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[ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] used, at the end of the first Punic War, to trample mutinous mercenaries to death, where the psychology, though not the science, is the same as Bruno Mussolini s.2 But speaking com- paratively, mechanical power is more characteristic of our age than of any previous time. The psychology of the oligarch who depends upon mechan- ical power is not, as yet, anywhere fully developed. It is, however, an imminent possibility, and quantitatively, though not qualita- tively, quite new. It would now be feasible for a technically trained oligarchy, by controlling aeroplanes, navies, power sta- tions, motor transport, and so on, to establish a dictatorship demanding almost no conciliation of subjects. The empire of Laputa was maintained by its power of interposing itself between the sun and a rebellious province; something almost equally drastic would be possible for a union of scientific tech- nologists. They could starve a recalcitrant region, and deprive it of light and heat and electrical power after encouraging depend- ence on these sources of comfort; they could flood it with poi- son gas or with bacteria. Resistance would be utterly hopeless. And the men in control, having been trained on mechanism, would view human material as they had learnt to view their own machines, as something unfeeling governed by laws which the manipulator can operate to his advantage. Such a régime would 2 Diodorus Siculus, Bk. XXV (fragment). See Flaubert s Salammbo. 20 leaders and followers be characterised by a cold inhumanity surpassing anything known in previous tyrannies. Power over men, not power over matter, is my theme in this book; but it is possible to establish a technicological power over men which is based upon power over matter. Those who have the habit of controlling powerful mechanisms, and through this control have acquired power over human beings, may be expected to have an imaginative outlook towards their subjects which will be completely different from that of men who depend upon persuasion, however dishonest. Most of us have, at some time, wantonly disturbed an ants nest, and watched with mild amusement the scurrying confusion that resulted. Looking down from the top of a sky-scraper on the traffic of New York, the human beings below cease to seem human, and acquire a faint absurdity. If one were armed, like Jove, with a thunderbolt, there would be a temptation to hurl it into the crowd, from the same motive as in the case of the ants nest. This was evidently Bruno Mussolini s feeling, as he looked down upon the Abyssinians from his aeroplane. Imagine a scientific government which, from fear of assassination, lives always in aeroplanes, except for occasional descents on to landing stages on the summits of high towers or rafts on the sea. Is it likely that such a government will have any profound concern for the happiness of its subjects? Is it not, on the contrary, practically certain that it will view them, when all goes well, in the impersonal manner in which it views its machines, but that, when anything happens to suggest that after all they are not machines, it will feel the cold rage of men whose axioms are questioned by underlings, and will extermin- ate resistance in whatever manner involves least trouble? All this, the reader may think, is mere unnecessary nightmare. I wish I could share this view. Mechanical power, I am con- vinced, tends to generate a new mentality, which makes it more important than in any former age to find ways of control- ling governments. Democracy may have become more difficult leaders and followers 21 owing to technical developments, but it has also become more important. The man who has vast mechanical power at his command is likely, if uncontrolled, to feel himself a god not a Christian God of Love, but a pagan Thor or Vulcan. Leopardi describes what volcanic action has achieved on the slopes of Vesuvius: These lands that now are strewn With sterilising cinders, and embossed With lava frozen to stone, That echoes to the lonely pilgrim s foot; Where nestling in the sun the snake lies coiled, And where in some cleft In cavernous rocks the rabbit hurries home Here once were happy farms, And tilth, and yellowing harvests, and the sound Of lowing herds; here too Gardens and palaces: Retreats dear to the leisure Of powerful lords; and here were famous towns, Which the implacable mountain, thundering forth Molten streams from its fiery mouth, destroyed With all their habitants. Now all around Lies crushed neath one vast ruin.3 3 Questi campi cosparsi Di ceneri infeconde, e ricoperti Dall impietrata lava, Che sotto i passi al peregrin risona; Dove s annida a si contorce al sole La serpe, a dove al noto Cavernoso covil torna il coniglio; Fur liete ville e colti, E biondeggiàr di spice, e risonaro Di muggito d armenti; 22 leaders and followers These results can now be achieved by men. They have been achieved at Guernica; perhaps before long they will be achieved where as yet London stands. What good is to be expected of an oligarchy which will have climbed to dominion through such [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |