Reflections on Violence

Reflections on Violence

Author	Georges Sorel
Original title	Réflexions sur la violence
Country	France
Language	French
Publication date	1908–1912
Preceded by	The Decomposition of Marxism

Reflections on Violence (French: Réflexions sur la violence) is a book by French revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel that was published in 1908 on class struggle and revolution. Sorel is known for his theory that political revolution depends on the proletariats organizing violent uprisings and strikes to institute syndicalism, an economic system in which syndicats (self-organizing groups of only proletariats) truly represent the needs of the working class.

One of Sorel's most controversial statements claimed that violence could save the world from "barbarism". He equates violence with life, creativity, and virtue.

A major contention argued by Sorel in the book is on the importance of myths as "expressions of will to act". He supports the creation of an economic system run by and for the interests of producers rather than consumers. Sorel's philosophical influences for the material in the book derive from Giambattista Vico, Blaise Pascal, Ernest Renan, Friedrich Nietzsche, Eduard von Hartmann, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, John Henry Newman, Karl Marx, and others.