Impossibilism

Abstract

Like other terms of political abuse which have been absorbed into our political vocabulary, the term ‘impossibilism’ tells us as much or more about the labellers as it does about the idea being described. After the French legislative election of October 1881, in which the Marxist Fédération du Parti des Travailleurs Socialisters de France won only 60 000 of the 7 million votes cast, a group based around Paul Brousse and Benoît Malon began to advocated a more pragmatic, reformist policy for the Fédération. ‘We prefer to abandon the “all-at-once” tactics practised until now’, proclaimed those who referred to themselves as Possibilists. ‘We desire to divide our ideal ends into several gradual stages, to make many of our demands immediate ones and hence possible of realisation.’¹ The Possibilists regarded socialism as a progressive social process rather than ‘all-at-once’ end. Those who regarded capitalism and socialism as mutually exclusive systems and refused to budge from the revolutionary position of what has become known as ‘the maximum programme’ were labelled as impossibilists.²