Tailhade is a decadent, who, because he is _blasé_ has the courage of his Anarchist opinions. In fact the Anarchists combat democracy because democracy, according to them, is nothing but the tyranny of the majority as against the minority. The majority has no right to impose its wishes upon the minority. But if this is so, in the name of what moral principle do the Anarchists revolt against the bourgeoisie? Because the bourgeoisie are not a minority? Or because they do not do what they "will" to do? "Do as thou would'st," proclaim the Anarchists. The bourgeoisie "want" to exploit the proletariat, and do it remarkably well. They thus follow the Anarchist precept, and the "companions" are very wrong to complain of their conduct. They become altogether ridiculous when they combat the bourgeoisie in the name of their victims. "What matters the death of vague human beings"--continues the Anarchist logician Tailhade--"if thereby the individual affirms himself?" Here we have the true morality of the Anarchists; it is also that of the crowned heads. _Sic volo, sic jubeo!_[78] _Thus, in the name of the revolution, the Anarchists serve the cause of reaction; in the name of morality they approve the most immoral acts; in the name of individual liberty they trample under foot all the rights of their fellows._ And this is why the whole Anarchist doctrine founders upon its own logic. If any maniac may, because he "wants" to, kill as many men as he likes, society, composed of an immense number of individuals, may certainly bring him to his senses, not because it is its caprice, but because it is its duty, because such is the _conditio sine quâ non_ of its existence. FOOTNOTES: [64] In their dreams of riots and even of the Revolution, the Anarchists, burn, with real passion and delight, all title-deeds of property, and all governmental documents. It is Kropotkine especially who attributes immense importance to these _auto-da-fe_. Really, one would think him a rebellious civil servant. [65] Republished in the _Peuple_ of Lyons, December 20, 1893. [66] "Anarchist Communism," p. 8. [67] Kropotkine's preface to the Russian edition of Bakounine's pamphlet "La Commune de Paris et la notion de l'Etat." Geneva, 1892, p. 5. [68] Ibid., same page. [69] J. Grave "La Société Mourante et L'Anarchie," p. 253. [70] Ibid., p. 249. [71] Ibid., pp. 250-251. [72] _Vorwärts_, January 23, 1894.