They can do that within the
self-contained group. But in its external relations the group as a
whole, or its representative, is dealing with matters that transcend
immediate experience. The shop does not arrive spontaneously at a view
of the whole situation. Therefore, the public opinions of a shop about
its rights and duties in the industry and in society, are matters of
education or propaganda, not the automatic product of shop-consciousness.
Whether the guildsmen elect a delegate, or a representative, they do
not escape the problem of the orthodox democrat. Either the group
as a whole, or the elected spokesman, must stretch his mind beyond
the limits of direct experience. He must vote on questions coming up
from other shops, and on matters coming from beyond the frontiers of
the whole industry. The primary interest of the shop does not even
cover the function of a whole industrial vocation. The function of a
vocation, a great industry, a district, a nation is a concept, not an
experience, and has to be imagined, invented, taught and believed.
And even though you define function as carefully as possible, once
you admit that the view of each shop on that function will not
necessarily coincide with the view of other shops, you are saying
that the representative of one interest is concerned in the proposals
made by other interests. You are saying that he must conceive a
common interest.
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