7 /10 1 Votes
Country France Publication date 1908–1912 | 3.5/5 Goodreads Language French Originally published 1908 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Original title Réflexions sur la violence Preceded by The Decomposition of Marxism Genres Economics, Political philosophy Similar On Violence, The War in the Air, From Georges Sorel, Les Rustiques, War and the American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reflections on Violence (Réflexions sur la violence) is a book by French revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel that was published in 1908. Sorel argues that the success of the proletariat in class struggle depended on the creation of a catastrophic and violent revolution achieved through a general strike.
One of Sorel's most controversial statements claimed that violence could save the world from barbarism. He equates violence with life, creativity, and virtue.
A major contention argued by Sorel in the book is on the importance of myths as "expressions of will to act". He supports the creation of an economic system run by and for the interests of producers rather than consumers. Sorel's philosophical influences for the material in the book derive from Giambattista Vico, Blaise Pascal, Ernest Renan, Friedrich Nietzsche, Eduard von Hartmann, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, John Henry Newman, Karl Marx, Alexis de Tocqueville and others.