Power Always and Everywhere Attempts to Divide and Conquer

In 1922, Ludwig von Mises’ book Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis was published. The following is on pages 303 and 304.

The proletarians were not a special group within the framework of modern society whose attitude is unequivocally determined by their class position. Individuals are brought together for common political action by the socialist ideology; the unity of the proletariat comes, not from its class position, but from the ideology of the class-war. As a class the proletariat does not exist before Socialism: the socialist idea first created it by combining certain individuals to attain a certain political end. There is nothing in Socialism which makes it especially appropriate to forwarding the real interests of the proletarian classes.

In principle class ideology is no different from national ideology. In fact there is no contrast between the interests of particular nations and races. It is national ideology which first creates the belief in special interests and turns nations into special groups which fight each other. Nationalist ideology divides society vertically; the socialist ideology divides society horizontally. In this sense the two are mutually exclusive. Sometimes the one has the upper hand, sometimes the other. In Germany in 1914 the nationalist ideology shouldered the socialist ideology into the background—and suddenly there was a nationalist united front. In 1918 the socialist triumphed over the nationalist.

Misis is saying that Karl Marx invented the proletariat. He created it as a group in order to define an otherwise non-existent conflict. The proletariat exists as a concept to dive Marxist theory. Without the proletariat, there is no conflict between labor and capital and, without that conflict, there is no Marxism.

From here it gets interesting. In the second paragraph compares socialism to nationalism. He says: “Nationalist ideology divides society vertically; the socialist ideology divides society horizontally.”

His point here is that nationalism is, like Marxism, a means of dividing in order to create conflict between special interests. He is, in this sense, as critical of nationalism as he is of socialism. They are driven from the same cynical manipulation of groups of people.

What is the alternative to conflict? Frédéric Bastiat described free people trading cooperatively as being characterized by a “harmony of interests.” He saw this cooperation and harmony of interests to be the driver of civilization and an indescribably beautiful thing. So do I. In fact, I hold it in awe.

Every morning in my podunk town in Iowa, fresh bread, fresh milk and fresh doughnuts are delivered to the local Casey’s General Store. They do it every day and never miss a day. All across America, before dawn, bakers are making bread and it is sent out in trucks to a million locations in every corner of the nation. Gasoline is delivered, ATMs are filled with cash, cement mixers head out, coffee shops receive shipments, credit card transactions occur, new cars are transported, steel gets delivered, taxi drivers head out and on and on and on. The whole list of the economic transactions occurring in any given moment would fill a library.

Literally tens of billions of economic decisions and transactions occur every day in America. A flow chart plotting this reality would crash the biggest mainframe computer devised by man. Millions of transactions and decisions are made every minute of every day. Some are based on logic and programming, some are based on nothing more than human whim and emotion: Do I want a doughnut this morning or just coffee? There is no centralized control structure dictating how each of us should behave. Localized interactions between individual and group entities lead to the emergence of “intelligent” global behavior that is incomprehensible to individuals.

None of the is is defined by an artificially concocted conflict between capital and labor. Nor is it defined by the equally cockamamy alt-right idea that history is driven by racial or national interests. History is driven by human cooperation and harmony, not conflict. Conflict is not the engine of history, it is a brake on history.

That’s not to say there isn’t a struggle. There is a struggle that has dogged mankind through the ages. That is the struggle between power and liberty. Liberty is the engine of civilization that has created the wonders and comforts of the modern world. Power is liberty’s eternal enemy. Liberty is the sourcer of human faith, virtue, the arts and sciences and economic prosperity. Power is their enemy.

Always and everywhere, those in power attempt to divide and destroy the harmony of interests in order to bolster their power. Whether we are talking about the identity politics of the left or the economic nationalism of the right, the effect is the same. Those who seek power undermine the spontaneous organization of humanity. They sabotage mutually beneficial cooperation. They erect barriers to trade and commerce. They undermine the liberty based workings of civilization.

Don’t fall for the seduction of the power mongers. Embrace liberty.