Anarchy by Errico Malatesta - Section 4

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section four of Anarchy. This is a LibriVox recording. All
LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
or the volunteer, please visit libervox dot org. Recording by
Annosimon Anarchy by Erico Mala. Testa two. We have hitherto
considered government as it is and as it necessarily must

(00:22):
be in a society founded upon privilege, upon the exploitation
and oppression of man by man, upon antagonism of interests,
and social strife, in a word, upon private property. We
have seen how this state of strife, far from being
a necessary condition of human life, is contrary to the

(00:42):
interests of the individual and of the species. We have
observed how co operation solidarity of interest is the law
of human progress. And we have concluded that with the
abolition of private property and the cessation of all domination
of man over man, there would be no reason for
government to exist. Therefore it ought to be abolished. But

(01:05):
it may be objected if the principle on which social
organization is now founded were to be changed and solidarities
substituted for strife, common property for private property, the government
also would change its nature. Instead of being the protector
and representative of the interests of one class. It would
become if there were no longer any classes, representative of

(01:28):
all society. Its mission would be to secure and regulate
social cooperation in the interests of all, and to fulfill
public services of general utility. It would defend society against
possible attempts to re establish privilege, and prevent or repress
all attacks by whomsoever set on foot against the life,

(01:49):
well being, or liberty of each. There are in society
certain matters too important, requiring too much constant, regular attention
for them to be left to the voluntary management of
individuals without danger of everything getting into disorder. If there
were no government, who would organize the supply and distribution

(02:10):
of provisions, Who regulate matters pertaining to public hygiene, the postal, telegraph,
and railway services, et cetera. Who would direct public instruction,
Who undertake those great works of exploration, improvement on a
large scale, scientific enterprise, et cetera, which transform in the
face of the earth and augment a hundredfold the power

(02:31):
of man. Who would care for the preservation and increase
of capital, that it might be transmitted to posterity, enriched
and improved who would prevent the destruction of the forests
or the irrational exploitation and therefore impoverishment of the soil.
Who would there be to prevent and repress crimes, that is,

(02:53):
antisocial acts. What of those who, disregarding the law of solidarity,
would not work, Or of those who might spread infections
disease in a country by refusing to submit to the
regulation of hygiene by science. Or what again, could be
done with those who, whether insane or know might set
fire to the harvest, injure children, or abuse and take

(03:15):
advantage of the weak. To destroy private property and abolish
existing government without reconstituting a government that would organize collective
life and secure social solidarity. Would not be to abolish
privilege and bring peace and prosperity upon earth. It would
be to destroy every social bond, to leave humanity to

(03:37):
fall back into barbarism, to begin again the reign of
each for himself, which would establish the triumph firstly of
brute force and secondly of economic privilege. Such are the
objections brought forward by authoritarians, even by those who are socialists,
that is, who wish to abolish private property and class

(03:59):
government founded upon the system of private property. We reply,
in the first place, it is not true that with
a change of social conditions, the nature of the government
and its functions would also change. Organs and functions are
inseparable terms. Take from an organ its function, and either
the organ will die or the function will reinstate itself.

(04:22):
Place an army in a country where there is no
reason for or fear of, foreign war, and this army
will provoke war, or if it do not succeed in
doing that, it will disband. A police force, where there
are no crimes to discover and delinquents to arrest, will
provoke or invent crimes, or will cease to exist. For centuries,

(04:43):
there existed in France an institution now included in the
administration of the Forests for the extermination of the wolves
and other noxious beasts. No one will be surprised to
learn that, just on account of this institution, wolves still
exist in France, and that in rigorous seasons they do
great damage. The public take little heed of the wolves,

(05:04):
because there are the appointed officials whose duty it is
to think about them, and the officials do hunt them,
but in an intelligent manner, sparing their caves and allowing
time for reproduction, that they may not run the risk
of entirely destroying such an interesting species. The French peasants
have indeed little confidence in these official wolf hunters, and

(05:26):
regard them rather as the wolf preservers. And of course,
what would these officials do if there were no longer
any wolves to exterminate. A government, that is a number
of persons deputed to make the laws and entitled to
use the collective forces of society to make every individual
to respect these laws, already constitutes a class privileged and

(05:48):
separated from the rest of the community. Such a class,
like every elected body, will seek instinctively to enlarge its powers,
to place itself above the control of the to impose
its tendencies, and to make its own interests predominate. Place.
In a privileged position, the government always finds itself in

(06:10):
antagonism to the masters of whose force it disposes. Furthermore,
a government with the best intention could never satisfy everybody,
even if it succeeded in satisfying some. It must therefore
always be defending itself against the discontented, and for that
reason must ally itself with the satisfied section of the

(06:30):
community for necessary support. And in this manner will arise
again the old story of a privileged class which cannot
help but be developed in conjunction with the government. This class,
if it could not again acquire possession of the soil,
would certainly monopolize the most favored spots, and would not
be in the end less oppressive or less an instrument

(06:52):
of exploitation than the capitalist class. The governors, accustomed to
command would never wish to mix with the common crowd.
If they could not retain the power in their own hands.
They would at least secure to themselves privileged positions for
the time when they would be out of office. They
would use all the means they have in their power
to get their own friends elected as their successors, who

(07:15):
would in their turn be supported and protected by their predecessors.
And thus the government would pass and repass into the
same hands, and the democracy, that is, the government presumably
of the whole people, would end, as it always has done,
in becoming an oligarchy, or the government of a few,
the government of a class. And this all powerful, oppressive,

(07:39):
all absorbing olarcarchy would have always in its care, that is,
at its disposition, every bit of social capital, all public services,
from the production and distribution of provisions, to the manufacture
of matches, from the control of the university to that
of the music hall. But let us even suppose that
the government did not necessarily constitute a privileged class, and

(08:02):
could exist without forming around itself a new privileged class.
Let us imagine that it could remain truly representative the servant,
if you will, of all society. What purpose would it
then serve, in what particular and in what manner would
it augment the power, intelligence, spirit of solidarity, care of

(08:23):
the general welfare present and to come that at any
given moment existed in a given society. It is always
the old story of the man with bound limbs, who,
having managed to live in spite of his bands, believes
that he lives by means of them. We are accustomed
to live under a government which makes use of all

(08:43):
that energy, that intelligence, and that will which it can
direct to its own ends, but which hinders, paralyzes, and
suppresses those that are useless or hostile to it. And
we imagine that all that is done in society is
done by virtue of the government, and that without the
govern government there would be neither energy, intelligence, nor good
will in society. So it happens, as we have already said,

(09:07):
that the proprietor who is possessed himself of the soil
as it cultivated for his own particular profit, leaving the
laborer the barest necessities of life for which he can
and will continue to labor, while the enslaved laborer thinks
that he could not live without his master, as though
it were he who created the earth and the forces
of nature. What can government of itself add to the

(09:30):
moral and material forces which exist in a society, unless
it be like the God of the Bible, who created
the universe out of nothing. As nothing is created in
the so called material world, so in this more complicated
form of the material world, which is the social world,
nothing can be created. And therefore governors can dispose of

(09:53):
no other force than that which is already in society,
and indeed not by any means of all of that,
as much force is necessarily paralyzed and destroyed by governmental
methods of action, while more again is wasted in the
friction with rebellious elements inevitably great in such an artificial mechanism,

(10:14):
whenever governors originate anything of themselves, it is as men
and not as governors that they do so. And of
that amount of force, both material and moral, which does
remain at the disposition of the government, only an infinitesimally
small part achieves an end really useful to society. The
remainder is either consumed in actively repressing rebellious opposition, or

(10:39):
is otherwise diverted from the aim of general utility and
turn to the profit of the few and to the
injury of the majority of men. So much has been
made at the part that individual initiative and social action play,
respectively in the life and progress of human society. And
such is the confusion of metaphysical language that those who

(11:01):
affirm that individual initiative is the source and agency of
all action seem to be asserting something quite preposterous. In reality,
it is a truism which becomes apparent directly we begin
to explain the actual facts represented by these words. The
real being is the man, the individual, society or the collectivity,

(11:24):
and the state or government which professes to represent it.
If not hollow abstractions, can be nothing else than aggregates
of individuals. And it is within the individual organism that
all thoughts and all human action necessarily have their origin.
Originally individual, they become collective thoughts and actions when shared

(11:46):
in common by many individuals. Social action, then is not
a negation nor the complement of individual initiative, but it
is the sum total of the initiatives, thoughts, and actions
of all the individuals composing so society a result which
other things equal, is more or less great, according as
the individual forces tend towards the same aim or are

(12:09):
divergent and opposed. If, on the other hand, as the
authoritarians make out, by social action is meant governmental action,
then it is again the result of individual forces, but
only of those individuals who either form part of the
government or by virtue of their position, are enabled to
influence the conduct of the government. Thus, in the contest

(12:31):
of centuries between liberty and authority, or in other words,
between social equality and social castes, the question and issue
has not really been the relations between society and the individual,
nor the increase of individual independence at the cost of
social control or vice versa. Rather, it has had to

(12:51):
do with preventing any one individual from oppressing the others,
with giving to every one the same rights and the
same means of action. It has had to do with
substituting the initiative of all, which must naturally result in
the advantage of all, for the initiative of the few,
which necessarily results in the suppression of all the others.

(13:12):
It is always, in short, the question of putting an
end to the domination and exploitation of man by a
man in such a way that all are interested in
the common welfare, and that the individual force of each,
instead of oppressing, combating, or suppressing others, will find the
possibility of complete development, and every one will seek to

(13:33):
associate with others for the greater advantage of all. From
what we have said, it follows that the existence of
a government, even upon the hypothesis that the ideal government
of authoritarian socialists, where possible, far from producing an increase
of productive force, would immensely diminish it, because the government

(13:53):
would restrict initiative to the few. It would give these
few the right to do all things, without being able,
of course, to endow them with the knowledge or understanding
of all things. In fact, if you divest legislation and
all the operations of government of what is intended to
protect the privileged and what represents the wishes of the

(14:14):
privileged classes, alone, nothing remains but the aggregate of individual governors.
The state, says Hismondy quote, is always a conservative power
that authorizes, regulates, and organizes the conquests of progress, and
history testifies that it applies them to the profits of
its own and the other privileged classes, but never does

(14:37):
inaugurate them. New ideas always originate from beneath, are conceived
in the foundations of society, and then when divulged, they
become opinion and grow. But they must always meet on
their path in combat the constituted powers of tradition, custom, privilege,
and error end quote in In order to understand how

(15:01):
society could exist without a government, it is sufficient to
turn our attention for a short space to what actually
goes on in our present society. We shall see that
in reality, the most important social functions are fulfilled even nowadays,
outside the intervention of government. Also that government only interferes

(15:21):
to exploit the masses, or defend the privileged class, or lastly,
the sanction most unnecessarily, all that has been done without
its aid, often in spite of and in opposition to it.
Men work, exchange, study, travel, follow as they choose the
current rules of morality or hygiene. They profit by the

(15:42):
progress of science and art, have numberless mutual interests, without
ever feeling the need of anyone to direct them how
to conduct themselves in regard to these matters. On the contrary,
it is just those things in which there is no
governmental interference that prosper best, and that give rise to
the least contention, being unconsciously adapted to the wish of

(16:03):
all in the way found most useful and agreeable. Nor
is government more necessary in the case of large undertakings
or for those public services which require the constant cooperation
of many people of different conditions and countries. Thousands of
these undertakings are even now the work of voluntarily formed associations,

(16:24):
and these are, by the acknowledgment of every one, the
undertakings which succeed the best. Nor do we refer to
the association of capitalists organized by means of exploitation, although
even they show capabilities and powers of free association, which
may extend at libitum until it embraces all the people
of all lands and includes the widest and most varying interests.

(16:48):
But we speak rather of those associations inspired by the
love of humanity or by the passion for knowledge, or
even simply whether the desire for amusement and love of
applause as these better represent and such grouping as will
exist in a society where private property and internal strife
between man being abolished, Each will find his interests synonymous

(17:08):
with the interests of every one else, and his greatest
satisfaction in doing good and pleasing others. Scientific societies and congresses,
international Lifeboat and Red Cross associations, et cetera, Laborers unions,
peace societies, volunteers who hasten to the rescue at times
of great public calamity are all examples among thousands of

(17:30):
that power of the spirit of association, which always shows
itself when a need arises or an enthusiasm takes hold,
and the means do not fail. That voluntary associations do
not cover the world and do not embrace every branch
of material and moral activity is the fold of the
obstacles placed in their way by governments, of the antagonisms

(17:51):
created by the possession of private property, and of the
impotence and degradation to which the monopolizing of wealth on
the part of the few reduces the majority of mankind.
The government takes charge, for instance, of the postal and
telegraphic services, But in what way does it really assist them.
When the people are in such a condition as to

(18:12):
be able to enjoy and feel the need of such services,
they will think about organizing them, and the man with
the necessary technical knowledge will not require a certificate from
the government to enable him to set to work. The
more general and urgent the need, the more volunteers will
offer to satisfy it. Would the people have the ability
necessary to provide and distribute provisions. Oh, never fear, they

(18:36):
will not die of hunger waiting for a government to
pass laws on the subject. Wherever a government exists, it
must wait until the people have first organized everything, and
then come with its laws to sanction and exploit that
which has been already done. It is evident that private
interest is the great motive for all activity. That being so,

(18:56):
when the interest of every one becomes the interest of
each necessarily will become so. As soon as private property
is abolished, then all will be active. And if now
they work in the interest of the few, so much
the more, and so much the better will they work
to satisfy the interests of all. It is hard to
understand how anyone can believe that public services indispensable to

(19:19):
social life can be better secured by order of a
government than through the workers themselves, who, by their own
choice or by agreement made with others, carry them out
under the immediate control of all interested. Certainly, in every
collective undertaking on a large scale, there is need for
division of labor, for technical direction, administration, et cetera. But

(19:41):
the authoritarians are merely playing with words when they deduce
a reason for the existence of government from the very
real necessity for organization of labor. The government, we must repeat,
is the aggregate of the individuals who have had given them,
or have taken the right or the means to make
laws and force the people to obey them. The administrators, engineers,

(20:02):
et cetera, on the other hand, are men who receive
or assume the charge of doing a certain work, and
who do it. Government signifies delegation of power, that is,
abdication of the initiative and sovereignty of every one into
the hands of the view. Administration signifies delegation of work,
that is, a charge given and accepted. The free exchange

(20:24):
of services found on free agreement. A governor is a
privileged person because he has the right to command others
and avail himself of the force of others to make
his own ideas and desires triumph. An administrator or technical
director is a worker like others in a society, of course,
where all have equal opportunities of development, and all are

(20:47):
or can be at the same time intellectual and manual workers,
when there are no other differences between men than those
derived from diversity of talents, and all work and all
social functions give an equal right to the enjoyment of
social advantages. The functions of government are, in short, not
to be confounded with administrative functions, as they are essentially

(21:09):
different that they are to day so often confused. Is
entirely on account of the existence of economic and political privilege.
But let us hasten to pass on to those functions
for which government is thought indispensable by all who are
not anarchists. These are the internal and excellent defense of society,

(21:30):
that is, war, police and justice. Government being abolished, and
social wealth at the disposal of every one. All antagonism
between various nations would soon cease, and there would consequently
be no more cause for war. Moreover, in the present state,
of the world. In any country where the spirit of
rebellion is growing, even if it do not find an

(21:52):
echo throughout the land, it will be certain of so
much sympathy that the government will not dare to send
all its troops to a foreign war for fear the
revolution should break out at home. But even supposing that
the rulers of countries not yet emancipated would wish and
could attempt to produce a free people to servitude, would
these require a government to enable them to defend themselves.

(22:16):
To make war, we need men who with the necessary
geographical and technical knowledge, and above all, people willing to fight.
A government has no means of augmenting the ability of
the former or the willingness or courage of the latter.
And the experience of history teaches that a people really
desires of defending their own country are invincible. In Italy,

(22:38):
every one knows how thrones tremble and regular armies of
hired soldiers vanish before troops of volunteers, that is, armies
anarchically formed. And as to the police and justice, many
imagine that if it were not for the police and
the judges, everybody would be free to kill, violate, or
injure others, as the humor took him, that anarchists, if

(23:01):
they are true to their principles, would like to see
this strange kind of liberty respected, liberty that violates or
destroys the life and freedom of others unrestrained. Such people
believe that we, having overthrown the government and private property, shall,
then tranquility allow the re establishment of both, out of
respect for the liberty of those who may feel the

(23:22):
need of having a government and private property as strange mode, indeed,
of construing our ideas in truth, one may better answer
such notions with a shrug of the shoulders than by
taking the trouble to confute them. The liberty we wish
for for ourselves and others is not an absolute abstract
by the physical liberty, which in practice can only amount

(23:43):
to the oppression of the weak. But we wish for
a tangible liberty, the possible liberty, which is the conscious
communion of interests, that is, voluntary solidarity. We proclaim the
maxim do as you will, and in this our programme
is almost entire contained, because, as may be easily understood,
we hold that in his society, without government or property,

(24:06):
each one will wish that which he should. But if
in consequence of a false education received in the present society,
or of physical disease, or whatever other cause, an individual
should wish to injure others, you may be sure we
should adopt all the means in our power to prevent him.
As we know that a man's character is the consequence

(24:28):
of his physical organism and of the cosmic and social
influences surrounding him. We certainly shall not confound the sacred
right of self defense with the absurdly assumed right to punish. Also,
we shall not regard the delinquent, that is, the man
who commits antisocial acts, as the rebel he seems in
the eyes of the judges nowadays. We shall regard him

(24:50):
as a sick brother in need of cure. We therefore
shall not act towards him in the spirit of hatred
when repressing him, but shall confine ourselves solely to self protection.
We shall not seek to revenge ourselves, but rather to
rescue the unfortunate one by every means that science suggests.
In theory. Anarchists may go astray like others, losing sight

(25:12):
of the reality under a semblance of logic, but it
is quite certain that the emancipated people will not let
their dearly bought liberty and welfare be attacked with impunity.
If the necessity arose, they would provide for their own
defense against the antisocial tendencies of certain amongst them. But
how do those whose business it now is to make

(25:33):
the laws protect society or those others who live by
seeking for and inventing new infringements of law. Even now,
when the masters of the people really disapprove of anything
and think it injurious, they always find a way prevent it,
very much more effectually that all the professional legislators, constables
or judges during insurrections. The people, though very mistakenly, have

(25:57):
enforced the respect for private property, and they have secured
this respect far better than an army of policemen could
have done. Customs always follow the needs and sentiments of
the majority, and they are always the more respected the
less they are subject to the sanction of law. This
is because everyone sees and comprehends their utility, and because

(26:18):
the interested parties, not deluding themselves to the idea that
government will protect them, are themselves concerned in seeing the
custom respected. The economical use of water is of very
great importance to a caravan crossing the deserts of Africa.
Under these circumstances, water is a sacred thing, and no
sane man dreams of wasting it. Conspirators are obliged to

(26:42):
act secretly, so secrecy is preserved among them, and obloquy
rests on whosoever violates it. Gambling debts are not guaranteed
by law, but among gamblers it is considered dishonorable not
to pay them, and the delinquent feels himself dishonored by
not fulfilling his obligates. Is it on account of the

(27:02):
police that more people are not murdered? The greater part
of the Italian people never see the police accept At
long intervals. Millions of men go over the mountains and
through the country, far from the protecting eye of authority,
where they might be attacked without the slightest fear of
their assailants being traced. But they run no greater risk
than those who live in the best guarded spots. Statistics

(27:26):
show that the number of crimes rise in proportion to
the increase of repressive measures, while they vary rapidly with
the fluctuations of economic conditions, and with the state of
public opinion. Preventive laws, however, only concern unusual exceptional acts.
Every Day life goes on beyond the limits of the
criminal code, and is regulated almost unconsciously by the tacit

(27:49):
and voluntary ascent of all by means of a number
of usages and customs much more important to social life
than the dictates of law, and they are also much
better are observed, although completely divested of any sanction beyond
the natural odium which falls upon those who violate them,
and such injury as this odium brings with it when

(28:11):
disputes arise, would not voluntarily accepted. Arbitration or the pressure
of public opinion be far more likely to bring about
a just settlement of the difficulties in question than an
irresponsible magistrate who has the right to pass judgment upon
everybody and everything, and who is necessarily incompetent and therefore unjust.

(28:33):
As every form of government only serves to protect the
privileged classes, so do police and judges only aim at
repressing those crimes often not considered criminal by the masses,
which offend only the privileges of the rulers or property owners.
For the real defense of society the defense of the
welfare and liberty of all. There can be nothing more

(28:55):
pernicious than the formation of this class of functionaries who
exist on the pretend of defending all, and therefore habitually
regard every man as game to be hunted down, often
striking at the command of a superior officer without themselves
even knowing why, like hired assassins and mercenaries. End of

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Section four