ALAIN - Signed autograph manuscript - The War.

Emile Auguste Chartier , known as ALAIN (1868.1951)

Signed autograph manuscript – Comments from a Norman.

Two pages in-8°. Slnd.

“It will be necessary to kill all able-bodied men and this idea will put an end to the game of war. »

Interesting and dense manuscript by the philosopher analyzing war games.

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“ War is always a game ; there are rules of honor and we even dare to say rules of humanity in the massacre. This is understandable if we look back to the time when the profession of arms was the most honored of professions. The defenders, even from enemy to enemy, honored each other much more than they esteemed the contemptible crowd of artisans, whatever country they might be. We read in the newspapers that the German airship was released on the declaration of a German officer , who swore on his honor that it had only gone astray. This confidence surprises no one; I like her ; but at the same time it makes me discover in war a kind of game of princes, entirely analogous to the duel. And that would work itself out if the people, before, during and after the war, did not bear almost the entire weight of it, without deriving any benefit from it.

The first reading that educated me on this was an almanac, illustrated with pointed helmets, where they recounted, not without imagining a little too much, the invasion and the defeat. I found there the letter from Napoleon III to Sedan, when he surrendered his sword. “ Having been unable to die among my troops, I place my sword in the hands of your Majesty . I am your Majesty’s good brother, Napoleon.” I had just read frightening war stories, intended to inflame the hatred of the Prussian and the passion for revenge. This letter from an emperor to a king suddenly enlightened me ; because why did our emperor go to the chief of the brigands, calling him “his good brother”? It could only be a ruse . The emperor, in the presence of the king, was undoubtedly going to throw himself on his enemy, to strangle him or to blind him? But no. No trace of hatred or anger. It was good for the soldiers. The King of Prussia was the good brother of the French Emperor, but the German soldier was not the good brother of the French soldier? I went no further, being incapable of disentangling the causes and effects of warlike passions, and the sources of power. But what would I have thought if I had known that the French had declared war and been the first to enter enemy territory. Much better than the war was the result of the Emperor's own policy, and not the passions of his soldiers?

The idea of ​​war will be transformed. It will no longer be a game of the big guys at all, but a defensive movement, an immense police maneuver, without any friendship for the enemy, without consideration, with the sole thought of harming him endlessly, until he returns home. We will no longer understand these peace treaties which mark the end of a game and the beginning of revenge. The peaceful and just people will never lay down their arms until the territory is cleansed. Or else it will be necessary to kill all the able-bodied men and this idea will put an end to the game of war. Alan »

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It was from 1906 that Alain developed a literary genre with a concise style and striking formulas, the “ Propos  ”. These short articles, inspired by current events and everyday events, covered almost all areas.

Many of the philosopher's “ Propos ” appeared in the magazine Libres Propos (1921-1924 and 1927-1935) founded by a disciple of Alain, Michel Alexandre.