ANARCHI S M And VIOLENC E. L. S. BE VINGTO N. M)21DON: PBINTPD UP~GBH&SHD BY JhYEB TOCHAfI, -'LBPBTP " PBIWe, Calerrrcr, W. 1896. Price One Penny, LIBERTY: A Journal of FREE COMMUNISM. 0 0 0 Monthly--One Penny, o 0 0 o Communications for Editor, or Publisher. to be addressed 7, Beadon Road, Hammersmith, W. _--- - I I__ Anarchism and V~iolence. What? bomnb-throwiunr -kiIliag--violence, useful P WhVti rsort of Anarchists are thosC w1h0 s8V thatP? here is their Anarchislu, their belief in freedam, and the, right of esctry livl;ng snan to his own life aiid liberty Y Ansrchism is not, loiiil throwing, violence, inceiidiarism, destruction, Odd th;Lt any tlrirl ~so self evident should netec saying. Odder still that one! set cof Ana~rchists stiould be obliged to turn round in the tllicli r, Ilattle against the coummon foe to say it to another set. Real t-\utrctists too, not l-ibrids, with one eye on freedorm snt tllt ot~her (,n propertg. Of course the capitalist prless has naturally fouiid it contrehient to identify i'Anarchists with bombs, atnd equally of c:>urse, some of our 'Lsocial~'democlratic friends hlarc said wjtlin thetnsetres, "2'here, there i so would mwe have it." All the srtmni, Anarchism not only is not, but in the nature of the case caniiot be, bomb throwing. An ''isiu" is an abidincg hody of Eprinciples anct opinions-a belief with a, theory behind it. The throwing of boinba is a meclianical act of warfare,-of Tebreliion, if you like;--an act likelg to be resorted to tby any and rvery sort of "beelieer" ahen the wvhole of his enrironnlcnt staiids forcarmed against the yractical apylicntion of his creed. The two cannot nnyhow be identical; the question of tile hour is-Is one of tildm ever a rational outcome of the other? Can anyone professing this particulnr "ism" resort to this kind of act, without forfteiting his consistency? Can a real Bnnrchiut -a, mam whose creed is Ansrchism--be at the same tilne a lperson who deliberately injures, or tries to injure, persons or propertS. I, for one, hnve no hesitiation in saying that, if destitute because of monopoly, he can. I go even further. It seems to me that under sartain 4 Anarchism and Violence. conditions, (within and without the individual) it is part and parcel, not of his Anarchism but of his personal whole heartedness as an Anarchist, that he feels it impossible in his own case not to abandon the patiently educational for the actively militant attitude, and to hit out, as intelligently and intelligibly as he can, at that which powerfully flouts his creed and humanity's hope, making it (for all its truth, and foral) his integrity) a dead letter within his own living, suffering. pitying, aspiring soul. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that there are now and again conditions under which inaction on the part of Anarchists amounts to virtual partisanship with the "reaction", and this, even though the only ind of effectual activity left open to them be of the directly militant kind. The extraordinarily rapid spread of our Ideal during the past few years seems to me to have been indircetly but clearly traceable to the quickening effect of the militant but generally Intelligible acts of a few maddened individuals upon the thousands of minds in all countries which were already unconsciously hungry for the Idea, and which found themselves thus corn pelled to closer reflection and aroused to definite self-recognition as Anarchists. For what is A- archism? Belief in Anarchy as the ultimate solution of all social and economic difficulties. A belief, that is, that Anarchy (or freedom from laws made and fixed by man for man,) is the ideal state in which alone complete harmony and a self adjusting equilibrium between our individual interests and our social instincts can be secured and maintained. A belief that nearly all human depravity on one hand, and nearly all human wretchedness on the other, have been brought about through men's bondage to the coercive regulations imposed by fallible, purblind humans on one another, in the interests, not of general progress and universal friendship, but of this or that imposing class. Anarchy, which claims the full release of the majority from the dictation of the minority, and likewise the full release of the minority from the dictation of the majority, means, further, the removal of all the enervating restrictions and excuses which have hitherto hindered the individual from developing his self-controlling tendencies in spontaneous obedience to the inevitably social and peaceful instincts of his own humanity, as a creature who from time immemorial has been Arnarchisml ancl Violnce. 5 incessantly dependent on Iiis fellows foi~ all the necessazrice anil anieiities of life. Anarchy means a life for nian analogous, on a higher plane, to the life of bees, Leavers, ante? and othei~ gregaLricous creatures, who have not only all natural resources, bt~i also ornt itnot~hel~'s products freely anti peacc-fully oiper to t2helr, 8LlC whC) do ),ut coolperate the mclre pterfec:tly icnd hnpp~ily in Peccuring the comlnon interests of all for the fact tlhat thley ar-te free, as individunls tc- follow their inhereiit instincts anil inclinlatioos untratumelll.d ty considilatious so fort~ell to their wcell being as Iuroperty laws w~ithiln their owii c~oimu iiities. Dterjite its supiremnt advantugtts, our faculty of language has immensely coimplicated acid confusted our dteveloyuieit as social beinbgs, since it has decoyed us by means of dalngerous and misle;dincg abstractions from the surely nndZ eaf'ely educatiorrsl paths of actual experience, causing a long and paillful digressiun from the natural high road of our progress as a sl.ecles. TLsnguitgr!--lence, on one haiid, the sbstractions, L'plnolerly", monev, credit, law, subjectioii, crime; and on the other, those sad resulting concretes,--yoverty, paratsitism, cdegelneratiou, despair, and the wholesale torlnenting of man by mgn. Nature slhows us that among wild creatures, destitute of true language, and so safe aguinst abstractions and prejudices, it is pirecisely the luost social which have become the most intelligent. We Iiunan beings cannot develope wholesome ~custoll3, at once tough and flexible,--stelf modifying ~dn fitted tolour individual comfort and our reciprocal protection by one another, so long as we are hitrassed lbg the crude provibions of artificially coercive law. And Re are, one alld Eall, the poorer for this. For, surely, the w<,rld's wealth should loe att least as freely accessible to everyr human c~reature as it is to evkry other creatulre. Surely the Ilatura~l Iluman being should ~be as free to use his whole: set of faculties from the first, and so to be a jog to himself and a welcome "feliuw" to his fellows, as is thp Imlre! l~ee or bteaver. It would be pobsible _enoufih if once( we c Ia cexl.lode that plroyerty superstition wj~lch inivolves, and ever mxust involle go e umeut--or the cot rciie regiuiation of everybocdv' s life and chanc~es so as to suit those who chn obtain yruhihitive c~ustody of the natulril and produced cstpital of the rac~e. Itut Inow--whLt is there about Anat chism ahich shhculd Anarclits n and f o2letlee, suggest, justify, or render intelligible the use of violence in Iny of those who profess it? Anarchy in itself bodes lcace; with1 happy, amicable (co-operation. Where Anarlchy is already the riule with an intelligent species, delberiate violence, whethee Plrganised or not, can never be ncedei between the members of that species, but only in?asUual self-defence, or in the irepellilhr.~f aggression from without. (Even under Anarchy, I fear weý 1hall sometimAes have to kill rattl!esakcs, tigers, and noxiou.4 verniin! )Anarcliy,how ever, means-No more dividing of a race! against itself, through the contentions and antagonisms of nations and classes; no more dividing of the individual against himself, as a lurkless creature who can oinly Le his best, socially at his own jisk and cost; or, egoistically, at social risk avi l 0o8t. Were the conditiczis in which we live our present lives a condition of freedom fromi all laws that fall short of, or are ill conflict with the natural and salutary lawx of life-then indeed wouid violence find no place in our conduct towards our felllow mortals. But we live in a world where propertv-gltting is mu-de virtually compulsory, under penalty of one kind or another. and to us also who aboiminate property-seeking and property wieldin4 as the poisonous root of every misery and turpitude. We whio aire full of the spirit of what shall be, and who ceaselessly anid hungrily prcss P-wards its realisation, cannct-daie not- I e friankly and fully ourselves in our dealings with our fellows, [-ecause some of these fellows have decreed that neither industry nor good citizenship shall be the passport to food and freedom, but solely and simp l- inoncy, or its phantom "credit". iut, so long as Gover'nment exists, we cannot, even as an experinment, ezstablish Anaichy' we cannot live our individual lives as AniarchiEts..0frcely, uprightly, simply, g neronslv, bravely- in the midst of a political society where it is virtually lunishable with death or misery to turn one's back on legal considerations for the sake of moral considerations. We cannot live as we wish in an artificial socii'ty piesided over by any uni unishable set of uiioisliers--aii) Government. Governmcnt, whatever its form, is Property's body guard amnd hireling, and in the -nature Of the case cannot admnit the independent freedom of any vitizeu whatever without self. frustration. So long as artificial Anarchaisnt an$ Viotencs, 7 Blzw exists, every citiaten falls perforce into one ed two categorits, he belongs virtuallay either to the kroycrly sceking, ]aw \bidillg ulass, or to the law breaking, law igncoring, "criminal" cla~s The law may not Icgnlly he erpcrimt ntcd upon or ceren 3ittroved upon Lv extra-legal meth~ods; it mill pnni~!.Ut if you jgnore its lprovisiolns in aaS of yorir dealiugs on tile ylea, (,f Ihaving cdiscovered a shorter or bt-tte' w:a' to well-beiag. n xnothel~ nesperitte feature of the Anartchist sase lies in tile flct~ that Gtoverntnent is a permalncnt necesoity so long Ls poet Irtmasins l recognised and tolelrnted illstitutioll. So lonls:ls rthis purely conventional bond btetweii ang rnan oi~ nen,;cnd;tny ttiug or tllilgd, lras to be reoognised as a TprelilnicaFy tol every Irind of tction, arld is nzace to usurp tile place of, allt f(, CFowd out natural and siinple Ipiripore oil eveiry occtasicn, smhu~1 Irecognition must be maintained Iutfer fpeultlt7---\ f~rcet-- against those \rho would go thciir waty, however hurnllesstl1ega~rdless cof its bnrs and boulldrrios. Meatnwhilc?, the Anarchist is nott I nere clrtimant fior iiitellect~ual liberty cf thought nnd syeec~h Pespect~iniS tlese3 ttinfF. Even these lesser hoons are not fulls gra~ntetl by those in Ixwerl, for thte iden of freedom is as att~rac~tive as it i on;ntr t.aLr-es care to award a speciully intense kind of happiness to the c~onsciously attained correslpundence of logic~al Idea with uital;tnd inelrsdicab-le instiuct; and Anazrchisll strikes home, ztnd takes deep root in precisely most discriminating minds whereever it gets a chance of propagation, The State, like its sinister coadjutor, the Church, fcal~Y full daylight, and is perfectly Itonsistent in discouraging plain-speaking -diplomaticnlil, But the Aaarc~hist, as I sitid, claims more thatn the right to Ilold and egpoulld his creed; h3 feels no rest, and he will give tls no rest, until way be made! for its natural expansion, and is practical rtealisatlon, st~ a principle of life. For he feels, sees, Iknows, and at no moment forgets all the evils cause(3 by the 1lYs of property, anil be the G~overnmentR wvhich in cold blood ~concoct, and cruelly ellforce them. IHe is hearlilv tired of teing made an unwilling party to that which he repudiates as m(,nstirous. $o me see that the Anzrchist is in a unique position. OE all would-be experimenters, bcruefactors, or deliverer s, he alone is a person who by virtue of the princiiples he holds must be a 8 Anarchism and Violence. revolutionist, and so must have, not one party, but all parties, not one sect, but all sects, not one nation, but all nations, as such, dead against him. For he would overthrow or break down every frontier, as well as every form of law-making and of prosecuting domination. The law, if you tease it enough, will help you slowly to minimise every minor evil contained within its own provisions, but will never aid you one step towards its oiwa eradication as the chief evil of all. It is as useless now as it was in the days of the revolutionary Galileani to look to Satan for the casting. out of Satan. Nature is against that plan. No evolving thing stops in mid-career of development along its own lines, and puts an enil to its own existence just because you tell it to. A cancer that has got a good hold of the living tissues which its foul life is torturing and disabling, will not dcissipate itself merely because the physician and the patient join their hands in prayer to it to do so. The cancer is, so to speak, quite within its rights if it replies--"Why, I am quite as much part of the general order of things as you are. The law of evolution regulates my development just as truly as it does your. I have got a hold on you because you are just what I require to feed on; and I shall not die of my own accord until I have eaten you up first." So then the surgeon is sent for, and the enemy is audaciously and summarily dealt with. Similarly, you cannot blame Capitalism for developing after its kind. The Property-Tyrant may cease to call himself a ruler and law-maker. A sect of Mammonites, which would be a pestiferous sect if it could, is now in the world, declaiming against the government, not of man by man, but of the propertyist by the politician, and sometimes assuming the name of Anarchist-but demanding, under all disguises, Absolute rule by the Property-holder. Another sect declaims futilely against private property while proposing the official direction of all property holding in the common interest. These two things, Individualism here, Democratic Communism there, seem at a first glance opposed in principle. They are not. The evolution of the idea of domination has developed two branches from a, parent stem; there are ideas nowadays of how the governing is to be done. One is plutocratic, ard says-"Leave me my purse, and leave me dnartchism iznd 'Ciotence. 9 tree to do my will with pou by its means." The other is dem. ocratic, and sags--"Give me pour purse, and leave me free to do my will with you by its means." But we will listen to no 'crat at all; the wage system is developing after its kind, so is the aovernment superstition. In their nature intimately depen~ dent on one another, in destroyinp: the root of one, we destroy both. Capitalism must evolve--but if we love its victims, and either through experience or sympathies participate in their sufferings, we shall see to it that the cursed thing be laid low in mid career. The enemies of our cause are exceedingly anxious that no ruolal distinctions be dtrawn on this burning question of Bnatchist violence. The big, indiscriminating, morally inert public are encouraged in their prejudices by the capitalist press, which is at once their sycophant and their deceiver. For the blind and their leaders all violence is held to be vile, except legalised and privileged violence on an enormous settle. Cordite, manuc fac~tured wholesale by poor hired hands for the express purpose oe "indiscriminafe massacre of the innocent" in tbe noble cause of markets sud of territory, is regarded with stupid equanimity by the very same public who are taught by their pastors and masters to cry "Dalstctrd i,' when a private individual, at his own risk, fights a cordite- manufacturing clique of privileged rogues with their own weapons. Ot: course we know that among those who call themselves Anarchists there are a minority of unbalanced enthusiasts ftho look upon every illegal and sensational tact of violence mt a, matter for hysterical jubilation. Very useful to the police and the press, unsteady in intellect and of weak moral principle, thep have repeatedly shown themselves accessible to venal con. eiderations. They, and their violence, and their professed Anarchism are purchaseable, and in the last resort they are welcome and efficient partisans of the bourgeoisie in,ite remorsee lees war against the deliverers of the people. But let us stick to our telt--"Bomb-throwing is not Bnarchism"; and whenever violent action is unintelligent and mere* ly rancorous, it is as foolish and inexpedient as it ie base. IKiiling and injuring are intrinsically hideous between man and man. No sophistry can make ''poison" s synonym of "food", nor make (Iwtr" spell ''peacd". But there are cases PO Bnarchism and Viotcnlce, ~where paison becomes medicinal, and there is such ~a thing nas warring against the causes of war. No Bnarchist incites acther to violence, lrat many an Anarchist repudiates, as I do, *the hypocritical outcry against Anarchist militilncy rairred by those who pass their lives in active or passive support cof the nfamous institutions which perpetuate human antagonisms atnd effecltually hinder the arrival or' that peace and prosperity ~for which the world is waitirg;. Meanwhile let us leave uncliscriminatirla killing and injuring $o the aovernmont--to its Statesmen, its Stoekbrok~ess, its OPfficers, and its Teamw Liberty Bookshelf. Any of the following Pnblications may be obtained by sending the amount in stamps, or by postal order, to the Editor. Carmagnole House, Hammersmith, W. By P. KROPOTKIN. AN APPEAL TO THE YOUNG. Id. ANARCHIST MORALITY. Id. THE COMMUNE OF PARIS. Id. THE PLACE OF ANARCHISM IN SOCIALISTIC EVOLUTION. Id. REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. Id. REVOLUTIONARY STUDIES. 2d. By ERRICO MALATESTA. A TALK ABOUT ANARCHIST COMMUNISM BETWEEN TWO WORKERS. Price Id. ANARCHY. Id. By WILLIAM MORRIS. USEFUL WORK V. USELESS TOIL. Id. THE TABLES TURNED: or NUPKINS AWAKENED. 6d. TRUE AND FALSE SOCIETY. Id. MONOPOLY: or, HOW LABOUR IS ROBBED Price Id. By D. NICOLL. ANARCHY AT THE BAR. Id. THE WALSALL ANARCHISTS. Id. JUST OUT. Let Us Be Just. An Open Letter to Liebknecht. By W. TCHERKESOFF. Price Id. Agriculture. By PETER KROPOTKIN. Translated from the French by Miss ROCHE. Price 2d. Liberty Pamphlets. PRBl[l O#NC PENNFI ILAOH, Definition of Otims. 8y r~ B~Yox. Socialiem in Danger, Part II. BI E. DOMEIA NIlEUWENBUm8. Iksarise bl & Gluarrot. Common-Sense Country, BI L. B. BEVJPJ(TON. Socialism in Danger, Per t JB E. D06EILA NIEUENHUmB Trrodhtd bt & elnrron. Jones' Boy: Dialogaws on Bocial Onoltione ketrurn ~an * atat Terrible " ~trd hir Eatber..BI "BPOIRBEIHVB." Liberty Lyrica, BI t 8. BEVJI#OTOII. The Ideal and Yauth. BI IELPC8&B ICLUS. An Anarchiet on Anarchy; BI EfrISfE &EOLU8. In Defence ot Ernra Cloldmann and the Right of Expropriation. BI VOI;TbIEINE DE CLEYBE. A Plea for Anrrchrist-Communism. BI~ 8~ H~ DUNCAN, ot Aberdeerr. Thir tuay eeateinlar opl, th~ hbrgltC e a rorklby ru Oa tba ~Ul-irporktln rab)**b d tbe porerty ul do gdradion endored by th wrarin Jw les Yan nasedf for that poratf ~1a clclrrd~Jre. The, Whi I Am~: Emr s~assr ehl I m a Sciairt end azl Atheist yCae Nraleriger; Why I ALm ~ oairJ Xkmocrat by %. Oarrse Sihrarr Why I ~Ar an fndiridrulid t AurbhiSt ~bt~ I Armaedea. The 'Hhy I Ams: sElcorb asuw. WPhJ I Am ~ Oommunirf, by WillkramHriri; Wn1 f lam sa E xptapriutionirt, by L. a. Beringre.