Albert Camus on the Courage to Resist Authoritarianism
Camus, the founder of absurdism, risked his life in the French Resistance. His lessons remain urgent for divided societies.
Albert Camus is known as a literary writer and the founder of absurdism, but he was also a member of the French Resistance while the country was under Nazi occupation. He worked as an editor for one of the resistance papers, Combat.
His involvement with the resistance has led to a collection of letters and essays that explore the deepest objections to Nazi totalitarianism.
Camus’ insight has aged well for a polarized political age where each political faction fears the other—rightly or wrongly—will impose an authoritarian hellscape on the country.
For example, in a letter to a Nazi sympathizer, Camus argued against the kind of worldview that excuses atrocities as long as they’re in service to one’s country:
“‘No,’ I told you. ‘I cannot believe that everything must be subordinated to a single end. There are means that cannot be excused. And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don’t want just any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive.’ You retorted: ‘Well, you don’t love your country.’”
Americans who have been told they’re not “real” Americans for having the wrong mainstream political opinions may resonate with Camus’ frustration.
The Alternative to Defending the Country’s Worst Leaders
German Nazis believed that supporting Hitler was an existential need. They believed he was the way out of the Great Depression and the fallout from the Treaty of Versailles, which held Germany solely responsible for World War I and saddled the country with a crippling war debt.
As the German economy recovered and Hitler recaptured areas of the former German state, Nazi supporters excused the violent bands of brownshirts who would terrorize political opponents and the increasingly hostile and genocidal environment for Europe’s Jews.
Supporting the recovery of lost pride at all costs was easier for many Germans than rejecting the Nazi Party’s evil and warmongering. Camus offered his alternative to lining up behind the government at all costs:
“I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man, because he is the only creature to insist on having one. This world has at least the truth of man, and our task is to provide its justifications against fate itself. And it has no justification but man; hence he must be saved if we want to save the idea we have of life.”
It’s All Up to Us
Camus doesn’t trust an ideology to guide people to the right ethical decisions. In his view, a better world comes from people taking responsibility for the justice they want to see. In his take on political dialogue, he writes:
“…what I feel like telling you today is that the world needs real dialogue, that falsehood is just as much the opposite of dialogue as is silence, and that the only possible dialogue is the kind between people who remain what they are and speak their minds.”
People can’t remain “what they are” if they surrender their reasoning to their dear leader. Repeating talking points from someone else eliminates the unique conclusions someone may have drawn from their own values and experiences.
Americans shouldn’t surrender their own doubts because someone in their political faction has a chance at being impactful. Other countries have followed that road with devastating consequences. We don’t need to even step in that direction here.