In the international field, we also have examples of the use of
non-violent coercion. Thomas Jefferson, during the struggle for the
recognition of American neutral rights by Britain and France, attempted
to employ the economic weapons of pre-revolutionary days. His embargo
upon American commerce and the later variants on that policy, designed
to force the belligerents to recognize the American position, actually
were more costly to American shippers than were the depredations of the
French and the British, so they forced a reversal of American policy.
The war against England that followed did not have the support of the
shipping interests, whose trade it was supposedly trying to protect. It
was more an adventure in American imperialism than it was an attempt to
defend neutral rights, so it can hardly be said to have grown out of the
issues which led to Jefferson's use of economic sanctions. The whole
incident proves that the country which attempts to use this method in
international affairs must expect to lose its own trade in the process.
The cause must be great indeed before such undramatic losses become
acceptable.[51]
The same principle is illustrated in the attempt to impose economic
sanctions on Italy in 1935 and 1936. The nations who made a gesture
toward using them actually did not want to hinder Italian expansion, or
did not want to do so enough to surrender their trade with Italy. The
inevitable result was that the sanctions failed.
The success of non-violent coercion is by no means assured in every
case. It depends upon (1) the existence of a grievance great enough to
justify the suffering that devolves upon the resisters, (2) the
dependence of the opposition on the cooperation of the resisters, (3)
solidarity among a large enough number of resisters, and (4) in most
cases, the favorable reaction of the public not involved in the
conflict. When all or most of these factors have been present,
non-violent coercion has succeeded in our western society. On other
occasions it has failed. But one who remembers the utter defeat of the
Austrian socialists who employed arms against Chancellor Dolfuss in 1934
must admit that violent coercion also has its failures.[52]