of violence, and the<br />

civil wars in which revolutions culmin<strong>at</strong>e are, if the<br />

examples of France and Russia are a guide, no less inimical<br />

to it than are wars between n<strong>at</strong>ions; in fact, they are more<br />

The lesson of past revolutions is frequently overlooked<br />

by contemporary communists, who believe th<strong>at</strong> the results<br />

of a successful revolution would be to place in power men<br />

of the fifait*frrftefi idealistic type, who take upon them-<br />

selves the unpopular task of advoc<strong>at</strong>ing revolutionary<br />

Socialism now. This belief is a delusion. Revolutions can<br />

be carried through only by force. The employment of force

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