SOURCE: "Georges Sorel and the Myth of Violence: From Syndicalism to Fascism," in Social Protest, Violence and Terror in Nineteenthand Twentieth-century Europe, edited by Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Gerhard Hirschfeld, Berg Publishers, Ltd., 1982, pp. 246-56.

In the following excerpt, Rohrich examines French historical events during Sorel's lifetime that influenced his conservative political thinking.

Wyndham Lewis believed himself to be justified in saying: 'Georges Sorel is the key to all contemporary political thought'.¹ This dictum appears extreme and yet it contains a grain of truth. After all, Sorel did provide very disparate movements of his day with stirring slogans—albeit frequently unintentionally. And it was no accident that prominent leaders of these movements referred to him time and again. What they most often resorted to was his myth of violence. Two historic movements, in particular, made use of this idea, and Sorel's interpreters have dubbed him more than once...