The Machiavellians

• THE
MACHIAVELLIANS
DEFENDERS OF
FREEDOM
JAMES BURNHAM
NEWYORK
HE JOHN DAY COMPANY, INC.

COPYRIGHT, 1943, BYJAMESBURNHAM
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must

not be reproduced in any formwithout permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America

THIRD FISHERMAN. Master. I marvel hnw the
i fshes live in the sea.
FIRST FISHERMAN . Why, as men do a-land; the
great ones eat up the little ones.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
CONTENTS
I Part I.-- DANTE: POLITICS As WISH
r. The Formal Meaning of De Monarchia 3
2. T het Real Meaning of De Monarchia II
3. The; Typical Method of Political Thought 23
part II .-MACHIAVELLI: THE SCIENCE OF POWER
i. Ma ihiavelli's Practical Goal 29

2. Mahiavelli's Method 40
i
3. Political Man 49
4. Machiavelli's Conception of History 62
5. Ma hiavelli's Reputation 74
c
Part 111: MoscA: THE THEORY OF THE RULING CLASS
r. The Machiavellian Tradition SI
2. Thf Ruling Class 87
3. Composition and Character of the Ruling Class 95
4. Tendencies in the Ruling Class 102
5. The Best and Worst Governments 107

vii
Vlll CONTENTS
Part IV.- SOREL: A NOTE ON MYTH AND VIOLENCE

z. The Function of Myth 119
2. The Function of Violence 126
Part V.-MICHELS: THE LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY
r. Michels' Problem 135

2. The Fact of Leadership 141
3. The Autocracy of Leadership 152
4. The Iron Law of Oligarchy 163
Part VI .-PARETO: THE NATURE OF SOCIAL ACTION

r. Logical and Non-logical Conduct 171
2. Residues and Derivations 183

3. Social Utility 197
4. The Circulation of the Elites 205
Part VII.- POLITICS AND TRUTH

i. The Nature of the Present 223
2. The Meaning of Democracy 236

3. Can Politics Be Scientific? 255
DANTE: POLITICS AS WISH
IN TIE 1932 PLATFORM of the Democratic party we may
read the following:
"Believing that a party platform is a covenant with the people
to be faithfully kept by the party when entrusted with power,
and th t the people are entitled to know in plain words the terms
of the contract to which they are asked to subscribe, we hereby
declare this to be the platform of the Democratic party.
"T } Democratic party solemnly promises by appropriate ac tion
to put into effect the principles, policies and reforms herein
advocated and to eradicate the policies, methods and practices
herein condemned.
s
"We advocate:
"1) An immediate and drastic reduction of governmental
expenditures by abolishing useless commissions and offices,
consolidating departments and bureaus and eliminating
extrava gance, $ o accomplish a saving of not less than' 25 % in the cost
of the Federal government ..
"2) aintenance of the national credit by a Federal budget
annual y balanced on the basis of accurate executive estimates
within revenues . . .
"3) A sound currency to be preserved at all hazards . .
"We t condemn:.. .
"4) IThe open and covert resistance of administrative officials to
eve effort made by Congressional committees to control the extrav
gant expenditures of the government
"5) The extravagance of the Farm Board, its disastrous action
which made the government a speculator in farm products .. .
3
THEMACHIA'ELLIAN§
`To accomplish these purposes and to recover economic liberty wf
pledge the nominees of the convention ..."
hat the nominees upheld the pledge was made clear by the
caididate for the Presidency on July 2, 1932, when he spoke in p
blic acceptance of the nomination:
1 Às an immediate program of action we must abolish useless
offices. We must eliminate actual prefunctions of government- ., _ _.
fu ctions, in fact, that are not definitely essential to the con-
ti uance of government. We must merge, we must consolidate su
divisions of government, and like the private citizen, give up
luxuries which we can no longer afford.
I propose to you, my friends, and through you, that govern
m nt of all kinds, big and little, be made solvent and that the
ex mple be set by the President of the United States and his
cabinet."
e returned to these themes frequently throughout the cam-
pa gn. In a radio address delivered July 30, 1932, for example, he
su med up: "Any government, like any family, can for a year
sp nd a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a
co tinuation of that habit means the poorhouse."
hat are we to make of the words in these several quotations?
They would be easy enough to explain if we could assume that
the men who wrote them were just liars, deliberately trying to
defeive the people. There is, however, no convincing evidence
th t would permit us to draw so cynical a conclusion. Are we to
be ieve, then, that they were utterly stupid, with no understand-
in of economics or politics or what was going on in the world?
T king the words as they stand, this would seem to be the only
alt rnative conclusion. But this also does not seem very plausible.
T ese men and their associates, though they doubtless knew less
th n everything and less than they thought they knew, were
su ely not so ignorant as to have believed literally what the words
se to indicate. There is some further puzzle here. Perhaps the
DANTE: POLITICS AS WISH 5
words d not really have anything to do with cheap government
and sou currency and balanced budgets and the rest of what
appears be their subject matter.
We ar asking questions about the meaning of the words men
use in c nnection with political and social affairs. In order to
avoid bi s from partisan feelings of the moment and to seek a
greater enerality in the answer, I shall briefly examine these
same questions as they arise over words written more than six
centuries, ago.
Dante Alighieri, besides the most wonderful poem ever writ-

ten, finished only one other major work. This was a treatise on
politics, which he called De Monarchia, a title that may be trans-
lated as F"On the Empire." De Monarchia is divided into three,.
Books, each of these sub-divided into numerous chapters. The
general bject stated by Dante is "the knowledge of the temporal
monarc which is called empire," by which is meant "a
unique rincedom extending over all persons in time." * The
topics for the three Books are explained as follows: "In the first
place w may inquire and examine whether it [the unique em-
pire] is eedful for the well-being of the world; in the second,
whether the Roman people rightfully assumed to itself the func-
tion of ionarchy; and in the third, whether the authority of the
monarc y depends immediately upon God, or upon some other
minister or vicar of God." The "empire" that Dante has con-
cretely i mind is the Holy Roman Empire of medieval times,
which e mistakenly believed to be the continuation of the
ancient Roman Empire.
In answer to his three main inquiries, he maintains : first, that
* All quotations and references are taken from Philip H. Wicksteed's
trans lation in he Temple Classics Edition of The Latin Works of Dante
Alighieri, published by J. M. Dent & Sons, London.
i
6 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
mankind should` be governed by a single "empire" or state;
second, that this sovereignty is properly exercised by the Holy
Roman Emperor (conceived as the continuator of the ancient
Roman Emperor) ; and third, that the temporal, the political
authority exercised by the Emperor is independent of the author-
ity of the Pope and the Church (as Dante puts it, "depends
immediately on God").
To establish the first point, that there should be a single unified
world-state,* Dante begins by stating certain "first principles,"
which, he believes, are the necessary foundation for all political
reasoning. The ultimate goal for all mankind is the full develop-
ment of man's potentialities, which means in the last analysis
eternal salvation and the vision of God. The aim of temporal
civilization is to provide the conditions for achieving this ulti-
mate goal, chief among which is universal peace. A variety of
subtle arguments, distinctions and analogies shows that this con-
dition, and in general the organization of the collective life of
mankind in such a way as to permit the reaching of the ultimate
goal, can only be effectively carried out through "unity of direc-
tion." God, moreover, is Supreme Unity, and, it being His inten-
tion that mankind should resemble Him as much as possible,
this can be done only when mankind is also unified under a
single ruler. The motion of the heavens is regulated by the single
uniform motion of the outermost sphere (the primum mobile),
and man should strive, too, to imitate the heavens. Only a unified
political administration can check tyrannical governments and
thus give men freedom, can guard the freedom of others by itself
being wholly free, can guarantee concord and harmony, which
always presuppose unity. These arguments, which prove that
there should be a single unified political administration for all
• The "world" that Dante had in mind was of course Europe and the littoral
of the Mediterranean; but no such res tr iction is made in his argument, and his
reasoning applies as well, or ill, to the entire world as to the world he
knew.
mankind, led by a single ruler, are historically substantiated by the
fact that the Incarnation of Christ took place under the tem poral
rule of the Emperor Augustus.
In thi second Book, Dante considers and accepts the claim of
the Ronan people to the seat of the universal empire. It is justi-
f i ed by their nobility derived from their descent from the Trojan
Aeneas,:and by numerous miracles which God worked to give
witness Ito the claim. The Roman pudic spirit showed that they
were airing at the right, and thus must have had right on their
side. Furthermore, the legitimacy of their claim was proved by
the fact that the Romans had the effective faculty of ruling, the
power t rule, whereas all other peoples failed in effective rule,
as noted in the Scriptures and other sacred writings. Finally, the
sacrifice of Christ would not have been valid in erasing the stain
of original sin from all mankind unless Pilate, as the representa-
tive of Tome, had had valid authority to pronounce judicial sen-
tence u on all mankind.
Book tII discusses the ever-recurring problem of the relations
between Church and State, the question, as Dante's time saw it,
whether }the temporal, the political ruler had independent author-
ity and sovereignty, or was subordinate to the spiritual authority
of God's Vicar on earth, the Pope. The question must be judged,
Dante afgues, on the fundamental principle that whatever is
repugnait to the intention of nature is contrary to the Will of
God. The truth has been obscured by a factious spirit, and by a
failure t i recognize the primary authority of the Bible, the de-
crees of the councils and the writings of the Fathers. The argu-
ment for the subordination of the empire (that is, the state) to
the Church on the basis of the analogy of the subordinate rela
tion of t le moon, representing the empire, to the sun, repre-
senting t e Church, is without weight because the analogy is
false, ancj, even if it were true, does not really establish the de-
pendence; Nor are various often quoted instances in the Bible
8 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
any more conclusive. Christ gave Peter, representing the Church, the
power to loose and bind, but expressly limited this power to the
things of Heaven, not of the earth.
The donation by which the Emperor Constantine, after his
conversion and cure of leprosy, granted authority over the
Empire
to Pope Sylvester, was invalid, since it was contrary to nature for
him to make the grant or for the Pope to receive it.' The argu-
ment that there cannot be two supreme individuals of the same
kind, and, since the Pope cannot be regarded as inferior, he must
be superior to the temporal ruler, does not hold. The spiritual
and temporal authorities are of two different kinds, and the in-
dividual supreme in one order might well be inferior in the other.
Positively indicating the independence of the temporal rule from
the spiritual are such facts as that Christ, Paul, and even the
angel who appeared to Paul acknowledged the temporal author-
ity of the emperor. Finally, it is in harmonious accord with the
two-fold nature of man, both body and spirit, that God should
have established, directly dependent only on Himself, two su-
preme authorities, one temporal and one spiritual. The temporal
ruler, then, is in no way subordinate, in temporal things, to the
spiritual ruler, though it may be granted that he should properly
give that reverence to the spiritual ruler which is due him as the
representative of eternal life and immortal felicity.
formal
Let us consider this outline of what may be called the
argument of De Monarchia.
In the first place,'we may note that the ultimate goal (eternal
salvation in Heaven) by which Dante holds that all political
* The apologists for Papal supremacy made a strong point of the famed "dona tion
of Constantine," and Dante was plainly troubled by it. The donation was proved
a forgery by Lorenzo Valla in the 15th century.
DANTE: POLITICS AS WISH
questiohs must be judged is in the strictest sense impossible, since
there is no such place as Heaven.
Second, the lesser goals derived from the ultimate goal-the
development of the full potentialities of all men, universal peace,
and a Tingle unified world-state-though they are perhaps not
inconc e i vable, are nevertheless altogether utopian and materially
impossible.
Thir', the many arguments that Dante uses in favor of his
positio are, from a purely formal point of view, both good and
bad, m stly bad; but, from the point of view of actual political
conditions in the actual world of space and time and history, they
are alnjost without exception completely irrelevant. They consist
of pointless metaphysical and logical distinctions, distorted anal-
ogies, garbled historical references, appeals to miracles and arbi-
trarily lelected authorities. In the task of giving us information
about `-ow men behave, about the nature and laws of political
life, about what steps may be taken in practice to achieve concrete
political and social goals, they advance us not a single step.
Takijg the treatise at face value and judging it as a study of
politics, it is worthless, totally worthless. With this, it might seem
that nc more could, or ought to be, said about De Monarchia.
Such a conclusion, however, would show a thorough failure to
understand the nature of a work of this kind. So far we have
been cnsidering only the formal meaning of the treatise. But
this fo rmal meaning, the meaning which is explicitly stated, is
the leas important aspect of De Monarchia. The formal meaning,
besides what it explicitly states when taken at face value, serves
to express, in an indirect and disguised manner, what may be
called the real meaning of the essay.
By " eal meaning" I refer to the meaning not in terms of the
f i ctional world of religion, metaphysics, miracles, and pseudo-
history (which is the world of the formal meaning of De
Monar jhia), but in terms of the actual world of space,
time, and
10 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
events. To understand the real meaning, we cannot take the
words at face value nor confine our attention to what they ex-
plicitly state; we must fit them into the specific context of Dante's
times and his own life. It is characteristic of De Monarchia, and
of all similar treatises, that there should be this divorce between
formal and real meanings, that the formal meaning should not
explicitly state but only indirectly express, and to one or another
extent hide and distort, the real meaning. The real meaning is
thereby rendered irresponsible, since it is not subject to open and
deliberate intellectual control; but the real meaning is nonetheless
there
What, then, is the real meaning of De Monarchia?
*I am arbitrarily defining the distinction between "formal meaning" and
"real meaning" in the sense I have indicated, and I shall continue so to use it.
The distinction has nothing to do with the psychological question whether Dante
(or any other writer who may be in question) consciously attempts to deceive
his audience by hiding the real meaning behind the facade of the formal mean-
ing. The disguise is there, independently of any i ntention; and deception, in-
cluding self-deception, does often occur. It is possible, of course, as we shall see
further, that the formal meaning and the real meaning should be identical; and
it is an object of science to see that, so far as possible, they are.
2. The Real Meaningof DEMONARCHIA
FRO9 THE 12th to the 14th centuries, many of the chief dis-
putes allnd wars in feudal Europe focused around the prolonged
struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. The exact origin of
these two great international factions is not altogether clear. They
f i rst cane into prominence in the year 1125, in a conflict over
the succession to the Emperor Henry V, a member of the
Hohenstaufen family. His son, Frederic, supported by the great
nobles,'claimed the Empire, which was not, however, a hereditary
office. e was opposed by the Pope and by many of the lesser
nobles, P. whose candidate was Lothair, the Duke of Saxony. Lo-
thair i jas elected; but upon his death in I137 was succeeded by
the brother of Frederic, the Hohenstaufen Conrad, who was in

turn in 1152) followed by the great Hohenstaufen, Frederic
Barbar �'ssa.
The Guelph faction took its name from the party of Lothair;
and the Ghibelline, from the party of the Hohenstaufen. The
exact significance of the division varied from period to period,
but in general line-up and most of the time, the Guelphs were
the party of the Papacy; the Ghibellines, the party of the Empire.
On th9 whole, the greater feudal nobles were Ghibellines, es-
pecially in the Germanic states and in Italy. As a counterweight
to therm, the Pope brought many of the Italian city-states into the
Guelph camp, in particular the rising burgher class of the city-
states, which was already in internal conflict with the great
nobles at home. This distinction, however, holds only in general;
often a herence to one or the other of the [actions was a device
to secu e special and temporary advantages independent of the
r II
over-all division. For example, the House of France during the
i3th century inclined toward the Guelphs in order to secure
leverage against the Empire. Two of the junior members of the
French royal family, Charles of Anjou and Charles of Valois,
were among the leading champions of the Guelphs. The Italian
cities, similarly, often chose sides in such a way as to aid them
most in meeting local and immediate problems.
By the latter half of the 12th century, the Emperor ruled over
most of the Germanic areas and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
which included most of southern Italy. The major expansive aim
of the Empire was to secure control of the cities of northern
Italy, the richest and most prosperous states of all Europe. The
object of the Papacy and of the cities themselves, or at least of the
burghers of the cities, was to block the advance of the Empire.
The Papacy set out to destroy the Hohenstaufen family, which
led the Empire, and which the Popes rightly understood to be
the, core of the Ghibelline faction. After a century of struggle, this
was done; the hold of the Empire on the Kingdom of the Sicilies
was broken by the Guelph, Charles of Anjou; and the last of
the Hohenstaufen family, the romantic youth Conradin, was
slaughtered after his defeat by Charles in the battle of Taglia-
cozzo-in 1268, three years after the birth of Dante. The struggle,
however, continued, and the Empire still kept its dreams fixed
on the Italian cities.
Now Florence, Dante's own seething, rich, dynamic city, the

leader of Tuscany and one of the chief states of the late medieval
world, became a great and uncompromising bulwark of the
Guelph faction. Machiavelli, in his History of Florence, describes
how internal conflicts within Florence broadened to join the in-
ternational Guelph-Ghibelline division. In the course of a private
quarrel, a group headed by the Uberti family assassinated a mem-
DANTE: POLITICSASWISH 13
ber of the Buondelmonti family. "This Murder divided the whole

City, p1trt of it siding with the Buondelmonti, and part with the
Uberti;! and both the Families being powerful in Houses, Castles,
and Min, the quarrel continued many years before either could
be ejec red; yet though the animosity could not be extinguished by
a firm pnd stable peace, yet things were palliated and composed
sometimes for the present, by certain Truces and Cessations, by
which means (according to the variety of accidents) they were
sometimes at quiet, and sometimes together by the Ears. In this
Condition Florence continued till the Reign of Frederic II [of
Hohenstaufen, Emperor from 1215 -1250] who being King of
Naples,: and desirous to strengthen himself against the Church;

to corrborate his interest in Tuscany, joined himself to the
Uberti and their party, by whose assistance the Buondelmonti
were driven out of Florence, and that City (as all Italy had done
before) began to divide into the Factions of the Guelphs, and the
Ghibellines."
The triumph of the Ghibellines in Florence was, however,
brief, asI, was only natural in a city which was beginning a great
commemcial and industrial expansion in terms of which the old-
line nol?ility was a constant drain and obstacle. The death of
Frederic { { II in 1250 gave the Florentine Guelphs their chance to
overthrdw the Ghibelline rule and exile the leaders of the Ghibel-
line faction. The Ghibellines returned temporarily to power after
a victor in 1260, but were again and definitively driven out, with
the help of Charles of Anjou, in 1266--a result which was a phase
of the #roader campaign of the Pope and Charles against the
last of t e Hohenstaufen.
After number of experiments in internal administration, the
*All q otations from and references to Machiavelli are taken from the English
translation! "The Works of the famous Nicolas Machiavel, London,
Printed
for J. S. 4nd are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-Head in Cornhil,
against the Royal Exchange, 1675." I have in some cases modernized the spelling.
1
government of the city, firmly Guelph, gravitated into the hands
of the Merchant Guilds, now representing the chief social force
in the town. Membership in a Guild became a prerequisite of
political office. The executive power was held by a body of six
Priors, elected every two months from each of the six wards into
which Florence was divided. In 1293 the remarkable "Ordinances
of justice" placed heavy legal disabilities on the great nobles as
individuals and as a class. Nobility, it was said, became a disgrace
in the commercially based democracy of the Florentine Republic.
The hope that the suppression of the Ghibellines would end
domestic turmoil in Florence quickly vanished. There was too
much life there for tranquillity. In 1300 the dominant Florentine
Guelphs themselves split into a new factional division: the
Neri ("Blacks") and Bianchi ("Whites"). Here is Machiavelli's
account:
"Never was this City in greater splendor, nor more happy in
its condition than then, abounding both in men, riches, and repu-
tation. They had 3,000 Citizens in the Town fit to bear Arms, and
70,000 more in their Territory. All Tuscany was at its devotion,
partly as subjects, and partly as friends. And though there were
still piques and suspicions betwixt the Nobility and the people,
yet they did not break out into any ill effect, but all lived quietly
and peaceably together; and had not this tranquillity been at
length interrupted by dissension within, it had been in no
danger
from abroad; being in such terms at that time, it neither feared the
Empire, nor its Exiles [e.g., the Ghibellines], and could have brought
a force into the Field equivalent to all the rest of, the States in
ab extra it was secure, was engendered in
Italy. But that disease from which
its own bowels.
"There were two Families in Florence, the Cerchi, and the
Donati, equally considerable, both in numbers, riches, and dignity;
being Neighbors both in City and Country, there happened some
exceptions and disgusts betwixt them, but not so great as to bring
them to blows, and perhaps they would never have produced any
considerable effects, had not their ill humors been agitated and
ferment4d by new occasion. Among the chief Families in Pistoia,
there was the Family of the Cancellieri: It happened that Lore,A
the Son of Gulielmo, and Geri, the son of Bertaccio, fell out by
accident tat play, and passing from words to blows, Geri received
a slight wound. Gulielmo was much troubled at the business, and
thinking by excess of humility to take off the scandal, he increased
it and rr tade it worse. He commanded his Son to go to Geri's
Father's house, and demand his pardon; Lore obeyed, and went
as his F$ ther directed, but that act of humanity did not at all
sweeten he acerbity of Bertaccio's mind, who causing Lore to be
seized by t his servants (to aggravate the indignity) he caused him
to be lee. by them into the stable, and his hand cut off upon the
Manger,`with instruction to return to his Father, and to let him
know, "that wounds are not cured so properly by words, as am
putation' Gulielmo was so enraged at the cruelty of the fact, as
he and is friends immediately took arms to revenge it; and Ber
taccio at1d his friends doing as much to defend themselves, the
whole city of Pistoia was engaged in the quarrel, and divided into
two parties. These Cancellieri being both of them descended from
one of Me Cancellieri who had two Wives, one of them called
Bianca: hat party which descended from her, called itself Bianca;
and the other in opposition [because the name "Bianca" has the
same eaning as the word for "white"] was called Nera
["black . In a short time many conflicts happened betwixt them,
many rn, n killed, and many houses destroyed. Not being able to
accommodate among themselves, though both sides were weary,
they concluded to come to Florence, hoping some expedient would
be found out there, or else to fortify their parties by the acquisi-
tion of new friends. The Neri having had familiarity with the
Donati, were espoused by Corso, the head of that family. The Bi-
anchi, to support themselves against the accession of the Donati,,
fell in with Veri, the chief of the Cerchi, a man not inferior to
Corso in any quality whatever...
"In the Month of May, several Holidays being publicly cele-
brated in Florence, certain young Gentlemen of the Donati, with
their friends on Horseback, having stopped near St. Trinity, to
see certain Women that were Dancing, it fell out that some of the
Cerchi arrived there likewise with some of their friends, and being
desirous to see as well as the rest, not knowing the Donati were
before, they spurred on their horses, and jostled in among them.
The Donati looking upon it as an affront, drew their Swords; the
Cerchi were as ready to answer them, and after several cuts and
slashes given and received, both sides retired. This accident was
the occasion of great mischief; the whole City (as well People as
Nobility) divided, and took part with the Bianchi and Neri, as
their inclinations directed . . . Nor did this humor extend itself
only in the City, but infected the whole Country [that is, all of
Tuscany]. Insomuch that the Captains of the Arts [i.e., the
Guilds], and such as favored the Guelphs, and were Lovers of
the Commonwealth, very much apprehended lest this new
distraction should prove the ruin of the City, and the restoration of
the Ghibellines."
The last sentence gives the key to the meaning of the new
division. The Neri faction, however it did in fact originate, was
made up of the firm and unyielding ultra-Guelphs. The Bianchi
were a centrist grouping, inclined to try to compromise and
bridge the gulf between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
Dante, as an active citizen of Florence, had been brought up as
a Guelph. He had enrolled in the Guild of Druggists and Phy-
sicians in order to be eligible for political office. When the new
conflict broke out, he lined up with the Bianchi faction, though
at first, apparently, he concealed his allegiance under a cover of
impartiality. In 1300 he was elected one of the six Priors for the
term June 15th to August 15th. The new conflict had by then
becomi threatening. Dante and his fellow Priors, as the chief p
magisn ates of the City, made the mistake of trying to resolve it
by banishing simultaneously several leaders of both factions. Prob-
ably this was a deceptive maneuver by the Bianchi, who thought
thereby to get rid of the Neri leaders and then to readmit their
own mien at the first opportunity.
The eri, however, were not so easily reconciled. They were
determ ned, and they had a much firmer line than the Bianchi,
who ère in reality 'vacillating between the major camps of
Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Neri made a clever move. They
appealgd to the Pope (Boniface VIII) to arbitrate the dispute.
He sen as his delegate to Florence Cardinal Matteo d'Aquasparta.
It was 'and to make an open objection to this procedure. What
more n tural and fair than that the spiritual head of Christendom
should intervene to compose the quarrels of his erring children.?
In trutI, however, as we have seen, the Pope was the leader of
the Guelphs. The object of his intervention would be to swing
the decision to his firmest political supporters, the Neri. This the
Bianchi well knew, and they therefore refused to accept the offices
of Cardinal Matteo, who departed, leaving the city under an inter-
dict.
The religious arm having failed, Boniface turned to the secular.
He cal ed upon his old allies of the House of France. At his re-
quest, harles of Valois, brother of King Philip, came to Italy.
On Nc1vember 1, 1301, he entered Florence in great state, still
nomin illy as arbitrator and pacifier. He quickly arranged a purge
of the ]ianchi. There was issued, on January 27, 1302, a decree of
f i nes aid two years' banishment against Dante and a number of
his colleagues. When this was disregarded, a sterner decree was
published on March loth, calling for the death by burning of
Dante }ind fourteen others if they should fall into the hands of
the Re ublic. They were forced thus into exile.
Ther p then occurred what had been sure from the beginning
18 THE MACHIAVELLIANS
of the Neri-Bianchi division. The Bianchi, routed within Florence,
were too weak to recover power unaided. Their only possible
allies were the remaining Ghibellines of Tuscany, with whom the
Bianchi joined. Before long the Bianchi, toppled from their hope-
less center position, were themselves full-fledged Ghibellines.
The united Bianchi-Ghibelline forces were, however, still not
strong enough. Their attempts to re-enter Florence by force were
repulsed. In a state of disintegration, the last and only hope
seemed to be the ancient core of the Ghibelline faction, the
Empire itself, and to the Empire their dreams turned. The
Emperor would come, like an avenging leopard, to crush the
pride and insolence of unbridled Florence. Since the Pope's
success against the Hohenstaufen, however, the Empire, under
the guidance for the first time of the cautious and remarkable
Hapsburg family, had curbed its ambitions and stayed at home.
But the new star of the House of Luxemburg was rising. To it
the embittered Ghibellines of Tuscany chained their hopes. In
1308, Henry of Luxemburg was elected Emperor as Henry VII.
Dante, in a series of bombastic public letters, called upon his
Roman sword to smite the wicked of the Church and the cities,
and restore Italy to its imperial grandeur.
"0 Italy! henceforth rejoice; though now to be pitied by the
very Saracens, yet soon to be envied throughout the world! be-
cause thy bridegroom, the solace of the world and the glory of
thy people, the most clement Henry, Divus and Augustus and
Caesar, is hastening to the bridal. Dry thy tears and remove the
marks of grief, 0 thou fairest one; for nigh at hand is he who
shall release thee from the prison of the impious, and, smiting
the .malicious, shall destroy them with the edge of the sword, and
shall give out his vineyard to other husbandmen such as shall
render the fruit of justice at time of harvest...
"But you [Florentines], who transgress divine and human law,
whom a dire rapaciousness hath found ready to be drawn into
9
every crim,�e,-doth not the dread of the second death pursue you?
For ye i �rst and alone, shunning the yoke of liberty, have mur-
mured against the glory of the Roman prince, the king of the
world ajd the minister of God, and on the plea of prescriptive
right have refused the duty of the submission which ye owed,
and have rather risen up in the insanity of rebellion! ."
Henry did at last come down into Italy. But he could make up
his mind to nothing; he dallied sluggishly with his army, under-
taking and lifting half-hearted sieges of the towns. In 1313 he fell
ill and died. The rhetorical balloons of the Ghibelline exiles thus
ingloriously burst. Dante never re-entered Florence. The rest of
his days were spent wandering among the households of the re-
mainingl Ghibelline princes in northern Italy. His revenge on his
Guelph'enemies had to be satisfied by thrusting them into the
worst torments of his Inferno. For Boniface VIII, ultimate author
of his 4efeats, though he was not yet dead in 13oo-the date
which ante assigns to his journey throught Hell and Purgatory and
Her ven-a particularly hideous spot in Hell is duly reserved and
waiting.
We a!e now in a position to understand the real meaning of De

Moo archia.
Eternal salvation, the highest development of man's poten-
tialities, everlasting peace, unity, and harmony, thd e elicate balanc e
of abstract relations between Church and State, all these ghosts
and myths evaporate, along with the whole elaborate structure o.
theolog', metaphysics, allegory, miracle, and fable. The entire
formal eaning, which has told us nothing and proved nothing,
assumets genuine role of merely expressing and disguising the
*Infer o, Canto XIX. Nicholas III, Boniface's predecessor, is already there,
stu ff ed hFad first into a narrow hole, with flames moving eternally over both
his feet. s Dante goes by, he stops to talk to the inverted Nicholas. With
marveloul sense of irony, Nicholas is made to mistake Dante for Boniface.
real meaning. This real meaning is simply an impassioned prop-
agandistic defense of the point of view of the turncoat Bianchi
exiles from Florence, specifically; and more generally of the
broader Ghibelline point of view to which these Bianchi capitu-
lated. De Monarchia is, we might say, a Ghibelline Party Plat-
form.
It should not be imagined, however, that this point of view is
argued rationally, that there is offered in its favor any proof or
evidence, that any demonstration is attempted to show that its
acceptance would contribute to human welfare. The proof and
evidence and demonstration, such as they are, are all devoted to
the mysteries of the formal meaning. The real meaning is ex-
pressed and projected indirectly through the formal meaning, and
is supported by nothing more than emotion, prejudice, and con-
fusion. The real aims are thus intellectually irresponsible, subject
to no intellectual check or control. Even if they were justifiable,
the case for them is in no degree established.
The ostensible goals of the formal argument are noble,
highminded, what people often call "idealistic." This serves to
create a favorable emotional response in the reader, to disarm
him, to lead him to believe in the "good will" of the author. The
unwary reader carries this attitude over to the practical aims of the
real argument. But what of these latter aims, what do they
concretely amount to? When we dig behind the formal facade, they
emerge as vicious and reactionary,
They are the aims of an embittered and incompetent set of
traitors. Dante and his friends had failed miserably in their politi-
cal careers. They had been defeated in their attempt to take over
the government of their country. Quite properly, in accordance
with the customs of the time, and for the interests of internal
security, they had been exiled. They then joined with the disin-
tegrated forces of earlier exiles, whose only wish was to revenge
themselves on Florence, and to destroy her power. The enlarged
group also failed. They then crawled slavishly to the feet of the
Republi 's oldest and most thorough enemy--the Emperor-beg-
ging hilt to do what they were too weak and too stupid to have
done. I e aims of the Empire in northern Italy were very far
indeed " from eternal salvation, universal peace, and the highest de-
velopment of man's potentialities. The Empire clutched greedily
after the amazing wealth and resources of these remarkable
cities, and dreamed of reducing their proud, fierce independence
to the tyrannical rule of its Gauleiters.
In those days, by an odd conjuncture, the Papacy with the
Guelph faction was supporting the most progressive develop-
ments irs society. It was the newly rising class of burghers in
the
cities that was just beginning to break the now withering hand of
feudalis The burghers were expanding trade and industry
already t e splendid woolens finished in Florence, and the gold-
pieces ("florins," they were called) which its citizens had resolved
to protect against the hitherto universal practice of debasement,
were becoming known throughout the western world. The mer-
chants w re reopening among men links of social communication
that invo ved more of life than war and pillage. Nor was it merely
trade an industry that were advancing: the new riches were
being tra sformed into an art that was perhaps the most magnif-
icent the world has known (Giotto himself was Dante's con-
temporar ), and were stimulating a renewed interest in the end-
less possil?ilities of a more truly human knowledge.S
iNatura 1y, the great nobles looked with alarm. They and their
ways cou ld have little place in this new world. The economic
position o the nobles rested on the land, on an agriculture carried
out by se fs and villeins tied to the soil. The burghers wanted
men to v 0ork in the shops. The cities subordinated the country-
side to themselves, exploiting it ruthlessly, it is true, to supply
cheap foo f and raw materials. The nobles were trained only for
war-war I conducted as the personal combat of knights-and
22 T.HEMACHIAVELLIANS
political intrigue. The burghers wanted less war, because it
interfered with commercial prosperity; and, when it came, wanted
it for valuable economic ends (a port or a source of supplies or a
market). They wanted a politics and government by law instead of
by personal privilege.
The great nobles, in short, and their party, the Ghibellines,
wanted to stop history short; more, wanted to go back to their
full day, which was already beginning to end, its twilight first
seen in these Italian cities. Dante, whom commentators willing to
judge from surfaces are so fond of calling "the first modern
man," "the precursor of the Renaissance," was their spokesman.
His practical political aims toward his country were traitorous;
his sociological allegiance was reactionary, backward-looking.
Without his exile, true enough, it may well be that he would
never have written his poem. A rotten politics, which besides had
no appreciable influence on the course of political events, was no
doubt a small price to pay for so marvelous a human gain. But.
there is an intellectual advantage in separating the two, the poetry
and the politics, for judgment.
I
3. The Typical Method of Political Thought
IT IS EASY to dismiss De Monarchia as having a solely his-'

torical, archaic, or biographical interest. Few now would con-
sider it sriously as a study of the nature and laws of politics, of
political behavior and principles. We seldom, now, talk about
"eternal salvation" in political treatises; there is no more Holy
Roman mpire; scholastic metaphysics is a mystery for all but
the neo- homists; it is not fashionable to settle arguments by ap-
peal to religious miracles and allegorical parables from the Bible
or the F�thers.
All thi is so, and yet it would be a great error to suppose that
Dante's ethod, in De Monarchic, is outworn. His method is
exactly t at of the Democratic Platform with which we began
our inqu ry. It has been and continues to be the method of nine-
tenths, ye°s, much more than nine-tenths, of all writing and speak-
ing in the field of politics. The myths, the ghosts, the idealistic
abstractions, change name and form, but the method persistently
remains. 'It is, then, important to be entirely clear about the
general features of this method. They may be summarized as
follows :
i. Thee is a sharp divorce between what I have called the
formal rr eaning, the formal aims and arguments, and the real
meaning,ii the real aims and argument (if there is, as there is
usually not, any real argument).
2. The I ormal aims and goals are for the most part or altogether
either su ernatural or metaphysical-transcendental-in both cases
meaningless from the point of view of real actions in the real
world of pace and time and history; or, if they have some em.
23
pirical meaning, are impossible to achieve under the actual con-
ditions of social life. In all three cases, the dependence of the whole
structure of reasoning upon such goals makes it impossible for the
writer (or speaker) to give a true descriptive account of the way
men actually behave. A systematic distortion of the truth takes
place. And, obviously, it cannot be shown how the goals might be
reached, since, being unreal, they cannot be reached.
3. From a purely logical point of view, the arguments offered for
the formal aims and goals may be valid or fallacious; but, except
by accident, they are necessarily irrelevant to real political problems,
since they are designed to prove the ostensible points of the formal
structure-points of religion or metaphysics, or the abstract
desirability of some utopian ideal.
4. The formal meaning serves as an indirect expression of the
real meaning-that is, of the concrete meaning of the political
treatise taken in its real context, in its relation to the actualities of
the social and historical situation in which it functions. But at the
same time that it expresses, it also disguises the real meaning.
We think we are debating universal peace, salvation, a unified
world government, and the relations between Church and State,
when what is really at issue is whether the Florentine Republic
is to be run by its own citizens or submitted to the exploitation
of a reactionary foreign monarch. We think, with the delegates at
the Council of Nicea, that the discussion is concerned with the
definition of God's essence, when the real problem is whether
the Mediterranean world is to be politically centralized under
Rome, or divided. We believe we are disputing the merits of a
balanced budget and a sound currency when the real conflict is
deciding what group shall regulate the distribution of the cur-
rency. We imagine we are arguing over the moral and legal status
of the principle of the freedom of the seas when the real question
is who is to control the seas.
5. From this it follows that the real meaning, the real goal
DANTE: POLITICSASWISH 25'
and ai
i
nis, are left irresponsible. In Dante's case the aims were
also vic ?us and reactionary. This need not be the case, but,
when
this me od is used, they are always irresponsible. Even if the
real aim are such as to contribute to human welfare, no proof
or evide ce for this is offered. Proof and evidence, so far as they
are presnt at all, remain at the formal level. The real aims are
acceptedI even if right, for the wrong reasons. The high-minded
words of the formal meaning serve only to arouse passion and
prejudicg and sentimentality in favor of the disguised real aims.
This rpethod, whose intellectual consequence is merely to con
fuse and hide, can teach us nothing of the truth, can in no way
help us to solve the problems of our political life. In the hands of
the powerful and their spokesmen, however, used by demagogues
or hypocrites or simply the self-deluded, this method is well de-
signed, And the best, to deceive us, and to lead us by easy routes
to the scrifice of our own interests and dignity in the service o
the mighty.
The ciief historical effects of the French Revolution were to
break u the system of the older French monarchy, with its
privileged financiers and courtiers, to remove a number of feudal
restrictions on capitalist methods of production, and to put the
French Japita lists into a position of greater social power. It might
well hJe been argued, prior to the Revolution, that these goals
promises to contribute to the welfare of the French people and
perhaps of mankind. Evidence for and against this expectation
might hive been assembled. However, this was not the procedure
generally followed by the ideologists of the Revolution. They
based eir treatises not upon an examination of the facts, but
upon supposedly fundamental and really quite mythical notions
of a primitive "state of nature," the "natural. goodness of man,"'
the "social contract," and similar nonsense. They sloganized, a s
the aims of the Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, and,
the utopian kingdom of the Goddess Reason. Naturally, the
workers and peasants were disappointed by the outcome, after
so much blood; but, oddly enough, most of France seemed to feel
not many years later that the aims of the Revolution were well
enough realized in the military dictatorship of Bonaparte.
No doubt a unification of Europe under Hitler is a bad thing
for the European peoples and the world. But this is no more
proved by complicated deductions to show the derivation of Nazi
thought from Hegelian dialectic and the philosophic poetry of
Nietzsche than is the contradictory by Hitler's own mystical
pseudo-biology. "Freedom from want" is very nearly as meaning.
less, in terms of real politics, as "eternal salvation"-men are want-
ing beings; they are freed from want only by death. Whatever the
book or article or speech on political matters that we turn to-
those of a journalist like Pierre van Paassen, a demagogue like
Hitler, a professor like Max Lerner, a chairman of a sociology de-
partment like Pitirim Sorokin, a revolutionist like Lenin, a
trapped idealist like Henry Wallace, a bull-dozing rhetorician like
Churchill, a preacher out of a church like Norman Thomas or
one in like Bishop Manning, the Pope or the ministers of the
Mikado-in the case of them all we find that, though there may
be incidental passages which increase our fund of real infor-
mation, the integrating method and the whole conception of
politics is precisely that of Dante. Gods, whether of Progress or
the Old Testament, ghosts of saintly, or revolutionary, ancestors,
abstracted moral imperatives, ideals cut wholly off from mere
earth and mankind, utopias beckoning from the marshes of their
never-never-land-these, and not the facts of social life together
with probable generalizations based on those facts, exercise the
f i nal controls over arguments and conclusions. Political analysis
becomes, like other dreams, the expression of human wish or the
'admission of practical failure.
Part II
M A CHIAVELLI: THE SCIENCE
OF POWER
I. Machiavelli's Practical Goal
DANT 'S De Monarchia is in no respect a scientific study of

politics. ,It is not, however, as is sometimes supposed, the mere
fact tha I Dante has ethical aims or goals that makes his treatise,
or any Treatise making use of similar methods, unscientific. All
human Ictivities have goals, usually several of them, open or hid-
den, wh ther or not admitted by the actor. The activity of scien
tific investigation is no exception. Machiavelli, like Dante, has
goals an practical aims that he pursues in his work. But they are
very di erent from those that we have discovered in Dante.
There I are certain goals which are peculiar and proper to science,
without Which science does not exist. Thee. are: the accurate and
systematic description of public facts; the attempt to correlate sets
of these facts in laws; and, through these correlations, the attempt
to predict, with some degree of probability, future facts. Many
r
scientific investigations do not try to go beyond these special goals;
nor is there any need for them to do so. In the field of historical,
social, aid political science, as in other sciences, these goals might
be, and romet:imes are, alone relevant. But without these goals,
whether or not there are also others, an inquiry is not scientific.
These !special goals of science are not present in De Monarchia.
They could not be served by Dante's methods. In Machiavelli's
writings, in contrast, they are always present, and they control the
logic of jais investigations.
If an inquiry is to remain scientific, but nevertheless pursue
other go is than these that are peculiar to science, there are cer-
tain requirements which the additional goals must meet. In the
f i rst plac �, they must be non-transcendental-that is, they must be
29
something formulated in terms of the actual world of space and
time and history. Second, they must have at least a minimum
probability of realization. For example, a scientist might have as
his goal the development of a drug to cure tuberculosis or some
other disease; or a new defensive weapon to counteract the offen-
sive threat of bombers; or a new fertilizer that would also help
plants resist blights and insects; or a new method of transmitting
electric power without wires. All of these goals are located in the
actual world, they are all sufficiently specific to permit us to know
what we are talking about (and, what is not unimportant, to tell
whether or not they are reached), and all would have at least a
certain minimum chance of being achieved.
We noticed, however, that Dante's formal goals were either
transcendental, as in the case of his religious and metaphysical
ideals, or, as in the case of his plan for an eternally unified and
peaceful world empire (in the 14th century), too wildly improb able
to be worth debating. We noticed also that his real goals, hidden
beneath the formal goals, were, though specific enough, vicious
and reactionary.
There is a further strict requirement by which science limits
the function of goals or aims. The goals themselves are not evi-
dence; they cannot be allowed to distort facts or the correlations
among facts. The goals express our wishes, hopes, or fears. They
therefore prove nothing about the facts of the world. No matter
how much we may wish to cure a patient, the wish has nothing
to do with the objective analysis of his symptoms, or a correct
prediction of the probable course of the disease, or an estimate of
the probable effects of a medicine. If our aim is peace, this does
not entitle us, from the point of view of science, to falsify human
nature and the facts of social life in order to pretend to prove
that "all men naturally desire peace," which, history so clearly
tells us, they plainly do not. If we are interested in an,
equalitarian
t
MACHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER
democracy, this cannot be a scientific excuse for neglecting the
uninterr pted record of social inequality and oppression.
In shot, though our practical goals may dictate the direction.'
that scieftiftc activity takes, thougli they show us what we are.
trying to accomplish by the scientific investigation, what problem
we are eying to solve; nevertheless, the logic of the scientific,
inquiry itself is not controlled by the practical aims but by sci-
ence's own aims, by the effort to describe facts and to correlate,
them. I ! this respect, too, Dante violates the demand of science.
His treatise is merely the elaborate projection. of his wish. It tells,,
us nothig.
Machi
avelli's chief immediate practical goal is the national uni
f i cation l of Italy. There are other practical aims in his writings,'
some ofI them more general, and I shall discuss them later on.,
To make Italy a nation, a unified state, is, however, central and
constant
Comp red to Dante's glittering ideals, this goal is doubtless
humble, almost sordid. In any case, it is specific and meaningful.
We all know what a national state, in the modern sense, means,,
Machiaelli, writing in the first quarter of the 16th century, and
his contemporaries, with the example of France and England and
Spain fresh before them, knew what the goal meant. Moreover,
the goal was neither wild nor fantastic; it was accomplished else-
where ij Europe during those times, and there was no reason to,
think it too improbable of accomplishment in Italy.
In th case of Dante we had to distinguish carefully between
the fort1nal, presumed goals, and the hidden real goals. In Ma-
chiavelli , as in all scientific writing, there is no such distinction.
Formal land real are one, open and explicit. The last chapter of
The Prance is plainly entitled, "An Exhortation to Deliver Italy
from the Barbarians [that is, foreigners]." In it Machiavelli calls
for a champion to rally Italy for the task of unification:
"Having weighed, therefore, all that is said before, and consid-
ered seriously with myself whether in this juncture of affairs in
Italy, the times were disposed for the advancement of a new
Prince, and whether there was competent matter that could give
occasion to a virtuous and wise person to introduce such a form
as would bring reputation to him, and benefit to all his subjects;
it seems to me that at this present so many things concur to the
exaltation of a new Prince, that I do not know any time that has
been more proper than this. . . . 'Tis manifest how prone and
ready she is to follow the Banner that any man will take up; nor
is it at present to be discerned where she can repose her hopes
with more probability, than in your illustrious Family [of the
Medici], which by its own courage and interest, and the favor of
God and the Church, of which it is now chief [Leo X of the
Medici family was Pope when Machiavelli was writing this pas-
sage], may be induced to make itself Head in her redemption:
which will be no hard matter to be effected, if you lay before you
the lives and actions of the persons above named; who though
they were rare, and wonderful, were yet but men, and not accom-
modated with so fair circumstances as you. Their enterprise was
not more just, nor easy, nor God Almighty more their friend
than yours. You have Justice on your side; for that War is just
which is necessary, and 'tis piety to fight, where no hope is left
in anything else. The people are universally disposed, and where
the disposition is so great, the opposition can be but small, espe-
cially you taking your rules from those persons which I have
proposed to you for a Model . . ." (The Prince, Chap. 26.)
Machiavelli's careful treatise on The Art of War and the
lengthy discussions of war in his Discourses on Livy have an
ever-present aim of showing Italians how they can learn to fight
in such a way as to beat back the forces of France and the Empire
MACHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 33
and Spain, and thereby control their own destiny as an Italian
nation. "he History of Florence finds in the stories of the past:
a traditi nal spirit that can be linked with arms in the struggle.
The examples of ancients and moderns, joined in the Discourses
on Livy, show the direction along the political road.
There: is nothing ambiguous about this goal of making Italy a
nation. Anyone, reading Machiavelli, could accept it or reject it,
and, doing so, would know exactly what he was accepting or
rejecting. There are no dreams or ghosts in Machiavelli. He lives
and wriies in the dayl
Again unlike Dante 's ideals, this goal of Machiavelli's is ap-

propriatt to the context of his times; and is, moreover,
unques tionably progressive.
Italy, in his day, as it had been since the breakup of the Roman
Empire,was divided into a number of turbulent, varying states,
provinces, and half-states. Most of the South was included in the
Kingdo4i of Naples. There, in the backward, unorganized, un-
developdd countryside, feudal relations prevailed, with anarchic
barons lording it over their fiefs of the moment. In the center
were they changing Papal States, related through the Pope and his
designs o the intrigues of all Europe. In the North, part of the
country districts were still under feudal domination, but for the
most pat the territory was subordinated to the small city-states:
Venice, Milan, and Florence the most powerful, and lesser cities
like Ge4oa, Ferrara, and Bologna.
This £ agmentation of Italy had left it open to an uninterrupted
series o invasions, by adventurers, junior members of royal
families, knights returning from the Crusades, kings, and em-
perors. �ontrol over cities and territories shifted every decade,
from Nqrmans to Spaniards to Frenchmen to local bosses to Ger-
mans to Popes and back again. Nevertheless, the amazing city-
states of the North had made Italy, during the 14th and 15th cen-
turies, the center of Europe. It is hard for us today, thinking ii1
terms of modern nations or of the great regional super-states now
being built through the present war, to understand how
important these cities were in those times.
We must remember that the cities had their period of chief
influence and power against the background of a predominantly
feudal, agricultural Europe. The feudal organization of society
was centrifugal in tendency, each feudal lord claiming jurisdiction
over his particular fiefs, vassals, and serfs, and acknowledging the
authority only of his particular suzerain. Under feudalism there
was no developed central state power. The sovereignty of the
medieval kings, therefore, was largely fictional except as it held
over their immediate feudal domain, or as it might suit the inter-
ests of their feudal peers to collaborate with them. Until the 15th
century, the attempts of the kings to consolidate a firm govern-
mental authority always met a strong and on the whole successful
resistance from the lords.
Moreover, the primitive economy, the lack of manufacture for
the market, of money-exchange, of extensive foreign trade, of easy
transportation and communication, meant the absence of a socio-
economic basis for lasting large-scale political units. In the first
stages of the breakup of feudalism, those who were aiming to-
ward the national political system, which was later to win out,
were working at a disadvantage. They were ahead of their times,
trying to erect too weighty a structure on an unfinished foun-
dation.
It was in these stages that the city-states, such as those of
northern Italy-as well as those, somewhat different in character,
of the Lowlands and parts of Germany-had their great oppor-
tunity. They were not trying to do too much; they were small
enough to be viable, and yet large enough, for those times, to
hold
their o politically. They established control over the C E urround
ing countryside, in order to assure their food supplies. They could
put arm es in the field, either of their own citizens or of hired
i
mercena ries, able to meet the forces of feudal lords and princes,
even if t e princes called themselves King of France, or Emperor.
And the ;e cities were concentrating on industry, trade, commerce,
banking. They did not manufacture only for use, or wait for an
annual a quarterly market-day for exchange. They manufactured
for the eneral market, and they traded, in money as well as
goods, e ery day. They had their ships and their land convoys
everywhere; they established trading posts or "factors" all over
Europe a!nd the Mediterranean basin. They were first-class powers,
as powes then went. Their ambassadors and ministers were re-
spected a t 't any Court. Along with their economic and political
prosperity went also their unequaled cultural expansion.
The cities, thus, had a head start. But the very factors that had
brought !their early advantage were, by the 16th century, when
Machiavelli was writing, turning them toward ruin. As the new
world be an to take more definitive form, these first children of
that word were already old and socially decadent. They were
rich, eas luxurious, "have" powers, for all their small number
of acres. They were ready to let others do their fighting for
them,
to rely, a l. Machiavelli a thousand times upbraids them, on money
and treaties, not on the strength and virtue of their own citizens.
Trade, which had so aided them in their climb to glory and
which tey had so notably furthered, was now pushing beyond
their poer to control. By the end of the 15th century, the ships
were sailing around the Cape to the East and across the Atlantic.
The mar et was becoming world-wide. The volume of goods was
multiplying; gold and silver were pouring in, serfs were leaving
the land Ito make commodities; manufacturing plants were be-
coming l rger. The city-states, which had once nursed the new
economy, a were now beginning to strangle it. The guild re-
I
36 THE- MACHIAVELLIANS
strictions which had kept up the quality of Florentine woolens
or Venetian glass or Genoese weapons were now, in order to
maintain the traditional privileges of their members, preventing
an influx of new workers and new capital. The state power of
the cities, and their armed forces, were not now strong enough to
police transportation routes, guard the sea lanes, put down brig-
andage and the vagaries of barons who did not realize that their
world was ending. Uniform systems of taxation and stable,
standardized money for large areas were now required. For all
such tasks only the modern nation-state could adequately
provide.
Italy, then, in Machiavelli's day, faced a sharp, imperative choice, a
choice that had already been pointed by the examples of Spain and
especially of France and England. Italy could remain under the
existing political structure. If so, if it continued in the old ways,
it was sure to retrogress, to decline economically and cul turally, to
sink into the backyard of Europe. Or Italy could follow the example
of France and England, unify itself, organize as a nation; and
thereby continue in the front rank, be, perhaps, the chief state of
the modern world.
This was the problem, and this problem Machiavelli, in its
political aspects above all, fully understood. Machiavelli made his
decision, explained it, advocated it. Unfortunately for Italy, his
advice was not accepted. Italy paid her historical penalty. More
than three centuries later she tried to catch up with Machiavelli; but
by then, as we know today well enough, it was too late. A new
style of barbarian, with new techniques, has once again swept over
her from the North.
Machiavelli concluded that Italy could be unified only through

a Prince, who would take the initiative in consolidating the coun-
try into a nation. Those who think sentimentally rather than
M4HIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 37
scientific lly about politics are sure to misunderstand this
con clusion. achiavelli did not reach it because he preferred a
monarch or absolutist government-we shall see later what his
own pref erences were. He reached it because he found that it was
dictated Iy the evidence.
Moreojer, in this conclusion Machiavelli was undoubtedly cor
rect. All of the European nations were consolidated through a
Prince r, rather, a succession of Princes-and it is hard to see
how it 4uld have been otherwise. So it was in France, so in
England, so in Spain. The feudal lords did not want nation
states, w ich in the end were sure to bring the destruction of
their po er and privileges. The masses were too inarticulate, too
ignorant, too weak, to function as a leading political force. The
Church ,new that its international overlordship was gravely
threatened if the national system were successful.
The ox
lie great social group that required the national system
was the )new and spreading class of the burghers, the business
men, themerchants, the early capitalists. This class, however, was
too youn, too untried, too unused to rule, to take on the job by
itself. B t the monarchy also-the King and. those immediately
associatel with the King-was ready for the nation, through
which t
ie full political sovereignty of the monarch could be
centraliz d and brought to bear against the centrifugal pull of
feudalis Therefore a de facto alliance was made, and around
the man rchy the nation was pulled together. It was Machiavelli's
own con emporary, Sir Thomas More, most successful lawyer in
London, leading spokesman for the London merchants, who was
the first ommoner to become Chancellor of England. A younger
contemp � rary and fellow-Florentine, Catherine, of the same
Medici f mily to one of whose members The Prince is dedicated,
daughte of a banker, became Queen and ruler of :France.
If the path of the nation led through the monarchy in these
other co1ntries, Machiavelli indicated why this was even more
38 THE MACHIATVELLIANS
necessarily so in Italy, where the political divisionalism was even
more extreme. Only a Prince could rally around him the force
and enthusiasm needed to smash and re-fuse the disparate units. In
such a way only could Italy become a nation.
Almost all commentators on Machiavelli say that his principal

innovation, and the essence of his method, was to "divorce politics
from ethics." Thereby he broke sharply with the Aristotelian
tradition which had dominated medieval political thought. His
method, they grant, freed politics to become more scientific and
objective in its study of human behavior; but it was most dan-
gerous because, through it, politics was released from "control"
by ethical conceptions of what is right and good.
We have already seen enough to realize that this opinion is
confused. Machiavelli divorced politics from ethics only in the
same sense that every science must divorce itself from ethics.
Scientific descriptions and theories must be based upon the facts,
the evidence, not upon the supposed demands of some ethical
system. If this is what is meant by the statement that Machiavelli
divorced politics from ethics, if the statement sums up his refusal
to pervert and distort political science by doctoring its results in
order to bring them into line with "moral principles"-his own or
any others-then the charge is certainly true.
This very refusal, however, this allegiance to objective truth,
is itself a moral ideal. Moreover, in another sense, Machiavelli
undertook his studies of politics, for the sake of very definite goals,
one of which I have analyzed in this section. These goals, like all
goals, have an ethical content: indeed, ethics is simply the con-
sideration of human behavior from the point of view of goals,
standards, norms, and ideals. Machiavelli divorced politics from a
certain kind of ethics-namely, from a transcendental, other-
MAHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOF POWER 39
worldly, nd, it may be added, very rotten ethics. But he did so
in order rho bring politics and ethics more closely into line, and to
locate both of them firmly in the real world of space and time
and history, which is the only world about which we can know
anything.' Machiavelli is as ethical a political writer as Dante. The
differencJ is that Machiavelli's ethics are much better.
2. Machiavelli's Method
MACHIAVELLI'S METHOD is the method of science applied

to politics. Naturally, Machiavelli's conceptions often seem to us
somewhat immature-we know so much more than Machiavelli
knew. We must make our judgment in a proper historical per-
spective, remembering that he wrote more than four centuries ago.
In those days, scientific method in our sense, deliberate, systematic,
self-conscious, was only beginning. Leonardo da Vinci, the ro-
mantically brilliant prophet of science, was a contemporary of
Machiavelli, and also a Florentine. Copernicus' great works on
astronomy, the turning point for modern science, were only first
published a short while after Machiavelli's death. In Machiavelli,
as in Leonardo and Copernicus, the nature of scientific method is
not fully understood; many pre-scientific notions, held over from
medieval and ancient metaphysics and theology, are retained.
Copernicus himself, after all, still thought that the planets must
move in circular orbits around the sun, because a perfect God
would have created none but perfect motion in a circle for the
heavenly bodies.
In connection with Machiavelli's own subject-matter there were
special difficulties. The critical study of historical texts and source-
materials had only just begun, and was confined chiefly to Biblical
and Church texts that were at issue in the religious controversies.
(Luther, too, was a contemporary of Machiavelli's in that age
when the world was at a crisis in another of its slow, great social
revolutions.) Almost all writers on historical subjects, Machiavelli
among them, tended to accept Greek and Roman authors much
more literally than we would, nowadays. There was a readier
40
MAHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 41
trust of picturesque dramatic episodes than our colder sense of
fact„ permits jts.
Such 1ualifications as these to Machiavelli's use of the scientific,,
method nay, however, be taken for granted by those who do not
expect the 16th century to be identical with the aoth.
Positively, then, in the first place, we find that Machiavelli uses,
languagJ in a cognitive, scientific manner. That is, except where
he is frankly urging his readers to action, he uses words not in
order to express his emotions or attitudes, but in such a way that
their m eaning can be tested, can be understood in terms of the
real world. We always know what he is talking about. This, a
requirement for all scientific discourse, is in political and social,
discussioi an achievement of the very first rank.
Secon, Machiavelli delineates with sufficient clarity the field
of politics. What are we talking about when we talk politics
?
Many, t0 judge by what they write, seem to think we are talking
about man's search for the ideally good society, or his mutual
organization for the maximum social welfare, or his natural
aspiration for peace and harmony, or something equally removed
from the world as it is and has been. Machiavelli understood,
politics �s primarily the study of the struggles for power among
men. By so marking its field, we are assured that there is being
discussed something that exists, not something spun out of an
idealist's dreams, or nightmares. If our interest is in man as he is
on this arth, so far as we can learn from the facts of history and
experience, we must conclude that he has no natural aspiration
for peach or harmony, he does not form states in order to achieve
an ideally good society, nor does he accept mutual organization
to securit the maximum social welfare. But men, and groups of
men, d by various means, struggle among themselves for re-
lative increases in power and privilege. In the course of these
struggles and as part of them, governments are established and
overthrown, laws passed and violated, wars fought and won and
lost. A definition is arbitrary, true enough, but Machiavelli's
implied definition of the field of politics as the struggle for power is
at least insurance against nonsense.
Third, Machiavelli assembles, and with some measure of system,
a large number of facts: facts drawn from his reading in the
historical works available to him, from what others, prominent in
the politics of his own day, have told him, and from what he has
himself observed during his own active political career. In any
f i eld except politics, such a procedure might seem too obvious to
deserve comment. But in writing about politics, the usual ap-
proach is that of Dante, starting not with observed facts, but
with
supposed general principles governing the nature of man, society,
and the universe. Conclusions are reached by deductions from the
principles; if facts disagree, so much the worse for the facts. For
Machiavelli, the facts come first; questions are answered by appeal
to them as final court. If they disclose that successful rulers lie
frequently and break treaties, then such a generalization takes
precedence over an opposite law drawn from some metaphysical
dogma which states that all men have an innate love of the truth,
or from an optimistic, unexamined hope that in the long run
truth triumphs over lies. If the facts show that a government is
more securely based on the confidence and support of the people
than on the building of fortresses, then that must answer the
argument over the merits of fortresses, widely debated in Machia-
velli's time, even though many rulers doubtless preferred to be-
lieve otherwise. Florence, with plenty of money and little stomach
for fighting, wanted to believe that it could maintain itself by
hiring mercenary troops, but the facts, again, proved that only
the citizenry in arms could really be trusted. For Machiavelli,
when the facts decide, it is the principles that must be scrapped.
Fourth, Machiavelli is always attempting to correlate sets of
facts into generalizations or laws. He is interested not alone or
primarily in the individual, unique political event, but in laws re-
lating events. He does not suppose that it will be possible for him.,
to formulate, at that primitive stage of political science, universal
laws covering the whole realm of politics. But he evidently thinks
it possible to state approximate generalizations about many kinds
of politi jal event. He is always wondering whether something re-
corded in Livy or Thucydides, or observed in his own time, is an
exception, a unique, peculiar action; or whether it may not be
understood as an instance of a general pattern of political be-
havior. n the vigorous days of the Republic, the Romans elected
consuls or a year only. Even if the consuls were leading armies in
the field they were recalled and replaced at the end of their year.
This wis often a military inconvenience, threatening, at times,
military defeat or at least the prolongation of a campaign. But was
it wise from the point of view of the preservation of the liberty
of the republic? Machiavelli finds that not only in that con-
nection, but as a general rule, it was not only wise but essential;
that the liberty of a Republic is secure only when its officials are
elected for short, definite terms, which are never prolonged; and
that they twilight of the Roman Republic, as of so many other
republi9an states, was first plainly indicated by the practice of ex-
tending the terms of officials.
How should states proceed, if they are to prosper, in the treat-
ment oenemies, internal or external, once the enemies have been
defeate ? Machiavelli is not interested in t he single instance. By
examples from Roman and Greek and Carthaginian and Italian
and French history, he shows that the "middle way" in such cases
almost invariably works out badly; that the enemy should be
either completely crushed or completely conciliated, that a mixture
of the t o simply guarantees both the continuation of a cause for
resentment and revenge and the possibility for later translating
these i to action.
"An because the sentence and judgment of the Senate at that
time u on the Latins is more than ordinarily remarkable; that it
may be readier for the imitation of Princes when occasion is
offered, I shall set down the words which Livy makes Camillus
speak, which confirm what we have said about the ways which
the Romans observed in the enlargement of their Empire; and
shows, that in their determinations in matters of State, they left
the middle ways, and followed only the extremes. For Govern-
ment is nothing but keeping subjects in such a posture as that
they may have no will, or power to offend you. And this is done
either by taking away all means from them of doing you any
hurt; or by obliging and indulging them so, as they may not in
reason hope to better their fortune; all which will appear, first
by Camillus his Speech to the Senate, and then by their resolution
upon it. His words were these: `The Gods have put it into the
power of this Reverend Counsel, to determine whether the Latins
shall be a people, or not. As to them, your peace will be per-
petual, which way soever you take. Are you disposed to severity,
and will destroy those poor people that are conquered, and your
prisoners? They are at your mercy, and you may extinguish their
very name. Are you disposed according to the example of your
ancestors to propagate your interest by receiving them into your
City? You have an opportunity of doing it with the highest ad-
vantage and glory. Certainly no Empire is so firm, as where sub-
jects exult in their obedience. It will be expedient, therefore, whilst
they are in amazement and suspense, to settle their minds one
way, either by punishment or pardon.' According to the Consul's
proposal, the Senate came to an issue, and gave sentence Town by
Town, according to the nature of their deserts; but all in extremes,
without any mediocrity; for some they not only pardoned, but
loaded them with benefits, made them free of their own City, and
gave them many other privileges, and exemptions, and thereby
secured them not only from rebelling, but from ever conspiring
again. The rest whom they thought fit to make examples, were
brought prisoners to Rome, punished with all kind of severity,
MAHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 45
their ho ses destroyed, their lands confiscated, their persons dis-,
persed, so as it was not possible for them any way to do any
mischief' for the future.
"This? was the way the Romans took in the settlement of
Latium,! which ought to be observed and imitated by all wise
Princes ind States; and if the Florentines had followed it in the
year i5o!i, when Arezzo and the whole Valley of Chiana rebelled,
they ha continued their authority, augmented their State, and
supplied themselves with those fields which they wanted for
their
subsiste ice. But they took the middle way (betwixt the extremes
of rigor and remission) which is always the most dangerous; they
kept th? City, removed the Magistrates, degraded the great men,
banished some, and executed others... . And things being so, we
conclu4e, according to our proposition in the beginning of our
discour e: that upon any great Sentence to be given against a
people or City that has been formerly free, the surest way is, to
wai!Ve all moderation, and either to caress or extinguish them.
1 . ." (Discourses, Book II, Chap. 23.)
It ��ay be further remarked that Machiavelli ordinarily tests
his generalizations by examples drawn from several different
period of history. The reason for this is to guard against mis-
taking° a type of behavior characteristic of some particular period
for a pore general historical law. This striving toward a more
Discourses on
embra ing political science is most evident in the
Livy,
here he customarily links references to Roman and Greek
history with references to Italian or European history compara tively
close to his own times.
"Because it is easy to begin war as a mar pleases, but harder to
end its every Prince before he undertakes an enterprise is obliged
to co sider his own strength well, and to regulate by it. But then
he mist be so wise, too, as not to ma k e a wrong; judgment , and
that 1}e will certainly do as often as he computes it by his Bags
[i.e., money-bags], by the situation of his Towns, or the affection
I
of his Friends,-rather than by his own proper Power and Arms.

Money, and Towns, and Friends, are all good, when in con-
junction with a strong Army of your own, but without it they
do nothing: without Men, to what purpose is either Money or
Towns? and the affection of your subjects will hold no longer
than you are able to defend them. There is no mountain, no lake,
no strait inaccessible, where there is no force to defend it. Vast
sums of money are not only incapable of protecting you, but they
expose you to more danger; nor can anything be more false
than that old and common saying, `That money is the sinews of
war.' .
. Which saying is nowadays in every Prince's mouth,
but improperly, in my judgment: for relying wholly upon that
Maxim, they think their treasure is sufficient to defend them, not
considering that, if that would have done it, Darius would have
conquered Alexander; the Grecians, the Romans; Duke Charles,
the Swiss; and of late the Pope and Florentines united, would
not have found it so hard to have mastered Francesco Maria
(Nephew to Julius II) at the Battle of Urbino. But these whom I
have mentioned, presuming more upon the multitude of their
bags than the goodness of their men, were all beaten and over-
come...
. Again, when after the death of Alexander the Great,
a great Army of Gauls transplanted into Greece (from whence
they passed afterwards into Asia) before they began their march,
the Gauls sent Ambassadors to the King of Macedon to treat an
accord; which being almost concluded, to make the Ambassadors
more pliable, the said King shows them his treasure, which con-
sisted of a vast quantity of silver and gold, which the Ambassa-
dors had no sooner seen, but longing impatiently to be at it, they
broke off the treaty, and brought their Army into his Country;
f i so that that very thing in which he had reposed his great con-
dence and security proved his ruin and destruction. The Vene-
tians not long since had their coffers well stored, yet they lost all,
and their wealth was not able to defend them. So that I do affirm
MACHIAVELLI: SCIENCE OF POWER 47
'tis not honey (as the common opinion will have it) but good
soldiers that is the sinews of war: for money cannot find good
soldiers but good soldiers will be sure to find money... ." (Dis-
courses, Book II, Chap. to.)
Finally, though this is not strictly part of the logic of scientific
method, we feel everywhere in Machiavelli, in every line and
chapter, Ian intense and dominant passion for the truth. Whatever
other interests and goals he may have, to this all the rest are, if
need be, subordinated. No prejudice, no weighty tradition, no au-
thority, ono emotional twist is enough to lead him to temper his
inquiry into the truth, so far as he can discover it. If we remember
the established attitudes of his times, their provincial narrowness,
their lank of scholarship and research and a critical sense, this
passion for truth is wonderfully revealed, I think, in the sane,
controlld, and balanced preface to the Second Book of the Dis-
courses n Livy:
"It is, the common practice of Mankind, to commend the
ancient, land condemn the present times; but in my judgment not
always with reason; for so studiously are they devoted to things
.of antiquity, that they do not, only admire what is transmitted by
old authors, but applaud and cry up when they are old, the
passages, and occurrences in their youth. But my opinion is, This
their wfy of computation is many times false, and that upon
several ccounts. First, because of such very ancient things we can
have no absolute knowledge; for most commonly in the narrative
of affair;, what is infamous, or ill done, is pretermitted in silence,
whilst hat is well done, and honorable, is related with all the
Arts, a rd amplifications of rhetoric; for so much are historians
accusto ed to attribute to the fortune of the conqueror, that to
increase { ' his praise, they do not only expatiate upon his conduct,
and exploits, but they do likewise so magnify and illustrate the
very act ions of the Enemy, that they who come after, beholding
things a � a great distance, have reason to admire those times, and
those men, and by consequence to love them. Besides it being envy
or fear which disposes people to hatred; neither of those passions
extending to what cannot possibly hurt them, two great causes
are wanting of finding fault with Antiquity; for as things so long
passed cannot any way prejudice, so they cannot provoke to envy
or discontent: But present things which are obvious to our own
sense, are universally known, and no circumstance that passes
(whether good or bad) that can be totally concealed; from
whence it proceeds, that observing with the excellence and virtue
of our present affairs, whatever is concomitant of imprudence or
vice, we are in a manner compelled to postpone them to things
of antiquity, where the good only is displayed, and the bad passed
by, though perhaps the present things are more worthily glori-
F ous.
"To which it may be added, that the desires of mankind are
immense, and insatiable; that naturally we are covetous of every-
thing, whereas fortune allows us but little; that from thence it
happens that no man is contented, every man despises what he is
already possessed of, commends what is passed, condemns what
is present, and longs for what is to come, though induced by no
reasonable occasion. Things being thus, I cannot resolve myself
whether ever I may not be of that number, who in these my dis-
courses have sq highly magnified the old times and exploits of
the Romans, to the diminution of our own... (Discourses,
Preface to Book II.)
In general summary of Machiavelli's method, we may recall
the distinction between formal and real meaning which I defined
in analyzing De Monarchia. It is a characteristic of Machiavelli's
writing, as of all scientific discourse, that this distinction is in-
applicable. Formal meaning and real meaning are one. There is
no hidden meaning, no undisclosed purpose. This is why, where
Machiavelli is wrong, it is easy to correct him; and why he cannot
deceive us.
3. Political Man
THERE AVE BEEN many critical discussions about Machia-

velli's sup osed views on "human nature." Some defend him, but
he is usua ly charged with a libel upon mankind, with having a
perverted, shocking, and detestable notion of what human beings
are like. These discussions, however, are beside the point. Machia-
velli has Fo views on human nature; or, at any rate, none is
presented in his writings. Machiavelli is neither a psychologist
nor a mor ill philosopher, but a political scientist.
It is clelr from a study of Machiavelli that what he is trying to
analyze is`not "man" but "political man," in somewhat the same
way that jdam Smith analyzed "economic man." Adam Smith
did not stfppose for a moment-though he, too, is often enough
misunderstood-that he was exhaustively describing human
nature when he said that economic man seeks a profit, that, when
a man orierates in the capitalist market, he seeks the greatest
possible economic profit. Of course Adam Smith realized that
men, in tie course of their many and so various activities, are
motivated$by many other aims than the search for profit. But he
was not interested in human nature as a whole. Man's nature was
relevant t his studies only insofar as man functioned econom-
ically, in e market. Adam Smith was abstracting from human
nature, and introducing the conception of an "economic agent,"
which he believed, with some justice, would aid him in formu-
lating the Ilaws of economics. Analogous procedures are followed
in all scieIces. Newton, when he introduced ideas of frictionless
motion, b dies not acted upon by any forces, perfectly elastic
bodies, an so on, did not imagine that such things existed; New-
49
ton, also, was abstracting for the sake of generalizing more ade-
quately about certain types of phenomena, in his case physical
phenomena.
Similarly with Machiavelli. He is interested in man in relation
to political phenomena-that is, to the struggle for power; in
man as he functions politically, not in man as he behaves toward
his friends or family or god. It does not refute Machiavelli to point
out that men do not always act as he says they act. He knows this.
But many sides of man's nature he believes to be irrelevant to
political behavior. If he is wrong, he is wrong because of a false
theory of politics, not because of a false idea of man.
Most people think that politics is ultimately a question of
psychology, because, they argue, it is after all human beings who
carry on political actions. This belief lies back of the common
attempt to explain politics in terms of the character and motives
of political leaders, or even of the "common man," an attempt
familiar not only from ordinary discussion but more prominently
from the journalists' books on politics that have plagued us during
recent years. It is the basis, as well, of more pretentious studies
which claim to explain politics in terms of some contemporary
psychological system such as psychoanalysis or behaviorism.
The relation between psychology and politics, is, however, by
no means so direct. If we had at our disposal a completely de-
veloped and general science of psychology, presumably it would
include politics and sociology, economics, and history besides. But
we have nothing even promising such a psychology. As things
are, the proper study of politics is quite plainly distinct from the
study of psychology, and the laws of politics can in no way be
deduced from the laws of psychology. To understand politics, we
must get our evidence directly, from the record of political
struggles themselves. Those minor details which psychology is
now able to tell us about reaction-times, conditioned reflexes, and
MAC'HIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 51
infant pe liarities teach us nothing at all about how forms of
governme t change or a ruling class is wiped out.
From s dying the facts of politics, then, Machiavelli reached
certain co clusions, not about man but about "political man."
First, he implies everywhere a rather sharp distinction between
two types hf political man: a "ruler-type," we might call one, and
a "ruled-type," the other. The first type would include not merely
those who at any moment occupy leading positions in society,
but those' also who aspire to such positions or who might so
aspire if dpportunity offered; the second consists of those who
neither le4d nor are capable of becoming leaders. The second
is the great majority. There is a certain arbitrariness in any such
distinctio as this, and obviously the exact line between the two
groups islazy. Nevertheless, it is clear that Machiavelli-and all
those, morj over, who write in the tradition of Machiavelli-thinks
that the distinction reflects a basic fact of political life, that active
political struggle is confined for the most part to a small minority
of men, that the majority is and remains, whatever else happens,
the ruled.
The outstanding characteristic of the majority is, then, its
political p ssivity. Unless driven by the most extreme provocation
on the part of the rulers or by rare and exceptional circumstance,
the ruled 1 re not interested in power. They want a small mini-
mum of sdurity, and a chance to live their own. lives and manage
their own small affairs. "Whilst the generality of the world live
quietly upin their estates, and unprejudiced in. their honor, they
live peaceably enough, and all [a ruler's] contention is only with
the pride nd ambition of some few persons who are many ways,
and with 4rent ease to be restrained." (The Prince, Chap. i9.)
"In the `general," Machiavelli finds, "men are ungrateful, in-
constant, Hypocritical, fearful of danger, and covetous of gain;
whilst thej receive any benefit by you, and the danger is at
distance, tl}ey are absolutely yours, their Blood, their
Estates, their
Lives, and their Children (as I said before) are all at your Service,
but when mischief is at hand, and you have present need of their
help, they make no scruple to revolt." (The Prince, Chap. 17.)
"The people," moody and changeable, "being deceived with a
false imagination of good, do many times solicit their own ruin,
and run the commonwealth upon infinite dangers and difficulties."
(Discourses, Book I, Chap. 53.) At the same time, they have a
great respect for firm authority. "There is nothing more certain to
appease a popular tumult, and reduce the people to reason, than the
interposition of some wise person of authority among them, as
Vergil has told us with very good reason: Ìf in their tumults, a
grave man appears, All's whist, and nothing stirring but their
ears."' (Discourses, Book I, Chap. 54.)
The "multitude without a head is altogether unservice-
able. . Upon the accident of Virginius, the people having taken
arms, and retired to the holy Mount, the Senate sent to them to
know upon what account they had abandoned their Officers, and
betaken themselves to that Mount: and the authority of the Senate
was so venerable among the people, that having no head among
them, there was no body durst return an answer: Titus Livy tells
us, `They wanted not what to say, but who to deliver it.' For
having no certain Commander, every private person was unwill-
ing to expose himself to their displeasure. From whence we may
understand how useless a thing the multitude is without a
head. . ." (Discourses, Book I, Chap. 44.)
"The Romans being overthrown, and their Country much
wasted, upon the coming of the Gauls; many of them
(contrary
to an express Order and Edict of the Senate) transplanted to
Veii, and left Rome. Whereupon, by a new Proclamation, the
Senate commanded, that by a precise day, and upon a certain
penalty, they should return to their old habitations: when the
news of this Proclamation was first brought to Veii, it was
despised and laughed at by everybody; but when the day ap-
MACIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 53
pointed fo their return arrived, there was not a man but packed
up his goos, and came back as was required, and as Livy says
in the case,'`Not one of them who were so contumacious together,
but apart began to fear, and that fear made him obedient.' And
certainly nothing can give us a more lively description of the
nature of multitude than this case. They are hold, and will
speak liber lly against the decrees of their Prince; and afterwards
when they lee their punishment before their faces, everyone grows
fearful of i4s neighbor, slips his neck out of the collar, and returns
to his obedence. So that it is not much to be considered what the
people say,; either of their Prince's good management or bad; so
they be str ng enough to keep them in their good humor when
they are w 11 disposed, and provide (when they are ill) that they
do them n hurt. By this ill disposition of the people, I mean all
disposition, but what arise either from the loss of their liberty, or
the loss of some excellent Prince still living, upon whom they
had settled! their affections.
"For the evil dispositions proceeding from these causes are
transcendetI tally dreadful, and strong remedies are to be applied to
restrain them.
"In othe cases, their anger is nothing, especially having no-
body to he d them; for as there is nothing so terrible as their fury
in one case, so there is nothing so vain and inconsiderable in the
other, beca se, though they have betaken themselves to their arms,
they are eaily reduced, if you can but avoid the first heat of their
fury; for by degrees they will cool, and every man considering it
is his duty ,to return, will begin to suspect himself, and think of
his security, either by making his peace, or escape. Whenever,
therefore, t he multitude is in a mutiny, their best way is immedi-
ately to chrose themselves a Head, who may correct, keep them
united, ancj contrive for their defense, as the Romans did when
leaving Romme upon the death of Virginia; for their protection
and security, they created twenty Tribunes from among them-
54 T} EMACHIAVELLIANS
selves: and if this course be neglected, it happens to them as Livy
presaged in the foregoing sentence, `That as nothing is more cou-
rageous than the multitude united, so nothing is more abject when
they are separate and divided."' (Discourses, Book I, Chap 57.)
Nevertheless-and this observation applies to rulers and ruled
alike-no man is perfectly good or bad. "Wise men who were
then about his Holiness [Pope Julius II] . could not imagine
how it should come to pass, that Pagolo having his Enemy
[Julius] as it were naked in his hands, and by consequence an
opportunity (with perpetual glory to himself) to have secured
him, and pillaged his equipage . . . should so strangely neglect
it; especially when they considered that it was neither conscience
nor good nature which restrained him; for neither of those were
to be supposed in a man who had been nought with his own
sister, and murdered several of his relations, to make his way to
the Government; wherefore it was concluded to happen, because
it is so provided by Providence, that no man can be exquisitely
wicked, no more than good in perfection... (Discourses, Book
I, Chap. 27.)
When Machiavelli concludes that no man is perfectly good or
bad, he is not making a primarily moral judgment. He means,
more generally, that all men make mistakes at least sometimes,
that there are no super-men, that no man is always intelligent and
judicious, that even the stupid have occasional moments of
brilliance, that men are not always consistent, that they are
variable and variously motivated. Obvious as such reflections may
seem, they are easily forgotten in the realm of political action,
which is alone in question. The tendency, in political judgments,
is toward black and white: the leader, or the proletariat, or the
people, or the party, or the great captain is always right; the bosses
or the crowd or the government, always wrong. From such reason-
ing flow not a few shocks and dismays at turns of events that
might readily have been anticipated.
MACHIAVELLI: SCIENCE OF POWER
55
The rul d majority, changeable, weak, short:-sighted, selfish, is
not at all, efor Machiavelli, the black to the rulers' white. Indeed,
for him, the ruler-type is even less constant, less loyal, and on
many occ4sions less intelligent.
"That nthing is more vain and inconstant than the multitude,
Titus Live and all other historians do agree. . . . He says, `The
nature of the multitude is, to be servilely obedient, or insolently
tyrannical,
"Things` being thus, I know not whether I shall not seem too
bold, to undertake the defense of a thing, which all the world
opposes; nd run myself upon a necessity of either quitting it
with disgrace, or pursuing it with scandal; yet methinks, being
to maintain it with arguments, not force, it should not be so
criminal. say then in behalf of the multitude; that what they
are charged withal by most authors, may be charged upon all
private pektsons in the world, and especially upon Princes; for
whoever ljves irregularly, and is not restrained by the Law, is
subject to the same exorbitancies, and will commit as bad faults
as the molt dissolute multitude in the world: and this may be
easily known, if it be considered how many Princes there have
been, and how few of them good... . I conclude, therefore,
against thq' common opinion, that the people are no more light,
ungrateful, nor changeable than Princes; but that both of them
are equally faulty, and he that should go about to excuse the
Princes, would be in a very great error... ." (Discourses, Book
I, Chap. 5 .)
A Note of Machiavelli's Terminology
In under tanding Machiavelli, there are confusions that may re sult

from is use of certain words.
In The Prince, Machiavelli divides all governments, with re-
spect to their form, into "monarchies" (principalities) and "com-
monwealths" (republics). A monarchy means a government
where sovereignty rests, formally, in a single man; a common-
wealth means a government where sovereignty rests, formally, in
more than one man. A commonwealth, therefore, need not be
"democratic" in any usual sense; nor a monarchy, tyrannical.
At the beginning of the Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli dis-
tinguishes three kinds of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and
democracy. Through this distinction, which is taken from Aris-
totle, he is referring not only to differences in governmental form,
but also to differing social relations in the state. In particular, by
the terms "aristocracy" and "democracy" he is taking account of
the relative power of "nobility" and "people."
When Machiavelli discusses the nobility and the people, he has in
mind the distinction between "patricians" and "plebs" in Rome, and
between the feudal nobility and the burghers in the Italian cities.
Originally, in Rome, the patricians were the heads of the families
belonging to the ancient tribes. Their class included, in a subordinate
status, the rest of their families, their clients, servants, slaves, and so
on. At first, the patricians alone were eligible to the senate and the
consulship.
The class of the "plebs," or "people," was sub-divided primarily
according to wealth. Its articulate and politically active members,
who gradually won citizenship in Rome, the creation of the office
of tribune, and eligibility to the senate and consulship, were for
a long time only a small minority of the entire plebs-just as the
patricians proper, who were the descendants of the early family
heads in the eldest male line, were only a minority of the entire
patrician class. In speaking of the "people," therefore, in con-
nection with Rome, the reference is not to everyone, or even to
"the masses" in an indiscriminate sense, but ordinarily to the
upper stratum of the plebs.
Analogously in the case of the Italian cities. "People" meant in
the first instance the burghers and the leading members of the
M4CHIAVELLI: SC IE NCEOFPOWER 5
guilds. hese were opposed to the class of the nobility, dominated
by the eads of the noble houses. In the course of time, the class
of "peo le" expanded. It became necessary to distinguish between
the richfr burghers and chiefs of the major guilds (popolo grasso),
and the lesser people (popolo minuto), whom Machiavelli some-
times c lls "people of the meaner sort." But when Machiavelli
wants t refer to the lower strata of "the masses," to the appren-
tices a d workmen and those not regularly employed, he or
dinarily calls them, not "people," but "rabble," or sometimes
"multi ti de."
Thercj are two important consequences of this terminology: The
form of government-monarchy or commonwealth-is inde-
pendent of the social ascendancy or subordination of the "people,"
since the people could set up a monarchy or tyranny as well as a
commo wealth, and the nobility could rule through a republic or
commo wealth, as it did during much of the history of Rome, in
Venice, and typically in a long period of the history of the ancient
cities. Second, the distinction between "ruler-type" and "ruled-
type" is;also independent: specifically, both types are to be found
among the "people" as well as in other classes.
The ruler-type, then, is not distinguished by Machiavelli from

the ruled by any moral standard, nor by intelligence or con
sistency, nor by any capacity to avoid mistakes. There are,
how ever, ce tain common characteristics that mark the rulers
and potentia rulers, and divide them from the majority that is
fated always o be ruled.
In th1 first place, the ruler-type has what Machiavelli calls
virtu, what is so improperly translated as "virtue." Virtu is a
word, it Machiavelli's language, that has no English equivalent. It
include s7 in its meaning part of what we refer to as "ambition,"
"drive," "spirit" in the sense of Plato's Outoc, the "will to power."
Those who are capable of rule are above all those who want to
rule. They drive themselves as well as others; they have that
quality which makes them keep going, endure amid difficulties,
persist against dangers. They are those whom Marlowe's
Tamburlaine is talking of:
"Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world,
And measure every wandering planet's course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite,
And always moving as the restless spheres,
Will us to wear ourselves, and never rest,
Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown."
The ruler-type has, usually, strength, especially martial strength.
War and fighting are the great training ground of rule, Machia-
velli believes, and power is secure only on the basis of force.
Even more universal a quality of the ruler-type, however, is
fraud. Machiavelli's writings contain numerous discussions of the
indispensable role of fraud in political affairs, ranging from analy-
ses of deceptions and stratagems in war to the breaking of treaties
to the varied types of fraud met with daily in civil life. In the
Discourses, Book II, Chapter 13, he generalizes "that from mean
to great fortune, people rise rather by fraud, than by force."
"I have found it always true, that men do seldom or never ad-
vance themselves from a small beginning, to any great height, but
by fraud, or by force (unless they come by it by donation, or right
of inheritance). I do not think any instance is to be found where
force alone brought any man to that grandeur, but fraud and
artifice have done it many times, as is clear in the lives of Philip
of Macedon, Agathocles the Sicilian, and several others, who from
mean a d inconsiderable extraction, came at length to be Kings.
Xenophon in his History of Cyrus insinuates the necessity of
fraud when he represents (in his first Expedition against the
King
of Armenia) how all Cyrus' actions and negotiations were full
of fallajy and deceit, and that it was that way he conquered his
Kingdoln, and not by bravery and force, by which he implies that
no Prince can do any great matters without that art of dissem-
bling . s . and indeed I am of opinion that from a mean and base
fortune 'never any man came to be very great by downright gen-
erosity nd force; but by fraud alone there have been many, as
particul rly Gian Galeazzo, who by that alone wrested the Gov-
ernment of Lombardy out of the hands of Messer Bernardo, his
uncle. And the same courses which Princes are forced to in the
beginning of their authority, the same courses are taken by com-
monwecllths at first, till they be settled in their government, and
have force sufficient to defend themselves. Rome (which either
by chance or election took all ways to make itself great) was not
withoutithis: and what greater cunning or artifice could it use in
the beginning of its greatness, than what it did take, and is men-
tioned Before ...? Which things being so, it is manifest the Ro-
mans vented not at the beginning of their rise, that dexterity of
cheatin that is so necessary to all people that are ambitious of
raising themselves to a great height, from an inconsiderable be-
ginning, which artifice is always the less scandalous, by how
much h` that does practice it, understands better how to disguise
it by so �e honorable pretense, as the Romans did very well."
The mbination of force and fraud is picturesquely referred to in
thl famous passages of The Prince which describe the suc-' cessful
rtler as both Lion and Fox.
"You must understand that there are two ways of contending,
by Law, and by force: The first is proper to men; the second to,
beasts; but because many times the first is insufficient, recourse
must be! had to the second. It belongs, therefore, to a Prince to
6o THEMACHIAVELLIANS
understand both, when to make use of the rational, and when of
the brutal way; and this is recommended to Princes (though
abstrusely) by ancient writers, who tell them how Achilles and
several other Princes were committed to the education of Chiron,
the Centaur, who was to keep them under his discipline, choosing
them a Master, half man and half beast, for no other reason but
to show how necessary it is for a Prince to be acquainted with
both, for that one without the other will be of little duration.
Seeing, therefore, it is of such importance to a Prince to take upon
him the nature and disposition of a beast, of all the whole flock,
he ought to imitate the Lion and the Fox; for the Lion is in
danger of toils and snares, and the Fox of the Wolf: so that he
must be a Fox to find out the snares, and a Lion to fright away
the Wolves, but they who keep wholly to the Lion, have no true
notion of themselves . . ." (The Prince, Chap. 18.)
Finally, political man of the ruler-type is skilled at adapting
himself to the times. In passage after passage, Machiavelli returns to
this essential ability: neither cruelty nor humaneness, neither
rashness nor caution, neither liberality nor avarice avails in the
struggle for power unless the times are suited.
"I believe again that Prince may be happy whose manner of
proceeding concerts with the times, and he unhappy who cannot
accommodate to them: For in things leading to the end of their
designs (which every man has in his eye, and they are riches and
honor) we see men have various methods of proceeding. Some
with circumspection, others with heat; some with violence, others
with cunning; some with patience, and others with fury, and
everyone (notwithstanding the diversity of their ways) may pos-
sibly attain them. Again we see two persons equally cautious, one
of them prospers, and the other miscarries, and on the other side,
two equally happy by di ff erent measures, one being deliberate,
and the other as hasty; and this proceeds from nothing but the
condition of the times which suits, or does not suit, with the
man-
MiCHIAVELLI: SCIENCE OF POWER 61
ner of t eir proceedings. From hence arises what I have said, that
two per sons by different operations do attain the same end, whilst
two otljers steer the same course, and one of them succeeds, and
the other is ruined. From hence likewise may be deduced the
vicissit1des of good; for if to one who manages with deliberation
and patience, the times and conjuncture of affairs come about so
favoraby that his conduct be in fashion, he must needs be happy;
but if t e face of affairs, and the times change, and he changes
not wi`1 them, he is certainly ruined." (The Prince, Chap. 25)
4. Machiavelli's Conception of History
MACHIAVELLI DOES NOT have a systematically worked out

theory of history. The many generalizations which he states are for
the most part limited, dealing with some special phase of
political action, and a list of them would be a summary of most of
his writings. There are, however, in addition to those that I have
already analyzed, a few wider principles of great influence in the later
development of Machiavellism.
i. Political life, according to Machiavelli, is never static, but in

continual change. There is no way of avoiding this change. Any
idea of a perfect state, or even of a reasonably good state, much
short of perfection, that could last indefinitely, is an illusion.
The process of change is repetitive, and roughly cyclical. That
is to say, the pattern of change occurs again and again in history
(so that, by studying the past, we learn also about the present and
future); and this pattern comprises a more or less recognizable
cycle. A good, flourishing, prosperous state becomes corrupt, evil,
degenerate; from the corrupt, evil state again arises one that is
strong and flourishing. The degeneration can, perhaps, be de-
layed; but Machiavelli has no confidence that it could be avoided.
The very virtues of the good state contain the seeds of its own
destruction. The strong and flourishing state is feared by all neigh-
bors, and is therefore left in peace. War and the ways of force are
neglected. The peace and prosperity breed idleness, luxury, and
license; these, political corruption, tyranny, and weakness. The
state is overcome by the force of uncorrupted neighbors, or itself
enters a new cycle, where hard days and arms purge the corrup-
62
MCHIAVELLI: SCIENCE OF POWEE. 63
Lion, a d bring a new strength, a new virtue and prosperity. But
once a lain, the degeneration sets in.
"Go ernments in the variations which most commonly happen
to the , do proceed from order to confusion, and that confusion
afterw , rds turns to order again. For Nature having fixed no sub-
lunary things, as soon as they arrive at their acme and perfection,
being capable of no farther ascent, of necessity they decline. SQ,
on theIother side, when they are reduced t:o the lowest pitch of
disorder, having no farther to descend, they recoil again to their
former'perfection: good Laws degenerating into bad customs, and
bad cutoms engendering good Laws. For, virtue begets peace;
peace t1egets idleness; idleness, mutiny; and mutiny, destruction:
and thin, vice versa; that ruin begets laws; those laws, virtue; and
virtue begets honor and good success." (History of Florence,
Book%.)
2. Tie recurring pattern of change expresses the more or less

permanent core of human nature as it functions politically. The
instability of all governments and political forms follows in part
from tie limitless human appetite for power.
"Wise men were wont to say (and perhaps not unworthily)
that he who would know what will be, must consider what has i
been al eady, because there is nothing in the world now, nor will
be her after, but what has, and will have conformity with the
produc ions of former times; and the reason is, because proceed-
ing fro men who have, and have had always the same passions,
they trust necessarily have the same effects." (Discourses, Book
III, Clap. 43.)
"It is; observed by most ancient Writers, that as men are afflicted
in advtjrsity, so they are satiated in prosperi ty ; and that joy and
grief h ve the same effects: For when men are not, necessitated to
f i ght, tiey fight for ambition, which is so powerful in our minds,
that letj us arrive at what height of good fortune we can, we are
never contented, but are still laboring for more; and this happens to
us, because we are naturally capable of desiring many things,
which we are unable to compass; and therefore our desire being
greater than our power to acquire, our minds are never at rest
with what we enjoy. And this is the occasion of all our varieties of
fortune." (Discourses, Book I, Chap. 37.)
3. Machiavelli assigns a major function in political affairs to

what he calls "Fortune." Sometimes he seems almost to personify
Fortune, and, in the manner that lingered on through the Middle
Ages from ancient times, to write about her as a goddess. He
discusses Fortune not merely in occasional references, but in a
number of lengthy passages scattered throughout his works.
From these passages it becomes clear what Machiavelli means
by "Fortune." Fortune is all those causes of historical change that
are beyond the deliberate, rational control of men. In the case both
of individuals and of states, Machiavelli believes that those causes
are many, often primary, and in the long run probably dominant.
He does not altogether exclude from history the influence of de-
liberate human control, but he reduces it to a strictly limited
range.
"I am not ignorant that it is, and has been of old the opinion
of many people, that the affairs of the world are so governed by
Fortune and Divine Providence, that Man cannot by his Wisdom
correct them, or apply any remedy at all; from whence they would
infer that we are not to labor and sweat, but to leave everything
to its own tendency and event. This opinion has obtained more
in our days, by the many and frequent revolutions, which have
been, and are still seen beyond all human conjecture. And when
I think of it seriously sometimes, I am in some measure inclined
to it myself; nevertheless that our own free will may not utterly
be exploded, I conceive it may be true that fortune may have the
arbitrament of one half of our actions, but that she leaves the
MAC1IAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 65
other half
I(or little less) to be governed by ourselves. Fortune, I
do resembl to a rapid and impetuous River, which when swelled,
and enragdd, overwhelms the Plains, subverts the Trees, and the
Houses, fo ces away the Earth from one place, and carries it to
another, e erybody fears, everybody shuns, but nobody knows
how to res st it; Yet though it be thus furious sometimes, it does
not follow ut when it is quiet and calm, men may by banks, and
fences, and` other provisions correct it in such rnanner, that when
it swells again, it may be carried off by some Canal, or the vio-
lence theref rendered less licentious and destructive. So it is with
Fortune, which shows her power where there is no predisposed
virtue to r sist it, and turns all her force and impetuosity, where
she knows here are no banks, no fences to restrain her ..." (The
Prince, Chap. 25.)
"Wherefore men are not so much to be blamed or commended
for their a , versity or prosperity; for it is frequently seen, some
are hurried to ruin, and others advanced to great honor by the
swing and, impulse of their fate, wisdom availing little against
the misfortunes of the one, and folly as little against the felicity
of the other. When fortune designs any great matter, she makes
choice of s me man of such courage and parts, as is able to discern
when she resents him with an occasion: and so on the other side,
when she .1 tends any great destruction, she has her Instruments
ready to pdsh on the wheel, and assist to her designs; and if there
be any ma capable of obstructing them in the least, she either
rids him dut of the way, or deprives him of all authority, and
leaves him without any faculty to do good." (Discourses, Book II,
Chap. 29.)
This conception of Fortune fits in closely with the idea, which
we have al eady noted, that the ruler-type of political man is one
who knows how to accommodate to the times. Fortune cannot be
overco4e, but advantage may be taken of her.
"Yet this I shall assert again (and by the occurrences in all
History there is nothing more true) that men may second their
fortune, not resist it; and follow the order of her designs, but by no
means defeat them: Nevertheless men are not wholly to aban don
themselves, because they know not her end; for her ways being
unknown and irregular, may possibly be at last for our good; so
that we are always to hope the best, and that hope is to preserve us
in whatever troubles or distresses we shall fall." (Discourses, Book
II, Chap. 29.)
Beyond such accommodation ("opportunism," we might now-
adays call it), men and states will make the most of fortune when
they display virtu, when they are firm, bold, quick in decision,
not irresolute, cowardly, and timid.
"In all consultations, it is best to come immediately to the point
in question, and bring things to a result, without too tedious a
hesitation and suspense ... and it is a fault peculiar to all weak
and improvident Princes and Governments to be slow and tedi-
dious, as well as uncertain in their Councils, which is as dangerous
as the other .. ." (Discourses, Book II, Chap. 15.)
4. Machiavelli believes that religion is essential to the well-being

of a state. In discussing religion, as in discussing human nature,
Machiavelli confines himself to political function. He is not
engaged in theological dispute, nor inquiring whether religion, or
some particular religion, is true or false, but trying to estimate the
role that religious belief and ritual perform in politics. He is
analyzing, we might say in a general sense, "myth," and myth he f i
nds to be politically indispensable.
"Though Rome should have been founded by Romulus, and
owe him (as his Daughter) for her Birth, and Education; yet
the Heavens foreseeing that the Constitutions of Romulus
would
not be sufficient for so great an Empire, put it into the heart of
the Roman Senate, to create Numa Pompilius for his Successor,
to the end that what was left defective by the first, might be com-
MACIrIIAVELLI; SCIENCEOFPOWER 67
pleted by t e latter. Numa finding the people martial and fierce,
and being esirous by the Arts of Peace to reduce them to civil
obedience, lie betook himself to Religion, as a thing absolutely
necessary tai the maintenance of civil policy; and he ordered
things, so t at for many ages together never was the fear of God
so eminent y conspicuous as in that Commonwealth, which was
a great promotion to whatever was designed either by the Senate
or Princes.'
"And suijely it will be found by whoever considers the Roman
History, how useful a thing Religion was to the governing of
Armies, to -.he uniting of the people, to the keeping of men good,
and to the deterring them from being bad; so that should it fall
into disput whether Rome was most obliged to Romulus or
Numa, I a' of opinion, Numa would have the pre-eminence .. . e
Take away1Religion, and take away the foundation of Govern-
ment . . . hose Princes and Commonwealths who would keep
their Governments entire and incorrupt, are above all things to
have a car of Religion and its Ceremonies, and preserve them
in due veneration... (Discourses, Book I, Chapters ti and 12.
5. We hive already seen that Machiavelli's chief immediate

practical goal was the national unification of Italy. In the review of
his descriptive conclusions about the nature of political activity,
no reference has been made to any more general goals or ideals
to which I achiavelli adhered. I return now to this problem of
goal, in orler to answer the question; What kind of government
did Machiavelli elli think best?
Machiavelli'. writings, taken in their entirety, leave no doubt
about the a swer. Machiavelli thinks that the best kind of govern-
Discourse
. Book I, Chap. x x. Livy-whom Machiavelli is following-was
wrong in attr buting the Roman religion to the deliberate plan of Numa; but
this error in n way a ff ects Machiavelli 's analysis of the political function of reli-
gion.
68 THEMACH?AVELLIANS
ment is a republic, what he called a "commonwealth." Not only
does he prefer a republican government; other things being equal,
he considers a republic stronger, more enduring, wiser and more
f l exible than any form of monarchy. This opinion is above all
clarified by Machiavelli's most important work, the Discourses on
Livy, but it is at least implicit in everything that he wrote. When,
in his Letter to Zenobius, he replies to the accusation that in all
his writings he "insinuates" his "great affection to the Demo-
cratical Government," he accepts frankly'the justice of the accu-
sation:
"Why should I be condemned of heresy or indiscretion for
preferring a Commonwealth before a Monarchy? was I not born,
bred, and employed in a City, which being at the time I write,
under that form of Government, did owe all wealth and greatness,
and all prosperity to it? If I had not very designedly avoided all
dogmaticalness in my observations (being not willing to imitate
young Scholars in their Declamations) I might easily have con-
cluded from the premises I lay down, that a Democracy founded
upon good orders is the best and most excellent Government, and
this without the least fear of confutation; for I firmly believe, that
there are none but Flatterers and Sophisters would oppose me,
such as will wrest Aristotle, and even Plato himself, to make them
write for Monarchy, by misapplying some loose passages in those
great Authors, nay, they will tell their Readers, that what is most
like the Government of the world by God is the best, which
wholly depends upon his absolute power [this could be a reference
to Dante]; to make this Comparison run with four feet, these
Sycophants must give the poor Prince they intend to deify, a bet-
ter and superior Nature to humanity, must create a necessary
dependence of all Creatures upon him, must endow him with
infinite wisdom and goodness, and even with omnipotency itself."
Nor does this preference for a republic contradict his conclusion
that the leadership of a prince was required for the national uni-
MACJJIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFT'OW'ER 69
f i cation of Italy. If a republic is the best form of government, it
does not fallow that a republic is possible at every moment and
for all things. Machiavelli's preferences are always disciplined by
the truth. The truth here, as he correctly saw it, was that Italy
could not
!hen be unified except, in the initial stages at least,
through a prince.
But in preferring a republican form of government, :Machiavelli
paints no topia. He states the defects of his ideals as honestly as
their virtue . It is true, moreover, that he does not attach quite the
ultimate i portance to the choice of form of government that
would be ttributed to that choice by utopians who believe that all
human problems can be solved if only their own private ideal can be
rea ized. There is no way, Machiavelli believes, to solve all or
even most human problems.
Beyond p nd superior to his preference among the forms of
government, Machiavelli projects his ideal of "liberty." For any
given gro of people, "liberty," as Machiavelli uses the word,
means: in dependence-that is, no external subjection to another
group; andI internally, a government by law, not by the arbitrary
will of any individual men, princes or commoners.
Indepen ence, the first condition of liberty, can be secured in the
last an ysis only by the armed strength of the citizenry itself, never
by ercenaries or allies or money; consequently arms are the first
fo ndation of liberty. There is no lasting safeguard for liberty in
aiything but one's own strength.
Internally, also, liberty rests on force-on the public force of the
state, howeter, never on force exercised by private individuals or
groups, which is invariably a direct threat to liberty. Guaranteed by
force, t en, internal liberty means government by law, with strict
adherence to due legal process.
As protecors of liberty, Machiavelli has no confidence in indi-
vidual me as such; driven by unlimited ambition, deceiving
even themslves, they are always corrupted by power. But
indi-
viduals can, to some extent at least and for a while, be disciplined
within the established framework of wise laws. A great deal of
the Discourses is a commentary on this problem. In chapter after
chapter, Machiavelli insists that if liberty is to be preserved: no
person and no magistrate may be permitted to be above the law;
there must be legal means for any citizen to bring accusations
against any other citizen or any official; terms of office must be
short, and must never, no matter what the inconvenience, be
lengthened; punishment must be firm and impartial; the ambi-
tions of citizens must never be allowed to build up private power,
but must be directed into public channels.
Machiavelli is not so naive as to imagine that the law can sup-
port itself. The law is founded upon force, but the force in turn
will destroy the law unless it also is bridled; but force can be
bridled only by opposing force. Sociologically, therefore, the
foundation of liberty is a balancing of forces, what Machiavelli
calls a "mixed" government. Since Machiavelli is neither a prop-
agandist nor an apologist, since he is not the demagogue of any
party or sect or group, he knows and says how hypocritical are
the calls for a "unity" that is a mask for the suppression of all
opposition, how fatally lying or wrong are all beliefs that liberty
is the peculiar attribute of any single individual or group-prince
or democrat, nobles or people or "multitude." Only out of the
continuing clash of opposing groups can liberty flow.
"All cities . . do some time or other alter their government,
yet not (as many think) by means of Liberty and Subjection; but
by occasion of servitude, and licentiousness: for only the name of
Liberty is pretended by popular persons, such as are the instru-
ments of licentiousness; and servitude is sought for by those that
are Noble, neither of them both desiring to be restrained either
by Laws or anything else." (history of Florence, Book IV.)
"I cannot in silence pass over the tumults and commotions
which happened in Rome betwixt the death of the Tarquins,
and
MAC I AV E LL I: SCIE NCE OF POWER 71
the creation of those Tribunes. Nor can I forbear saying some-

thing against the opinion of many who will needs have Rome to
have been altumultuous Republic, so full of mutiny and confusion,
that had not its good fortune and valor supplied for its defects,
it would have been inferior to any other commonwealth whatso-
ever .. . I ray, those who object against the tumults betwixt the
Nobles and' the People, do in my opinion condemn those very
things which were the first occasion of its freedom, regarding the
noise and lamors which do usually follow such commotions,
more than the good effects they do commonly produce, not con-
sidering that in all commonwealths there are two opposite hu-
mors, one of the people, the other of the Noblesse; and that all
Laws whicl1 are made in favor of liberty, proceed from the dif-
ferences bet ixt them ..." (Discourses, Book I, Chap. 4.)
This balapcing clash of opposed interests will the more surely
preserve liberty when the state guards against too great inequality in
privilege and wealth.
"The oth r reason [for the integrity and justice of certain states]
is, because those commonwealths who have preserved their liber-
ties, and kept themselves incorrupt, do not suffer any of their
citizens to live high . . but they live all in an equality and
parity." (Di courses, Book I, Chap. 55.)
Liberty, tl en-not the rhetorical liberty of an impossible and
misconceive utopia, but such concrete liberty as is, when they are
fortunate, within the grasp of real men, with their real limitations
-is the do inapt ideal of Machiavelli, and his final norm of
judgment. Tyranny is liberty's opposite, and no man has been a
clearer foe f 4tyranny. No man clearer, and few more eloquent.
In the 14th entury, the Florentine people, threatened by external
danger and by internal dissension, decided to turn their govern-
ment over t a foreigner, the Duke of Athens. Machiavelli, in his
History of lorence, narrating the events just before the Duke
took over f4ll power, puts this address into the mouth of
one of
the Signori, to whom were entrusted the ancient liberties of the
Republic:
"My Lord ..., your endeavor is to bring this City into servi-
tude (which has always lived free)... . Have you considered
how important and dear the name of Liberty is to us? A thing,
no force can extirpate, no time can extinguish, nor no merit pre-
ponderate. Think, Sir, I beseech you, what Power will be neces-
sary to keep such a City in subjection. All the strangers you can
entertain will not be sufficient; those which are inhabitants you
cannot prudently trust; for though at present they are friends, and
have pushed. you forward upon this resolution, yet, as soon as
they have glutted themselves upon their enemies, their next plot
will be to expel you... . The People, in whom your greatest con-
f i dence is placed, will turn, upon every slight accident, against
you, so that in a short time you will run a hazard of having the
whole City your enemies, which will infallibly be the ruin both
of it and yourself; because those Princes only can be secure,
whose enemies are but few, and they easily removed either by
banishment or death; but against universal hatred there is no
security, because the spring and fountain is not known, and he
that fears every Man, can be safe against no Man. If yet you per-
sist, and take all possible care to preserve yourself, you do but
encumber yourself with more danger, by exciting their hatred and
making them more intent and serious in their revenge. That time
is not able to eradicate our desire of Liberty, is most certain. We
could mention many good Cities in which it has been reassumed
by those who never tasted the sweetness of it, yet upon the bare
character and tradition of their Fathers, they have not only valued,
but fought and contended to recover it, and maintained it after-
wards against all difficulties and dangers. Nay, should their
Fathers have neglected, or forgot to recommend it, the public
Palaces, the Courts for the Magistrates, the ensigns of their free-
dom (which are of necessity to be known by all Citizens) would
MICHIAVELLI: SCIENCE OF POWER 73
certainly proclaim it. What action of yours can counterpoise
against he sweetness of Liberty? For what can you do to expunge
the desire of it out of the Hearts of the People? Nothing at all,
no, thogh you should add all Tuscany to this State, and return
every dqy into this City with new victory over your Enemies. The
Honor ould be yours, not ours; and the Citizens have gained
fellow-s rvants rather than subjects. Nor is it in the power of
your de ortment to establish you. Let your Life be never so exact,
your co versation affable, your judgments just, your liberality
never s conspicuous, all will not do, all will not gain you the
affectio s of the People; if you think otherwise, you deceive your
self, for to People that have lived free, every link is a load, and
every band a burden."
Machiavelli's Reputation
5.
MEN ARE FOND of believing that, even though they may for
a while be mistaken, yet in the long run they do suitable honor,
if not to the persons then at least to the memories, of those who
have brought some measure of truth and enlightenment to the
world. We may burn an occasional Bruno, imprison a Galileo,
denounce a Darwin, exile an Einstein; but time, we imagine, re-
stores judgment, and a new generation recognizes the brave cap-
tains of the mind who have dared to advance through the dark
barriers of ignorance, superstition, and illusion. Machiavelli was
so plainly one of these. His weapons, his methods-the methods
of truth and science-he shared with Galileo and Darwin and
Einstein; and he fought in a field of much greater concern to
mankind. He tried to tell us not about stars or atoms, but about
ourselves and our own common life. If his detailed conclusions
were sometimes wrong, his own method, as the method of
science always does, provides the way to correct them. He would
be the first to insist on changing any of his views that were re-
futed by the evidence.
Though this is so, Machiavelli's name does not rank in this
noble company. In the common opinion of men, his name itself has
become a term of reproach and dishonor. He is thought of as
Marlowe, not so long after his death, has him speak of himself in the
prologue to The Jew of Malta:
"To some perhaps my name is odious,

But such as love me guard me from their tongues;
74
MAjCHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER
Aid let them know that I am Machiavel,
A d weigh not men, and therefore not men's words.
Amired I am of those that hate me most.
Though some speak openly against my books,
Yet they will read me, and thereby attain
T9 Peter's chair: and when they cast me off,
Are poisoned by my climbing followers.
I ount religion but a childish toy,
Aid hold there is no sin but ignorance.
Bids of the air will tell of murders past!
I am ashamed to hear such fooleries.
M ny will talk of title to a crown:
WJiat right had Caesar to the empery?
Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure
Wien like the Draco's they were writ in blood."
Y this views that

v 1 in factdheld, bthat he stated plainly, opmy and clearlyl n hi s s
w eriting, there is in the common opinion no truth at all. W i e face
here w at can hardly be, after all these centuries, a mere accident
of misunderstanding. There must be some substantial reason why
Machin ells is so consistently distorted.
It mi ht be argued that there have indeed been oppressors and
tyrants ho learned from Machiavelli how to act more effectively
in the f'rtherance of their designs, and that this justifies the com
mon jugment of his views. It is true that he has taught tyrants,
from al ost his own days-Thomas Cromwell, for example, the'
low-bor Chancellor whom Henry VIII brought in to replace
Thoma More when More refused to make his conscience a tool
of his aster's interests, was said to have a copy of Machiavelli
always In his pocket; and in our own time Mussolini wrote
college thesis on Machiavelli. But knowledge has a disturbing
neutrality in this respect. We do not blame the research analyst
who has solved the chemical mysteries of a poison because a
murderer made use-of-his treatise, nor -x student of the nature
of alloys because a safe is cracked with the help of his formulas,
nor chemists and physical scientists because bombs explode when
they drop on Warsaw or Chungking. Perhaps we should do so;
perhaps, as the story in Genesis almost suggests, all knowledge is
evil. But the mere fact that the knowledge made explicit by
Machiavelli has been put to bad uses, which is a potential fate
of all knowledge, cannot explain why he is singled out for
infamy.
It may be remarked that the harsh opinion of Machiavelli has
been more widespread in England and the United States than
in the nations of Continental Europe. This is no doubt natural,
because the distinguishing quality of Anglo-Saxon politics has
always been hypocrisy, and hypocrisy must always be at pains to
shy away from the truth. It is also the case that judgments of
Machiavelli are usually based upon acquaintance with The Prince
alone, an essay which, though plain enough, can be honestly mis-
interpreted when read out of the context of the rest of his writings.
However, something more fundamental than these minor difficul-
ties is at stake.
We are, I think, and not only from the fate of Machiavelli's
reputation, forced to conclude that men do not really want to
know about themselves. When we allow ourselves to be taken in
by reasoning after the manner of Dante, we find it easy to believe
such remarks as Aristotle made at the beginning of his Meta-
physics: "All men naturally desire knowledge"; and to imagine
that it is self-evident that knowledge will always be welcomed.
But if we examine not what follows from some abstract meta-
physical principle but how men behave, some doubts arise. Even
in the case of the physical world, knowledge must often hammer
long at the door. Where they are themselves the subject-matter,
men still keep the door resolutely shut. It may even be that they
MAjCHIAVELLI: SCIENCEOFPOWER 77
are right in this resistance. Perhaps the full disclosure of what
we really are and how we act is too violent a medicine.
In an case, whatever may be the desires of most men, it is
most ce tainly against the interests of the powerful that the truth
should e known about political behavior. If the political truths
stated o � approximated by Machiavelli were widely known by
men, thg success of tyranny and all the other forms of oppressive
political rule would become much less likely. A deeper freedom
would e possible in society than Machiavelli himself believed
attainab e. If men generally understood as much of the mech-
anism f rule and privilege as Machiavelli understood, they
would qo longer be deceived into accepting that rule and privi-
lege, anjl they would know what steps to take to overcome them.
Ther ore the powerful and their spokesmen-all the "official"
thinkers ! the lawyers and philosophers and preachers and dema-
gogues 4nd moralists and editors-must defame Machiavelli. Ma-
chiavelli says that rulers lie and break faith : this proves, they say,
that he libels human nature. Machiavelli says that ambitious men
struggle for power: he is apologizing for the opposition, the
enemy, !nd trying to confuse you about us, who wish to lead
you forjyour own good and welfare. Machiavelli says that you
must keep strict watch over officials and subordinate them to the
law: hells encouraging subversion and the loss of national unity
Machia'elli says that no man with power is to be trusted: you
see that this aim is to smash all your faith and ideals.
Small, wonder that the powerful-in public-denounce Ma=
chiavelli The powerful have long practice and much skill in
sizing u their opponents. They can recognize an enemy who will
never cdmpromise, even when that enemy is so abstract as a body of
ideas.
Part III
JOSCA: THE THEORY OF THE
I RULING CLASS
The Machiavellian Tradition
MACHI#ELLI LIVED and wrote during a great social revo-

lution, through which feudal society, its economy, political ar
rangemeni, and culture, were being replaced by the first stage of
capitalist society. This revolution occupied a long period of time,
and its boundaries cannot be given exact dates. Nevertheless, we
may cons der that it reached a decisive turning point during
Machiave ; is own life, with the discovery of the New World, the
rise of the # # f i rst international stock exchanges, the Protestant
reli-
gious revolution, the consolidation of the English national state
under they Tudors, and the first appointment of bourgeois
representatives-�-by Henry VIII-to the chief political offices of a
great kingdom. E
We als live during a great social revolutio n, a revolution
through ihich capitalist society is being replaced by what I have
elsewhere defined as "managerial society." It is, perhaps, the
close ana ogy between our age and Machiavelli's that explains
why the Machiavellian tradition, after centuries during which it
was eithei neglected or misunderstood or merely repeated, has, in
recent deIades, been notably revived. Through the thought and
research 4 f a number of brilliant writers, Machiavellism has un-
dergone profound and extensive development.
4
The cri;is of capitalist society was made plain by the first World
War. Wi h a far from accidental anticipation, much of the chief
work oft e modern Machiavellians was done in the period imme-
diately p eceding that war. Gaetano Mosca, it is true, had formu-
published by the John Day Co. in
* In TheManagerial Revolution, 1941.
81
lated many of his ideas as early as 1883, when he finished his first
book, Teorica dei governi e governo parlamentare. However,
his mature and finished thought is presented, with the war
experi ences close at hand, in the revised and expanded 1923 edition
of Elementi di scienza politica, which is the basis of what has
been translated into English as The Ruling Class.* Georges
Sorel's active career went on through the war, and ended with his
death in 1922._Robert Michels and Vilfredo Pareto were writing
their major books when the war began.
In a revolutionary transition, the struggle for power, which,
during years of social stability, is often hidden or expressed
through indirect and undramatic forms, becomes open and im-
perious. Machiavellism is concerned with politics, that is, with
the struggle for power. It seems natural, therefore, that its first
ap-
pearance as well as its revival should be correlated with social
revolution. The revolutionary crisis makes men, or at least a cer tain
number of men, discontent with what in normal times passes for
political thought and science-namely, disguised apologies for the
status quo or utopian dreams of the future; and compels them to face
more frankly the real issues of power: some because they wish to
understand more clearly the nature of the world of which they are a
part, others because they wish also to discover whether and in what
way they might be able to control that world in the furtherance of
their own ideals.
Modern Machiavellism has, needless to say, weighty advantages
over Machiavelli himself. Mosca, Michels, and Pareto, heirs-as
all of us are who wish to be-of 400 years of scientific tradition,
have an altogether clear understanding of scientific method. Ma-
chiavelli wrote at the beginnings of science; he was scientific,
* Edited and Revised, with an Introduction, by Arthur Livingston. Translated by
Hannah D. Kahn. Published, 1939, by McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York and
London. In this Part, all quotations are, with the kind permission of the
pub lishers, from this edition. Page numbers are given alone, without repeating
the title. (Mosca was born in 5858, and died in 1941.)
MOSCA: THEORY OF RULINGCLASS
83
often, by 'instinct and impulse rather than design. Many of
Machiavelli's insights are only implicit in his writings-indeed,
I have doje him perhaps more than justice in making explicit
much that was probably not fully so to himself. Machiavelli mixed
together a art and a science of politics; his scientific conclusions are
freque tly the by-products of an attempt to lay down a rule for
securing some particular kind of political result. The modern
Machiavellians are fully conscious of what they are doing and of the
distinc$ions between an art and a science. They have, more over, the
incalculable advantage of that great treasury of historical facts whicl1
the patient and accumulating research of post-Renais-
sance scholars has put at our disposal.
Gaetano Mosca, like all Machiavellians, rejects any monistic

view of history-that is, any theory of history which holds that
there is onel single cause that accounts for everything that
happens
in society. prom the days, in the early centuries of Christianity,
when the fist philosophies of history attributed all that happened
to the Will pf God as sole causal principle, there have been dozens
of example of such monistic theories. Mosca examines three of
them in some detail: the "climatic theory," the "racial theory,"
and the "economic materialist theory," which maintain, respec-
tively, that differences in climate, in race, or in methods of eco-
nomic production, are able to explain the course of history. He
rejects all of these theories, not because of any prejudice against
monism, but for that simple and final reason that seems to have
no attractio l, for monists: because these theories do not accord
with the fats.
Mosca is fcquainted with the history of the nations not only
of Europe b t of the world. He has no difficulty in showing that
the suppose invariable influences of hot or cold or dry or rainy
climate on the fate of peoples and nations do not operate; that
huge empires or democracy or courage or sluggishness or art or
slavery have arisen in North and South, in the cold and the hot,
in dry and in humid territories. So, too, in the case of different
races, besides the initial difficulty in all racial theories to be found
in the fact that the concept of "race" has no biological precision.
Both the racial and the climatic theories were popular when
Mosca first was writing, in the last years of the 19th century.
Nowadays they have few adherents, outside of the Nazi racial
school, but theories of "economic materialism" or "economic de-
terminism" are still influential. However, these, also, are unable
to meet the test of the facts. Social and political events of the
very greatest scope and order-the collapse of the Roman Empire,
the rise of Christianity, the advance of Islam-have occurred with-
out any important correlated change in the mode of economic
production; consequently the mode of production cannot be the
sole cause of social change.
The critique of these monistic views does not mean that Mosca
wishes to substitute some similar view of his own, or, on the
other hand, to deny that such factors as climate, race, or mode
of production have causal influences in history. Climate, obviously,
can change the course of events: some regions of the earth are
literally uninhabitable, others so unhealthy or so and that a high
level of civilization cannot be supported by them (though a vig-
orous society learns to conquer unfavorable natural conditions) ;
a drop in rainfall might lead to a migration. Changes in the mode
of economic production must unquestionably be recognized as
one of the chief factors entering into the historical process: the
invention of new tools or machines, new ways of organizing
work, new relationships of economic ownership, may have vast
repercussions throughout the social order. Even racial differences
may conceivably affect political and social organization. For that
matter, still other circumstances can influence history-new types
MOSG!A: THEORY OF RULING CLASS 85
of armaments or ways of fighting, to take an important example, or
shifts in,
I religion and social beliefs.
Mosca hi self holds what is sometimes called an "interdepend-
ence" theory of historical causation: the view that there are a
number of !important factors that determine historical change,
that no ones of these can be considered solely decisive, that they
interact upon each other, with changes in one field affecting and
in turn being affected by changes in others. He makes his critique
of historica monism in order to break down abstract approaches
to history, to do away with preconceptions of how things ought
to be, and to force a concrete examination of t:he facts in each
specific pro lem rather thanan adjustment of the facts to fit the
requiremen s of some schematic theory. Monistic theories of his-
tory, he believes, are a great obstacle to a recognition of the facts.
His parti ular field is politics. He thinks that by a comparative
and historical approach to the facts of political life it is possible
to have a cience of politics, though he is very modest in his
hopes abou what political science can at the present time accom-
plish, either n reaching general conclusions or in providing guides
for action: ii
"Man neither creates nor destroys any of the forces of nature,
but he can study their manner of acting and their interplay and
turn them to his advantage. That is the procedure in agriculture,
in navigatidn, in mechanics. By following it modern science has
been able tc achieve almost miraculous results in those fields of
activity. The method surely cannot be different when the social
sciences arelinvolved, and in fact it is the very method that has
already yieled fair results in political economy. Yet we must not
disguise the fact that in the social sciences in general the difficulties
to be overc e are enormously greater. Not only does the greater
complexity tf psychological laws (or constant tendencies) that are
common to pall human groups make it harder to determine their
operation, but it is easier to observe the things that go on about
us than it is to observe the things we ourselves do. Man can much
more easily study the phenomena of physics, chemistry or botany
than he can his own instincts and his own passions. . . But
then, even granting that ... individuals can attain scientific re-
sults, it is highly problematical whether they can succeed in using
them to modify the political conduct of the great human societies."
(The Ruling Class, pp. 40-40
Since the primary purpose of Machiavellians is to discover the
truth, they do not feel required to make demagogic claims even
about their own accomplishments.
2. The Ruling Class
IT IS CHt RACTERISTIC of Machiavellian political analysis

to be "anti- ormal," using "formal" in the sense which I have
defined in t e discussion of Dante's De Monarchia. That is, Ma-
chiavellians, in their investigations of political behavior, do not
accept at fce value what men say, think, believe, or write.
Whether it, is the speech or letter or book of an. individual, or a
public docu ent such as a constitution or set of laws-or a party
platform, achiavellians treat it as only one fact among the larger
set of social facts, and interpret its meaning always in relation to
these other acts. In some cases, examination shows that the words
can be acce ted just as they stand; more often, as we found with
De Monarch ia, a divorce between formal and real meaning is dis-
covered, wi h the words distorting and disguising the real politi-
cal behavio which they indirectly express.
This ant r-formal approach leads Mosca to note as a primary
and univergal social fact the existence of two "political classes," a
ruling class ,-always a minority-and the ruled. `
"Among the constant facts and tendencies that are to be found
in all political organisms, one is so obvious that it is apparent to
the most casual eye. In all societies-from societies that are very
meagerly developed and have barely attained the dawnings of
civilization,' down to the most advanced and powerful societies-
two classes 'of people appear-a class that rules and a class that is
ruled. The' first class, always the less numerous, performs all
political fu4ctions, monopolizes power and enjoys the advantages
that power brings, whereas the second, the more numerous class,
is directed and controlled by the first, in a manner that is now
1 87
more or less legal, now more or less arbitrary and violent, and
supplies the first, in appearance at least, with material means of
subsistence and with the instrumentalities that are essential to the
vitality of the political organism.
"In practical life we all recognize the existence of this ruling
class. . We all know that, in our own country, whichever it
may be, the management of public affairs is in the hands of a
minority of influential persons, to which management, willingly
or unwillingly, the majority defer. We know that the same thing
goes on in neighboring countries, and in fact we should be put
to it to conceive of a real world otherwise organized-a world in
which all men would be directly subject to a single person without
relationships of superiority or subordination, or in which all men
would share equally in the direction of political affairs. If we
reason otherwise in theory, that is due partly to inveterate habits
that we follow in our thinking. . . ." (P. 50.)
The existence of a minority ruling class is, it must be stressed,
a universal feature of all organized societies of which we have any
record. It holds no matter what the social and political forms-
whether the society is feudal or capitalist or slave or collectivist,
monarchical or oligarchical or democratic, no matter what the
constitutions and laws, no matter what the professions and be-
liefs. Mosca furthermore believes that we are fully entitled to
conclude that this not only has been and is always the case, but
that also it always will be. That it will be, follows, in the first
place, from the univocal experience of the past: since, under all
conditions, it has always been true of political organization, it
must be presumed that it is a constant attribute of political life
and will continue to hold for the future. However, the conclusion
that there will always be a minority ruling class can be further
demonstrated in another way.
By the theory of the ruling class Mosca is refuting two wide-
spread errors which, though the opposite of each other, are oddly
MOSiCA: THEORYORRULINGCLASS 89
enough often both believed by the same person. The first, which
comes up in discussions of tyranny and dictatorship and is fa-
miliar in i today's popular attacks on contemporary tyrants, is
that society can be ruled by a single individual. "But," Mosca ob-
serves, "the man who is at the head of the state would certainly
not be ab e to govern without the support of a numerous class to
enforce r spect for his orders and to have them carried out; and
rantin at he can make one individual, or indeed many in-
dividual in the ruling class feel the weight of his power, he
certainly cannot be at odds with the class as a whole or do away
with it. Fven if that were possible, he would at once be forced to
create ant ther class, without the support of which action on his
part would be completely paralyzed." (P. 5 1.)
The osier error, typical of democratic theory, is that the masses,
the majority, can rule themselves.
"If it it easy to understand that a single individual cannot com
mand a Froup without finding within the group a minority to
support l}im, it is rather difficult to grant, as a constant and natural„
fact, tha minorities rule majorities, rather than majorities mi-
norities. But that is one of ' the points-so numerous in all the,,
other sci nces-where the first impression one has of things is
contrary` to e what they are in reality. In reality the dominion of an,,
organized minority, obeying a single impulse, over the un-„
organiz
d majority is inevitable. The power of any minority is
irresistible as against each single individual in the majority, who
stands a one before the totality of the organized minority. At
the sam time, the minority is organized for the very reason that
it is a m nority. A hundred men acting uniformly in concert, with
a comm n understanding, will triumph over a thousand men who,,
are not n accord and can therefore be dealt with one by one..
Meanwhile it will be easier for the former to act in concert and
have a 4utual understanding simply because they are a hundred,
and not a thousand. It follows that the larger the political com
go THE MACHIAVELLIANS
munity, the smaller will the proportion of the governing minority
to the governed majority be, and the more difficult will it be for
the majority to organize for reaction against the minority." (P.
53•)
Nor is this rule at all suspended in the case of governments resting in
form upon universal suffrage.
"What happens in other forms of government-namely, that an
organized minority imposes its will on the disorganized majority
-happens also and to perfection, whatever the appearances to the
contrary, under the representative system. When we say that the
voters `choose' their representative, we are using a language that
is very inexact. The truth is that the representative has himself
elected by the voters, and, if that phrase should seem too in-
f l exible and too harsh to fit some cases, we might qualify it by
saying that his friends have him elected. In elections, as in all
other manifestations of social life, those who have the will and,
especially, the moral, intellectual and material means to force
their will upon others take the lead over the others and command
them.
"The political mandate has been likened to the power of attor-
ney that is familiar in private law. But in private relationships,
delegations of powers and capacities always presuppose that the
principal has the broadest freedom in choosing his representative.
Now in practice, in popular elections, that freedom of choice,
though complete theoretically, necessarily becomes null, not to
say ludicrous. If each voter gave his vote to the candidate of his
heart, we may be sure that in almost all cases the only result would
be a wide scattering of votes. When very many wills are involved,
choice is determined by the most various criteria, almost all of
them subjective, and if such wills were not co-ordinated and or-
ganized it would be virtually impossible for them to coincide in
the spontaneous choice of one individual. If his vote is to have any
efficacy at all, therefore, each voter is forced to limit his choice
MO �CA: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS
to a very1narrow field, in other words to a choice among the two,. or
three persons who have some chance of succeeding; and the, only
one ; who have any chance of succeeding are those whose.,
candidacies are championed by groups, by committees, by organized
minorities." (P. 154•)
Few who have paid attention to the political facts, rather thane to
theori s about these facts, in the United States, will disagree with
ther account as it applies to this country.
Within, the ruling class, it is usually possible to distinguish
roughly two layers: a very small group of "top leaders," who
among themselves occupy the highest and key positions of the
society; Ind a much larger group of secondary figures-a "middle
class," ash it could properly be called-who, though not so promi
nent nor1so much in the limelight, constitute the day-by-day active
directors of the community life. Just as Mosca believes that the,
individuI l supreme leader is unimportant to the fate of a society
compare to the ruling class, so does he believe that this secondary
level of the ruling class is, in the long run at least, more decisive than
the top.
"Belo the highest stratum in the ruling class, there is always,
even in autocratic systems, another that is much more numerous
and comprises all the capacities for leadership in the country.
Without: such a class any sort of social organization would be
impossible. The higher stratum would not in itself be sufficient
for leading and directing the activities of the masses. In the las(
analysis; therefore, the stability of any political organism depends
on the level of morality, intelligence and activity that this second
stratum' has attained. . . . Any intellectual or moral deficiencies
in this econd stratum, accordingly, represent a graver danger to
the pol tical structure, and one that is harder to repair, t han inc
presenc of similar deficiencies in the few dozen persons who
control the workings of the state machine... (Pp. 404-5•)
From; the point of view of the theory of the ruling class, a
92 THEMACHI-AVELLIANS
society is the society of its ruling class. A nation's strength or
weakness, its culture, its powers t'f endurance, its prosperity, its
decadence, depend in the first instance upon the nature of its
ruling class. More particularly, the way in which to study a nation,
to understand it, to predict what will happen to it, requires first
of all and primarily an analysis of the ruling class. Political history
and political science are thus predominantly the history and
science of ruling classes, their origin, development, composition,
structure, and changes. The theory of the ruling class in this way
provides a principle with the help of which the innumerable and
otherwise amorphous and meaningless facts of political life can
be systematically assembled and made intelligible.
However arbitrary this idea of history as the history of ruling
classes may seem to be, the truth is that all historians, in practice
-even such historians as Tolstoy or Trotsky, whose general
theories directly contradict it-are compelled to write in terms of
it. If for no other reason, this must be because the great mass of
mankind leaves no record of itself except insofar as it is expressed
or led by outstanding and noteworthy persons. Nor does this
method result in any falsification of the historical development.
The account of a war cannot nor need not cover what all or a
most part of the soldiers did, nor need the accounts of a school of art
or the formation of a constitution or the growth of a religion or the
progress of a revolution tell everything about everyone. Even if
theory were to decide that ultimately the movements of the masses
are the cause of what happens in history, yet these movements
attain historical significance only when they alter major
institutions and result in shifts in the character and com position of
the ruling class. Thus, the analysis of the ruling class, if not directly,
then indirectly, will produce an adequate history and an adequate
political science.
There is an ambiguity, which is noted by Professor Livingston,
in Mosca's concept of the "ruling class." Mosca considers himself
MOS`CA: THEORY OF RULING CLASS 93
a political, scientist rather than a sociologist, and tries, some of the
time, to r strict his field to politics rather than to general social be-
havior. If' literally translated from the Italian, his phrase would
usually b
F "political class," or "governing class," rather than
"ruling class." In his writings his meaning seems to shuttle be-
tween th narrower concept of a "governing class"-that is, the
class dire e tly or indirectly concerned with the specific business of
governme t-and the more general concept of a "social elite"-
that is, t e class of all those in a society who are differentiated
from the asses by the possession of some kind of power or privi-
lege, man of whom may have no specific relation to government.
Howev r, this ambiguity does not affect Mosca's argument to
any cons' erable degree; and if we judge by the context, the
general concept of an "elite" is usually more appropriate to his
meaning. What seems to have happened is that Mosca began
his work in the narrower field of politics, with the narrower con-
cept in ind. His political inquiries then led him outward into
the wider" field of social action, since the political field could not
be understood apart from the background of the whole social
f i eld. Th g idea of the political class expanded its meaning into
the idea bf a social elite without an explicit discussion of the
change. I later Machiavellian thought in Pareto, particularly-
the wider meaning of "elite" is consistently employed.
We should further note that in stating the theory of the ruling
class, Mosca is not making a moral judgment, is not arguing that
it is good, or bad, that mankind should be divided into rulers and
ruled. I recently read, in a review by a well-known journalist,
that "this, country will never accept a theory of the elite"-as if it
is wicked to talk about such things, and noble to denounce them.
The scientific problem, however, is not whether this country or
any other will accept such theories, but whether the theories are
true. Mosca believes that the stratification of society into rulers
and ruled is universal and permanent, a general form of political
life. As such it would be absurd to call it good or bad; it is simply
the way things are. Moral values, goodness and badness, justice
and injustice, are indeed to be found, and Mosca does not try to
avoid making moral judgments; but they are meaningful only
within the permanent structure of society. Granted that there are
always rulers and ruled, then we rpay judge that the societies of
some ruling classes are good, or more good, just, or less unjust,
than others.
Composition and Character of
the
Ruling Class
MOSC1�` REJECTS the many theories which. have tried to apply the
Dar inian theory of evolution directly to social life. He finds,
however a social tendency that is indirectly analogous to the process of
bi logical evolution:
"The truggle for existence has been confused with the struggle
for pre- minence, which is really a constant phenomenon that
arises in tall human societies, from the most highly civilized down to
such s have barely issued from savagery...
"If we consider . . . the inner ferment that goes on within the
body of P every society, we see at once that the struggle for pre
eminent! is far more conspicuous there than the struggle for
existencf. Competition between individuals of every social unit is
focused upon higher position, wealth, authority, control of the
means a d instruments that enable a person to direct many human
activities, many human wills, as he sees fit. The losers, who are of
course to majority in that sort of struggle, are not devoured,
destroy or even kept from reproducing their kind, as is basically
characteristic of the struggle for life. They merely enjoy fewer
materia satisfactions and, especially, less freedom and inde-
penden e. On the whole, indeed, in civilized societies, far from
being g adually eliminated by a process of natural selection so-,
called, the lower classes are more prolific than the hher, anig d
even inthe lower classes every individual in the long run gets a loaf
of read and a mate, though the bread be more or less dark and 4 d-
earned and the mate more or less unattractive or uii desirable. i rp.
29-30.)
95
The outcome of this "struggle for pre-eminence" is the decision
who shall be, or continue to be, members of the ruling class.
What makes for success in the struggle? or, in other words,
what qualities must be possessed by individuals in order that they
may secure or maintain membership in the ruling class? In
answering a question like this, it is above all necessary to avoid
the merely formal. Spokesmen for various ruling classes have
numerous self-satisfying explanations of how superior morality or
intelligence or blood or racial inheritance confer membership. But
Mosca, like all Machiavellians, looks beyond the verbal expla-
nations to the relevant facts.
He finds that the possession of certain qualities is useful in all
societies for gaining admittance to the ruling class, or for staying
within it. Deep wisdom, altruism, readiness at self-sacrifice, are
not among these qualities, but, on the contrary, are usually hin-
drances.
"To rise in the social scale, even in calm and normal times,
the prime requisite, beyond any question, is a capacity for hard
work; but the requisite next in importance is ambition, a firm re-
solve to get on in the world, to outstrip one's fellows. Now those
traits hardly go with extreme sensitiveness or, to be quite frank,
with `goodness' either. For `goodness' cannot remain indifferent
to the hurts of those who must be thrust behind if one is to step
ahead of them... . If one is to govern men, more useful than a
sense of justice-and much more useful than altruism, or even
than extent of knowledge or broadness of view-are
perspicacity,
a. ready intuition of individual and mass psychology, strength of
will and, especially, confidence in oneself. With good reason did
Machiavelli put into the mouth of Cosimo dei Medici the much
quoted remark, that states are not ruled with prayerbooks." (Pp.
449-450.)
The best means of all for entering the ruling class is to be born
into it--though, it may be observed, inheritance alone will not
MOScA: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS 97
suffice to k7ep a family permanently among the rulers. Like Ma-
chiavelli here also, Mosca attributes not a little to "fortune."
"A certain amount of work is almost always necessary to
achieve su cess-work that corresponds to a real and actual serv-
ice to society. But work always has to be reinforced to a certain
extent by ` bility,' that is to say, by the art of winning recognition.
And of co4irse a little of what is commonly called `luck' will not
come amiss-those unforeseeable circumstances which help or
seriously f arm a man, especially at certain moments. One might
add that in all places at all times the best luck, or the worst, is
often to 11e born the child of one's father and one's mother:'
(P. 456.)
These dualities-a capacity for hard wor k, ambition (Machia-
velli's virtu) I a certain callousness, luck in birth and circumstances
-are tho:e that help toward membership in any ruling class at
any time �n history. In addition, however, there is another group
of qualities that are variable, dependent upon the particular so-
ciety in question. "Members of a ruling minority regularly have
some attibute, real or apparent, which is highly esteemed and
very infi ential in the society in which they live." (P. 53.) To
mention simple examples: in a society which lives primarily by
f i shing, the expert fisherman has an advantage; the skilled war
rior, in predominantly military society; the able priest, in a
profoundly religious group; and so on. Considered as keys to rule,
such qualities as these are variable; if the conditions of life change,
they cha ge, for when religion declines, the priest is no longer
so impot?tant, or when fishing changes to agriculture, the fisher man
na�urally drops in the social scale. Thus, changes in the, general
onditions of life are correlated with far-reaching changes' in the
composition of the ruling class.
The arious sections of the ruling class express or represent
social forces, which are con-
or contrl or lead what Mosca calls
tinually I varying in number and importance. By "social force",
Mosca means any human activity which has significant social and
political influence. In primitive societies, the chief forces are ordi-
narily war and religion. "As civilization grows, the number of
the moral and material influences which are capable of
becoming
social forces increases. For example, property in money, as the
fruit of industry and commerce, comes into being alongside of
real property. Education progresses. Occupations based on scien-
tific knowledge gain in importance." (Pp. 144-5.) All of these-
war, religion, land, labor, money, education, science, technological
skill-can function as social forces if a society is organized in
terms of them.
From this point of view, it may be seen that the relation of a
ruling class to the society which it rules need not be at all arbi-
trary; in fact, in the long run cannot be. A given ruling class
rules over a given society precisely because it is able to control
the major social forces that are active within that society. If a
social force-religion, let us say-declines in importance, then the
section of the ruling class whose position was dependent upon
control of religion likewise, over a period, declines. If the entire
ruling class had been based primarily upon religion, then the
entire ruling class would change its character (if it were able to
adapt itself to the new conditions) or would (if it could not adapt
itself) be overthrown. Similarly, if a new major social force de-
velops-commerce, for example, in a previously agricultural so-
ciety, or applied science-then either the existing ruling class
proves itself flexible enough to gain leadership over this new
force
(in part, no doubt, by absorbing new members into its ranks) ; or, if
it does not, the leadership of the new force grows up outside of the
old class, and in time constitutes a revolutionary threat against the old
ruling class, challenging it for supreme social and political power.
Thus, the growth of new social forces and the decline of old forces
is in general correlated with the constant process of change and
dislocation in the ruling class.
MOSA: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS 99
A rulin class expresses its role and position through what
Mosca call a political formula. This formula rationalizes and
justifies its rule and the structure of the, society over which it
rules. The formula may be a "racial myth," as in Germany at the
present ti me or in this country in relation to the Negroes or the
yellow race: rule is then explained as the natural prerogative of
the superio race. Or it may be a "divine right" doctrine, as in
the theorie elaborated in connection with the absolutist mon-
archies of e r6th and 17th centuries, or in Japan at the present
day: then le is explained as following from a peculiar relation-
ship to divinity, very often in fact from direct blood descent (such
formulas were very common in ancient times, and have by no
means lost all efficacy). Or, to cite the formula most familiar to
us, and fu ctioning now in this country, it is a belief in the "will
of the peo le": rule is then said to follow legitimately from the
will or cho.ce of the people expressed through some type of suf-
frage.
"According to the level of civilization in the peoples among
whom the are current, the various political formulas may be
based either upon supernatural beliefs or upon concepts
which,
if they do not correspond to positive realities, at least appear to
be rationa
l We shall not say that they correspond in either case
to scientifi? truths. A conscientious observer would be obliged to
confess th t, if no one has ever seen the authentic document by
which the ..ord empowered certain privileged persons or families
to rule his 'people on his behalf, neither can it be maintained that
a popular election, however liberal the suffrage may be, is ordi-
narily the expression of the will of a people, or even of the will
of the majority of a people.
"And yIt that does not mean that political formulas are mere
quackerie
s aptly invented to trick the masses into obedience. Any-
one who 4iewed them in that light would fall into grave error.
The truth is that they answer a real need in man's social nature;
and this need, so universally felt, of governing and knowing that
one is governed not on the basis of mere material or intellectual
force, but on the basis of a moral principle, has beyond any doubt a
practical and real importance." (P. 70
Since the problem of such formulas (ideologies, myths) will
occupy us at length later on, I shall note here only two further
facts concerning them. First, the special political formula em-
ployed within a given nation is often related to wider myths that
are shared by a number of nations, so that several political formu-
las appear as variations on similar basic themes. Conspicuous
among these wider myths are the great world religions-Christi-
anity, Buddhism, Mohammedanism-which, unlike most earlier
religions or still-continuing religions of the type of Japanese
Shintoism, are not specifically bound up with a single nation or
people; the myth, probably best expressed by Rousseau, which is
built out of such ideas as the innate goodness of man, the will of
the people, humanitarianism, and progress; and the contemporary
myth of collectivism, which, in Mosca's opinion, is the logical ex-
tension of the democratic Rousseau myth.
Second, it may be seen from historical experience that the in-
tegrity of the political formula is essential for the survival of a
given social structure. Changes in the formula, if they are not
to destroy the society, must be gradual, not abrupt. The formula
is indispensable for holding the social structure together. A wide-
spread skepticism about the formula will in time corrode and dis-
integrate the social order. It is perhaps for this reason, half-
consciously understood, that all strong and long-lived societies
have cherished their "traditions," even when, as is usually the case,
these traditions have little relation to fact, and even after they can
hardly be believed literally by educated men. Rome, Japan, Venice,
all such long-enduring states, have been very slow to change the
MOS A: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS 10I
c
old formulas, the time-honored ways and stories and rituals; and
they have Been harsh against rationalists who debunk them. This,
after all, w s the crime for which Athens put Socrates to death.
From the point of view of survival, she was probably right in
doing so.
4. Tendencies in the Ruling Class
WITHIN ALL RULING CLASSES, Mosca shows that it is

possible to distinguish two "principles," as he calls them, and two
"tendencies." These are, it might be said, the developmental laws of
ruling classes. Their relative strength establishes the most im portant
difference among various ruling classes.
The "autocratic" principle may be distinguished from the
"liberal" principle. These two principles regulate, primarily, the
method by which governmental officials and social leaders are
chosen. "In any form of political organization, authority is either
transmitted from above downward in the political or social scale
[the autocratic principle], or from below upward [the liberal
principle]." (P. 394.) Neither principle violates the general law
that society is divided into a ruling minority and a majority that
is ruled; the liberal principle does not mean, no matter how ex-
tended, that the masses in fact rule, but simply gives a particular
form to the selection of leadership. Moreover, it is seldom, proba-
bly never, that one of the two principles operates alone within a
ruling class. They are usually mixed, with one or the other domi-
nant. Certain absolute monarchies or tyrannies show the closest
approximation to a purely autocratic principle, with all positions
formally dependent upon appointment by the despot. Some small
city-states, such as Athens at certain times in its history, have come
very close to a purely liberal principle, with all officials chosen
from below-though the voters were at the same time a restricted
group. In the United States, as in most representative govern-
ments of the modern kind, both principles are actively at work.
The greater partof the bureaucracy and much of the judiciary,
102
MOSCIA: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS 103
especially tl1e Federal judiciary, is an expression of the autocratic
principle; t e president himself, as well as the members of
Congress, are s .ected according to the liberal mode.
Each pri e ciple in practice displays typical advantages and de-
fects. Autocracy has been by far the more common of the two,,
and of it osca remarks: "A political system that has been so
widely recu ring and so long enduring among peoples of the most
widely various civilizations, who often have had no contacts
material or intellectual with one another, must somehow corre-
spond to the political nature of man. Autocracy supplies a
justification' of power that is simple, clear and readily comprehen-
sible to eveybody. There can be no human organization without
rankings acid subordination. Any sort of hierarchy necessarily re-
quires that , ome should command and others obey. And since it
is in the n �it-ure of the human being that many men should love
to comman. and that almost all men can be brought to obey, an
institution hat gives those who are at the top a way of justifying
their autho ity and at the same time helps to persuade those who
are at the ottom to submit is likely to be a useful institution."
(P. 397.) utocracy, moreover, seems to endow' societies over
which it orates with greater stability and longer life than does
the liberal ' rinciple. When autocracy is functioning well, it can
bring abou the deliberate selection of the ablest leadership from
all strata o society to perform the various tasks of the state.
Howeve ., in compensation, autocracy seems unable to permit a
free and f t ll development of all social activities and forces-no
autocracy as ever stimulated so intense a cultural and intellectual
life as ha{e developed under some of the shorter-lived liberal
systems, suj h as those of Greece and western Europe. And in the
selection o leaders by the autocrat and his immediate clique,
favoritism nd personal prejudice easily take the place of objective
judgment of merit, while the method encourages sycophancy and
slavishness; on the part of the candidates.
104 THE MACHIA'VRLLIANS
The liberal principle, conversely, stimulates more than the auto-
cratic the development of varied social potentialities. At the same
time, it by no means avoids the formation of closed cliques at the
top, such as are usually found in autocracies; the mode of for-
mation of such cliques is merely different. "In order to reach
high
station in an autocracy it is sufficient to have the support of one
or more persons, and that is secured by exploiting all their
passions, good and bad. In liberal systems one has to steer the in-
clinations of at least the whole second stratum of the ruling class,
which, if it does not in itself, constitute the electorate, at least
supplies the general staffs of leaders who form the opinions and
determine the conduct of the electing body." (P. 410.) When the
liberal system is broadly based (that is, where suffrage is widely
extended or universal), the candidates for high office must pro-
ceed by exploiting the backward sentiments of the masses:
"Whatever their origins, the methods that are used by the
people who aim to monopolize and exploit the sympathy of the
masses always have been the same. They come down to pointing
out, with exaggerations, of course, the selfishness, the stupidity, the
material enjoyments of the rich and the powerful; to denouncing
their vices and wrongdoings, real and imaginary; and to promising
to satisfy a common and widespread sense of rough-hewn justice
which would like to see abolished every social distinction based
upon advantage of birth and at the same time would like to see
an absolutely equal distribution of pleasures and pains.
"Often enough the parties against which this demagogic propa-
ganda is directed use exactly the same means to combat it. When-
ever they think they can profit by doing so, they too make
promises which they will never be able to keep. They too flatter
the masses, play to their crudest instincts and exploit and foment
all their prejudices and greeds." (P. 412.)
i
MOS}A: THEORYOF RULINGCLASS 105
The distinction which Mosca makes between the "aristocratic"
and "democratic" tendencies is independent of his distinction be-
tween th autocratic and liberal principles. Aristocratic and
democrat, as Mosca uses the terms, refer to the sources from
which ne members of the ruling class are drawn.. "The term
`democrat c' seems more suitable for the tendency which aims to
rep lenish the ruling class with elements deriving from the lower
c l a , sses a d which is always at work, openly or latently and with
greater of lesser intensity, in all political organisms. Àristocratic'
we would call the opposite tendency, which also is constant and
varies in intensity, and which aims to stabilize social control and
political power in the descendants of the class that happens to hold
possessio of it at the given historical moment." (P. 395.)
In terrs of this definition, there can be, as there have often
been, in spite of common opinion to the contrary, autocracies,,
which atse primarily democratic in tendency, and liberal systems
which atle largely aristocratic. The most remarkable example of
the f ornIr is the Catholic Church, which is almost perfectly auto-
cratic, b t at the same time is always recruiting new members
Mein Kampf, observes
of its hi e archy from the masses. Hitler, in
that the rule of celibacy compels the Church to remain thus
democra tic in its policy of recruitment, and he concludes that this
is a principal source of the Church's strength and power of en-.
durancel On the other hand, modern England, during many

generatilns, was in many respects liberal, but, by various
devices,
preserved an aristocratic continuity in the membership of its ruling
class. Tis was also the case in many of the ancient city-states
which ad liberal extensions of the suffrage to all citizens, but
restrictio s on eligibility to office which kept rule in the hands of a
small g cup of families.
Since! all of us in the United States have been educated under
democratic formulas, the advantages of the democratic tendency
are too familiar to need statement. We less often discuss certain
io6 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
of its disadvantages, or some possible advantages of aristocracy.
To begin with, so long as the family remains, and in some form
it is likely to remain as long as we can foresee, the aristocratic
tendency will always be asserting itself to some degree at least;
it too accords with ineradicable human traits, with the fact that,
since a man cannot help all other men equally and since all
cannot prosper equally, he will prefer as a rule that those should be
favored toward whom he feels some special attachment. A
revolutionary movement ordinarily proclaims that its aim is to do
away with all privileges of birth, but invariably, once it is in
power, the aristocratic tendency reasserts itself, and a new ruling
group crystallizes out from the revolution.
"It is not so certain, meantime," Mosca adds, "that it would be
altogether beneficial to the collectivity to have every advantage of
birth eliminated in the struggle for membership in the ruling class
and for high position in the social hierarchy. If all individuals
could participate in the scramble on an equal footing, struggle
would be intensified to the point of frenzy. This would entail an
enormous expenditure of energy for strictly personal ends, with
no corresponding benefit to the social organism, at least in the
majority of cases. On the other hand, it may very well be that
certain intellectual and, especially, moral qualities, which are
necessary to a ruling class if it is to maintain its prestige and
function properly, are useful also to society, yet require, if
they
are to develop and exert their influence, that the same families
should hold fairly high social positions for a number of gener-
ations." (P. 419.)
The fact of the matter, however, is that both of these tend-
encies, aristocratic and democratic, are always operative within
every society. The heavy predominance of one of them is usually
the occasion or the aftermath of a period of rapid and often rev-
olutionary social change.
5.' The Best and Worst Governments
MOSCA, like Machiavelli, doe's not stop with the descriptive

analysis of political life. He states plainly his own preferences, his
opinions bout what types of government are best, what worst.
Naturally, as is the case with all Machiavellians, his goal is not
anything I supernatural or utopian; to be the best, a government
must be first of all possible. He does no dreaming about a "perfect
state" or "absolute justice." In fact, Mosca suggests what I had
occasion �o mention in connection with Dante: namely, that politi-
cal doctrines which promise utopias and absolute justice are very
likely to lead to much worse social effects than doctrines less
entrancing in appearance; that utopian programs may even be
the most convenient of cloaks for those whose real aims are most
rightly suspect. The impossibility of attaining absolute justice, j
however,' does not render useless an effort after what measure of
approxirrate justice is possible in the actual social world that we
inhabit. f
"Hum n sentiments being what they are, to set out to erect a
type of political organization that will correspond in all respects
to the ideal of justice, which a man can conceive but can never
attain, is a utopia, and the utopia becomes frankly dangerous
when it 'succeeds in bringing a large mass of intellectual and
moral en rgies to bear upon the achievement of an end that will
never be achieved and that, on the day of its purported achieve-
ment, cal L mean nothing more than triumph for the worst people
and distress and disappointment for the good. Burke remarked
more that a century ago that any political system that assumes
107
io8 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
the existence of superhuman or heroic virtues can result only in
vice and corruption." (P. 288.)
"But even if there is never to be an absolute justice in this world
until humanity comes really to be molded to the image and like-
ness of God, there has been, there is and there will always be a
relative justice in societies that are fairly well organized. There
will always be, in other words, a sum of laws, habits, norms, all
varying according to times and peoples, which are laid down and
enforced by public opinion, and in accordance with which what
we have called the struggle for pre-eminence-the effort of every
individual to better and to conserve his own social position-will
be regulated." (P. 456.)
Again following Machiavelli, the dominant element in Mosca's
conception of that "relative justice" which he thinks possible as
well as desirable is liberty. The meaning of "liberty" he makes
more precise by defining it in terms of what he calls "juridical
defense."
"The social mechanisms that regulate this disciplining of the
moral sense constitute what we call `juridical defense' (respect for
law, government by law)... It will further be noted that our
view is contrary to the doctrine of Rousseau, that man is good
by nature but that society makes him wicked and perverse. We
believe that social organization provides for the reciprocal re-
straint of human individuals by one another and so makes them
better, not by destroying their wicked instincts, but by accustom-
ing them to controlling their wicked instincts." (Pp. 126-7.)
"Guicciardini defines political liberty as à prevalence of law
and public decrees over the appetites of particular men.' If we
take `particular men' in the sense of ìndividuals,' meaning `single
individuals,' and including individuals who have power in their
hands, it would be difficult to find a more rigorously scientific
def-
inition. . A corrupt government, in which the person who
commands `makes his will licit in his law'-whether in the name
M09CA: THEORYOF RULINGCLASS 109
of God o in the name of the people does not matter-will obvi-
ously be inadequate to fulfilling its mission in regard to juridical `
defense. (Pp. 130 -1.) The freest country is the country where
j
the right of the governed are best pr otected against arbitrary
caprice aid tyranny on the part of rulers." (P. 13•)
Juridic 1 defense, then, means government by law and due
process--lot merely formally, in the words of constitutions or
statutes, but in fact; it means a set of impersonal restrictions on
those who hold power, and correlatively a set of protections for
the individuals against the state and those who have power. The
specific forms of juridical defense include the familiar "democratic,
rights": "In countries that have so far rightly been reputed free,
private roperty cannot be violated arbitrarily. A citizen cannot'
be arres ed and condemned unless specified rules are observed.,
Each p arson can follow the religion of his choice without fortt
feiture 'f his civil and political rights. The press cannot be sub-
jected t censorship and is free to discuss and criticize acts of
govern
ment. Finally, if they conform with certain rules, citizens
can melt to engage in discussions of a political character, and
they ca form associations for the attainment of moral, political
or professional ends." (Pp. 469-70•) Of all these rights, Mosca
considers the right of public discussion-of free speech, as w
usually call it-the most important, and the strongest foundation of
juridical defense as a whole.
A fi m juridical defense is required for the attainment and
maintehance of a relatively high "level of civilization." Level of
civilization is measured, according to Mosca's definition, by the
degree!of development and number of social forces: that is, the
more ocial forces there are and the more fully each is developed,
the higher the level of a given civilization. A civilization that
has an active art, an active literature and commerce and science
and z - dustry, a strong army, and a progressive
highethan one that concentrates on only one or two rf these, or o
ii
one that is mediocre in most or all of them. Thus, the conception of
"level of civilization" can serve as a rough standard for evaluat ing
different cultures.
But what is it that makes possible a high level of juridical de-
fense and of civilization? With the answer to this question we
come to what is perhaps the most profound and most important
of all Mosca's ideas, though it, also, has its source in Machiavelli.
Mosca's answer, moreover, is sharply at variance with many
accepted theories, and particularly opposed to the arguments of
almost all the spokesmen of the ruling class.
The mere formal structure of laws and constitutions, or of
institutional arrangements, cannot guarantee juridical defense.
Constitutions and laws, as we certainly should know by now,
need have no relation to what happens-Hitler never repealed
the Weimar Constitution, and Stalin ordered the adoption of
"the most democratic constitution in the history of the world."
Nor can the most formally perfect organizational setup: one-
house or two- or three-house legislatures, independent or re-
sponsible executives, kings or presidents, written or unwritten
constitutions, judges appointed or elected-decisions on these
formalities will never settle the problem. Nor will any doctrine, nor
any reliance on the good will of whatever men, give a guaran tee: the
men who want and are able to get power never have the necessary
kind of good will, but always seek, for themselves and their group,
still more power.
In real social life, only power can control power. Juridical de-
fense can be secure only where there are at work various and
opposing tendencies and forces, and where these mutually check
and restrain each other. Tyranny, the worst of all governments,
means the loss of juridical defense; and juridical defense in-
variably disappears whenever one tendency or force in society
succeeds in absorbing or suppressing all the others. Those who
M09CA: THEORY OF RULING CLASS III
control t e supreme force rule then without restraint. The
individual as no protection against them.
From ne point of view, the protective balance must be estab-
lished between the autocratic and liberal principles, and between
the aristjcratic and democratic tendencies. Monopoly by the aris
tocratic tendency produces a closed and inflexible caste system,"
and fossilization; the extreme of democracy brings an unbridled
anarchy under which the whole social order flies to pieces.
More p Ifundamentally, there must be an approximate balance.
among the major social forces , or at the least a shifting equilibrium
in which no one of these forces can overpower all the rest. "Even
grantedsthat such a world [the world of so many utopians, where
conflicts and rivalries among different forces, religions, and parties
will have ended] could be realized, it does not seem to us a de-
sirable sort of world. So far in history, freedom to think, to
observes to judge men and things serenely and dispassionately,
has beef possible-always, be it understood, for a few individuals
-only in those societies in which numbers of different religious
and political currents have been struggling for dominion. That
same c )ndition ... is almost indispensable for the attainment of
what i; commonly called `political liberty'-in other words, the
highest possible degree of justice in the relations between gov-
ernors and governed that is compatible with our imperfect human
nature:" (P. 196.) "History teaches that whenever, in the course
of the! ages, a social organization has exerted such an influenc e
[to ra se the level of civilization] in a beneficial way, it has done
so bec use the individual and collective will of the men who have
held power in their hands has been curbed and balanced by other
men, who have occupied positions of absolute independence and
have iad no common interests with those whom they have had
to cub and balance. It has been necessary, nay indispensable, that
thereshould be a multiplicity of political forces, that there should
112
THE MACHIAVELLIANS
be many different roads by which social importance could be
acquired ..." (Pp. 29 1-2.)
Freedom, in the world as it is, is thus the product of conflict

and difference, not of unity and harmony. In these terms we see
again the danger of "idealism," utopianism, and demagogy. The
idealists, utopians, and demagogues always tell us that justice and
the good society will be achieved by the absolute triumph of their
doctrine and their side. The facts show us that the absolute tri-
umph of any side and any doctrine whatsoever can only mean
tyranny. "The absolute preponderance of a single political force,
the predominance of any over-simplified concept in the organiza-
tion of the state, the strictly logical application of any single prin-
ciple in all public law are the essential elements in any type of
despotism, whether it be a despotism based upon divine right or a
despotism based ostensibly on popular sovereignty; for they enable
anyone who is in power to exploit the advantages of a superior
position more thoroughly for the benefit of his own interests and
passions. When the leaders of the governing class are the exclusive
interpreters of the will of God or of the will of the people and
exercise sovereignty in the name of those abstractions in societies
that are deeply imbued with religious beliefs or with democratic
fanaticism, and when no other organized social forces exist apart
from those which represent the principle on which sovereignty
over the nation is based, then there can be no resistance, no effec-
tive control, to restrain a natural tendency in those who stand at
the head of the social order to abuse their powers." (P. 1 34•)
By 1923, when Mosca revised his major book (the Englis h trans-
lation is made from this revised version), he had come to the
conclusion that the great parliamentary-representative go vern-
ments of the 19th century had reached the highest level of civ iliza.
tion and juridical defense so far known in history. In many w ays,
this was a remarkable opinion for Mosca to have held. The ch ief
theme of his entire work is a devastating attack on the enti re
MOS A: THEORYOF RULINGCLASS 113
theoretical basis of democratic and parliamentary doctrine. He
gives not little space to a withering exposure of concrete abuses
under mo ern parliamentary government. In his critique of col-
lectivism, he states: "The strength of the socialist and anarchist
doctrines lies not so much in their positive as in their negative
aspects-it their minute, pointed, merciless criticism of our present
organization of society" (p. 286), and he holds that the criticism is
largely justified.
Nevert eless, Mosca does not expect utopia or absolute justice.
Societies lliust be judged relatively; the least evil is concretely the
best; and the 19th century parliamentary nations, with all their
weaknesses, were comparatively superior to any others that have
yet existed. In their governmental structures, the autocratic prin-
ciple, functioning through the bureaucracy, balanced the liberal
principle, expressed in the parliaments. The aristocratic tendencies
of birth +d inheritance were checked by a perhaps unprecedente d
ease with. which vigorous new members were able to enter the
ruling class. Above all, under these governments there occurred an
astoundig expansion not of one or a restricted few social forces,
but of a great and rich variety, with no one force able to gain
exclusive' predominance over the rest. Commerce as well as the
arts , u ed cation and science, technology and literature, all were
able to flourish. His judgment on these governments thus follows,,
from his!general principles; he does not praise parliamentary gov
ernment for its own sake, but because, under the specific
circumstances of the 19th century, it was accompanied by this
relatively high lev, l of civilization and juridical defense.
From
lhis favorable judgment, however, Mosca did not con-
clude that the 19th century form of parliamentary government,
was necessarily going to last. It is the habit of utopians, of those
who, like Dante, interpret politics as wish, not of scientists, to con-
fuse th Iir desires with what is going to happen. Mosca, on the
contrar , believed that it was almost certain that parliamentary
governments, as the 19th century had known them, were not
going to last very much longer.
The War of 1914, he believed, marked the e
nd of an age that
could be considered as having begun with the F rench Revolution,
in 1789. The parliamentary governments were the great social
achievement of that age; but the age was ending. In the new age,
just beginning, these governments would be displaced. It was
conceivable, he thought, that the new organiza tion of society
should be superior to the parliamentary-representat ive system: "If
Europe is able to overcome the difficulties with which she is
struggling at present, it is altogether probable that in the course
of another century, or even within half that time, ne w ideas, new
sentiments, new needs will automatically prepare th e ground for
other political systems that may be far preferable to any now
existing." (P. 490.) But the depth of the crisis into w hich he un-
derstood that Europe had, with the first World War, irrevocably
entered, suggested the probability of attempts at ex treme and
catastrophic solutions. These, he believed, could lead on ly toward
the destruction of liberty and a decline in the level of civ ilization.
Though a small reserve of optimism was permissible, pe ssimism
was on the whole called for by the facts.
"The feeling that springs spontaneously from an unprejudiced
judgment of the history of humanity is compassion for the con-
tradictory qualities of this poor human race of ours, so rich in
abnegation, so ready at times for personal sacrifice, yet whose
every attempt, whether more or less successful or not at all suc-
cessful, to attain moral and material betterment, is coupled with
an unleashing of hates, rancors and the basest passions. A tragic
destiny is that of men! Aspiring ever to pursue and achieve what
they think is the good, they ever find pretexts for slaughtering
and persecuting each other. Once they slaughtered and persecuted
over the interpretation of a dogma, or of a passage in the Bible.
Then they slaughtered and persecuted in order to inaugurate the
MOScA: THEORYOFRULINGCLASS 115
kingdom of liberty, equality and fraternity. Today they are
slaughterin, and persecuting and fiendishly torturing each other in
the nam of other creeds. Perhaps tomorrow they will slaughter and
torme t each other in an effort to banish the last trace of
violence a d injustice from the earth!" (P. 198.)
SOREL: A NOTE ON MYTH
I AND VIOLENCE
r. The Function Of Myth
GEORGES FSOREL cannot be considered in all respects a Ma-

chiavellian. or one thing, he was a political extremist. Though
Machiavelli principles are not committed to any single political
program, It ey do not seem to accord naturally with extremism.
Further, So el partly repudiates, or seems repudiate, scientific
method, an to grant, in certain connec ions eh the legitimacy
, of
intuition at d of a metaph ysics
oPher, Heni Bergson. T o the extent that he reject science,, o el
is certainl outside the Machiavellian tradition. s Sr
y largely
However, Sorel's repudiation of scientific method
pearance. In reality, he attacks not science, but academic ap-
science, which he calls the "little science," that pretends to tell us
about the nature of society and politics, but in truth is merely
seeking t justify this or that group of power-seekers. Sorel do es
indeed coAtend that genuine scientific doctrines are not enough
to motivate mass political action; but this conclusion, far from
being ant}-scientific, is reached by a careful scientific analysis.
Moreover, Sorel shares fully what I have called the "anti-formal-
ism" of tl e Machiavellians, their refusal to take at face value the
words an beliefs and ideals of men. In of mmon aw
chiavelliahs he defines the subject-mat polics hhe se uMa-e
for social, power; and he makes the same general a s nalysis of the
behavior 11of "political man," of men, that is to say, as they act in
relation �o the struggle for power.
Sorel also requires mention because of his influence on the
other Machiavellian writers, Robert Michels and Vilfredo Pareto,
with whom we shall be concerned. Pareto more than once gives
"9
Ito
THEMACHIAVELLIANS
tribute to Sorel. He writes, for example: "It was the surpassing

merit of Georges Sorel that in Reflectons sur la violence he threw
all such fatuities overboard to ascend to the altitudes of science.
He was not adequately understood by people who went looking
for derivations and were given logico-experimental reasonings
instead. As for certain university professors who habitually mis-
take pedantry for science, and, given a theory, focus their micro-
scopes on insignificant errors and other trifles, they are completely
destitute of the intellectual capacities required for understanding
the work of a scientist of Sorel's stature." * Sorel, both through his
writings and through personal acquaintance, played a considerable

part in the transformation of Michels into a Machiavellian, which
occurred when Michels took up residence in Switzerland after an
earlier career at a German university.
I propose to deal only with two points discussed by Sorel in his

most famous work, Reflections on Violence. However, to
understand the treatment of these points, it is necessary to
summarize briefly the context in which the book was written.
Sorel was at that time active, chiefly as a journalist and theoreti-
cian, in the French and to some extent the international revo-
lutionary labor movement. The greater part of the politically
organized labor movement adhered in those days to the various
social-democratic parties of the Second International. The activities
of these parties were reformist. The parties were large in size and
institutional strength, and devoted themselves to winning eco-
nomic concessions (higher wages, social insurance, and so on) for
the workers, and parliamentary or governmental posts for the
party leaders. Ostensibly, however, the party programs still pro-
* Mind and Society, footnote 2 to § 2193, p. 1535, Vol. IV.
t The English translation, by T. E. Hulme,
of Reflexions sur la violence.
Originally issued in New York by 13 . W. Hueb
Peter Smith, in sch, this was re-published by
1941. The French text first app
lived from 1847-1922 . eared in
19o6. Georges Sorel
S()REL: MYTHANDVIOLENCE 121
fessed the oals of revolutionary socialism: the overthrow of
capitalism a d the institution of a free, classless society.
syndicalist wing of
Sorel spo 1 e1 for the dissident revolutionary
the labor ovement. The syndicalists were opposed both to the
state-not only to the existing state but to all states and govern-
ments-an to all political parties, including the professedly labor
parties. They advocated the economic "self-organization" of the
workers, iii revolutionary syndicates (that is, unions), with no
professions officials and absolute independence from the state
and all po itical parties. The state, whether the existing state or
any other, they considered to be merely a political instrument for
the oppression of the masses. Political parties, socialist as well as
all the rest, have as their object the attainment of state power.
Consequently, political parties are part of the machinery of op-
pression. If the socialist party took over governmental power, this

would note at all mean the introduction of socialism, of a free and
classless society, but simply the substitution of a new elite as ruler
over the asses.
This an lysis, we may remark, coincides exactly with that made
by the otter Machiavellians. In the later discussion of Robert
Michels, e shall see in detail how it applies to the parties of
socialism
In cont4adistinction to the allegedly "scientific socialism" of the
official pities, to their elaborate programs of "immediate de-
mands" fnd desired reforms, to their lengthy treatises on how
socialism will be brought about and what it will be like and how
it will work, Sorel insists that the entire revolutionary program
myth:
must be expressed integrally as a single catastrophic the
myth, l if of the "general strike." The myth of the`'
general strike is formulated in absolute terms: the entire body of
workers,1 of proletarians, ceases work; society is divided into two,
irrevoca ly marked camps-the strikers on one side, and all the,
rest of society on the other; all production wholly ceases; t e en
122
THEMACHIAVELLIANS
structure of the existing society, and all its institutions, collapse; the
workers march back to begin production again, no longer as
proletarians, but as free and un-ruled producers; a completely new era
of history begins.
Only such an all-enabracirg myth, Sorel believes, can arouse the
masses to uncrmpromising revolutionary action. No detailed ra-
tionalistic p iogram, no careful. calculation of pros and cons, no
estimate of results and consequences, can possibly be efficacious.
Indeed, the effect of such programs is to paralyze the independent
action of the workers and to place power in the hands of the
leaders who devise and manipulate the programs.
It is not the specific myth of the general strike, as treated by
Sorel, that particularly concerns us, but rather the more general
problem of the positive role of myth in political action. What
kind of construction is such a political myth? If we interpret it
as a scientific hypothesis, as a prediction about the future, it must
be regarded as absurd, fantastic, false. But this interpretation,
Sorel thinks, would be irrelevant. Nor is the myth in the least
like
a Utopia, though at first there might seem to be a close resem-
blance. Like a scientific hypothesis, a Utopia is an "intellectual
product; it is the work of theorists who, after observing and dis-
cussing the known facts, seek to establish a model to which they
can compare existing society in order to estimate the amount of
good and evil it contains. It is a combination of imaginary insti-
tutions having sufficient analogies to real institutions for the jurist
to be able to reason about them. . . . Whilst contemporary myths
lead men to prepare themselves for a combat which will destroy
the existing state of things, the effect of Utopias has always been
to direct men's minds towards refor ms which can be brought
about by patching up the existing system ..:'
Violence, pp. 32-3.) (Reflections on
A myth, in contrast to hypotheses or utopias, is not either true

or false. The facts can never prove it wrong. "A myth cannot be
SOREL: MYTHANDVIOLENCE 12 3
refuted, since it is, at bottom, identical with the convictions of a
group, b' ing the expression of these convictions in the language
of move ent; and it is, in consequence, unanalyzable into parts
which c uld be placed on the plane of historical descriptions."
(P• 33.) "In the course of this study one thing has always beenT
present it my mind, which seemed to me so evident that I did
not think[ it worth while to lay much stress on it-that men who
are participating in a great social movement always picture their
coming ction as a battle in which their cause is certain to tri-
umph. T ese constructions, knowledge of which is so important
for histo #ians, I propose to call myths; the syndicalist `general
strike' ant Marx's catastrophic revolution are such myths . As re-
markable .examples of such myths, I have given those whic h were
constructed by primitive Christianity, by the Reformation, by the
[French] `Revolution and by the followers of Mazzini. I now
wish to scow that we should not attempt to analyze such groups of
image in the way that we analyze a thing into its elements, but that
4ey must be taken as a whole, as historical forces, and that we
should be especially careful not to make any comparison between a •
complished fact and the picture people had formed for themselve before
action." (P. 22.)
"The myths," summing up, "are not descriptions of things, but
expression of a determination to act." (P. 32.)
"People ho are living in this world of `myths,' are secure from
all refutation. . No failure proves anything against Socialism
since the litter has become a work of preparation (for revolu-
tion); if they are checked, it merely proves that the app renticeship
has been i sufficient; they must set to work again with more cou-
rage, persitence, and confidence than before ..:' (Pp. 35, 30
Though he myth is not a scientific theory and is theref ore not
required to conform to the facts, it is nevertheless not at al 1
art_ttrary. of just any myth will do. A myth that serves to weld
together a si cial group-nation, people, or class-must be capable
of arousing their most profound sentiments and must at the same
time direct energies toward the solution of the real problems
which the group faces in its actual environment. "Use must be
by intuition alone, and before
made of a body of images which,
any considered analyses are made, is capable of evoking as an
undivided whole the mass of sentiments which corresponds to
the different manifestations of the war undertaken by Socialism
against modern society." (Pp . 130-I .) "It is a question of knowing

what are the ideas which most powerfully move [active revolu-
tionists] and their comrades, which most appeal to them as being
identical with their socialistic conceptions, and thanks to which
their reason, their hopes, and their way of looking at particular
facts, seem to make but one indivisible unity." (P. 137.)
The myth, though it is not fundamentally a utopia-that is,
the picture of an ideal world to come in the future-does ordi-
narily contain utopian elements which suggest such an ideal world.
Is there any probability that the ideal will be achieved? "The
myth," Sorel replies, "must be judged as a means of acting on
the present; any attempt to discuss how far it can be taken liter-
ally as future history is devoid of sense." (Pp. 135-6.) If we should
nevertheless put the question, it is plain that the ideal will in
truth never be achieved or even approximated. This in no way
detracts from the power of the myth, nor does it alter the fact
that only these myths can inspire social groups to actions which,
though they never gain the formal ideal, yet do bring about great
social transformations. "Without leaving the present, without
reasoning about this future, which seems for ever condemned to
escape our reason, we should be unable to act at all. . . . The first
Christians expected the return of Christ and the total ruin of the
pagan world, with the inauguration of the kingdom of the saints,
at the end of the first generation. The catastrophe did not come
to pass, but the Christian thought profited so greatly from the
apocalyptic myth that certain contemporary scholars maintain that
:SOREL: MYTHANDVIOLENCE 12 5
the whole preaching of Christ referred solely to this one point.
The hops which Luther and Calvin had formed of the religious
exaltatio of Europe were by no means realized... . Must we for
that reas l n deny the immense result which came from the dreams
of Christ an renovation? It must be admitted that the real devel-
opments 6f the [French] Revolution did not in any way resemble
the ench1nting pictures which created the enthusiasm of its first
adepts; but without those pictures would the Revolution have
been victorious? ... These Utopias came to nothing; but it may"
be asked whether the Revolution was not a much more profound
transformation than those dreamed of by the people who in the
eighteen century had invented social Utopias." (Pp. 133-5•)
2. The Function of Violence
A GREAT MYTH makes a social movement serious, formidable,

and heroic. But this it would not do unless the myth inspired, and
was in turn sustained by, violence. In his analysis of violence-
the most notorious and attacked part of Sorel's work-Sorel be-
gins, as in the case of myth, with the narrowed problem of vio-
lence as related to the proletarian revolutionary movement. He is,
however, seeking conclusions that will hold generally for all great
social movements.
Sorel was writing, some years prior to the first World War, at
a time when humanitarian and pacifist ideas were almost univer-
sally professed by the leaders of official opinion. International war
was going to be stopped by treaties and arbitration; class war, by
reforms and the internal policy of "social peace"; violence was a
relic of barbarism, soon to disappear altogether. Ironically enough,
in spite of the two world wars, these notions retain their hold
in many quarters, and are always prominent in the dreams of
what the world is going to be like after the current war. In the
face of these official opinions, Sorel presents a defense of
violence.
However, we must exercise care in determining just what he is
defending, and why.
Sorel does not take the ideas of humanitarianism and pacifism
at face value. As in the case of any other ideas, he relates them
to the historical environment in which they function. Their prom-
inence does not mean that force has been eliminated from social
relations: force is always a main factor regulating society. But,
under advanced capitalism, much of the force is exercised as it
were automatically and impersonally. The whole weight of the
126
SOREL: MYTHANDVIOLENCE 127''
capitalist mode of production bears down upon t e wor h k k ers,eep
ing then in economic, political, and social subjection. From one
point of . view, the humanitarian chatter serves to obscure the
social re lities. Still more important, the moral denunciation of
violence 1lhelps to keep the workers quiet and to prevent them
from usig their own violent methods in strikes and for the revo-
lution.
It is tr e that overt acts of violence have become less frequent
than in any former ages. Is this in all respects an improvement?
It is, to e extent that "brutality"-such as used by robbers and
brigands tin earlier times, or by the state in the punishment of
criminalshas become rarer. Sorel is careful to explain that by
"violence" he does not mean brutality of this sort. From another
point of view, the lessening of overt acts of violence in social rela-
tions is njerely the correlative of an increase in fraud and corrup-
tion. Fra d, rather than violence, has become the more usual
road to s1ccess and privilege. Naturally, therefore, those who are
more adept at fraud than at force take kindly to humanitarian
ideals. Crimes of fraud excite no such moral horror as acts of
violence: "We have finally come to believe that it would be
extremely unjust to condemn bankrupt merchants and lawyers
who retirF ruined after moderate catastrophes, while the princes
of financial swindling continue to lead gay lives. Gradually the
new induftrial system has created a new and extraordinary indul-
gence for° all crimes of fraud in the great capitalist countries."
4
(P. 222.)
Similar4y in the case of the modern working class when under
the control of reformists and politicians. The frank acceptance of
the methoI of proletarian violence would threaten all the existing
institutions of society. Consequently, violence is deplored by all
those who have a stake in existing society. Cunning, in the form
of doctrin s of "social peace," "co-operation," and "arbitration," is
in favor. �n occasional act of violence by the workers is com-
fortably overlooked, because it can be used by the labor bureau-
crats-or a government allied with the bureaucrats-to scare the
employers, to win concessions for themselves, and to prove their
indispensable role in controlling proletarian violence. "In order
that this system may work properly, a certain moderation in the
conduct of the workmen is necessary... . If financiers are almost
always obliged to have recourse to the services of specialists, there is
all the more reason why the workmen, who are quite
unac customed to the customs of this world, must need
intermediaries to fix the sum which they can exact from their
employers without exceeding reasonable limits.
"We are thus led to consider arbitration in an entirely new
light and to understand it in a really scientific manner... . It
would be evidently absurd to go into a pork butcher's shop, order
him to sell us a ham at less than the marked price, and then ask
him to submit the question to arbitration; but it is not absurd
to promise to a group of employers the advantages to be derived
specialists
from the fixity of wages for several years, and to ask the
what remuneration this guarantee is worth; this remuneration
may be considerable if business is expected to be good during
that
time. Instead of bribing some influential person, the employers
raise their workmen's wages; from their point of view there is
no difference. As for the Government, it becomes the benefactor
of the people, and hopes that it will do well in the elections ..:'
(Pp. 235-6.)
"In the opinion of many well-informed people, the transition
from violence to cunning which shows itself in contemporary
strikes in England cannot be too much admired. The great object
of the Trades Unions is to obtain a recognition of the right to
employ threats disguised in diplomatic formulas; they desire that
their delegates should not be interfered with when going the
round of the workshops charged with the mission of bringing
those workmen who wish to work to understand that it would
=SOREL: MYTH AND VIOLENCE 129
be to them interests to fo ow the directions of the Trades Unions."
(Pp. 247-.)
ll
Furthe .more, the growth of the humanitarian and pacifist
ideologies, this effort to hide the force that nevertheless continues
operatingi in vicious and distorted ways, to place reliance for rule
upon cun ning and fraud and bribery and corruption, rather than
frankly $ed violence, is the mark of a social degeneration. It is
not only the masses who are lulled and degraded. The rulers, too,
decay. T è rulers rule hypocritically, by cheating, without facing
the meaning of rule, and a general economic and cultural decline,
a social softening, is indicated. "When the governing classes, no
longer dating to govern, are ashamed of their privileged situation,
are eager to make advances to their enemies, and proclaim their
horror o all cleavage in society" (p. 213), they are acting like
cowards Ind humbugs, not saints. "Let us therefore do more and
more evy day for the disinherited, say these [worthy liberals];
let us sho ourselves more Christian, more philanthropic, or more
democratic (according to the temperament of each); let us unite
for the accomplishment of social duty. We shall thus get the bet-
ter of th se dreadful Socialists, who think it possible to destroy {
the prestige of the Intellectuals now that the Intellectuals have
destroye that of the Church. As a matter of fact, these cunning
moral co binations have failed; it is not difficult to see why. The
specious easoning of these gentlemen-the pontiffs of `social duty'
-suppos s that violence cannot increase, and may even diminish
in propo tion as the Intellectuals unbend to the masses and make 1!
platitude and grimaces in honor of the union of the classes. Un-
fortunately for these great thinkers, things do not happen in this
way; violence does not diminish in the proportion that it should
diminish according to the principles of advanced sociology:' (Pp.
213-4.)
An op in recognition of the necessity of violence can reverse the'
social degeneration. Violence, however, can serve this function,
can be kept free from brutality and from mere vengeful force,
only if it is linked to a great myth. Myth and violence, reciprocally
acting on each other, produce not senseless cruelty and suffering,
but sacrifice and heroism.*
But, by what is only superficially a paradox, the open acceptance
of violence, when linked with a great myth, in practice decreases
the total amount of actual violence in society. As in the case of
the early Christian martyrdoms, which research has shown to
have been surprisingly few and minor, the absolute quality of the
myth gives a heightened significance to what violence does take
place, and at the same time guards against an endless repetition
of vulgar brutalities. "It is possible, therefore, to conceive Social-
ism as being perfectly revolutionary, although there may only be
a few short conflicts, provided that these have strength enough to
evoke the idea of the general strike: all the events of the conflict
will then appear under a magnified form, and the idea of catas-
trophe being maintained, the cleavage will be perfect. Thus one
objection often urged against revolutionary Socialism may be set
aside-there is no danger of civilization succumbing under the
consequences of a development of brutality, since the idea of the
general strike may foster the notion of the class war by means of
incidents which would appear to middle-class historians as of small
importance." (Pp. 212-3.)
This seeming paradox, that the frank recognition of the func-
tion of violence in social conflicts may have as a consequence a
reduction in the actual amount of violence, is a great mystery to
all those whose approach to society is formalistic. If men believe
and say that they are against violence, if they express humanitarian
and pacifist ideals, it must follow, so formalists think, that there
will be less.violence in the world than when men openly admit
the necessity of violence. Historical experience does not,
however,
* By the romantic moral overtone of this view, Sorel steps abruptly away
from Machiavellism-though he is probably quite conscious of what he is
doing.
OREL: MYTHANDVIOLENCE 131
bear out his hope, as all the Machiavellians understand. The
humanita ian ideals of much of the French aristocracy in the i8th
century d .d not in the least mitigate the enormous bloodshed of
the Revo ution and may indeed have greatly contributed to its
excess. It :annot be shown that humanitarian conceptions of crim-
inal puni:hment, such as have flourished during the past century
or more, have decreased crimes of violence. Pacifist, "anti-war"
movements are a prominent feature of modern life. They have
not at all served to stop the most gigantic wars of history. They
have, rater, in those countries where they were most influential,
brought bout a situation in which many more men have been
killed thjn would have been if political policy had based itself,.
on the fat that wars are a natural phase of the historical process.
Countles experiences have proved that a firm blow now may
forestall
A thousand given and suffered tomorrow. A doctor who
denied the reality of germs would not thereby lessen the destruc-,,
tive effect of germs on the human body. In politics those magical
attitudes which medicine has left behind still prevail. It is still
firmly b glieved that by denying the social role of violence, violence
is thus somehow overcome.
Sorel'& attitude toward violence is part of a more general social,
attitude !which he does not hesitate to call "pessimism." He is,
quite prpared to defend the ethics of pessimism. "The optimist
in politi s," he writes, "is an inconstant and even dangerous man,
because e takes no account of the great difficulties presented by'
his prof cts. . If he possesses an exalted temperament, and if
unhappiy he finds himself armed with great power, permitting
him to realize the ideal he has fashioned, the optimist may lead
his cou try into the worst disasters. He is not long in finding out,
that soc al transformations are not brought about with the ease
that he ad counted; he then supposes that this is the fault of his
contem oraries, instead of explaining what actually happens by
historical necessities; he is tempted to get rid of people whose
1 32 THE MACHIAVELLIANS
obstinacy seems to him to be so dangerous to the happiness of all.
During the Terror, the men who spilt most blood were precisely
those who had the greatest desire to let their equals enjoy the
golden age they had dreamt of, and who had the most sympathy
with human wretchedness: optimists, idealists, and sensitive men, the
greater desire they had for universal happiness the more in exorable
they showed themselves.
"Pessimism ... considers the march towards deliverance
as
narrowly conditioned, on the one hand, by the experimental
knowledge that we have acquired from the obstacles which
op-
pose themselves to the satisfaction of our imaginations (or, if we
like, by the feeling of social determinism), and, on the other, by
a profound conviction of our natural weakness. . . . If this theory
is admitted, it then becomes absurd to make certain wicked men
responsible for the evils from which society suffers; the pessimist is
not subject to the sanguinary follies of the optimist, infatuated by
the unexpected obstacles that his projects meet with; he does not
dream of bringing about the happiness of future generations by
slaughtering existing egoists." (Pp. 9-11.)
Part V
ICHELS: THE LIMITS OF
DEMOCRACY
r. Michels' Problem
WHEN SOMEONE WRITES a book on democracy, we are

accustomed to share with him the assumption, as a rule not even
mentione, that democracy is both desirable and possible. The
book will; sing the praises of democracy. Its ostensible problem
will often; be "how to make democracy work because even the
most and t democrats, when they get down to the concrete, dis-
cover tha it has not been and is not, working quite as well as
democratic theory would lead us to expect. A similar approach
is
made to such goals as peace, employment, justice, and so on. It is
assumed that these are desirable and possible. A writer then
devotes his nergy to stating his personal scheme for securing them,
and thus laving mankind from the ills that somehow in the past
have alw iys beset it.
No Machiavellian, however, makes such an. approach to social
without
and polit cal subjects. A Machiavellian does not assume,
examinat on, the desirability of democracy or peace or even of
"justice" r any other ideal goal. Before declaring his allegiance,
he make sure that he understands what is being talked about,
together ith the probable consequences for social welfare and,,
well-bei . Above all, no Machiavellian assumes without inquiry
that the various goals are possible. A goal must be possible before
there is ny point in considering it desirable. It is not possible
merely because it sounds pleasant or because men want it badly.

Before a! king, for instance, how democracy can be made to work,
we must ask whether in fact it can work, or how far it can work.,
In gene 1, Machiavellians are very careful to separate scientific
question concerning the truth about society from moral disputes,
135
over what type of society is most desirable. "The present study,"
Robert Michels writes in the Preface to the English translation of
his masterpiece, Political Parties,* "makes no attempt to offer a
`new system.' It is not the principal aim of science to create sys-
tems, but rather to promote understanding. It is not the purpose
of sociological science to discover, or rediscover, solutions, since
numerous problems of the individual life and the life of social
groups are not capable of `solution' at all, but must ever remain
òpen.`
The subject-matter of Political Parties seems, at first, both nar-
row and pedestrian. The entire book is an analysis of the nature
of organization in relation to democracy. This is at the usual
Machiavellian distance from those hymns to an earthly heaven
which are so regularly turned out by utopian writers. The central
question, which Michels asks and answers, might be put as fol-
lows: In what ways is the realization of democracy affected by the
tendencies inherent in social organization?
When Michels wrote, the Marxist critique of capitalism had
for many decades been stressing the point that political democracy
was necessarily incomplete so long as there was economic inequal-
ity. The social power of the capitalist class rested upon its owner-
ship of the chief means of production. This ownership was not
affected by the outcome of the democratic political processes.
Therefore, democracy under capitalism, as under any society
where there was an inequality in economic rights and privileges,
was largely an illusion. From these facts the Marxists concluded
that the elimination of economic inequalities, through the build-
ing of an economically classless society in which no one should
*The first edition of this book was published in Germany, in 1911, with the
title, Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. A new
edi-,
tion, somewhat revised, with a chapter on the war added, was published in Italy
in late 1914. The English translation, by Eden and Cedar Paul, was made from
the Italian edition, and published in 1915 by Hearst's International Library Co.,
New York. All the quotations in this Part are from this translation. (Michels
lived from 1876 to 1936•)
MI HELS: LIMITS OF,DEMOCRACY 137
have spec al rights of ownership over the means of production,
was a pr equisite for the attainment of genuine democracy.
The re soning of the Marxists was correct so far ' as it went.
They fail d, however, to demonstrate that it is possible to elimi-
nate econ mic inequality and to organize a classless society. The
Machiave lians, agreeing with the negative critique of the Marx-
ists, at thF same time show that their goals, on the basis of the
evidence from historical experience, are in fact impossible, that
the supp ession of the specifically capitalist form of differential
property lights would not at all guarantee a classless social struc-
ture but vlvould be followed by the consolidation of new kinds of
property tights and a new class division. Thus, from the point
of view cif the effect of economic factors on political and social
relations, !it is shown that the democratic goal cannot be reached.
Michel' analysis, however, is still more fundamental than this
approach to the problem of democracy through the effects of
economi structure. The economic field, after all, is only one
among any phases of social life. It may be disputed just how
decisively this economic phase affects the others. On the other
hand, organization into groups and sub-groups-families, totems,
tribes, cities, nations, empires, churches, economic classes, clubs,
parties- s an altogether universal feature of human life. The
general 1 ws or tendencies of organization, then, are part of the
very con itions of social existence. There will. be no escape from
them no" matter what alterations occur in economic or political'
structure all attainable social goals, good or evil, will lie within
the limit set by them. It is these general laws or tendencies of .
organiza ion that Michels sets out to discover, in particular those,
tendenci s that bear upon the possibility of achieving democracy.
In thi task, Michels does not, of course, proceed by abstract
demonstration from "first principles"; he makes no appeal to
metaphysics or theology or the "eternal nature of things" or to
what "miust be." Nor does he accept at face value what men say
138 _ E H T _ MACRIAVELLIANS
or think or believe they are doing or want to do. He follows, in
short, not Dante's method, but Machiavelli's. He examines the
facts about organizations, what actually happens in real and exist ing
human organizations, past and present. His generalizations are
derived solely from these facts.
In the course of his study, he draws upon the facts relating to
many hundreds of human organizations, from the modern na tion-
states to ordinary clubs. However, he gives special and pro longed
attention to the European mass labor organizations; and of these,
particularly to the German Social Democratic Party and the larger
German trade unions. It is necessary to understand his motivation
for this emphasis.
Though Michels by no mea s neglects evidence from the
operations of the state, consideJ as an organization, and of
the reactionary or conservative political parties, he considers it
already proved by others, and indeed sufficiently obvious, that the
modern capitalist-parliamentary state and the conservative politi-
cal parties are not genuinely democratic. The spokesmen of both,
no doubt, express themselves usually in terms of a democratic
ideology-since such an ideology is the accepted form of modern
political thinking; but this must be regarded as no more than
what Michels calls an "ethical embellishment" of their social
struggle. "In an era of democracy, ethics constitute a weapon
which everyone can employ. In the old regime, the members of
the ruling class and those who desired to become rulers continu-
ally spoke of their own personal rights. Democracy adopts a more
diplomatic, a more prudent course. It has rejected such claims as
unethical. Today, all the factors of public life speak and struggle
in the name of the people, of the community at large. The govern-
ment and rebels against the government, kings and party-leaders,
tyrants by the grace of God and usurpers, rabid idealists and
calculating self-seekers, all are `the people,' and all declare that in
their actions they merely fulfil the will of the nation." (Pp. 14-5.)
MI =HELS: LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY 39
1
"Even c nservatism assumes [in our age] at times a democratic
form. Bef re the assaults of the democratic masses it has long
since abandoned its primitive aspect, and loves to change its dis-
guise. Today we find it absolutist, tomorrow constitutional, the
next day arliamentary... . Democracy must: be eliminated by
the dem ratic way of the popular will... . A conservative
candidate !who should present himself to his electors by declaring
to them at he did not regard them as capable of playing an
active par in influencing the destinies of the country, and should
tell them that for this reason they ought to be deprived of the
suffrage, ould be a man of incomparable sincerity, but politically
insane. . Nor does the theory of liberalism primarily base its
aspirations upon the masses. It appeals for support to certain def-
inite class.-s, which in other fields of activity have already ripened
for maste y, but which do not yet possess political privileges-ap-
peals, tha is to say, to the cultured and possessing classes. For the
liberals also, the masses pure and simple are no more than a neces-
sary eviwhose only use is to help others to the attainment of
ends to which they themselves are strangers." (Pp. 2-7.)
"In the e society of today, the state of dependence that results,,
from the1existing economic and social conditions renders an ideal,;
democra4y impossible. This must be admitted without reserve."
(P. ii.) n the government itself, therefore, and in all political
parties v'} hich accept, in general, the existing economic and social„
conditions, we do not, and should not expect to, find democracy
in practi e. "But the further question ensues;, whether, and if so
how far, within the contemporary social order, among the ele
ments ich are endeavoring to overthrow that order and to re-;,
place it ; y a new one, there may exist in the germ energies tend-
ing to approximate towards ideal democracy, to find outlet in that,
directiorj, or at least to work towards it as a necessary issue.
(P. ii.),Among these elements the first place, when Michels was
writing, was clearly held by the Marxist, socialist parties, and by
the mass trade unions. Among these, the German Social
Democratic Party and the German trade unions had attained
the greatest numbers, influence, and development.
Moreover, these working-class movements did arise historically
for the sake of democratic struggle against oligarchy in all of its
forms throughout social life; their official doctrine was and re-
mains uncompromisingly democratic; their founders, who began
the organizations and established the doctrine, were for the most
part men of unquestionable and remarkable sincerity. Their mem-
bership is based primarily upon and comprises great numbers of
the working mass of mankind. Upon all of these grounds, there-
fore, if democracy is possible, we may properly expect to find it,
or the strong tendency toward it, in these organizations.
If, on the contrary, we discover in these organizations, also, not
democracy nor a tendency toward democracy but rather oligarchy
and powerful tendencies toward oligarchy, this will be a decisive
test in establishing the fact that democracy, as theoretically con-
ceived, is impossible. It will, together with the corroborative testi-
mony from the study of other organizations, demonstrate that
oligarchy or a tendency toward oligarchy is inherent in organi-
zation itself, and is thus a necessary condition of social life.*
*I shall not, in the following sections, stress the detailed facts which Michels
draws from the experiences of the German Social Democratic Party, since it is
rather the analysis that holds for all organizations that concerns me. I shall omit
altogether any reference to his very brilliant analysis of the "social composition"
of the socialist leadership. The general principle he arrives at is included in
Pareto's discussion of the "circulation of the elites," and will be covered in
Part VI, on Pareto.
DEMOC ATIC THEORY is based upon the principle of "self-
governme t"; the persons belonging to a social group are, accord-
ing to democratic theory, able to, and properly ought to, govern
themselve * It is possible to imagine, and even to discover, social
groups in which this theory is fully realized. Such would be a
small co parry of adults (half a dozer or so), united for some
jointly he d purpose (business or recreation or crime, whatever it
might be , who shared the same interests and level of culture,
and who reached decisions unanimously, after an adequate dis-
cussion, y what we call "a meeting of minds." Certainly such
groups, hick are not unknown, can be intelligibly said to be
practicin , with respect to their organized purpose, "self-
govern-
ment": their members are, plainly enough, "governing
them selves."
HowevIr, as soon as the group becomes at all large (and the
politically important groups of modern civilized society are very
large) it s necessary, still retaining the democratic intention, to
introduce] arbitrary rules that are not wholly in accord with demo-.,
cratic theory. For example, the "group" has to be re-defined in.,
such a way as to exclude certain individuals who are nevertheless
subject t its decisions: children up to a certain arbitrarily deter-
mined a e, criminals, insane persons, and so on. Usually, it may
be added, additional restrictions apply in practice even when not
* i must !ote that it is only with democracy in this traditional sense that I am
here dealin It is possible to define "democracy" in another way-roughly in
the sense that the Machiavellians give to "liberty." If that is done, Michels'
analysis is argely irrelevant, and his conclusions inapplicable. I shall return at
some length, in Part VII, to this other definition of "democracy. "
141
in theory-property and racial and educational restrictions, to
mention some of the most prominent. Secondly, since in larger
groups we seldom get opinions that are both freely given and
unanimous, it is necessary to accept the decision of a numerical
majority as the decision of the entire group.
Both of these qualifications are obviously unavoidable, and no
sensible person could object to them. Nevertheless, it should not
be overlooked that they do contradict strict democratic theory,
even though it is easy enough for a clever philosopher to patch up
the theory in order to allow for them. They are enough to show
that strict and full democracy is not possible in practice.
However,
having noted this, we shall accept them as a legitimate emendation
of democratic theory, and go on to inquire whether democracy
thus circumscribed is compatible with the facts of organization.
Even if we accept majority opinion as democratically valid for
the entire group, it is at once plain that, in the case of large
groups, strict or "direct" democracy is impossible for mechanical
and technical reasons. A large group cannot itself directly decide
about its own affairs because there is no place big enough to
permit a large group to assemble for discussion and decision.
Even
if the group is sufficiently small to be contained within one place,
the study of crowd psychology shows that the decisions voted by
a large crowd seldom reflect the considered opinions of the con-
stituent members of the crowd. Choices have to be limited to a
few simple alternatives, whereas a great number of divergent
views may actually be held by various individuals. Only a few
speakers can be heard, not all who think they have something to
say. The devices of oratory, appeals to irrelevant sentiment,
enthusiasm, boredom, and weariness sway the crowd while it re-
mains together. In a large assembly, votes are very often unani-
mous, by "acclamation," when a survey of the individuals either
before or shortly after the meeting would show large minorities
or even a majority against the voted policy.
MILKELS: LIMITS ar' HMBcAc1 193
All of these characteristics of the crowd are well known. Even
if they c d be overcome or should be disregarded, the simple
fact rema ns that the operating political groups that function in
develove societies-the state itself or mass political parties-are
far too lai e and too scattered in residence to be brought together
in one pl ce at one time. In reaching group decisions, there is no
technical peans to bring the will of the group-even if this could
somehow; be determined-directly to bear upon the problem
at
hand.
Furthe more, many of the group's decisions must be made
quickly i the organized group is not to be severely weakened or
destroyed If the armed force of the enemy strikes, the nation
must stril.e back at once. A political party unable to react quickly
to the iIportant events of the day, to meet or forestall sudden
moves of `rival parties or of the state, to "take a position" on wars
and strik s and revolutions, would soon go under. Sometimes it
is said that the events which require quick decision are "ex-'
jq tj4 a1,' and therefore do not count in the gene ral history of
the organizations. But it is just these events demanding quick
action that are the great and crucial events, settling the fate of
organiza ions. Again from a merely mechanical and technicall,
standpoint, it is impossible for a large group as a whole to make
a quick decision; there is just no way for all the members to par-
ticipate.
When an organization grows to a certain size and when its
aims ha e a certain scope and importance, the conduct of the
organiza ional affairs becomes itself a considerable activity. There
are innu erable bureaucratic details that must be seen to if the
organiza ion is to be kept alive. There are financial, administra-
tive, diplomatic problems to be settled. With. organizations such
as political parties or trade unions, the facts of the economic and,
political situation must be at hand, campaigns must be planned
and carded out, negotiations entered into with other organ;
zations, speeches prepared and delivered, articles written and
published. To be effectively performed, some of these tasks re-
quire special talents; all of them need training; and all take a
great amount of time. The special talents are not possessed by all;
and the great bulk of the membership, even if it had the incli-
nation-which it does not-cannot acquire the training or give
the time. The principle of the division of labor operates. Certain
individuals specialize in the tasks peculiar to the organization and
its operational life; they devote all or a considerable portion of
their time and intelligence to the organization; they perfect them-
selves in the organizational duties. Once the organization is fairly
large and its tasks of even a minimum importance-from those of
a country club to those of an imperial state-this development,
too, is unavoidable. Except through such a division of labor and
specialization, there is no way for the organization to continue in
active existence.
To sum up: All of these causes work alike, and inescapably, to
create within the organization a leadership. The leadership, a
minority and in a large organization always a relatively small
minority, is distinguished from the mass of the organization. The
organization is able to keep alive and to function only through its
leaders.*
Democratic theory is compelled to try to adapt itself to the fact
of leadership. This it does through the subsidiary theory of "repre-
sentation." The group or organization is still "self-governing";
but its self-government works through "representatives." These
*I am referring,, here and throughout this analysis, to the de facto leaders,
who often are not the same as the nominal leaders. As everyone knows, the
party "boss" does not necessarily occupy high position; the party chairman may
be an unimportant person in the organization. Nor need the member of Parlia-
ment 'or Congress or even a Prime Minister or President be as much a leader as
the man or group that gets them elected. It is the fact, not the form, of leader-
ship that is under discussion. Equalitarian revolutionists-communards or an-
archists or syndicalists or jacobins-can eliminate titles, but they cannot
eliminate
leaders.
M'CHELS: LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY
145
have no independent status; what they do or decide merely
represents a will of the organization as a whole; the principle of
democra y is left intact.
This t eory of representation is suspiciously simple, and those
who are of bewitched by word-magic will guess at the outset that
it is brought off by a verbal juggle. Indeed, the basic theorists of
modern democracy were themselves more than a little troubled
by "representation." The truth is that sovereignty, which is what
-accord ng to democratic principle--ought to be possessed by the
mass, cannot be delegated. In making a decision, no one can rep-
resent t sovereign, because to be sovereign means to make
one's o decisions. The one thing that the sovereign cannot
possibly elegate is its own sovereignty; that would be self-con-
tradictor , and would simply mean that sovereignty has shifted
hands, most, the sovereign could employ someone to carry
out decis ons which the sovereign itself had already made. But
this is no what is involved in the fact of leadership: as we have
already seen, there must be leaders because there must be a way
of deciding questions which the membership of the group is not
in a position to decide. Thus the fact of leadership, obscured by
the therr of representation, negates the principle of democracy.
"Ford mocracy, however, the first appearance of professional
leadershi marks the beginning of the end, and this, above all, on
account o the logical impossibility of the `representative' system,
whether i parliamentary life or in party delegation. Jean Jacques
Rousseau ay be considered as the founder of this aspect of the
criticism f democracy. He defines popular government as `the
exercise o the general will,' and draws from this the logical
inference, ìt can never be alienated, and the sovereign, which is
simply a collective being, can be represented only by itself.' Con-
sequently, àt the moment when a people sets up representatives,
it is no longer free, it no longer exists.' A mass which delegates
its sovereignty, that is to say transfers its sovereignty to the hands
of a few individuals, abdicates its sovereign functions. For the will
of the eo _ 5
f ply i not transferable, nor ma the
w�11 of the single
individual." (Pp. 36-7. I have translated the quotations from
Rousseau, which are left in French in the text.)
There is no need, however, to leave the matter with this some-
what abstract demonstration. The facts already cited indicate not
merely how a leadership necessarily arises in an organization, but
how faiorably the leadership
is placedfor acting independently of
and, when occasion arises, counter to the will of the mass of the
membership. Let us, granting the fact of leadership, inquire
further into the problem: who controls whom, the mass or the
leaders? The leaders will always say that they are only expressing the
will of the members (or "the people"), but we are prepared to pay
very little attention to what they say.
We may observe that there are profound psychological causes
not merely for thp uigtn& o f the leadershipwhich
rests in the
first place, as we have seen, on mechanical and technical causes),
but for the consolidation of the leadership as a special group,
largely independent of control by the mass of the membership.
For example, in nearly all organizations that have left the
tempests of their birth, there comes to be accepted on all sides
what might be called a-customary right to office. Formally, a new
election for an office may be held every year or two. But in
practice, the mere fact that an individual has held the office in
the
past is thought by him and by the members to give him a moral
claim on it for the future; or, if not on the same office, then on
some other leadership post in the organization. It becomes almost
unthinkable that those who have served-the org anization so well,
or even not so well, in the past should be thrown aside. A duty to
the leader is created in the sentiment of the members; the office-
holder gains a right. If the vagaries of elections by chance turn
out wrong, then a niche is found in an embassy or bureau or post-
office, or, at the end, in the pension list.
MI HELS: LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY 147
The strength of this customary right to office is well shown by
the histor, of the trade-union movement in this country. During
the violen early days of many unions, administrations come and
go in a seies of overturns. But as soon as the union is established,
with a substantial, regular list of dues-paying members, and a
few signe contracts, the custom asserts itself. Hardly ever is
the administration overthrown in a solid union. So long as the
leaders have the necessary skill in the specialized task of guiding
and controlling organizations, they may be criminals or saints,
socialists tlr Republicans; depression or boom may come; wages
may go or down; strikes may be won or betrayed; but the
administr tion rides through all. This very natural phenomenon
is puzzlin� to those who reason formally. How', they wonder, can
this convii;ted criminal, that grafter, this man who sold out his
members Ito the bosses, or that one whose incompetence lost the
chance to organize a whole new branch of the industry, be re-
tained stir. in office? They can answer such questions, if they are
not union members, by looking only a little closer at whatever
organization is nearer to them-lodge or chamber of commerce or
club o
l governmental bureaucracy.
The cu omary right to office makes possible an interesting de-
vice, freq tent in many political organizations: the device of res-
ignation. The leader, threatened with an adverse vote from a
conventio I or a parliament (or, in a smaller group, an assembly
of the entjre membership), o ffers his resignation. The very heart,
it would eem, of democracy! The leader no longer represents the
group wil, so he is ready to step aside as leader; and this is no
doubt the way he puts it. But this is not the real meaning of the
act. In trt th, it is a powerful stroke whereby the leader forces his
will upon the group. In the issue, the resignation is not accepted;
it is the convention that gives up its opposition to the leader's
proposals, the parliament that votes "confidence." Winston
149 Tf4 A A iiiAivs
Churchill has proved himself a master of this device, which is
aided by the English system of a "responsible executive."
More fundamental than the right to office is the psychological
need felt by the amasses for leadership. This sentiment is a com-
p o u n d c J h > m jrq u a O m n i, N w p t in m o lt u n u s u a l d ra m a tic
circumstances, and seldom even then, the bulk of the membership
of any large organization is passive with respect to the organiza-
tional activities. Only a small percentage of a union's membership
comes regularly to meetings. A still'smaller part of the membership
of a political party provides the active party workers: consider how
difficult it is to get 20,000 party members from among New York
City's millions to a Democratic or Republican campaign meet-
ing-and attendance at a meeting is a minor enough activity. In
a referendum, only a minority bothers to mail back the ballots.
Unless voting is compulsory, only a fraction of the voting popu-
lation can even be got to the polls. How much smaller is the
fraction that participates in the constant, active, decisive work of
the organization. "Though it grumbles occasionally, the majority
is really delighted to find persons who will take the trouble to
look after its affairs. In the mass, and even in the organized mass
of the labor parties, there is an immense need for direction and
guidance. This need is. accompanied by a genuine cult for the
leaders, who are regarded as heroes." (P. 53.) Whatever the causes
of this indifference and passivity,-and this willingness to let others
do the active work of deciding, their existence is plain enough.
Moreover, as Machiavelli had also noted, "the most striking
proof of the organic weakness of the mass is furnished by the way
in which, when deprived of their leaders in time of action, they
abandon the field of battle 'in disordered flight; they seem to have
no power of instinctive reorganization, and are useless until new
captains arise capable of replacing those that have been lost. The
failure of innumerable strikes and political agitations is explained
very simply by the opportune action of the authorities, who have
placed the leaders under lock and key." (P. 56.) Nor is this
phenomenon confined. to labor organizations.
It may le added that this need for leadership brings it about
that the leaders of such organizations as mass political parties-
or the state--are kept extremely busy. "Their positions are any-
thing but sinecures, and they have acquired their supremacy at
the cost o extremely hard work. Their life is one of incessant
effort. In democratic organizations the activity of the pro-
fessional l ader is extremely fatiguing, often destructive to health,
and in ge eral (despite the division of labor) highly complex:'
(P• 57•) n
The masses have deep feelings of political gratitude toward
those who` seemingly, speak and write in their behalf, and who on
occasion suffer, or have suffered, persecution, imprisonment, or exile
in the name of their ideals. This gratitude finds ready ex pression irj
re-election to office, even where the events which gave occasion f'r the
gratitude lie in a distant and out-lived past. Ma chiavelli 4as aware,
also, of this natural sentiment of gratitude. In his zeal for the
protection of liberty, he warned against it, and praised the Romans for
not taking into account past services when they were judging a present
fault.
There ae certain qualities, some innate and some acquired by
training, ut none spread widely and evenly, that make for
leadership and are accepted by the mass as doing so. Oratorical
talent ands the prestige of celebrity-in almost any field, however
irrelevant-rare prominent among them. In addition, "Numerous
and varies are the personal qualities thanks to which certain
individual succeed in ruling the masses. These qualities, which
may be co sidered as specific qualities of leadership, are not neces-
sarily all 4sembled in every leader. Among them, the chief is the
force of ill which reduces to obedience less powerful wills.
[Again, achiavelli's virtu.] Next in importance come the follow-
ing: a wi 4 er extent of knowledge which impresses the members
of the leaders' environment; a catonian strength of conviction, a
force of ideas often verging on fanaticism, and which arouses the
respect of the masses by its very intensity; self-sufficiency, even if
accompanied by arrogant pride, so long as the leader knows how
to make the crowd share his own pride in himself; in exceptional
cases, finally, goodness of heart and disinterestedness, qualities
which recall in the minds of the crowd the figure of Christ, and
reawaken religious sentiments which are decayed but not ex-
tinct."(P. 72.)
In the case of great organizations with important activities-
the state, political parties, mass trade unions, and for that matter
large industrial and commercial corporations-the mass, both as
a body and in terms of most of the individuals composing it, is
incompetent to carry on the work. This follows not only from the
psychological qualities already mentioned, but because of the lack
of the required knowledge, skill, and training. The work, even
the routine through which the work is carried on-the intricacies
of parliamentary procedure, for example-is exceedingly com-
plex; even with native ability, time is required to become e ffective
at it. With respect to the organizational tasks, the leaders possess
a genuine superiority over the mass, and of this they are well
aware. "Here, as elsewhere, the saying is true that no undertaking
can succeed without leaders, without managers. In parallelism
with the corresponding phenomena in industrial and commercial
life, it is evident that with the growth of working-class [or any
other] organization there must be an accompanying growth in
the value, the importance, and the authority of the leaders."(P.
89.)
In short, the leaders-not every individual leader, but the leader-
ship as a group, and a group with at least a considerable measure
of stability and permanence-are indispensable to every important
organization. Their genuine indispensability is the strongest lever
whereby the position of the leadership is consolidated, whereby
MI HEh§5; LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY
the leaders control and are not controlled by the mass, whereby,
therefore, democracy succumbs. The power of the leadership, or-
ganized as an informal sub-group independent of the mass of the
membership, follows as a necessary consequence of its indispensa-
bility.
3. The Autocracy of Leadership
CULTURAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL causes, thus, combine

with the technical conditions of organization to bring about a
division between the leaders, on the one hand, and the mass of
the organization's membership on the other. The leadership is
consolidated as a group, relatively independent of the mass. The
leaders are indispensable to the organization's life and activities.
In practice, in spite of the forms and doctrines of democracy, the
leaders are in a position to control and dominate the mass. Let us
study further how the autocracy of the leadership expresses and
maintains itself.
The leaders-mere "representatives," according to democratic
theory-have effective control of the organization's finances. The
funds are for the most part supplied, by the mass. In theory and
to some extent in fact, the mass can impose certain restrictions
on what is done with the funds. But in practice the use and
distribution of funds is under the direct control of the
leaders.
This control is often very crudely expressed by the tendency
of leaders to assign relatively large amounts of money to them-
selves, a tendency of particular interest as it operates in labor or-
ganization.* In the early days of trade unions or labor political
parties, the leaders are usually non-professional, serving perhaps
part-time with little or no pay. The indispensable need for full-
time and professional leaders is soon apparent. There is usually
a stage when the conception arises that a leader should be paid at
the rate that would be received from an ordinary employer by a
*The financial generosity which the leaders of big corporations show to
themselves is too well known to require comment.
152
worker-me ber of the organization. This stage soon passes. As
the organ', ation grows and becomes established and powerful, the
pay which the leaders receive from the organization goes rapidly
up until it is far beyond the income level, of the ordinary
members. A trade-union official in this country at the present time
frequently gets as much as a $25,000 salary, plus that or more in
"expenses' as well as the "use" of union property such as houses,
cars, and wen airplanes. This financial privilege marks the domi-
nance of he leaders over the organization, and at the same time,
through Ihe greater resources, cultural as well as material, which
the highs income places at the leaders' disposal, reinforces their
dominan e. In the beginning, at conventions and meetings, the
member protest this development, which they rightly regard as,
autocrati, and directed against themselves. But not successfully or
for long.. The leaders are beyond their control, and the delegates,
some of :hem grumbling, vote the increases.
The pjocess, as well as several other of the tendencies discussed
in the 1 Est section, are particularly well illustrated the
ings of he 1942 convention of the United Automobile pros edo
This gm at union is young, and therefore shows organizational.
tenden es in their growth, not as hidden and crystallized in estab
lished groups. In its first years, before a leadership sb li ou(i
deed, it has not yet fully stabilized), the U. A. W. went a
period f rapid administrative flux. It prided itself publicly on the
fact th t its officials sought no personal privilege from their work,
and w re paid at the rate of skilled auto workers. I quote now
Times report of the session of the 1942 con-
from t e New York
ventio devoted to the salary question:
"Th salary row started when the constitution committee moved
that t e salary of the international president be advanced to.
$io,oo a year; that that of the secretary-treasurer be increased
from 5,ooo to $9,500 and that of executive board members from
$3,5001to $6,ooo and that the pay of the new vice presidents be set
at $8,000.
[Modest enough sums, as union salaries go, but the
power of a
ruling class is not built in a day. The U. A. W. admin-
istration knows that more conventions will come tomorrow.]"Mingl
for order ed applause and boos drowned out the chairman's appeal
action. as speakers on both sides of the question went into
[When the U. A. W. is older, the ungrateful boos will
disappear.] James Lindahl, chairman of the constitution commit-
tee, stated that U. A. W. had more than 6oo,o0o members, that
presidents of many local unions made almost as much as
President
Thomas [a revealing argument] and that an organization such as the
U. A. W., which boasted of being `the biggest union in the world,'
could afford to pay its leaders salaries commensurate with those paid
other union leaders
"The sharpest opposition was expressed by William Mazey,
delegate from Hudson Local 154 of Detroit, who was against a
ny
increase at all.
"'I feel our officers should be paid the same salary as the
rankand-file back in' the shop,' he shouted. `Pay them like bosses, and
they begin to think like bosses!' [Delegate Mazey is one step
behind: the leaders, thinking like bosses already, logically demand
to be paid like bosses.]
"To this, another delegate retorted: `We're treating them like
the bosses try to treat us when we ask for a raise!' .
"President Thomas told the convention that if its delegates de-
sired to do so, the committee could take the amendment back
under consideration ànd cut our salaries.' He said the debate was
embarrassing to him, and surrendered the gavel to James B.
Carey, international secretary of the C. I. 0. [A mild variant of
the resignation device, combined with effective democratic piety.]
"Curt Murdock, president of Packard Local , Igo, of Detroit,
told the opponents of the measure that they oug ht to be ashamed
of themselves and that the leaders of industry, to whom the union
men would apply for their own raises, `would be pleased to hear
MIC IELS: LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY 155
appeal to the
our arguments against wage increases today.' [An
sentiment f gratitude, combined with a veiled threat that the
delegates h d better knuckle down for their own good.]"
However this is only one, and on the whole a minor, effect of
the power that the leaders wield through their control of the
organizatio 's finances. In passing, they may line their own
pockets. But it does not really matter if, through conscience or
f i xed rules or scanty treasury, they do not. If the leaders are not
well paid, ey are more subject to temptation from without and
less likely o be loyal to their own organization. Or, as often in
democratic. and labor politics, persons with independent means
take over tie leadership. In any case, the leaders decide the more
important , uestions of the day-by-day use of what funds there
are: what fnd who shall be strengthened, what and who weak-
ened, who put on the pay-roll and who taken off, who favored
and who financially frowned on. In these matters, nations are not different
from unions: shall this local or, that get the subsidy from the international? this
town or that get the heaviest public-works appropriaton ?
Second, collaborating with financial control, "the press consti-
tutes a potent instrument for the conquest, the preservation, and
the consolidation of power on the part of the leaders:' (P. 130.)
Publicity and propaganda are carried on by all large organi-
zations. Sometimes they are direct and open, where the organi-
zation (a olitical party, for example) publishes in its own name
a paper aid pamphlets and magazines, runs its own radio pro-
grams an speaking campaigns. Sometimes they are more in-

direct and informal, with advertising and publicity handouts, and
subsidized journals, writers and speakers who remain nominally
independent. "In all cases, the press [as well as publicity and
propaganda generally] remains in the hands of the leaders and is
never con rolled by the rank and file." (P. 135.) The case for the
leadershi and its policies, therefore, can be and is always the
preponderant burden of the organization's propaganda. "The
press is the most suitable means of diffusing the fame of the in-
dividual leaders among the masses, for popularizing their names"
(p. 130), and at the same time for undermining opponents either
by denunciation or by keeping their names out of sight. By the
nature of the case, the mass of the membership cannot control or
conduct the press and propaganda; and no one therefore should
be surprised that modern governments employ tens of thousands
of publicists and raise the masters of propaganda to their highest
posts.
A third powerful instrument of control possessed by the leaders
results from the fact that they administer, in part or altogether,
the disciplinary mechanism of the organization. In the state, this
is open enough, since the leaders give orders to the police, the
jailers, and the armed forces. Physical force is not unknown as a
disciplinary weapon in organizations other than the state, but
other punishments, such as fines and loss of rights or member-
ship, can be equally effective from the point of view of protecting
the leadership. In the case of trade unions, the loss of member-
ship can be extremely serious, because it often means for the
worker the loss of the right to make a living at his trade. Ex-
pulsion can obviously get rid of an opposition, though it is an
unwelcome device since it means at least a temporary weakening
of the organization as a whole. But the leaders have at their dis-
posal a more subtle disciplinary procedure: namely, their effective
control over much of the process of selecting delegates for con-
ventions. The proper handling of this process can be, as all trained
leaders know, a most intricate and fascinating talent.
We must be careful to distinguish the problem of government

"by the people" from that of government "for the people." With
MI HELS: LIMITSOFDEMOCRACY 157
the latter, ichels' examination is not concerned. The argument
has shown that, in established organizations of any size, including
the state c nsidered as a social organization, government is not
by the peo le-that is, the mass of members does not control the
leaders, bu the leaders the mass. It may quite possibly be that this
is, if not a ways, at least sometimes best "for the people"; that is,
the interes s of the members as a whole and of the majority of
them indi ideally, may be best served by leadership control.
This co clusion is maintained by those who defend democracy
�ut at the same time are willing to recognize that normally the
leaders are in charge. They then attempt to reconcile this paradox
with dem cratic doctrine. "Those [professed democrats] who de-
fend the rbitrary acts committed by the democracy, point out
that the asses have at their disposal means whereby they can
react agai st the violation of their rights. These means consist in
the right f controlling and dismissing their leaders." (P. 156.)
This brak on the leaders cannot be wholly disregarded, and it
would be a mistake to suppose that it does not serve to differ-
entiate de ocratic organizations from those completely subject to
an autocr tic structure. "Unquestionably this defense possesses a
certain theoretical value, and the authoritarian inclinations of the
leaders at in some degree attenuated by these possibilities...
In practic , however, the exercise of this theoretical right is inter-
fered wit by the working of the whole series of conservative
tendencies to which allusion has previously been made, so that
the supre acy of the autonomous and sovereign masses is ren-
dered purely illusory." (P. 156.)
All tho e organizational facts that we have been reviewing
unite to s ow that where a definite conflict arises between the
leaders a the mass, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the
leaders. Nevertheless, leaders are sometimes ousted. Does this violate
th general principle of the supremacy of leadership? What
exactly happens when leaders lose?
"When there is a struggle between the leaders and the masses,
the former are always victorious if only they remain united." (P.
157.) The unled masses, less closely organized than the lead ers, and
perpetually weakened by the whole weight of the organi zational
pressures, never win against a united leadership. The existing
leadership may be overthrown under two circumstances only, and
not always under these.
In the first place, if a division occurs among the leaders, one
section or both is forced to seek help from the masses of the
membership, and is able to organize their strength. The opposition
leadership is sometimes successful in eliminating the old leader-
ship. Second, new leaders may, and do, arise as it were "spon-
taneously" out of the masses. If the existing leadership is unable or
unwilling to crush or assimilate these "outside" leaders, then it
may be overthrown. In both of these cases, however, though the
process may appear to take the form of a successful struggle of
the masses against their leaders, and thus to prove the supremacy
of the masses, in reality it consists only of the substitution of a
new leadership for the old. Leadership remains in control; "self-
government" is as distant as ever.
This problem is given more extended and generalized treat-
ment by Pareto, and I shall return to it in both Part VI and Part
VII. I wish here, however, to remark, that Michels underestimates
the indirect, if not direct, democratic significance of the "oppo-
sition." If it is true that in the end there can be no more than
the substitution of one set of leaders for another, nevertheless
through the opposition leadership the pressure of the masses is
brought indirectly to bear upon the leadership as a whole. An
opposition, so long as it remains an opposition, whatever its
theories, is compelled to rest to some extent on a democratic basis
and to defend democratic practices. The existence of an opposition
is the firmest and the only firm check on the autocratic tendencies
of the leaders.
MCHELS: LIMITSOFDEMOCRACY 159"
There are, finally, certain tendencies of leadership which,
though almost always present to a certain degree, do not get
carried in every social organization to their full extreme. These
tendencies, however, and especially their extreme development, are
so prtfoundly important for democracy that they deserve a very
spe4al notice.
In established leaders there normally occurs what Michels calls
a "psychological metamorphosis." "In the majority of instances,
and abov all at the opening of his career, the leader is sincerely
convince of the excellence of the principles he advocates...
He has been pushed forward by a clearer vision, by a profounder
sentiment! and by a more ardent desire for the general good; he
has been jnspired by the elasticity and seriousness of his character
and by h'!s warm sympathy for his fellows. It is obvious that this
will be 4 e above all where the leader does not find already
established a s lid organization capable of offering remunerative
employment but where his first step must be to found his own party.
But this nust not be taken to mean that wherever a well-or-
ganized arty already exists the leader seeks at the outset to
gratify hi j personal interests." (Pp. 2o5-6.)
But th ' e qualities do not long resist the habit of power. "He
who has Ince attained to power will not readily be induced to re-
turn to the comparatively obscure position which he formerly
occupied. The consciousness of power always produces
vanity, aril undue belief in personal greatness... . In the leader,
consciousness of his personal worth, and of the need which the
mass feels for guidance, combine to induce in his mind a recog-
nitionof is own superiority (real or supposed), and awake, in
addition, that spirit of command which exists in the germ in
every ma born of woman. We see from this that every human
power se s to enlarge its prerogatives. He who has acquired
power wil almost always endeavor to consolidate it and to
extend
16o THEMACHIAVELLIANS
it, to multiply the ramparts which defend his position, and to
withdraw himself from the control of the masses." (Pp. 206-7.)
At a typical stage in this psychological metamorphosis, the
leader identifies himself with the group-party or nation or what-
ever the group may be. "The bureaucrat identifies himself com-
pletely with the organization, confounding his own interests with
its interests. All objective criticism of the party [or nation, if he is
the leader of a nation] is taken by him as a personal affront. This
is the cause of the obvious incapacity of all party leaders to take a
serene and just view of hostile criticism. . . If, on the other
hand, the leader is attacked personally, his first care is to make it
appear that the attack is directed against the party [or nation] as
a whole." (P. 228.) Criticism of the group is personal libel against
the leader; criticism of the leader is subversion and treason against the
group. "The despotism of, the leaders," moreover, "does not arise
solely from a vulgar lust of power or from uncontrolled egoism,
but is often the outcome of a profound and sincere con viction of
their own value and of the services which they have rendered to
the common cause." (P. 229.)
These psychological changes are themselves part of a larger
process frequent in the development of democracy: the process of
the growth of what Michels, and others, call "Bonapartism," a
name derived from the regimes of the two Bonapartes,
particularly
from that of Napoleon III.
The despotic Bonapartist rule was not theoretically based, like
most monarchies, upon any claims of God-given right or of in-
heritance. The theoretical and also the historical basis was demo-
cratic; democratic form was carefully and consistently preserved.
Both Napoleons ruled as democratic representatives of the gov-
erned, the people. Their democratically legitimate right to act as
delegates of the people's will was confirmed in a series of broad
plebiscites. The first Napoleon was overwhelmingly elected as
Consul, Consul for life, and then (1804) as Emperor; the second,
MCHELS: LIMITS OF DEMOCRACYICI
twice as resident, and finally (1852) as Emperor. "Napoleon III
did not erely recognize in popular sovereignty the source of his
power, e further made that sovereignty the theoretical basis of
all his practical activities. He made himself popular in France
by declaring that he regarded himself as merely the executive
organ of the collective will manifested in the elections, and that he
was enti'ely at the disposition of that will, prepared in all things.
to accept its decisions. With great shrewdness, he continually re-
peated that he was no more than an instrument, a creature of the
masses." `;(P. 216.)
The B napartist leader claims, with more than a show of justi-
f i cation, ; to be the most perfect embodiment of the will of the
group, the people. Everything, therefore, is permitted to him,
since he js merely the symbol of the group as a whole. The inter-
mediary political organs-parliaments, for example-still con-
tinue; b t they are now subordinate to the Bonapartist leader, fore
only he cmpletely expresses the popular will; they are his agents,
and only through him are they agents of the people. "Once
elected, to chosen of the people can no longer be opposed in any"
way. He personifies the majority, and all resistance to his will is
anti-dem cratic. The leader of such a democracy is irremovable,
for thenation, having once spoken, cannot contradict itself. He is,
moreove , infallible. . It is reasonable and necessary that the
adversaries of the government should be exterminated in the name
of popul r sovereignty, for the chosen of the people acts within his
rights as representative of the collective will, established in his
position y a spontaneous decision. It is the electors themselves,
we area sured, who demand from the chosen of the people that
he shoul use severe repressive measures, should employ force,
should c ncentrate all authority in his own hands." (Pp. 218-9.)
All this is much more than mere pretense. Once granted the
principle of representation, Bonapartism can be regarded as the
logical ciimination of democracy. More than this: to judge from
1 62 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
the experience not only of our own times but from that of the
Greek city-states, the Roman Republic, and the medieval city-
states, Bonapartism is likewise the normal-though not perhaps
the invariable-historical. culmination of democracy. Bonapartism,
in one or another stage of development, is the most striking and
typical political structure of our day. The great nations which, in
the period since the Renaissance, adopted democratic political
formulas and representative parliamentary practices, have without
exception in this century exhibited a powerful tendency toward
Bonapartism, a tendency which in Germany, Russia, and Italy has
gone to full maturity, but which is no less plainly marked in, for
example, England and the United States.
It is a grave historical error to identify Bonapartism with other
forms of despotism. Bonapartism is not mere military dictator-
ship; it is not the traditional hereditary or God-derived despotism
of absolute monarchies; it is not the oligarchical rule of a closed
hereditary caste. Mature Bonapartism is a popular, a democratic
despotism, founded on democratic doctrine, and, at least in its
initiation, committed to democratic forms. If Bonapartism, in fact
rather than in theory, denies democracy, it does so by bringing
democracy to completion.
4.. The Iron Law of Oligarchy
THE AUTOCRATIC TENDENCIES of organization have

not, of course, escaped the notice of those proponents of democ-
racy wh have been both hard-headed and sincere. Recognizing
them, a number of measures have been proposed in an effort to
thwart these tendencies and to guard democracy. Michels dis-
cusses the results obtained from four of the chief of these: the
referendum, "renunciation," syndicalism, and anarchism.
The device of the referendum has been tried both in govern-
mental Bodies (Switzerland, certain States of the United States)
and in any lesser organizations. In theory, it serves to refer
policy-m king decisions to the entire membership of the group,
and thus to operate in accordance with strict democratic principle.
In practise, we find that it does not work. Usually only a small
percenta e of the membership participates in the referendum. It
is easy f r the leaders to put the referendum-question in such a
form as to assure the outcome that they wish. "The referendum
is open criticism to the same extent and for the same reasons
as is ever y other form of direct popular government. The two
principal= objections are the incompetence of the masses and the
lack of ti e. Bernstein has said with good reason that even if none
but the 4ost important political and administrative questions are
to be submitted to the popular vote, the happy citizen of the
future w 11 find every Sunday upon his desk such a number of
interrogatories that he will soon lose all enthusiasm for the refer-
endum. I is, however, especially in respect of questions demand-
ing a pro pt decision that the referendum proves impracticable."
(P. 336.) We have already noted that these questions which de-
363
mand prompt decision are just those that are most crucial in.
determining the fate of organizations.
The so-called "Ludlow Amendment," strongly advocated not
long ago in this country, which provided for a referendum vote of
the people before this country could go to war, was certainly a
consistent application of democratic principle. The pretended
arguments against it on the basis of democracy were either igno-
rant or hypocritical. Nevertheless, it was plainly ridiculous from
the point of view of practice-a war was not going to wait for
the conclusion of the unwieldy and elaborate mechanics of a
general referendum. Indeed, the real as distinguished from the
formal meaning of the agitation for the Ludlow Amendment had
nothing to do with democracy, but was a struggle against the
impending war and against the existing Administration.
The most conspicuous use of the referendum, it may further
be observed, is in the Bonapartist plebiscite (Hitler and Stalin
have followed the two Napoleons) where the vote attaches the fi
ction of the "popular will" to what has already been decided in
historical fact.
By "renunciation," Michels refers to a device that has been fre-
quently advocated for working-class organizations, and sometimes
enforced by them. Reasoning that the anti-democratic habits of
leaders follow from their possession of material privileges beyond
those available to the rank-and-file, it is held that these tendencies
will disappear if the privileges are made inaccessible, if the leaders
are required to have the same income, conditions of life, social
and cultural environment, as the members. It is certainly a fact
that there is a most intimate connection between power and priv-
ilege. Nevertheless, the device of renunciation fails in practice. In
the first place, except sometimes in small or persecuted organiza-
tions, the leaders never do renounce all privileges, and they can
f i nd very plausible excuses in both the nature and quality of their
work for not doing so. Even where they do, renunciation does
MIi HELS: LIMITSOFDEMOCRACY 165
not prod ce simple democrats but fanatics, often more tyrannical
than those leaders who are sometimes mellowed a little by priv-
ilege.
Third, ; he "syndicalist" policy aims to defend democracy. As
we have een in Part IV, syndicalism, noting the anti-democratic
tendencie of the state and of political parties, tells the workers to
have not ing to do with politics, but to confine themselves alto-,
gether to;"their own" organizations, the trade unions (syndicates)
and the l bor co-operatives. The naivete of this proposal is appar-
ent enough. Trade unions and co-operatives are not exempt from
the autocratic tendencies of organizations, are rather prime sources,
of these endencies. Getting rid of political parties would not at all
get rid autocracy, but merely leave the union autocracy a field
free of r vals.
Anarc ism, finally, which was the first movement to study in
detail th autocratic tendencies of organization, draws the clearest
and mot formally consistent conclusion. Since all organization
leads to autocracy, then, in order to achieve democracy, there
must be no organization at all, neither state nor party nor union.
This vilwpoint, which the history of anarchism shows is capable
of producing very noble human individuals, is wholly divorced
from the reality of human society, which necessarily includes or-
ganizat ons. Anarchism therefore can never be more than a faith
-and completely unrealistic faith, able to integrate an individ,-
ual's own isolated life, but never a serious political movement.
Anarc sts are compelled, when they try to put their ideas into
social ractice, to accept organization. They ordinarily do so in
the ec nomic field and even, though they disguise it, among
themse ves. "But though the anarchist leaders are as a rule morally
supericr to the leaders of the organized parties working in the
politic 1 field, we find in them some of the qualities and preten-
sions c aracteristic of all leadership. This is proved by a psycho-
logical; analysis of the characteristics of the individual anarchist
leader. The theoretical struggle ... has not stifled in them the
natural love of power. All that we can say is that the means of
dominion employed by the anarchist leader belong to an epoch
which political parties have already outlived. These are the means
utilized by the apostle and the orator: the flaming power of
thought, greatness of self-sacrifice, profundity of conviction. Their
dominion is exercised, not over the organization, but over minds;
it is the outcome, not of technical indispensability, but of intellec-
tual ascendancy and moral superiority." (P. 358.)
It is not surprising that the test of experience shows that these
and all other devices fail. Social life cannot dispense with or-
ganization. The mechanical, technical, psychological, and cultural
conditions of organization require leadership, and guarantee that
the leaders rather than the mass shall exercise control. The auto-
cratic tendencies are 'neither arbitrary: for accidental nor tempo-
rary, but inherent in the nature of organization.
This, the general conclusion from Michels' entire study, he
sums up as the iron law of oligarchy, a law which, upon the
basis
of the evidence at our disposal, would seem to hold for all
social
movements and all forms of society. The law shows that the
democratic ideal of self-government is impossible. Whatever social
changes occur, whatever happens to economic relations, whether
property is in private hands or socialized, organization will remain,
and through organization an oligarchical rule will be perpetuated.
"The social revolution would not effect any real modification of the
internal structure of the mass. The socialists might conquer, but not
socialism, which would perish in the moment of its ad herents'
triumph." (P. 390
"These phenomena would seem to prove beyond dispute that
society cannot exist without a `dominant' or `political' class, and
that the ruling class, whilst its elements are subject to a frequent
partial renewal, nevertheless constitutes the only factor of suffi-
ciently durable efficacy in the history of human development.
MI �HELS: LIMITSOFDEMOCRACY 167
According, to this view, the government, or, if the phrase be
preferred, the state, cannot be anything other than the organiza-
tion of a 4inority. It is the aim of this, minority to impose upon
the rest of society a `legal order,' which is the outcome of the
exigencies of dominion and of the exploitation of the mass of
helots eff acted by the ruling minority, and can never be truly
representative of the majority. The majority is thus permanently
incapable f self-government... . The majority of human beings,
in a condition of eternal tutelage, are predestined by tragic neces-
sity to submit to the dominion of a small minority, and must be
content to constitute the pedestal of an oligarchy." (P. 390.)
Howev r, from the iron law of oligarchy, Michels does not
for democ-
at all con lude that we should abandon the struggle
racy, or, ore strictly, for a reduction to the minimum possible of
those autcjcratic tendencies which will nevertheless always remain.
"Leaders tip, is a necessary phenomenon in every form of social
life. Cons quently it is not the task of science to inquire whether
this phe menon is good or evil, or predominantly one or the
other. Bu: there is great scientific value in the demonstration that
every system of leadership is incompatible with the most essential
postulate of democracy. We are now aware that,the law of the
historic necessity of oligarchy is primarily based upon a series of
facts of perience." (P. 400.) "The mass will never rule except
in abstra to. Consequently the question . . . is not whether ideal
democra : is realizable, but rather to what point and in what de-
gree democracy is desirable, possible, and realizable at a given
moment.,' (P. 402.) Oligarchy will always remain; but it may be
possible o put some limit and restraint on the absoluteness of,,
oligarch This cannot be effectively done by a utopian and senti-
mental idealism concerning the possibilities of democracy. "Noth-
ing but a. serene and frank examination of the oligarchical dangers
of a de ocracy will enable us to minimize these dangers, even
though Ley can never be entirely avoided." (P. 408.) "Those
i68 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
alone, perhaps, are in a position to pass a fair judgment upon
democracy who, without lapsing into dilettantist sentimentalism,
recognize that all scientific and human ideals have relative values.
If we wish to estimate the value of democracy, we must do so in
comparison with its converse, pure aristocracy. The defects in-
herent in democracy are obvious. It is none the less true that as a
form of social life we must choose democracy as the least of evils."
(P. 407.) "Democracy is a treasure which no one will ever discover
by deliberate search. But in continuing our search, in laboring
indefatigably to discover the undiscoverable, we shall perform a
work which will have fertile results in the democratic sense."
(P• 405.)
"The democratic currents of history resemble successive waves.
They break ever on the same shoal. They are ever renewed. This
enduring spectacle is simultaneously encouraging and depressing.
When democracies have gained a certain stage of development,
they undergo a gradual transformation, adopting the aristocratic
spirit, and in many cases also the aristocratic forms, against which
at the outset they struggled so fiercely. Now new accusers arise to
denounce the traitors; after an era of glorious combats and of in-
glorious power, they end by fusing with the old dominant class;
whereupon once more they are in their turn attacked by fresh
opponents who appeal to the name of democracy. It is probable
that this cruel game will continue without end." (P. 408.)
Part VI
PARETO: THE NATURE OF

I SOCIAL ACTION
Logical and Non-logical Conduct
Mind and Society,
VILFRE O PARETO, in his gigantic book,
disavows any purpose other than to describe and correlate
social
facts. He s not offering any program for social. improvement nor
expressin any ideal of what society and government ought to be.
He is tryi ig merely to describe what society is like, and to discover
some of t e general laws in terms of which society operates. What
could or hould be done with this knowledge, once obtained, is
a questio he does not try to answer.
This re triction of the problem is more extreme than in the case
of the other Machiavellians. They too, of course, try to describe
and correlate social facts, and they never permit their goals or
ideals or programs to distort their objective: descriptions; they
never, lie Dante, mistake their wishes for reality. Nevertheless,
they stat also what kind of social order they feel to be desirable,
and what the conditions are for the achievement of such a social
order. I his earlier writings, particularly those on economic sub-
jects, Pa eto also expressed certain practical goals. He defended,
for som while, the point of view of orthodox "liberal" economics
-not w at is nowadays called "liberalism," that strange melange
of senti ental confusion, but the classical liberalism of free trade
*This the title which has been given to the English edition of Pareto's
(literally, "Treatise on General Sociology"), which
Trattato d Sociologia Generale
was finish d by Pareto in x915 and first published in 19x6. With the permission
The ssion of the
puilishers, all my quotations are from, and my
and Soci y by Vilfredo Pareto, translated by Arthur Livingston and Andrew
Bongiorn copyright, 1935, by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. The editor,
Professor Livingston, notes that this work contains more than a million words.
As is cus mart', .I refer not to page numbers but to the numbers of the sections
is divided. Pareto lived from 1848 to 1923.
into which Mind and Society
171
and free markets. This point of view he gradually abandoned. It
was not replaced by any other.
Critics have often argued that Pareto's disavowal of any prac-
tical goal is no more than pretense, and they have usually attrib-
uted to him this or that program. It may well be that, even
though no goals are explicitly stated in Mind and Society, certain
values and attitudes are suggested by the over-all tone of his re-
marks. However, about these nothing can be definitely settled.
They are in any case irrelevant to my purpose, which is to show
what Pareto added to the main trends of Machiavellian thought.
Everybody can argue all night about how to save society; but
only a rare few have told us any truths about society.
To understand Pareto's general analysis of society, we must

f i rst be entirely clear about the distinction he makes between
"logical conduct" and "non-logical conduct." (Mind and Society,
151 if.)
A man's conduct (that is, human action) is "logical" under the
following circumstances: when his action is motivated by a
deliberately held goal or purpose; when that goal is possible; when
the steps or means he takes to reach the goal are in fact appropriate
for reaching it.
Logical conduct is common in the arts, crafts, and sciences, and
frequent in economic activity (Pareto calls the economic field,
"interests"). For example: a carpenter wants to make a table (the
production of the table is his deliberately held purpose) ; this
goal is, normally, quite possible; he assembles lumber and tools,
applies one to the other, and as a result gets the table-the means
he takes are in fact appropriate to reach his goal. Thus his con-
duct, with respect to this activity, is logical. Or a scientist wants
to test the efficacy of a new drug in curing some disease; he de-
PARETO: THESOCIALACTION 173
vises pro er experiments in accordance with the usual canons of
scientific method, and determines whether the drug does accom-
plish a ure. Or a worker wants higher wages and, when the
chance o ers, quits one job for an available new one that does in,
fact pay ore. Or an investor, wanting to maintain his funds in
the mos profitable manner, withdraws capital from a field of
enterpri e that is drying up in favor of a new and expanding in-
dustry. All of such activities are, in Pareto's sense, logical.
If, ho ever, any one or more of the conditions for logical con-
non-logical.
duct ar not present, then the actions are
Actions may, for instance, have no deliberate motivation at all.
This would be true of all or almost all of the behavior of animals;
and Pa to, in spite of the prejudice of rationalists, believes it to
be true of a surprising percentage of human actions. Taboos and
other superstitious acts, which are by no means confined to primi-
tive pe ples, are obvious examples, as are many rituals, sports, and
courtesies. Human beings simply do things, without any purpose
at all; it is natural for them to be active, whether or not there is
any co sciously understood point in the activity.
Verycommon, also, are cases where the purpose or goal is im-
possible. The goal may be transcendent-that is, located outside
of the real spatio-temporal world of life and history-and in all
such cases it is, from Pareto's scientific standpoint, strictly impos-
sible. o, if the goal is Heaven or Nirvana or the duplication of
the c e or any other transcendent dream or illusion. On the,
other and, the goal, if not impossible in strict logic, may never-
theles be impossible for all practical purposes, granted the real
naturd of the world. So, if the goal is a Tower of Babel to reach
to the! highest heaven, or a utopia of eternal peace and universal
good ' ill, or some fantastic personal goal as when a dreamer with
no aptitude decides to become the greatest violinist in the world,
or a c ild, just learning numbers, to count to a billion. In all the,
cases, conduct motivated by such goals or purposes is non-logical.
Pareto is strict with his definition. It might be that, though the
deliberately held purpose is impossible, yet the activities carried
out would yield a result that the person in question would judge
desirable, if he stopped to think about it. Striving for utopia, a
worker might get a io% raise in standard of living. This result,
doubtless, the worker might judge desirable so far as it went.
Even in this case, however, the worker's conduct is non-logical,
because it is not and could not be the logical consequence of the
conscious purpose; the desirable result follows as a chance by-
product, and the goal held in mind is logically irrelevant to it.
We have here the situation which I analyzed in discussing
Dante. Where there is a disparity between the "formal" goal and
the "real" goal of an action, then the action is non-logical. In
logical action, the formal goal and the real goal are identical.
Finally, action is non-logical when the means taken to reach
the goal are in fact inappropriate to that purpose. If the carpenter
tried to pound his nails with a sponge, then his means would be
inappropriate, no matter how suitable he might himself think
them. So, too, if a surgeon used a pickaxe for an appendectomy;
or if an oppressed people thought they could overcome a despotic
social regime by an assassination or two; or if a democratic elec-
torate believed that by voting a change of parties in power they
might be guaranteed an era of endless prosperity.
Everyone knows that a certain amount of human conduct is
non-logical. Pareto's stress is on the enormous scope of the non-
logical-his book lists many thousands of examples, and each of
these could suggest a thousand more of the same kind. Other
writers on the nature of society have recognized the existence of
non-logical conduct; some have even admitted that, quantitatively,
it exceeds the logical; but almost all have in the end held that
somehow the margin of logical conduct is what is "most distinc-
tively human," and what is decisive for the development of gov-
ernment and society. Pareto not only shows that non-logical
ARETO: THE SOCIAL ACTION 175
conduct i predominant; his crucial point is that the conduct
which has a bearing on social and political structure, on what he
calls the ` social equilibrium," is above all the arena of the non-
logical. What happens to society, whether it progresses or decays,
is free or espotic, happy or miserable, poor or prosperous, is only
to the sli htest degree influenced by the deliberate, rational pur-
poses hel by human beings.
Taboos d magic, superstition, personified abstractions, myths,
gods, em ty verbalisms, in every culture and at every period of
history e ,press man's persisting non-logical impulses. The forms
change, but the fundamentals remain. Gods and goddesses like
Athena Janus or Ammon are replaced by new divinities such
as Progrss and Humanity and even Science; hymns to Jupiter
give way to invocations to the People; the magic of votes and
electoral inanipulations supersedes the magic of dolls and wands;
faith in e Historical Process does duty for :Faith in the God of
our Fa l ! !ers.
It is impossible to review here the, mass of evidence. Let us,
rather, c ncentrate attention on certain types of human activity
which ae significantly related to political and social change, and
discover whether these are logical or non-logical.
In the first place, we may note that so far as social development
is determined by such factors as climate, geography, or in general
by biological and physical characteristics, it is non-logically moti-
vated. T mperature, rainfall, mountains and valleys are not logica l
product ; they are simply given as the environment wherein hu -,
man so iety develops. Few theorists nowadays would accept any
of the e treme doctrines that try to explain all history by a single
principle of climate or race or something of the sort; but few
would eny that these have at least some influence on social
change.Il It might, however, be argued that, when interpreting
social ange, we accept the physical and biological factors as
historiclly irrelevant "constants"; and that, 'within the conditions
which they admittedly set, logical conduct functions to decide
what happens in history.
The social goals, ideals, or purposes that men presumably try to
achieve in political and social life are capable of being put into
words. Especially in modern times those goals that are of the
widest significance and that are professed by great numbers of
men are often written into great public documents: Constitutions,
Programs, Codes, Declarations, Charters, and so on. These
public
goals, so expressed, are decisive for our present investigation. If
the conduct that influences social change is logical, then these
Constitutions, Declarations, and Charters, together with the hu-
man activities associated with them, will meet, at least to a con-
siderable degree and a good part of the time, the tests that we
have listed for logical conduct. Let us see what the facts are.
First, we may at once observe that most of the goals incorpo-
rated in these public documents are too ambiguous to determine
one line of conduct as against another. They are so vague, indeed,
that whatever is actually done can be subsequently interpreted as
consistent with the alleged goal. The Declarations call, often, for
"freedom." But "freedom," by itself, is a term with no content
whatsoever. There is no freedom "in general"-only freedom
from certain things or for certain things, which always involves
restrictions in other specific respects. If I am to be free from being
murdered by private individuals, then you are not free to murder
me; if the state is free to compel sales of commodities at set prices,
then the manufacturer is not free to sell them as he chooses; if
an owner is free to do what he wants with his possessions, then
others are not free from the effects of what he does.
Or take "liberty, equality, and fraternity," the great goals, it
was believed, of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man,
and of the French Revolution.. Anything, or nothing, can be
meant by these terms. No two men are or can be equal in all
things; all are equal in some. Michels, reminds us that, after the
Revolution, the three words appeared over the entrance of every
French p ison.
The Atlantic Charter, as drawn up by Churchill and Roosevelt,
proclaims)) as one of the central aims of the United Nations, "Freedom
fro Want." Such a goal is strictly impossible. Man is, as we
obser ed in another connection, a wanting animal; there is no
possible d to his wants except death, as the philosophers of the
East hav always insisted.
The pr gram of a political party declares in favor of "law and,,
order." But what law and order, and whose law and order? All
sovereignly, the Constitutions say, is vested in the people. But the
most Jibe al parliament and the most despotic Bonapartist equally
claim to espect the principle of popular sovereignty. The Nazis
are to bu Id "the new order"; but concentration camps and work-
ers' hous s can with equal ease be interpreted as part of a new
order. Tie United States stands, it is said, for "freedom of the
seas." B t, in 1940, let us say, freedom of the seas did not, mean„
freedom or United States ships to sail to German ports, nor free-
dom for German ships to sail anywhere. Japan is aiming, she
says, at a!Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; but this Sphere
has no 1efinable limits nor, apparently, much of what would
normally be called prosperity.
The paint is not that these slogans, ideals, programs, and decla-
rations not influence action. Under certain circumstances they
undoubt dly do, and tremendously. But they are not and cannot
be part 1f logical or rational action. I,am not taking logical steps
in pursuit of a goal if the presumed goal is nothing definite. I
can say, no matter what happens, that I have attained the goal;
and you can say I have not. In spite of what I may think, the
expresse goal itself and the deductions I draw from it have no,,
logical r lation to what I do. My actions, whatever the appear-
ances, a e non-logical, and spring not from the goal but from,
other so rtes. Thus, in all cases-and these include the majority
that is relevant to social change-where the goals are vague or
ambiguous or meaningless, human conduct is non-logical.
However, there are other cases where the goal is sufficiently
definite for us to determine objectively whether or not the actions
taken are in accordance with it. Even in some of the instances
cited above, the specific historical context may give a fairly definite
meaning to terms which by themselves are wholly vague. How
do matters stand when the goals are at least clear enough to be
understood?
We discover, to begin with, that men who profess a certain goal
are just about as likely to take actions contrary to it as in accord-
ance with it. Nor can we generally attribute these contrary actions
to duplicity; those who act contrary to the goal can continue at
the same time believing sincerely in it, and not noting any con-
tradiction. One of the Ten Commandments forbids killing; but
all Jewish and Christian groups have frequently killed, without
in the least altering their faith in the Commandment. In modern
times there have been many pacifists; but the overwhelming
majority of them support all wars in which their countries engage.
Soviet Russia did not at all drop its belief in the Marxist ideal of
a classless society while class differentiation steadily developed
after the revolution. Communities with the strictest beliefs about
monogamy and prohibition and the sinfulness of gambling are
always able, in action, to display a good deal of sexual promiscuity,
drinking, and gambling. The same Attorney-General can on the
same day make an address in favor of free speech, and arrest in-
dividuals exercising free speech; the same legislator can praise
free enterprise while preparing a law for new state controls over
enterprise. A political party can get elected on a platform that
promises a balanced budget; and can then use power to run up
the biggest deficits in history.
Similarly, we may observe that various groups can profess the
fARETO: THESOCIALACTION 179
same goal and yet take differing and often directly conflicting
lines of aItion. Reformist, syndicalist, Trotskyist, and Stalinist
parties of the labor movement all cite the same texts of Marx
while cut ng each others' throats; all Christian nations have the
New Test ment and the Fathers on their clashing sides. In one
state, the Seventh Commandment forbids capital punishment; in
its neighbor, the same Commandment justifies capital punishment.
England nd the United States both believe in freedom of the
seas; but f a ` r England this can mean capturing United States ships
as contrab nd, and for the United States, sending them through
the blocka e. A belief in the immortality of the soul is compatible
with a tot 1 disregard of material goods (this ;short life counting
nothing a ainst eternity) or total concentration on them (thus
attesting, s Calvin taught, that the active soul is elected to
blessedness in
after life).
On the other hand, we find that groups can profess different
and contr try goals, and yet carry out the same type of actions.
Pareto cit s many fascinating examples. There can be the most
varying alleged moral codes governing sexual behavior, and yet
just about the same kind of sexual behavior in practice. Intimate
personal ossessions are placed with dead bodies in the grave no
matter w tat the belief or lack of any belief concerning an after-
life for th soul. The Soviet Union can be on the same side of a
war with England and the United States, and Japan with Ger-
many, eves though in both cases the implications of official beliefs
forbid th alliances. Germany proclaims doctrines of racial su-
periority, Ind the United States condemns them; nevertheless, the
United States acts toward negroes very much as the Nazis toward
Jews, and the United States retains in law and practice the Exclu-
sion Acts directed against the yellow races. Stalin can speak in
the namel of the classless society of communism, Hitler in that
of the hie} archical society of the Herrenvolk, but the
differences
18 0 THEMACHIAVELLIANS
between the Gestapo and the G. P. U. in action are not readily
discerned.*
All these are not examples selected arbitrarily for the sake of
proving a thesis. They are chosen at random and they could be
indefinitely added to. Moreover, most of them are not the peculiar
quirks of individuals, but involve the important group actions
that have a significant bearing upon what happens in government
and society. If the analysis of these and similar actions shows that
they are not logical, that the professed goals are either too vague
or, if definite, are as a general rule not in accordance with the
actions that are taken in practice, then Pareto is right, and the
reformers and rationalists and moralists are wrong. Rational, de-
liberate, conscious belief does not, then, in general at any rate,
determine what is going to happen to society; social man is not,
as he has been defined for so many centuries, a primarily
"rational animal." When the reformers tell us that society can be
improved by education, by increasing men's knowledge, by
projecting the correct program and then taking action to realize that
program, they are wrong because men in society do not act that
way. Their actions, their socially decisive actions, spring not from
logical but from non-logical roots.
This is not a question about which "one opinion is as good as
another." Pareto presents evidence, a mass of evidence, drawn not
from one nation and one time, but from many nations and classes
and cultures and times. If he is wrong, he can be proved wrong
only by evidence equally cogent.
But, assuming that non-logical conduct is, on the whole, pre-
dominant in those actions that affect the course of history, we may
legitimately wonder why this has not been widely recognized.
Pareto readily grants that "if non-logical actions are really as
* I assume it to be obvious-since Pareto died in 1923-that most of the
examples I cite are my own and not Pareto's. I follow here the same practice
as throughout this book: I am trying to concretize the exposition of Machiavellian
principles by new, independent, and often contemporary illustrations.
ARETO: THESOCIALACTION 18I
important as our induction so far would lead us to suppose, it
would be trange indeed that the many men of talent who have
applied themselves to the study of human societies should not
have not. ed them in any way." (252.) The fact is that many
writers or society, and many plain men and politicians as well
or even b tter, have observed the importance of non-logical con-
duct. Nev rtheless, they have almost never been willing to gen-
eralize the legitimate inference from their observations. Something
seems to lock them from accepting the conclusions of their own_
inquiries.
Pareto thinks that this is partly accounted for by the fact that
few writes on society are content to describe and correlate facts,
but are a ways going on to tell what ought to be, and how to
reform so iety. He remarks of Aristotle, who recognized but re-
fused to e consistent in recognizing, the importance of non-
logical co duct: "Had Aristotle held to the course he in part so
admirabl followed, we would have had a scientific sociology in
his early c ay. Why did he not do so? There may have been many
reasons; ut chief among them, probably, was that eagerness for
premature practical applications which is ever obstructing the
progress of science, along with a mania for preaching to people
as to what they ought to do-an exceedingly bootless occupation
-instead of finding out what they actually do:' (277.) A desire
to reform society seems to call for logical action-the deliberate
adoption of suitable means to bring about the reforms. Therefore,
those who wish above all for reform are likely in the end to
minimize the influence of non-logical action.
An eves greater obstacle to understanding derives from the
fact that fre have a powerful non-logical impulse to make our
own and other human actions seem logical. We are unable to
accept no -logical actions for what they are, so we conjure up a
rational explanation for them. A taboo arises in some obscure way
-against, killing or incest, let us say. Later theorists give it a
pseudo-logical explanation by saying that a god commanded and
men accepted the command, whereas in reality the taboo long
preceded any belief in a god. Still later, rationalist theorists decide
that the taboo was derived from the "natural principle" that men
wish to live co-operatively in society, or from an awareness of the
"scientific truth" (which they somehow discover) that incest is
biologically unsound. In fact, of course, no one dreamed of such
principles or truths when the taboos arose, not to mention the
fact that the pretended principles and truths are usually as absurd
as the taboos themselves. Many Jews, following the lead given by
the medieval rationalist, Maimonides, explain that the Hebraic
taboo against eating pork was really the means used in the days
of the Old Testament to guard the people against the lack of re-
frigeration for keeping pig-meat; with which explanation, which
has not the remotest basis in historical evidence, the taboo becomes
respectably logical.
Or (30617.) the principles of non-logical conduct are dismissed
as unimportant, mere prejudices or absurdities or exceptions, or
tricks used by chiefs or priests to deceive and rule their groups.
Or various kinds of metaphysical and religious beings are in-
vented, from whose nature and decrees the principles of non-
logical conduct logically follow. Zeus or Poseidon or Morality or
Truth or Progress or Natural Law demands that this or that be
done, which was being done, from non-logical causes, long before
Zeus or Progress was thought of. Or myths are taken as allegories
or disguised historical facts, and are thus only picturesque versions
of the logical.
This tendency, however, to logicalize the non-logical leads us
to Pareto's more general analysis of "residues" and "derivations."
2. Residues and Derivations
WORDS ARE PERHAPS the most distinctive trait of human

beings. If man is only in small degree a rational animal, he is
pre-emineitly a verbal animal. Words, spoken or written, are
associated with most of his activities, and in particular with those
activities that are of social and political significance. After finish-
ing his di cussion of non-logical conduct in general, Pareto re-
stricts himself to those non-logical actions which include or are
associated 'with words. Everyone will recognize that nearly all of
non-verba conduct, such as is found in animals or in the purely
instinctive behavior of human beings, is also non-logical. The
peculiar a d deceptive problems arise in connection with conduct
which is erbal but at the same time non-logical.
Pareto xamines a vast number of examples of this sort of
conduct, t ken from many times and cultures. From this exami-
nation, P eto concludes that two quite different phases may be
discovere . There is, he says, a fairly small number of relatively
constant ctors (or "nuclei") which change little or not at all
from age o age or from culture to culture. These constant factors
he calls "r sidues." Along with these there are other factors which
are variable, change rapidly, and are different from age to age
and natio to nation. These variable factors he calls "deriva-
tions."
Let us llustrate the distinction by examples. Pareto records a
long list f non-logical practices in many tribes, groups, and na-
* Pareto s metimes uses the term "derivative" for the action as a whole. A
derivative, t erefore, is made up of the constant factor (residue or residues)
plus the va iable factors (derivations).
183
tions which have as their ostensible purpose the control of weather
conditions. Sometimes the practice is to sacrifice a bull or a cock
or a goat; sometimes to manipulate certain material objects; some-
times to repeat certain formulas. The most extreme concrete dif-
ferences are observable. Often, along with the practice, there is
a theory which supposedly explains why the practice is able to
affect the weather-because a god is thereby propitiated, or some-
thing of the sort. These varying concrete practices together with
the explanatory theories are all "derivations."
However, among all the variables, there is a common nucleus,
the feeling that by means of some manipulation or another it is
possible to control the weather. Once this common nucleus is
understood, it is seen to be the same that is manifested in many
other types of activities besides those related to weather-control:
activities through which men bring together into a "combination"
two or more elements of whatever kind, and for whatever sup-
posed purpose or with no purpose at all. This nucleus, common
to all this great area of actions, is the "residue," in this case what
Pareto calls the Residue of Combinations.
Again: we find in all ages a great variety of verbalized activities
connected with the sex impulse. Sometimes these take the form
of pornographic literature and stories; sometimes of denunciations
of sexual license, of asceticism or pruriency; sometimes of strict
or licentious theories about proper sexual relations; sometimes of
ideas about censorship; sometimes of religious or moral allegories.
Throughout all these manifold derivations, nevertheless, runs the
common sex nucleus, remarkably stable at all periods, changing
style and mode, but always cropping up in some new expression
when an old disappears or is suppressed. This common sex
nucleus is therefore also a residue.
Or again: we find that everywhere and at all times men believe
in the objective reality and persistence of entities like gods or
spirits or "the state" or "progress" or "justice" or "freedom" or
P RETO: THESOCIALACTION 185
u " » "
humanity " or the proletariat or the law."' The names and
special per, onalities of the entities change, sometimes rather
quickly. So also do the theories that explain the entities-religions
and philoso hies and moralities. The names and special features
and the theories are derivations. But always we find, however ex-
pressed, thi common belief in the reality of such entities, so that
here too have a residue, the residue of "the persistence of
abstraction
The tern, "residue," then, means simply the stable, common
element wl ich we may discover in social actions, the nucleus
which is "1 ft over" (hence, perhaps, Pareto's choice of the word
"residue") then the variable elements are stripped away. It must
be stressed that for Pareto "residue" is a sociological, not a psy-
chological
Ir biological term. Residues are discovered not by psy-
chological c�r biological research, but by comparing and analyzing
huge num ers of social actions. Presumably a residue corresponds
to some fai ly permanent human impulse or instinct or, as Pareto
more often ,calls it, "sentiment However, Pareto is not primarily
interested i where residues come from, but in the fact: that social
actions ma be analyzed in terms of them, whatever their origin.
"Our detai ed examination of one theory or another has in any
case led to our perceiving that theories in the concrete may be
divided into at least two elements, one of which is much more
stable than Ik the other. We say, accordingly, that in concrete the-
ories, whic we shall designate as c [derivatives], there are, be-
sides factu 1 data, two principal elements (or parts); a substantial
element ( ,art), which we shall designate as a (residue), and a
contingentelement (part), on the whole fairly variable, which we
shall designate as b (derivation)." (798.) "The element a [residue]
corresponds, we may guess, to certain instincts of man, or more
exactly, men, because a has no objective existence and differs in
different i dividuals; and it is probably because of its correspond-
ence to instincts that it is virtually constant in social phenomena.
186 THEMACH.IAVELLIANS
The element b [derivations] represents the work of the mind in
accounting for a. That is why b is much more variable, as reflect-
ing the play of the imagination." (85o.) "The residues a must
not be confused with the sentiments or instincts to which they
correspond. The residues are manifestations of sentiments and
instincts ..." (875.)
Pareto is not always strict about these distinctions, and some-
times uses terms like "sentiment" or "instinct" where he should
say ",residue." No great harm need result, since from a rough
common-sense point of view they are interchangeable. However,
it is important to keep them theoretically distinct and to insist
that a "residue" is a social and not a psychological term, in order
to guard against the supposition that Pareto's social theories could
be disproved by a psychological argument, by for example show-
ing, if it could be shown, that an "instinct" theory of psychology
is false. Pareto's theories, properly understood, do not depend
upon any special psychological doctrine. Even if psychology says
that men do not have any permanent instincts, it may still be true
that there are certain permanent, or at least relatively constant,
types of social activity.
Analysis can, Pareto believes, show that there are a good many
residues operative in social action. For convenience, he divides
them into six main classes, though other divisions might be sub-
stituted without altering the main theory. This list, with a brief
explanation of each class, is as follows (888 and fi.) :
Class I: Instinct for Combinations. This is the tendency
which
leads human beings to combine or manipulate various elements
taken arbitrarily from experience. Many magical practices are a
result of its operation: the manipulations to control weather or
disease, to bring good luck, the supposed efficacy assigned to cer-
tain numbers (3 or 7 or 13, for example) suitably employed,
totems, and so on. Supposed connections are established between
I ARETO: THESOCIALACTION 187
certain eve ts, formulas, prayers, or words, and good or bad luck,
happiness or terror or sorrow. At a complex level it is this residue
that leads restless individuals to large-scale financial
manipula tions, merging and combining and re-combining of
various eco nomic ent rprises, efforts to entangle and disentangle
political units, to rr. ake and remake empires.
It is resi ues of Class I, also, that impel men to "system-making"
-that is, t elaborate logical or rather pseudo-logical combinations of
ideas a d mental elements in general, to theologies and metaphysics
an ideologies of all sorts. Thus it is this class of residue that
chie$y� accounts for "derivations," expressing man's need to make
his wn behavior seem rational.
Class II: Group-Persistences. When once any combination has
been formed, forces come into play to keep that combination sus-
tained an persisting. These are, one might say, "conservative"
forces, present among animals as well as human beings, and
sometimes referred to as "social inertia." They express themselves,
for instan , in the powerful feeling that the family or the tribe
or the city or the nation is a permanent and objective entity. So
strong are they that the dead and the not-yet-living are included
in the supposedly persisting unit, and we thus have all the many
forms of a cestor-worship, belief in immortality, and social provi-
sions mad1 for a posterity that will not exist until all living persons
are long dyad. "Family pride," "class solidarity," patriotism, reli-
gious zeal are all quite direct modes of these residues.
They a ount also for the feeling that "property" becomes a
permanent part of a man's being, so much so that certain objects
are even p aced with the dead body in the grave, or for the "love
of the nat ve soil." In another direction, they give persisting life
to abstract ons and personifications. Gods and heroes and Platonic
Forms an "natural law" and "progress" and "the state" and "the
moral wil " and many other creatures of the dynamic human
imaginati n are endowed with substance and enduring reality.
These Class II residues, as Pareto describes them, are usually
accompanied by a willingness to use force in order to maintain
the solidity and persistence of the entities in question-to "save the
nation," or the "true faith," for example.
We shall later see that Pareto considers the Class I and Class II
residues to be the most important in influencing changes in
political and social structure.
Class III: Need of Expressing Sentiments by External
Acts-
Residues of Self-Expression and Activity. Most human
beings
constantly feel the need to "do something," whether or not the
something done can accomplish any desired purpose. Ignorance
of medical science in no way stops the family from bustling about
when someone is ill. Most persons always feel that something
must be done to improve political and economic conditions, even
though they have not the slightest idea whether what they do--
making speeches or campaigning for votes or advocating this or
that reform-will in fact affect conditions favorably; and most
people are very impatient with anyone who remains passive
"while civilization is being destroyed." This class of residues is
plainly connected with Class I-making "combinations" is one of
the chief forms of activity.
Class IV: Residues Connected with Sociality. This class,
and
also Class V, as Pareto treats them, are related to residues of
Class II, and it is somewhat arbitrary to separate them in theory.
Indeed, with the exception of Class VI (sex residues), all residues
tend to fall into two main classes-(i) "combinations," the tend-
encies to change, newness, manipulations, speculations, upsets,
progress; and (2) "group-persistences," the tendencies to inertia,
resistance to change, social solidarity, conservation, conformity.
However, under Class IV Pareto groups such factors as the
need felt by the individual for conformity with the group, and
his effort to force conformity on others; the distrust or hatred
of innovation; the opposite but related social sentiments of pity
P'ARETO: THESOCIALACTION 189
and cruelt ; the willingness to sacrifice life or comfort or property
for the su y osed good of others; the sentiments of social ranking
and hierar by present in most pe rsons-feelings, that is, that some
individual are superior, some inferior in the social scale; and the
almost universal need for group approval.
Most of these feelings, and the significant part they play in
providing L foundation for social life, have been noted by writers
on society1from the time of the Greek philosophers. We should
keep in m
ind that what is distinctive in Pareto's analysis of them
is his general contention that they are all non-logical in origin.
They may yield good or bad results-that will. depend upon the
circumstances-but they continue to function in any case, not
from deliberate intention but independent of all processes of ra-
tional tho ght. We do not conform with the group and its cus-
toms beca use we have a theory that thereby our own life becomes
more satisfactory; we begin with a tendency to conform, and only
later do �Jl7_e invent or adopt a theory that this is "the best way
of life." We do not,sacrifice our life for our country because we
believe in some complex philosophical theory, of which many are
availableabout the nature of social life and the state; a tendency
to self-sa rifice is prior to the theories, and they are only an at-
tempt, u der the pressure of Class I Residues, to give the tendency a
pleasing logical form.
Class Integrity of the Individual and His Appurtenances.
In
general, according to Pareto's account, these are the feelings that
lead men! to guard their personal integrity, to maintain themselves
and the conditions of their existence, together with whatever they
happen tb identify with themselves and those conditions of exist-
ence. For example, there is the usual strong feeling against any
serious a teration in the social structure. In a. slave society, most
people a e indignant at a proposal for doing away with slaves; in
a capital st society, at attacks on "the rights of property"; and the
indignation, which would seem natural enough in the case of,,
slave-holders or capitalists, extends to the other members of the
social group who do not have slaves or capital wealth. Many of
those who fought most bravely on the Southern side during the
Civil War never owned or could hope to own slaves; many of
those fighting today in the United States Army, in order, so some
of their leaders tell them, "to defend free enterprise," have never
owned and will never own any share of that enterprise. Never-
theless, they identify the preservation of their own integrity with
the preservation of the general social structure.
When something has gone wrong, has violated the integrity
of the individual, he seeks to restore his integrity. A taboo has
been broken, so a purification ceremony is performed (as in the
case of baptism, the purification may be required because of the
impiety of a very distant or even mythical ancestor). The indi-
vidual must "re-assert" himself after a slip. A Purgatory must
restore'a balance that has been upset during real life. Or the in-
tegrity is restored by actions directed against the real or supposed
violator-that is, vengeance must be carried out, the criminal pun-
ished, the heretic burned.
Pareto also holds this Class of Residues responsible for many
of the feelings of social equality. Such feelings, he shows, are
never what they seem to be, but are always in fact a drive
toward
extra privileges for the group that adheres to the doctrine of
equality that may be in question. The post-Renaissance bour-
geoisie, calling for "equality," wanted in fact the transfer of the
major social privileges from the feudal aristocrats to themselves;
analogously today in the case of the working class demands for
equality. From the point of view of this analysis, there is no con-
tradiction in the evident fact that a nation fighting sincerely for
equality can at the same time accept internal practices of racial
and religious discrimination. The contradiction exists only in the
words used, which are of slight influence, and not in the feeling
which the words in their own curious way express.
ARETO: THESOCIALACTION 191
Class V The Sex Residue, The merely biological sex urge is
not, properly speaking, a residue. The sex residue functions only
where it r ceives an expression that is at least partly verbal, where
theories a 'd literature and moral rules and religious doctrines are
used as t e ever-varying but always present disguises and dis-
tortions o the sex impulse. In his treatment of the sex residue
and its "s?blimations," Pareto is not unlike Freud, though he was
apparentl not directly acquainted with Freud's writings.
These 4x, then, or others of the same sort, are the major and
relatively nchanging nuclei of non-logical conduct, the conduct
that mak s up the greater proportion of human action and in
particular of those actions that affect the course of government
and histofy.
Along with the more or less constant residues, which operate

at all tim s and in all cultures, are found the shifting, variable ele-
ments, t e manifestations of the rest ° the outward forms,
what Par�to calls the derivations. Of special pecial interest to Pareto are
the verb l explanations, dogmas, doctrines, theories with which
man, wi h that passionate pretense of his that he, is rational,
clothes t e non-logical bones of the residues. These verbal deriva-
tions * a e themselves specifically evoked by the operation of one
of the C mbination Residues, as I have already remarked.
"Conc ete theories in social connections are made up of residues
and derivations. The residues are manifestations of sentiments.;
The der' ations comprise logical reasonings, unsound reasonings,
and manifestations of sentiments used for purposes of derivation:
they are fnanifestations of the human being's hunger for thinking.
If that 'anger were satisfied by loco-experimental [i.e., empiri-
* "Der tion," in this narrower verbal sense, is a generalized term which,
includes a• number of ideas which we have previously discussed; "political
for-
mula" (osca), "myth" (Sorel), "ideology" (Michels); and, for that matter,
Freud's ationalization."
-7 F
cal-scientific] reasonings only, there would be no derivations;
instead of them we should get logico-experimental [scientific]
theories. But the human hunger for thinking is satisfied in any
number of ways; by pseudo-experimental reasonings, by words
that stir the sentiments, by fatuous, inconclusive `talk: So
derivations come into being." (1401.)
Derivations-which include all or nearly all doctrines and be-
liefs and theories that figure in social struggles, principles of
democracy and law and authority, moral and theological systems,
justifications of this or that form of society, bills of rights and
programs and charters-are divided by Pareto (1419) into four
main classes:
Class I: Assertion. These, the simplest and most direct and often
the most effective of derivations, are mere dogmatic assertions.
They frequently take the form of maxims and aphorisms-
"Honesty is the best policy," "Expect from another what you have
done to another," "It is better to receive a wrong than to inflict
one," the Golden Rule, and so on. The tone and feeling with
which these simple assertions are made and accepted,
especially if
they are constantly repeated, may give them great persuasive value.
This point is stressed in Hitler's discussions of propaganda in
Mein Kam p f : "Any effective propaganda must be confined to a
very few points, and must use these as slogans until the very last
man cannot help knowing what is meant... . Propaganda must
limit itself to saying very little, and this little it must keep forever
repeating... ."
Class II: Authority. This large variety of derivations argues by
making an appeal to some authority: an individual or group of
individuals; divine beings or personifications; or the authority of
tradition and custom. There is seldom the slightest scientific justi-
f i cation for accepting the relevance of the authority's opinion-
which besides is not seldom wholly unreal-but this does not
weaken the effectiveness of the derivation. God's Will, the
Bible,
what ou forefathers did, Marx's "real meaning," a Farewell
Address or a Testament to Posterity, remain cogent arguments
from a n )n-logical standpoint.
With the help
Class II: Accords with Sentiment or Principles.
of Class I Residues, men convert sentiments into abstractions,
persistent realities and everlasting principles. The power of these
entities i1 derived from the feelings they express, not from their
suppose logical or scientific rigor. Because of their power they
too can rve as premises in the pseudo-logic of derivations. The,
theorist an appeal to "universal judgment" or "the collective
mind" o "the will of the people" or "the opinion of all the best,
minds," nd be persuasive without any need to take the trouble„ to
gathe the actual facts about what actual people think. A politi cal
prog(am which serves the "best, interests of humanity" or
embodies the "principles of natural law" or respects the "eternal,,
rights o individuals" is made acceptable without a tedious scien-, tific
asse sment of just what its effects upon real society and real men wo
ild probably be.
IV :
C la s s Verbal Proofs. These are the familiar derivations that,
depend upon verbal confusions and fallacies, ambiguous terms,
the intrusion of emotive expressions in the place of statements of,
fact, me aphors and allegories taken for proofs, all of which have
been re ently so much discussed by the many writers on
"se manticsi"
It wil be evident from the examples and analysis given in this

and the preceding section that Pareto believes derivations to have
little effliect in determining important, social changes. Residues are
the abiding, the significant and influential factor. When the com-
plex of residues is given and while it remains, the general course
of conduct is decided; the derivations can come and go, change
and be changed, but nothing much is altered. The derivations
cannot, it is true, be disregarded; but their importance is prima rily
as expressions of residues, not in themselves.
"Theologians, metaphysicists, philosophers, theorists of politics,
law, and ethics, do not ordinarily accept the order indicated. They
are inclined to assign first place to derivations. What we call resi-
dues are in their eyes axioms or dogmas, and the purpose [that
is, the supposed goal of conduct which is in fact non-logical] is
just the conclusion of a logical reasoning. But since they are not
as a rule in any agreement on the derivation, they argue about it
till they are blue in the face and think that they can change social
conditions by proving a derivation fallacious. That is all an illu-
sion on their part. They fail to realize that their hagglings never
reach the majority of men, who could not make head or tail to
them anyhow, and who in fact disregard them save as articles of
faith to which they assent in deference to certain residues." (145.)
"A politician is inspired to champion the theory of `solidarity'
by an ambition to obtain money, power, distinctions. Analysis of
that theory would reveal but scant trace of his motives, which are,
after all, the motives of virtually all politicians, whether they
preach white or black. First prominence would be held by princi-
ples a that are effective in influencing others. If the politician were
to say, `Believe in "solidarity" because if you do it means money
,for me,' he would get many laughs and few votes... ." (854.)
The influence on people's actions and on the course of events
that derivations-theories, doctrines, reasoning-seem at times to
have is always deceiving the surface observer. At most the deri-
vations strengthen already existing residues-a truth well real-
ized by skilled propagandists; for the rest, they operate only
indirectly. The seeming influence of the derivation is in reality
the influence of the residue which it expresses. It is for this reason
that the "logical" refutation of theories used in politics never
accomplishes anything so long as the residues remain intact. Scien-
tists can prove with the greatest ease that the Nazi racial theories
are altogether false, but that has no effect at all in getting Nazis
to abandon those theories; and even if they should abandon them,
they woul merely substitute some new derivation to express the
same resi ues.
Pareto, as well as the other Machiavellians, is often charged by
sentiment lists with "neglecting human ideals" and "disregard-
ing men's goals." No charge could be more inappropriate. It is
the Machi vellians, perhaps more than any other school, who have
paid closet attention to ideals. However, as I have already more
than one stated, they do not take ideals and the theories ac-
companying them at face value. They insist on. relating the ideals
and theories to the whole complex of human behavior, and inter-
preting what men do, not merely by their words, but by their
words related to the rest of their actions. Recognizing that
moral,
,social, an political doctrines have little or no genuinely scientific
content, they do not try to evaluate them through a superficial
examinat n of the words that appear in them, nor do they expect
to understand and predict the course of social events by accepting
the verb nonsense that a Constitution or Platform or political
speech may contain. Often they discover that the actual effects of
a doctrine e are completely at variance with the results that it claims
to be able to accomplish-a discovery not without its practical
importance, if we are interested in the welfare of society. Let us
take as a other example of their method a brief analysis by Pareto
of the despread modern derivation, "humanitarianism":
"The eakness of the humanitarian. religion does not lie in the.
logico-e erimental deficiencies of its derivations. From that,
standpoi it they are no better and no worse than the derivations of
other religions. But some of these contain residues beneficial. to in-
dividual and society, whereas the humanitarian religion is sadly
lacking n such residues. But how can a religion that has the good
of huma�ity solely at heart, and which 'humanitarian' for,,
that ver reason, be so destitute in residues w t so- ih
71
ciety's welfare? . The principles from which the humani-
tarian doctrine is logically derived in no way correspond with the
facts. They merely express in objective form a subjective sentiment
of asceticism. The intent of sincere humanitarians is to do good to
society, just as the intent of the child who kills a bird by too much
fondling is to do good to the bird. We are not, for that matter,
forgetting that humanitarianism has had some socially desirable
effects. For ode thing, it has contributed to the mitigation of crim-
inal penalties; and if among these some were beneficial, so that
society has suffered from their mitigation, there were others that
were useless, so that by their mitigation society has gained.
And so for the democratic religion in general. The many varieties
of Socialism, Syndicalism, Radicalism, Tolstoyism, pacifism, hu-
manitarianism, Solidarism, and so on, form a sum that may be
said to belong to the democratic religion, much as there was a
sum of numberless sects in the early days of the Christian religion.
We are now witnessing the rise and dominance of the democratic
religion, just as the men of the first centuries of our era witnessed
the rise of the Christian religion and the beginnings of its do-
minion. The two phenomena present many profoundly significant
analogies. To get at their substance we have to brush derivations
aside and reach down to residues. The social value of both those
two religions lies not in the least in their respective theologies, but
in the sentiments that they express. As regards determining the
social value of Marxism, to know whether Marx's theory of `sur-
plus value' is false or true is about as important as knowing
whether and how baptism eradicates sin in trying to determine
the social value of Christianity-and that is of no importance at
all. (1859•)
3. Social Utility
SINCE HE BEGINNING of systematic thought-that is, for
about 25 0 years in western culture-there has been constant dis
cussion 4 f the problem of "the good community," "the ideal so-
ciety", " e best form of government:' Tens of thousands of per-
sons ha e given time and intelligence to arguments over these
question t, and have devised nearly as many answers. After all this
while, en have not reached any generally accepted conclusions,
and the is no indication that we have advanced in these matters
a singlet step beyond the reasonings of the ancient Greeks and.
Romans This fact, and the contrast it presents to the advances
made i ° solving the problems of the physical sciences, are enough
to shoe that the attempted answers to these questions are not
scientifi ally credible theories, but non-logical expressions, that is
to say, derivations. Derivations, not being subject to the controls
of logic clarity and evidence, never reach any objective stability,
but co tie and go with every shift of sentiment and cultural
fashion
Disputes over the best form of society and government can be
interpr ted in terms of the notion of "social utility." When we are
asking hether some law or economic measure or belief or way or
revolution will be best for society, we are wondering if it
contrib to to the community's welfare or utility. In connection
with t e idea of "social utility," Pareto makes certain distinctions
which help to clarify what is meant by this whole type of problem.
To gin with, it may readily be observed that a community (a
nation for example) is heterogeneous. It is not composed of
identic 1 elements, but sub-divided into various groups and
classes:
197
rulers and ruled in one rough way, but with many more intricate
and elaborate divisions-economic classes, religious sects, and so
on. Ordinarily, the philosophers, reformers, and social writers
speak of "the community" or "the society"; but these are vague
and distant abstractions. It is to be expected, and it is ordinarily
the case, that any given proposal should be useful to some sub-
groups of the community, and detrimental to others: a benefit to
the rulers, a detriment to the ruled; good for the workers, but
hurtful to employers... . The spokesmen for the various groups
never, of course, put things in this distinct way. They make use of
derivations, and always put a program, the consequences of
which would be favorable to their own group, forward in the
name of the community as a whole. From this habit not a little
confusion results.
A war wherein defeat would result in death or enslavement for
the whole population is directly related to the welfare of the en-
tire community; but in modern times this is not usually what
happens as a result of defeat in war. At least some sections of the
defeated communities prosper even in and through the defeat.
More plainly, in the case of such measures as tariffs and
subsidies,
is it pointless to speak of the community as a whole. There are
benefits for some sections; hurts for others. It is by no means
true, to take a prominent current example, that inflation harms
everyone. A certain amount of inflation, under certain circum-
stances, can, by stimulating the economy, help nearly everyone.
More usually, inflations harm some groups-those living on rel-
atively fixed incomes; and aid others-those whose incomes vary
easily, or who are expert speculators and manipulators. Does force
contribute to social utility? The general question is meaningless.
We must first determine what force is under discussion, to be
used by whom and against whom and for what purposes. Force
used against the state and the ruling class, for instance, is very
ARETO: THESOCIALACTION 199
different i� its effects from force used by the state and the ruling
class.
But eve a proper analysis in terms of sub-groups and classes,
will not s fficiently clarify the meaning of utility (welfare, happi-
ness). Wermust, in Pareto's language, distinguish further between
"for a community! t
the utility "o f a community" and the utility
By the ftilitY of a community Pareto refers to what might be called the
community's survival value, its strength and power of
resistance as against
for a com
other communities. By the utility munity P reto means its
internal welfare, the happiness and satis factions o its members.
st
The fir of these may be objectively studied. We can observe
whether he community endures in its struggles with external
rivals, or js overthrown, and disappears as a separate community.
The second utility, however, is purely subjective or relative, since
what is iiternally useful for the community will depend upon
what the members of the community want, what they regard as
constitutig happiness and satisfaction.
Grante that we accept some particular conception of internal
utility (material prosperity would be suitable in the case of most
modern nations), we must note that these two utilities, the inter-
nal and t e external utility, seldom coincide. Those factors which
give a e mmunity survival value, strength and endurance as
against other communities, are usually not the factors that can,,
contribute most to the happiness of its members.
There t are many fairly obvious examples of this divergence.
Lengthy 'and adequate war preparations absorb time, require a
discipline most men find unpleasant, and reduce the volume of„
material goods available for current satisfactions. Nevertheless,
they gretly increase the utility of the community. Again, large
numbers of children usually increase the utility of the community,
its survival value against other communities, at least up to the
limit of the physical means for subsistence. However, in many
200 THE MACH fAVFLLIANS
cases, they decrease the pleasures and satisfactions of the constit-
uent members of the community. In general, measures which
provide more adequately for the strength of the community in
the
future, especially in a future some years or generations distant,
diminish the satisfactions of the existing generation.
Which, then, is better: a shorter historical life for the com-
munity, to end in its destruction, with more internal satisfactions
as it goes along, or a longer life with fewer satisfactions? This
seems to be frequently, perhaps always, the choice. The answer,
needless to say, is never given by deliberate, logical decision. And
it may be that there is no way in which this question could be
objectively answered.
Let us turn to another fundamental question raised by the
problem of social utility. There are, in every community, prevail-
ing norms or standards of conduct, embodied in customs, codes,
laws, moral philosophies, and religions. By various devices, rang-
ing from the automatic pressure of social approval and disapproval
through education to physical force, each individual member of
the community is called upon to observe these standards. As usual,
men are not content merely to try to bring about conformity.
There must be a theory to explain why the individual "ought" to
conform-that is, there must be a derivation. This type of der-
ivation is the substance of most systems of ethics or moral phi-
losophy.
The question suggested by the facts is: Does an individual in
truth realize a maximum happiness for himself by conforming to
the prevailing standards of his community? If the community
norm says to be honest, patriotic, faithful in marriage, is it true
that an individual member of the community will be happier by
not stealing, by sacrificing his life in war, by foregoing adultery?
The overwhelming majority of moral philosophies unite in hold-
ing that these things indeed are true, that the individual best se-
cures his own private happiness by conforming to his
community's
PARETO: THE SOCIAL ACTION 201
standard By a careful analysis (1897 f`.), Pa:reto shows that the
reasonings of the moral philosophies are almost without exception
derivations, depending upon those non-scientific devices briefly
outlined the preceding section. There is never, or almost never,
an object ve examination of the facts themselves, but a reliance
upon va eness, ambiguity, empty abstraction, and sentiment.
And if it: should nevertheless appear that some miscreant seems
happy th ugh he lives a life of wickedness, self-indulgence, and
disregard? for duty, then the philosophers tell us that this is only
appearance and that he is not "really happy."
There are a few philosophies, in contrast, that take a pessimistic
view. Th(y deny that the individual secures his own happiness by
following the standards of the group. These philosophies, too, are
derivatio s. "Such [pessimistic] solutions count for little in the
social eq ilibrium. They are never popular. They have vogue
primarily mong men of letters and philosophers, and are valuable
only as manifestations of the psychic state of this or that indi-
vidual. In moments of discouragement many people repeat, as we
saw, with Brutus, `Virtue, thou art but a name.' Oftentimes pessi-
mism ac as a spur to material enjoyments, and many people of
literary inclinations will repeat the maxim: `Let us eat, drink, and
be merry, for tomorrow we die.' In Russia, after the war with Ja-
pan, there was a movement for revolution, with eager hopes of an
exciting future. The revolution was put down, the hopes were
dispelled. period of discouragement followed, with a marked
impulse tciwards purely physical enjoyments." (iggy, 2000.)
What is the truth about this problem, apart from derivations?
The truthp seems to be that no general conclusion can be drawn.
Sometime: the individual best secures his own happiness by
con forming ti the group standards; sometimes by disregarding or
violating i he standards. It all depends upon the individual in
question, nd upon the circumstances.
Neverth less, though this is the truth, it would, generally speak-
ing, be disadvantageous to society for this truth to be known. Al-
most always it is socially useful, it contributes to social welfare, to
have people believe that their own individual happiness is bound
up with acceptance of the community standards: or, as moral
philosophers put it, that there is a direct correspondence between
the welfare of the individual and the welfare of society.
Here, however, we have reached a principle with much wider
application than to this particular problem. Is the truth, or rather
a knowledge of the truth, always advantageous to society? is false-
hood, or nonsense, always harmful? To both of these questions,
the facts compel us to answer, No. The great rationalistic dream
of modern times, believing that social actions are or can be prima-
rily logical, has taught the illusion that the True and the Good
are identical, that if men knew the truth about themselves and
their social and political life, then society would become ever
better; and that falsehood and absurdity always hurt social wel-
fare. But things do not stand in that simple way. Sometimes the
truth aids society. But often a widespread knowledge of the truth
may weaken or destroy sentiments, habits, attitudes upon which
the integrity of social life, above all in times of crisis, may depend.
False beliefs do sometimes produce evil social results; but they
often, also, benefit the community. Again no general conclusion
is possible. We must examine each concrete case, each specific
truth and falsehood in its specific circumstances.
We are not, therefore, entitled to judge that it is invariably a
"bad thing" that men believe derivations, ideologies, myths,
formulas, these verbal constructions which from a scientific stand-
point always contain a large measure of the false and the absurd.
The myths are, in the first place, a necessary ingredient of social
life. A society in which they would be eliminated in favor of
exclusively scientific beliefs would have nothing in common with
the human societies that have existed and do exist in the real
world, and is a merely imaginary fantasy. Here once more our
investig tion must be concrete. Certain derivations or myths under
certain circumstances are socially useful, others detrimental; when
the circumstances change, so may the effects of the myths. The
doctrine of the divine right of kings is scientifically ridiculous.
From this it does not follow that it would always be better if
men un(lerstood that it was ridiculous, nor that a belief in it
always hurts society. The democratic ideology is equally ridicu
lous from m the point of view of scientific truth. Belief in it may,
neverthet ess, in one historical context greatly aid, in another
gravely Injure, the welfare of society. Society is not so simple as
a proble in mathematics, which is fully solved once ignorance
is overc me. Not only is it impossible that all men should know
the scie tific truth about society and act in accordance with this
knowledge; it is far from clear that this would improve society
even if it were possible.
Those who believe that all social difficulties could be overcome
if the truth about society were known "recognize only one tie
[obstacl ]-ignorance. Ignorance being eliminated, they have no
doubt at society will follow the course they think is the best.
The tie f ignorance may legitimately be said to have been sup-
pressed, at least in great part; for it is certain that there are edu-
cated peple in our time just as there have been educated people
in the past; and in society as a whole knowledge has increased in
the course of the ages. So far, therefore, no obstacle blocks our
path; b ut one rises insuperable in that part of the argument which
holds that the tie of ignorance is the only tie that has to be re-
moved before the conclusion is possible. If the most intelligent
people we know-the `best-educated,' to use a current term-were
also the people who make most extensive use of logico-experi-
mental scientific] principles in social matters to the exclusion of
all othe principles, it would be legitimate to conclude that, in
course time, such people would reject everything of a non
experimental character; and that other people, more or less their
4
equals in knowledge, would also be more or less like them in their
exclusive acceptance of logico-experimental principles. But the
facts do not stand that way. If theologians have diminished in
number among our educated people and lost much of their power,
metaphysicists, properly so called, are still prospering and enjoy-
ing fame and influence, to say nothing of those metaphysicists
who call themselves `positivists' or under some other name are
merrily overstepping the boundaries of the logico-experimental.
Many scientistsw �o are supremely great in the natural sciences,
where they use logico-experimental principles exclusively or al-
most so, forget them entirely when they venture into the social
sciences.* As regards the masses in the large, what one observes
is an unending alternation of theologies and systems of meta-
physics rather than any reduction in the total number of them."
(1881.)
* How easily we observe this in the United States, with the examples before
us of great natural scientists like Millikan and Conant and Boas and Urey and
Compton, whose not infrequent remarks on social affairs are, scientifically, much
below the level reached by the average factory worker.
BY "SO IAL EQUILIBRIUM," Pareto means the general state
and structure of society, considered' dynamically, at any given
moment. T at is, the term refers to the state of society insofar as it
involves the interplay of those forces that both determine what it is
at an given moment, and at the same time, through their
operatio work to change its state and structure. What are these
forces th t determine the social equilibrium, that make society
what it i and bring about changes in society? Pareto believes the
chief of diem to be the following:
i. The physical environment-climate, geographical factors,
and the ike-is plainly of great importance, but, since it alters
very slowly during historic periods, may be treated as a constant
and disregarded when trying to discover the laws of social change
and deve pment.
2. Resi , ues are very influential. Residues, Pareto finds, change
slowly, r maining surprisingly stable especially within each or-
ganized s vial group. In the end, however, these slow changes
alter the dvhole fabric of social life. Quicker and more obvious in
their effe are changes not so much in the residues that are pres-
ent as in the distribution of residues in the various strata of so-
ciety. The study of these changes in the distribution of residues
can be in orporated in the discussion of (5) below.
3. Econ mic factors-what Pareto calls "interests"-have also a
major r le, as is recognized by almost all modern historians and
sociologist. In Mind and Society, however, Pareto does not treat
the economic factors at great length.
4. Deri ations, too, have a certain influence on the social equi-
librium, though Pareto, as we have seen, believes this to be minor
and for the most part indirect compared to the other major fac-
tors. These non-logical beliefs, myths, formulas, are chiefly not-
able as expressions of residues or interests, and for their indirect
ability to reinforce residues or to alter the pattern of the circula-
tion of the elites.
5. Finally, there functions what Pareto calls "the circulation of the
elites." The analysis of this conception will occupy the greater part of
this section.
Pareto, like all Machiavellians, has thus a pluralistic theory of
history. Changes in society do not result from the exclusive im pact
of any single cause, but rather from the interdependent and
reciprocal influences of a variety of causes, principally, though not
only, these five.
"Whether certain theorists like it or not, the fact is that human

society is not a homogeneous thing, that individuals are physi-
cally, morally, and intellectually different... . Of that fact, there-
fore, we have to take account. And we must also take account of
another fact: that the social classes are not entirely distinct, even
in countries where a caste system prevails; and that in modern
civilized countries circulation among the various classes is exceed-
ingly rapid... . We shall consider the problem [in order to sim-
plify it] only in its bearing on the social equilibrium and try to
reduce as far as possible the numbers of the groups and the modes
of circulation, putting under one head phenomena that prove to be
roughly and after a fashion similar." (2025.)
"Let us assume that in every branch of human activity each
individual is given an index which stands as a sign of his capacity,
very much the way grades are given in the various subjects in
examinations in school. The highest type of lawyer, for instance,
will be given io. The man who does not get a client will be given
i-res ving zero for the man who is an out-and-out idiot. to

them n who has made his millions-honestly or dishonestly as
the cas may be-we will give io. To the man who has earned his
thousa ds we will give 6; to such as just manage to keep out of
the p r-house, i, keeping zero for those who get in. To the
woman ìn politics,' such as the Aspasia of Pericles, the Main-
tenon of Louis XIV, the Pompadour of Louis XV, who has
manage d to infatuate a man of power and play a part in the
man's areer, we shall give some higher number, such as 8 or g;
to the trumpet who merely satisfies the senses of such a man and
exerts no influence on public affairs, we shall give zero. To, a
clever rascal who knows how to fool people and still keep clear
of the penitentiary, we shall give 8, g, or io, according to the
numb of geese he has plucked and the amount of money he has
been A de to get out of them. To the sneak-thief who snatches a
piece of silver from a restaurant table and runs away into the
arms a policeman, we shall give x. To a poet like Carducci we
shall ve 8 or 9 according to our tastes; to a scribbler who puts
people to rout with his sonnets we shall give zero. For chess-
player we can get very precise indices, noting what matches,
and
how any, they have won. And so on for all the branches of
human activity." (2027.)
In some such way we shall be able to distinguish, at least
rough y, the elite or better the elites in society from the mass. We
shall quickly observe, moreover, that human beings are not dis-
tributd evenly over the scale. At the top there are very few, con-
siderably more in the middle; but the overwhelming majority are
group d near the bottom. The elite is always a small minority.
Wit in the elite we may further distinguish a "governing
elite" from a "non-governing elite." The elite within many
branc es of human activity-chess-playing, for example, from the list
quoted-does not exert any appreciable influence on political affairs
and social structure.
The character of a society, Paretn holds, is above all the char-
acter of its elite; its accomplishments are the accomplishments of
its elite; its history is properly understood as the history of its
elite; successful predictions about its future are based upon evi-
dence drawn from the study of the composition and structure of
its elite. Pareto's conclusions here are the same as those reached by
Mosca in his analysis of the narrower but similar concept of the
"ruling class."
The elite in any society is never static.Ìts structure, its composi-
tion, and the way in which it is related to the rest of the society
are always changing. Most obviously the elite changes through the
death of its individual members, and their replacement by other
individuals. In itself, however, this is of ,ho significance. If each
dead individual were replaced by anothet of the same type, the
elite as a historical grouping would remain unaltered. What in-
f l uences social development is not the mere shift of individuals,
but change in the types of individual, and in the relations of vari-
ous types to each other and to the rest of society.
If, in the selection of members of the elite, there existed a con-
dition of perfectly free competition, so that each individual could,
without any obstacle, rise just as high in the social scale as his
talents and ambition permitted, the elite could be presumed to
include, at every moment and in the right order, just those per-
sons best fitted for membership in it. Under such circumstances
-which Pareto seems to imagine after the analogy of the theo-
retical free market of classical economics, or the biological arena
of the struggle for survival-society would remain dynamic and
strong, automatica lly correcting its own weaknesses.
However, a condition of this sort is never found in reality.
There are always obstacles, or "ties" as Pareto calls them, that
interfere with the free circulation of individuals up and'down the
social scale. Special principles of selection, different in different
societies, affect the composition of the elite so that it no longer
includes all those persons best fitted for social rule. Weaknesses set
in; a d, not compensated by a gradual day-by-day circulation, if they
far enough they are corrected sharply by social revolu tion: than is,
by the sudden intrusion into the elite of large num bers, of
individuals hitherto prevented by the obstacles from' f i nding
their natural social level.
The most evident and universal of the obstacles to free circula-
tion is t e aristocratic principle. The children of members of the
elite are helped to a position in the elite regardless of their own
capacities and at the sacrifice of individuals of greater capacity'
appearing among the non-elite. If this principle is carried far
enough, cif the elite becomes "closed" or almost so, degeneration
is bound to set in. The percentage of weak and inferior persons'
within t e elite necessarily increases, while at the same time supe-
rior persns accumulate among the non-elite. A point is reached
where t elite will be overthrown and destroyed.
This, 4or example, is what happened to Sparta. The doors of
entrance to the Spartan elite (the Citizens) were firmly closed to
the otheiM classes of the population (the Perioeci and the Helots).
The elite to some extent guarded its internal health by the nega-
tive deviF e of killing its weak and feeble children, but this was
not eno gh. In spite of an unmatched tradition of self-sacrifice
and disc pline, the elite declined gravely in numbers and even
more in quality until it was utterly defeated, in the 4th century,
at the battle. of Leuctra, by the people of a city (Thebes) which
Sparta hod for generations thought of as little more than a second-
rate ally.€ From this defeat, which might in a nation less rigidly
organize have be come the stimulus to rejuvenation, Spa rt a never
recovere
From ese considerations it follows that a relatively free circu-
lation o the elites-both up and down the social scale-is a
requisite for a healthy and a strong society. Conversely, it follows,
that when in a society the elite becomes closed or nearly closed,
that society is threatened either with internal revolution or with
destruction from outside. It must be added that Pareto is discuss-
ing here not the law or theory dealing with entrance to the elite,
but the facts. In theory-as in almost all modern nations, for ex-
ample-entrance to the elite may be open to all comers. This is of
no importance if, in fact, by one device or another-as, again, is
true of many modern nations especially since the end of the 19th
century-newcomers are kept out. In the United States, everyone
has the theoretic right to become a millionaire and the owner of
a great industry. In fact, however, at about the time of the first
World War, newcomers, with less than a handful of exceptions,
stopped becoming millionaires or big owners. Conversely, there
have been societies where, though in theory the elite was closed
(by rigid hereditary regulations), it was in fact opened, at least
sometimes, by such means as adoption or clientage or re-defini-
tion of citizenship. This was true at certain periods in Athens and
in Rome.
But, since a perfectly free circulation according to ability is
never found, a healthy and strong society is not assured merely
by keeping the elite more or less open. The additional problem re-
mains of the kind of individuals admitted to or excluded from the
elite. We have noted that, according to Pareto, the basic residues
within a given society change little and slowly. However, the
character of the society is determined not only by the basic resi-
dues present in the entire population, but also by the distribution
of residues among the various social classes; and this distribution
may change quite rapidly. To put the matter simply: a given
society will include a certain and relatively stable percentage of,
for example, clever individuals; but an enormous difference to the
society and its development will result from the extent to which
these clever individuals are concentrated in its elite, or spread
evenly throughout the entire population, or even concentrated in
the non-elite.
The residues which, in their circulation, are of chief influence
on the social equilibrium are those belonging to Class I and Class
II. Inde d, in discussing the circulation of the elites, Pareto
expands is definition of these two Classes so that the whole prob-
lem can Je summed up roughly in terms of them.
Individuals marked primarily by Class I (Combinations) resi-
dues are he "Foxes" of Machiavelli. They live by their wits; they
put the' reliance on fraud, deceit, and shrewdness. They do not
have strcng attachment to family, church, nation, and traditions
(though they may exploit these attachments in others). They live
in the present, taking little thought of the future, and are always
ready forchange, novelty, and adventure. In economic affairs, they
incline toward speculation, promotion, innovation. They are not
adept, as a rule, in the use of force. They are inventive and
chance-taking.
Individuals marked by Class II (Group-Persistences) residues are
Mach avelli's "Lions." They are able and ready to use force, relying
o it rather than brains to solve their problems. They are
conservative, patriotic, loyal to tradition, and solidly tied to
supraindividualgroups like family or Church or nation. They are
concerned fo posterity and the future. In economic affairs they are
cautious, aving and orthodox. They distrust the new, and praise
"character' and "duty" rather than wits.
Pareto rtes ancient Athens as a typical example of a state with
a heavy p oportion of Class I residues in its elite, and an unusu-
ally large proportion even in the non-elite (where Class II resi-
dues almo t always greatly predominate). From this distribution
sprang many of the glories of Athens, as well as the extraor-
dinarily rapid shifts in its fortunes. In every field, economic,
political, Ad cultural, Athens welcomed the new, and was ready
for any adventure. After the defeat of Persia at Salamis, Athens
could not eturn to the old ways. Taking immediate advantage
of the fleet which had been built up for the war, she went on to
212 THE MACIIIAVELLIANS
est ablish her commercial empire in the eastern Mediterranean.
When the tribute from the alliance was no longer needed for war,
it was used to build the wonderful temples and statues. Philoso-
phers and poets were honored for attacking the old, traditional
ways of life. But her glories were comparatively short-lived. She
was always weakened from within by the numerous Class I indi-
viduals who were constantly forming factions, plotting with
internal or external enemies, and organizing rebellions. And
Athens could not endure the long-drawn-out trials of the
Pelo-
ponnesian Wars. On the one hand, the Class I tendencies led her
to attempt tooa much: she refused peace when it could have been
made with honor and profit, and launched the Sicilian Expedition
which in its outcome proved her ruin. On the other, wit and
shrewdness were not a firm enough foundation to sustain the
shock of plague; death, siege, weariness, and defeat.
Sparta, in extreme contrast, was a nation where Class II residues
were wholly predominant both in the general population and in
the elite. Innovation in Sparta was a crime; everything was regu-
lated by ancient custom and religion and time-sanctified tradition.
The individual counted for nothing, the group for all. Adventure
was always to be distrusted. From these roots Sparta derived a
tremendous power of endurance when faced with adversity. But
she always stopped short of anything spectacular. She produced
no philosophy, no liquid wealth, and little art. She never tried to
establish a great empire. Her own armies went home after the
Persians were defeated. In spite of defeats and crushing hardships,
she finally conquered in the Peloponnesian Wars; but in the 4th
century, when the conditions of life and warfare greatly changed,
she too was lost. Because of her lack of Class I residues, Sparta
could not adapt herself to new ways; so, defending the old, she
perished.
The social combination that is strongest against external ene-
mies, and at the same time able to bring about a fairly high in-
ternal leve of culture and material prosperity, is that wherein (1)

Class II re `dues are widespread and active among the masses ( the
non-elite); (2) the individuals with a high level of Class I re si-
dues are c ncentrated in the elite;
(3) a fair percentage of Class
II residues nevertheless still remai ns within the elite; (4) the
elite is comparatively open, so that
at least a comparatively free
circulation an take place.
The mea ing of this optimum combination can be translated
as follows into more usual terms: (r) The masses have faith in
an
integrating myth or ideology, a strong sense
of group solidarity,
a willingness to endure physical hardship and sacrifice. (2) The
best and in st active brains of the community ar e concentrated in
the elite, an ready to take advantage of whate ver opportunities
the historic4l situation presents. (3) At the same
time the elite is
not cynical, and does not depend exclusively upon its wits, but is
able to be film, to use force, if the internal or exte rnal condition
calls for it.
4) The elite is prevented from gross degeneration
through the bility of new elements to rise into its ra nks.
A combin tion of this sort does not, however, as a ru le last long.
The typical, though not universal, pattern o
f development of or-
ganized soci ties goes along some such lines as these: The com-
munity
(nat on) becomes established and co nsolidated after a
period of was of conquest or of internal revolut ions. At this point
the governing, elite is strongly weighted with C lass II residues--
revolutions Aid great wars put a premium on faith, powers of
endurance, and force. After the consolidation, a ctivities due to
Class I resides increase in importance and are a ble to flourish.
The relative ercentage of Class I residues in the elite increases;
the Foxes rep ace the Lions. The proportion of Cl ass II residues
remains high as always, in the masses. A time of g reat material
prosperity ma follow, under the impulse and mani pulations of
the Class I res dues. But the elite has lost its faith, its self-identifi-
cation with te group; it thinks all things can be solved by
shrewdness, deceit, combinations; it is no longer willing and able
to use force. It reaches a point where it cannot withstand the
attack from an external enemy, stronger in Class II residues;
from within, when the masses, one way or another, get or
ship able to organize their potential strength. The combinationist
Elite is destroyed, very often carrying its whole society to ruin
along with it.
Let us put this process in the simplest possible terms by reduc-
ing it to the problem of force (noting that a willingness and
ability to use force is primarily an expression of Class II Resi-
dues). "To ask whether or not force ought to be used in a society,
whether the use of force is cr is not beneficial, is to ask a question
that has no meaning; for foi ce is used by those who wish to pre-
serve certain uniformities Ite.g., the existing class structure of
society, the status quo] and by those who wish to overstep them;
and the violence of the ones stands in contrast and in conflict with
the violence of the others. In truth, if a partisan of a governing
class disavows the use of force, he means that he disavows the use
of force by insurgents trying to escape from the norms of the
given uniformity. On the other hand, if he says he approves of the
use of force, what he really means is that he approves of the use
of force by the public authority to constrain insurgents to con-
formity. Conversely, if a partisan of the subject class says he de-
tests the use of force in society, what he really detests is the use of
force by constituted authorities in forcing dissidents to conform;
and if, instead, he lauds the use of force, he is thinking of the use of
force by those who would break away from certain social
uniformities." (2r74.)
* The analysis here stated with reference to internal relations would hold also
for international relations. Pacifism as advocated by the dominant powers means
a disavowal of force directed against the international status quo, and an accept-
ance of force in upholding that status quo. Pacifism means just the reverse when
advocated by the less favored nations. In the latter case, it is a method of
ideological attack on the international status quo, supplementing, not contradicting,
the violence of the "have-nots."
That is one side of the matter. But, in addition, the argument
may be carried further, and directed against the use of force in
any sense whatever. Such arguments express a concentration of
Class I r idues, at the expense of Class II, in the elite whose
spokesme formulate the arguments. "The dispute is really as to
the relative merits of shrewdness and force, and to decide it in the
sense that never never, not even in the exceptional case, is it useful
to meet its with violence, it would be necessary first to show,
that the 1 se of cunning is always, without exception, more advis-
able than the use of force. Suppose a certain country has a gov-
erning c ss A, that assimilates the best elements, as regards
intelligen e, in the whole population. In that case the subject
class, B, i largely stripped of such elements and can have little or
no hope f ever overcoming the Class A so long as it is a battle
of wits. If intelligence were to be combined with force, the do-
minion o the A's would be perpetual... . But such a happy com-
bination ccurs only for a few individuals. In the majority of
cases peo le who rely on their wits are or become less fitted to use,,
violence, .and vice versa. So concentration in the class A of the
individu is most adept at chicanery leads to a concentration in
class B o the individuals most adept at violence; and if that proc
ess is to continued, the equilibrium tends to become unstable,
because the A's are long in cunning but short in the courage to
use force and in the force itself; whereas the B's have the force and,.
the courage to use it, but are short in the skill required for exploit-
ing thosadvantages. But if they chance to find leaders who have..
the skill- and history shows that such leadership is usually supplied
by dissatisfied A's-they have all they need for driving the A's from
power. Of just that development history affords count-_, less exa
pies from remotest times all the way down to the present."
(2rgo.)
The r suit of such a revolution-for the passage just quoted is
simply t e generalized description of the form of social revolu-,
216 THE_MACHIAVELLIANS
Lions-is to get rid of the weaker elements of the old elite, open
up the elite to the rapid influx of new elements, and to alter the
balance of residues in the elite in favor of those from Class II. In
spite of the cost of revolution in bloodshed and suffering, it may,
under certain circumstances, be both necessary and socially bene-
f i cial. Even in the latter case, however, it is always an illusion to
suppose that the masses themselves take power through a revolu-
tion. The masses can never successfully, revolt until they acquire a
leadership, which is always made: up-in part of able and ambitious
individuals from their own ranks whoa cannot gain entrance into
the governing elite, and in part of disgruntled members of the
existing elite (members of the 'nobility, for example, in the open-
ing stages of the French Revolution, or dissatisfied intellectuals
and middle-class persons in the Russian Revolution). So long,
therefore, as the governing elite is both willing and in a position
to destroy or to assimilate all such individuals, it has a virtual
guarantee against internal revolution. If the revolution does take
place, we merely find a new elite-or more properly a renewed
elite, for the old is almost never wholly wiped out-in the saddle.
Nevertheless, the change may quite possibly be for the benefit of
the community as a whole and specifically of the masses who, re-
maining the ruled and not rulers, may yet be better off than
before. -
Pareto's theory of the circulation of the elites is thus a theory of
social change, of revolution, and of social development and
degeneration. It is a re-statement, in new and more intricate terms,
of the point of view common to the modern Machiavellians and
found, more crude, in Machiavelli himself.
Pareto claims, as we have seen, that, though we can come to
objective conclusions about the strength of a society relative to
other societies, we cannot make any objective judgment about
what type of social structure is "best" from the point of view of
internal welfare. However, a certain tendency in his own feelings
become evident from his anaylsis. To begin with, he plainly puts g
external strength first, since it is a pre-condition of everythin g
else: th t is, if a nation cannot surv ive, it is rather pointless to
argue ir the abstract whether or not it is a "good society." In
order to urvive, a society must have a f airly free class-circulation;
the elite must not bar its doors too rigi dly. This freedom will at
the same time on the whole operate to i ncrease the internal well-
being of the society.
Second, in discussing the distribution of residues, Pareto im-
plicity joins the other Machiavellians in an evident preference for
social checks and balances. The strongest and healthiest societies
balance a predominance of Class I residues in the elite with a
predominance of Class 11 residues in the non-elite. But Class II
residues ust not be altogether excluded from the elite. If Class
II residues prevail in all classes, the nation develops no active
culture, d generates in a slough of brutality and stubborn prej-
udice, in t e end is unable to overcome new forces in its environ-
ment, an meets disaster. Disaster, too, awaits the nation given
over whol y to Class I residueswith no , regar d f or the morrow,
for discipline or tradition, with a blind confiden ce in clever tricks'
as the suffi Tent means for salvation.
The law of the circulation of the elites serve not only to clarify
our understanding of societies of the past; they illuminate also
our analysi of present societies, and even, sometimes, permit us
to
predict the suture course of social events. Writing in the years just
prior to t è first World WarPareto ald,nayzeat length the
United States and the principal nations of Europe. He found that
the mode o circulation of the elites during the preceding century
had brought most of these nations into a condition where the
ruling class s were heavily over-weighted with Class I residues,
and were s bject to debilitating forms of humanitarian beliefs.Th
e resuI s of such a condition he summarizes in general terms
as follow s : `r. A mere handful of citizens, so long as they are
willing to use violence, can force their will upon public officials
who are not inclined to meet violence with equal violence. If the
reluctance of the officials to resort to force is primarily motivated
by humanitarian sentiments, that result ensues very readily; but
if they refrain from violence because they deem it wiser to use
some other means, the effect is often the following: 2. To prevent
or resist violence, the governing class resorts to `diplomacy,' fraud,
corruption-governmental authority passes, in a word, from the
lions to the foxes. The governing class bows its head under the
threat of violence, but it surrenders only in appearances, trying to
turn the flank of the obstacle it cannot demolish in frontal attack.
In the long run that sort of procedure comes to exercise a far-
reaching influence on the selection of the governing class, which
is now recruited only from the foxes, while the lions are black-
balled. The individual who best knows the arts of sapping the
strength of the foes of `graft' and of winning back by fraud and
deceit what seemed to have been surrendered under pressure of
force, is now leader of leaders. The man who has bursts of rebel-
lion, and does not know how to crook his spine at the proper
times and places, is the worst of leaders, and his presence is
tol-
erated among them only if other distinguished endowments offset
that defect. 3. So it comes about that the residues of the combina-
tion-instinct (Class I) are intensified in the governing class, and
the residues of group-persistence (Class II) debilitated; for the
combination-residues supply, precisely, the artistry and resource-
fulness required for evolving ingenious expedients as substitutes
for open resistance, while the residues of group-persistence stimu-
late open resistance, since a strong sentiment of group-persistence
cures the spine of all tendencies to curvature. 4. Policies of the
governing class are not planned too far ahead in time. Predomi-
nance of the combination instincts and enfeeblement of the senti-
ments of group-persistence result in making the governing class
more satisfied with the present and less thoughtful of the future.
PARETO: THE SOCIAL ACTION 2I
The in ividual comes to prevail, and by far, over family, com-
munity, nation. Material interests and interests of the present or
a near uture come to prevail over the ideal interests of com-
munity r nation and interests of the distant future. The impulse
is to enj y the present without too much thought for the morrow.
S. Some of these phenomena become observable in international
relation as well. Wars become essentially economic. Efforts are
made to avoid conflicts with the powerful and the sword is rattled
only be re the weak. Wars are regarded more than anything else as
specu ations. A country is often unwittingly edged towards war by
nursings of economic conflicts which, it is expected, will never get
out of control and turn into armed conflicts. Not seldom,
howeve a war will be forced upon a country by peoples who are
not so far advanced in the evolution that leads to the
predomi nance o Class I residues." (2179.)
Confr nted with these circumstances, Pareto believed that anal-
ogies fro: m comparable processes in the past made plain what was
to be ex ected. In one way or another, probably catastrophically,
the soci 1 unbalance within the elites would be corrected. Internal
revolutions and the impact of external wars would re-introduce
into the elites large numbers of individuals strong in the residues
of group-persistence (Class II) and able and willing to use force
in the maintenance of social organization. This development
might can the almost total destruction of certain of the existing
elites, and, along with them, of the nations which they ruled. In
other cases, a sufficient alteration in the character of the elite
might ke place in time to preserve the community, though
greatly hanged.
This urvey should seem familiar today. Pareto was writing, in
advance an outline history of the generation just passed, and the
present. Munich, in 1938 was, in its way, a definitive expression of
his theo y of the circulation of the elites. At Munich, there was
demons ated the impotence of an exclusive reliance on Class I
residues: combinations, no matter how shrewdly conceived, could
no longer meet the challenge of the matured world social prob-
lems. And at the same time Munich revealed that only those two
nations-Russia and Germany-where a redistribution of the
elites had already taken place, had been able to prepare seriously
for the war which was so evidently sure to come.
Part VII
POLITICS AND TRUTH

I SHPL NOW summarize the main principles of Machia-
vellism, those principles which are common to all Machiavellians
and which, taken together, define Machiavellism as a distinctive
traditio of political thought. These general principles constitute
a way c looking at social life, an instrument for social and polit-
cal ana sis. They are capable of being applied concretely in the
study o any historical period, including our own, that may inter-
est us. ' hey are to be found, implicit as a rule, in the writings of
Machia elli himself. The modern Machiavellians, with a vastly
increase d number of historical facts at their disposal, have ex-
plicitly formulated them.
In ea h case, in the list that follows, I shall state in parentheses
the con rary point of view which is opposed to the Machiavellian
principle. In order to understand what a thing is, we must
understand aso what it is not.
i. objective science of politics, and of society, comparable in
its met ods to the other empirical sciences, is possible. Such
science will describe and correlate observable social facts, and, on
the basis of the facts of the past, will state more or less probable
hypotheses about the future. Such a science will be neutral with
respect o any practical political goal: that is, like any other sc-
ence, its statements will be tested by facts accessible to any observer,
rich or poor, ruler or ruled, and will in no way be dependent
upon t e acceptance of some particular ethical aim or ideal.
(Con rary views hold that a science of politics is not possible,
because of the peculiarity of "human nature" or for some similar
reason; or that political analysis is always dependent upon some
f 223
practical program for the improvement-or destruction-of
society; or that any political science must be a "class science"-true
for the "bourgeoisie," but not for the "protetariat," as, for
example, the Marxists claim.)
2. The primary subject-matter of political science is the struggle for
social power in its diverse open and concealed forms.
(Contrary views hold that political thought deals with the gen-
eral welfare, the common good, and other such entities that are
from time to time invented by the theorists.)
3. The laws of political life cannot be discovered by an analysis
which takes men's words and beliefs, spoken or written, at their
face value. Words, programs, declarations, constitutions, laws,
theories, philosophies, must be related to the whole complex of
social facts in order to understand their real political and historical
meaning.
(The contrary view pays chief attention to words, believing that
what men say they are doing or propose to do or have done is the
best evidence for what they actually do.)
4. Logical or rational action plays a relatively minor part in
political and social change. For the most part it is a delusion to
believe that in social life men take deliberate steps to achieve con-
sciously held goals. Non-logical action, spurred by environmental
changes, instinct, impulse, interest, is the usual social rule.
(The contrary views assign an important or the primary place to
rational action. History is conceived as the record of the ra tional
attempts of men to achieve their goals.)
5. For an understanding of the social process, the most signifi-
cant social division to be recognized is that between the ruling
class and the ruled, between the elite and the non-elite.
(Contrary views either deny that such a division exists, or con-
sider that it is unimportant, or believe that it is scheduled to dis-
appear.)
6. Historical and political science is above all the study of the
POLITICS AND TRUTH 22 5
elite, its mposition, its structure, and the mode of its relation to
the non-el te.
(Contrary views hold that history is primarily the study of the
masses, o r of individual great men, or purely of institutional
arrangements.)
7. The primary object of every elite, or ruling class, is to main tain
its o n power and privilege.
(The contrary view holds that the primary object of the rulers
is to serv the community. This view is almost. invariably held by
all spokesmen for an elite, at least with respect to the elite for
which th y are speaking. Among such spokesmen are to be num-
bered alrpost all of those who write on political and social
matters.)
8. The! rule of the elite is based upon force and fraud. The
force ma , to be sure, be much of the time hidden or only threat-
ened; an , the fraud may not entail any conscious deception.
(The ontrary views hold that social rule is established £unda-
mentallyupon God-given or natural right, reason, or justice.)
9. Th e social structure as a whole is integrated and sustained by a
political formula, which is usually correlated with a generally
accepted religion, ideology, or myth.
(Contary views hold either that the formulas and myths are
"truths" ,or that they are unimportant as social factors.)
io. T !e rule of an elite will coincide now more, now less with,
the into ests of the non-elite. Thus, in spite of the fact that the
primary object of every elite is to maintain its own power and
privileg, there are nevertheless real and significant differences in
social structures from the point of view of the masses. These
differences, however, cannot be properly evaluated in terms of.
formal meanings, verbalisms, and ideologies, but by: (a) the
strength of the community in relation to other communities; (b)
the lev �tl of civilization reached by the community-its ability,
that is tb say, to release a wide variety of creative interests and to
attain a high measure of material and cultural advance; and (c)
liberty-that is, the security of individuals against the arbitrary
and irresponsible exercise of power.
(Contrary views either deny that there are any significant
differences among social structures, or, more frequently, estimate
the differences in formal or verbal terms--by, for example, com-
paring the philosophies of two periods or their ideals.)
ii. Two opposing tendencies always operate in the case of
every elite: (a) an aristocratic tendency whereby the elite seeks to
preserve the ruling position of its members and their descendants,
and to prevent others from entering its ranks; (b) a democratic
tendency whereby new elements force their way into the elite
from below.
(Though few views would deny the existence of these tenden cies,
some would maintain that one of them could be suppressed, so that
an elite could become either completely closed or com pletely
open.)
12. In the long run, the second of these tendencies always
prevails. From this it follows that no social structure is permanent
and no static utopia is possible. The social or class struggle always
continues, and its record is history.
(Contrary views conceive a possible stabilization of the social
structure. The class struggle, they say, can, should, and will be
eliminated in a Heaven on Earth or a "classless society," not
understanding that the elimination of the class struggle would,
like the elimination of blood-circulation in the individual organ-
ism, while no doubt getting rid of many ailments, at the same
time mean death.)
13. There occur periodically very rapid shifts in the composition
and structure of elites: that is, social revolutions.
(Contrary views either deny the reality of revolutions or hold
that they are unfortunate accidents that could readily be avoided.)
It may be remarked that these Machiavellian principles are
POLITICS ANDTRUTH 227
much dos ,-r to the more or less instinctive views of "practical
men" who are themselves active in the social struggle than to the
views of tieorists, reformers and philosophers. This is natural,
because t ` principles are simply the generalized statement of
what practical men do and have been doing; whereas the theo rists,
most often comparatively isolated from direct participation in the
socii l struggle, are able to imagine society and its laws to be as
they !would wish to have them.
In termsl of these Machiavellian principles, I shall now analyze
three prob ems: (i) What is the nature of the present historical
period? ( What is the meaning of democracy? (3) Can politics be
scientific?
During he past two or three years it has become fashionable to

say that we are in the midst of a revolution. There is something
rather lu icrous in the spectacle of well-paid ministers telling
their congregations all about the great revolution in which they
live, or a ,5-year-old bank president explaining world revolution
to an afte -dinner audience-the congregation and the audience,
as likely a not, feeling excited and thrilled at the prospect.
When we examine what is said, it becomes doubtful how se-
riously w should take the revolutionary phrases. The strict com-
munists tell us that Russia is the revolution, and all the rest of the
world capitalist and counter-revolutionary. Others, like Hermann
Rauschnirg, say that Nazi Germany is the revolution, and that
what the jvorld needs is a "conservative counter-revolution" to be
led by England and the United States. Still others, like Herbert
Agar or
rice-President Wallace, say that two revolutions are
going on: 'a bad revolution led by the Nazis, and a good revolu-
tion of "people" or the "common man" led or to be led by the
United Ni tions. As for the kind of revolution, it is indiscrimi-
nately labeled as communist or socialist or internationalist or
national-socialist or people's or fascist or monopolist. We may
reasonably conclude that a majority, at least, of the revolutionary
commentators have not made up their minds what they are talk-
ing about.
This is a case, however, where words express more than the
speakers are usually aware. For there really is a revolution, and
we are in truth living in the midst of it. In The Managerial
Revolution,* I tried to summarize the general character of the
revolution. I did so, in the analysis I therein made, primarily in
institutional, especially in economic, terms. I propose here to re-
define the nature of the revolution through the use of the Machia-
vellian principles. This is not at all arbitrary, since the present
revolution was in fact anticipated and its general course predicted
by the modern Machiavellians, more than a generation ago. Their
predictions are, indeed, a powerful confirmation of their prin-
ciples. Moreover, there is no necessary conflict among several
possible modes of analyzing historical events. Economic, political,
sociological, cultural approaches to history do not have to contra-
dict each other, since these various social factors are at least to
some extent interdependently correlated. It is for this reason that
we can often reach approximately the same conclusions about
history from any of a number of quite different approaches.
From a Machiavellian point of view, a social revolution means
a comparatively rapid shift in the composition and structure of
the elite and in the mode of its relation to the non-elite. It is pos-
sible to state the conditions under which such a rapid shift takes
place. The principal of these conditions are the following:
r. When the institutional structure, and the elite which has the
ruling position within this structure, are unable to handle
possi bilities opened up by technological advances and by the
growth, for whatever reason, of new social forces.
2. When a considerable percentage of the ruling class devotes
*Published by The John Day Company, New York. 1941.
little atte tion to the business of ruling, and turns its interests to
such field! as culture, art, philosophy, and the pursuit of sensuous
pleasure.
3. Whe an elite is unable or unwilling to assimilate rising new
elements from the masses or from its own lower ranks.
4. Whe large sections of the elite lose confidence in themselves
and the legitimacy of their own rule; and when in both elite and
non-elite there is a loss of faith in the political formulas and
myths that have held the social structure together.
5. Whe the ruling class, or much of it, is unable or unwilling
to use fore in a firm and determined way, and instead tries to
rely almo t exclusively on manipulation, compromise, deceit, and
fraud.
These ake the general pre-conditions of social revolution in any
culture. 1 ey characterized the age just ending, as the modern
Machiave € fans understood.
During the past several centuries, the major and most privi-
leged sect on of the ruling class of the chief nations consisted of
the capitalists, or bourgeoisie, together with the closely related
parliamentary type of politician. Soldiers, military men, who had
been so p ominent in many ruling classes of the past, sometimes
the exclus ve rulers, were in a decidedly minor position. The legal
formula hich expressed the privileged position of the capitalists
was summed up in the conception of individual property rights
in the ins ruments of social production, which were accepted as
giving the owner control over those instruments and a preferred
share in their products.
The fiv revolutionary pre-conditions may readily be seen to
hold for his private-capitalist ruling class in the generation or
more which has just concluded:
r. Technological advance, exceeding during the past r5o years
what tool: place during all prior history, and the growth of
elaborately sub-divided mass industry, made anachronistic
both
private-capitalist enterprise and the political system of post-Renais-
sance nationalism. The private owners, dependent for existence
upon a market economy, have shown themselves unable to handle
integrated mass enterprise, the functional requirements of which
are incompatible with a market economy. Similarly, the private
owners are unable to organize either a world polity or the great
regional states which are the political minimum that is needed in
order to permit contemporary social and economic life to continue
operating. In addition, the private capitalists have proved unable
to organize and control the mass labor movement, brought into
being, as the greatest new social force, by the structural changes
in modern economy. Leadership over this force has already gone
into other hands.
2. During the last generation in this country and some decades
earlier in Europe, many members of the capitalist ruling class,
particularly from its highest strata, have largely given up active
political and economic life in favor of -the pursuit of pleasure or
of culture.
3. Toward the end of the last century in Europe, and since the
f i rst World War in this country, admission to the capitalist ruling
class became much more difficult for new aspirants. The top rank
of the ruling class became almost completely closed. This develop-
ment was especially significant because during the greater part of
the 19th century class circulation was more rapid and extensive
than in any previous social era except for revolutionary crises. The
difference is plainly seen in the changed attitude of the youth:
young ambitions were no longer directed toward the goal of be-
coming a great capitalist, but more and more toward such outlets
as a high place in the labor movement or in government.
4. Equally noteworthy have been the loss of confidence by the
capitalist elite in its own right to rule and in the formulas which
upheld its rule, as well as the decay of mass faith in the sustaining
capitalist-parliamentary myths. The self-confident myth of Prog-
POLITICSANDTRUTH 231
ress, so bright in the late i8th and throughout most of the x9th
centuries, began to fade, in Europe, before the end of the 19th
century. Today it is scarcely even referred to except to be "ex-
posed" an refuted by pessimistic interpretations of world history.
Prominent children of the ruling class have taken up Commu-
r3ism, Soci lism, and anti-capitalist versions of fascism. The results
of the firs World War produced a great wave of disillusionment
which en ulfed especially the capitalists themselves. Both elite
and masses have become susceptible in the highest degree to
formulas tat abandon those key terms which, when they were
written in o the Constitutions and Declarations of the late 18th
century, s emed like eternal and irrefutable truths.
5. The unwillingness or inability to use force effectively was
shown in he unprecedented growth of humanitarian sentiments
and their attempted expression in all fields of social life. Reform
instead o punishment was to solve the problem of domestic
crime. Art itration was to replace strikes and riots in settling inter-
nal class disputes. Imperialism was to be done away with. War
was to be; abolished by a League of Nations and recorded signa-
tures on a Kellogg Pact. Such ideas, carried to such extremes, were
in their otn way merely reflecting the inability of the old elite to
face any 1 nger the facts of social life.
Thus, s always under analogous circumstances, a social
revolution to es place. In order to remove these conditions, to solve
at least s fficiently the problems out of which they grow, there
occurs a rastic renewal and re-organization of the ruling class.
Moreover, the general character of the new elite, though not its
specific p rsonnel, becomes clear simply through the analysis of the
pre-conditions of the revolution.
The n , or re-newed, elite (as we have seen, the old elite is
never wolly wiped out) must include men who are able to
control contemporary mass industry, the massed labor
force, and
a supra-national form of political organization. This means, in
place of private owners skilled in the manipulation of financial
profits or losses on the market, and of the old sort of parlia-
mentary politician, those whom I call "managers"-the production
executives and organizers of the industrial process, officials trained
in the manipulation of the great labor organizations, and the
administrators, bureau chiefs and commissars developed in the
executive branch of the unlimited modern state machines. And,
that the managers may function, the economic and political
structure must be modified, as it is now being modified, so as to
rest no longer on private ownership and small-scale nationalist
sovereignty, but primarily upon state control of the economy, and
continental or vast regional world political organization.
The renewed elite will 'not only incorporate a large percentage
of fresh elements, with a greater self-confidence and faith in the
myths of a new order, but will permit-at least for a while, until
it too, under the pressure of the aristocratic tendency, begins to
harden-a readier entry into its own ranks. We may be sure that
the soldiers, the men of force, the Lions, will be much more
prominent among the new rulers than in the ruling class of the
past century. This shift of weight toward the soldiers is already
clear enough on a world scale. Most naturally, the war promotes
it. We must, however, recognize that it is not, this time, a mere
accident of war, but a far more fundamental realignment of a
social unbalance which has been accumulating over many
gener-
ations.
Few changes to be brought by the revolution will be more
striking than this for the United States, and few are being more
stubbornly disregarded. Up to the present, soldiers have had a
lesser place in the social life of this country than, probably, in the
case of any other great nation in history. Compared to religion,
agriculture, commerce, industry, labor, finance, the army has been
POLITICS AND TRUTH 233
virtu, the
a social force of most trivial influence. The men with
ruler-type, have seldom felt any attractive pull from the military field: it o
-ered too small a scope to those who were serious about the strug le for power.
Those ays have ended. This time the soldiers are here to stay.
Never ag in, in our time or our childrens', will the army dry up
into a s all puddle on the fringe of the social pond. The armed
forces w' 1 henceforth be not merely quantitatively large. They
will also ecome a major arena for the contests of the ambitious
and pow rful, will supply a considerable section of the ruling class
of the f lure, and will exert a_ great, perhaps sometimes the de
cisive, in uence on the social equilibrium. In what direction, in-
ternally, will the weight of the army fall? Our columnists and,,
editors, 4ho can discover the fate of the country depending upon
some mi or escapade of a labor leader or a farm lobbyist, do not
seem even to have asked themselves this mighty question. But,
some of the soldiers, already, are beginning to ask it.*
There is only one revolution now going on. It is at different„
stages a ad proceeds through different paths in the different
nations. It is, however, the first genuinely world revolution. Once,
in the classical world, a social revolution could be confined to a.
single s all city-state. Most of Europe and the Mediterranean,
basin to k part in the revolution that led from the Roman Empire
to med eval feudalism. The capitalist revolution spread still
further,' and its indirect effects were felt almost everywhere. Ou r
*In Th` Managerial Revolution I failed to give enough attention to this phase
of the resolution. I continue to believe, as I stated in that book, that under the
complex 4ocio-economic conditions of modern civilization a stable ruling class
made up almost entirely of soldiers, as were many ruling classes under more
primitive conditions, cannot develop. The ruling class in our age must include
those abl to direct the intricate social forces of our day, and-,this the soldiers
cannot d(, except perhaps during some brief period of crisis. Nevertheless, the
heightenel influence which the soldiers are gaining, and will for some while
maintain, constitutes one'of the most significant features of the managerial rev-
olution.
revolution, today, directly involves every part of the world. How
plain this should be from the events of the war-for this war is,
also for the first time, in the most strictly literal sense, a world
war.
We should understand that, beginning in 1914 and prepared
for some while before then, a double war has been going on, and
continues. The double nature of the war corresponds to the fact
that the world elite is organized in terms of two different struc-
tures: it is broken up into localized segments as the ruling class
of this or that nation; and, within and across national boundaries,
it is stratified into various social sub-classes and groups (capitalists,
workers, farmers, managers, soldiers, and so on). Thus at one and
the same time the national sections struggle for world domination,
and the social sub-classes strive either to resist the general revolu-
tion or to assure their own leading positions within the new elite
of the new order.
The two phases of the war are inter-related, with now one, now
the other, becoming the more prominent. From 1914-7,the
struggle seemed to be only between the national sections; but in
1917 the Russian Revolution brought the internal social contest
into the open. Today, also, the national aspect is, for a while,
the more obvious. During the intervening years, however, events
in Italy and Germany and then in Spain were reminders of the
second phase. In the summer of 1942 that phase again shot to the
surface, with the beginning of the Indian revolution. In each of
the warring nations, moreover, the internal struggle proceeds at
varying intensities in a variety of forms, along with the inter-
national contest. Washington, like Moscow and Berlin, is a focus
of both wars, not of one only. Not all of the participants in the
revolution have yet openly appeared. There are many shocks still
awaiting those who believe that this is nothing more than a very
big war of one coalition of allies against another, which will end
with on side, intact and victorious, writing a new Versailles.

The p resent war, let it be repeated once again, is a stage in a
world sc cial revolution. The real struggle is not to recapture the
past, bu to conquer the future. It may well be that those who
most do any understand this will emerge the victors.
2. The Meaning of Democracy
"DEMOCRACY" IS USUALLY DEFINED in some such terms

a "self-government" or "government by the people." Historical
e perience forces us to conclude that democracy, in this sense, is
possible. The Machiavellians have shown that the practical
impossibility of democracy depends upon a variety of factors:
on psychological tendencies which are apparently constant in
cial life, and, most decisively of all, upon the necessary technical
c nditions of social organization. Since our expectations of the
f ture can be based only upon the evidence from the past, and
s nce there is no reason to suppose that the tendencies and con-
tions which prevented democracy in the past will cease to hold
r the future, we must, from a scientific standpoint, believe that
emocratic self-government is ruled out for the future as it has
een absent from the past.
The theory of democracy as self-government must, therefore,
e understood as a myth, formula, or derivation. It does not cor-
espond to any actual or possible social reality. Debates over the
erits of the theory are almost wholly valueless in throwing light n
social facts.
It does not, however, follow that the theory of democracy (I
ontinue to refer to democracy in the sense of "self-government"
r "government by the people") is without any influence on the
ocial structure. The theory does not correctly describe any social
acts. No societies are governed by the people, by a majority; all
ocieties, including societies called democratic, are ruled by a
nority. But the ruling minority always seeks to justify and
egitimize its rule in part through a formula, without which the
236
I
social structure would disintegrate. The positive significance of
demo ratic theory is as a political formula of this kind. Moreover,
certain political practices are associated with the democratic
formu a: of particular importance, the practice of suffrage ex-
tende to a considerable proportion of the adult members of the
societ whereby some questions, including the naming of certain
state cfficials, pass through the electoral process.
The democratic formula and the practice of suffrage do not
mean he self-government of the people by themselves. They do, s
howev r, constitute a special mechanism of rule by the minority
elite, d ffering from other mechanisms. As a special mechanism of
rule, they have effects upon the social structure which differ from
the efi 1 cts of other mechanisms of rule. In general, they exercise
a parti ular kind of influence on the selection of members of the
ruling class. When, for example, there exists in society an estab-
lished luling class that uses a non-democratic formula (an aristo-
cratic ffirmula, let us say) to justify its position, the influence of
the de ocratic formula and of the suffrage machinery tends to
weaker the position of that established ruling class. In addition,
the exi tence in society of the suffrage machinery naturally tends
to favo those individuals who are adept at using the machinery;
just as, in a society where rule is founded directly on force, the
ablest hting men are favored against the rest.
We c n see how this influence worked during the 18th century.
At that time, there still existed in many nations an aristocratic
section f the ruling class which used non-democratic formulas,
and nei her liked nor was able to manipulate the suffrage ma-
chinery. Under those conditions, the democratic formula and the
introdu tion of wider suffrage machinery weakened the position
of the older, non-democratic aristocracy, and greatly aided the
newer, apitalist elite. The spread of the democratic formula and
the elect ral practices were an important, even essential, factor, in
the rise of the capitalists to the dominant place in the modern
ruling class.
However, we cannot conclude that the influence of the
demo cratic fore
ulj flnd t he gufrd P l kanism
is always the same.
When circumstances change, the influence m ay well have quite
different results, just as planting seeds may h ave quite di ff erent
results in autumn from those that follow in spri ng. Circumstances
today are not those of the i8th century: for on e thing, there no
longer exists an established ruling class makin g use of a non-
democratic formula.
If we ask what are the primary e ffects in our own time of the
democratic formula of self-government and the suffrage ma-
chinery, we must reply, as we noted in Part V, that they are to
strengthen the international trend toward Bonapartism. It can
hardly be denied that this trend exists, that it is the most indis-
putable political tendency of our generation. In every advanced
nation we observe the evolution of the form of government
toward that wherein a small group of leaders, or a single leader,
claims to represent and speak for the whole people. As the em-
bodiment of the will of the whole people, the leader claims an
unlimited authority, and considers all intermediary political
bodies, such as parliaments or local governments, to be wholly
dependent on the central sovereignty which can alone stand legiti-
mately for the people. The regime is democratically legalized by
the use of the su ff rage mechanism in the form of plebiscites.
These are the characteristics of Bonapartism. We find them
com-
pletely developed in Germany and Russia; and more and more
closely approximated in England and the United States.
Bonapartism is a type of government very dissimilar to what
men in the 19th century ordinarily thought of as democracy.
Nevertheless, as we have already seen, Bonapartism does not
violate the formula of democracy nor the place assigned to suf-
f r age. R ther can Bonapartist theory plausibly claim to be the
logical s well as the historical culmination of the democratic
formula just as the plebiscite can claim to be the most perfect
dffccratic suffrage. The Bonapartist leader can regard
form of.
himself and be regarded, as the q o le rulinaladd acrplin �nig
despoti m is simply the omnipotent pep g
itself. his is just what the
their s okesmen, argue. Whe BOdemaocracyei sdefined in lterms of n
self-go4ernment, there can be no convincing democratic answer.
When we translate formal meanings into real meanings, by theeo le's
metho • used in Part I to unravel Dante's politics, "the p p
centur ," "the century of the common man," become, like "the
people's state" and "the classless society," variant expressions the
real eaning of which is "the century of political Bonapartism"
or "t Bonapartist state."

Stri ing support for this conclusion is provided by the speeches
and ritings of Vice-President Wallace, who is the major prophet,
mystique. Wallace, it may be
in thi country, of the Bonapartist
recall' d, never held elective office prior to 1941. It is unanimously
agreed that he is in his present position solelly beecause of the pers al
demand of the President, whi ch
prior wishes of almost all the delegates to the 1940 Convention of

the emocratic party. Wallace's nomination by the Convention,
and his share in Roosevelt's electoral victory, was, thus, notha
volu tary expression of the will of either the d g
peo 'le at large, but a plebiscitary confirmation of a decision made in f
ct by a leader.
allace's most remarkable expression, so far, of his point of
vie was the speech which he delivered at Madison q a e Gar-P de
New York City, on November 8, 194
the` : ` meeting was sufficiently �edcariirepresentative �ofithe Com-
conimittee, created by the A
munist International, which called itself the "Congress of Ameri can-
Soviet Friendship." Its occasioj
wa the Celpbrlltie of the th
5th anniversary
of "the Russian revolution." The press over-
looked the detail th
at the revolution in question was not the rev-
olution against Cza
rism, which took place in March, 19r7, but
the November Bolsh
evik revolution against the parliamenta
democratic governmen ry-
t of Kerensky, the revolution which in its
development has led to
the most extreme totalitarian-Bonaparti
government in history. st
"We have been helping Wallace opened his speech as follows :
the Russians celebrate this afternoon a
glorious birthday."
Only the first three paragraphs of the speech contain any ref-
erences to the present war. The rest is a comparative social com-
mentary on Russia and the United States, and a statement of social
program. After quoting some century-old words of Tocqueville
on Russia, Wallace discovers that "Russia and the United States
are far closer than Tocqueville could possibly have imagined."
"Both," he declares, "are striving for the education, the pro-
ductivity and the enduring happiness of the common man."W
allace's goal, in common with Russia's, is "the new democ-
racy, the democracy of the common man." This new democracy
"includes not only the Bill of Rights, but also economic democ-
racy, ethnic democracy, educational democracy, and democracy in
the treatment of the sexes," all of which "must be woven together
into a harmonious whole." Of these five types which make up the
harmonious whole of the democracy of the common man,
Wallace finds Russia today to be far superior in four, all but "Bill
of Rights democracy." Let us not imagine that this is a Russian
defect. "Some in the United States"-and the context makes clear
that Wallace numbers himself among them-"believe that we
have over-emphasized what might be called political or Bill-of-
Rights democracy. Carried to its extreme form, it leads to rugged
POLITICS ANDTRUTH 2 41
individuali m, exploitation, impractical emphasis on States' rights,
and event anarchy."
Two m nths before this speech of Wallace's, an interesting
in the
expression f another facet of Bonapartistordered Congress occurred
sudden message by which the President o to pass
new anti-i flation legislation. The President said: "I ask the Con-
gress to to e this action by the first of October. Inaction on your
part by that date will leave me with an inescapable responsibility
to the peo le of the country to see to it that the war effort is no
longer im eriled by threat of economic chaos. In the event that
the Cong ss should fail to act, and act: adequately, I shall accept
the responsibility, and I will act. At the same time that farm
prices arei stabilized, wages can and will be stabilized also. This
I will do . When the war is won, the powers under whic
act autorr atically revert to the people-to whom they belong." In
this shortll passage, there is much rich material for future research
in Unite States constitutional history. It is particularly enlighten-
ing to understand that the Executive, as the directly responsible
agent of the people, is now able to supersede Congress, and that
the pow s under which the Executive is now acting are derived
not frorr. Congressional legislation but, again, directly from the
people- ho, to judge from the implication of the last sentence,
have fort the time being turned them over to the Executive, who
can exercise them as unlimited attorney (if the people had not
given up their powers to the Executive, there would be no` mean ing
in the promise that, after the war, the powers would revert to the
p ogle").
Times, Nov. g,
*My q otations are from the text printed in the New York
1942. As n the case of all derivations, Wallace's words have no correlation what-
ever with the facts. Disregarding the fantastic statements he made about Russian
condition! (which I have not quoted), the above notions about the social con-
sequences of "Bill of Rights democracy" are utter nonsense from the point of
view of istorical science. They are nonetheless significant as expressions of attitudes an
residues.
When we keep in mind the connection between Bonapartism

and the formula of democracy as government by the people, we
should not be surprised by what might otherwise seem to be a
paradoxical political phenomenon: the rapidly growing number
of individuals in this country who may properly be called "demo-
cratic totalitarians." Pathological newspapers like New York's
PM, frustrated poets like Archibald MacLeish, choleric bureau-
crats like Harold Ickes, gutter-columnists, like Walter Winchell,
trying to crawl out of the gutter, guilt-ridden bankers' sons, like
Corliss Lamont, authors, like Walter Millis, trying to lead the
public to forget that once they thought there was something to be
said against war, ambitious detective-story writers, like Rex Stout,
ministers enjoying the platforms that they get from fellow-travel-
ing with the Communist party-these people are, as we can
readily discover from their speeches 'and articles and books, the
most extreme democrats in the country and quite possibly in the
world. In the name of their democracy, they preach the attitudes
of Bonapartism, and they advocate the suppression of the specific
institutions and the specific rights and freedoms that still protect the
individual from the advance of the unbridled state.
Huey Long knew much more about politics than these persons
will ever know. When he said that if fascism destroys democracy
in this country, it will do so in the name of democracy, he was
correctly predicting the role that the democratic totalitarians are
today playing. His opinion, expanded into the language we have
been using, may be put as follows: the Bonapartist development
of the democratic formula of self-government will be used in the
attempt to destroy those concrete individual and social rights
which were once also associated with the idea of democracy.
It should not be imagined that this phenomenon is confined
to the United States. Some people have the naive opinion that
in other countries despotism was established in the name of
despotism, that dictators who were in the process of
destroying
freedom made clear to the people that they were doing just that.
Naturally, i never happens that way. The modern despotisms
have all marched to the tune of "the workers" or "the people."
The Stalini t Constitution of 1936 is, we are assured, the most
democratic in the world. Nazism expresses, according to its own
account, the aspirations and highest freedom of the entire Ger man
people, and, indeed, when Europe begins to get conquered by
Germa , of all European peoples; and would doubtless do the
same for the peoples of the whole world, if Nazi arms should be
fully successful. Honest men have never been able to get an
exclusive p tent on the words of democracy.
Up to is point, the analysis has accepted a definition of

"democracy" in terms of "self-government" or "government by
the people," The analysis holds only for democracy interpreted
in this wa. The truth is, however, that there are other meanings
commonly associated with the word "democracy," which have
nothing tdo with "self-government."
If we ermine, not the verbal definitions that most people, in-
cluding di!! tionary-makers, give for "democracy," but the way in
which the use the word in practical application to affairs of our
time, we will discover that it does not have anything to do with
self-gover ment-which is not surprising, because there is no
such thing. In practice, in the real world rather than the mythical
world of deologies, a "democracy" means a political system in
which there exists "liberty": that is, what Mosca calls "juridical
* One suc meaning, as we have seen, refers to a social structure in which
there is fair rapid class circulation, in which it is relatively easy for members
of the non- ite or their children to rise into the elite. I am not concerned here
with this m aning, which has already been discussed at some length. The Mach-
iaveilians u animously believe that rapid class circulation contributes to the
strength an happiness of a society.
defense," a measure of security for the individual which protects
him from the arbitrary and irresponsible exercise of personally
held power. Liberty or juridical defense, moreover, is summed
up and focused in the right of opposition, the right of oppo-
nents of the currently governing elite to express publicly their
opposition views and to organize to implement those views.
Democracy so defined, in terms of liberty, of the right of op-
position, is not in the least a formula or myth. We will never be
able to decide whether the democratic wills of their respective
peoples are more truly represented by the governments of the
United States and England than by the governments of Japan,
Germany, Russia, and Italy. We cannot decide because the whole
problem is fictitious and the disputes in connection with it purely
verbal.* But it is a fact, an objective and observable fact, that
liberty exists in some societies and not in others; or, more ex-
actly speaking, that it exists more in some societies, less in others.
It is a fact that today there exists more liberty, much more, in
England or the United States, than in Germany, Russia, Italy or
Japan; and it is also a fact that in the United States today there
is less liberty than 15 or even 2 or 3 years ago.
The modern Machiavellians, like Machiavelli himself, do not
waste time arguing the merits or demerits of the myth of democ-
racy defined as self-government. But they are very profoundly
concerned with the reality of democracy defined as liberty. They
know that the degree of liberty present within a society is a fact
of the greatest consequence for the character of the whole social
structure and for the individuals living within that structure.
What does liberty, juridical defense, the right of opposition,
mean for a society? Let us examine the conclusions reached by
* This is the reason, by the way, why democratic statesmen are always getting
themselves into a jam when they promise, as seems to be required by the demo-
cratic formula, that all peoples shall have governments of their own choosing.
Someone can always raise the awkard point that the German people may prefer
Hitler, or the Japanese, the Mikado.
POLITICS AND TRUTH: 245
the Machia ellian analysis of this question. I shall disregard the
effect of th presence or absence of liberty on individual self-
developme (great and significant as this seems to me to be)
because this would lead to problems of subjective moral evalua-
tion which wish to avoid; I shall confine myself to observable
distinctions of a sort that may be called sociological.
Within a y field of human interest, liberty is a necessary con-
dition of ientific advance. This follows because science can
proceed only where there is complete freedom to advance hypoth-
eses contrary to prevailing opinion. Pareto, indeed, considers
liberty to lie an indispensable requirement of scientific method:
"It follows that before a theory can be considered true, it is
virtually i dispensable that there be perfect freedom to impugn
it. Any li itation, even indirect and however remote, imposed
on anyone choosing to contradict it is enough to cast suspicion
upon it. ence freedom to express one's thought, even counter
to the opinion of the majority or of all, even when it offends the
sentiments' of the few or of the many, even when it is generally
reputed absurd or criminal, always proves favorable to the dis-
covery of objective truth." ' It must be added that it is possible
for liberty to remain within restricted scientific fields (the
physical
sciences, for example) even when it has disappeared in political
and social affairs generally. Nevertheless, under such conditions,
its contin ance in the restricted fields would seem to be precari-
ous, as is indicated by the political intervention of modern totali-
tarian go rnments (especially Russia and Germany) to suppress
or lessen iberty in fields like biology, and even physics.
Experie ice seems to show that, almost always, liberty is a con-
dition for an advanced "level of civilization,'"' in the sense that
Mosca u s this expression. That is, liberty is needed to permit
* From ind and Society (568), by Vilfredo Pareto, translated by Arthur
Livingston nd Andrew Bongiorno, copyright, 1935, by Harcourt, Brace and
Company, I C.
the fullest release of the potential social forces and creative im-
pulses present in society, and their maximum development. With
liberty absent, great development may occur along certain re-
stricted lines-in religion, perhaps, or the technique of war, or a
conventionalized art style-but the compulsory conformity to
official opinion limits variety and stulti fies creative freshness not
only in the arts and sciences, but in economic and political a ffairs
as well.
Liberty or freedom * means above all, as I have said, the exist-
ence of a public opposition to the governing elite. The crucial
difference that freedom makes to a society is found in the fact
that the existence of a public opposition (or oppositions) is the
only e ffective check on the power of the governing elite.
The Machiavellians are the only ones who have told us the
full truth about power. Other writers have at most told the truth
only about groups other than the ones for which they themselves
speak. The Machiavellians present the complete record: the pri-
mary object, in practice, of all rulers is to serve their own interest,
to maintain their own power and privilege. There are no excep-
tions. No theory, no promises, no morality, no amount of good
will, no religion will restrain power. Neither priests nor soldiers,
neither labor leaders nor businessmen, neither bureaucrats nor
feudal lords will di ffer from each other in the basic use which
they will seek to make of power. Individual saints, exempt in
individual intention from the law of power, will nevertheless be
always bound to it through the disciples, associates, and followers
to whom they cannot, in organized social life, avoid being tied.
Only power restrains power. That restraining power is ex-
pressed in the existence and activity of oppositions. Oddly and
fortunately, it is observable that the restraining influence of an
opposition much exceeds its apparent strength. As anyone with
* I am using the term "freedom" as equivalent in meaning to "liberty."
experience iti any organization knows, even a small opposition,
provided it really exists and is active, can block to a remarkable
degree the xcesses of the leadership. But when all opposition is
destroyed, t sere is no longer any limit to what power may do. A
despotism, my kind of despotism, can be benevolent only by
accident.
It may, wever, be argued, as it is by anarchists and by the
sectarian w ng of Marxism, that the influence of the opposition
in restraini g the power of the rulers is after all of small im-
portance t the non-elite, to the masses. When an opposition
exists, this cans only that there is a division in the ruling class;
if an "out-e ite" replaces the governing elite, this is only a change
in the pers nnel of the rulers. The masses remain still the ruled.
Why shou d they be concerned? and of what interest is the
whole pro ss for the great majority?
It is tru that the opposition is only a section of the elite as a
whole. It also true that when the opposition takes governing
power thi is only a change of rulers. The demagogues of the
opposition say that their victory will be the triumph of the peo-
ple; but t ey lie, as demagogues always do. Nevertheless, t eh
seeming c nclusion does not follow; it is not true that the ac-
tivities of the oppositions are a matter of indifference for the
masses. Through a curious and indirect route by way of freedom, we
return to self-government, which we were unable to discover by
any di ct path.
The existence of an opposition means a cleavage in the ruling
class. Part of the struggle between sections of the ruling class is
purely in ernal. Maneuvers, intrigues, even assassinations take
place in t e course of the continual jockeying for position. When,
however, e opposition is public, this means that the conflicts
cannot bej solved merely by internal changes in the existing elite.
The opposition is forced to undertake external moves, beyond the
limits of he ruling class. Since rule depends upon the ability to
248 THEMACHLAVELLIANS
control the existing social forces, the opposition seeks to draw
forces to its side, and to win over new leaders who are coming up
from the ranks of society. In this attempt it must promise certain
benefits to various groups; if successful, it must keep at least a
few of the promises. At the same time, the struggle stimulates
new demands by many groups, even by the non-elite. Finally,
the opposition must seek to destroy the prestige of the governing
elite by exposing the inequities of its rule, which it knows much
better than do the masses.
Confronted with this multiple attack, the governing elite, in
order to try to keep control, is in turn compelled to grant certain
concessions and to correct at least some of the more glaring
abuses. The net indirect result of the struggle, which from one
point of view is only a fight among two sets of leaders, can thus
be benefits for large sections of the masses. The masses, blocked
by the iron law of oligarchy from directly and deliberately ruling
themselves, are able to limit and control, indirectly, the power of
their rulers. The myth of self-government is translated into a
measure of reality by the fact of freedom.
These, then, are the primary effects of political liberty, of free-
dom, upon the social structure. However, the question of liberty
does not end, as the Machiavellians again relentlessly show, at
the bare political level. They explain not merely what liberty is,
what it means for society, but also what the conditions are for
its preservation. The right of public opposition to the rulers, the
heart of freedom, will not be kept. alive merely by wishing-and
it is besides very doubtful that a majority of men are much con-
cerned about it one way or the other. It requires the existence in
society of a number of relatively autonomous "social forces," as
Mosca calls them. It demands that no single social force-the
army or liquid wealth or the Church or industrial management
or agriculture or labor or the state machine, whatever it might
be-shall be strong enough to swallow up the rest and thereby
be in a osition to dominate all phases of social life. When this
happens there cannot be a significant opposition to the rulers,
because he opposition cannot have any social weight and there-
fore can of restrain the power of the rulers. It is only when there
are several different major social forces, not wholly subordinated
to any o e social force, that there can be any assurance of liberty,
since on1 then is there the mutual check and balance that is able
to chain ower. There is no one force, no group, and no class that
is the pr , server of liberty. Liberty is preserved by those who are
against t e existing chief power. Oppositions which do not ex press
gen line social forces are as trivial, in relation to entrenched power, a
the old court jesters.
From is point of view we may understand more fully the
political irection of our democratic totalitarians. The state, they
say, whe it is led by their leader-and it will always be, be-
cause the take as their leader the one who happens to be in the
saddle-is the people. Democracy is the supremacy of the people.
Therefore democracy is the supremacy of the state. Whenever
the state absorbs another phase of social life, that is a victory for
democrat). And therefore, more particularly: a serious critic of
the state o its policies is a fifth columnist and a traitor. "Pressure
groups," a they call them-that is, those groups whose activities
simply rep esent the interplay of autonomous social forces, which
is the only foundation for liberty-are saboteurs of democracy.
The Church is fascist if it wants to have its own schools, inde-
pendent of the state-controlled educational system. John L. Lewis
is a Nazi i he refuses to allow his section of the labor movement
to be inte ated into the state labor machinery. Industrial man-
agement is playing the game of the enemy if it points out that
even state ureaus are wrong when they declare that more steel
can be ma e by following abstract political aims than by accept-
ing the co sequences of modern technology. Teachers are spies
if they wis to control, on the claim of expert: knowledge and
250 THEMACi11AVELLIANS
proficiency, the presentation of their subjects. Farmers are slack ers
if they argue that they cannot raise more dairy products with no
hands to milk their cows 'Skeptics are notorious reactionaries if
they doubt, however mildly, that state control will of itself draw
all the viciousness from private monopolies, or free the press
and radio from all distortion of the news.
The policies of the democratic totalitarians are consistent with
each other, and consistent with what they mean by "democracy."
And they are consistent also in being uniformly directed against
the foundations of freedom. Not unity but difference, not the
modern state but whatever is able to maintain itself against the
state, not leaders but the unyielding opponents of leaders, not
conformity with official opinion but persisting criticism, are the
defenses of freedom.
A considerable degree of liberty is not usual in human society.
If we review the history of humanity, so far as we know it, it
is apparent that despotic regimes are far more frequent than
free
regimes, and it would therefore seem that despotism is more
nearly than freedom in accord with human nature. Moreover,
special circumstances of our time count heavily against
freedom.
Pareto shows how the maximum external strength of a com-
munity in its struggle against other communities for survival
need not at all coincide with a maximum of internal welfare for
the members of the community. We are now at a period when
the external struggle for survival is at the most acute possible
juncture. Many sincere men feel that liberty, even though it may
contribute most to internal welfare, cannot stand up against
despotism in the external struggle. Liberty, they argue, means too
much dissipation of energy, too much delay, too much division.
These feelings make it easier for them to accept the loss of liberty
as an inevitable destiny.
Then, in the economic structure, the economic arrangements
which during the past several centuries aided political liberty,
are being apidly swept away. Private-capitalist ownership of the
economy m eant a dispersion of economic power and a partial
separation between economic and other social forces in a manner
that preve ted the concentration of an overwhelming single social
force. To ay the advance of the managerial revolution is every-
where co centrating economic power in the state apparatus,
where it ends to unite with control over the other great social
forces-t army, education, labor, law, the political bureaucracy,
art, and s ience even. This development, too,, tends to destroy the
basis for hose social oppositions that keep freedom alive.
It woul be absurd to deny how much these two factors darken the
prospects of freedom for our time. Nevertheless, I am not yet
convi • iced that they are sufficient to make freedom impossible. The arg
ment that a free structure of society is not so strong externall as
a despotic structure, and therefore must be given up in an ra of
wars and revolutions, seems to me unproved, and not a little
suspicious. Whether valid or not, the argument is certainly a
convenient cover under which a despotic regime may be imposed
pon a free society.
Libert ,, with its right of public opposition, does often delay
decisions and undoubtedly expends social energies on internal
conflicts. Both of these consequences make for external weakness.,,
But it ay well be that this is more than compensated for by
two othe consequences of liberty, as against despotism. Under a
free regi e there is more chance for the development and utiliza-,
tion of c eative forces and individuals that cannot get expression
under a despotism. And, second, public criticism by an opposi-
tion exp ses, and tends to force correction of, mistakes on the
part of e governing elite which might prove fatal if too long
and stu ornly maintained.
The i portance to survival of this, critical function of an op-
position, which can be effective only where freedom is retained,
may be 1llustrated by direct examples, both positive and negative.
On many occasions during the Civil War, the activities of the
extremist "Black Republicans" in Congress were a temporary
handicap; but it is very doubtful that the North would
have
won the war if it had not been for their bitter and relentless
criticism of the Administration and the compromisers. During
the War of 1914, a wider leeway for public opposition would al-
most surely have forced the British leadership to adopt the tank
at least a year sooner than it did, with a probable consequent
saving of many lives, and a quicker victory. In the present War,
Germany might well have avoided some grave strategic errors,
particularly in connection with the Russian campaigns, if a
measure of freedom in Germany had permitted the existence of
an active, public opposition. In this country, the extreme air-
power advocates have not made their total view acceptable; but
their vigorous public propaganda has undoubtedly been a major
influence in correcting somewhat the hopelessly out-dated views
that prevailed at the top of the armed forces'and the Administra-
tion. Without the public criticism of the production program,
especially in steel, oil, and rubber, and the critical work of the
Congressional investigating committees, the internal war pro-
gram would by now be close to collapse.
As for the economic threat, it would seem to be true that, since
economic power comprises in all so large a percentage of total
social power, the full concentration of all economic power in a
centralized state apparatus would necessarily destroy the founda-
tions of liberty. This conclusion, demonstrated theoretically by
the modern Machiavellians, has been proved empirically by the
history of the Soviet Union. No other social force can, under
such circumstances, retain sufficient independence to support lib-
erty. All social forces are either eliminated or absorbed by the
centralized state. Private-capitalist property rights in the instru-
ments of production meant-even under trust or monopoly con-
ditions in many branches of industry-a sufficient fragmentation
of econ is power to provide a basis for freedom. Nevertheless,
it does of follow that the elimination of private-capitalist prop-
erty rig is must do away with every possible basis for political
freedom Freedom or liberty, in the specific meaning that is be-
ing give to these terms in this chapter, has existed, at least in
some d ree, along with economic structures which were not.
capitalis under slave or feudal structures, for example. Free-
dom dos require that all economic power should not be central-
ized, bu there are other means than capitalist property rights to
prevent such centralization.
During the past generation, capitalist property rights have in
any cas been becoming more and more nominal. If they were
largely one away with, if most property rights in the instru-
ments o production were vested formally in the state, economic
power c uld still be divided. The state itself, for instance, could
be decentralized. Or the economic forces could be divided along
functional or syndicalist lines: management, workers, consumers,
or diffe ing branches of industry, could operate as separate or-
ganized groups with relative independence. Instead of the old
capitalist economic market, constituted by the operations of in-
dividual owners, there would be a new kind of market con-
stituted by the operations of the functional and syndicalist groups
as unitsll and by the various relevant institutions of the state. A
develop ent of this kind, far from being a fantasy, is already
prepare m for in many respects by the structural economic changes
of rece decades.
The Marxists and the democratic totalitarians claim that free-
dom ca now be secured only by concentrating all social forces
and es cially economic forces in the state which, when they or
their fri nds are running it, they identify with the people. The
conserv Live spokesmen for the old-line capitalists claim that
freedo is bound up with capitalist private property and can
therefor be secured only by returning to private capitalism.
The
two groups are, though for different reasons, both wrong; or,
rather, their arguments and programs are both simply myths
that express, not movements for political liberty, but a contest for
control over the despotic and Bonapartist political order which they
both anticipate. The concentration of all social forces in the state
would in fact destroy all possibility of freedom. On the other
hand, it is false that capitalist private property is the only
foundation for political freedom; and it is in any case impossible to
return to private capitalism.
We cannot, I think, state with any assurance what chances
freedom has for surviving during the next historical 'period. But
we do know something of the conditions under which it is pos-
sible for freedom to survive. We know that its fate will not be
decided by the war nor by economic changes alone nor even by
the general character of the great social revolution through which
we are traveling. Political freedom is the resultant of unresolved
conflicts among various sections of the elite. The existence of these
conflicts is in turn correlated with the interplay of diverse social
forces that preserve at least a considerable degree of independence.
The future of liberty will, therefore, depend upon the extent to
which, whether by necessary accident or conscious design, society
is kept from freezing.
3. Can Politics Be Scientific?
DURING THE '8th and 19th centuries, and still in many quar-
ters at t present time, theorists have raised the question whether
politics
4an be scientific. It has generally been assumed that an
affirmati e answer would be a ground for optimism: that is, if
politics ould be and were scientific, it has been assumed that
this would contribute to the welfare of mankind. John Dewey, the
leading American philosopher, and his followers continue to debate
this problem, to give an affirmative answer, and to main tain an
titude of social optimism.
It was natural that the question should be raised. From the
'6th cent ry on, the application of scientific method to one after
another field of human interest, other than social affairs, has
f i uniforml resulted in human triumphs with respect to those
elds. In levery field, science has solved relevant problems;
in-
deed, scie ce is in one sense merely the systematic method for
solving relevant problems. If this is the case with mathematics,
astronom , physics, chemistry, geology, why
should it not also
be with s ciety? Why could
we not solve the most important
problems of all, those of soci al andpolitical life, by applying
science?
These h pes in science reflected a wider optimism, both about
what scie e could do and about the possibilities of social
prog ress, whit
, from the point of view of the social achievements of
the '8th aid 19th centuries, seemed unlimited. In our time an
anti-scienti c attitude has been forming, at least toward the ques-
tion of applying science to society, This, in turn, seems to reflect
a pessimism both about what science can do and about all
255
utopian social ideals. The idea of progress is running the usual
course from self-evident article of faith to empty illusion.
Let us try to answer this question by reference to the facts,
without attempting to justify an attitude of either optimism or
pessimism. Granted the facts, optimism and pessimism are, after
all, a matter of temperament. It is at once apparent that the
broad question, "Can politics be scientific?" is ambiguous. It
must be resolved into several more precise questions before an-
swers become possible. The three of these with which I shall
deal are the following: (i) Can there be a science of politics
(and of society, since politics is a phase of social life) ? (2) Can
the masses act scientifically in political affairs? (3) Can the elite,
or some section of the elite, act scientifically in political affairs?
The first of these narrower questions can be answered easily

and with assurance: Yes, there can be a science of politics and
of society. There is no insuperable obstacle to such a science. It
is certainly the case that in the field of political and social affairs
there are observable events. These events may be recorded and
systematically described. On the basis of the observations, we
may formulate generalizations and hypotheses. These can then
be tested through predictions about future events, or about the
results of further research. In order to make a science possible in
any field, nothing further is required.
Of course it may be readily granted that there are serious prac-
tical difficulties in the way of social and political science. It is
often argued that the subject-matter-human group actions-is
extremely complicated; and this is so, though the subject-matter
of a number of the other sciences is also rather complicated. A
more direct and peculiar difficulty consists in the unwillingness
of men to adopt a scientific attitude toward the study of political
and social events, or to apply the canons of scientific procedure.
"Sentiment," as Pareto would call it, interferes. A physicist would
POLITICS ANTI TRUTH 257
in
f d it udicrous if every treatise in his field habitually included
a plan for curing the ills of mankind, and selected facts-and
i fctions-with the chief aim of proving the desirability of that
plan. get, in 99% of the articles and books which pretend to
tell us he way society works, such a method is accepted, with-
out Co ment, as normal. More particularly and deliberately, the
public pplication of scientific method to politics is interfered
with b1 those who are powerful. They do not want genuine
politics knowledge to be available, and they block freedom of
inquiry whenever it threatens, as it so often threatens, to under-
mine t eir power. From the time of the Greek sophists until
today, veryone who, by objective inquiry, discloses some of the
truth arbout power has been denounced by official opinion as
subver ve.
Beca se of these obstacles, which do not seem to be temporary,
we sh uld not expect too much in the way of results from
politica and social science. Nevertheless, such a science is not a
mere t eoretical possibility. We have already at our disposal a
science of society, incomplete and undeveloped no doubt, but
actual. The truths so far discovered by this science are of two
kinds.
Fairy exact results have been obtained about problems of
limited range. When care is taken not to project the conclusions
too far beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries within which
the data have been gathered, statistical conclusions dealing with
mortal ty, diseases, certain economic facts, suicide, crime, literacy,
trade movements, all illustrate these results. They are the primary
and most fruitful achievement of academic social research.
At the other end, rough laws have been discovered about large-
scale Ad long-term social and political movements. These are
the achievement of, for example and outstandingly, the Machi-
avellia s; many instances are given in this book. However, most
of the may also be found (often somewhat differently worded,
but similar in content) in the works of other social scientists
from the time of Karl Marx * onward.
We have available, indeed, much more knowledge about so-
ciety than is ordinarily recognized-and far more than is ever
used. There is a widespread misunderstanding about the nature
of scientific knowledge, partly fostered by academic scientists
who prefer their profession to remain an esoteric cult. The state-
ments, for example, that bodies when unsupported fall toward
the surface of the earth and that water runs down hill, are a
long way from the mathematically formulated law of gravity.
Interpreted literally, they are in fact false, as the behavior of
feathers and airplanes and siphons and pumps shows. Neverthe-
less, they are genuinely scientific, and, at a somewhat crude level
of experience, they may properly be considered true. They are
what Pareto calls "first approximations," and correctly enough
generalize a vast number of observable facts. Moreover, they are
very useful pieces of knowledge as guides to deliberate action.
We may, on their basis, be advised to take pains to avoid a stone
if we see it toppling over a building or a cliff above us; or to
build a house or a village below rather than above a spring if
we want the water to flow in. It would seem rather pedantic for
an expert in physics to tell us, first, that our crude generalization
about falling bodies is absolutely false because there are facts (as
there are) which disagree with it; and, second, that therefore we
have no right, on the basis of such falsity, to step aside from the
path of the stone. This, however, is just the way that some of the
academic experts reason and advise about social matters.
We have at our disposal a considerable body of knowledge of
this "first approximation" sort. One example would be the rough
* Pareto had little use for Marx' economic theories, which he considered for
the most part absurd metaphysics. However, in Les systemes socialistes, he writes:
"The sociological part of Marx' work is, from a scientific standpoint, far superior
to the economic part." (Vol. IT, p. 386.) In particular he notes that the concep-
tion of the class st ru ggle is "profoundly true" (Vol. IT, p. 393).
laws of social revolution which we have examined in their ap-
plicatio to the present "period; or the summary list of Machiav el-
lian pri ciples stated at the beginning of this Part, as well as
innurime able applications which can be made of these principle s.
There i enough knowledge at hand to have enabled us to realiz e
that the Kellogg Pact was powerless to prevent war, and that the
"Stimso doctrine" of non-recognition of territorial changes made
by force never has and never will stop changes from being made
by force Professional New York gamblers, it is interesting to
note, have never since the Civil War been wrong about the out-
come of a Presidential election, We know enough to be able
to say nctw that there will almost certainly be a terrific economic
crisis shgrtly after the end of the present war -though this ex-
pectation will be carefully obscured by the p arties at interest.
We can jredict, with reasonable assurance, tha t the public debt
of this ar d of almost all other countries will eith er be repudiated
outright, or reduced indirectly through a lowe ring of interest
rates, inflation, or some other similar device. Re asoning on the
analogy
f comparable historical periods, we may conclude that
the trendy away from private capitalism is irreversible.
Our sci ntific statements about social matters must often, it is
true, be p it in conditional form: if other things remain the same,
if such-an
-such does not take place, then so-and-so will probably
happen. There is,
however, an implied condition in most if
not all the statements within all the sciences.) Thus we now may
know, with considerablerobabiliptythat: if th,e state absorbs
under cen ralized control all major social forces, then political
*I base this statement on my personal knowledge from the Harding (1920)
election on; nd, for the elections prior to 1920, on the memory and research of
Jack Doyle, who was, until his death in D ecember, 1942, the utstanding au-
thority in this field. He had been unable to trace the record back beyond the
Civil War. During most of the 1916
campaign, the professional odds favored
Hughes; but they were changed to fav or Wilson forty-eight hours before the
election took ,place.
liberty will disappear; if, after this war, Europe is again divided
into a considerable number of independent sovereign states, then
a new war will begin in Europe within a comparatively short
time; if the present plan of military strategy (i.e., submarine at-
trition warfare, and "island-hopping") continues unchanged in
the East, then Japan will not be definitely crushed for many,
many years, and perhaps never; if the present Administration
plans to remain in office after 1944, then it will have to curtail
political liberty further; and so on. Such knowledge and much
more is available: available but not, of course, used.
Let us turn to the second question into which we have analyzed

the general problem of science and politics: can the masses act
scientifically in political affairs? To act scientifically would mean
to act "logically" in Pareto's sense; that is, to select, consciously
and deliberately, real goals (goals which are not transcendental
or fanciful or impossible), and then to take practical steps which
are, in fact, appropriate for reaching those goals. The goals might
be peace or a higher level of material prosperity or economic
equality-though conceivably they might be quite different: war
or conquest or moral license; we should not make the mistake
of supposing that everyone really wants the things that moralists
say they ought to want. In any case, the goals would be explicit,
deliberately chosen; and the actions would really achieve or at
least approach the goals.
This question, as Professor Dewey has often shown, is very
similar to the question whether full and genuine self-government
of the masses by themselves is possible. For a group to act scien-
tifically presupposes that its decisions are reached on a democratic
basis, because otherwise the decisions are not deliberate from the
point of view of the group itself. In concluding that self-govern-
ment of the masses is impossible, it therefore also follows that it
is impossible for the masses to act scientifically in political affairs.
POLITICS ANDTRUTH
261
The I achiavellian analysis, confirmed and re-confirmed by the
evidenc of history, shows that the masses simply do not think
scientifi ally about political and social aims; and that, even if
they di the technical and administrative means for implement-
ing their scientific thought would necessarily be lacking. Beliefs,
ideals, d sometimes influence the political actions of the masses;
these are not, however, scientific beliefs and ideals, but myths or
derivati ns.
There�is, moreover, no reason to expect a change in this respect
in the f 1 eseeable future. During the rgth century it was thought
by mane,. that universal education would enable the masses to be
scientific about politics and thereby reach a perfect democracy.
This ex}ectation has proved unfounded. In most great nations,
illiteracy! has been almost done away with. Nevertheless, the
masses aIt no more scientifically today than a century or a mil-
lennium ago. In political affairs, the scientific potentialities of
wider lit racy have been more than counter-balanced by the new
opportunities which mass education gives to non-scientific propa-
ganda. A t the same time, the ever-increasing size and complexity
of mode n social structures raise constantly new technical ob-
stacles t the direct application of scientific procedures by the
masses t their own political problems.
Many modern politicians habitually tell the people that "their
fate is in their own hands," they rule themselves, they make the
f i nal andfundamental decisions, they are the court of last appeal.
Remarks of this kind are all derivations expressing some variant
of the d mocratic formulas. Their real purpose is to enable the
politician, while ruling in their own interests, to protect their
regime b the moral sanction of the myth of the popular will.
An honest statement to the masses, which by the nature of the
case a po itician cannot give, would have to say: you cannot rule
yourselve distrust all leaders, and above all those who tell you
that they are merely expressing or representing your will; erect
262 THEWMACH IAVi':LLIANS
and cherish every possible safeguard against the unchecked exer-
cise of power. Even though such statement is never made,
there are many among the masses who understand its meaning
without being told. The great anti-fascist novelist, Ignazio Silone,
writes: * "The cafone [which may be approximately translated
as `small farmer' or `sharecropper'] is by no means primitive; in
one sense he is overcivilized. The experience of generations makes
'him believe that the State is merely a better organized Camorra
[i.e., racket]. . Marx often speaks of the peasants as having
torpid minds, but what did he know about them? I imagine that
he watched them in the marketplace at Trier and observed that
they were sullen and tongue-tied. He would not stop to think
that they had assumed this role deliberately." An American Silone
might mention, in the same connection, groups of farmers or
industrial workers who passively listen, one day, to patriotic
rhetoric about "equal sacrifice"; and, the next, demand higher
prices or wages. It is by adopting attitudes of this kind that the
masses come closest to being scientific about politics.
It is ludicrous for the authors of books like this one-that is,
serious books about society-to pretend to speak to "the people."
The great bulk of the people in this country neither buys nor
reads any books at all-thereby avoiding a great quantity of
nonsense. The potential audience for this sort of book is, as
statistics show, limited to a comparatively small section of the
e'lite4 The absurdity does not at all prevent the authors from
covering page after page with rhetorical advice to the masses
about what they can and should do to run society for their own
welfare and interest.
The words of the politicians do, however, reach the masses;
and when the politicians say these things, it is not absurd but
"The New Republic, Nov. 2, 1942.
t The average sale is less than 2,000 copies, with a rare maximum of 40,000
or 50,000.
POLITICSANDTRUTH
2 63
ominous. When it is accepted that the rulers rule as the mere
agents for the will of the masses, then their rule becomes
irresponsi e. The rulers are no longer personally accountable for
their a tions: they may go to war, persecute, steal, violate
freedoms, ail to prepare for social or military crises, and yet
never be bro ght to task for whatever crime or failure-they have
only, they sa , carried out the people's will; if the masses are
stupid or selfi h or easy-going or short-sighted, who are their
humble rulers t be blamed? * Small wonder that rulers do not
encourage the growth of a science of politics!
There remains, then, the question whether some sections of

the elit can act scientifically about political affairs. It is necessary
to raise the question in this modified form, rather than about the
elite as i whole, because the elite is not ordinarily a homogeneous
group.
There e is little doubt that an individual can conduct his political
affairs scientifically or logically. For example, an individual,
granted certain capacities and some luck, can decide to rise in the
soc' 1 scale, and can take appropriate steps that will have a fair cha
ce of achieving that aim. In some cases, individuals can, by
deliberate scientific means, rise into the very top rank of
social a lid political power.
It is t be observed in these latter cases that ordinarily the single
individual is not operating as an isolated unit. There are asso-
ciated with him various other individuals, together forming a
group ore or less large. The most conspicuous individual may
become premier or king or dictator; but power is really acquired
by the group, not by any single individual. Nowadays these
This is the underlying thesis of the State Department's "White Paper,"
Peace an War, which was issued in January, 1943. As the magazine, Life, cor-
rectly notes: it justifies itself for doing what [the State Department claims th at]
the peopl wanted by proving that the Department knew all along that what
the people wanted was wrong."
groups will include, as a rule, certain experts in propaganda, pub lic
relations, and organizational skills, as well as one or more
"theoreticians."
This sort of group constitutes a section of the elite, and there
seems in general to be no reason why sections of the elite can not
function scientifically, at least within limits.
The inability of the masses to function scientifically in politics
rests primarily on the following factors: the huge size of the mass
group, which makes it too unwieldy for the use of scientific tech-
niques; the ignorance, on the part of the masses, of the methods
of administration and rule; the neces"sity, for the masses, of spend-
ing most of their energies on the bare making of a living, which
leaves little energy or time for gaining more knowledge about
politics or carrying out practical political tasks; the lack, in most
people, of a sufficient degree of those psychological qualities-
ambition, ruthlessness, and so on-that are prerequisites for ac-
tive political life.
The deficiences can all be overcome in the case of sections of
the elite. These are comparatively small in size. Their members
can and do acquire a good deal of knowledge about administra-
tion and rule. Since their members either inherit or discover a
way of extracting a living from others without too much effort
on their own part, they have available time and energy in which
to cultivate political skills. They are careful not to overburden
their ranks with squeamish idealists. There would thus seem to
be no theoretic reason why sections of the elite should not be
scientific about political affairs. If our reference is to the govern-
ing elite, we are asking whether rulers can rule scientifically;
and the answer would seem to be that, up to a certain point, they
can. We may add that, at certain periods in certain societies, they
have done so, or come close to it.
What exactly would this mean, for the rulers or some other
section of the elite to be scientific about political affairs? And, if
they were, would it be to the benefit of society as a whole?
It would mean, as always when conduct is scientific, that the
section in question wouldpursue consciouslud ynerstoo d and
deliberately chosen goals. The goals would have to b e rea an l d
possible. From these conditions it follows that the ch oice of al-
ternativeE goals would be confined within very narrow limits. All
utopias T ould be excluded, all those mirages of permanent and
universals peace and plenty and joy. Moreover, since the general
pattern of social development is determined by technological
change a d by other factors quite beyond the likelihood of
human
control, scientific elite would have to accept that general pat-
tern. It s an illusion, in i8oo, to think that society could revive
the social structure appropriate to the pre-steam-engine era; so
today is an illusion to dream that the 19th century structure
can be re ained on the technological basis of the assembly line,
the airpla e, electricity, and radio. From this point of view, we
may say that a scientific elite would have to be "opportunist"not
in the narrower sense in which opportunism means taking the
easiest course today with no clear thought of tomorrow, but in the
bro der perspective of not trying to buck the main stream of
development, not fighting for causes that are already lost when
the attle begins.
In short a scientific ruling group would not guide itsolitilpca
actions b y myths. We must, however, repeat that our concern is
only with apolitical actions. Just as a man thoroughly scientific
in the fief of physics can accept the most naive myths in the
f i eld of po itics, so can another whose political actions are con-
sistently sc entific nevertheless believe all sorts of myths in other
f i elds. We find a remarkable demonstration of this in the history
of the Cat f' Cho is urch. The upper hierarchy of the Church ad-
vocates and presumably believes very many non-scientific theories.
However, nce the time when St. Augustine made the wonder-
fully useful distinction between the "City of God" and the "City of
Man," this has not prevented the hierarchy, on frequent
occasions and sometimes for centuries together, from acting
scientifically in the field of organization and politics.
We have seen that the primary real goal of every ruling group
is the maintenance ' of its own power and privilege. Scientific
conduct on the part of the group would not destroy this social
fact, but, on the contrary, would require the group to recognize
it frankly, and to take appropriate steps to insure power and
privilege. Would it not seem, then, that scientific rulers would be
the worst of all, that a scientific ruling class would mean in
practice an eternal tyranny? Should the ruled not rather
rejoice
at every error, every illusion, every absurdity of the rulers?
Under some circumstances this would undoubtedly be the
sensible attitude on the part of the ruled. Nevertheless, there is
often a certain correlation between the interests of the ruler and
the ruled in spite of the fact that the primary goal of the rulers
is to serve their own interest. Examples are not at all hard to
f i nd. Everyone will doubtless admit that James C. Petrillo runs
the Musicians' Union first of all to his own benefit; and, if the
published reports of his salary and other perquisites of office are
correct, he does very well by himself. However, it is also plain
enough that his regime has greatly improved the economic lot
of the musician members of the union. During the 5th century
in Athens, or 'in the Roman Empire, the ruled and the rulers
flourished together and together met disaster, and so it often
happens. The fate of an entire society is frequently-whether
one
likes it or not, and unjust as it may seem usually to be-bound
up with the fate of its ruling class. The collapse of the French
ruling class a few years ago meant a harsh tragedy for the entire
French people, blameless as the French masses might properly
be considered from a moral standpoint. Surely it would have
been better for the French people if they had been ruled by an
POLITICS ANA TRUTH 267
elite ich knew its business, knew, among other things, how
to kee itself in social power, and which was firm enough to
take t e necessary steps to do so. If the generals are no good,
the ar y will be defeated; but the soldiers also-in fact, primarily
-will be the ones who are slaughtered. A society--a city or a
nation or an empire-may become as a whole so thoroughly
rotten hat it is better that it should be destroyed as a social
organi ; but this too is seldom fortunate for the individual
memb rs of the society, ruled as well as rulers.
The lessons of history show that a ruling class can seldom con-
tinue 1 ng in power unless it is prepared to open its ranks to
able and ambitious newcomers from below. A scientific ruling
class will therefore keep its ranks open; and this will also be
to the benefit of the ruled both in providing an outlet for dynamic
indivi als, and even more through permitting a greater expan-
sion of creative social energies. Political liberty, too, in the longer
run, usually aids both rulers and ruled. We have already seen
that th s is so from the point of view of the ruled; from the side
of the ulers, liberty is a safeguard against bureaucratic degenera-
tion, a check on errors, and a protection against revolution.
If a considerable section of the elite proceeded more or less
scientifically, catastrophic revolutions would be much less likely.
It may not be so immediately clear that the elimination of revo-
lutions would promote the welfare of society as a whole. The
net resift of at least some revolutions would seem to be to the
benefit of the masses, at least when measured against the old
regime. However, the point is that a scientific ruling class could
avoid catastrophic revolution not by stopping revolutionary
change in society but only by guiding the change, controlling it,
and thus bringing it about in a more orderly manner. Catas-
trophe revolutions occur when the conditions that require a
drastic change in the social structure are present but the changes
themselves are blocked; then, sooner or later, they burst out in
full eruption. There is seldom anything inevitable about this
process. The broad changes will take place in any event. If they
can be carried through without the immeasurable blood and
terror and brutality and chaos which are the sure accompani-
ments of modern mass revolutions, there are few who would be
losers. But revolutions will nonetheless certainly come if their
causes are not removed; and only a responsible leadership, under-
standing the laws of society and acting on that understanding,
ready to sacrifice as it would have to sacrifice many of its own
immediate interest;, and blessed, moreover, with not a little luck
besides, would hav, a chance of removing those causes.
It should not be ii agined that even the most thoroughly scien-
tific procedures on the part of a ruling class could "solve" all
the problems of society. We have already remarked that the
broad patterns of social change are established by factors beyond
deliberate human control. Scientific action could, therefore, make
a difference only within the framework of these general patterns.
Many important social problems-permanent peace or permanent
economic prosperity, for example-are very probably insoluble.
Moreover, a scientific ruling class could never hope to do more
than make the best possible use of what was at its disposal: if it
led a nation poor in resources and numbers, it and its society
might still be crushed no matter how brilliantly scientific its
leadership.
However much might be accomplished, for itself and for the
society it led, by a scientific elite, there are obstacles in the way of
scientific political action by an elite, which, if they are not quite
insuperable as in the case of the masses, are nevertheless very
formidable. It is in general, as we have repeatedly seen, exceed-
ingly difficult for men to be scientific, or logical, about social and
political problems. If the elite has an advantage over the masses
in this respect through the possession of more knowledge, more
time free from the burden of getting food and shelter, and no
doubt certain talents also, the members of the elite, in partial

compen ation, are subject to the inescapable corruptions of power
and pri ilege. Those who have privileges almost always develop
false or distorted ideas about themselves. They are under a com-
pulsion o 'deceive themselves as well as others through some kind
of irra nal theory which will seek to justify their monopoly of
those p ivileges, rather than to explain the annoying truths about
how the privileges are in fact acquired and held.
A dilemma confronts any section of the elite that tries to act
scientifi ally. The political life of the masses and the cohesion of
society !demand the acceptance of myths. A scientific attitude
toward lisociety does not permit belief in the truth of the myths.
But thi leaders must profess, indeed foster, belief in the myths,
or the fabric of society will crack a nd they be overthrown. In
short, t e leaders, if they themselves are scientific, must lie. It is
hard t lie all the time in public but to keep privately an ob-
jective regard for the truth. Not only is it hard; it is often in-
effectiv , for lies are often not, convincing when told with a di-
vided eart. The tendency is for the deceivers to become self-
deceiv , to believe their own myths. When this happens, they are
no ion er scientific. Sincerity is bought at the price of truth.
In t light of these obstacles and this tragic dilemma, it would
seem t at the possibility of scientific political action, even on the
part o a section of the elite, which is itself only a small section
of soci ty, depends upon favorable and temporary circumstances.
From y own acquaintance with history, I should say that these
have en most nearly realized at certain periods in the history
of Ro e, of the Catholic Church, of the Venetian Republic, and
of England. They have evidently not existed, up to now, in the
presen century. Our leaders-not only the governing elites but
those other sections of the elites, such as that grown out of the
labor ovement, which have been moving toward increased
power, are for the most part non-scientific and even anti-
scien-
tific in their handling of major social issues, while at the same
time they have adopted scientific techniques in dealing with
narrower problems of mass-manipulation. The programs which
they profess, as well as those upon which they act, are devoid of
reality in their failure to recognize the general pattern of our
age. They are content not simply with myths, but with remnants
of outworn myths. They admit no responsibility except to the
fiction of the mass, which is only the projection of their own
unloosed will to power. Proceeding in this manner, with the
material resources devised by physical science at their disposal,
they have brought civilization to the most shattering crisis of
recorded history.
It is probable that civilized society will, somehow, survive. It
will not survive, however, if the course of the ruling class con-
tinues in the direction of the present, and of the past forty years.
In that direction thee' lies destruction of rulers and ruled alike.
But, during the monstrous wars and revolutions of our time, there
has already begun 66'a vast scale a purge of the ranks of the
ruling class. That purge, and the recruitment of new leaders
which accompanies it, may be" expected to continue until they
bring about a change in the present course. Though the change
will never lead to the perfect society of our dreams, we may hope
that it will permit human beings at least that minimum of moral
dignity which alone can justify the strange accident of man's
existence.

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All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must

Manufactured in the United States of America

I Part I.-- DANTE: POLITICS As WISH

r. The Formal Meaning of De Monarchia 3

2. T het Real Meaning of De Monarchia II

3. The; Typical Method of Political Thought 23

part II .-MACHIAVELLI: THE SCIENCE OF POWER

i. Ma ihiavelli's Practical Goal 29

4. Machiavelli's Conception of History 62

r. The Machiavellian Tradition SI

2. Thf Ruling Class 87

3. Composition and Character of the Ruling Class 95

4. Tendencies in the Ruling Class 102

5. The Best and Worst Governments 107

Part IV.- SOREL: A NOTE ON MYTH AND VIOLENCE

Part V.-MICHELS: THE LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY

r. Michels' Problem 135

Part VI .-PARETO: THE NATURE OF SOCIAL ACTION

2. Residues and Derivations 183

Part VII.- POLITICS AND TRUTH

2. The Meaning of Democracy 236

Dante Alighieri, besides the most wonderful poem ever writ-

the brother of Frederic, the Hohenstaufen Conrad, who was in

Now Florence, Dante's own seething, rich, dynamic city, the

ber of the Buondelmonti family. "This Murder divided the whole

Naples,: and desirous to strengthen himself against the Church;

We a!e now in a position to understand the real meaning of De

3. The Typical Method of Political Thought

IT IS EASY to dismiss De Monarchia as having a solely his-'

DANT 'S De Monarchia is in no respect a scientific study of

Again unlike Dante 's ideals, this goal of Machiavelli's is ap-

Machiavelli concluded that Italy could be unified only through

Almost all commentators on Machiavelli say that his principal

MACHIAVELLI'S METHOD is the method of science applied

of his Friends,-rather than by his own proper Power and Arms.

THERE AVE BEEN many critical discussions about Machia-

A Note of Machiavelli's Terminology

In under tanding Machiavelli, there are confusions that may re sult

The ruler-type, then, is not distinguished by Machiavelli from

MACHIAVELLI DOES NOT have a systematically worked out

i. Political life, according to Machiavelli, is never static, but in

2. Tie recurring pattern of change expresses the more or less

3. Machiavelli assigns a major function in political affairs to

4. Machiavelli believes that religion is essential to the well-being

5. We hive already seen that Machiavelli's chief immediate

the creation of those Tribunes. Nor can I forbear saying some-

"To some perhaps my name is odious,

Y this views that

MACHI#ELLI LIVED and wrote during a great social revo-

Gaetano Mosca, like all Machiavellians, rejects any monistic

IT IS CHt RACTERISTIC of Machiavellian political analysis

WITHIN ALL RULING CLASSES, Mosca shows that it is

durancel On the other hand, modern England, during many

MOSCA, like Machiavelli, doe's not stop with the descriptive