The Foolish Quest to Save Mankind

On McMeekin's Genealogy of Social Equality

Sean McMeekin introduces To Overthrow the World with a genealogy of social equality. The pursuit of social equality long predates Marxist thought. Some of its earliest expression is in Plato's Republic, in which Plato argued that people should share in the failures and successes of the city.

Christianity has a similar idea. Christ warns that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. This inspired many saints to take up lifestyles of poverty. Christianity maintains the poor have as much moral worth as the wealthy. However, Christian theologians do not advise forceful wealth redistribution. Poverty and charity are individual decisions. When the state forces them, they lose their spiritual significance.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Alan Ramsey, 1766

Columbus thought he discovered a remnant of the Garden of Eden when he arrived in America. The people were near-naked and quite charitable. He had a simplistic understanding of their social dynamics. They were dissimilar to the social dynamics in the Garden. However, his reports to Europe inspired the utopian literary tradition. Many Protestant sects were inspired to abolish social inequality. Luther put forward the priesthood of believers. Calvin and his followers created small communes of believers. Anabaptists took this communal way of living in a far more radical direction.

Utopianism also inspired Enlightenment thinkers. The Enlightenment secularized Christian eschatology, creating a "European religion of social progress."¹ Rousseau had a radical secular view of social equality. The French philosopher argued that the fruits of the earth belong to everyone. Human social organization was a prison, causing strife and difficulty. Rousseau’s view of property was close to the Marxist view, but he understood property’s importance for material progress.

Rousseau's general will justified the violent suppression of dissent. The general will inspired the French Revolution, and it justified Robespierre's terror. Robespierre's regime embraced communist-style policies, such as price controls and universal conscription. Universal conscription established “a model for state direction and control of the economy.”²

Étienne-Gabriel Morelly radicalized Rousseau's ideas. Morelly retained some aspects of the Christian faith. He believed greed was the original sin. To rectify the original sin, Morelly recommended the complete abolition of property. He sought to save mankind through laws:

1. No one has exclusive rights to any property.

2. No one can buy or sell.

3. Everyone must be provided for by public expense

4. Everyone must contribute to public utility

Morelly takes Rousseau’s ideas to their logical conclusion. If social organization is the source of all ills, and private property is a form of social organization, private property should be abolished.

The ideas of Morelly and Rousseau inspired the radical egalitarian ideologies that would leave a trail of blood winding through the coming centuries. They inspired not only Robespierre and the French Revolution but also Francois-Noel Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals. Babeuf planned a police and military mutiny to continue the revolution after the Reign of Terror. He shamelessly understood revolution necessitates mass violence. The mutiny was foiled, and Babeuf was tried in court. His 3-day-long defense was transcribed and served as an inspiration for Marx’s vision.

The radical egalitarian tradition aims to save mankind. Egalitarians correctly recognize that mankind has fallen, and they understand that unbridled greed contributes to this fallen state. They err in thinking social reorganization can save mankind. Radical anabaptists, millenarians, and Morelly understood salvation is part of a Divine plan. However, they believed they could force salvation to come ahead of schedule.

This impulse to save mankind found its secular expression in Rousseau and the French Revolutionaries. It finds a similar expression in Communism. Communists and Egalitarians seek to fix mankind and cure all of our spiritual ills through social reorganization. This is a fool’s errand. Without fail, these projects necessitate the mass extermination of non-compliants.

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1. McMeekin, Sean. To Overthrow the World. Page 13.

2. Ibid. Page 16.