Louis Blanc believes that the economy should be organized according to a principle of association, where individuals and businesses combine their forces to work towards a common interest. To support his argument, Blanc describes the shortcomings of the current system of competition which, in his eyes, is fundamentally chaotic and harmful to both bourgeois business-owners and industrial laborers. In The Black City, George Sand offers a fictional account of what it’s like to live under a competitive/capitalistic system (and, in the final pages, she imagines what association might look like). Which version of competition do you find more compelling? In other words, do you think that Blanc or Sand does a better job of conveying the necessity of abolishing competition in favor of association? Explain.
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