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ANARCHISM
BY
DR. PAUL ELTZBACHER
Gerichtsassessor and Privatdozent in Halle an der Saale
Translated by
STEVEN T. BYINGTON
Je ne propose rien, je ne suppose rien, j'expose
[Illustration]
NEW YORK: BENJ. R. TUCKER.
LONDON: A. C. FIFIELD.
1908.
Copyright, 1907, by
Benjamin R. Tucker
_Gratefully dedicated to the memory of my father_
DR. SALOMON ELTZBACHER
1832-1889
CONTENTS
PAGE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE vii
BOOKS REFERRED TO xvii
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM
1. General 6
2. The Starting-point 10
3. The Goal 13
4. The Way to the Goal 15
CHAPTER II. LAW, THE STATE, PROPERTY
1. General 18
2. Law 24
3. The State 31
4. Property 36
CHAPTER III. GODWIN'S TEACHING
1. General 40
2. Basis 41
3. Law 42
4. The State 45
5. Property 53
6. Realization 58
CHAPTER IV. PROUDHON'S TEACHING
1. General 65
2. Basis 67
3. Law 69
4. The State 72
5. Property 80
6. Realization 86
CHAPTER V. STIRNER'S TEACHING
1. General 93
2. Basis 96
3. Law 97
4. The State 100
5. Property 106
6. Realization 109
CHAPTER VI. BAKUNIN'S TEACHING
1. General 115
2. Basis 117
3. Law 119
4. The State 121
5. Property 127
6. Realization 132
CHAPTER VII. KROPOTKIN'S TEACHING
1. General 139
2. Basis 141
3. Law 145
4. The State 149
5. Property 159
6. Realization 171
CHAPTER VIII. TUCKER'S TEACHING
1. General 182
2. Basis 183
3. Law 187
4. The State 190
5. Property 201
6. Realization 209
CHAPTER IX. TOLSTOI'S TEACHING
1. General 219
2. Basis 220
3. Law 230
4. The State 234
5. Property 249
6. Realization 260
CHAPTER X. THE ANARCHISTIC TEACHINGS
1. General 270
2. Basis 270
3. Law 272
4. The State 276
5. Property 280
6. Realization 284
CHAPTER XI. ANARCHISM AND ITS SPECIES
1. Errors about Anarchism and its Species 288
2. The Concepts of Anarchism and its Species 292
CONCLUSION 303
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
Every person who examines this book at all will speedily divide its
contents into Eltzbacher's own discussion and his seven chapters of
classified quotations from Anarchist leaders; and, if he buys the book,
he will buy it for the sake of the quotations. I do not mean that the
book might not have a sale if it consisted exclusively of Eltzbacher's
own words, but simply that among ten thousand people who may value
Eltzbacher's discussion there will not be found ten who will not value
still more highly the conveniently-arranged reprint of what the
Anarchists themselves have said on the cardinal points of Anarchistic
thought. Nor do I feel that I am saying anything uncomplimentary to
Eltzbacher when I say that the part of his work to which he has devoted
most of his space is the part that the public will value most.
And yet there is much to be valued in the chapters that are of
Eltzbacher's own writing,--even if one is reminded of Sir Arthur Helps's
satirical description of English lawyers as a class of men, found in a
certain island, who make it their business to write highly important
documents in closely-crowded lines on such excessively wide pages that
the eye is bound to skip a line now and then, but who make up for this
by invariably repeating in another part of the document whatever they
have said, so that whatever the reader may miss in one place he will
certainly catch in another. The fact is that Eltzbacher's work is an
admirable model of what should be the mental processes of an
investigator trying to determine the definition of a term which he finds
to be confusedly conceived. Not only is his method for determining the
definition of Anarchism flawless, but his subsidiary investigation of
the definitions of law, the State, and property is conducted as such
things ought to be, and (a good test of clearness of thought) his
illustrations are always so exactly pertinent that they go far to redeem
his style from dullness, if one is reading for the sense and therefore
cares for pertinence. The only weak point in this part of the book is
that he thinks it necessary to repeat in print his previous statements
wherever it is necessary to the investigation that the previous
statement be mentally renewed. But, however tiresome this may be, one
gets a steady progress of thought, and the introductory part of the book
is not very long at worst.
The collection of quotations, which form three-fourths of the book both
in bulk and in importance, is as much the best part as it is the
biggest. Here the prime necessity is impartiality, and Eltzbacher has
attained this as perfectly as can be expected of any man. Positively,
one comes to the end of all this without feeling sure whether Eltzbacher
is himself an Anarchist or not; it is not until we come to the last
dozen pages of the book that he lets his opposition to Anarchism become
evident. To be sure, one feels that he is more journalistic than
scientific in selecting for special mention the more sensational points
of the schemes proposed (the journalistic temper certainly shows itself
in his habit of picking out for his German public the references to
Germany in Anarchist writers). Yet it is hard to deny that there is
legitimate scientific importance in ascertaining how much of the
sensational is involved in Anarchism; and, on the other hand, Eltzbacher
recognizes his duty to present the strongest points of the Anarchist
side, and does this so faithfully that one often wonders if the man can
repeat these words without feeling their cogency. So far as any bias is
really felt in this part of the book it is the bias of
over-methodicalness; now and then a quotation is made to go into the
classification at a place where it will not go in without forcing, and
perspective is distorted when some _obiter dictum_ that had never seemed
to its author to be worth repeating a second time is made to serve as
illuminant now for this division of the "teaching," now for that, till
it seems to the reader like a favorite topic of the Anarchist. However,
the bias of methodicalness is as nearly non-partisan as any bias can be,
and its effect is to put the matter into a most convenient form for
consultation and comparison.
Next to impartiality, if not even before it, we need intelligence in our
compiler; and we have it. Few men, even inside the movement, would have
been more successful than Eltzbacher in picking out the important parts
of the Anarchist doctrines, and the quotations that will show these
important parts as they are. I do not mean that this accuracy has not
exceptions--many exceptions, if you count such things as the failure to
give due weight to some clause which might restrict or modify the
application of the words used; a few serious exceptions, of which we
reap the fruit in his final summary. But in admitting these errors I do
not retract my statement that Eltzbacher has made his compilation as
accurate as any man could be expected to. More than this, it may well be
said that he has, except in three or four points, made it as accurate as
is even useful for ordinary reading; he has overlooked nothing but what
his readers would have been sure to overlook if he had presented it. As
a gun is advertised to shoot "as straight as any man can hold," so
Eltzbacher has, with three or four exceptions, told his story as
straight as any man with ordinary attention can read. The net result is
that we have here, without doubt, the most complete and accurate
presentation of Anarchism that ever has been given or ever will be given
in so short a space. If any one wants a fuller and more trustworthy
account, he will positively have to go direct to the writings of the
Anarchists themselves; nowhere else can he find anything so good as
Eltzbacher. Withal, this main part of the book is decidedly readable.
Eltzbacher's repetitiousness has no opportunity to become prominent
here, and the man is not at all dull in choosing and translating his
quotations. On the contrary, his fondness for apt illustrations is a
great help toward making the compilation constantly readable, as well as
toward making the reader's impressions of the Anarchistic teachings
vivid and definite.
I do not mean to say that this book can take the place of a
consultation of the original sources. For instance, the Bakunin chapter
follows next after the Stirner chapter; but the exquisite contrariness
of almost every word of Bakunin to Stirner's teaching can be appreciated
only by those who have read Stirner's book--Eltzbacher's quotations are
on a different aspect of Stirner's teaching from that which applies
against Bakunin. (Stirner and Bakunin, it will be noted, are the only
Anarchist leaders against whom Eltzbacher permits himself a
disrespectful word before he has presented their doctrines.) It is to be
hoped that many who read this book will go on to examine the sources
themselves. Meanwhile, here is an excellent introduction, and the
chronological arrangement makes it easy to watch the historical
development and see whether the later schools of Anarchism assail the
State more effectively than the earlier.
I have not reserved any expressions of praise for the small part of the
book which comes after the compiled chapters, because it calls for none.
All Eltzbacher's weak points come out in this concluding summary; the
best that can be said for it is that it deserves careful attention, and
that the author continues to be oftener right than wrong. But now that
he has gathered all his knowledge he wants it to amount to omniscience,
and most imprudently shuts his eyes to the places where there is nothing
under his feet. He charges men with error for not using in his sense a
term whose definition he has not undertaken to determine. He accepts all
too unquestioningly such statements as fit most conveniently into his
scheme of method. His most glaring offence in this direction is his
classification of the Anarchist-Communist doctrines as mere prediction
and not the expression of a will or demand or approval or disapproval of
anything, simply because the fashionableness of evolutionism and of
fatalism has led the leaders of that school to prefer to state their
doctrine in terms of prediction. Eltzbacher has forgotten to compare his
judgment with the actions of the men he judges; _solvitur ambulando_; if
Kropotkin's proposition were merely predictive and not pragmatic, it
would have less trouble with the police than it has. Again, he does one
of the most indiscreet things that are possible to a votary of strict
method when he asserts repeatedly that he has listed not merely all that
is to be found but all that could possibly exist under a certain
category. For instance, he declares that every possible affirmative
doctrine of property must be either private property, or common property
in the wherewithal for production and private property in the
wherewithal for consumption, or common property. Why should not a scheme
of common property in the things that are wanted by all men and private
property in the things that are wanted only by some men have as high a
rank in the classification as has Eltzbacher's second class? A look at
the quotations from Kropotkin will show that I have not drawn much on my
own ingenuity in conceiving such a scheme as supposable. He claims to
have listed all the standpoints from which Anarchism has been or can be
propounded or judged, yet he has omitted legitimism, the doctrine that a
political authority which is to claim our respect and obedience must
appear to have originated by a legitimate foundation and not by
usurpation. The great part that legitimism has played in history is
notorious; and it lends itself very readily to the Anarchist's purpose,
since some governments are so well known to have originated in
usurpation and others are so easily suspected of it. Nay, legitimism is
in fact a potent factor in shaping the most up-to-date Anarchism of our
time; for it is largely concerned in Lysander Spooner's doctrine of
juries, of which some slight account is given in Eltzbacher's quotations
from Tucker. And he claims to have recited all the important arguments
that sustain Anarchism: where has he mentioned the argument from the
evil that the State does in interfering with social and economic
experimentation? or the argument from the fact that reforms in the State
are necessarily in a democracy, and ordinarily in a monarchy, very slow
in coming to pass, and when they do come to pass they necessarily come
with all-disturbing suddenness? or the argument from the evil of
separating people by the boundary lines which the State involves? or the
fact that war would be almost inconceivable if the States were replaced
by voluntary and non-monopolistic organizations, since such
organizations could have no "jurisdiction" or control of territory to
fight for, and war for any other cause has long been unknown among
civilized nations? By these and other such unwarranted claims of
absolute completeness, and by the conclusions based on these pasteboard
premises, Eltzbacher makes it necessary to read his final chapters with
all possible independence of judgment.
It remains for me to say something of my own work on this book. I have
consulted the originals of some of the works cited--such as
circumstances have permitted--and given the quotations not by
translation from Eltzbacher's German but direct from the originals. The
particulars are as follows:
Of Godwin's "Political Justice" I used an American reprint of the second
British edition. This second edition is greatly revised and altered from
the first, which Eltzbacher used. Godwin calls our attention to this,
and especially informs us that the first edition did not in some
important respects represent the views which he held at the time of its
publication, since the earlier pages were printed before the later were
written, and during the writing of the book he changed his mind about
some of the principles he had asserted in the earlier chapters. In the
second edition, he says, the views presented in the first part of the
book have been made consistent with those in the last part, and all
parts have been thoroughly revised. It will astonish nobody, therefore,
that I found it now and then impossible to identify in my copy the
passages translated by Eltzbacher from the first edition. In particular,
I got the impression that what Eltzbacher quotes about promises, from
the first part of the book, is one of those sections which Godwin says
he retracts and no longer believed in even at the time he wrote the
later chapters of the first edition. If so, a bit of the foundation for
Eltzbacher's ultimate classification disappears. Besides giving the
pages of the first edition as in Eltzbacher, I have added in brackets
the page numbers of the copy I used, wherever I could identify them.
Throughout the book brackets distinguish footnotes added by me from
Eltzbacher's own, and in a few places I have used them in the text to
indicate Eltzbacher's deviations from the wording of his original, of
which matter I will speak again in a moment.
The passages from Proudhon's works I translated from the original French
as given in the collected edition of his "_OEuvres completes_." In this
edition some of the works differ only in pagination from the editions
which Eltzbacher used, while others have been extensively revised. I
know of no changes of essential doctrine.
Since in Stirner's case German is the original language, I have accepted
as my original the quotations given by Eltzbacher. It is probable that
they are occasionally condensed; but a fairly faithful memory, and the
fact that it is less than a year since I was reading the proofs of my
translation of Stirner's book, enable me to be confident that there is
no change amounting to distortion. I have here made no use of that
translation of mine[1] except from memory, because I well knew that in
dealing with Stirner there is no assurance that the best possible
translation of the continuous whole will be made up of the best possible
translations of the individual parts. Neither have I used the extant
English translations of Bakunin's "God and the State," Kropotkin's
"Conquest of Bread," Tolstoi's works, or any of the other books cited. I
have not had at hand any originals of Bakunin or Tolstoi, nor any of
Kropotkin except "Anarchist Communism." Of this I had the first edition,
and Eltzbacher, contrary to his habit, the second; but I judge that the
two are from the same plates, for all the page-numbers cited agree.
Toward the Tucker chapter I have taken a special attitude. I am myself
one of Tucker's followers and collaborators; I may claim to be an
"authority" on the exposition of his doctrine--
_Nennt man die besten Namen,
So wird auch der meine genannt_--
and I have tried to have an eye to the precise correctness of everything
in that chapter. That I used the original of "Instead of a Book" is a
matter of course; and I have not only taken Tucker's words where
Eltzbacher had translated the whole, but have had an eye to all points
where Eltzbacher had condensed anything in a way that could affect the
sense, and have restored the words that made the passage mean something
a little bit different from what Eltzbacher made it mean. (I did about
the same in this respect with Kropotkin's "Anarchist Communism"; and
indeed something of the kind is inevitable if one is to consult
originals at all.) On the other hand, I have not, in general, drawn
attention to passages where Eltzbacher makes merely formal changes for
the purpose of inserting in a sentence of a certain grammatical
structure what Tucker had said in a sentence of different structure.
The renderings of Tolstoi's biblical quotations are taken from the
"Corrected English New Testament," a conservative version which is now
spoken of as the best English New Testament extant. It fits well into
Tolstoi, at least so far as the present quotations go.
I have spoken above of Eltzbacher's qualities as compiler; it here
becomes necessary to say something of his work as translator. His
translation is that of a very intelligent man, trusting to his
intelligence to justify him in translating quite freely. He is confident
that he knows what the idea to be presented is, and his main concern is
to express that in the language best suited to the purpose. He even
avows, as will be seen, that he has "cautiously revised" other people's
translations from the Russian, without himself claiming to be familiar
with the Russian language. I would as soon entrust this extremely
delicate task to Eltzbacher as to anybody I know, for he is in general
remarkably correct in his re-wordings. The justification of his
confidence in his knowledge of the author's thought may be seen in the
fact that in passages which happen not to affect the main thought he
makes a few such slips as _zahlen mit ihrer Vergiftung_ for "pay to be
poisoned," _Willkuer_ for "arbitrament," and even _eine blutige
Revolution ruecksichtslos niederwuerfe_ for "would do anything in his
power to precipitate a bloody revolution" (can he have been misled by
the chemist's use of "precipitate"?), but in passages where these
blunders would do real harm he keeps clear of them, being safeguarded by
his knowledge of the sense. But it makes a difference whom you translate
in this way. Tucker is a man who uses language with especial precision:
every phrase in a sentence of his may be presumed to contribute
something definite to the thought; and Eltzbacher treats him as if the
less conspicuous phrases were merely ornamental work which might safely
be omitted or amended when they seemed not to be advantageous for
ornamental purposes. I must confess that I have little faith in the
Eltzbacher method of translation for the rendering of any author; but it
works especially ill with an author like Tucker.
Of course all defects of translation are cured, silently, by
substituting the original English. Therefore, at the expense of slightly
increasing the bulk of the Tucker chapter, this edition gives American
readers a much more accurate presentation of the utterances of the
American champion of Anarchism than can be had in Eltzbacher's German;
and, since I have the same advantage as regards Godwin, I think I may
claim in general terms that mine is the best edition of Eltzbacher for
those who read both English and German.
Besides looking out for the accurate presentation of the passages quoted
from Tucker, I have kept watch of the correctness of the subject-matter.
Whatever seemed to me to represent Tucker's book unfairly, either by
misrepresenting his doctrine or by misapplying the quotations, has been
corrected by a note. This will be useful to the reader not only by
giving him a better Tucker, but also by giving a sample from which he
may judge what amount of fault the followers of Kropotkin or Tolstoi or
the rest would be likely to find with the chapters devoted to them. The
merely popular reader will probably get the impression that Eltzbacher
is really a rather unreliable man. The competent student, who knows what
must be looked out for in all work of this sort, will have his
confidence in Eltzbacher increased by seeing how little of serious fault
appears in such a search.
The index is compiled independently for this translation. Omitting such
entries as merely duplicate the utility of the table of contents, and
making an effort to head every entry with the word under which the
reader will actually seek it, I hope I have bettered Eltzbacher's index;
and I hope the index will be not only a place-finder but a help toward
the appreciation of the Anarchistic teachings.
I have not in general undertaken to criticise those features of the book
which embody Eltzbacher's own opinions. Whether it was in fact right to
select these seven men as the touchstone of Anarchism,--whether
Eltzbacher is right in discussing the definition of the State as he
does, or whether he might better simply have taken as authoritative that
definition which has legal force in international law,--whether he ought
to have added any other feature to his book,--are points on which the
reader does not care for my judgment, nor am I eager to express a
judgment. Having had to work over the book very carefully in detail, I
have felt entitled to express an opinion as to how well Eltzbacher has
done the work that he did choose to do; I have also told what work I as
translator claim to have done; and it is time this preface ended.
STEVEN T. BYINGTON.
_Ballardvale, Mass., August 28, 1907._
BOOKS REFERRED TO BY ABBREVIATED TITLES
Adler, "Handwoerterbuch" = GEORG ADLER, "Anarchismus," in
_Handwoerterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_, 2d ed. (Jena 1898), vol. 1
pp. 296-327.
Adler, "Nord und Sued" = GEORG ADLER, "Die Lehren der Anarchisten," in
_Nord und Sued_ (Breslau) vol. 32 (1885) pp. 371-83.
Ba. "Articles" = "Articles ecrits par Bakounine dans l'Egalite de 1869,"
in _Memoire presente par la federation jurassienne de l'Association
internationale des travailleurs a toutes les federations de
l'Internationale_ (Sonvillier, n. d.), "Pieces justificatives" pp.
68-114.
Ba. "Briefe" = "Briefe Bakunins," in Dragomanoff (see below) pp. 1-272.
Ba. "Dieu" = MICHEL BAKOUNINE, _Dieu et l'Etat_, 2d ed. (Paris 1892).
Ba. "Dieu" OEuvres = "Dieu et l'Etat," in MICHEL BAKOUNINE, _OEuvres_,
3d ed. (Paris 1895), pp. 261-326.
Ba. "Discours" = "Discours de Bakounine au congres de Berne," in
_Memoire presente par la federation jurassienne de l'Association
internationale des travailleurs a toutes les federations de
l'Internationale_ (Sonvillier, n. d.), "Pieces justificatives" pp.
20-38.
Ba. "Programme" = BAKOUNINE, "Programme de la section slave a Zurich,"
in Dragomanoff (see below) pp. 381-3.
Ba. "Proposition" = "Federalisme, socialisme et antitheologisme.
Proposition motivee au Comite central de la Ligue de la paix et de la
liberte," in MICHEL BAKOUNINE, _OEuvres_, 3d ed. (Paris 1895), pp.
1-205.
Ba. "Statuts" = "Statuts secrets de l'Alliance" and "Programme et
reglement de l'Alliance publique," in "L'Alliance" (see below) pp.
118-35.
Ba. "Volkssache" = M. BAKUNIN, "Die Volkssache. Romanow, Pugatschew oder
Pestel?" in Dragomanoff (see below) pp. 303-9.
Bernatzik = BERNATZIK, "Der Anarchismus," in _Jahrbuch fuer
Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich_
(Leipzig) vol. 19 (1895) pp. 1-20.
Bernstein = EDUARD BERNSTEIN, "Die soziale Doktrin des Anarchismus," in
_Die Neue Zeit_ (Stuttgart) year 10 (1891-2) vol. 1 pp. 358-65, 421-8;
vol. 2 pp. 589-96, 618-26, 657-66, 772-8, 813-19.
Crispi = FRANCESCO CRISPI, "The Antidote for Anarchy," in _Daily Mail_
(London) no. 807 (1898) p. 4.
"Der Anarchismus und seine Traeger" = _Der Anarchismus und seine
Traeger. Enthuellungen aus dem Lager der Anarchisten von [**symbol:
circle in triangle], Verfasser der Londoner Briefe in der Koelnischen
Zeitung_ (Berlin 1887).
"Die historische Entwickelung des Anarchismus" = _Die historische
Entwickelung des Anarchismus_ (New York 1894).
Diehl = KARL DIEHL, _P.-J. Proudhon_. _Seine Lehre und sein Leben._ (3
vol., Jena 1888-96.)
Dragomanoff = MICHAIL DRAGOMANOW, _Michail Bakunins sozial-politischer
Briefwechsel mit Alexander Iw. Herzen und Ogarjow, deutsch von Boris
Minzes_ (Stuttgart 1895).
Dubois = FELIX DUBOIS, _Le Peril anarchiste_ (Paris 1894).
Ferri = "Discours de FERRI" in _Congres international d'anthropologie
criminelle, compte rendu des travaux de la quatrieme session, tenue a
Geneve du 24 au 29 aout 1896_ (Geneve 1897) pp. 254-7.
Garraud = R. GARRAUD, _L'Anarchie et la Repression_ (Paris 1895).
Godwin = WILLIAM GODWIN, _An Enquiry concerning Political Justice and
its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness_ (2 vol., London 1793).
[Bracketed references are to the "First American from the second London
edition, corrected," Philadelphia, 1796.]
"Hintermaenner" = _Die Hintermaenner der Sozialdemokratie. Von einem
Eingeweihten_ (Berlin 1890).
Kr. "Anarchist Communism" = PETER KROPOTKINE, _Anarchist Communism: its
Basis and Principles_, 2d ed. (London 1895). [Reprinted from the
_Nineteenth Century_.]
Kr. "Conquete" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _La Conquete du pain_, 5th ed.
(Paris 1895).
Kr. "L'Anarchie dans l'evolution socialiste" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE,
_L'Anarchie dans l'evolution socialiste_ (Paris 1892).
Kr. "L'Anarchie. Sa philosophie--son ideal" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE,
_L'Anarchie. Sa philosophie--son ideal_ (Paris 1896).
Kr. "Morale" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _La Morale anarchiste_ (Paris 1891).
Kr. "Paroles" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _Paroles d'un revolte, ouvrage publie
par Elisee Reclus, nouv. ed_. (Paris, n. d.)
Kr. "Prisons" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _Les Prisons_ (Paris 1890).
Kr. "Siecle" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _Un siecle d'attente. 1789-1889_
(Paris 1893).
Kr. "Studies" = _Revolutionary Studies, translated from "La Revolte" and
reprinted from "The Commonweal"_ (London 1892).
Kr. "Temps nouveaux" = PIERRE KROPOTKINE, _Les Temps nouveaux
(conference faite a Londres)_ (Paris 1894).
"L'Alliance" = _L'Alliance de la democratie socialiste et l'Association
internationale des travailleurs_ (Londres et Hambourg 1873).
Lenz = ADOLF LENZ, _Der Anarchismus und das Strafrecht. Sonderabdruck
aus der Zeitschrift fuer die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft, Bd. 16,
Heft 1_ (Berlin, n. d.).
Lombroso = C. LOMBROSO, _Gli Anarchici_, 2d ed. (Torino 1895).
Mackay, "Anarchisten" = JOHN HENRY MACKAY, _Die Anarchisten.
Kulturgemaelde aus dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts_. Volksausgabe (Berlin
1893).
Mackay, "Magazin" = JOHN HENRY MACKAY, "Der individualistische
Anarchismus: ein Gegner der Propaganda der That," in _Das Magazin fuer
Litteratur_ (Berlin und Weimar) vol. 67 (1898) pp. 913-15.
Mackay, "Stirner" = JOHN HENRY MACKAY, _Max Stirner. Sein Leben und sein
Werk_ (Berlin 1898).
Merlino = F. S. MERLINO, _L'Individualismo nell'anarchismo_ (Roma 1895).
Pfau = "Proudhon und die Franzosen," in LUDWIG PFAU, _Kunst und Kritik_,
vol. 6 of _Aesthetische Schriften_, 2d ed. (Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin,
1888), pp. 183-236.
Plechanow = GEORG PLECHANOW, _Anarchismus und Sozialismus_ (Berlin
1894).
Pr. "Banque" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Banque du peuple, suivie du rapport de
la commission des delegues du Luxembourg_ (Paris 1849). (In Proudhon's
_OEuvres completes_, Paris 1866-83, this forms part of the volume
"Solution.")
Pr. "Contradictions" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Systeme des contradictions
economiques, ou philosophie de la misere_ (2 vol., Paris 1846).
Pr. "Confessions" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Les Confessions d'un
revolutionnaire, pour servir a l'histoire de la revolution de fevrier_
(Paris 1849).
Pr. "Droit" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Le Droit au travail et le Droit de
propriete_ (Paris 1848). (In the _OEuvres_ this forms part of the volume
"La Revolution sociale.")
Pr. "Idee" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Idee generate de la revolution au XIXe
siecle (choix d'etudes sur la pratique revolutionnaire et industrielle)_
(Paris 1851).
Pr. "Justice" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _De la justice dans la revolution et
dans l'Eglise. Nouveaux principes de philosophie pratique_ (3 vol.,
Paris 1858).
Pr. "Organisation" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Organisation du credit et de la
circulation, et solution du probleme social_ (Paris 1848). (In the
_OEuvres_ this forms part of the volume "Solution.")
Pr. "Principe" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Du principe federatif et de la
necessite de reconstituer le parti de la revolution_ (Paris 1863).
Pr. "Propriete" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Qu'est-ce que la propriete? ou
recherches sur le principe du droit et du gouvernement. Premier memoire_
(Paris 1841).
Pr. "Solution" = P.-J. PROUDHON, _Solution du probleme social_ (Paris
1848).
Proal = LOUIS PROAL, _La Criminalite politique_ (Paris 1895).
Reichesberg = NAUM REICHESBERG, _Sozialismus und Anarchismus_ (Bern und
Leipzig 1895).
Rienzi = RIENZI, _L'Anarchisme, traduit du neerlandais par August
Dewinne_ (Bruxelles 1893).
Sernicoli = E. SERNICOLI, _L'Anarchia e gli Anarchici. Studio storico e
politico di E. Sernicoli_ (2 vol., Milano 1894).
Shaw = GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, _The Impossibilities of Anarchism_ (London
1895).
Silio = CESAR SILIO, "El Anarquismo y la Defensa Social," in _La Espana
Moderna_ (Madrid) vol. 61 (1894) pp. 141-8.
Stammler = RUDOLF STAMMLER, _Die Theorie des Anarchismus_ (Berlin 1894).
Stirner = MAX STIRNER, _Der Einzige und sein Eigentum_ (Leipzig 1845).
Stirner "Vierteljahrsschrift" = M. St., "Rezensenten Stirners," in
_Wigands Vierteljahrsschrift_ (Leipzig) vol. 3 (1845) pp. 147-94.
To. "Confession" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Bekenntnisse. Was sollen wir denn
thun? deutsch von H. von Samson-Himmelstjerna_ (Leipzig 1886), pp.
1-102.
To. "Gospel" = GRAF LEO N. TOLSTOJ, _Kurze Darlegung des Evangeliums,
deutsch von Paul Lauterbach_ (Leipzig, n. d.).
To. "Kernel" = "Das Korn," in GRAF LEO N. TOLSTOJ, _Volkserzaehlungen,
deutsch von Wilhelm Goldschmidt_ (Leipzig, n. d.), pp. 87-9.
To. "Kingdom" = LEO N. TOLSTOJ, _Das Reich Gottes ist in euch, oder das
Christentum als eine neue Lebensauffassung, nicht als mystische Lehre,
deutsch von R. Loewenfeld_ (Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin, Wien, 1894).
To. "Linen-Measurer" = "Leinwandmesser. Die Geschichte eines Pferdes,"
in _Leo N. Tolstoj_, _Gesammelte Werke, deutsch herausgegeben von
Raphael Loewenfeld_, vol. 3 (Berlin 1893) pp. 573-631.
To. "Money" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Geld! Soziale Betrachtungen, deutsch
von August Scholz_ (Berlin 1891).
To. "Morning" = "Der Morgen des Gutsherrn," in LEO N. TOLSTOJ,
_Gesammelte Werke, deutsch herausgegeben von Raphael Loewenfeld_, vol.
2, 2d ed. (Leipzig, n. d.), pp. 1-81.
To. "On Life" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Ueber das Leben, deutsch von Sophie
Behr_ (Leipzig 1889).
To. "Patriotism" = GRAF LEO N. TOLSTOJ, _Christentum und
Vaterlandsliebe, deutsch von L. A. Hauff_ (Berlin n. d.).
To. "Persecutions" = _Russische Christenverfolgungen im Kaukasus. Mit
einem Vor- und Nachwort von Leo Tolstoj_ (Dresden und Leipzig 1896) pp.
7-8, 38-48.
To. "Reason and Dogma" = GRAF LEO N. TOLSTOJ, _Vernunft und Dogma. Eine
Kritik der Glaubenslehre, deutsch von L. A. Hauff_ (Berlin n. d.).
To. "Religion and Morality" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Religion und Moral.
Antwort auf eine in der "Ethischen Kultur" gestellte Frage, deutsch von
Sophie Behr_ (Berlin 1894).
To. "What I Believe" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Worin besteht mein Glaube?
Eine Studie, deutsch von Sophie Behr_ (Leipzig 1885).
To. "What Shall We Do" = GRAF LEO TOLSTOJ, _Was sollen wir also thun?
deutsch von August Scholz_ (Berlin 1891).
Tripels = "Discours de Tripels," in _Congres international
d'anthropologie criminelle, compte rendu des travaux de la quatrieme
session, tenue a Geneve du 24 au 29 aout 1896_ (Geneve 1897) pp. 253-4.
Tucker = BENJ. R. TUCKER, _Instead of a Book. By a Man Too Busy to Write
One. A fragmentary exposition of philosophical Anarchism_ (New York
1893).
Van Hamel = VAN HAMEL, "L'Anarchisme et le Combat contre l'anarchisme au
point de vue de l'anthropologie criminelle," in _Congres international
d'anthropologie criminelle, compte rendu des travaux de la quatrieme
session, tenue a Geneve du 24 au 29 aout 1896_ (Geneve 1897) pp. 254-7.
Zenker = E. V. ZENKER, _Der Anarchismus. Kritische Geschichte der
anarchistischen Theorie_ (Jena 1895).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Entitled "The Ego and His Own." N. Y., Benj. R. Tucker, 1907.
INTRODUCTION
1. We want to know Anarchism scientifically, for reasons both personal
and external.
We wish to penetrate the essence of a movement that dares to question
what is undoubted and to deny what is venerable, and nevertheless takes
hold of wider and wider circles.
Besides, we wish to make up our minds whether it is not necessary to
meet such a movement with force, to protect the established order or at
least its quiet progressive development, and, by ruthless measures, to
guard against greater evils.
2. At present there is the greatest lack of clear ideas about Anarchism,
and that not only among the masses but among scholars and statesmen.
Now it is a historic law of evolution[2] that is described as the
supreme law of Anarchism, now it is the happiness of the individual,[3]
now justice.[4]
Now they say that Anarchism culminates in the negation of every
programme,[5] that it has only a negative aim;[6] now, again, that its
negating and destroying side is balanced by a side that is affirmative
and creative;[7] now, to conclude, that what is original in Anarchism is
to be found exclusively in its utterances about the ideal society,[8]
that its real, true essence consists in its positive efforts.[9]
Now it is said that Anarchism rejects law,[10] now that it rejects
society,[11] now that it rejects only the State.[12]
Now it is declared that in the future society of Anarchism there is no
tie of contract binding persons together;[13] now, again, that Anarchism
aims to have all public affairs arranged for by contracts between
federally constituted communes and societies.[14]
Now it is said in general that Anarchism rejects property,[15] or at
least private property;[16] now a distinction is made between
Communistic and Individualistic,[17] or even between Communistic,
Collectivistic, and Individualistic Anarchism.[18]
Now it is asserted that Anarchism conceives of its realization as taking
place through crime,[19] especially through a violent revolution[20] and
by the help of the propaganda of deed;[21] now, again, that Anarchism
rejects violent tactics and the propaganda of deed,[22] or that these
are at least not necessary constituents of Anarchism.[23]
3. Two demands must be made of everybody who undertakes to produce a
scientific work on Anarchism.
First, he must be acquainted with the most important Anarchistic
writings. Here, to be sure, one meets great difficulties. Anarchistic
writings are very scantily represented in our public libraries. They are
in part so rare that it is extremely difficult for an individual to
acquire even the most prominent of them. So it is not strange that of
all works on Anarchism only one is based on a comprehensive knowledge of
the sources. This is a pamphlet which appeared anonymously in New York
in 1894, "_Die historische Entwickelung des Anarchismus_" which in
sixteen pages gives a concise presentation that attests an astonishing
acquaintance with the most various Anarchistic writings. The two large
works, _"L'anarchia e gli anarchici, studio storico e politico di E.
Sernicoli_" 2 vol., Milano, 1894, and "_Der Anarchismus, kritische
Geschichte der anarchistischen Theorie von E. V. Zenker_," Jena, 1895,
are at least in part founded on a knowledge of Anarchistic writings.
Second, he who would produce a scientific work on Anarchism must be
equally at home in jurisprudence, in economics, and in philosophy.
Anarchism judges juridical institutions with reference to their economic
effects, and from the standpoint of some philosophy or other. Therefore,
to penetrate its essence and not fall a victim to all possible
misunderstandings, one must be familiar with those concepts of
philosophy, jurisprudence, and economics which it applies or has a
relation to. This demand is best met, among all works on Anarchism, by
Rudolf Stammler's pamphlet, "_Die Theorie des Anarchismus_," Berlin,
1894.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] "_Der Anarchismus und seine Traeger_" pp. 124, 125, 127; Reichesberg
p. 27.
[3] Lenz p. 3.
[4] Bernatzik pp. 2, 3.
[5] Lenz p. 5.
[6] Crispi.
[7] Van Hamel p. 112.
[8] Adler p. 321.
[9] Reichesberg p. 13.
[10] Stammler pp. 2, 4, 34, 36; Lenz pp. 1, 4.
[11] Silio p. 145; Garraud p. 12; Reichesberg p. 16; Tripels p. 253.
[12] Bernstein p. 359; Bernatzik p. 3.
[13] Reichesberg p. 30.
[14] Lombroso p. 31.
[15] Silio p. 145; Dubois p. 213.
[16] Lombroso p. 31; Proal p. 50.
[17] Rienzi p. 9; Stammler pp. 28-31; Merlino pp. 18, 27; Shaw p. 23.
[18] "_Die historische Entwickelung des Anarchismus_" p. 16; Zenker p.
161.
[19] Garraud p. 6; Lenz p. 5.
[20] Sernicoli vol. 2 p. 116; Garraud p. 2; Reichesberg p. 38; Van Hamel
p. 113.
[21] Garraud pp. 10, 11; Lombroso p. 34; Ferri p. 257.
[22] Mackay "_Magazin_" pp. 913-915; "_Anarchisten_" pp. 239-243.
[23] Zenker pp. 203, 204.
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
1.--GENERAL
The problem for our study is, to get determinate concepts of Anarchism
and its species. As soon as such determinate concepts are attained,
Anarchism is scientifically known. For their determination is not only
conditioned on a comprehensive view of all the individual phenomena of
Anarchism; it also brings together the results of this comprehensive
view, and assigns to them a place in the totality of our knowledge.
The problem of getting determinate concepts of Anarchism and its species
seems at a first glance perfectly clear. But the apparent clearness
vanishes on closer examination.
For there rises first the question, what shall be the starting-point of
our study? The answer will be given, "Anarchistic teachings." But there
is by no means an agreement as to what teachings are Anarchistic; one
man designates as "Anarchistic" these teachings, another those; and of
the teachings themselves a part designate themselves as Anarchistic, a
part do not. How can one take any of them as Anarchistic teachings for a
starting-point, without applying that very concept of Anarchism which he
has yet to determine?
Then rises the further question, what is the goal of the study? The
answer will be given, "the concepts of Anarchism and its species." But
we see daily that different men define in quite different ways the
concept of an object which they yet conceive in the same way. One says
that law is the general will; another, that it is a mass of precepts
which limit a man's natural liberty for other men's sake; a third, that
it is the ordering of the life of the nation (or of the community of
nations) to maintain God's order of the world. They all know that a
definition should state the proximate genus and the distinctive marks of
the species, but this knowledge does them little good. So it seems that
the goal of the study does still require elucidation.
Lastly rises the question, what is the way to this goal? Any one who has
ever observed the conflict of opinions in the intellectual sciences
knows well, on the one hand, how utterly we lack a recognized method for
the solution of problems; and, on the other hand, how necessary it is in
any study to get clearly in mind the method that is to be used.
2. Our study can come to a more precise specification of its problem.
The problem is to put concepts in the place of non-conceptual notions of
Anarchism and its species.
Every concept-determining study faces the problem of comprehending
conceptually an object that was first comprehended non-conceptually, and
therefore of putting a concept in the place of non-conceptual notions of
an object. This problem finds a specially clear expression in the
concept-determining judgment (the definition), which puts in immediate
juxtaposition, in its subject some non-conceptual notion of an object,
and in its predicate a conceptual notion of the same object.
Accordingly, the study that is to determine the concepts of Anarchism
and its species has for its problem to comprehend conceptually objects
that are first comprehended in non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and
its species; and therefore, to put concepts in the place of these
non-conceptual notions.
3. But our study may specify its problem still more precisely, though at
first only on the negative side. The problem is not to put concepts in
the place of all notions that appear as non-conceptual notions of
Anarchism and its species.
Any concept can comprehend conceptually only one object, not another
object together with this. The concept of health cannot be at the same
time the concept of life, nor the concept of the horse that of the
mammal.
But in the non-conceptual notions that appear as notions of Anarchism
and its species there are comprehended very different objects. To be
sure, the object of all these notions is on the one hand a genus that is
formed by the common qualities of certain teachings, and on the other
hand the species of this genus, which are formed by the addition of
sundry peculiarities to these common qualities. But still these notions
have in view very different groups of teachings with their common and
special qualities, some perhaps only the teachings of Kropotkin and
Most, others only the teachings of Stirner, Tucker, and Mackay, others
again the teachings of both sets of authors.
If one proposed to put concepts in the place of all the non-conceptual
notions which appear as notions of Anarchism and its species, these
concepts would have to comprehend at once the common and special
qualities of quite different groups of teachings, of which groups one
might embrace only the teachings of Kropotkin and Most, another only
those of Stirner, Tucker, and Mackay, a third both. But this is
impossible: the concepts of Anarchism and its species can comprehend
only the common and special qualities of a single group of teachings;
therefore our study cannot put concepts in the place of all the notions
that appear as notions of Anarchism and its species.
4. By completing on the affirmative side this negative specification of
its problem, our study can arrive at a still more precise specification
of this problem. The problem is to put concepts in the place of those
non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and its species, having in view one
and the same group of teachings, which are most widely diffused among
the men who at present are scientifically concerned with Anarchism.
Because the only possible problem for our study is to put concepts in
the place of part of the notions that appear as non-conceptual notions
of Anarchism and its species,--to wit, only in the place of such notions
as have in view one and the same group of teachings with its common and
special qualities,--therefore we must divide into classes, according to
the groups of teachings that they severally have in view, the notions
that appear as notions of Anarchism and its species, and we must choose
the class whose notions are to be replaced by concepts.
The choice of the class must depend on the kind of men for whom the
study is meant. For the study of a concept is of value only for those
who non-conceptually apprehend the object of the concept, since the
concept takes the place of their notions only. For those who form a
non-conceptual notion of space, the concept of morality is so far
meaningless; and just as meaningless, for those who mean by Anarchism
what the teachings of Proudhon and Stirner have in common, is the
concept of what is common to the teachings of Proudhon, Stirner,
Bakunin, and Kropotkin.
But the men for whom this study is meant are those who at present are
scientifically concerned with Anarchism. If all these, in their notions
of Anarchism and its species, had in view one and the same group of
teachings, then the problem for our study would be to put concepts in
the place of this set of notions. Since this is not the case, the only
possible problem for our study is to put concepts in the place of that
set of notions which has in view a group of teachings that the greatest
possible number of the men at present scientifically concerned with
Anarchism have in view in their non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and
its species.
2.--THE STARTING-POINT
In accordance with what has been said, the starting-point of our study
must be those non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and its species,
having in view one and the same group of teachings, which are most
widely diffused among the men who at present are scientifically
concerned with Anarchism.
1. How can it be known what group of teachings the non-conceptual
notions of Anarchism and its species most widely diffused among the men
at present scientifically concerned with Anarchism have in view?
First and foremost, this may be seen from utterances regarding
particular Anarchistic teachings, and from lists and descriptions of
such teachings.
We may assume that a man regards as Anarchistic those teachings which he
designates as Anarchistic, and, further, those teachings which are
likewise characterized by the common qualities of these. We may further
assume that a man does not regard as Anarchistic those teachings which
he in any form contrasts with the Anarchistic teachings, nor, if he
undertakes to catalogue or describe the whole body of Anarchistic
teachings, those teachings unknown to him which are not characterized by
the common qualities of the teachings he catalogues or describes.
What group of teachings those non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and
its species which are most widely diffused among the men at present
scientifically concerned with Anarchism have in view, may be seen
secondly from the definitions of Anarchism and from other utterances
about it. We may doubtingly assume that a man regards as Anarchistic
those teachings which come under his definition of Anarchism, or for
which his utterances about Anarchism hold good; and, on the contrary,
that he does not regard as Anarchistic those teachings which do not come
under that definition, or for which these utterances do not hold good.
When these two means of knowledge lead to contradictions, the former
must be decisive. For, if a man so defines Anarchism, or so speaks of
Anarchism, that on this basis teachings which he declares
non-Anarchistic manifest themselves to be Anarchistic,--and perhaps
other teachings, which he counts among the Anarchistic, to be
non-Anarchistic,--this can be due only to his not being conscious of the
scope of his general pronouncements; therefore it is only from his
treatment of the individual teachings that one can find out his opinion
of these.
2. These means of knowledge inform us what group of teachings the
non-conceptual notions of Anarchism and its species most widely diffused
among the men at present scientifically concerned with Anarchism have in
view.
We learn, first, that the teachings of certain particular men are
recognized as Anarchistic teachings by the greater part of those who at
present are scientifically concerned with Anarchism.
We learn, second, that by the greater part of those who at present are
scientifically concerned with Anarchism the teachings of these men are
recognized as Anarchistic teachings only in so far as they relate to
law, the State, and property; but not in so far as they may be concerned
with the law, State, or property of a particular legal system or a
particular group of legal systems, nor in so far as they regard other
objects, such as religion, the family, art.
Among the recognized Anarchistic teachings seven are particularly
prominent: to wit, the teachings of Godwin, Proudhon, Stirner, Bakunin,
Kropotkin, Tucker, and Tolstoi. They all manifest themselves to be
Anarchistic teachings according to the greater part of the definitions
of Anarchism, and of other scientific utterances about it. They all
display the qualities that are common to the doctrines treated of in
most descriptions of Anarchism. Some of them, be it one or another, are
put in the foreground in almost every work on Anarchism. Of no one of
them is it denied, to an extent worth mentioning, that it is an
Anarchistic teaching.
3.--THE GOAL
In accordance with what has been said, the goal of our study must be to
determine, first, the concept of the genus which is constituted by the
common qualities of those teachings which the greater part of the men at
present scientifically concerned with Anarchism recognize as Anarchistic
teachings; second, the concepts of the species of this genus, which are
formed by the accession of any specialties to those common qualities.
1. The first thing toward a concept is that an object be apprehended as
clearly and purely as possible.
In non-conceptual notions an object is not apprehended with all possible
clearness. In our non-conceptual notions of gold we most commonly make
clear to ourselves only a few qualities of gold; one of us, perhaps,
thinks mainly of the color and the lustre, another of the color and
malleability, a third of some other qualities. But in the concept of
gold color, lustre, malleability, hardness, solubility, fusibility,
specific gravity, atomic weight, and all other qualities of gold, must
be apprehended as clearly as possible.
Nor is an object apprehended in all possible purity in our
non-conceptual notions. We introduce into our non-conceptual notions of
gold many things that do not belong among the qualities of gold; one,
perhaps, thinks of the present value of gold, another of golden dishes,
a third of some sort of gold coin. But all these alien adjuncts must be
kept away from the concept of gold.
So the first goal of our study is to describe as clearly as possible on
the one side, and as purely as possible on the other, the common
qualities of those teachings which the greater part of the men at
present scientifically concerned with Anarchism recognize as Anarchistic
teachings, and the specialties of all the teachings which display these
common qualities.
2. It is further requisite for a concept that an object should have its
place assigned as well as possible in the total realm of our
experience,--that is, in a system of species and genera which embraces
our total experience.
In non-conceptual notions an object does not have its place assigned in
the total realm of our experience, but arbitrarily in one of the many
genera in which it can be placed according to its various qualities. One
of us, perhaps, thinks of gold as a species of the genus "yellow
bodies," another as a species of the genus "malleable bodies," a third
as a species of some other genus. But the concept of gold must assign it
a place in a system of species and genera that embraces our whole
experience,--a place in the genus "metals."
So a further goal of our study is to assign a place as well as possible
in the total realm of our experience (that is, in a system of species
and genera which embraces our total experience) for the common qualities
of those teachings which the greater part of the men at present
scientifically concerned with Anarchism recognize as Anarchistic
teachings, and for the specialties of all the teachings that display
these common qualities.
4.--THE WAY TO THE GOAL
In accordance with what has been said, the way that our study must take
to go from its starting-point to its goal will be in three parts. First,
the concepts of law, the State, and property must be determined. Next,
it must be ascertained what the Anarchistic teachings assert about law,
the State, and property. Finally, after removing some errors, we must
get determinate concepts of Anarchism and its species.
1. First, we must get determinate concepts of law, the State, and
property; and this must be of law, the State, and property in general,
not of the law, State, or property of a particular legal system or a
particular family of legal systems.
Law, the State, and property, in this sense, are the objects about which
the doctrines which are to be examined in their common and special
qualities make assertions. Before the fact of any assertions about an
object can be ascertained,--not to say, before the common and special
qualities of these assertions can be brought out and assigned to a place
in the total realm of our experience,--we must get a determinate concept
of this object itself. Hence the first thing that must be done is to
determine the concepts of law, the State, and property (chapter II).
2. Next, it must be ascertained what the Anarchistic teachings assert
about law, the State, and property;--that is, the recognized Anarchistic
teachings, and also those teachings which likewise display the qualities
common to these.
What the recognized Anarchistic teachings say, must be ascertained in
order to determine the concept of Anarchism. What all the teachings that
display the common qualities of the recognized Anarchistic teachings
say, must be ascertained in order that we may get determinate concepts
of the species of Anarchism.
So each of these teachings must be questioned regarding its relation to
law, the State, and property. These questions must be preceded by the
question on what foundation the teaching rests, and must be followed by
the question how it conceives the process of its realization.
It is impossible to present here all recognized Anarchistic teachings,
not to say all Anarchistic teachings. Therefore our study limits itself
to the presentation of seven especially prominent teachings (chapters
III to IX), and then, from this standpoint, seeks to get a view of the
totality of recognized Anarchistic teachings and of all Anarchistic
teachings (chapter X).
The teachings presented are presented in their own words,[24] but
according to a uniform system: the first, for security against the
importation of alien thoughts; the second, to avoid the uncomparable
juxtaposition of fundamentally different courses of thought. They have
been compelled to give definite replies to definite questions; it was
indeed necessary in many cases to bring the answers together in tiny
fragments from the most various writings, to sift them so far as they
contradicted each other, and to explain them so far as they deviated
from ordinary language. Thus Tolstoi's strictly logical structure of
thought and Bakunin's confused talk, Kropotkin's discussions full of
glowing philanthropy and Stirner's self-pleasing smartness, come before
our eyes directly and yet in comparable form.
3. Finally, after removing widely diffused errors, we are to get
determinate concepts of Anarchism and its species.
We must, therefore, on the basis of that knowledge of the Anarchistic
teachings which we have acquired, clear away the most important errors
about Anarchism and its species; and then we must determine what the
Anarchistic teachings have in common, and what specialties are
represented among them, and assign to both a place in the total realm of
our experience. Then we have the concepts of Anarchism and its species
(chapter XI).
FOOTNOTE:
[24] Russian writings are cited from translations, which are cautiously
revised where they seem too harsh.