ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

28 The concept and dimensions of solidarity So what was the meaning of solidarity when first introduced in English? Which was Doherty’s conceptualization? Interestingly enough, Doherty only referred to the concept twice, once in his introductory notes on the ‘vocabulary’ used, and once at the end of his book. In the former, he only defined solidarity as collective re- sponsibility and the solidary as collectively responsible. 38 As mentioned above, this definition hardly stands as one that alone carries along the revolutionary spirit of French solidarité into English . It rather imbues the concept with what was al- ready at work in the English cultural milieu, that is, a semi-legal, semi-political concept of joint and several liability (or mutual and collective responsibility), along with an already standardized view of a civilized (Christian) Europe as op- posed to a barbarous Orient (Russia and Turkey). What remains to be answered of course is the crucial question about the locus of solidary responsibility. Who are the ones to stand solidary to each other? At least in this respect and at least in its overtone on the cultural supremacy of the ‘civilized’ (Protestant/Catholic Chris- tian, incidentally) nations of Europe discussed in medical terms, Doherty’s (Irish/ British/Catholic) socialist reading of solidarity is not that different or distant from the one later developed in the conservative discourse discussed above: It is not enough for civilized nations to cultivate art, science, and productive industry at home, then; they must civilize their neighbours also, if they wish to be secure from danger. A nation is but a simple member of humanity, and so long as any other nation is suffering under the evils of ignorance, privation, and depravity, the whole body of the human race is more or less affected by then individual affliction . There is an inevitable solidarity, or mutual and collective responsibility, between all the nations of the earth, and all the in- dividuals of each nation. If one country is infected with pestilential disease, all the others are exposed to the dangers of contagion ; if neighbouring states are allowed to remain in poverty, under the illusions of military glory, they will, sooner or later, conquer and spoliate their opulent neighbours. In fact, if we do not civilize barbarians, they will finally reduce us to barbarity . The civilization of Europe is constantly exposed to destruction by the barbarians of Russia and Turkey, who are now as well skilled in the improved arts of war as we are. This is, perhaps, the only science which they have borrowed from us, because it is more in harmony with their barbarous designs of conquest, and the enslaved ignorance of their population, than are our refined arts of industry and peaceful progress. 39 38. Hugh Dohert, False Association and Its Remedy; or A Critical Introduction to the Late Charles Fourier’s Theory of Attractive Industry, and the Moral Harmony of the Pas- sions , London: Office of the London Phalanx, 1841, p. 24. 39. Ibid , p. 156, emphases added.