ABSTRACT
Intellectuals were interested only in material benefits and personal advantages, and would be prepared to sacrifice the general interest to that end. The role of the intellectuals was at best an auxiliary one. Some of them, badly paid, discontented, or unemployed, became members of the "intellectual proletariat," but attached themselves to the petty-bourgeoisie, and tried to turn socialism into reaction and Utopian socialism. Georges Sorel was concerned both with attacking the supposed superiority of intellectuals and their hold over the proletarian movement, and also with asserting the ability of the workers to take charge of their own movement. Charles Maurras and Maurice Barres joined with Sorel in his insistence on the need for action and in advocacy of the heroic figure that was so lacking in the Republic. Sorel's personal expressions of distaste for intellectuals, as shown in Reflections on Violence and La Revolution Dreyfusienne, often bordered on the libelous.
