Action

 

On Pages 117 and 118 of his book, The True Believer, Eric Hoffer discusses in action in the context of mass movements. I quote him and then comment on his content.

 

Hoffer (H after this): “                               Action

 

                                                                    96

 

Action is a unifier. There is less individual distinctness in the genuine man of action—the builder, the soldier, sportsman and even the scientist—than in the thinker or in one whose creativeness flows from communion with the self. The go-getter and the hustler have much in them that is abortive and undifferentiated. One is never really stripped for action unless one is stripped of a distinct and differentiated self. An active people tends towards uniformity. It is doubtful whether without the vast action involved in the conquest of a continent, our nation of immigrants could have attained its amazing homogeneity in so short a time. Those who came to this country to act (to make money) were more quickly and thoroughly Americanized than those who came to realize some lofty ideal. The former felt an immediate kinship with the millions absorbed in the same pursuit. It was as if they were joining a brotherhood. They recognized early that in order to succeed they had to blend with their fellow men, do as others do, learn the lingo and play the game. Moreover, the mad rush in which they joined prevented the unfolding of their being, so that, without a distinct individuality, they could not, even if they had been so inclined, put up an effective resistance against the influence of their new environment. On the other hand, those who came to this country to realize an ideal (of freedom, justice, equality) measured the realities of the new land against their ideal and found them wanting. They felt superior, and inevitably insulated themselves against the new environment.”

 

My response: Action does unify people.

 

H: “                                                             97

 

Men of thought seldom work well together, whereas between men of action there is usually an easy camaraderie. Teamwork is rare in intellectual and artistic , but common and almost indispensable among men of action. The cry ‘Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower’ is always a call for united action. A Communist commissar of industry has probably more in common with a capitalist industrialist than a Communist theoretician. The real International is that men of action.”