Eric Hoffer: Longshoreman Philosopher — The American Magazine

 

“The intellectual knows with every fiber of his being that all men are not equal,” he wrote at one point, “and there are few things that he cares for less than a classless society.” Intellectuals regard “the common man as a means,” and, in an age of democracy, egalitarianism is the ideal weapon. Equality is forever unattainable, so “more” is always needed.  Intellectuals are particularly antagonistic to the United States, because it dispersed power outward to the masses in a way that no country had ever done before. As a class, intellectuals are aristocratic in temperament and seek power for themselves.

Looking at it from the worker’s point of view, he wrote:

A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual’s sense of worth as an automated economy is a threat to the worker’s sense of worth. Any social order . . . which can function well with a minimum of leadership will be an anathema to the intellectual.

Eric Hoffer: Longshoreman Philosopher — The American Magazine