blished, realised, and undoubted right; and so
instead of being stumbling-blocks one to another they find in their
mutual connection their most lasting guarantee. But since such
guarantees should lie in the institutions themselves the authority of
the State becomes neither necessary nor justifiable for the carrying
out of this revolution.

But why should revolution from above be impossible? The doctrine of
antithesis, applied to politics, implies freedom and order. The first
is realised by revolution, the second by government. Thus there is
here a contradiction; for the government can never become
revolutionary for the very simple reason that it is a government. But
society alone--that is, the masses of the people when permeated by
intelligence--can revolutionise itself, because it alone can express
its free will in a rational manner, can analyse and develop and unfold
the secret of its destination and its origin, and alter its beliefs
and its philosophy.

"Governments are the scourge of God, introduced in order to keep the
world in discipline and order. And do you demand that they should
annihilate themselves, create freedom, and make revolutions? That is
impossible. All revolutions, from the anointing of the first king to
the declaration of the Rights of Man, have been freely accomplished by
the spirit of the people. Governments have always hindered, oppressed,
and crushed them to the ground. They have never made a revolution. It
is not their function to produce movements but to keep them back. And
even if they possessed revolutionary science--which is a contradiction
of terms--they would be justified in not making use of it. They must
first let their knowledge be absorbed by the people in order to
receive the support of the citizens, and that would mean to refuse to
acknowledge the existence of authority and power."

It follows through this that the organisation of work by the State--as
was attempted by Fourier, Louis Blanc, and their followers in a more
or less remote degree--is an illusion, and on this theory revolution
can only take place through the initiative of the people
itself--"through the unanimous agreement of the citizens, through the
experience of the workmen, and through the progress and growth of
enlightenment."

We here have laid bare the yawning gulf which lies between Proudhon
and the State Socialism of his time, and over this gulf there is no
bridge. We see how from these premises has been dev