ANARCHY.
ANARCHY.
Ever
reviled, accursed, ne'er understood,
Thou
art the grisly terror of our age.
"Wreck of all order,"
cry the multitude,
"Art thou, and
war and murder's endless rage."
O, let them cry. To them that
ne'er have striven
The truth that lies
behind a word to find,
To them the word's right meaning was not
given.
They shall continue blind among
the blind.
But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure,
Thou sayest all which I for goal have taken.
I give thee to the
future! Thine secure
When each at least
unto himself shall waken.
Comes it in sunshine? In the tempest's
thrill?
I cannot tell—but it the earth
shall see!
I am an Anarchist! Wherefore I will
Not rule, and also ruled I will not be!
JOHN HENRY MACKAY.The
history of human growth and development is at the same time the
history of the terrible struggle of every new idea heralding the
approach of a brighter dawn. In its tenacious hold on tradition,
the
Old has never hesitated to make use of the foulest and cruelest
means
to stay the advent of the New, in whatever form or period the
latter
may have asserted itself. Nor need we retrace our steps into the
distant past to realize the enormity of opposition, difficulties,
and
hardships placed in the path of every progressive idea. The rack,
the
thumbscrew, and the knout are still with us; so are the convict's
garb and the social wrath, all conspiring against the spirit that
is
serenely marching on.Anarchism
could not hope to escape the fate of all other ideas of innovation.
Indeed, as the most revolutionary and uncompromising innovator,
Anarchism must needs meet with the combined ignorance and venom of
the world it aims to reconstruct.To
deal even remotely with all that is being said and done against
Anarchism would necessitate the writing of a whole volume. I shall
therefore meet only two of the principal objections. In so doing, I
shall attempt to elucidate what Anarchism really stands for.The
strange phenomenon of the opposition to Anarchism is that it brings
to light the relation between so-called intelligence and ignorance.
And yet this is not so very strange when we consider the relativity
of all things. The ignorant mass has in its favor that it makes no
pretense of knowledge or tolerance. Acting, as it always does, by
mere impulse, its reasons are like those of a child. "Why?"
"Because." Yet the opposition of the uneducated to
Anarchism deserves the same consideration as that of the
intelligent
man.What,
then, are the objections? First, Anarchism is impractical, though a
beautiful ideal. Second, Anarchism stands for violence and
destruction, hence it must be repudiated as vile and dangerous.
Both
the intelligent man and the ignorant mass judge not from a thorough
knowledge of the subject, but either from hearsay or false
interpretation.A
practical scheme, says Oscar Wilde, is either one already in
existence, or a scheme that could be carried out under the existing
conditions; but it is exactly the existing conditions that one
objects to, and any scheme that could accept these conditions is
wrong and foolish. The true criterion of the practical, therefore,
is
not whether the latter can keep intact the wrong or foolish; rather
is it whether the scheme has vitality enough to leave the stagnant
waters of the old, and build, as well as sustain, new life. In the
light of this conception, Anarchism is indeed practical. More than
any other idea, it is helping to do away with the wrong and
foolish;
more than any other idea, it is building and sustaining new
life.The
emotions of the ignorant man are continuously kept at a pitch by
the
most blood-curdling stories about Anarchism. Not a thing too
outrageous to be employed against this philosophy and its
exponents.
Therefore Anarchism represents to the unthinking what the
proverbial
bad man does to the child,—a black monster bent on swallowing
everything; in short, destruction and violence.Destruction
and violence! How is the ordinary man to know that the most violent
element in society is ignorance; that its power of destruction is
the
very thing Anarchism is combating? Nor is he aware that Anarchism,
whose roots, as it were, are part of nature's forces, destroys, not
healthful tissue, but parasitic growths that feed on the life's
essence of society. It is merely clearing the soil from weeds and
sagebrush, that it may eventually bear healthy fruit.Someone
has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to
think. The widespread mental indolence, so prevalent in society,
proves this to be only too true. Rather than to go to the bottom of
any given idea, to examine into its origin and meaning, most people
will either condemn it altogether, or rely on some superficial or
prejudicial definition of non-essentials.Anarchism
urges man to think, to investigate, to analyze every proposition;
but
that the brain capacity of the average reader be not taxed too
much,
I also shall begin with a definition, and then elaborate on the
latter.ANARCHISM:—The
philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by
man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on
violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as
unnecessary.The
new social order rests, of course, on the materialistic basis of
life; but while all Anarchists agree that the main evil today is an
economic one, they maintain that the solution of that evil can be
brought about only through the consideration of EVERY PHASE of
life,—individual, as well as the collective; the internal, as well
as the external phases.A
thorough perusal of the history of human development will disclose
two elements in bitter conflict with each other; elements that are
only now beginning to be understood, not as foreign to each other,
but as closely related and truly harmonious, if only placed in
proper
environment: the individual and social instincts. The individual
and
society have waged a relentless and bloody battle for ages, each
striving for supremacy, because each was blind to the value and
importance of the other. The individual and social instincts,—the
one a most potent factor for individual endeavor, for growth,
aspiration, self-realization; the other an equally potent factor
for
mutual helpfulness and social well-being.The
explanation of the storm raging within the individual, and between
him and his surroundings, is not far to seek. The primitive man,
unable to understand his being, much less the unity of all life,
felt
himself absolutely dependent on blind, hidden forces ever ready to
mock and taunt him. Out of that attitude grew the religious
concepts
of man as a mere speck of dust dependent on superior powers on
high,
who can only be appeased by complete surrender. All the early sagas
rest on that idea, which continues to be the LEIT-MOTIF of the
biblical tales dealing with the relation of man to God, to the
State,
to society. Again and again the same motif, MAN IS NOTHING, THE
POWERS ARE EVERYTHING. Thus Jehovah would only endure man on
condition of complete surrender. Man can have all the glories of
the
earth, but he must not become conscious of himself. The State,
society, and moral laws all sing the same refrain: Man can have all
the glories of the earth, but he must not become conscious of
himself.Anarchism
is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of
himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are
non-existent, that their promises are null and void, since they can
be fulfilled only through man's subordination. Anarchism is
therefore
the teacher of the unity of life; not merely in nature, but in man.
There is no conflict between the individual and the social
instincts,
any more than there is between the heart and the lungs: the one the
receptacle of a precious life essence, the other the repository of
the element that keeps the essence pure and strong. The individual
is
the heart of society, conserving the essence of social life;
society
is the lungs which are distributing the element to keep the life
essence—that is, the individual—pure and strong."The
one thing of value in the world," says Emerson, "is the
active soul; this every man contains within him. The soul active
sees
absolute truth and utters truth and creates." In other words,
the individual instinct is the thing of value in the world. It is
the
true soul that sees and creates the truth alive, out of which is to
come a still greater truth, the re-born social soul.Anarchism
is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him
captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for
individual and social harmony. To accomplish that unity, Anarchism
has declared war on the pernicious influences which have so far
prevented the harmonious blending of individual and social
instincts,
the individual and society.Religion,
the dominion of the human mind; Property, the dominion of human
needs; and Government, the dominion of human conduct, represent the
stronghold of man's enslavement and all the horrors it entails.
Religion! How it dominates man's mind, how it humiliates and
degrades
his soul. God is everything, man is nothing, says religion. But out
of that nothing God has created a kingdom so despotic, so
tyrannical,
so cruel, so terribly exacting that naught but gloom and tears and
blood have ruled the world since gods began. Anarchism rouses man
to
rebellion against this black monster. Break your mental fetters,
says
Anarchism to man, for not until you think and judge for yourself
will
you get rid of the dominion of darkness, the greatest obstacle to
all
progress.Property,
the dominion of man's needs, the denial of the right to satisfy his
needs. Time was when property claimed a divine right, when it came
to
man with the same refrain, even as religion, "Sacrifice!
Abnegate! Submit!" The spirit of Anarchism has lifted man from
his prostrate position. He now stands erect, with his face toward
the
light. He has learned to see the insatiable, devouring, devastating
nature of property, and he is preparing to strike the monster
dead."Property
is robbery," said the great French Anarchist, Proudhon. Yes, but
without risk and danger to the robber. Monopolizing the accumulated
efforts of man, property has robbed him of his birthright, and has
turned him loose a pauper and an outcast. Property has not even the
time-worn excuse that man does not create enough to satisfy all
needs. The A B C student of economics knows that the productivity
of
labor within the last few decades far exceeds normal demand a
hundredfold. But what are normal demands to an abnormal
institution?
The only demand that property recognizes is its own gluttonous
appetite for greater wealth, because wealth means power; the power
to
subdue, to crush, to exploit, the power to enslave, to outrage, to
degrade. America is particularly boastful of her great power, her
enormous national wealth. Poor America, of what avail is all her
wealth, if the individuals comprising the nation are wretchedly
poor?
If they live in squalor, in filth, in crime, with hope and joy
gone,
a homeless, soilless army of human prey.It
is generally conceded that unless the returns of any business
venture
exceed the cost, bankruptcy is inevitable. But those engaged in the
business of producing wealth have not yet learned even this simple
lesson. Every year the cost of production in human life is growing
larger (50,000 killed, 100,000 wounded in America last year); the
returns to the masses, who help to create wealth, are ever getting
smaller. Yet America continues to be blind to the inevitable
bankruptcy of our business of production. Nor is this the only
crime
of the latter. Still more fatal is the crime of turning the
producer
into a mere particle of a machine, with less will and decision than
his master of steel and iron. Man is being robbed not merely of the
products of his labor, but of the power of free initiative, of
originality, and the interest in, or desire for, the things he is
making.Real
wealth consists in things of utility and beauty, in things that
help
to create strong, beautiful bodies and surroundings inspiring to
live
in. But if man is doomed to wind cotton around a spool, or dig
coal,
or build roads for thirty years of his life, there can be no talk
of
wealth. What he gives to the world is only gray and hideous things,
reflecting a dull and hideous existence,—too weak to live, too
cowardly to die. Strange to say, there are people who extol this
deadening method of centralized production as the proudest
achievement of our age. They fail utterly to realize that if we are
to continue in machine subserviency, our slavery is more complete
than was our bondage to the King. They do not want to know that
centralization is not only the death-knell of liberty, but also of
health and beauty, of art and science, all these being impossible
in
a clock-like, mechanical atmosphere.Anarchism
cannot but repudiate such a method of production: its goal is the
freest possible expression of all the latent powers of the
individual. Oscar Wilde defines a perfect personality as "one
who develops under perfect conditions, who is not wounded, maimed,
or
in danger." A perfect personality, then, is only possible in a
state of society where man is free to choose the mode of work, the
conditions of work, and the freedom to work. One to whom the making
of a table, the building of a house, or the tilling of the soil, is
what the painting is to the artist and the discovery to the
scientist,—the result of inspiration, of intense longing, and deep
interest in work as a creative force. That being the ideal of
Anarchism, its economic arrangements must consist of voluntary
productive and distributive associations, gradually developing into
free communism, as the best means of producing with the least waste
of human energy. Anarchism, however, also recognizes the right of
the
individual, or numbers of individuals, to arrange at all times for
other forms of work, in harmony with their tastes and
desires.Such
free display of human energy being possible only under complete
individual and social freedom, Anarchism directs its forces against
the third and greatest foe of all social equality; namely, the
State,
organized authority, or statutory law,—the dominion of human
conduct.Just
as religion has fettered the human mind, and as property, or the
monopoly of things, has subdued and stifled man's needs, so has the
State enslaved his spirit, dictating every phase of conduct. "All
government in essence," says Emerson, "is tyranny." It
matters not whether it is government by divine right or majority
rule. In every instance its aim is the absolute subordination of
the
individual.Referring
to the American government, the greatest American Anarchist, David
Thoreau, said: "Government, what is it but a tradition, though a
recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity,
but each instance losing its integrity; it has not the vitality and
force of a single living man. Law never made man a whit more just;
and by means of their respect for it, even the well disposed are
daily made agents of injustice."Indeed,
the keynote of government is injustice. With the arrogance and
self-sufficiency of the King who could do no wrong, governments
ordain, judge, condemn, and punish the most insignificant offenses,
while maintaining themselves by the greatest of all offenses, the
annihilation of individual liberty. Thus Ouida is right when she
maintains that "the State only aims at instilling those
qualities in its public by which its demands are obeyed, and its
exchequer is filled. Its highest attainment is the reduction of
mankind to clockwork. In its atmosphere all those finer and more
delicate liberties, which require treatment and spacious expansion,
inevitably dry up and perish. The State requires a taxpaying
machine
in which there is no hitch, an exchequer in which there is never a
deficit, and a public, monotonous, obedient, colorless, spiritless,
moving humbly like a flock of sheep along a straight high road
between two walls."Yet
even a flock of sheep would resist the chicanery of the State, if
it
were not for the corruptive, tyrannical, and oppressive methods it
employs to serve its purposes. Therefore Bakunin repudiates the
State
as synonymous with the surrender of the liberty of the individual
or
small minorities,—the destruction of social relationship, the
curtailment, or complete denial even, of life itself, for its own
aggrandizement. The State is the altar of political freedom and,
like
the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human
sacrifice.In
fact, there is hardly a modern thinker who does not agree that
government, organized authority, or the State, is necessary ONLY to
maintain or protect property and monopoly. It has proven efficient
in
that function only.Even
George Bernard Shaw, who hopes for the miraculous from the State
under Fabianism, nevertheless admits that "it is at present a
huge machine for robbing and slave-driving of the poor by brute
force." This being the case, it is hard to see why the clever
prefacer wishes to uphold the State after poverty shall have ceased
to exist.Unfortunately
there are still a number of people who continue in the fatal belief
that government rests on natural laws, that it maintains social
order
and harmony, that it diminishes crime, and that it prevents the
lazy
man from fleecing his fellows. I shall therefore examine these
contentions.A
natural law is that factor in man which asserts itself freely and
spontaneously without any external force, in harmony with the
requirements of nature. For instance, the demand for nutrition, for
sex gratification, for light, air, and exercise, is a natural law.
But its expression needs not the machinery of government, needs not
the club, the gun, the handcuff, or the prison. To obey such laws,
if
we may call it obedience, requires only spontaneity and free
opportunity. That governments do not maintain themselves through
such
harmonious factors is proven by the terrible array of violence,
force, and coercion all governments use in order to live. Thus
Blackstone is right when he says, "Human laws are invalid,
because they are contrary to the laws of nature."Unless
it be the order of Warsaw after the slaughter of thousands of
people,
it is difficult to ascribe to governments any capacity for order or
social harmony. Order derived through submission and maintained by
terror is not much of a safe guaranty; yet that is the only "order"
that governments have ever maintained. True social harmony grows
naturally out of solidarity of interests. In a society where those
who always work never have anything, while those who never work
enjoy
everything, solidarity of interests is non-existent; hence social
harmony is but a myth. The only way organized authority meets this
grave situation is by extending still greater privileges to those
who
have already monopolized the earth, and by still further enslaving
the disinherited masses. Thus the entire arsenal of
government—laws,
police, soldiers, the courts, legislatures, prisons,—is strenuously
engaged in "harmonizing" the most antagonistic elements in
society.The
most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to
diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the
greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing
in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital
punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with
crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the
horrible
scourge of its own creation.Crime
is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of
today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to
misdirect
human energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of
place doing the things they hate to do, living a life they loathe
to
live, crime will be inevitable, and all the laws on the statutes
can
only increase, but never do away with, crime. What does society, as
it exists today, know of the process of despair, the poverty, the
horrors, the fearful struggle the human soul must pass on its way
to
crime and degradation. Who that knows this terrible process can
fail
to see the truth in these words of Peter Kropotkin:"Those
who will hold the balance between the benefits thus attributed to
law
and punishment and the degrading effect of the latter on humanity;
those who will estimate the torrent of depravity poured abroad in
human society by the informer, favored by the Judge even, and paid
for in clinking cash by governments, under the pretext of aiding to
unmask crime; those who will go within prison walls and there see
what human beings become when deprived of liberty, when subjected
to
the care of brutal keepers, to coarse, cruel words, to a thousand
stinging, piercing humiliations, will agree with us that the entire
apparatus of prison and punishment is an abomination which ought to
be brought to an end."The
deterrent influence of law on the lazy man is too absurd to merit
consideration. If society were only relieved of the waste and
expense
of keeping a lazy class, and the equally great expense of the
paraphernalia of protection this lazy class requires, the social
tables would contain an abundance for all, including even the
occasional lazy individual. Besides, it is well to consider that
laziness results either from special privileges, or physical and
mental abnormalities. Our present insane system of production
fosters
both, and the most astounding phenomenon is that people should want
to work at all now. Anarchism aims to strip labor of its deadening,
dulling aspect, of its gloom and compulsion. It aims to make work
an
instrument of joy, of strength, of color, of real harmony, so that
the poorest sort of a man should find in work both recreation and
hope.To
achieve such an arrangement of life, government, with its unjust,
arbitrary, repressive measures, must be done away with. At best it
has but imposed one single mode of life upon all, without regard to
individual and social variations and needs. In destroying
government
and statutory laws, Anarchism proposes to rescue the self-respect
and
independence of the individual from all restraint and invasion by
authority. Only in freedom can man grow to his full stature. Only
in
freedom will he learn to think and move, and give the very best in
him. Only in freedom will he realize the true force of the social
bonds which knit men together, and which are the true foundation of
a
normal social life.But
what about human nature? Can it be changed? And if not, will it
endure under Anarchism?Poor
human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy name!
Every fool, from king to policeman, from the flatheaded parson to
the
visionless dabbler in science, presumes to speak authoritatively of
human nature. The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite
his
insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature. Yet,
how
can any one speak of it today, with every soul in a prison, with
every heart fettered, wounded, and maimed?John
Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in
captivity
is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their
appetites
undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in
field
and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped
daily
into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities?Freedom,
expansion, opportunity, and, above all, peace and repose, alone can
teach us the real dominant factors of human nature and all its
wonderful possibilities.Anarchism,
then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the
dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the
dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of
government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free
grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social
wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free
access
to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life,
according
to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations.This
is not a wild fancy or an aberration of the mind. It is the
conclusion arrived at by hosts of intellectual men and women the
world over; a conclusion resulting from the close and studious
observation of the tendencies of modern society: individual liberty
and economic equality, the twin forces for the birth of what is
fine
and true in man.As
to methods. Anarchism is not, as some may suppose, a theory of the
future to be realized through divine inspiration. It is a living
force in the affairs of our life, constantly creating new
conditions.
The methods of Anarchism therefore do not comprise an iron-clad
program to be carried out under all circumstances. Methods must
grow
out of the economic needs of each place and clime, and of the
intellectual and temperamental requirements of the individual. The
serene, calm character of a Tolstoy will wish different methods for
social reconstruction than the intense, overflowing personality of
a
Michael Bakunin or a Peter Kropotkin. Equally so it must be
apparent
that the economic and political needs of Russia will dictate more
drastic measures than would England or America. Anarchism does not
stand for military drill and uniformity; it does, however, stand
for
the spirit of revolt, in whatever form, against everything that
hinders human growth. All Anarchists agree in that, as they also
agree in their opposition to the political machinery as a means of
bringing about the great social change."All
voting," says Thoreau, "is a sort of gaming, like checkers,
or backgammon, a playing with right and wrong; its obligation never
exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right thing is
doing
nothing for it. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of
chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority."
A close examination of the machinery of politics and its
achievements
will bear out the logic of Thoreau.What
does the history of parliamentarism show? Nothing but failure and
defeat, not even a single reform to ameliorate the economic and
social stress of the people. Laws have been passed and enactments
made for the improvement and protection of labor. Thus it was
proven
only last year that Illinois, with the most rigid laws for mine
protection, had the greatest mine disasters. In States where child
labor laws prevail, child exploitation is at its highest, and
though
with us the workers enjoy full political opportunities, capitalism
has reached the most brazen zenith.Even
were the workers able to have their own representatives, for which
our good Socialist politicians are clamoring, what chances are
there
for their honesty and good faith? One has but to bear in mind the
process of politics to realize that its path of good intentions is
full of pitfalls: wire-pulling, intriguing, flattering, lying,
cheating; in fact, chicanery of every description, whereby the
political aspirant can achieve success. Added to that is a complete
demoralization of character and conviction, until nothing is left
that would make one hope for anything from such a human derelict.
Time and time again the people were foolish enough to trust,
believe,
and support with their last farthing aspiring politicians, only to
find themselves betrayed and cheated.It
may be claimed that men of integrity would not become corrupt in
the
political grinding mill. Perhaps not; but such men would be
absolutely helpless to exert the slightest influence in behalf of
labor, as indeed has been shown in numerous instances. The State is
the economic master of its servants. Good men, if such there be,
would either remain true to their political faith and lose their
economic support, or they would cling to their economic master and
be
utterly unable to do the slightest good. The political arena leaves
one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue.The
political superstition is still holding sway over the hearts and
minds of the masses, but the true lovers of liberty will have no
more
to do with it. Instead, they believe with Stirner that man has as
much liberty as he is willing to take. Anarchism therefore stands
for
direct action, the open defiance of, and resistance to, all laws
and
restrictions, economic, social, and moral. But defiance and
resistance are illegal. Therein lies the salvation of man.
Everything
illegal necessitates integrity, self-reliance, and courage. In
short,
it calls for free, independent spirits, for "men who are men,
and who have a bone in their backs which you cannot pass your hand
through."Universal
suffrage itself owes its existence to direct action. If not for the
spirit of rebellion, of the defiance on the part of the American
revolutionary fathers, their posterity would still wear the King's
coat. If not for the direct action of a John Brown and his
comrades,
America would still trade in the flesh of the black man. True, the
trade in white flesh is still going on; but that, too, will have to
be abolished by direct action. Trade-unionism, the economic arena
of
the modern gladiator, owes its existence to direct action. It is
but
recently that law and government have attempted to crush the
trade-union movement, and condemned the exponents of man's right to
organize to prison as conspirators. Had they sought to assert their
cause through begging, pleading, and compromise, trade-unionism
would
today be a negligible quantity. In France, in Spain, in Italy, in
Russia, nay even in England (witness the growing rebellion of
English
labor unions) direct, revolutionary, economic action has become so
strong a force in the battle for industrial liberty as to make the
world realize the tremendous importance of labor's power. The
General
Strike, the supreme expression of the economic consciousness of the
workers, was ridiculed in America but a short time ago. Today every
great strike, in order to win, must realize the importance of the
solidaric general protest.