The Test of Revolt
“Man's solidarity is founded upon rebellion, and rebellion, in its turn, can only find its justification in this solidarity.” ALBERT CAMUS · THE REBEL
On the first of the month we set the task, to fight the isolation that divides people and defend the bond that joins them. But where does that bond come from? Today Camus gives a surprising answer, and it sends us back to the rebel. In The Rebel he writes that man’s solidarity is founded upon rebellion, and rebellion, in its turn, can only find its justification in this solidarity. The two lean on each other. Neither stands alone.
Read slowly, it is almost a warning disguised as a definition. Solidarity is founded upon rebellion, meaning our sense of belonging to one another is not a warm inheritance, it is forged in the shared refusal of what wrongs us. We discover our kinship most sharply when we stand together against something. But then the sentence turns and points back the other way. Rebellion is justified only by that solidarity. The moment a revolt stops serving the bond between people and starts sacrificing them, it has lost the only thing that made it right.
Camus was writing against a real danger, the revolutions of his century that began in the name of the oppressed and ended by crushing them, telling themselves the corpses were the price of a better tomorrow. He draws the line here. A rebellion that betrays the very people it claims to free is no longer rebellion at all. It has become the thing it rose up against.
This gives solidarity teeth. It is not only a feeling but a test. Whatever you are fighting for, you can check it against this. Does it still serve the human beings in front of you, or has it begun to use them?
Today, look at one cause or grievance you hold, even a small one, a family argument, a stand at work. Ask the honest question. Is this still for the people involved, or has it quietly become about winning? Let the answer correct your aim.
