The Green Book
 Cover of the original English edition | |
| Author | Julie Legrand |
|---|---|
| Country | Gylias |
| Language | French English |
| Subject | Political philosophy |
Publication date | 1960 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 100 |
| Socialism in Gylias |
|---|
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The Green Book (French reformed: L'livre verte) is a 1960 book by Julie Legrand. It presents her political philosophy and eccentric leftist views, as well as her perspective on Gylian history. It was written in a conversational style that reflected Julie's personality, and featured statements, quotations, and jokes.
The book became one of the most widely distributed in Gylias during the Golden Revolution, and secured Julie's reputation as the "chief ideologue" of the Democratic Communist Party, as well as her significant power within the party. Historian Nina Raukan described it as "the foundational text of the post-war Gylian left", and its unique approach to left-wing politics came to be dubbed "Julieism".
Background
During the 1950s, Julie Legrand had become a well-known commander in the People's Army and a rising star in Free Territories politics. Joining the Democratic Communist Party upon establishment, she was adopted as the protégé of the Freeman sisters, and formed other lifelong friendships that shaped her politics, particularly with Raira Sano and Sweetie Letise.
Julie's fierce rivalry with the authoritarian communist leader Adélaïde Raynault, played out through exciting insult matches in the General Council, helped establish her as a force to be reckoned with in politics. The rivalry ended with Julie triumphant in 1956, after Adélaïde died and Julie's major role in the Lucian Purge. Julie was thus left the dominant French figure of the Free Territories' public life, and given credit for the success of the purge. In 1958, she took office along with the rest of the Darnan Cyras Executive Committee.
Julie wrote The Green Book between 1956 and 1960. Its writing reflected the milieu of the transition from the Free Territories to Gylias, and several commentators would argue that its indirect goal was to help make the Gylian left more amenable to the pact of the dinner party as promoted by Raira. The book drew inspiration from several sources, such as Izai Sesaþ's hugely influential L'ABCd'anarchie and H. G. Wells' The Outline of History.
Julie's husband Marc was a key collaborator and assistant during the writing of the book. She admitted in interviews and her autobiography that Marc did "the most thankless tasks", including reading and researching several books used as material, with Julie writing the resulting chapters based on his notes. Marc also had a keen interest in burnishing his wife's legend, and was responsible for the cover, showing Julie in a self-satisfied pose that became iconic.
Writing
The Green Book is written in a simple style. Julie placed a premium on accesssibility and made an effort to limit the use of jargon in the text.
Julie planned the book to be a riposte to what she considered "the blight of execrably-written, brainless, narcissistic tomes vomited by politicians, leaders, and autocrats in love with the sound of their voices". As a result, the book draws influence from the Gylic "pillow book" tradition, interspersing the text with remarks, quotations, and jokes. Humour is a significant element of the book, and Julie takes numerous opportunities to demonstrate her famed mischievous wit.
The book was drastically edited before publication, as Julie wanted it to be short. The title was a nod to her reputation as "the green lady".
Contents
The Green Book is organised into three parts, labeled simply "Yesterday", "Today", and "Tomorrow".
Yesterday
Part one sets out Julie's interpretation of Gylian history. She presents the Liúşai League as communal and cooperative societies with a tradition of direct democracy, and Xevden as a dictatorial and oppressive usurper. She analyses the Gylian ascendancy as a necessary alliance between the dispossessed majority and the intellectuals and "noble class traitors" who sided with the people.
She gives a positive assessment of figures like the landlord Sura Eşiderea, liberalism's philosophical founder Nefne Sary, and socialism's philosophical founder Mary Grant, presenting them as compassionate women who used their wealth to help the impoverished Gylians, and arguing that the real crime of Xevden was that only a few had "the advantages of wealth and time to think" in order to develop ideologies and thus advance the revolutionary project.
She presents Alscia as a crucial turning point in Gylian history, and chides its radical critics for "letting perfect become the enemy of good". She praises figures like Şio Etes and Angeline Dalles for "grasping the needs of the moment" and advancing a strategy of reformist democracy at home and radical agitation abroad. In a long passage, she attacks the degeneration of the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic into bureaucratic authoritarianism. She writes frankly of her disillusionment with Ruvelkan communism and the need for "profound soul-searching" on the left to learn the lessons of Ruvelka and prevent a revolution from being hijacked by authoritarians.
The anarchist theorist Maria Antónia wrote that the entire first section of The Green Book "is cherry-picked, organised, and arranged into a single thrust: to present violent revolution and its hijacking as the greatest danger to progress, and Julie's moderation as the only dependable path to success."
Today
Part two sets out Julie's interpretation of the Free Territories and then-ongoing transition from the Free Territories to Gylias. She praises anarchism's goal of abolishing all forms of unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, but argues that in the absence of a world revolution, Gylias must seek to protect itself against reactionism, and thus a pragmatic approach to the current situation must replace dogmatic adherence to "articles of faith". She states:
"Show me the anarchist who can provide us with an infallible method of creating a stateless society without leaving ourselves defenseless before the world's reactionaries and capitalists, and I will follow them whole-heartedly. In the contest between survival and purity, I will always choose survival."
She describes the role of utopian socialism in the revolutionary tradition, and argues that experimentation and drawing up plans in advance is vital for the success of a revolution. In the absence of a clear vision, the revolution leaves itself open to being hijacked by putschists, as happened in Ruvelka. This section serves as Julie's implicit criticism of the anarchists' refusal to formulate overly specific goals out of the same fear.
She writes that organising is "arduous, thankless work", and revolutionaries must "nourish people's souls", citing the example of the UAL's provision of education, entertainment, leisure, cultural activities, and welfare to workers in Alscia. She argues that "whoever sets out to change society must first live in accordance with their vision", citing as examples establishing trade unions and cooperatives, educating oneself, participating in communal assemblies, joining social organisations, and taking part in community building.
She considers class conflict the defining element of human history, but warns that the abolition of classes cannot be carried out violently like in Ruvelka, which simply "drove everyone down to the same level of misery". Instead, she advocates achieving a classless society by "raising everyone to the same level of comfort", which would cause hierarchy and class distinctions to disappear. She quotes The Communist Manifesto's description of bourgeois socialism but approves of the idea of raising everyone to the level of the bourgeoisie, as long as capital accumulation is abolished.
She discusses the "unsolveable problem" of anarchism: that while it is ideal for organisation at community level, it falters and struggles at a large scale. She argues that the conditions for achieving full anarchism are currently absent, and in the interim a method for carrying out coordination and organisation at a larger scale is necessary: the state. She describes the state as "simply a tool at our disposal, that must be used just as every other tool lest enemies seize it first". She also theorises that, in light of Gylias' historical experience, for most Gylians the idea of a government helping them rather than simply oppressing them was revolutionary in itself, and they would not be eager to dismantle it so quickly.
Tomorrow
Part three sets out Julie's vision of what constitutes a "good society" and how future developments may help achieve it. She focuses on three themes: the economy, society, and the left.
She writes that an economic model combining decentralised planning with community markets in order to organise production viably and meet everyone's needs would represent a strong option for the future. This model would be achieved through placing the means of production into social ownership, abolishing capital accumulation and the profit motive, and mobilising scientific breakthroughs to achieve the ultimate means of communication and coordination across Gylian territory.
She draws a distinction between work and labour, using one to mean self-realisation and the other to mean pointless drudgery. She discusses the Luddite revolts of Delkora, against use of machinery to immiserate workers, and the Gylian Republic taking control of mechanisation to raise wages and reduce unemployment. She writes that automation and mechanisation must be fostered, in order to achieve a future where "machines do the work" and people enjoy an abundance of free time that they can use for leisure, personal pursuits, and self-realisation. Use of science and technology in the public benefit would thus open the path to a non-monetary economy.
She emphasises that economic liberation goes hand in hand with social liberation. Her vision of social revolution concentrates on "the good life":
"We need more open-air cafés, brighter streets at night, more public halls and houses, more theatres and galleries, better and more hospitable hoteliers and restaurateurs, brighter and cleaner eating houses, more pleasure gardens, more trees and grass and parks and comfortable benches, more murals and pictures in public places, better designs for furniture and items and clothes, statues in the centre of new housing estates, better-designed new street lamps and telephone kiosks, & so on & so forth ad infinitum.
How will we get these? By putting people in charge of creating their places to live, places to work, places to celebrate, and places to relax. The revolution is made for the people. Its goal is to put people in the saddle and give them all the tools they need."
She ends the book with a pointed criticism and passionate plea towards the left. She considers the greatest faults of the left to be: asceticism, impetuousness, lack of patience, moralism, lack of concern for the public's needs, struggles with both division and discipline, nihilism, and the worst in her eyes, regimentation and inflexibility. She writes:
"Any revolutionary not guided by love and concern for people's joy is worthless and useless. Throw them to the reactionaries or lock them in prisons, they will only damage the revolution. Those who care nothing for the arts, for beauty, for pleasure — they may be safely put up against a wall and shot before they can inflict their terrors on the people."
She argues that leftists must cultivate qualities that will protect them against authoritarianism and demagoguery "like how we are vaccinated against disease". She names examples of some of these qualities: sophistication, elegance, erudition, a love of the arts, a quest for knowledge, clear thinking and communication, dignity, a strong sense of self, and approaching any utopian vision from the premise that they would be on the bottom rung of society, not the top.
She concludes:
"The basic principle of a good society must be that everyone will have a place and a role in it — including our adversaries. A society must have room for a Madame Rouge, for a Lucretia Pecunia Mercator, for a Hannah Edelstein, for a Beatrice Albini, for a Cécile Sorel, for a mauve circle, for a Beatrice Shelley, in order to deserve the right to exist."
Reception
Upon publication, The Green Book quickly became a publishing sensation. In its first year, it distributed over 2,5 million copies — equivalent to half of Gylias' total population. The book was widely distributed during the Golden Revolution, and it became an unofficial standard for members of Progressive Alliance parties to own a copy.
Initially published in French and English, it came to be translated into multiple languages and distributed throughout Tyran. The official distribution figures for 2010, the book's 50th anniversary, were 20 million copies in Gylias, and between 50 and 100 million copies for the rest of Tyran.
The book aroused strong reactions upon publication. It gained an ecstatic reception among socialists, the "mainstream" left, and even from liberals and conservatism, who approved of Julie's message that a "good society" needed to grant them a place, even as adversaries. It was more controversial among anarchists and communists, who took issue with Julie's revisionism, reformism and skepticism of revolution. A polemical review in Free Gylias bore the headline "How dare she call herself an anarchist".
Beyond its political aspect, the book garnered critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising its writing style. The poet Phaedra Metaxa called it "a very fine book, a pleasure to read". A review in L'Petit Écho said it "brims with passion, with clarity of thought, with humour and lightness of touch. One of Julie Legrand's witticisms has more impact than a thousand theories". Margot Fontaine commented that "hardly a dozen people alive write French or English as well as Julie Legrand".
Legacy
The Green Book cemented Julie's reputation as the most influential leftist of post-war Gylias. It also gave her the status of the Democratic Communist Party's "chief ideologue", and bolstered her influence within the party. Julie used her enormous power within the party to carry out her project of reshaping the left to consolidate the dominance of exactly her ideals and champagne socialist image on the Gylian left — an approach that earned the nickname "Julieism".
Historians have described The Green Book as one of the foundational texts of the Golden Revolution, together with similarly influential texts like Ðaina Levysti's The Empire of Elegance and Margot Fontaine's L'construction d'identité gylienne. (All three works, coincidentally, were published in 1960.)
Isabel Longstowe observed that the book "marked Julie's ascent to living legend": it made her a cultural icon in Gylias and one of the undisputed heroic figures of the Gylian left. Julie retained the copyright of the book for the maximum 40 years possible and made a small fortune from its sales, leading to jokes that she practiced the bourgeois socialism she preached. She became a prolific writer, writing several more books elaborating on the themes of The Green Book, but these did not capture the public attention in the same way. Her only comparable successes were her war memoirs, autobiography, and the collection of quotes The Wit and Wisdom of Julie Legrand, which earned critical acclaim and commercial success.
An article in The Republic in 2014, published on the occasion of Julie's 90th birthday, stated that "Julie Legrand became an exemplary symbols of all the virtues she advocated for the left. She was cultured, elegant, charming, sharp-dressed, perceptive, attentive to nuance, and devoted to moderating the excesses of radicalism. The Green Book stands as a testament to her best qualities and helpful influence on the Gylian left." Raira Sano wrote of Julie's "crucial insight that many people who had never known anything else, who had not previously enjoyed good health, education, or a democratic system, would be happy just with all the time in the world, their needs fulfilled, and getting to make decisions without having the stomach for abolishing the state".
The book became a significant document among the Tyranian left, and remains a potent symbol of reformism and the disillusionment engenered by the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic.