Werner Stark - America - Ideal and Reality

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In 9 Volumes

AMERICA: IDEAL AND REALITY

The United States of 1776 in Contemporary European Philosophy

by
W. STARK

First published in 1947 by
Routledge, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd

Reprinted 1998, 2002
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

1947 W. Stark

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

America: Ideal and Reality
ISBN 0-415-17605-0
Historical Sociology: 9 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17825-8
The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-17838-X

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

When I wrote my essay on Saint Simon, since published in the Journal of Economic History (New York, May, 1943, and May, 1945), I was struck by an incidental remark of that social philosopher which indicated that he looked upon the early history of the United States as a grand social experiment. The subject at once interested me; I studied it in the early spring of 1941, and the present investigation The United States of 1776 in Contemporary European Philosophy was the fruit of my studies. In the following year the Committee of the Marshall Society at Cambridge invited me to read to them a paper on some topic connected with my research, and I chose as my subject a comparison between Bourgeois Ideal and Capitalist Realitythe capitalist reality of today which is the natural outcome, and yet the complete perversion, of the bourgeois ideal of the eighteenth century. This lecture, which was delivered in November, 1942, discussed in more general terms the development of which the social history of the United States between 1776 and 1800 furnishes such an impressive illustration; it has therefore been utilized in the present publication as an introduction to the longer investigation together with which it is printed here. The text published below is, incidentally, almost an exact transcription of the lecture. The only difference is that, to illustrate the bourgeois ideal, I had used a number of quotations from Brissot de Warville which are left out here because I wanted to avoid repetitions. The trend of the argument is in no way touched by these omissions.

The subject of these pages has much greater historical and intellectual importance than might appear at first sight. Today left-wing extremists all over the world watch with passionate interest and blind faith the attempt to build a socialist society in the Soviet Union. If their hopes were dashed to the ground, a spiritual crisis would grip thousands and thousands, perhaps millions, and the whole of society would be affected by it. The radicals of 1789 had staked as much on the United States as the communists have on Soviet Russia, and their fond expectations came to nought. In a former book of mineThe Ideal Foundations of Economic Thought, also published in Prof. Mannheim's seriesI have described the great change of character and outlook which came over political economy when egalitarianism was defeated and class society appeared on the scene. But there was no department of life that was not deeply stirred and decisively transformed. It is a sad story which I have to tell. It confirms the melancholy conviction of Robert Burns that the best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. An age such as ours, that seems to assume that man is great enough to become master of his fate, may find in it some salutary food for thought.

W. STARK.

EDINBURGH, 1947.

On the 1st of November, 1755, a terrible disaster befell the ancient city of Lisbon. The weather was fine and the sky without a cloud when, shortly before ten o'clock, the whole town began to rock in its foundations. Within fifteen minutes two violent shocks occurred, which reduced many, if not most, of the houses to miserable ruins. At the same time the sea receded so far that the bar of the harbour was laid bare, and then rolled irresistibly back, rising to a height of some 40 feet above its ordinary level. A third great shock completed the destruction of the city.

As it chanced, this earthquake took place on one of the most unpropitious days of the year. For, the 1st of November being the feast of All Saints, there was no church and indeed no house in Lisbon that was not lit up by innumerable candles. As a result fires broke out simultaneously in many parts of the city, and it was not until five or six days had passed that they died down, finding nothing more to devour. And not only the day, but even the hour of the disaster was extremely unfortunate, as it occurred at a time when many people were at their devotions, and all the churches were crowded. This circumstance led to a terrible loss of life, for the heavy stone roofs of the churches and chapels fell in and buried whole congregations before a soul could escape. The number of killed was estimated at about 30,000, but many more were crippled or injured, or fell victims to the flames. When night came the darkness descended on a scene of misery and desolation where only a few hours before there had been a flourishing and contented community.