"The Revolution does not act after the fashion of the old governmental,
aristocratic, or dynastic principle. It is Right, the balance of forces,
equality. It has no conquests to pursue, no nations to reduce to
servitude, no frontiers to defend, no fortresses to build, no armies to
feed, no laurels to pluck, no preponderance to maintain. The might of
its economic institutions, the gratuitousness of its credit, the
brilliancy of its thought, are its sufficient means for converting the
universe."[203] "The Revolution has for allies all who suffer oppression
and exploitation; let it appear, and the universe stretches its arms to
it."[204]
"I want the peaceable revolution. I want you to make the very
institutions which I charge you to abolish, and the principles of law
which you will have to complete, serve toward the realization of my
wishes, so that the new society shall appear as the spontaneous,
natural, and necessary development of the old, and that the Revolution,
while abrogating the old order of things, shall nevertheless be the
progress of that order."[205] "When the people, once enlightened
regarding its true interests, declares its will not to reform the
government but to revolutionize society,"[206] then "the dissolution of
government in the economic organism"[207] will follow in a way about
which one can at present only make guesses.[208]
FOOTNOTES:
[125] Not (as stated by Diehl vol. 2 p. 116, Zenker p. 61) 1852.
[126] Proudhon "_Propriete_" p. 295 [212. Bracketed references under
Proudhon are to the collected edition of his "_OEuvres completes_,"
Paris, 1866-83.--The passage quoted above is probably the first case in
history where anybody called himself an Anarchist, though the word had
long been in use as a term of reproach for enemies].
[127] Pr. "_Justice_" 1. 182-3 [1. 224-5].
[128] Pr. "_Justice_" 1. 184-5 [1. 227].
[129] _Ib._ 1. 73 [132? but there he says _must be_, not _is_].
[130] _Ib._ 1. 185 [1. 228].
[131] _Ib._ 1. 195 [1. 235].
[132] _Ib._ 1. 185 [1. 228].
[133] Pr. "_Justice_" 1. 195 [1. 235].
[134] _Ib._ 3. 45 [3. 276, but with the bracketed sentence much
abridged. For the phrase "rebel against right," remember that in French
_right_ and _common law_ are one and the same word].
[135] Pr. "_Propriete_" p. 18 [24-5].
[136] Pr. "_Idee_" 147-8 [136-7]
[137] _Ib._ 149 [138].
[138] Pr. "_Idee_" pp. 149-50 [138].
[139] Pr. "_Principe_" p. 64 [44].
[140] Pr. "_Idee_" p. 235 [215].
[141] Pr. "_Principe_" p. 64 [44].
[142] Pr. "_Idee_" p. 343 [312].
[143] Pr. "_Idee_" pp. 342-3 [311-12].
[144] Pr. "_Confessions_" p. 8 [29].
[145] _Ib._ p. 6 [23].
[146] Pr. "_Propriete_" p. 301 [216].
[147] _Ib._ pp. 298-9 [214].
[148] Pr. "_Solution_" p. 54 [39].
[149] Pr. "_Confessions_" p. 7 [24].
[150] _Ib._ p. 7 [25-6].
[151] Pr. "_Propriete_" p. 301 [216], "_Confessions_" p. 68 [192],
"_Solution_" p. 119 [87].
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