Frédéric Bastiat’s Distinction between Legal and Illegal Plunder
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- Plunder consists in banishing by
A very important task to be done for political economy is to write the history of Plunder (la Spoliation). It is a long history in which, from the outset, there appeared conquests, the migrations of peoples, invasions and all the disastrous excesses of force in conflict with justice. Living traces of all this still remain today and cause great difficulty for the solution of the questions raised in our century. We will not reach this solution as long as we have not clearly noted in what and how injustice, when making a place for itself amongst us, has gained a foothold in our customs and our laws. 3 The most likely origin for Bastiat’s thinking on plunder and the development of societies based upon different forms of seizing the property of their productive citizens is the work of two political economists and lawyers whose writings were well known to Bastiat, namely Charles Comte (1782-1837) and Charles Dunoyer (1786-1862). Comte’s book Traité de législation (1827) in particular was much admired by Bastiat. 4 Although Bastiat never wrote his “History of Plunder” his ideas did inspire others to attempt such a task. Ambroise Clément (1805-86) who, after Bastiat’s death was one of the editors of Dictionniare de l’économie politique (1852), wrote an article for the Journal des Économistes in July 1848 on “Legal Plunder” in which he developed some of Bastiat’s ideas further with a more detailed Page 8 3
4 See the many references to Comte and Dunoyer in Bastiat’s correspondence in Vol. 1 of Works. See Charles Comte, Traité de législation, ou exposition des lois générales suivant lesquelles les peuples
2 vols. (Paris: Chamerot, Ducollet, 1834). And Charles Dunoyer, L'Industrie et la morale considérées dans leurs rapports avec la liberté (Paris: A. Sautelet et Cie, 1825); Nouveau traité d'économie sociale, ou simple exposition des causes sous l'influence desquelles les hommes parviennent à user de leurs forces avec le plus de LIBERTÉ, c'est-à-dire avec le plus FACILITÉ et de PUISSANCE (Paris: Sautelet et Mesnier, 1830), 2 vols.; De la liberté du travail, ou simple exposé des conditions dans lesquelles les force humaines s'exercent avec le plus de puissance (Paris: Guillaumin, 1845). categorization of the kinds of legal state theft or plunder. 5 Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), who was one of Bastiat’s collaborators in founding two newspapers in February and then June of 1848, wrote several book-length works using his theoretical framework in which he chronicled the rise of the state since medieval times and the way in which the ruling elites organized the plundering of their subject peoples. 6 Paillottet also tells us that a significant part of the Economic Harmonies, which was left half-finished, was supposed to cover in more detail the problem of the “Disturbing Factors”, by which he meant war and other forms of plunder (such as Slavery, Theocracy, Monopoly, Government Exploitation, and Communism), which prevented the full and harmonious operation of the free market. 7
Page 9 5 Clément’s main contribution was to begin categorizing the various kinds of “legal theft” (“vols”) which had existed in French history up to the present (1848), which included aristocratic theft during the Old Regime, monarchical theft, theft by regulation (“vols réglementaires”), industrial theft, theft under the guise of philanthropy (“vols à prétensions philanthropiques”), administrative theft. “De la spoliation légale,” Journal des Économistes, No. 84, 15 juillet, 1848, pp. 363-374. 6 Gustave de Molinari, L'évolution économique du XIXe siècle: théorie du progrès (Paris: C. Reinwald 1880); L'évolution politique et la révolution (Paris: C. Reinwald, 1884); Économie de l'histoire: Théorie de l'Évolution (Paris: F. Alcan, 1908). 7 In a proposed section of Economic Harmonies on “Disturbing Factors” Bastiat had planned the following chapters: 16. Plunder, 17. War, 18. Slavery, 19. Theocracy, 20. Monopoly, 21. Government Exploitation, 22. False Brotherhood or Communism. Aside from the first two chapters there were no notes or drafts found among Bastiat’s papers at the time of his death. 8 In vol. 1 of Bastiat’s Works one should also note his letter to Mme. Cheuvreux of 23 June, 1850; and in vol. 2 the essays “Property and Plunder” and “Plunder and the Law” for additional thoughts on this topic. In vol. 5 (forthcoming) there is Paillottet’s footnote at the end of chapter 10 of Economic Harmonies in which he relates Bastiat’s plans for further work on the theory and history of plunder. iv. “Thou Shalt Not Steal” As a supporter of the idea of natural law and natural rights, Bastiat believed that there were universal moral principles which could be identified and elaborated by human beings and which had a universal application. In other words, there were not two moral principles in operation, one for the sovereign power and government officials and another for the rest of mankind. One of these universal principles was the notion of an individual’s right to own property, along with the corresponding injunction not to violate an individual’s right to property by means of force or fraud. In the Christian world the injunction was expressed in the Ten Commandments, particularly “Thou shalt not steal” 9 and, since there was no codicil attached to Moses’ tablets exempting monarchs, aristocrats, or government employees, Bastiat was prepared to argue that this moral commandment had universal applicability. According to Bastiat there were two ways in which wealth could be acquired, either by voluntary production and exchange or by coercion: There are only two ways of acquiring the things that are necessary for the preservation, embellishing and amelioration of life: PRODUCTION and PLUNDER. 10 And a bit further into the essay he elaborates as follows, with his definition of plunder (in bold): The genuine and equitable law governing man is “The freely negotiated exchange of one service for another.” Plunder consists in banishing by Page 10
9 “1. The Physiology of Plunder” in Economic Sophisms II, p. 8. 10 “1. The Physiology of Plunder” in Economic Sophisms II, p. 2. One should also note the similarity of FB’s views to those of the sociologist Franz Oppenheimer who wrote The State: Its History and Development viewed Sociologically, authorized translation by John M. Gitterman (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1922). Yüklə 0,57 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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