THE ABC OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ANARCHIST
Nestor Makhno
Anarchism means man living free and working constructively. It means the destruction of everything that is directed against man's natural, healthy aspirations.
Anarchism is not exclusively a theoretical teaching emanating from programs artificially conceived with an eye to the regulation of life: it is a teaching derived from life across all its wholesome manifestations, skipping over all artificial criteria.
The social and political visage of anarchism is a free, anti-authoritarian society, one that enshrines freedom, equality and solidarity between all its members.
In anarchism, Right means the responsibility of the individual, the sort of responsibility that brings with ... (From : NestorMakhno.info.)
ACROSS THE NORTH SEA.
WE are a mixed race, we English, and perhaps the mixture of which we have most reason to be proud is our strain of Norse blood, our kinship with the Scandinavians.
We are accustomed in our childish history books to read of the "Danes" and their continual invasions of England as if these human beings, many of whom came from Norway and not Denmark at all, were a mere swarm of locusts, seeking what they might devour. Certainly their resolute efforts to obtain a share of the soil and wealth of Britain from the earlier settlers were frequently attended with destruction of life and of peaceful industry. Those old Norsemen cared as little for the life of the man or woman of an alien community as their descendant, the ... (From : AnarchyArchives.)
Freedom: March 1893, p14
Advice to Those About to Emigrate
In these days when Home Colonization is seriously discussed, and is even tried, in England as an outlet for the populations of our congested towns, the following letters will be of much interest to our readers. A comrade in New South Wales, writing to Kropotkin for suggestions and advice, says:
"As you are probably aware, the Labor movement in Australia has advanced tremendously during the last four or five years. The reason, I believe, lies in the increased agitation in the minds of the people through the late strikes here and also in England and America. The Labor Party here got the worst of it in the last three big strikes, yet the importance of those strikes as factors... (From : Anarchy Archives.)
Rejections of being accused of supporting the constituent assembly, tactics of kill-all or take-nothing against the state, and we should focus on bringing our ideas into reality more than what accusers may say. (From : HoldOffHunger.)
• "...a Constituent Assembly [parliament] is the means used by the privileged classes, when a dictatorship is not possible, either to prevent a revolution, or, when a revolution has already broken out, to stop its progress with the excuse of legalizing it, and to take back as much as possible of the gains that the people had made during the insurrectional period.
The Constituent Assembly, with its making asleep and smothering, and the dictatorship, with its crushing and killing, are the two dangers that threaten any revolution. Anarchists must aim their efforts against them."
• "I am breaking off here, as there are thousands and thousands of cases, both in individual and social life, in which, being unable to obtain 'all', one has to try and get as much as possible."
• "What constitutes the characteristic, the raison d'etre of anarchism is the conviction that the governments -- dictatorships, parliaments, etc. -- are always instruments of conservation, reaction, oppression; and freedom, justice, well-being for everyone must come from the fight against authority, from free enterprise and free agreement among individuals and groups."
Published Essays and Pamphlets
Alexander Berkman's Last Daysby Emma Goldman[Published in The Vanguard
(New York), Aug.-Sept. 1936.]
St. Tropez July 12th, 1936
It is only two weeks since our beloved comrade
Alexander Berkman passed away. Yet it seems an eternity to me.
The blow his untimely death has struck me has left me completely
shattered. I find it difficult to collect my thoughts. But I feel
sure you will want to know all about Sasha's end. For have you
not loved him all through the years?
Sasha left a note which we found after we
returned from his last resting place. It reads: "I don't
want to live a sick man. Dependent. Forgive me Emmie darling.
And you too Emma. Love to All. Help Emmie." signed, Sasha.
I hav... (From : Anarchy Archives.)
ALL IN ALL.
When all the night is horrible with clamor
Of voiceless curses darker than the night,
When light of sun there is not, neither star-shine
Nor any beacon on the hill of right
Shine, O thou light of life, upon our pathway,
Freedom, be thou our light!Since all life's ways are difficult and dreary
And false steps echo through eternity,
And there is naught to lean on as we journey
By paths not smooth ac downward ways would be
We have no other help, we need no other
Freedom, we lean on thee.The slaves' base murmur and the threats of tyrants,
The voice of cowards who cringe and cry "Retreat!"
The whisper of the world, "Come where power call... (From : AnarchyArchives.)
ANARCHISM:
WHAT IT REALLY STANDS FOR
ANARCHY.
Ever reviled, accursed, ne'er understood,
Thou art the grisly terror of our age.
"Wreck of all order," cry the multitude,
"Art thou, and war and murder's endless rage."
O, let them cry. To them that ne'er have striven
The truth that lies behind a word to find,
To them the word's right meaning was not given.
They shall continue blind among the blind.
But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure,
Thou sayest all which I for goal have taken.
I give thee to the future! Thine secure
When each at least unto himself shall waken.
Come... (From : Anarchy Archives.)
Issued By The International Anarchist Publishing Committee of America, Chicago: Free Society Group, 1932.
Anarchism & American Traditions
by Voltairine de Cleyre
Introduction
"Nature has the habit of now and then producing a type of human being far in advance of the times; an ideal for us to emulate; a being devoid of sham, uncompromising, and to whom the truth is sacred; a being whose selfishness is so large that it takes the whole human race and treats self only as one of the great mass; a being keen to sense all forms of wrong, and powerful in denunciation of it; one who can reach in the future and draw it nearer. Such a being was Voltairine de Cleyre."
What could be added to this splendid ... (From : Anarchy Archives.)
First appeared in French, 1880. "Aux Jeunes Gens". Le Révolté, June 25; July 10; August 7, 21.
An Appeal to the Young
by Peter Kropotkin
"Peter Kropotkin...was recognized by friend and foe as one of the greatest minds...of the nineteenth century...The lucidity and brilliance of his mind combined with his warmheartedness into the harmonious whole of a fascinating and gracious personality. " -Emma Goldman
REVOLT!
Addressed to young men and women preparing to enter the professions, An Appeal to the Young was first published in 1880 in Kropotkin's paper, La Revolte, and was soon thereafter issued as a pamphlet. An American edition was brought out by Charles H. Kerr in 1899, in the wake of the great Anarchist'... (From : Anarchy Archives.)
Foreward
On May 26, 1958 at midnight, Chiu Tsai-kang, a steel worker of the Shanghai No. 3 Steel Works, was burned by molten steel. The affected area extended over 89 per cent of his body, 20 per cent being third degree burns with the muscles and bones involved. According to Western medical authorities, a patient with such severe burns would be likely to die. But due to the affectionate' concern of the Communist Party, to the great efforts made by the medical staff and to the widespread support of society at large, Chiu Tsai-kang is still alive. After being treated for more than five months his wounds are now completely healed and covered by grafted skin. On November 23 he was transferred to the Sino-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Peking... (From : Anarchy Archives.)