Democrazia
s
e sviluppo
àcomunitario
Centro
Sociale
n. 4 9 -5 0 , 1963
inchieste sociali
servizio sociale di gruppo educazione degli adulti sviluppo della comunità a. X - 49-50, 1963 - un fascicolo L. 400 - un fascicolo doppio L. 650 abb. a 6 numeri L. 2.200 - estero L. 4.000 - spediz. in abbonamento postale gruppo IV - c.c. postale n. 1/20100 - Direzione Redazione Amministrazione: piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 2 - Roma - tei. 573.455 Periodico bimestrale redatto a cura del Centro di Educazione Profes sionale per Assistenti Sociali. Comitato di direzione: Achille Ardigò, Vanna Casara, Giorgio Molino, Ludovico Quaroni, Giovanni Spagnolli, Paolo Volponi, Angela Zucconi. Direttore responsabile: Anna Maria Levi.
Edizione internazionale
esce due volte all’anno a cura di Albert Meister e sotto gli auspici della
International Federation o f Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres. Al l’estero la rivista è diffusa sotto il titolo di International Revieiv o f Community Development.
Comitato di direzione dell’edizione internazionale
G. B alandier, Sorbonne, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris. - W. B aker, University of Saskatchewan. - R . B au er, Società Umanitaria, Milano. -
R. B errurier, Association des Maires de France. - R . Clemens, Istituì de Sociologie, Université de Liège. - E . Clunies-Ross, Community Deve lopment Clearing House, London University - H. Desroche, Sorbonne, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris. - J . D um azedier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. - A. D unham, University of Michigan. -
M . Kelber, Verband Deutscher Nachbarschaftsheime. - O. K rabbe, Dansk Settlement Samvirke, Copenhagen. - E . Lopes Cardozo, Université d’U- trecht. - C. Louwerse, School of Social Work, Driebergen. - J . McDowell, Boston University. - M. Margot N oblem aire, Fédération Française des Centres Sociaux, Paris. - M . M eirelles, Serviço Social do Comercio, Rio de Janeiro. - F . S. M illigan, National Federation of Community Asso ciations, London. - L . M iniclier, International Coopération Administra tion, Washington. - R . N isbet, University of California. - C. Pellizzi, Università di Firenze. - E . P usic, Université de Zagreb. - J . C. Ram-chandani, Development Commissioner, Delhi State Government. - P. R ock, Ministère de Instruction Publique, Bruxelles. - B . Rodgers, University of Manchester. - M. G. R oss, University of Toronto. - H. Schelsky, Universität, Hamburg. - M . Sm ith, London Council of Social Service. - ./. Spencer, University of Bristol. - P. l'olponi, Rivista « Centro Sociale », Roma. - E . de Pries, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. - A. Zucconi, CEPAS, Roma.
Manoscritti, pubblicazioni per recensione, notizie riguardanti l ’edizione internazionale devono essere indirizzati al Direttore, piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 2 - Roma.
D e m o c r a c y
Nr. 11 CONTENTS R . P. LOW RY H . DESROCHE J . W . EATON E . WOOD M. D’ANGELI H. NAGPAUL A. M EISTER A. DUNHAM T. H. PATTEN P. A. FELLOW Sa n d C o m m u n i t y D e v e l o p m e n t
1963 SOM M AIRE IN D IC EThe Myth and R eality o f Grass-Roots D em o cra cy ... 3
Planification et volontariat - De la coopéra tion comme planification participante . . . 17
Community Development Ideologies . . . 37
Traduzione italiana 51
Self-determination or Regim entation? . . . 65
Traduzione italiana 81
L a dinamica della partecipazione... 97
Conformity and Community Development . 105
L ’auto-gestion sociale en Yougoslavie . . . 119
Some Principles of Community Development 141
Materials for th e History of Community Developm ent: Social Stratification in P itts burgh in 1908 ... 153
Community Development in Ethiopia . . 169
The Myth and Reality of Grass-Roots Democracy
Id en tify in g an d Sustaining th e M yth
Studying the role and function of the small community in American society is a productive and provocative area of sociological analysis. Starting with the Lynds’ now classic study of Middletown in 1929 and continuing through the examination by W arner and his students of New England community life in the 1940’s, research has been sustained by the more recent work of W alter Goldschmidt, Floyd Hunter, S. M. Miller, Richard Poston, R. O. Schulze, and o th e r s A lth o u g h each writer and school of analysis has developed somewhat different study designs, conceptual tools and theoretical approaches, all share a basic and recurring focu s: an examination of the belief that the relatively isolated and homogeneous local community best promotes and sustains democratic processes.
This « myth of grass-roots democracy » is based upon a series of ass umptions about the demographic and sociological characteristics of life in the small community. Theoretically, its isolated and self-suppor ting nature affords protection against rapid and disruptive social change and disorganization. An intimate and personal primary relationship among the citizens makes interaction more deeply meaningful and permits, even encourages, each resident to participate directly in the larger social and political activities of daily life. The cooperative, as opposed to competitive, basis of life promotes a strong consciousness of kind and mutual interest which, in turn, enhances a constructive communal awareness of problems and issues. The proximity on the part of the citizen to the channels of communication and power through which leadership and influence are mobilized, encourages community wide participation. The intimate access of leadership to citizenry, and vice versa, gives rise to a mutual sense of responsibility and duty. Thus, the potential exists in the small community for activating vigo rous and representative community action in response to problems and issues. This myth stands in contrast to its counterpart in large- scale urban environment which, theoretically, is characterized by wide spread alienation, apathy, political control by cheques and vested 1
1 These studies are, of course, well known to students of community life. A good review and synopsis of their major implications and trends can be found in Society and Power by
Richard A. Sch er m er h o r n, « Studies in Sociology No. 18 » (New York: Random House, 1961), pp. 88-105.
interests, social disorganization, and other non-democratic processes. The answer to the question of whether or not such democratic condi tions actually exist in given small corqmunities, varies, of course, from one writer to the next depending upon the specific community under studv. Therefore, some analysts have concluded that small town life in modern America, though ethically related to the grass-roots myth, exhibits quite different patterns in day-to-day in teraction 2. Others see little lag between myth and reality, maintaining there exists a very real potential for intimate and productive in teraction 3.
The significant point, however, is that, despite different approaches,
all writers seem to assume that the basic elements of the myth shou ld work in the small community environment. The fact that they fre quently do not is explained as consequential of purely local idiocyn- cracies (i. e., unique leadership structures, im pact of a neighboring metropolis, e tc .)4. Therefore, social research sustains the myth even while showing that in some communities it does not work as expected. In addition, few studies actually raise the question of whether or not the small community by its very nature is functionally amenable to the maintenance of democratic interaction in daily public life.
This is a vital question. If the answer is negative, special adaptations must be made in the structure and functioning of small community life to guarantee the m aintenance of democracy. A recent study of a rapidly changing community in northern California dealt with this aspect of the problem 5. The findings indicate that the small commu nity in modern society does not adequately enhance democratic action, and this situation is a direct consequence of the social and cultural nature of daily life in that environment.
P u blic L ife in M icro C ity
Micro City is an old town, by California reckoning, with strong roots in rural and historic traditions of the northern gold country. The 1960
po-2 For example, see Walter Goldschmidt’s study of the impact of industrialization upon three southern California agricultural communities: As You Sow (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1947).
3 This is the characteristic theme of studies by Baker Brownell, A. E. Morgan, Lowry Nel son, and R. W. Poston.
* Arthur Vidich and Joseph Bensman, for example, describe the extreme problems faced by a small upstate New York community as a result of the encroachment of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region in Small Town in Mass Society (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958).
5 Rit c h ie P. Lo w r y, W ho Runs This Town? A Study o f the Quality o f Public L ife in a Changing Small Community (unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1962).
GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY 5
pulation was about 14,000 within the city limits with an additional 15,000 or more on the developing unannexed fringes. During the decade of the 1950’s, the population of the city increased 12 per cent and the township 35 per cent, as contrasted to a 26 per cent increase in the county and a 49 per cent increase in the state of California.
The community has been and remains predominantly a Protestant, white- collar, middle-class service center for a larger region of six to nine counties. The bulk of the residents are doctors, lawyers, teachers, private and public welfare workers, salesmen, and technicians in service industries. The largest single institution is a five year college with a student body of 3,700 and a faculty of 250. Daily life in Micro City seems to lack the social problems and disorganization confronting the modern urban complex. Non-whites constitute only one-half of one per cent of the population. Crime and delinquency rates are below national averages for all urban communities throughout the country. Local businesses are small, and relations between shop owners and customers are cordial and sociable.
The region is rural with large-scale farming of almonds and rice predomin ating. The nearest metropolitan centers are the state capital, 80 miles to the south-east and a metropolitan area of two million population, 120 miles to the south-west.
The community has a city manager-council form of government, originally one of the first of its kind in the state, and local political activity is manifestly non-partisan. Candidates for office are not identified by party affiliation, nor are they formally associated with commitments to specific vested interests. Elective and appointive positions (presently 7 elected councilmen and positions on 8 commissions or boards) have been latently dominated for over thirty years by Republicans, Masons, and downtown business interests. Informal social contact in key civic and social groups determine the extent to which one can garner enough votes for election to office. Very few votes in absolute numbers are required to win. In the 1961 municipal election, when there were more candidates than usual because of an increase in council seats from five to seven with four vacancies to be filled, the fourth place winner polled 895 votes, which was 35% of the total votes cast and 14% of the total registered voters.
Typical of communities of this type, Micro City’s political campaigns are generally devoid of debate or discussion of basic issues and problems confronting the community. Contests are, instead, marked by personal appeals and seemingly easy-going informality, most candidates being content to run for office simply because they are « interested in serving the community as well as possible if given the chance». Voter turnout is typically low, and many municipal elections go uncontested. During the decade of the 1950’s, an average of slightly over 40% of the total registered voters used their franchise in city elections. In a 1963 election, turnout was half that figure, since there were only three candidates for the three vacancies on the council.
Support by the town’s only newspaper generally guarantees a candidate’s success at the polls. Politically and socially conservative on regional, state, and national affairs, it tacitly backs candidates who share the same perspectives. Analysis of Micro City’s state and national voting record discloses the same orientation on the part of the citizenry. Voter registration
indicates a Republican balance of from 51 % to 55 %, contrary to state and county trends. Republican hegemony is enhanced by the tendency for California Democrats to vote Republican.
Since 1944, the city has voted overwhelmingly for Republican candidates for President and the Senate, the majority ranging from 55% to 70% of the two party vote. Symbolic of the community’s conservatism in the 1960 congressional election, the Republican candidate, running on a platform of income tax abolition and a return to the gold standard, won a majority in Micro City while being soundly defeated in the district at large including his home area. Within the last seven years, extreme right wing political agitation has increased, and a local chapter of the John Rirch Society has attacked school and college teachers.
In general, however, with the exception of occasional peaks of community activity in response to unusual problems or events, daily public life in Micro City seems tranquil on the surface. Leaders and individual citizens alike consider maintenance of the comfortably affluent status quo the most important norm for social and political behavior. One informant summed this up by saying: « Life in this town is held together by a kind of status- quohesion ».
Nevertheless, in the last decade and a half, periods of heightened com munity conflict have become more prevalent directly as a result of the unavoidable impact of larger urban society.
T h e U rban Im p a c t
Long-time residents of Micro City maintain that isolation was so marked during the 1930’s that the city did not experience any serious crises as the result of the national depression. Ry the 1940’s, however, this was beginning to change. The army constructed an airport and established an air force facility; the wartime economy boosted local business and caused a significant upturn in migration of younger families into the community. Sixteen major motion pictures were filmed in or near the city between 1937 and 1955 and it became known as the « Hollywood of the (north) Valley ». A street was named after Warner Brothers, and a city councilman even accused the Chamber of Commerce of graft in the form of kickbacks from merchants on their movie induced profits.
a) R a ce R elation s
In late summer, 1946, a farm growers’ association approved a plan to import from the metropolitan area a minimum of 300 Negro laborers to handle a bumper almond crop6. The region was faced with some of the largest yields in the history of the county, and previous sources of labor — Mexicans, Jamaicans, and prisoners of war — were not available for a variety of reasons. When word of the plan reached the general community, there were sharp protests and complaints.
GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY 7
Several days before the arrival of the first laborers, the estimate of number needed rose to 1500, and immediate opposition crystallized. Real estate dealers and home owners formed associations to block the purchase of local properties by Negroes. Merchants placed « white only » signs in their windows. Even the small handful of Micro City’s native segregated and depressed non-whites claimed they didn’t want « that southern riff-raff coming into and disrupting our town ». A small group of liberal whites (teachers, one or two businessmen, ministers) had little impact. Although not more than 125 Negroes actually worked on farms around Micro City that season, the agitation was severe.
b) U n-A m erican A ctivities
The second major community crisis of the 1940’s involved a visit by the State of California Assembly and Senate Committee on Un-American Activities7. In February 1947, a group claiming to represent Micro City veterans petitioned this committee chaired by state Senator Jack B. Tenney, requesting investigation of certain books « in u se» at Micro City High School claiming they struck at the sanctity of marriage, family, and religion, by teaching about sex and reproduction. A one-day public hearing heard the Committee charge that such teaching was « pornographic in content, immoral in many respects » and « either wittingly or unwittingly, follow [ed] or parallel [ed] the Communist Party line for the destruction of the moral fibre of American Youth ».
At the time it was disclosed that no course in sex education was offered in the schools, most of the alleged « sex books » were unavailable locally, and some biology texts in use in the classroom had actually had the chapters on human reproduction removed before distribution to the students. In spite of his, the committee’s accusations split the community. The larger resentment was by citizens who, despite their particular views on sex education and Communism, resented the disturbance of the status quo caused by the investigating committee. To this day, there is no sex education in the schools (despite indications of a high rate of pregnancy in both junior and senior high schools), biology texts still lose their pages on reproduction, and in many community groups (for example, the League of Women Voters), members line up on contemporary issues because of their particular stance during the Tenney investigation 16 years ago.
c) C ivil D efen se
During the 1950s, there were two situations of community wide conflict as a consequence of the increasing urban impact. The first was related to the increasing population migration into the community bringing with it
7 A complete report of the Committee’s findings and conclusions can be found in: Senate of the State of California, Un-American Activities in California - 1947, Third Report of the Joint Fact-Finding Committee to the Fifty-seventh California Legislature (Sacramento: California State Printing Oifice, 1947). Criticism of this report and contrary information was obtained during the study of Micro City by interviews with long-time residents of the community.
the growth of local institutions (especially the college) and newer, more heterogeneous and urban oriented elements in the citizenry.
In 1958, when the Director of the California Disaster Office publicly remarked that a test exercise of a mock atomic bombing evacuation might be considered for somewhere in the state, Micro City officials volunteered. Anticipating the focus of state and national attention upon the town, the efforts of the city manager, council, chamber of commerce, and service clubs were directed toward the success of « Operation Micro City ». Leading the way was the newspaper, but all major institutions cooperated whole heartedly.
The test evacuation was planned from a potential target area in the metropolitan region to Micro City, the town to provide overnight facilities for about 500 families. This number dwindled to 200 by the final day. They travelled a prearranged route convoyed by the state highway patrol and feted along the way by band concerts and patriotic speeches in the towns en route. On arrival in Micro City, the families were assigned to « h ost» families on the basis of race, creed, family size, and « hobbies ». An instruction sheet prepared in the city manager’s office urged the hosts to use the opportunity to sell the virtues of Micro City as a potential home or business site.
On the day of the test, a quarter page advertisement appeared in the newspaper captioned «Operation Micro City: A Test of W hat?». The ad ridiculed the test for its lack of relation to what might be expected during an actual atomic attack; it questioned the morality of the holiday atmosphere created; it brought under attack the implicit prejudice in the assignment of families; it raised the question of futility in planning for an all-out nuclear war. The advertisement was signed for the « Micro City Committee Acts for Peace » by two faculty members and a faculty wife.
Response from the town was immediate and damning. The critics were publicly denounced as « crackpots », « detractors », and « irresponsible intellectuals ». Their patriotism was questioned in the press. The fact that metropolitan newspapers also covered the story and editorially agreed with the stance of the local critics of « Operation Micro City » only added to the fury of its backers. It was several months before placid daily existence returned.
d) T h e F reew a y
The second incident started in the 1950’s, is affecting relationships in the community today, and will continue to have an impact for some years to come. The California Division of Highways is building a freeway « bypass » through the center of the community and, in so doing, is bisecting the 2000 acre municipal park deeded to the community forty years ago by the wife of founder of the town. To the old-timer the park has been a semi- sacred symbol of the community’s heritage. To the downtown businessman, the freeway promised profits from the construction workers, and « urban progress». To the real estate interests, it promised the rewards of shrewd land speculation.
Petitions were circulated and public meetings held by the anti-freeway forces. The pro-freeway group convinced the council and the newspaper
GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY 9
that it was useless to resist the demands of a state agency and that doing so would surely disrupt the community still more by prolonging the crises. In its anxiety to avoid the latter, the council held several unpublicized meetings at which policy on the matter was formally adopted. The result was a feeling of disenfranchisement by the opponents.
Incidents occuring since the freeway dispute, though apparently concerned with different issues, have developed involving the same alignment of leaders. The freeway is now half-completed, and the battle is still being fought out on a latent level in the community.
L a ten t A spects o f G rass-R oots D em ocracy
Depth examination of the preceding incidents indicated that heightened participation by leaders and citizenry in M icro City characteristically takes on a particular quality. Since daily political life is manifestly non-partisan, alignments during community conflict, campaigns for civic office, and general leadership philosophy evolves in terms of personalities of individuals rather than in terms of issues or basic community problems. .
The quality of a community’s political life may be considered as falling along a continuum where one end represents politics « by personality » and the other, the epitome of partisan alignm ent8. When opposing interest groups vie for power on the basis of strong partisan commitment, campaigns and disputes are carried out on the basis of sharp divergencies of opinion and philosophy, or, in other words, public, life in marked, by the politics of policy. The electorate, then, is asked to choose candidates according to their specific positions on major pro blems confronting the community.
In contrast, when partisan commitment is not manifestly present, campaigns and disputes develop into personality contests. Candidates use public relations, advertising, and personal contact to project the best « image » of themselves. They usually avoid discussion of basic issues and problems since such discussion would jeopardize this image. The « politics of personality », so typical of the smaller com m unity9,
8 For a discussion of this distinction between « policy versus personality » politics, see * Electorates, Interest Groups, and Local Government Policy » by Charles Liebman, Ame
rican Behavioral Scientist, 4 (January 1961).
9 There is, however, an indication that national politics in contemporary urbanized socie ties, like the United States, are also beginning to take on these characteristics. The presi dential campaign involving Kennedy and Nixon offered the electorate two candidates who used all the available public relations devices to enhance their public personalities, while, at the same time, they rarely disagreed on basic issues and policy. The recent evolution of « bipartisanship » in American politics also symbolizes the same trend. It is the conse quences and implications of this change, most evident at the small community level, that are of basic concern here.
expresses itself in unique ways and, as a result, meaningful democratic interaction in M icro City is all but impossible 10.
First, manifestly non-partisan but latently partisan politics lead to easy dominance of public life by special interest groups, thus eliminating truly representative government. Challenging this condition is difficult precisely because of the accepted ethic of nonpartisanship. Candidates who have tried running on the issue of non-representative government have had their very outspokenness lead to defeat. The charge was they had upset the status-quo and introduced politics unnecessarily into public life. Minority voices have consequently become increasingly reluctant to speak out.
Secondly, m ajor issues rapidly take on highly personal and often vindictive overtones. The problem disappears in the clash of perso nalities. The newspaper plays a significant role in this process by frequently attacking specific individuals with whom it disagrees both in the editorial column and with lengthy comments appended to letters to the editor. In the debate over « Operation M icro City », the paper ignored issues such as the place of civil defense in modern society, the feasibility of evacuation, or the nature of nuclear war — all basic ques tions raised by the critics. Instead, the editor preferred attacking them for « high sounding intellectual nonsense » and questioning their right to « carry on research on a m atter of public in te re st».
During the freeway dispute, individual old-timers were called « self- styled Micro City historians » by the press.
Unpublished castigation is equally effective. Several years after the height of the freeway dispute, the mayor, commenting upon an entirely new dispute, prefaced his remarks to the city council with the state ment : « I know there are those who are out to get me, and some of the rest of you, because of the stance we took on the freeway issue, and that they are probably behind the criticism of us now... »
Thirdly, part of the highly personalized nature of public life is a direct consequence of the primary (G em ein sc h a ft) nature of the community. Most leaders know one another through personal contact. Wives and children are involved in various community activities, and this elaborate network of personal involvement puts enormous interpersonal strains
10 In his study of political life in several California communities, Euguene Lee found that campaigns and leadership by personality were typical. See T he Politics o f Non-Partisanship (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1959). He concludes that this is to be expected in the small community environment and that it does not have especially serious consequences for the political process. It is these two general conclusions that this article questions.
GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY 11
upon the individuals. Contrary to metropolitan environment, there is no escape into anonymity after one has developed the reputation for being outspoken. Identities are created quickly, and they last for lifetim es11. Comments such as the following were common during interviews conducted with 78 Micro City leaders, representing all interest and status groupings in the community:
The biggest problem we have is small pressure groups which can raise a big fuss. All they do is bring pressure to bear and cause a disturbance. One of the major problems is that at city council meetings people grind their special axes. People in general don’t just come to see how things are done. Public official operate in a fish bowl here.
I would prefer not to become personally involved and identified by name in this issue. What we need in town are new names and faces.
Things get so personal and petty in this town that I am tempted just to withdraw and forget it all, after my one experience. One friend of mine who had a similar experience a year ago just cancelled her subscription to the newspaper and now lives only with out-of-town concerns. Another friend simply picked up and moved away.
I have written several letters to the editor in the past but never again! What’s the point when the paper always gets in the last word? All you do is make yourself look silly, and the people in town can say « there goes another Red from the college ». To hell with them.
Contrary to the myth of vigorous grass-roots involvement of all citizens, these comments indicated early in the interviews that Micro City was marked by pronounced apathy and alienationII 12. Despite a superficial pride in the heritage of the community and its physical attractiveness, the following kinds of statements were com m onplace:
If he’s such a good doctor, what’s he doing staying in Micro City? If anyone runs the town it is a results of apathy. You see the same names and faces because no one else will do the job.
We have no really critical problems locally. These are problems, but I wouldn’t call them critical. They are really no different from what other people throughout the country are facing. All the problems are basically a result of change, and change is inevitable. So, you just relax and get raped.
II In his study of small union locals, William A. Faunce concludes: « ...primary group relationships in small locals may generate coercive pressures that prevent those with minority views from voicing their opposition >. See « Size of Local and Union Democracy », Ameri
can Journal o f Sociology, LXVIII (November 1962), pp. 291-298.
12 A complete discussion of the sources, nature, and results of alienation in Micro City can be found in: Ritchie P. Lowry’s « The Functions of Alienation in Leadership », Sociology
I don’t know why I am getting so excited... After all, I will probably be dead even before they begin to build the freeway.
If you want my frank opinion, I am going to get out of this community as soon as I can. I am fed up... The community lacks intelligence and leader ship. No credit is given to really progressive and dynamic leadership. Who you know is what’s important, not what you’ve done.
Lord, I’ve been in this town so long I don’t think I would have a chance to get a really good job at a top university. It’s probably just as well anyway, because I’m not sure I could cut the job if I did get it.
I used to be active in all kinds of affairs, civic and social. But people here don’t appreciate this. They just accuse you of trying to run the town. I will no longer serve on any community groups or boards. I don’t even read about issues in the newspaper.
W hat made these comments particularly significant was the fact that they came from a cross-section of M icro City’s past and present leader ship groups and were typical of informal remarks heard everyday in the community. Traditional approaches in studies of democracy have suggested that apathy and alienation are processes associated with non leadership, mass groups in modern society. In M icro City, the reverse is true. Apathy and alienation are constant companions of leadership as a consequence of the enormous interpersonal pressures put upon this group.
Finally, personal politics have an im pact upon the quality of voluntary interaction that takes place in the community. Theoretically, voluntary associations serve a crucial function in a dem ocratic so ciety 13. They act as channels through which individual interest and action may be focused and coordinated with the actions of others. They provide a potential base for the expression of minority opinion. As mediating groups in modern society 14, they facilitate informal and, therefore, more meaningful interaction between leadership and the general citizenry. In Micro City, intimate involvement in voluntary associations, especially for leaders, simply increases the interpersonal strains and demands placed upon individuals. These groups do not become protective me diating devices for channeling minority expression. As a m atter of fact,
13 For a summary of this notion see « Voluntary Associations and Urban Community De velopment » by William C. Rogers, International Review o f Community Development, 7 (1961), pp. 135-145.
14 For a discussion of the functions of mediating groups in mass society, see The Politics
o f Mass Society by William Komhauser (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1959). This is also the same concept employed in Lipset’s study of the maintenance of political demo cracy in the International Typographers Union: Se y m o u r M . Li p s e t, Martin A. Tr o w,
GRASS-BOOTS DEMOCRACY 13
though M icro City abounds with a plethora of associations of all kinds, every group in the community seems content to leave the task of vital and meaningful leadership to others. Many organizations content them selves with simple recreational and social concerns, actually bringing pressure to bear upon the member who may try to use the group for other purposes. Political pressure group activity, therefore, is non- existant. Civic leaders do not recognize it when it is employed : « Don’t bring your petitions from organizations to us. W e just don’t pay any attention to them » .
In addition, many organizations formally and informally censure their members for becoming involved in local disputes or issues. Faculty members have had their careers affected. Some local offices of regional companies and corporations prohibit their employess from becoming involved in community politics for « the good of business » . Conse quently, personal animosities also characterize voluntary activity : « Eve rything in this damn town is based upon who you know. Personal contact is crucial. This extends to the state and national level too. The U. S. Congressman [a Dem ocrat] from this regional district has his two or three errand boys in town who do his job for him and get their rewards from him. The U. S. Senator [a Dem ocrat] has his own boys in town. This means that even the local Dem ocratic party is split on a personal basis. No wonder our candidates are weak for all offices, and we can’t get anything done » . In Micro City, organizations are far more interested in maintaining the myth of friendly, intimate, and non-controversial interaction. L et someone else lead.
C on clu sions an d Im p lication s
Crass-roots democracy may have been a viable political system at one time, but in mid-twentieth century Micro City it no longer functions as expected. The urban impact of social and cultural change from larger society is a necessary, but not sufficient, causative factor in this situation. Far more significant in explaining the atrophy of local democracy is the basic nature of small community life, p er se, and its inability to adapt adequately to a changing society.
Contrary to the grass-roots myth, Micro City has not been able to avoid the technological or social consequences of change. In its cultural life, however, the community has attempted to compensate by clinging tenaciously to the myth of small town life in America. These beliefs in the community as an ideal primary setting devoid of serious urban problems make awareness of emerging problems and issues difficult
for leader and citizen alike. As a result, the immediate impact of social change is to create a situation of cultural lag, a growing gap between social reality and ideological orientation on the part of both leader and led. This, in itself, becomes the most critical form of disor ganization confronting the changing ^ small community.
Contemporary Micro City is a curious mixture of both homogeneous and heterogeneous characteristics. W ithin the general fabric of com munal social interaction, the community is far less secondary and formal than highly urbanized communities. The homogeneity of the population sustains a generalized sense of equality among the residents which promotes a friendly, casual, and often intimate response. At the same time, severe divisions of opinion and belief are evident in response to recent community issues and crises. Personal animosities and hostilities are rapidly developed and last for many years.
This very situation is a result of small community intimacy and inter personal proximity. In this context it is difficult for any individual to preserve an arena of purely private and personal life. In addition, the close interdependence of all citizens and their inescapable, over lapping relationships makes emphasis upon maintaining community stability and harmony mandatory. Small community cooperation, then, is not a deeply meaningful form of interaction but rather a deep resent ment of and resistance to anything or anyone that challenges or threatens the status quo.
In this type of interpersonal context, leadership and citizen response to issues eventually gives way to marked feelings of alienation. This, in turn, creates wide-spread apathy as both groups either refuse to become involved in daily affairs, deliberately withdraw from active participation, or vigorously participate in only the most inocuous daily social and recreational activities. In the leadership vacuum thus created it is possible for special interest groups to emerge as controling powers. Emphasis upon maintaining the status quo and personal involvement makes it almost impossible to challenge these controling interests, and representative leadership is lost.
For students of community development, there are two immediate implications of this study of one changing small community. First, developing areas and regions of the world cannot depend upon the small community life to necessarily promote and enhance democratic political life. Many of the same conditions that exist in M icro City may lead to anti- and non-democratic processes in other rapidly changing environments. Contrary to prevailing belief, democracy is sometimes
GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY 15
difficult to inculcate at the more primary group level of human inte raction.
Secondly, the problem of revitalizing democracy at the grass-roots level is a crucial one. If this problem cannot be met at that level, where citizenry and leadership have ready access to one another and to the processes of influence and power, then sustaining democracy at the larger, highly urbanized societal level will be even more difficult. This study indicates that the answer lies in the unique nature of voluntary association and interaction.
If local leaders are willing to use the multitude of seemingly non political affiliations available to them for vigorously meeting the daily problems of community life, then democratic interaction can be sustained. This problem will be the basis of future papers and studies. Specifically, the question of the type of leadership necessary to close the gap between the myth and reality of grass-roots democracy must be answered.
Ritchie P. Lowry
Planification et volontariat - De la coopération comme planification participante
Deux impératifs apparemment catégoriques régnent sur la praxéolo- gie du développement. D ’une part pas de développement ni accéléré ni harmonisé sans planification. D ’autre part pas de planification ni éclairée ni opérante sans participation. L a stratégie coopérative se meut et souvent s’écartèle entre ces deux impératifs.
Le problème n’est pas absolument nouveau, et meme s il a pris une particulière acuité dans les quinze dernières années, on peut consta ter qu’il n’a cessé de jalonner les annales des controverses coopérati ves internationales sous la forme du dossier « Coopération et E tat » devenu peu à peu «Coopération et Socialism e», puis plus généra lement « Coopération et Intervention des pouvoirs publics ».
Près de 70 ans d’élaboration « doctrinale » ont en effet coulé depuis les sommations adressées par G. J. Holyoake aux premiers Congres coopératifs internationaux :
« In early coopération one of the fondamental aims was not to seek State and not permit, if we could help it, State interférences. Cooperators can take care
of them selves » (R eport, 1895, p. 54).
« La ligne de démarcation entre les socialistes et les coopérateurs est claire et nette. Le coopérateur est pour Taide-toi toi-mêm e, le socialiste est pour
l’aide d e VEtat » (Rapport, 1896, p. 116).
Entre des termes aussi artificiellement tranchés, le Congrès Coopé ratif de Hambourg
(
1910)
allait pourtant assurer la validité d’un certain « socialisme coopératif », en réponse d ailleurs au Congres socialiste international de la même année qui, a Copenhague, avait assuré la plate-forme d’une certaine « coopération socialiste ».L ’entre-deux guerres
(
1918-
1939)
allait étudier « la place de la coopé ration dans différents systèmes économiques » e t en particu lier dansun sy stèm e « d ’éco n o m ie d ir ig é e » (Rapport V. Tanner, a Paris en
1937
);
étude prolongée par le rapport classique du comité interna tional des relations coopératives sur «les organisations coopératives et l’intervention des pouvoirs publics dans le monde » (janvier 1939).
Enfin l’après deuxième guerre mondiale écouterait et approuverait dans les assises coopératives internationales de Zürich, Prague, Co penhague la triade des grands rapports de Brouckère, Peddie,
Bar-bier h La reconsidération de l’entre-deux guerres s’y trouvait récu pérée et radicalisée:
« A y regarder de plus près cet examen de conscience d’avant-guerre pouvait sembler tant soit peu rudimentaire. En face des ingérences de plus en plus marquées de l’Etat dans la vie économique, le mouvement coopératif avait adopté l’attitude très nette mais un peu courte en la circonstance de Diogène en face d’Alexandre : ” ôte-toi de mon soleil Il revendiquait la liberté de son développement...
« Dire en effet que ” partout où une économie réglementée sous une forme ou sous une autre a été mise en vigueur le mouvement coopératif repousse les mesures qui entravent le développement national ou international de son activité ” 1 2, n’est-ce pas se ranger d’une manière délibérée aux côtés du libé ralisme? » 3.
Au complexe de Diogène succédait ainsi une stratégie raisonnée de rapports bi-latéraux entre deux secteurs, public et coopératif:
« Si l’indépendance reste nécessaire, si elle l’est plus que jamais, elle ne suffit plus. La collaboration qui sera, on l’a vu, la loi de demain exige autre chose. Elle suppose des services réciproques. E t quand la coopération offre les siens, elle est en droit d’en attendre d’autres en échange... » 4.
Extension du secteur public y compris avec l’appui ou l’alliance du mouvement coopératif, pourquoi pas? Si du moins en échange s’ac complit « la coopérativation de l’E tat » postulée par Ch. Gide 5.
1 De Br o u c k e r e, « La Coopération et les pouvoirs publics », C.R., Zürich, 1 9 4 6 , pp.
1 5 7 -1 7 0 ; ]. Ped d ie, ■ L ’attitude coopérative à l’égard de la nationalisation », C.R., Pra gue, 1948. (Dans le même Congrès: Enquête sur « les relations entre les organisations coopératives et les pouvoirs publics » (pp. 1 2 7 -1 3 4 ) ); Ch. H. Ba r b ie r, « Le Dévelop pement de la Coopération dans le Monde. Ses difficultés, ses chances », C.R., Copenha gue, 1 9 5 1 , pp. 8 2 et ss.
2 Allusion à la résolution subséquente au rapport de V. Tanner, cit. supr.
3 Ch. H. Ba r b ie r, loc. cit., p. 182.
4 De Br o u c k e r e, loc. cit., p. 170.
5 « L es coopérateurs ne sont pas d es anarchistes et ne contestent pas la nécessité de
l’autorité, d e la discipline, d e la loi. Mais ils s’efforcent d e rem placer autant que possible l’autorité im posée par l’autorité consentie, et d e ramener l’Etat à une association contrac tuelle, ce qui est déjà la caractéristique d e l’évolution dém ocratique. C’est pourquoi la coopération refuse d e se laisser étatiser et au contraire elle cherche à coopératiser l’Etat »,
Ch. Gid e, cit. in C.R., Copenhague, 1 9 5 1 , pp. 1 8 2 -1 8 3 .
De même De Br o u c k e r e, loc. cit., p. 171 : « Il est indispensable que la part d e la coopé
ration dans l’économ ie nouvelle aille toujours grandissant et qu e la part d e l’Etat aille toujours diminuant »... Et plus loin dans la discussion avec le représentant soviétique Klimov l’assimilation par De Brouckere de cette coopérativation grandissante à la thèse marxiste du dépérissement de l’Etat: « Que M. Klimov m e perm ette d e lui poser une
question: pour lui com m e pour moi, le but final est assurément d’arriver à une form e d’or ganisation sociale où l’Etat aura disparu. Il s’agit d e réaliser ce qu e souhaitait notre maî tre commun Karl Marx qui disait: L ’humanité ne connaîtra ni fin, ni repos, ni bonheur,
PLANIFICATION ET VOLONTARIAT 19
Plate-forme paradoxale et fragile, de la fragilité même de cette société, sinon anarchiste du moins lib ertaire6 assignée comme « but com mun vers lequel des coopérateurs doivent marcher sans cesse ». E t aussi plate-forme nébuleuse d’une nébulosité peut-être caduque qui n’est pas sans inquiéter le rapporteur de Prague:
« Les coopérateurs progressistes avaient comme objectif une R épublique co
opérative et le socialiste politique entrevoyait VEtat socialiste. Lorsque le but se trouvait à quelque distance, les deux routes se trouvaient dans la même direction générale, et ce fut seulement le théoricien méticuleux qui se souciait de savoir ce que chacune de ces deux conceptions signifiait précisément »
(loc. cit., p. 167).
E t au même congrès, N. Barou aiguisait la même question:
« Nous devons nous décider de manière à savoir si la coopération est un
précurseur du socialisme durant une importante phase de la période de transi tion ou si elle est la forme la plus élevée de l’effort collectif dans laquelle finalement toute l’économie socialiste se transformera » (ib ., p. 179) (souligné par nous).
Question que J. Peddie évacuait certes, mais en lui en substituant plusieurs autres:
« Dans un monde où des conditions critiques demandent la coordination éco nomique et obligent l’Etat à intervenir on peut estimer nécessaire des mé thodes plus rapides pour aboutir au socialisme, mais il n’en reste pas moins vrai que plus grand est le nombre de ceux qui acceptent volontairement le socialisme, plus il a d’occasions de fonctionner. Le socialisme sans acceptation démocratique serait une dérision. Dès lors plus nous pensons nous rapprocher de l’idéal de l’acceptation volontaire universelle, plus parfait sera notre socia lisme. Une telle acceptation volontaire serait une coopération » (loc. cit., p. 180).
La coopération dès lors devrait-elle être assimilée à un système de pla nification participante? E t si oui, selon quelles modalités? ou moyen nant quelle constellation de forces pédagogiques, sociologiques ou même morales?
que lorsque l’Etat aura été remis à la seule place qui lui convient, c’est-à-dire dans le musée des horreurs. Et si nous réalisons notre idéal, si nous avons cette société sans Etat, cette société se dirigeant elle-m êm e au moyen d’organismes décentralisés alors que devien dra la form ule de ’ l’interférence totale d e l’Etat ’.
« Et n aurait-elle pas dès maintenant cette formule un inconvénient grave en créant en
quelque sorte des cloisons entre les coopérateurs, en divisant cette Alliance en un certain nombre d e sections, d’après la form e des états devant lesquels elle se trouve, au lieu de montrer le but commun vers lequel tous les coopérateurs doivent marcher ensem blep »,
erp. cit., pp. 184-185.
6 Cette société limite, pure société contractuelle, n’est en effet guère différente par exem ple du communalisme libertaire, tant de fois analysé et postulé par P. Kropotkine.
C ette éventualité allait être promue après 1945, par le choc en retour d’une complication à peu près m éd ite7, celle du développement coopératif dans les pays sous-coopérativés. C ette problématique de venue prioritaire avec les trois derniers Congrès de l’Alliance Coopé rative Internationale a suscité en effet «les deux pôles de considérations auxquelles on pouvait s’attendre:
— d u n e p art les p laid oy ers pou r l’in terven tion éta tiq u e ou g ou v er
n em en tale:
« En Europe, en Angleterre et en Amérique les coopératives sont nées et se sont développées sans aucune aide gouvernementale; la plupart d’entre elles ont même dû lutter assez vivement contre une opposition gouvernementale. Mais nous nous trouvons maintenant à une époque quelque peu différente.
Nous navons pas le tem ps d e faire toutes les expériences longues et difficiles que nous avons connues au début du Mouvement, en Grande-Bretagne et en Europe. Nous nous apercevons également, d’après l’expérience que j’ai, que, dans beaucoup de pays, si le gouvernement n’intervient pas le premier, il
ne se passe rien du tout; ou, s’il se passe quelque chose, ce serait de façon défectueuse, et des erreurs pourraient être faites qui conduiraient les gens à penser que la coopération ne vaut rien » 8.
— d ’au tre p art les réticen ces d ev a n t c e ty p e d ’intervention, m êm e si
e lle est co n çu e co m m e p rov isoire, in térim aire:
« On prévoit un retrait global de la participation au fur et à mesure que les sociétés acquerront la compétence nécessaire pour gérer leurs propres affai res, mais com m e on ne le sait qu e trop en Inde, il n est jamais facile de per
suader une autorité qu e Theure est venue d e se retirer et encore moins d o b t e nir qu e des em ployés travaillent à la formation d e leurs successeurs » 9.
Ce chassé-croisé demeure embarrassant et cet embarras se remarque dans la décision ambiguë adoptée sur le statut de l’appartenance à consentir ou à reconnaître à ces organisations coopératives du Tiers-Monde dont le « self-help » ou le « mutual h e lp » , chers à
7 La pièce à peu près unique existant dans le dossier avant cette date est celle du rapport déposé au Congrès de Budapest en 1904 : Rapport Duca, « La coopération arriérée » (sic), C.R., pp. 217-224.
8 Rapport Ch e e sm a n, « Le rôle des gouvernements dans les communautés moins déve loppées, XXme Congrès, Stockholm, 1957, C. R., p. 152. (Souligné par nous).
9 Sir Darling, cit. in Rapport Surridge, « Le rôle des gouvernements dans les pays en Développement pour promouvoir la Coopération », XXIme Congrès, Lausanne, 1960, C.R., p. 178.
PLANIFICATION ET VOLONTARIAT 21
l’A.C.I., demeurent plus ou moins sous tutelle, commandite et enca drement administratifs 10 11.
L ’ensemble des discussions n’en confirme pas moins l’ouverture à ce modèle coopératif conçu sous le signe d’une planification parti cipante, modèle auquel A. Thomas avait conféré le charme d’une séduisante prospective : « L a stru ctu re d e l’éco n o m ie co o p éra tiv e
pu isqu ’elle rep o se sur un très gran d n o m b re d e p etites unités é c o n o m iqu es qu i sont c o m m e ses an ten n es v ers les besoin s et les possibilités d e la v ie q u otid ien n e, d isp ose d ’u ne so rte d ’a p p a reil sen soriel co m p a ra b le à celu i d ’un organism e vivant. C ’est ap p a reil ne se con ten te p as d e transm ettre p a r éta p es jusqu ’aux organ es centraux d es in for m ations q u e ceu x-ci éla b o ren t e t tradu isen t en action s raisonnées, il p erm et en ou tre jusqu’à un certain p oin t les réaction s au tom ati qu es, les réflex es d e d éfen se ou d e com pen sation , les direction s qu i p rév ien n en t les d éséq u ilib res e t les erreu rs défin itives lou rdes d e
co n séq u en ces ».
C ette confirmation tenait seulement à gager son adhésion encore restreinte à une telle stratégie en postulant avec une insistance de plus en plus vive ce qu’on pourrait nommer la p é d a g o g ie d u n e p a r
ticipation plan ifiée, ce qui inscrit le postulat Surridge : « Il faut don ner plus de poids à l’éducation coopérative » (loc. cit. p. 70), dans les perspectives contemporaines de cette « planification éducative » étudiée il y a deux ans à l’Unesco n, le tout entre le Charybde d’un fonctionnarisme parasitaire né ou devenu marginal et le Scylla d’un conformisme massif dopé par un activisme du type agit-prop.
C ’est sur la toile de fond brossée par cette rétrospective doctrinale que s’inscrivaient en janvier 1962 les recherches comparatives col lectées pour la quinzaine d’études « E xpan sion p lan ifiée e t A
ssocia-10 La solution adoptée a été de leur offrir un statut transitoire de m em bre associé (cf. Congrès de Paris 1954, C.H., p. 127) impliquant présence d’observateurs soit au Comité Central mais sans droit de parole, soit au Congrès avec droit de parole (moyennant con sentement du Congrès), mais sans droit de vote. Les conditions limitatives de ce statut ont provoqué des protestations dont le Congrès de Lausanne (1960) s’est fait l’écho (cf. C.R., p. 23) et des polémiques que certaines délégations ont porté à la tribune. « Le maintien
des dispositions relatives aux m em bres associés a pour but d e ne pas adm ettre au sein de l’A.C.I., en tant que m em bres d e plein droit certains pays d’Afrique, d’Asie ou d’Améri que latine qui se sont libérés du colonialism e et d e garder la majorité » (Intervention du délégué d’U.R.S.S.). Le délégué tchécoslovaque parle même de « qualité d e m em bre sans
droits et humiliante, d e discrimination » (C.R., pp. 80-82). Il est difficile de savoir si cette conjoncture est pour quelque chose dans la fondation d’une Alliance Coopérative Pan- Africaine, et le Congrès de fondation de cette A.C.P.A., à Moshi (Tanganyka) en fin 1962. 11 Sur ce colloque de l’Unesco cf. Tiers-Monde, n° spécial (n" 2) et notre étude: « Sous- Développement et Sous-Enseignement », Archives Internationales d e Sociologie d e la
tion n ism es volon taires dan s le D év elo p p em en t c o o p éra tif », et dont on pourra trouver les actes publiés à peu près in extenso par ail leurs 12.
La méthode et l’hypothèse de travail en sont précisées dans le L i minaire :
« Le but de cette quinzaine d’études n’est pas de reprendre, sur un plan théo rique, la fameuse controverse sur « La Coopération et l’Etat » si souvent sou levée au cours des Congrès Coopératifs internationaux. Il est essentiellement d’étudier sur des modèles aussi précis que possible les rapports entre politi ques d’aménagement ou planifications d’une part, et d’autre part développe ments coopératifs à base d’adhésion ou de participations volontaires. Ces mo dèles seront pris dans des régimes économiques ou à des niveaux de dévelop pement assez différents et les communications sont envisagées comme devant entrer dans le détail des organigrammes, le bilan pondéré des difficultés ou des réussites, les coûts d’implantation, les coefficients de participation obte nus, etc.
« On tentera enfin sur la base comparative des modèles examinés de dégager quelques règles d’application... ».
Quant aux domaines couverts ils ont été classés dans les cinq prin cipales rubriques: — Expériences françaises — Expériences méditerranéennes — Expériences socialistes — Expériences africaines — Expériences internationales
Enfin, des recherches ou publications intervenues ultérieurement per m ettent d’améliorer ou d’étendre le matériel de base sur lequel pré lever de quoi déborder l’affrontement déjà passablement caduc des tenants de la « Coopération sans E ta t » et des partisans de « la Coo pération dans l’E tat ».
A titre heuristique, on se propose ici de relever cinq dimensions pro pices à ce dépassement.
1. Coopération et Socialisme contractuel 2. Coopération et Communalisation 3. Coopération et Econom ie mixte 4. Coopération et Pluralisme
5. Coopération et Neutralité ouverte.
12 La quinzaine était organisée par le Collège Coopératif (Paris) et le Centre de Recher ches Coopératives (E.P.H.E. V Ie Section), avec le concours du Ministère de la Coopéra tion (Paris) et la Communauté Economique Européenne (Bruxelles).
PLANIFICATION ET VOLONTARIAT 23
1. C oop éra tion et socialism e con tractu el
C’est Ch. Gide qui écrivait: « La fin de non recevoir qu’oppose l’école libé rale à toute intervention de l’Etat nous touche peu, non seulement parce-que ce principe n’a point une valeur scientifique absolue mais surtout parce que la question se pose plutôt sur un terrain politique que sur un terrain économi que » 13 *, et une de ses oeuvres TEconomie Sociale, souvent reprise, aura spé cialement exploré en profondeur ce no m ans land entre les associations coopé ratives et les services publics au point de l’ériger en un système coopératif tellement socialisant qu’il déclenchait la quasi adhésion d’un socialisme coopé- ratisant comme celui dont Jaurès demeurait l’avocat: « M. G ide ne fait pas
d e la coopérative fe ne sais quelle recette abstraite... Lui-même n’a pas peur d e l’Etat, d e la nation politiquem ent et économ iquem ent organisée, il res sent bien que l’Etat dém ocratique est la coopérative vers laquelle tendent, com m e vers leurs limites, les autres coopératives... S’il en est ainsi, si la coopé ration tend à prendre form e nationale... pourquoi le partage cTautorité... ne prendrait-il pas un four form e nationaleP Pourquoi les puissances économ i ques ne seraient-elles pas enfin réparties entre la nation une et centralisée d u n e part, et les associations professionnelles de travailleurs d’autre part... Ch. Gide est-il sûr qu e la coopération ainsi entendue soit autre chose qu’un collectivisme très vivant ou très souple? » u.
Et, nous le savons par ailleurs, Ch. Gide fut loin d’être indifférent à cette main ainsi tendue 15.
Ce n’est peut-être là qu’un épisode dans l’histoire des doctrines coopératives. Il n’en est pas moins assez significatif pour demeurer un point de référence, y compris dans le prolongement que lui donne Jaurès, en se ralliant à la coopération gidienne et à son rôle devant l’Etat « q u elle préservera de toute
rigidité bureaucratique », mais en regrettant que Gide ait négligé de suivre ce qu’il nomme « l’action collective de l’Etat jusque dans les efforts d’indépen
dance et de liberté qui en sortent naturellement » (ib .).
Là est bien la question en effet. Et des rapports israéliens nous ont appris par exemple qu’à côté des modèles hyper-volontaristes offerts par les kibboutzim classiques, la panoplie coopérative de ce pays offre aussi des modèles de vil lages hyper-planifiés, mais dont la planification se trouve calculée, pour que, selon des phases et des échéances prévues, en sortent des auto-gestions coopé ratives et des autonomies villageoises 16. « Indépendance et liberté » ne
sor-13 Principes, Sème éd., p. 286. Et la raison donnée quelques pages plus haut: « Car les
nations ont un autre rôle à jouer en ce m onde que celui de simples producteurs économ i ques et le bon m arché ne saurait être la seule raison d’être d e leur existence », ib., p. 227. 11 C.R. de l’ouvrage de Gide dans la Petite république socialiste du 24-2-1903.
15 R. Picard précise qu’au cours d’une de ses dernières visites * Gide lui donna des ins tructions précises pour la réédition de ce traité d’économie sociale et il insista pour que dans l’avant-propos qu’il lui confiait la mission d’écrire, il fit de larges citations de cet article de Jaurès. Il le lui remit avec son dossier des coupures de presse se rapportant à son ouvrage et ce fut peut-être ce jour là la dernière fois qu’il eut encore la force de se lever pour puiser dans une de ses armoires à dossier », W. Oualid et R. Picard, « Ch. Gide l’Economiste Social » in C.G. sa vie, son oeuvre, Sirey, 1933, p. 59, n. 20.
16 Cf. les rapports Darin Drabkin et Ga t, au Colloque précité, A.I.S.C., juil.-déc. 1962, n. 12, pp. 19 et ss. Et naturellement l’étude plus circonstanciée de ces types de groupe ments (Moshve Olim) par A. Me i s t e r, Principes et tendances d e la planification rurale
