ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE AND TWO TOWNS

Alexis de Tocqueville, French statesman, historian, and social philosopher, wrote Democracy in America in 1835, documenting his analysis of what had once made America great.  All of the quotations in this chapter have been taken from de Tocqueville’s book. It has been described as "the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the relationship between character and society in America that has ever been written" (Robert Bellah).  

De Tocqueville wanted to understand why the American Revolution and American democracy has proven to be such a success. According to de Tocqueville, freedom and morality both found their American incarnation in Christianity: 

·       Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it.  

De Tocqueville had been well-acquainted with the demands for freedom and equality that had arisen from his own French revolution, which ironically had entailed the hatred and murder of the clergy. This revolution had confidently sought to push aside anything that stood in its way.  However, with the advantage of decades of hindsight, another revolution was something that the French wanted to avoid at all costs. With the tumultuous lessons of his homeland still vivid in his mind, de Tocqueville wrote: 

·       The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law and the surest pledge of freedom.  

He therefore appreciated the moral constraints that he found so ubiquitously associated with democracy in the United States: 

·       I do not question that the great austerity [self-control] of manners that is observable in the United States arises, in the first instance, from religious faith...its influence over the mind of woman is supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated...  

Over and over again, he found that the fruitful expression of democracy was inseparable from its underlying Christian roots: 

·       In the United States the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people...Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent; the consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of the moral world is fixed and determinate. 

De Tocqueville’s glowing observations of Christian faith and conduct did not amount to a claim that Christianity had rooted out all evils. It certainly hadn’t….but neither had any other religion or government. Slavery remained a troubling example. But in view of the many moral failures in every nation and the worldwide acceptance of slavery, this one failure should not be used to discredit the entirety of the Christian influence on America. 

According to de Tocqueville, the greatness of the United States was the outgrowth of what the churches were preaching: 

·       I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors...in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. 

Have we ceased to be good? There is certainly a lot of talk about goodness, virtue-signaling, and atoning for one’s “sins” by taking-a-knee, but are these the values that de Tocqueville had observed, the values that build civilizations?

Historian Ariel Durant had written, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Her historian husband and co-author, Will Durant, added: “Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.” https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/civilization-quotes

From where does the chaos arise? The answer is really quite simple. Robert Kennedy had stated:

·       We know that we cannot live together without rules which tell us what is right and what is wrong, what is permitted and what is prohibited. We know that it is law which enables men to live together, that creates order out of chaos. We know that law is the glue that holds civilization together.

What happens when we no longer value and respect truth, equality, justice, and law, when the glue of our shared Christian-Western values has dissolved? The Roebling Steel Mill was founded by Charles Roebling, son of John A. Roebling, which provided the steel for the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as numerous other bridges including one over Niagara Falls.

At its heyday, it employed 10,000 at the Roebling company town, where Charles had designed the houses and rented them to his employees. The fancier houses were designed for upper management. However, even the most unskilled workers lived in respectable quarters.

Admittedly, the company was somewhat paternalistic. It had its own police, schools, ball teams, a tavern and medical care was available. Roebling even allowed competing stores access and paid their newly-immigrated employees in US dollars, giving them the option of exercising choice. However, the employee had to sign a contract agreeing that he could be discharged from Roebling for rowdiness.

The Roeblings admitted that their intention was not to build the ideal community. However, they had envisioned a sustainable community.

Joseph Stalin had built what was supposed to be the ideal community, Nowa Huta, in 1949, to rival neighboring Krakov, Poland. It contained everything needed to nurture a community where all would live equally as brothers, in harmony. It included a steel mill, which became more productive than any other in Poland.

The walls of the apartments were purposely made thin so that each family would be able to hear the doings of the neighboring families - no barriers! Indoctrination meetings designed to raise up the ideal new man were compulsory to ensure a "workers' paradise."

However, this experiment was far from ideal. This paradise came crashingly to an end when the workers could only be paid with vodka and sugar.

In contrast, even during the Depression, Roebling never forced anyone out of company housing when they couldn't pay the rent.

Although Roebling sold their mill and town in the mid-fifties, most of its present residents are descendants of the families of former employees. Each, to whom we talked, spoke well of what their families had communicated about the Roebling experience.

Why had it been such a positive experience? Not only had the workers been treated fairly and equally, their various ethnicities and faiths were treated respectfully. Czechs, Hungarians, and Poles were each allowed to have their own enclaves, social groups, and churches.

Despite these differences in class, ethnicity, and religion, it is reported that everyone got along well, each respecting their respective differences.

How could this be? From what we were able to understand from our visit, it seemed that each community felt safe. The company guaranteed just standards. There were no reports of favoritism based upon historical designations between the "oppressed" and the "oppressors." The only distinctions were based on behavior and job performance, distinctions that seemingly were accepted.

From all indications, peace prevailed at Roebling. However, Nowa Huta presented another portrait. Wikipedia reports:

·       During the 1980s, Nowa Huta became a city of many demonstrations and violent street protests of the Solidarity movement, fought by the police. At that time, almost 29,000 of the 38,000 workers of the then Lenin Steelworks belonged to the Solidarity trade union.

It was hardly a paradise, but why not? What went wrong? Perhaps communism did not start out with a correct estimation of humanity? Perhaps we are not as malleable as they had thought. The “new man” never materialized.

Whatever we manage, we must first understand. We cannot manage a business well unless we understand the people who we manage. We need room for individual initiative and the freedom to grow a garden or to improve our lodgings without being condemned as “bourgeois.”

We need the freedom to think what we want, to say what we want (within limits), and to worship as we please. In other words, human thriving requires human rights.

However, the authorities at Nowa Huta were convinced that they could micro-manage human affairs. They knew best what others should be thinking, believing, and saying. Meanwhile, they robbed the workers of their welfare, initiative, and dignity. Dis-empowering the people, they had disempowered the economy. Consequently, communism has been an unmitigated flop, maintained only by oppression and fear.

Roebling didn't last either. However, it gave many a start to a better life, leaving a legacy of many grateful people. Communism has also left its legacy - a scorched earth and the slaughter of the millions who resisted their "paradise."