A society without a government, which would act by free, voluntary
co-operation, trusting entirely to the spontaneous action of those
interested, and founded altogether on solidarity and sympathy, is
certainly, they say, a very beautiful ideal, but, like all ideals,
it is a castle in the air. We find ourselves placed in a human
society, which has always been divided into oppressors and
oppressed; and if the former are full of the spirit of domination,
and have all the vices of tyrants, the latter are corrupted
by servility, and have those still worse vices, which are the result
of enslavement. The sentiment of solidarity is far from being
dominant in man at the present day; and if it is true that the
different classes of men are becoming more and more unanimous among
themselves, it is none the less true that that which is most
conspicuous and impresses itself most on human character today is
the struggle for existence. It is a fact that each fights daily
against every one else, and competition presses upon all, workmen
and masters, causing every man to become a wolf towards every other
man. How can these men, educated in a society based upon antagonism
between individuals as well as classes, be transformed in a moment
and become capable of living in a society in which each shall do as
he likes, and as he should, without external coercion, caring for
the good of others, simply by the impulse of their own nature? And
with what heart or what common sense can you trust to a revolution
on the part of an ignorant, turbulent mass, weakened by misery,
stupefied by priestcraft, who are today blindly sanguinary and
tomorrow will let themselves be humbugged by any knave, who dares
to call himself their master? Would it not be more prudent to
advance gradually towards the Anarchistic ideal, passing through
Republican, Democratic and Socialistic stages? Will not an
educative government, composed of the best men, be necessary
to prepare the advancing generations for their future destiny?
These objections also ought not to appear valid if we have
succeeded in making our readers understand what we have already
said, and in convincing them of it. But in any case, even at the
risk of repetition, it may be as well to answer them.
We find ourselves continually met by the false notion that
government is in itself a new force, sprung up one knows not
whence, which of itself adds something to the sum of the force
and capability of those whom it is composed and of those who
obey it. While, on the contrary, all that is done is done by
individual men. The government, as a government, adds nothing
save the tendency to monopolize for the advantage of certain
parties or classes, and to repress all initiative from beyond its
own circle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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