Anarchist Beginnings
Voline to Max Nettlau (1923)
VII. 1923 Dear Comrade, I will write to you in French, for I write that language easily enough. So, you ask me for some explanations. Here they are. If, in my letter, I have alluded […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Anarchist Beginnings
H. W., “Anarchism” (1904)
Anarchism aims to establish an ideal state of society based on the “golden rule,” in which all distinctions of castes and privileges are abolished, and in which each individual is expected to labor spontaneously for […]
Anarchist Beginnings
C. L. James, “Anarchism Defined by an Anarchist” (1886)
ANARCHISM DEFINED BY AN ANARCHIST. The very impartial article by Professor Ely on “Socialism in America,” which appeared in your June issue, suggests to me that a somewhat less external view of that movement known […]
Anarchist Beginnings
George Barrett, “The Anarchist Revolution” (1915)
Introduction An Anarchist is a man who does not believe that government is a good thing for the people. He is, in fact, a man who believes in and strives for liberty. Liberty is to […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Peter Kropotkin, “Anarchy: Its Philosophy and Ideal” (1896)
ANARCHY. ______ (Translated from the German by Harry Lyman Koopman.) ______ Ever reviled, accursed,-n’er understood, Thou art the grisly terror of our age. “Wreck of all order,” cry the multitude, “Art thou, and war and […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Nestor Makhno, “The Anarchist Revolution”
1. ANARCHISM – a life of freedom and creative independence for humanity. Anarchism does not depend on theory or programs, which try to grasp man’s life in its entirety. It is a teaching, which is […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Mikhail Bakunin, “What is Authority” (1870)
NOTE: This passage is generally known as part of “God and the State” (Dieu et l’État, first published in 1882), but it appears in Bakunin’s manuscript as part of “Sophismes historiques de l’école doctrinaire des […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Ernest Coeurderoy, “Demolish Authority!” (1850)
From Days of Exile, Vol. 1: To make the Revolution pass, like a red-hot iron, across this century, one thing alone must be done: Demolish authority. This proposition has no need of demonstration. […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Mikhail Bakunin, “I believe neither in constitutions, nor in laws” (1848)
[Max Nettlau has pointed to this letter as the first evidence of anarchist leanings in Bakunin’s writings.] [Early August, 1848] To Citizen George Herwegh. Paris. [Rue St. Augustins] 40 9 [r. sur Cirque] To George […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Ernest Coeurderoy, “Demolish Authority!” (1850)
[From Days of Exile, Vol. 1] To make the Revolution pass, like a red-hot iron, across this century, one thing alone must be done: Demolish authority. This proposition has no need of demonstration. Let each […]