Jacques Ellul - The Political Illusion

L. C. Catalog Card number: 66-19375

Copyright 1967 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Distributed by Random House, Inc. Published simultaneously in Toronto, Canada, by Random House of Canada Limited.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

Originally published in French as L'Illusion politique 1965 by Robert Laffont

TO

Bernard Charbonneau,

my friend

The Political Illusion is the third of Jacques Ellul's books to be presented to the American public. The first, The Technological Society, was essentially an overview of the conflict between technology and human freedom; the second, Propaganda, showed how modern man, surrounded and seized by propaganda, more often than not surrenders himself to it only too willingly even in democracies, even if he is educated; this third volume, The Political Illusion, examines modern man's passion - political affairs - and the role he plays in them and in the modern state.

As before, Ellul uses logic rather than facts, though he illustrates his thoughts with many examples and quotations (thus remaining within the web of contemporary thought on his subject). And he concludes that all facets of political activity as we know it today are a kaleidoscope of interlocking illusions, the most basic of which are the illusions of popular participation, popular control, and popular problem-solving in the realm ofpolitics.

The first great evil from which most other evils spring politization (the act of suffusing everything with politics and dragging it into the political arena). In our modern world, contrary to what was the rule in all previous ages, everything is politized: men seek political solutions for everything, whether the problem be freedom or justice or peace or prosperity or happiness.

Anything not political does not arouse widespread interest; it is not accorded any independent existence in our politized world.

As a result of this politization of all aspects of life and of the orientation of all thought of all thought and energy toward politics, men increasingly turn to the state for a solution of their problems, though the state could not solve them if it tried. And everywhere in the world this increasing inclination to turn to the state leads to three evils: boundless inflation of the state's size and power; increasing dependence on it by the individual; and decreasing control over it by the "people" who think they control it, whereas in reality they merely surrender all their powers to it.

This state, then, engages in politics. But even though the state ceaselessly talks through the mass media - through those who represent it, whether they are democratically elected or not-of noble things and cherished values, momentous decisions and great goals, essentially it deals with tinder. Two things limit all its political endeavors: on the one hand, politics inexorably follows certain patterns over which the politicians have absolutely no control - they do what they must; on the other, where a certain margin of freedom of action remains, they deal with ephemeral, basically unimportant things that are made to seem important for public consumption. The political leaders merely manipulate the images among which modern man dwells. Whereas in the Middle Ages man had direct knowledge of the limited range of things that concerned him, he now lives in a world of images reflecting faraway places, people, and conditions brought to him as "information' by the mass media. This universe is not, Ellul says, a tissue of lies, "but it permits any and all interpretations and translations," and the graver the situation the more "managed" and "edited" will be the version fed to the public. The whole of these images is then translated by contemporary men into a view of the world.

Are "the people" then without any influence upon the course of political events? On the contrary, Ellul says, but their influence is all the worse; for if the public opinion is not aroused, nothing can be done in democracies, and if it is aroused, moderate, equitable, and provident solutions are no longer possible. Public opinion will either disregard something altogether or demand a drastic - i.e., unjust and undesirable solution.

In the second half of the book, Ellul arrives at what he considers the three essential aspects of the political illusion. The first concerns control of the. Ellul rejects the idea that in a democracy as we know it "the people" control the state with their ballots. They do, he says, control to some extent who is on top of the pyramid, but that does not mean control of the state; the elected representatives have no way of controlling - or even thoroughly knowing - the behemoth under them. to change those in office means to change nothing: these men inevitably are faced with le politique, which by Ellul's definition is either dealing with ephemeral matters or moving along "iron rails", for which reason they are not effective leaders. And in our technological age they are the creatures of the technical experts employ.

The second essential aspect of the political illusion is that of popular participation; if "the people" cannot control the state, do they not at least participate substantially in its doings? No, Ellul says. Just as their ballots cannot control the course of events, their organizations, such as parties or trade unions, do not channel popular desires so as to make them effective. The principal reason is that these organizations require men at the top who are professional politicians concerned with little else than the eternal struggle to attain and retain power against rivals in their own and all other camps. These men are interested only in having the support of numbers, and the hopes and aspirations of the rank and file are filtered, not up but out. Moreover, members of the rank and file in an organization, like the citizens in a state, are dependent upon the information fed them, and the party or union hierarchs are expert in managing information and in preventing all nonconforming forces from emerging.

The third aspect of the political illusion is the eternal, illusory quest for "political solutions." This is the greatest pitfall of all. After peace or freedom, education or the living standard, or even the law has been advertised and accepted as a political problem, people demand political solutions. But there are no political solutions for these problems; in fact there are none even for genuine political problems. For while, say, arithmeticalproblems indeed have a solution, political problems have none; indeed Ellul's definition of a genuine political problem is that it consists of truly contradictory given facts, i.e., that it is insoluble in the precise meaning of that term. Political problems merely permit equitable settlements. Yet the technicians more and more present all political problems as solvable equations. And because we believe them, or the politicans who obey them, we expect la politique to find solutions for everything, and we therefore make it and the state the guardian and executor of all values - which, as a result, wither away.

What is the solution? To depolitize? On the contrary, Ellul says. Too many people already have abdicated their political heritage and, by so doing, have committed the inexcusable political act of giving the state even more power. Depolitization is merely an escape brought about by indolence or cowardice. The only possible course to take is, first of all, to demythologize politics and put it into its proper, limited place. For that we must reject modern - particularly American - attempts to "adjust" the individual through psychological means to a situation against which he would do better to rebel if he wants to maintain or attain his freedom and fulfill himself as an individual. On the contrary, strong and productive