The ABC of Anarchism

, by Berkman, Alexander; Avrich, Paul; Goldman, Emma

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ISBN: 9780486433691 | 0486433692
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/11/2005

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First published in 1929, this book by one of the most gifted writers for the anarchist movement answers some of the charges made against it and presents the case for communist anarchism clearly and intelligently. Thorough and well stated, it is today regarded as a classic statement of the cause's goals and methods.

PART ONE NOW

I. WHAT DO YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE?

(6)

What you want most in life. We are all alike under our skins. As we all strive for the same things, our interests are naturally the same. Why, then, do we fight each other? Buying and selling. Different classes in society. The interests of your employer opposed to your interests. Wealth and ownership. Where wealth comes from. Why labor is social. No man can justly claim the products of social labor. The reason the people do not possess the wealth they produce.

II. THE WAGE SYSTEM

(5)

Some people live on profits; others work to make those profits for them. Capitalism a system of profit-making. Everything is produced by labor, but labor owns nothing. Why it is so. How labor is robbed of its products. Why the possessions of the rich are stolen property. How the game is played.

III. LAW AND GOVERNMENT

(8)

The way you are duped. The scheme of "law and order." The law forbids theft but permits the capitalist to rob you. Why the working classes are compelled to work for the capitalist class. The sham of "free agreement." The meaning of liberty. Legal rights one thing, opportunity another. Your freedom no bigger than your wages or salary. Law and government uphold the wage system. All classes exploited by big capital. Government helps one part of the people to enslave the rest of the people. Why we stand for it.

IV. HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

(8)

Is it God's will? Are people really bad? What we are taught at home and in school. The worship of money and the mania for possession. The effect of environment on our character and actions. Can we afford to be good? Competition. Wrong, evil, and crime. Law and government. Why the poor man gets the worst of it. The fruits of the capitalistic system.

V. UNEMPLOYMENT

(5)

The causes of unemployment. Capitalism not interested in your welfare. Unemployment a whip in the hands of the employer. Can we do away with unemployment ? Capitalism produces only . for profit. Overproduction means underconsumption. Why unemployment, economic crises, and wars are inherent in our system of profit-making.

VI. WAR

(11)

The game of patriotism. Whom do you protect when you go to war? Your love of home and country exploited to make profits. Does war develop personal courage? Modern war cowardly. Why it requires more bravery to refuse obedience than to obey. The conscientious objector needs courage. How the people of the United States were tricked into the World War by a President elected to keep them out of war. Your patriotism coined into money.

VII. CHURCH AND SCHOOL

(3)

Why church and school always side with the masters and the powers that be. Tyranny and oppression, ignorance and superstition hiding behind "the will of God." Slavery and serfdom justified in the past by institutionalized religion of every denomination. Today the churches support wage slavery, war, and all the other iniquities of the existing system. Church and school have always commanded obedience to Caesar. The enemies of enlightenment, liberty, and justice. A matter of profits, not of prophets.

VIII. JUSTICE

(22)

No justice possible in a system of grab and hold. Neither equity nor equality can exist between master and servant. Material interests determine conduct. Do you want your employer to act against his own interests? Why your interests and his must clash. Legal justice not blind; on the contrary, it distinguishes very clearly the rich from the poor, and acts accordingly. Judges are human: their feelings and attitude those of their circle and class. There is war between capital and labor; can you expect justice in war? Illustrations o: class justice. The Chicago Haymarket affair. The Mooney case. Sacco and Vanzetti. Frame-ups and judicial murder the methods of class justice.

IX. CAN THE CHURCH HELP YOU?

(5)

Christianity has conquered the world by defeating Christ. The churches preach to you a Christian life but make it impossible for you to live it. You would be declared a criminal or a lunatic if you tried to follow the precepts of the Nazarene, even for a single day. Christianity the greatest hypocrisy: it justifies and up-holds everything that Jesus condemned. Other churches do the same.

X. REFORMER AND POLITICIAN

(13)

Both want to change you by law. They call you bad, but they won't give you a chance to be good. How conditions compel people to act badly. Crime and punishment. Can the law reform the criminal and pre-vent crime? Why our prisons are filled. When wrong is lawful and when unlawful. Legal crime profitable. Punishing illegal crime a lucrative business. What the law is about. Capitalism takes the joy out of life: it needs government to help it do it. Our slave morality. The difference between olden times and now: formerly the robber baron hired armed bands to compel people to pay him tribute. Nowadays ruling is an easier job: the slaves are "educated" to imagine themselves free and sovereign. It pays the master class to keep you fooled with the game of politics.

XI. THE TRADE UNION

(13)

Union means strength. Labor organizations legally prohibited in the past. Now other methods used by the masters. They do their utmost to keep the workers divided and weak. Why the boss is afraid of a strong labor union. The "identity of interests" fake. How you fall for it. Labor leaders helping to double cross the workers. Serving the interests of the masters. The "dignity of labor." Why strikes are lost.

XII. WHOSE IS THE POWER?

102

(7)

What is real strength? The "power" of government and of the capitalist class. Your masters strong only because of your stupidity. What would happen if you would refuse to serve them? The difference between actual and alleged power. They who feed the world have the real power. The economic might of labor.

XIII. SOCIALISM

109

(18)

Many varieties. Can capitalism be abolished by legislation? The fatal contradiction of Marxian Social-ism. Changing capitalism to Socialism by politics. Why it is impossible. The transformation process of an elected Socialist. The corrupting effects of politics: you can't dive into a swamp and remain clean. Socialist compromises have eliminated Socialism from the Socialist parties. Socialists in the World War. Socialist governments. What the Socialists have accomplished in Germany, France, and other lands. Socialist "success" the bankruptcy of Socialism.

XIV. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION

127

(7)

The Russian Revolution more fundamental than the Great French Revolution. A gradual growth. The regime of the Tsars. The work of the earlier libertarians and revolutionists in preparing the Revolution of 1917. The idealism of the Russian youth. An apparently losing fight finally wins. The failure of the Revolution of 1905. The success of the Revolution in February, 1917.

XV. BETWEEN FEBRUARY AND OCTOBER

134

(8)

A mass-meeting in New York. Freedom negative and positive. Why freedom from something is not enough: freedom for something necessary. The Russian masses not fooled by liberties on paper. They demand the termination of the war; they want the land and the products of their toil. The Provisional Government talks reforms. The people ignore the Government: the soldiers quit the front, the peasants take the land, the workers assume charge of the industries. The real social revolution taking place by the direct action of the masses. The Soviets and the various political parties.

XVI. THE BOLSHEVIKI

142

(12)

Origin of the party. Followers of Marx and Lenin. The meaning of Bolshevist Socialism. The difference between the Anarchists and the Bolsheviki. The aim of the latter to establish the dictatorship of their political party. Bolsheviki making use of Anarchist methods to achieve their purpose. The importance of motives. Bolshevik motives in using Anarchist methods. Why the Bolsheviki turned against those methods as soon as they came to power. Bolshevik Jesuitism and persecution.

XVII. REVOLUTION AND DICTATORSHIP

154

(6)

The aims of the Russian Revolution; its character and activities. How the masses themselves carried on the Revolution. The objects of the Bolshevik Party. Why the Revolution and the dictatorship were different things. The dictatorship opposed to the Revolution.

XVIII. THE DICTATORSHIP AT WORK

160

(13)

The real character of the Bolshevik dictatorship. Neither the proletariat nor the Communist Party the dictator. Lenin stronger than his Party. The actual dictatorship of one man. What it accomplished. Bolshevik autocracy supported by Tcheka and red terror. Expression of independent opinion punished. Economic disaster. Intellectual and cultural strait-jacket. The "nep" a return to capitalism. Bolshevik labor unions. Russia turned into a big prison. Dictatorship destructive to liberty and revolution.

PART TWO ANARCHISM

XIX. IS ANARCHTSM VIOLENCE?

173

(9)

Capitalism and government stand for disorder and violence. Anarchism the reverse of it. Why Anarchists have sometimes resorted to violence. Killing a despot considered a virtue in olden times. Has the conscience of mankind changed in this matter? Thousands of patriotic Americans eager to assassinate the Kaiser during the War. Anarchists have no monopoly of political violence. Various social movements have made use of it. Government the fountainhead of invasion and violence. As long as you support government don't pretend to be shocked by individual violence. The denial of coercive authority the only sincere protest against violence.

XX. WHAT IS ANARCHISM?

182

(4)

The meaning of Anarchism. Could we do without government? What would happen if we abolish it? Monopoly and private ownership of the means of social existence would have to go together with government. They could not exist without the support of organized violence. Economic equity leads to voluntary Communism, which is Communist Anarchism. The fundamental difference between free and compulsory Communism.

XXI. IS ANARCHY POSSIBLE?

186

(9)

What part is the government playing in your life? Does it help you live? Law and order the worst disorder. No government necessary for our welfare. Man a social being: his wants and inclinations make for association and mutual effort. Anarchism the expression of an ancient and innate need of man. Most evils result from oppression and inequality. Crime the legitimate offspring of coercive authority. Government is itself the greatest crime. How Anarchy would treat criminals. Justice and fair play: their role in individual and social life.

XXII. WILL COMMUNIST ANARCHISM WORK?

195

(16)

The character of equal opportunity. Anarchy would abolish government and coercive authority. Social ownership and participation. The justice and practicability of economic equality. Laziness implies the right man in the wrong place. Interest needed in your work. Equality in freedom is not leveling. Man's inborn tendency to variation and originality. The deadening effect of invasive authority and compulsion. Social taboos and legal imperatives. Freedom means diversification; it would make life more interesting and richer.

XXIII. NON-COMMUNIST ANARCHISM

211

(6)

Brief outline of non-Communist Anarchist theories: Mutualism and Individualist Anarchism.

PART THREE THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION

XXIV. WHY REVOLUTION

217

(6)

Man's rise from savagery has been a struggle against the inimical forces of nature. In the degree that he learned to associate and cooperate with his fellowmen he conquered those forces and put them to his service. We are still barbarians in that nations keep on fighting each other instead of making common cause. We'll become civilized only when the struggle of the classes within the nations will be ended. Progress consists in developing mutual aid and joint effort instead of enmity and strife. The masters of life determined to preserve their mastery. Why revolution is unavoidable.

XXV. THE IDEA IS THE THING

223

(7)

Government and capitalism, though unmitigated evils, continue to exist because you believe in and support them. Ideas maintain conditions. A new social structure must have a new foundation. Institutions once universally considered right are now condemned as wrong. The power of ideas. Why it required revolutions to do away with slavery and serfdom. Rebellion is blind; revolution is rebellion become conscious of its aims. The character of the social revolution.

XXVI. PREPARATION

230

(15)

Modern revolution does not mean barricades. Why it is necessary to prepare for the social revolution. False and dangerous conception of revolution as destructive. The social revolution highly constructive. Preparatory work for the social revolution. Vicious notion of labor's "historic mission." Not the mission but the interest of the workers to emancipate themselves. Difference between political and social revolution. Cooperation of manual and mental wage earners indispensable. The world not built with hands only; it also requires brains. The intellectual and the proletarian.

XXVII. ORGANIZATION OF LABOR FOR THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION

245

(20)

The functions of the social revolution. Production, distribution and communication basic sources of existence. Initial phases of the revolution. Constructive work. The General Strike as the beginning of the social revolution. Vital importance of right organization. Why most strikes are lost. Present-day unions. False principles and ineffective action. The shop committee as the unit of organized labor. Training the workers for the social revolution. Taking over the industries.

XXVIII. PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

265

(5)

Main purposes of the social revolution. The immediate betterment of conditions for the masses. The strength of the revolution not mechanical but organic: it is not in armies but in industry. The reorganization of production. Shop and factory committees as the motive power of the revolution. The role of justice. Revolution a powerful ethical factor. Why the social revolution depends on liberty and equity.

XXIX. CONSUMPTION AND EXCHANGE

270

(10)

The organization of consumption. Rationing. Why discrimination is fatal. Equal sharing. The uselessness of money. "Whoever doesn't work doesn't eat" a vicious principle fraught with evil results. Local safety and sanitation. The incentive of material improvement. Supreme importance of idealism in revolution.

XXX. PRODUCTION

280

(10)

Industry in the reconstruction period. The social revolution necessitates more intensive production. Socialization of industry eliminates many complex problems of the capitalist system. Vast numbers liberated by the revolution for useful occupations. Capitalistic production for profit; more labor used to-day to sell than to produce. Revolutionary production simplified. The importance of decentralization. A country in revolution must make itself self-supporting. Small-scale production and home industries.

XXXI. DEFENSE OF THE REVOLUTION

290

What constitutes the real strength of the revolution. Popular discontent the greatest danger. Factory and soldier committees the fountainhead of revolutionary defense and activity. The role of volunteer proletarian bodies in the Russian Revolution. Treatment of counter-revolutionists. Suppression and terror destructive. The need of a new attitude and new methods. Liberty and equity the best defense. Paving the road for Anarchy.

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