4. The Advance of Socialism and the Obstacles Impeding It

See (Mornati 2018a, §6.8) and Mornati (2018b, §2.8 and chapter IX).

Which Pareto claimed to have “written for purely scientific ends, eschewing any attempt at propaganda”, Pareto to Giovanni Vailati, 30th June 1901, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 430). A few years later, Pareto stated that he had written the Systèmes Socialistes not for those wishing to enter the political fray [but] for “those who witness the comedy of politics and laugh”, Pareto to Francesco Papafava, 28th May 1899, see (Pareto 1989, p. 460).

There is also an extensive bibliography on the history of Italian socialism in this period during which Pareto focused most of his attention on this political party. See, for example, (Ciuffoletti et al. 1992).

See (Pareto 1901a, p. 110).

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 111. These were endorsed by the most hardline socialists, ibid., p. 113.

Ibid., p. 111. In Pareto’s view, state socialism garnered the support of “the landed classes [who believed they saw in it] a sort of insurance policy against revolutionary socialism [and also] by [humanitarians] who couldn’t stomach the prospect of the revolutionary form of socialism” and was formulated as part of a legitimate attempt to resolve social problems by people who derived their theories, however, “from certain a priori principles which are more or less intelligible”, instead of “founding them on real-world interconnections”, ibid., p. 102. State socialism was endorsed by socialists of the more compromising sort too, who admitted the existence of private enterprise, but exclusively with a view to “squeezing as much as possible out of it”, ibid., p. 113. He likewise noted that “the Marxists” who rejected state socialism acted “logically as … the majority of the provisions [of this type of socialism] are, arguably, infelicitous borrowings from the principles of Marxism”, Pareto to Giovanni Borelli, 9th June 1901, BPS-la (Banca Popolare di Sondrio-Vilfredo Pareto letters archive).

See (Pareto 1901a, p. 269).

Ibid., p. 276.

Ibid., p. 264.

Ibid., p. 266 and (Pareto 1902a, chapters VIII, IX).

See (Pareto 1901a, p. 266) and (Pareto 1902a, chapter X).

See (Pareto 1901a, p. 266).

Ibid., p. 221.

Ibid., p. 268.

See (Pareto 1902a, p. 14).

Ibid., p. 8.

Ibid., chapter XI.

Ibid., p. 327.

Ibid., pp. 361–363.

Ibid., pp. 345–346.

Ibid., pp. 337, 349. However, according to (Pareto 1906a, chapter VII, §117), Marx’s theory of labour value is simply “the expression of the feeling of discomfort which members of the new aristocracy experience when they are obliged to frequent the lower orders”, and as they rise up the social scale their “feelings” change, transforming this theory into a “museum” piece.

See (Pareto 1902a, p. 330).

Ibid., p. 379.

Ibid., p. 380.

Ibid., p. 382.

See (Pareto 1900a, p. 163).

Ibid.

Ibid., 163–164.

See (Pareto 1901a, pp. 157–158). Undoubtedly, since the maximum for collective well-being derives from a relatively unchangeable combination of land, mobile and personal assets, any modification to any of these elements will gravely prejudice social well-being, ibid., p. 158. Pareto considered the decadence of ancient Athens and of the Roman empire to be illustrations of the effect of a reduction in mobile assets due to their squandering by state socialism, which had not been compensated by “increases in the productivity of industry and of agriculture”, ibid., p. 161.

See (Croce 1899a).

Pareto to Benedetto Croce, 18th June 1899, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 384).

See (Croce 1898).

See (Croce 1899b). After repeating that, according to Marx, the rate of profitability depends on the ratio of variable to total capital (corresponding to the sum of variable and constant capital), Croce noted that, with no variations in production, technical progress will give rise to a reduction in total capital through an equiproportional reduction in constant and in variable capital (whence the proportional reduction in labour expended). It thus follows that the profit margin will remain unchanged, contrary to Marx’s well-known thesis, while total profits alone will decline (being the result of addition of the reduced total profit and the rate of profitability which itself is unchanged).

For example, navigation by sail.

For example, navigation by steam.

Pareto to Croce, 18th June 1899, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 385).

Pareto to Croce, 7th July 1899, see (Pareto 1975a, 390).

Pareto to Croce, 18th June 1899, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 385). However, at that time he still believed that “the socialists are wrong in the economic sphere because they do not study it, but elsewhere they are right”, Pareto to Teodoro Moneta, 18th November 1899, see (Pareto 2001, p. 123).

See (Pareto 1899a, reprinted in Pareto 1966, pp. 110–111).

See (Pareto 1899b, reprinted in Pareto 1966, pp. 112–114).

See (Pareto 1902a, p. 328).

Ibid., pp. 387–388.

Ibid., p. 390.

Ibid., pp. 402–403.

Ibid., pp. 404–405.

Ibid., pp. 408–409.

Ibid., p. 419.

Ibid., p. 419–420.

Ibid., p. 420.

Ibid., p. 409.

Ibid. On the other hand, the use of violence is better tolerated when the group involved is large.

Ibid., p. 436.

Ibid., p. 413.

Ibid., p. 446.

Ibid., pp. 444–445.

Ibid., p. 455.

Ibid., p. 454.

Ibid., p. 455.

Pareto to Adrien Naville, 1st July 1899, see (Pareto 1975a, pp. 388–389).

See (Pareto 1899c, reprinted in Pareto 1966, p. 141).

Ibid., pp. 141–142.

Ibid., pp. 143–144.

Pareto to Papafava, 27th April 1901, see (Pareto 1989, p. 378).

See (Pareto 1901a, p. 184).

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 185.

Ibid., p. 186.

See (Pareto 1906a, chapter VI, §52).

Ibid., chapter VI, §53.

Ibid.

Ibid., chapter VI, §55.

Ibid., chapter VI, §56.

Ibid., chapter VII, §23.

Ibid., chapter VI, §48.

Ibid., chapter VI, §44.

Ibid., chapter VI, §58.

Ibid., chapter VI, §58.

Ibid., chapter VI, §48.

See (Pareto 1902b, reprinted in Pareto 1966, p. 205).

Ibid., p. 206.

Ibid.

See (Pareto 1906a, chapter VI, §59).

Ibid., chapter VI, §60.

Ibid., chapter VI, §61.

Ibid., appendix, §43.

Ibid., appendix, §45.

Bearing in mind, firstly, that with increases in the quantity produced of a commodity the remaining quantity of the capital used for production diminishes and, secondly, that the production coefficients are positive.

Ibid., appendix, §36.

Ibid., appendix, §41.

See (Pareto 1899d, reprinted in Pareto 1966, p. 163).

Ibid., p. 165.

Pareto to Naville, 14th January 1900, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 398). With reference to the Swiss case in general, Pareto was “convinced that the socialists would govern better, or less badly, than the radicals” as was evinced by the fact that the Swiss socialists, in the federal elections of 26th October 1902, had, “probably in plain imitation of the German socialists”, voted against the protectionist policy of the federal council with its large radical majority (in Pareto’s view the socialists had lost the election, winning only 11 seats of the 167 being contested, precisely because of their free-trade policy), Pareto to Maurice Millioud, 5th November 1902, BPS-la.

Pareto to Edouard Tallichet, 7th March 1901, BPS-la. He also considered that socialism had advanced in England with the advent of municipal socialism, the progressive inheritance tax and the alignment of the liberals with the Fabians. The English case also showed that “concessions are to no purpose [as] the beloved citizenry is not minimally satisfied with the abolition of the Corn Laws …; they want to take money from those who have it and each day they take a little more”. Pareto emphasised that he was not saying that all this was good or bad but simply limiting himself to describing the situation, Pareto to Papafava, 20th January 1904, see (Pareto 1989, p. 431). As for Germany, if it managed to resist the social collapse caused by the socialists, Pareto expected it to “inherit the hegemony of Europe”, see (Pareto 1902c).

See (Pareto 1900a, p. 161).

See (Pareto 1902a, pp. 453–454). In Pareto’s view, “the humanitarianism of bourgeois socialism has aided socialism in subduing the conservative opposition but in the long run it may also harm it, acting on it exactly as it has on other opponents”, see (Pareto 1905a, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 455).

See (Pareto 1903). What is more, in his view “what the collectivists desire is to take possession of the goods of the bourgeoisie and make use of them”. Pareto to Papafava, 20th January 1904, see (Pareto 1989, p. 431).

See (Pareto 1900a, p. 163).

Pareto to Papafava, 22nd June 1900, see (Pareto 1989, p. 369).

Pareto to Giuseppe Prezzolini, 16th January 1904, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 515).

Ibid.

See (Pareto 1904a, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 435).

Ibid.

Even though it obtained 21.35% of the votes (against 12.97% in the previous elections held on 3rd and 10th June 1900), the Italian socialist party won only 29 of the 508 seats, 4 less than in the previous legislature, due to the effects of majoritarian electoral law.

On this political faction see recently Volpe (2015). In any case, commenting on Giolitti’s victory, Pareto remarked that while the bourgeoisie continued essentially to “gull the people” after being “placed in power in popular elections”, a new elite was emerging which “is opening people’s eyes and is moving to the conquest of the state and, more importantly, of the possessions of that same bourgeoisie”, see (Pareto 1904b, reprinted in Pareto 1987, pp. 438–439).

See (Pareto 1906b).

Ibid.

Pareto to Carlo Placci, 6th September 1906, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 573).

Pareto to Maffeo Pantaleoni, 4th May 1908, see (Pareto 1984a, p. 91).

See (Pareto 1917–1919, §2390).

Not only on the European mainland, since in England too, “realistically speaking, imperialism and nationalism count among the few forces that are still capable of keeping socialism in check”, see (Pareto 1902a, p. 436, note 1).

On the nationalist movement in Italy of the time, see recently (Mazzei 2015).

See (Pareto 1901b, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 367). He thus considered the traditional reactionary factions to be insignificant. More specifically, he described Gaëtan Combe de Lestrade as being “a bit soft in the head with his apology for autocracy”, Pareto to Pantaleoni, 4th December 1899, see (Pareto 1984b, p. 283), referring to Combe de Lestrade (1896), the last work in praise of the Czarist autocracy published by the French aristocrat, who, in the first semester of the academic year 1900–1901, briefly substituted Pantaleoni in Geneva, see (Busino and Stelling-Michaud 1965, pp. 61–65). Although he fully shared Combes’ critical views regarding the consequences of universal suffrage, Pareto thought that Combes was committing a grave error by contrasting the two regimes: “The politicians who swear by universal suffrage will be very happy if the choice is presented between Russian autocracy and universal suffrage because on those terms they are sure to prevail”, Pareto to Gaëtan Combes de Lestrade, 12th December 1899, BPS-la. An autocracy which provided “an acceptable government … could constitute a solution to the problem of the government”, however, Pareto was “very disappointed that it should be necessary to go back to Trajan” to find an example, ibid. Lastly, Pareto pointed out to Combes that he was underestimating the importance of freedom of thought, of expression, of worship and also, more generally, the fact that “for the majority of civilised people in Western Europe, oppression in these spheres causes untold suffering, worse than the pangs of hunger”. Therefore, since “we must take people as they are”, it still remained to “find a form of government which would be free of the drawbacks of democratic government while procuring the same advantages for the population”, ibid.

Pareto to Tancredi Galimberti, 18th February 1902, BPS-la.

Pareto to Nicola Fornelli, 18th June 1903, BPS-la.

See (Pareto 1905b, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 410).

Pareto to Prezzolini, 17th December 1903, see (Pareto 1975a, pp. 507–508). However, once again in February 1905, Pareto declared that “at this moment in history the class struggle is unquestionably the most significant issue, to the point that in Russia it can even push patriotism into the background”, see (Pareto 1905c, p. 447).

The conflict of the Boer colonists of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State with the British began on the 11th of October 1899 and ended with the surrender of the Boers on the 31st of May 1902. Pareto declared that he was against this war, but indicated that it had been the Boers’ intention “in Africa to play the role of Prussia in Germany or of Piedmont in Italy”, Pareto to Moneta, 9th March 1900, see (Pareto 2001, p. 126). It is of interest to note that Pareto’s position was contrary to the pro-Boer one adopted by the international pacifist movement and by the bulk of Swiss public opinion, corresponding instead to that of the Anglophile minority who insisted on the desirability of maintaining the traditional excellent relations between Britain and Switzerland, while denouncing the expansionist and racist character of the Boer political regimes, see (Grossi 1994, pp. 220, 234, 250–252).

Pareto to Prezzolini, 17th December 1903, see (Pareto 1975a, pp. 507–508).

In this regard see (Mangoni 1981).

Pareto to Papafava, 2nd February 1904, see (Pareto 1989, p. 432).

A need which “socialism has forgotten since it became transformist and reformist”, see (Pareto 1913a, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 519).

See (Pareto 1913b, reprinted in Pareto 1987, pp. 503–504). Towards the end of the war Pareto was to claim not to be “a nationalist, but a simple onlooker” who had “foreseen that the various schools of thought were about to be engulfed by nationalism”, Pareto to Enrico Bignami, 24th July 1918, BPS-la.

Pareto to Secrétan, 30th January 1904, BPS-la. Secrétan, in his article Universal peace (La paix universelle), “Gazette de Lausanne”, 30th January 1904, had claimed that the spokesmen of the ongoing antimilitaristic campaign in Switzerland, in announcing “a reign of justice and universal peace, where the peoples will all love each other and humans will be brothers”, showed that they were living “in a dream world” since “people everywhere continue to fight”. He also pointed out that war is not at all incompatible with universal suffrage and that neither did the socialist parties, when in power, hesitate to implement protectionist and nationalist policies.

Shortly after this Pareto, on whose antimilitaristic phase see (Mornati 2018a, §5.3), undertook a critical review of some of the prevailing themes of international pacifism, concluding that “the Hague court, if it can ever be of service, will serve to resolve minor questions which would certainly never lead to a war and the same applies to the much-lauded arbitration treaties”, see (Pareto 1905d, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 457). Later, in reference to the Libyan campaign, he pointed out sarcastically that “these esteemed [Italian] pacifists who had never ceased to acclaim the arbitration process and the court of the Hague, which prescribed going through this same process of arbitration before turning to war, then elected a government which did not care a jot about it”, see (Pareto, §1709).

Pareto to Placci, 11th February 1904, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 518).

See (Pareto 1904c, reprinted in Pareto 1987, pp. 414–415). Similarly, see (Pareto 1904b, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 439). For the first sketch of the idea that socialism’s advance could be halted only by “long wars between the civilised peoples” see (Pareto 1900b, reprinted in Pareto 1980, p. 238).

Pareto to Moneta, 24th September 1904, see (Pareto 2001, p. 160). However, in April 1909, following the recent annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in October 1908, Pareto, in keeping with his new focus on the place of force in society, which will be further explored in section 5.7 below, repeated that likewise “in international relations force is the only thing that counts”, Pareto to Linaker, 2nd April 1909, see (Pareto 1975a, p. 656), adding he “had been very pleased to see Austria’s courage by comparison to the cowardice of the European powers”, Pareto to Pantaleoni, 20th March 1909, see (Pareto 1984a, p. 133).

See (Pareto 1905e, reprinted in Pareto 1988, p. 45).

Pareto to Ernest Roguin, 20th March 1914, see (Pareto 1975b, p. 864).

Pareto to Pantaleoni, 14th August 1914, see (Pareto 1984a, p. 173).

See (Pareto 1905d, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 459).

See Pareto 1905f, reprinted in Pareto 1987, p. 465).

Pareto to Sorel, 11th November 1909, see (Pareto 1975b, p. 681).

Pareto to Teodoro Moneta, 12th October 1911, BPS-la.

See (Pareto 1917–1919, §1707).

Ibid.