52 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
52 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
Peter Kropotkin on process under Socialism:
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As to parliamentary rule, and representative
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government altogether, ... It is becoming evident that it
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is merely stupid to elect a few men [sic], and to entrust
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them with the task of making laws on all possible subjects,
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of which subject most of them are utterly ignorant. It is
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becoming understood that Majority rule is as defective as
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any other kind of rule; and Humanity searches, and finds,
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new channels for resolving the pending questions. The
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Postal Union did not elect an international postal
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parliament in order to make laws for all postal
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organizations adherent to the Union. The railways of Europe
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did not elect an international railway parliament in order
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to regulate the running of the trains and the partition of
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the income of international traffic; and the Meteorological
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and Geological Societies of Europe did not elect either
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meteorological or geological parliaments to plan polar
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stations, or to establish a uniform subdivision of
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geological formations and uniform coloration of geological
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maps. They proceeded by means of agreement. To agree
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together they resorted to congresses; but while sending
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delegates to their congresses, they did not elect MPs _bons
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a tout faire_; they did not say to them, `Vote about
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everything you like -- we shall obey.' They put questions
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and discussed them first themselves; then they sent
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delegates acquainted with the special question to be
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discussed at the congress, and they sent _delegates_ -- not
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rulers. Their delegates returned from the congress with no
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_laws_ in their pockets, but with _proposals of agreements_.
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Such is the way assumed now (the very old way, too) for
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dealing with questions of public interest -- not the way of
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law-making by means of a representative government.
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Representative government has accomplished its historical
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mission; it has given a mortal blow to Court-rule; and by
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its debates it has awakened public interest in public
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questions. But, to see in it the government of the future
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Socialist society, is to commit a gross error. Each
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economical phase of life implies its own political phase;
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and it is impossible to touch the very basis of the present
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economical life -- private property -- without a
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corresponding change in the very basis of the political
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organization. Life already shows in which direct the change
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will be made. Not in increasing the powers of the State,
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but in resorting to free organization and free federation in
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all those branches which are now considered as attributes of
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the State.
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PETER KROPOTKIN, writing in the liberal
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monthly, _The Nineteenth Century_, 1887
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