'Solidarity' and the Reformist Sociology of Alfred Fouillée, II

Part II of a 2-part study of A. Fouillee, who used the concept of solidarity or interdependence both to explain & to justify the development, within a pluralistic & internat'l mixed economy, of: (1) The substitution of state intervention for laisser faire in an increasing range of soc & industrial matters, converting them into responsible public services. (2) The emergence of industrial democracy based on: (A) the increasing role of the mass of producers & consumers organized in trade unions & co-operatives in making major econ decisions in the sector not controlled by the gov; & (B) the increasing influence exercised by the organized sectional econ interests, which Fouillee wished to see instit'ized by giving them representation in a functional Second Chamber of the legislature. (3) The development of regional federations, such as a United States of Europe, & a world authority, whose task would be to avoid the global wars inevitable in an interdependent world which had not subordinated outdated state sovereignties to the imperatives of internat'l solidarity. Fouillee's death in 1912 prevented him witnessing the accuracy of predictions (1) & (3), while (2) has been vindicated to a more limited extent. Through his impact on the generation that dominated French pol in the 20 yrs before WWI, & through his influence on the Radical leader L. Bourgeois, Fouillee inspired the middle-ofthe-road, Mc,semi-official ideology of the Third Republic, opposed alike to the soc policies of reactionary individualism & revolutionary collectivism. (See also SA 0206-A9382). AA.