THE SO-CALLED ANARCHIST TACTICS. THEIR MORALITY
The Anarchists are Utopians. Their point of view has nothing in common
with that of modern scientific Socialism. But there are Utopias and
Utopias. The great Utopians of the first half of our century were men of
genius; they helped forward social science, which in their time was
still entirely Utopian. The Utopians of to-day, the Anarchists, are the
abstracters of quintessence, who can only fully draw forth some poor
conclusions from certain mummified principles. They have nothing to do
with social science, which, in its onward march, has distanced them by
at least half a century. Their "profound thinkers," their "lofty
theorists," do not even succeed in making the two ends of their
reasoning meet. They are the decadent Utopians, stricken with incurable
intellectual anæmia. The great Utopians did much for the development of
the working class movement. The Utopians of our days do nothing but
retard its progress. And it is especially their so-called tactics that
are harmful to the proletariat.
We already know that Bakounine interpreted the Rules of the
International in the sense that the working class must give up all
political action, and concentrate its efforts upon the domain of the
"immediately economic" struggle for higher wages, a reduction of the
hours of labour, and so forth. Bakounine himself felt that such tactics
were not very revolutionary. He tried to complete them through the
action of his "Alliance;" he preached riots.[64] But the more the class
consciousness of the proletariat develops, the more it inclines towards
political action, and gives up the "riots," so common during its
infancy. It is more difficult to induce the working men of Western
Europe, who have attained a certain degree of political development, to
riot, than, for example, the credulous and ignorant Russian peasants. As
the proletariat has shown no taste for the tactics of "riot," the
companions have been forced to replace it by "individual action." It was
especially after the attempted insurrection at Benevento in Italy in
1877 that the Bakounists began to glorify the "propaganda of deed." But
if we glance back at the period that separates us from the attempt of
Benevento, we shall see that this propaganda too assumed a special form:
very few "riots," and these quite insignificant, a great many personal
attempts against public edifices, against individuals, and even against
property--"individually hereditary," of course. It could not be
otherwise.
"We have already seen numerous revolts by people who wished to obtain
urgent reforms," says Louise Michel, in an interview with a
correspondent of the _Matin_, on the occasion of the Vaillant attempt.
"What was the result? The people were shot down. Well, we think the
people has been sufficiently bled; it is better large-hearted people
should sacrifice themselves, and, at their own risk, commit acts of
violence whose object is to terrorise the Government and the
bourgeois."[65]
This is exactly what we have said--only in slightly different words.
Louise Michel has forgotten to say that revolts, causing the bloodshed
of the people, figured at the head of the Anarchists' programme, until
the Anarchists became convinced, not that these partial risings in no
way serve the cause of the workers, but that the workers, for the most
part, will not have anything to do with these risings.
Error has its logic as well as truth. Once you reject the political
action of the working-class, you are fatally driven--provided you do not
wish to serve the bourgeois politicians--to accept the tactics of the
Vaillants and the Henrys. The so-called "Independent" (Unabhängige)
members of the German Socialist Party have proved this in their own
persons. They began by attacking "Parliamentarism," and to the
"reformist" tactics of the "old" members they opposed--on paper, of
course--the "revolutionary struggle," the purely "economic" struggle.
But this struggle, developing naturally, must inevitably bring about the
entry of the proletariat into the arena of political struggles. Not
wishing to come back to the very starting-point of their negation, the
"Independents," for a time, preached what they called "political
demonstrations," a new kind of old Bakounist riots. As riots, by
whatever name they are called, always come too late for the fiery
"revolutionists," there was only left to the Independents to "march
forward," to become converts to Anarchy, and to propagate--in words--the
propaganda of deed. The language of the "young" Landauers and Co. is
already as "revolutionary" as that of the "oldest" Anarchists.
"Reason and knowledge only thou despise
The highest strength in man that lies!
Let but the lying spirit bind thee,
With magic works and shows that blind thee,
And I shall have thee fast and sure."
As to the "magic work and shows," they are innumerable in the arguments
of the Anarchists against the political activity of the proletariat.
Here hate becomes veritable witchcraft. Thus Kropotkine turns their own
arm--the materialist conception of history--against the
Social-Democrats. "To each new economical phase of life corresponds a
new political phase," he assures us. "Absolute monarchy--that is
Court-rule--corresponded to the system of serfdom. Representative
government corresponds to capital-rule. Both, however, are class-rule.
But in a society where the distinction between capitalist and labourer
has disappeared, there is no need of such a government; it would be an
anachronism, a nuisance."[66] If Social-Democrats were to tell him they
know this at least as well as he does, Kropotkine would reply that
possibly they do, but that then they will not draw a logical conclusion
from these premises. He, Kropotkine, is your real logician. Since the
political constitution of every country is determined by its economic
condition, he argues, the political action of Socialists is absolute
nonsense. "To seek to attain Socialism or even (!) an agrarian
revolution by means of a political revolution, is the merest Utopia,
because the whole of history shows us that political changes flow from
the great economic revolutions, and not _vice versâ_."[67] Could the
best geometrician in the world ever produce anything more exact than
this demonstration? Basing his argument upon this impregnable
foundation, Kropotkine advises the Russian revolutionists to give up
their political struggle against Tzarism. They must follow an
"immediately economic" end. "The emancipation of the Russian peasants
from the yoke of serfdom that has until now weighed upon them, is
therefore the first task of the Russian revolutionist. In working along
these lines he directly and immediately works for the good of the
people ... and he moreover prepares for the weakening of the centralised
power of the State and for its limitation."[68]
Thus the emancipation of the peasants will have prepared the way for the
weakening of Russian Tzarism. But how to emancipate the peasants before
overthrowing Tzarism? Absolute mystery! Such an emancipation would be a
veritable "witchcraft." Old Liscow was right when he said, "It is easier
and more natural to write with the fingers than with the head."
However this may be, the whole political action of the working-class
must be summed up in these few words: "No politics! Long live the purely
economic struggle!" This is Bakounism, but perfected Bakounism.
Bakounine himself urged the workers to fight for a reduction of the
hours of labour, and higher wages. The Anarchist-Communists of our day
seek to "make the workers understand that they have nothing to gain from
such child's play as this, and that society can only be transformed by
destroying the institutions which govern it."[69] The raising of wages
is also useless. "North America and South America, are they not there to
prove to us that whenever the worker has succeeded in getting higher
wages, the prices of articles of consumption have increased
proportionately, and that where he has succeeded in getting 20 francs a
day for his wages, he needs 25 to be able to live according to the
standard of the better class workman, so that he is always below the
average?"[70] The reduction of the hours of labour is at any rate
superfluous since capital will always make it up by a "systematic
intensification of labour by means of improved machinery. Marx himself
has demonstrated this as clearly as possible."[71]
We know, thanks to Kropotkine, that the Anarchist ideal has a double
origin. And all the Anarchist "demonstrations" also have a double
origin. On the one hand they are drawn from the vulgar hand books of
political economy, written by the most vulgar of bourgeois economists,
_e.g._, Grave's dissertation upon wages, which Bastiat would have
applauded enthusiastically. On the other hand, the "companions,"
remembering the somewhat "Communist" origin of their ideal, turn to Marx
and quote, without understanding, him. Even Bakounine has been
"sophisticated" by Marxism. The latter-day Anarchists, with Kropotkine
at their head, have been even more sophisticated.
The ignorance of Grave, "the profound thinker," is very remarkable in
general, but it exceeds the bounds of all probability in matters of
political economy. Here it is, only equalled by that of the learned
geologist Kropotkine, who makes the most monstrous statements whenever
he touches upon an economic question. We regret that space will not
allow us to amuse the reader with some samples of Anarchist economics.
They must content themselves with what Kropotkine has taught them about
Marx's "surplus-value."
All this would be very ridiculous, if it were not too sad, as the
Russian poet Lermontoff says. And it is sad indeed. Whenever the
proletariat makes an attempt to somewhat ameliorate its economic
position, "large-hearted people," vowing they love the proletariat most
tenderly, rush in from all points of the compass, and depending on their
halting syllogisms, put spokes into the wheel of the movement, do their
utmost to prove that the movement is useless. We have had an example of
this with regard to the eight hours day, which the Anarchists combated,
whenever they could, with a zeal worthy of a better cause. When the
proletariat takes no notice of this, and pursues its "immediately
economic" aims undisturbed--as it has the fortunate habit of doing--the
same "large-hearted people" re-appear upon the scene armed with bombs,
and provide the government with the desired and sought for pretext for
attacking the proletariat. We have seen this at Paris on May 1, 1890; we
have seen it often during strikes. Fine fellows these "large-hearted
men!" And to think that among the workers themselves there are men
simple enough to consider as their friends, these personages who are, in
reality, the most dangerous enemies of their cause!
An Anarchist will have nothing to do with "parliamentarism," since it
only lulls the proletariat to sleep. He will none of "reforms," since
reforms are but so many compromises with the possessing classes. He
wants the revolution, a "full, complete, immediate, and immediately
economic" revolution. To attain this end he arms himself with a saucepan
full of explosive materials, and throws it amongst the public in a
theatre or a café. He declares this is the "revolution." For our own
part it seems to us nothing but "immediate" madness.
It goes without saying that the bourgeois governments, whilst inveighing
against the authors of these attempts, cannot but congratulate
themselves upon these tactics. "Society is in danger!" _Caveant
consules!_ And the police "consuls" become active, and public opinion
applauds all the reactionary measures resorted to by ministers in order
to "save society." "The terrorist saviours of society in uniform, to
gain the respect of the Philistine masses must appear with the halo of
true sons of 'holy order,' the daughter of Heaven rich in blessings, and
to this halo the school-boy attempts of these Terrorists help them. Such
a silly fool, lost in his fantastical imaginings, does not even see that
he is only a puppet, whose strings are pulled by a cleverer one in the
Terrorist wings; he does not see that the fear and terror he causes only
serve to so deaden all the senses of the Philistine crowd, that it
shouts approval of every massacre that clears the road for
reaction."[72]
Napoleon III. already indulged from time to time in an "outrage" in
order once again to save society menaced by the enemies of order. The
foul admissions of Andrieux,[73] the acts and deeds of the German and
Austrian _agents provocateurs_, the recent revelations as to the attempt
against the Madrid Parliament, etc., prove abundantly that the present
Governments profit enormously by the tactics of the "companions," and
that the work of the Terrorists in uniform would be much more difficult
if the Anarchists were not so eager to help in it.
Thus it is that spies of the vilest kind, like Joseph Peukert, for long
years figured as shining lights of Anarchism, translating into German
the works of foreign Anarchists; thus it is that the French bourgeois
and priests directly subvention the "companions," and that the
law-and-order ministry does everything in its power to throw a veil over
these shady machinations. And so, too, in the name of the "immediate
revolution," the Anarchists become the precious pillars of bourgeois
society, inasmuch as they furnish the _raison d'être_ for the most
immediately reactionary policy.
Thus the reactionary and Conservative press has always shown a hardly
disguised sympathy for the Anarchists, and has regretted that the
Socialists, conscious of their end and aim, will have nothing to do with
them. "They drive them away like poor dogs," pitifully exclaims the
Paris _Figaro, à propos_ of the expulsion of the Anarchists from the
Zurich Congress.[74]
An Anarchist is a man who--when he is not a police agent--is fated
always and everywhere to attain the opposite of that which he attempts
to achieve.
"To send working men to a Parliament," said Bordat, before the Lyons
tribunal in 1893, "is to act like a mother who would take her daughter
to a brothel." Thus it is also in the name of _morality_ that the
Anarchists repudiate political action. But what is the outcome of their
fear of parliamentary corruption? The glorification of theft, ("Put
money in thy purse," wrote Most in his _Freiheit_, already in 1880), the
exploits of the Duvals and Ravachols, who in the name of the "cause"
commit the most vulgar and disgusting crimes. The Russian writer,
_Herzen_, relates somewhere how on arriving at some small Italian town,
he met only priests and bandits, and was greatly perplexed, being unable
to decide which were the priests and which the bandits. And this is the
position of every impartial person to-day; for how are you going to
divine where the "companion" ends and the bandit begins? The Anarchists
themselves are not always sure, as was proved by the controversy caused
in their ranks by the Ravachol affair. Thus the better among them, those
whose honesty is absolutely unquestionable, constantly fluctuate in
their views of the "propaganda of deed."
"Condemn the propaganda of deed?" says Elysée Reclus. "But what is this
propaganda except the preaching of well-doing and love of humanity by
example? Those who call the "propaganda of deed" acts of violence prove
that they have not understood the meaning of this expression. The
Anarchist who understands his part, instead of massacring somebody or
other, will exclusively strive to bring this person round to his
opinions, and to make of him an adept who, in his turn, will make
"propaganda of deed" by showing himself good and just to all those whom
he may meet."[75]
We will not ask what is left of the Anarchist who has divorced himself
from the tactics of "deeds."
We only ask the reader to consider the following lines: "The editor of
the _Sempre Avanti_ wrote to Elysée Reclus asking him for his true
opinion of Ravachol. 'I admire his courage, his goodness of heart, his
greatness of soul, the generosity with which he pardons his enemies, or
rather his betrayers. I hardly know of any men who have surpassed him in
nobleness of conduct. I reserve the question as to how far it is always
desirable to push to extremities one's own right, and whether other
considerations moved by a spirit of human solidarity ought not to
prevail. Still I am none the less one of those who recognise in Ravachol
a hero of a magnanimity but little common.'"[76]
This does not at all fit in with the declaration quoted above, and it
proves irrefutably that citizen Reclus fluctuates, that he does not know
exactly where his "companion" ends and the bandit begins. The problem is
the more difficult to solve that there are a good many individuals who
are at the same time "bandits" and Anarchists. Ravachol was no
exception. At the house of the Anarchists, Oritz and Chiericotti,
recently arrested at Paris, an enormous mass of stolen goods were found.
Nor is it only in France that you have the combination of these two
apparently different trades. It will suffice to remind the reader of the
Austrians Kammerer and Stellmacher.
Kropotkine would have us believe that Anarchist morality, a morality
free from all obligations or sanction, opposed to all utilitarian
calculations, is the same as the natural morality of the people, "the
morality from the habit of well doing."[77] The morality of the
Anarchists is that of persons who look upon all human action from the
abstract point of view of the unlimited rights of the individual, and
who, in the name of these rights, pass a verdict of "Not guilty" on the
most atrocious deeds, the most revolting arbitrary acts. "What matter
the victims," exclaimed the Anarchist poet Laurent Tailhade, on the very
evening of Vaillant's outrage, at the banquet of the "Plume" Society,
"provided the gesture is beautiful?"
Tailhade is a decadent, who, because he is _blasé_ has the courage of
his Anarchist opinions. In fact the Anarchists combat democracy because
democracy, according to them, is nothing but the tyranny of the majority
as against the minority. The majority has no right to impose its wishes
upon the minority. But if this is so, in the name of what moral
principle do the Anarchists revolt against the bourgeoisie? Because the
bourgeoisie are not a minority? Or because they do not do what they
"will" to do?
"Do as thou would'st," proclaim the Anarchists. The bourgeoisie "want"
to exploit the proletariat, and do it remarkably well. They thus follow
the Anarchist precept, and the "companions" are very wrong to complain
of their conduct. They become altogether ridiculous when they combat the
bourgeoisie in the name of their victims. "What matters the death of
vague human beings"--continues the Anarchist logician Tailhade--"if
thereby the individual affirms himself?" Here we have the true morality
of the Anarchists; it is also that of the crowned heads. _Sic volo, sic
jubeo!_[78]
_Thus, in the name of the revolution, the Anarchists serve the cause of
reaction; in the name of morality they approve the most immoral acts; in
the name of individual liberty they trample under foot all the rights of
their fellows._
And this is why the whole Anarchist doctrine founders upon its own
logic. If any maniac may, because he "wants" to, kill as many men as he
likes, society, composed of an immense number of individuals, may
certainly bring him to his senses, not because it is its caprice, but
because it is its duty, because such is the _conditio sine quâ non_ of
its existence.
FOOTNOTES:
[64] In their dreams of riots and even of the Revolution, the
Anarchists, burn, with real passion and delight, all title-deeds of
property, and all governmental documents. It is Kropotkine especially
who attributes immense importance to these _auto-da-fe_. Really, one
would think him a rebellious civil servant.
[65] Republished in the _Peuple_ of Lyons, December 20, 1893.
[66] "Anarchist Communism," p. 8.
[67] Kropotkine's preface to the Russian edition of Bakounine's pamphlet
"La Commune de Paris et la notion de l'Etat." Geneva, 1892, p. 5.
[68] Ibid., same page.
[69] J. Grave "La Société Mourante et L'Anarchie," p. 253.
[70] Ibid., p. 249.
[71] Ibid., pp. 250-251.
[72] _Vorwärts_, January 23, 1894.
[73] "The companions were looking for someone to advance funds, but
infamous capital did not seem in a hurry to reply to their appeal. I
urged on infamous capital, and succeeded in persuading it that it was to
its own interest to facilitate the publication of an Anarchist paper....
But don't imagine that I with frank brutality offered the Anarchists the
encouragement of the Prefect of police. I sent a well-dressed bourgeois
to one of the most active and intelligent of them. He explained that
having made a fortune in the druggist line, he wanted to devote a part
of his income to advancing the Socialist propaganda. This bourgeois,
anxious to be devoured, inspired the companions with no suspicion.
Through his hands I placed the caution-money" [caution-money has to be
deposited before starting a paper in France] "in the coffers of the
State, and the journal, _La Révolution Sociale_, made its appearance. It
was a weekly paper, my druggist's generosity not extending to the
expenses of a daily."--"Souvenirs d'un Préfet de Police." "Memoirs of a
Prefect of Police." By J. Andrieux. (Jules Rouff et Cie, Paris, 1885.)
Vol. I., p. 337, etc.
[74] In passing, we may remark that it is in the name of freedom of
speech that the Anarchists claim to be admitted to Socialist Congresses.
Yet this is the opinion of the French official journal of the Anarchists
upon these Congresses:--"The Anarchists may congratulate themselves that
some of their number attended the Troyes Congress. Absurd, motiveless,
and senseless as an Anarchist Congress would be, just as logical is it
to take advantage of Socialist Congresses in order to develop our ideas
there."--_La Révolte_, 6-12 January, 1889. May not we also, in the name
of freedom, ask the "companions" to leave us alone?
[75] See in the _L'Etudiant Socialiste_ of Brussels, No. 6 (1894) the
republication of the declaration made by Elysée Reclus, to a
"correspondent" who had questioned him upon the Anarchist attempts.
[76] The _Twentieth Century_, a weekly Radical magazine, New York,
September, 1892, p. 15.
[77] See Kropotkine's _Anarchist Communism_, pp. 34-35; also his
_Anarchie dans l'Evolution Socialiste_, pp. 24-25, and many passages in
his _Morale Anarchiste_.
[78] The papers have just announced that Tailhade was wounded by an
explosion at the Restaurant Foyot. The telegram (_La Tribune de Genève_,
5th April, 1894) adds--"M. Tailhade is constantly protesting against the
Anarchist theories he is credited with. One of the house surgeons,
having reminded him of his article and the famous phrase quoted above,
M. Tailhade remained silent, and asked for chloral to alleviate his
pain."