---------------------------------------- ------------------------- ,note3 ,equals signs are used to surround bold text2 underscores to surround italic text4 ,transcriber notes can be found at the end of the file ---------------------------------------- ------------------------- ,fabian ,tract ,no4 #de4 ,,the ,,impossibilities ,,of ,,anarchism4 ,,by ,,bernard ,,shaw ,,published ,,by ,,the ,,fabian ,,society ,,price ,,twopence ,,london ,,to ,,be ,,obtained ,,of ,,the ,,fabian ,,society1 #bgf ,,strand1 ,w4,c4 ,,reprinted ,,november #ahie ,,the ,,impossibilities ,,of ,,anarchism4#a ,anarchists and ,socialists4 ,some years ago1 as the practical policy of the ,socialist party in ,england began to shape itself more and more definitely into the program of ,social-,democracy1 it became apparent that we could not progress without the gravest violations of principles of all sorts4 ,in particular1 the democratic side of the program was found to be incompatible with the sacred principle of the ,autonomy of the ,individual4 ,it also involved a recognition of the ,state1 an institution altogether repugnant to the principle of ,freedom4 ,worse than that1 it involved compromise at every step2 and principles1 as ,mr4 ,john ,morley once eloquently showed1 must not be compromised4 ,the result was that many of us fell to quarrelling2 refused to associate with one another2 denounced each other as trimmers or ,impossibilists1 according to our side in the controversy2 and finally succeeded in creating a considerable stock of ill-feeling4 ,my own side in the controversy was the unprincipled one1 as ,socialism to me has always meant1 not a principle1 but certain definite economic measures which ,i wish to see taken4 ,indeed1 ,i have often been reproached for limiting the term ,socialism too much to the economic side of the great movement towards equality4 ,that movement1 however1 appears to me to be as much an ,individualist as a ,socialist one2 and though there are ,socialists1 like ,sir ,william ,harcourt1 to whom ,socialism means the sum total of humanitarian aspiration1 in which the transfer of some millions of acres of property from private to public ownership must seem but an inessential and even undesirable detail1 this sublimer shade of ,socialism suffers from such a lack of concentration upon definite measures1 that1 but for the honor and glory of the thing1 its professors might as well call themselves ,conservatives4 ,now what with ,socialists of this sort1 and persons who found that the practical remedy for white slavery was incompatible with the principle of ,liberty1 and the practical remedy for despotism incompatible with the principle of ,democracy1 and the practical conduct of politics incompatible with the principle of ,personal ,integrity 7in the sense of having your own way in everything71 the practical men were at last driven into frank ,opportunism4 ,when1 for instance1 they found national and local organization of the working classes opposed by ,socialists on the ground that ,socialism is universal and international in principle2 when they found their ,radical and ,trade ,unionist allies ostracized by ,socialists for being outside the pale of the ,socialist faith one and indivisible2 when they saw agricultural laborers alienated by undiscriminating denunciations of allotments as individualistic2 then they felt the full force of the saying that ,socialism would spread fast enough if it were not for the ,socialists4 ,it was bad enough to have to contend with the conservative forces of the modern unsocialist ,state without also having to fight the seven deadly virtues in possession of the ,socialists themselves4 ,the conflict between ideal ,socialism and practical ,social-,democracy destroyed the ,chartist organization half a century ago1 as it destroyed the ,socialist ,league only the other day4 ,but it has never gone so far as the conflict between ,social-,democracy and ,anarchism4 ,for the ,anarchists will recommend abstention from voting and refusal to pay taxes in cases where the ,social-,democrats are strenuously urging the workers to organize their votes so as to return candidates pledged to contend for extensions of the franchise and for taxation of unearned incomes1 the object of such taxation being the raising of ,state capital for all sorts of collective purposes1 from the opening of public libraries to the municipalization and nationalization of our industries4 ,in fact1 the denunciation of ,social-,democratic methods by ,anarchists is just as much a matter of course as the denunciation of ,social-,democratic aims by ,conservatives4 ,it is possible that some of the strangers present may be surprised to hear this1 since no distinction is made in the newspapers which support the existing social order between ,social-,democrats and ,anarchists1 both being alike hostile to that order4 ,in the columns of such papers all revolutionists are ,socialists2 all ,socialists are ,anarchists2 and all ,anarchists are incendiaries1 assassins and thieves4 ,one result of this is that the imaginative ,french or ,italian criminal who reads the papers1 sometimes declares1 when taken red-handed in the commission of murder or burglary1 that he is an ,anarchist acting on principle4 ,and in all countries the more violent and reckless temperaments among the discontented are attracted by the name ,anarchist merely because it suggests desperate1 thorough1 uncompromising1 implacable war on existing injustices4 ,it is therefore necessary to warn you that there are some persons abusively called ,anarchists by their political opponents1 and others ignorantly so described by themselves1 who are nevertheless not ,anarchists at all within the meaning of this paper4 ,on the other hand1 many persons who are never called ,anarchists either by themselves or others1 take ,anarchist ground in their opposition to ,social-,democracy just as clearly as the writers with whom ,i shall more particularly deal4 ,the old ,whigs and new ,tories of the school of ,cobden and ,bright1 the ,philosophic ,radicals1 the economists of whom ,bastiat is the type1 ,lord ,wemyss and ,lord ,bramwell1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer and ,mr4 ,auberon ,herbert1 ,mr4 ,gladstone1 ,mr4 ,arthur ,balfour1 ,mr4 ,john ,morley1 ,mr4 ,leonard ,courtney3 any of these is1 in ,england1 a more typical ,anarchist than ,bakounin4 ,they distrust ,state action1 and are jealous advocates of the prerogative of the individual1 proposing to restrict the one and to extend the other as far as is humanly possible1 in opposition to the ,social-,democrat1 who proposes to democratize the ,state and throw upon it the whole work of organizing the national industry1 thereby making it the most vital organ in the social body4 ,obviously there are natural limits to the application of both views2 and ,anarchists and ,social-,democrats are alike subject to the fool's argument that since neither collective provision for the individual nor individual freedom from collective control can be made complete1 neither party is thoroughly consistent4 ,no dialectic of that kind will1 ,i hope1 be found in the following criticism of ,anarchism4 ,it is confined to the practical measures proposed by ,anarchists1 and raises no discussion as to aims or principles4 ,as to these we are all agreed4 ,justice1 ,virtue1 ,truth1 ,brotherhood1 the highest interests of the people1 moral as well as physical3 these are dear not only to ,social-,democrats and ,anarchists1 but also to ,tories1 ,whigs1 ,radicals1 and probably also to ,moonlighters and ,dynamitards4 ,it is with the methods by which it is proposed to give active effect to them that ,i am concerned here2 and to that point ,i shall now address myself by reading you a paper which ,i wrote more than four years ago on the subject chosen for to-night4 ,i may add that it has not been revived from a wanton desire to renew an old dispute1 but in response to a demand from the provincial ,fabian ,societies1 bewildered as they are by the unexpected opposition of the ,anarchists1 from whom they had rather expected some sympathy4 ,this old paper of mine being the only document of the kind available1 my colleagues have requested me to expunge such errors and follies as ,i have grown out of since #ahhh1 and to take this opportunity of submitting it to the judgment of the ,society4 ,which ,i shall now do without further preamble4 ,individualist ,anarchism4 ,the full economic detail of ,individualist ,anarchism may be inferred with sufficient completeness from an article entitled ,state ,socialism and ,anarchism3 how far they agree1 and wherein they differ1 which appeared in ,march1 #ahhh1 in ,liberty1 an ,anarchist journal published in ,boston1 ,mass41 and edited by the author of the article1 ,mr4 ,benjamin ,r4 ,tucker4 ,an examination of any number of this journal will shew that as a candid1 clear-headed1 and courageous demonstrator of ,individualist ,anarchism by purely intellectual methods1 ,mr4 ,tucker may safely be accepted as one of the most capable spokesmen of his party4 ,the economic principles of ,modern ,socialism1 says ,mr4 ,tucker1 are a logical deduction from the principle laid down by ,adam ,smith in the early chapters of his ,wealth of ,nations--namely1 that labor is the true measure of price4 ,from this principle1 these three men ,josiah ,warren1 ,proudhon and ,marx deduced 'that the natural wage of labor is its product4' ,now the ,socialist who is unwary enough to accept this economic position will presently find himself logically committed to the ,whig doctrine of laissez-faire4 ,and here ,mr4 ,tucker will cry1 ,why not8 ,laissez-faire is exactly what we want4 ,destroy the money monopoly1 the tariff monopoly1 and the patent monopoly4 ,enforce then only those land titles which rest on personal occupancy or cultivation2#b and the social problem of how to secure to each worker the product of his own labor will be solved simply by everyone minding his own business4#c ,let us see whether it will or not4 ,suppose we decree that henceforth no more rent shall be paid in ,england1 and that each man shall privately own his house1 and hold his shop1 factory1 or place of business jointly with those who work with him in it4 ,let everyone be free to issue money from his own mint without tax or stamp4 ,let all taxes on commodities be abolished1 and patents and copyrights be things of the past4 ,try to imagine yourself under these promising conditions with life before you4 ,you may start in business as a crossing sweeper1 shopkeeper1 collier1 farmer1 miller1 banker1 or what not4 ,whatever your choice may be1 the first thing you find is that the reward of your labor depends far more on the situation in which you exercise it than on yourself4 ,if you sweep the crossing between ,st4 ,james's and ,albemarle ,streets you prosper greatly4 ,but if you are forestalled not only there1 but at every point more central than1 say1 the corner of ,holford ,square1 ,islington1 you may sweep twice as hard as your rival in ,piccadilly1 and not take a fifth of his toll4 ,at such a pass you may well curse ,adam ,smith and his principle that labor is the measure of price1 and either advocate a democratically constituted ,state ,socialist municipality1 paying all its crossing sweepers equally1 or else cast your broom upon the ,thames and turn shopkeeper4 ,yet here again the same difficulty crops up4 ,your takings depend1 not on yourself1 but on the number of people who pass your window per hour4 ,at ,charing ,cross or ,cheapside fortunes are to be made3 in the main street at ,putney one can do enough to hold up one's head3 further out1 a thousand yards right or left of the ,portsmouth ,road1 the most industrious man in the world may go whistle for a customer4 ,evidently retail shopkeeping is not the thing for a man of spirit after ,charing ,cross and ,cheapside have been appropriated by occupying owners on the principle of first come first served4 ,you must aspire then to wholesale dealing--nay1 to banking4 ,alas6 the difficulty is intensified beyond calculation4 ,take that financial trinity1 ,glyn1 ,mills and ,currie2 transplant them only a few miles from ,lombard ,street2 and they will soon be objects of pity to the traditional sailor who once presented at their counter a cheque for #be and generously offered to take it in instalments1 as he did not wish to be too hard on them all at once4 ,turning your back on banking1 you meddle in the wheat trade1 and end by offering to exchange an occupying ownership of all ,salisbury ,plain for permission to pay a rack rent for premises within hail of ,the ,baltic and its barometer4 ,probably there are some people who have a blind belief that crossing sweepers1 ,the ,baltic1 ,lombard ,street1 and the like1 are too utterly of the essence of the present system to survive the introduction of ,anarchism4 ,they will tell me that ,i am reading the conditions of the present into the future4 ,against such instinctive convictions it is vain to protest that ,i am reading only ,mr4 ,tucker's conditions4 ,but at least there will be farming1 milling1 and mining1 conducted by human agents1 under ,anarchism4 ,now the farmer will not find in his perfect ,anarchist market two prices at one time for two bushels of wheat of the same quality2 yet the labor cost of each bushel will vary considerably according to the fertility of the farm on which it was raised1 and the proximity of that farm to the market4 ,a good soil will often yield the strongest and richest grain to less labor per acre or per bushel than must be spent on land that returns a crop less valuable by five shillings a quarter4 ,when all the best land is held by occupying owners1 those who have to content themselves with poorer soils will hail the principle that labor is the measure of price with the thumb to the nose4 ,among the millers1 too1 there must needs be grievous mistrust of ,proudhon and ,josiah ,warren4 ,for of two men with equally good heart to work and machinery to work with1 one may be on a stream that will easily turn six millstones2 whilst the other1 by natural default of water1 or being cut off by his fellow higher up stream1 may barely be able to keep two pairs of stones in gear1 and may in a dry season be ready to tie these two about his neck and lie down under the scum of his pond4 ,certainly1 he can defy drought by setting to work with a steam engine1 steel rollers1 and all the latest contrivances for squashing wheat into dust instead of grinding it into flour2 yet1 after all his outlay1 he will not be able to get a penny a sack more for his stuff than his competitor1 to whose water-wheel ,nature is gratuitously putting her shoulder4 ,competition everywhere and always of his unaided strength against that of his rival he might endure2 but to fight naked against one armed with the winds and waves 7for there are windmills as well as watermills7 is no sound justice1 though it be sound ,anarchism4 ,and how would occupying ownership of mines work1 when it is an easier matter to get prime ,wallsend and ,silkstone out of one mine than to get slates and steam fuel out of another1 even after twenty years' preliminary shaft-sinking8 ,would ,mr4 ,tucker1 if he had on sale from a rich mine some ,silkstone that had only cost half as much labor as steam coal from a relatively poor one1 boldly announce3--,prices this day3 ,prime ,silkstone1 per ton1 #bes42 best steam ditto1 #ejs4 ,terms1 cash4 ,principles1 those of ,adam ,smith--see ',wealth of ,nations' passim8 ,certainly not with competition everywhere and always1 unless custom was no object to him in comparison with principle4 ,it is useless to multiply instances4 ,there is only one country in which any square foot of land is as favorably situated for conducting exchanges1 or as richly endowed by nature for production1 as any other square foot2 and the name of that country is ,utopia4 ,in ,utopia alone1 therefore1 would occupying ownership be just4 ,in ,england1 ,america and other places1 rashly created without consulting the ,anarchists1 ,nature is all caprice and injustice in dealing with ,labor4 ,here you scratch her with a spade2 and earth's increase and foison plenty are added to you4 ,on the other side of the hedge twenty steam-diggers will not extort a turnip from her4 ,still less adapted to ,anarchism than the fields and mines is the crowded city4 ,the distributor flourishes where men love to congregate3 his work is to bring commodities to men2 but here the men bring themselves to the commodities4 ,remove your distributor a mile1 and his carts and travellers must scour the country for customers4 ,none know this better than the landlords4 ,up ,high ,street1 down ,low ,street1 over the bridge and into ,crow ,street1 the toilers may sweat equally for equal wages2 but their product varies2 and the ground rents vary with the product4 ,competition levels down the share kept by the worker as it levels up the hours of his labor2 and the surplus1 high or low according to the fertility of the soil or convenience of the site1 goes as high rent or low rent1 but always in the long run rack rent1 to the owner of the land4 ,now ,mr4 ,tucker's remedy for this is to make the occupier--the actual worker--the owner4 ,obviously the effect would be1 not to abolish his advantage over his less favorably circumstanced competitors1 but simply to authorize him to put it into his own pocket instead of handing it over to a landlord4 ,he would then1 it is true1 be 7as far as his place of business was concerned7 a worker instead of an idler2 but he would get more product as a manufacturer and more custom as a distributor than other equally industrious workers in worse situations4 ,he could thus save faster than they1 and retire from active service at an age when they would still have many years more work before them4 ,his ownership of his place of business would of course lapse in favor of his successor the instant he retired4 ,how would the rest of the community decide who was to be the successor--would they toss up for it1 or fight for it1 or would he be allowed to nominate his heir1 in which case he would either nominate his son or sell his nomination for a large fine8 ,again1 his retirement from his place of business would leave him still in possession1 as occupying owner1 of his private residence2 and this might be of exceptional or even unique desirability in point of situation4 ,it might1 for instance1 be built on ,richmond ,hill1 and command from its windows the beautiful view of the ,thames valley to be obtained from that spot4 ,now it is clear that ,richmond ,hill will not accommodate all the people who would rather live there than in the ,essex marshes4 ,it is easy to say1 ,let the occupier be the owner2 but the question is1 ,who is to be the occupier8 ,suppose it were settled by drawing lots1 what would prevent the winner from selling his privilege for its full 7unearned7 value under free exchange and omnipresent competition8 ,to such problems as these1 ,individualist ,anarchism offers no solution4 ,it theorizes throughout on the assumption that one place in a country is as good as another4 ,under a system of occupying ownership1 rent would appear only in its primary form of an excess of the prices of articles over the expenses of producing them1 thus enabling owners of superior land to get more for their products than cost price4 ,if1 for example1 the worst land worth using were only one-third as productive as the best land1 then the owner-occupiers of that best land would get in the market the labor cost of their wares three times over4 ,this #bjj per cent premium would be just as truly ground rent as if it were paid openly as such to the ,duke of ,bedford or the ,astors4 ,it may be asked why prices must go up to the expenses of production on the very worst land4 ,why not ascertain and charge the average cost of production taking good and bad land together8#d ,simply because nothing short of the maximum labor cost would repay the owners of the worst land4 ,in fact1 the worst land would not be cultivated until the price had risen4 ,the process would be as follows4 ,suppose the need of the population for wheat were satisfied by crops raised from the best available land only4 ,free competition in wheat-producing would then bring the price down to the labor cost or expenses of production4 ,now suppose an increase of population sufficient to overtax the wheat-supplying capacity of the best land4 ,the supply falling short of the demand1 the price of wheat would rise4 ,when it had risen to the labor cost of production from land one degree inferior to the best1 it would be worth while to cultivate that inferior land4 ,when that new source came to be overtaxed by the still growing population1 the price would rise again until it would repay the cost of raising wheat from land yet lower in fertility than the second grade4 ,but these descents would in nowise diminish the fertility of the best land1 from which wheat could be raised as cheaply as before1 in spite of the rise in the price1 which would apply to all the wheat in the market1 no matter where raised4 ,that is1 the holders of the best land would gain a premium1 rising steadily with the increase of population1 exactly as the landlord now enjoys a steadily rising rent4#e ,as the agricultural industry is in this respect typical of all industries1 it will be seen now that the price does not rise because worse land is brought into cultivation1 but that worse land is brought into cultivation by the rise of price4 ,or1 to put it in another way1 the price of the commodity does not rise because more labor has been devoted to its production1 but more labor is devoted to its production because the price has risen4 ,commodities1 in fact1 have a price before they are produced2 we produce them expressly to obtain that price2 and we cannot alter it by merely spending more or less labor on them4 ,it is natural for the laborer to insist that labor ought to be the measure of price1 and that the just wage of labor is its average product2 but the first lesson he has to learn in economics is that labor is not and never can be the measure of price under a competitive system4 ,not until the progress of ,socialism replaces competitive production and distribution1 with individual greed for its incentive1 by ,collectivist production and distribution1 with fair play all round for its incentive1 will the prices either of labor or commodities represent their just value4 ,thus we see that competition everywhere and always fails to circumvent rent whilst the land is held by competing occupiers who are protected in the individual ownership of what they can raise from their several holdings4 ,and the great principle laid down by ,adam ,smith1 formulated by ,josiah ,warren as ,cost is the proper limit of price1 turns out--since in fact price is the limit of cost--to be merely a preposterous way of expressing the fact that under ,anarchism that small fraction of the general wealth which was produced under the least favorable circumstances would at least fetch its cost1 whilst all the rest would fetch a premium which would be nothing but privately appropriated rent with an ,anarchist mask on4 ,we see also that such a phrase as the natural wage of labor is its product is a misleading one1 since labor cannot produce subsistence except when exercised upon natural materials and aided by natural forces external to man4 ,and when it is so produced1 its value in exchange depends in nowise on the share taken by labor in its production1 but solely to the demand for it in society4 ,the economic problem of ,socialism is the just distribution of the premium given to certain portions of the general product by the action of demand4 ,as ,individualist ,anarchism not only fails to distribute these1 but deliberately permits their private appropriation1 ,individualist ,anarchism is the negation of ,socialism1 and is1 in fact1 ,unsocialism carried as near to its logical completeness as any sane man dare carry it4 ,communist ,anarchism4 ,state ,socialism and ,anarchism1 says ,mr4 ,tucker1 are based on two principles1 the history of whose conflict is almost equivalent to the history of the world since man came into it2 and all intermediate parties1 including that of the upholders of the existing society1 are based upon a compromise between them4 ,these principles are ,authority--the ,state ,socialist principle1 and ,liberty--the ,anarchist principle4 ,state ,socialism is then defined as the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by the government1 regardless of individual choice1 whereas ,anarchism is the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations1 and that the ,state should be abolished4 ,now most revolutionists will admit that there was a stage in the growth of their opinions when the above seemed an adequate statement of the alternatives before them4 ,but1 as we have seen1 when the ,individualist ,anarchist proceeds to reduce his principle to practice1 he is inevitably led to ,mr4 ,tucker's program of competition everywhere and always among occupying owners1 subject only to the moral law of minding their own business4 ,no sooner is this formulated than its effect on the distribution of wealth is examined by the economist1 who finds no trouble in convicting it1 under the economic law of rent1 of privilege1 monopoly1 inequality1 unjust indirect taxation1 and everything that is most repugnant to ,anarchism4 ,but this startling reverse1 however it may put the ,anarchist out of conceit with his program1 does not in the least reconcile him to ,state ,socialism4 ,it only changes his mind on one point4 ,whilst his program satisfied him1 he was content to admit that ,state ,socialism was the only possible alternative to ,individualist ,anarchism--nay1 he rather insisted on it1 because the evils of the ,state ,socialist alternative were strong incentives to the acceptance of the other4 ,but the moment it becomes apparent that the one is economically as bad as the other1 the disillusioned ,individualist ,anarchist becomes convinced of the insufficiency of his analysis of the social problem1 and follows it up in order to find out a tertium quid1 or third system which shall collect and justly distribute the rent of the country1 and yet prevent the collecting and distributing organ from acquiring the tyrannous powers of governments as we know them4 ,there are two such systems at present before the world3 ,communism and ,social-,democracy4 ,now there is no such thing as ,anarchist ,social-,democracy2 but there is such a thing as ,anarchist ,communism or ,communist ,anarchism4 ,it is true that ,mr4 ,tucker does not recognize the ,communist ,anarchist as an ,anarchist at all3 he energetically repudiates ,communism as the uttermost negation of true ,anarchism1 and will not admit any logical halting place between thoroughgoing ,state ,socialism and thoroughgoing ,individualist ,anarchism4 ,but why insist on anybody occupying a logical halting place8 ,we are all fond of shewing that on any given subject there are only two of these safe spots1 one being the point of agreement with us1 and the other some inconceivable extremity of idiocy4 ,but for the purposes of the present criticism it will be more practical to waive such crude rationalizing1 and concede that to deal with ,mr4 ,tucker without also dealing with ,peter ,kropotkine is not to give ,anarchism fair play4 ,the main difficulty in criticising ,kropotkine lies in the fact that1 in the distribution of generally needed labor products1 his ,communism is finally cheap and expedient1 whereas ,mr4 ,tucker's ,individualism1 in the same department1 is finally extravagant and impossible4 ,even under the most perfect ,social-,democracy we should1 without ,communism1 still be living like hogs1 except that each hog would get his fair share of grub4 ,high as that ideal must seem to anyone who complacently accepts the present social order1 it is hardly high enough to satisfy a man in whom the social instinct is well developed4 ,so long as vast quantities of labor have to be expended in weighing and measuring each man's earned share of this and that commodity--in watching1 spying1 policing1 and punishing in order to prevent ,tom getting a crumb of bread more or ,dick a spoonful of milk less than he has a voucher for1 so long will the difference between ,unsocialism and ,socialism be only the difference between unscientific and scientific hoggishness4 ,i do not desire to underrate the vastness of that difference4 ,whilst we are hogs1 let us at least be well-fed1 healthy1 reciprocally useful hogs1 instead of--well1 instead of the sort we are at present4 ,but we shall not have any great reason to stand on the dignity of our humanity until a just distribution of the loaves and fishes becomes perfectly spontaneous1 and the great effort and expense of a legal distribution1 however just1 is saved4 ,for my own part1 ,i seek the establishment of a state of society in which ,i shall not be bothered with a ridiculous pocketful of coppers1 nor have to waste my time in perplexing arithmetical exchanges of them with booking clerks1 bus conductors1 shopmen1 and other superfluous persons before ,i can get what ,i need4 ,i aspire to live in a community which shall be at least capable of averaging the transactions between us well enough to ascertain how much work ,i am to do for it in return for the right to take what ,i want of the commoner necessaries and conveniences of life4 ,the saving of friction by such an arrangement may be guessed from the curious fact that only specialists in sociology are conscious of the numerous instances in which we are to-day forced to adopt it by the very absurdity of the alternative4 ,most people will tell you that ,communism is known only in this country as a visionary project advocated by a handful of amiable cranks4 ,then they will stroll off across the common bridge1 along the common embankment1 by the light of the common gas lamp shining alike on the just and the unjust1 up the common street1 and into the common ,trafalgar ,square1 where1 on the smallest hint on their part that ,communism is to be tolerated for an instant in a civilized country1 they will be handily bludgeoned by the common policeman1 and haled off to the common gaol4#f ,when you suggest to these people that the application of ,communism to the bread supply is only an extension1 involving no new principle1 of its application to street lighting1 they are bewildered4 ,instead of picturing the ,communist man going to the common store1 and thence taking his bread home with him1 they instinctively imagine him bursting obstreperously into his neighbor's house and snatching the bread off his table on the as much mine as yours principle--which1 however1 has an equally sharp edge for the thief's throat in the form as much yours as mine4 ,in fact1 the average ,englishman is only capable of understanding ,communism when it is explained as a state of things under which everything is paid for out of the taxes1 and taxes are paid in labor4 ,and even then he will sometimes say1 ,how about the brainwork8 and begin the usual novice's criticism of ,socialism in general4 ,now a ,communist ,anarchist may demur to such a definition of ,communism as ,i have just given2 for it is evident that if there are to be taxes1 there must be some authority to collect those taxes4 ,i will not insist on the odious word taxes2 but ,i submit that if any article--bread1 for instance--be communized1 by which ,i mean that there shall be public stores of bread1 sufficient to satisfy everybody1 to which all may come and take what they need without question or payment1 wheat must be grown1 mills must grind1 and bakers must sweat daily in order to keep up the supply4 ,obviously1 therefore1 the common bread store will become bankrupt unless every consumer of the bread contributes to its support as much labor as the bread he consumes costs to produce4 ,communism or no ,communism1 he must pay or else leave somebody else to pay for him4 ,communism will cheapen bread for him--will save him the cost of scales and weights1 coin1 book-keepers1 counter-hands1 policemen1 and other expenses of private property2 but it will not do away with the cost of the bread and the store4 ,now supposing that voluntary co-operation and public spirit prove equal to the task of elaborately organizing the farming1 milling and baking industries for the production of bread1 how will these voluntary co-operators recover the cost of their operations from the public who are to consume their bread8 ,if they are given powers to collect the cost from the public1 and to enforce their demands by punishing non-payers for their dishonesty1 then they at once become a ,state department levying a tax for public purposes2 and the ,communism of the bread supply becomes no more ,anarchistic than our present ,communistic supply of street lighting is ,anarchistic4 ,unless the taxation is voluntary--unless the bread consumer is free to refuse payment without incurring any penalty save the reproaches of his conscience and his neighbors1 the ,anarchist ideal will remain unattained4 ,now the pressure of conscience and public opinion is by no means to be slighted4 ,millions of men and women1 without any legal compulsion whatever1 pay for the support of institutions of all sorts1 from churches to tall hats1 simply out of their need for standing well with their neighbors4 ,but observe1 this compulsion of public opinion derives most of its force from the difficulty of getting the wherewithal to buy bread without a reputation for respectability4 ,under ,communism a man could snap his fingers at public opinion without starving for it4 ,besides1 public opinion cannot for a moment be relied upon as a force which operates uniformly as a compulsion upon men to act morally4 ,its operation is for all practical purposes quite arbitrary1 and is as often immoral as moral4 ,it is just as hostile to the reformer as to the criminal4 ,it hangs ,anarchists and worships ,nitrate ,kings4 ,it insists on a man wearing a tall hat and going to church1 on his marrying the woman he lives with1 and on his pretending to believe whatever the rest pretend to believe2 and it enforces these ordinances in a sufficient majority of cases without help from the law3 its tyranny1 in fact1 being so crushing that its little finger is often found to be thicker than the law's loins4 ,but there is no sincere public opinion that a man should work for his daily bread if he can get it for nothing4 ,indeed it is just the other way3 public opinion has been educated to regard the performance of daily manual labor as the lot of the despised classes4 ,the common aspiration is to acquire property and leave off working4 ,even members of the professions rank below the independent gentry1 so called because they are independent of their own labor4 ,these prejudices are not confined to the middle and upper classes3 they are rampant also among the workers4 ,the man who works nine hours a day despises the man who works sixteen4 ,a country gentleman may consider himself socially superior to his solicitor or his doctor2 but they associate on much more cordial terms than shopmen and car-men1 engine drivers and railway porters1 bricklayers and hodmen1 barmaids and general servants4 ,one is almost tempted in this country to declare that the poorer the man the greater the snob1 until you get down to those who are so oppressed that they have not enough self-respect even for snobbery1 and thus are able to pluck out of the heart of their misery a certain irresponsibility which it would be a mockery to describe as genuine frankness and freedom4 ,the moment you rise into the higher atmosphere of a pound a week1 you find that envy1 ostentation1 tedious and insincere ceremony1 love of petty titles1 precedences and dignities1 and all the detestable fruits of inequality of condition1 flourish as rankly among those who lose as among those who gain by it4 ,in fact1 the notion that poverty favors virtue was clearly invented to persuade the poor that what they lost in this world they would gain in the next4 ,kropotkine1 too optimistically1 as ,i think1 disposes of the average man by attributing his unsocialism to the pressure of the corrupt system under which he groans4 ,remove that pressure1 and he will think rightly1 says ,kropotkine4 ,but if the natural man be indeed social as well as gregarious1 how did the corruption and oppression under which he groans ever arise8 ,could the institution of property as we know it ever have come into existence unless nearly every man had been1 not merely willing1 but openly and shamelessly eager to quarter himself idly on the labor of his fellows1 and to domineer over them whenever the mysterious workings of economic law enabled him to do so8 ,it is useless to think of man as a fallen angel4 ,if the fallacies of absolute morality are to be admitted in the discussion at all1 he must be considered rather as an obstinate and selfish devil1 who is being slowly forced by the iron tyranny of ,nature to recognize that in disregarding his neighbor's happiness he is taking the surest way to sacrifice his own4 ,and under the present system he never can learn that lesson thoroughly1 because he is an inveterate gambler1 and knows that the present system gives him a chance1 at odds of a hundred thousand to one or so against him1 of becoming a millionaire1 a condition which is to him the summit of earthly bliss1 as from it he will be able to look down upon those who formerly bullied and patronized him4 ,all this may sound harsh1 especially to those who know how wholesomely real is the workman's knowledge of life compared to that of the gentleman1 and how much more genuinely sympathetic he is in consequence4 ,indeed1 it is obvious that if four-fifths of the population were habitually to do the utter worst in the way of selfishness that the present system invites them to do1 society would not stand the strain for six weeks4 ,so far1 we can claim to be better than our institutions4 ,but the fact that we are too good for complete ,unsocialism by no means proves that we are good enough for ,communism4 ,the practical question remains1 ,could men trained under our present system be trusted to pay for their food scrupulously if they could take it for nothing with impunity8 ,clearly1 if they did not so pay1 ,anarchist ,communism would be bankrupt in two days4 ,the answer is that all the evils against which ,anarchism is directed are caused by men taking advantage of the institution of property to do this very thing--seize their subsistence without working for it4 ,what reason is there for doubting that they would attempt to take exactly the same advantage of ,anarchist ,communism8 ,and what reason is there to doubt that the community1 finding its bread store bankrupt1 would instantly pitch its ,anarchism to the four winds1 and come down on the defaulters with the strong hand of a law to make them pay1 just as they are now compelled to pay their ,income ,tax8 ,i submit1 then1 to our ,communist ,anarchist friends that ,communism requires either external compulsion to labor1 or else a social morality which the evils of existing society shew that we have failed as yet to attain4 ,i do not deny the possibility of the final attainment of that degree of moralization2 but ,i contend that the path to it lies through a transition system which1 instead of offering fresh opportunities to men of getting their living idly1 will destroy those opportunities altogether1 and wean us from the habit of regarding such an anomaly as possible1 much less honorable4 ,it must not be supposed that the economic difficulties which ,i pointed out as fatal to ,individualist ,anarchism are entirely removed by ,communism4 ,it is true that if all the bread and coal in the country were thrown into a common store from which each man could take as much as he wanted whenever he pleased without direct payment1 then no man could gain any advantage over his fellows from the fact that some farms and some coal-mines are better than others4 ,and if every man could step into a train and travel whither he would without a ticket1 no individual could speculate in the difference between the traffic from ,charing ,cross to the ,mansion ,house and that from ,ryde to ,ventnor4 ,one of the great advantages of ,communism will undoubtedly be that huge masses of economic rent will be socialized by it automatically4 ,all rent arising from the value of commodities in general use which can be produced1 consumed1 and replaced at the will of man to the full extent to which they are wanted1 can be made rent free by communizing them4 ,but there must remain outside this solution1 first1 the things which are not in sufficiently general use to be communized at all2 second1 things of which an unlimited free supply might prove a nuisance1 such as gin or printing2 and thirdly1 things for which the demand exceeds the supply4 ,the last is the instance in which the rent difficulty recurs4 ,it would take an extraordinary course of demolition1 reconstruction1 and landscape gardening to make every dwelling house in ,london as desirable as a house in ,park ,lane1 or facing ,regent's ,park1 or overlooking the ,embankment ,gardens4 ,and since everybody cannot be accommodated there1 the exceptionally favored persons who occupy those sites will certainly be expected to render an equivalent for their privilege to those whom they exclude4 ,without this there would evidently be no true socialization of the habitation of ,london4 ,this means1 in practice1 that a public department must let the houses out to the highest bidders1 and collect the rents for public purposes4 ,such a department can hardly be called ,anarchistic1 however democratic it may be4 ,i might go on to enlarge considerably on the limits to the practicability of direct ,communism1 which varies from commodity to commodity2 but one difficulty1 if insurmountable1 is as conclusive as twenty4 ,it is sufficient for our present purpose to have shewn that ,communism cannot be ideally ,anarchistic1 because it does not in the least do away with the necessity for compelling people to pay for what they consume2 and even when the growth of human character removes that difficulty there will still remain the question of those commodities to which the simple ,communist method of so-called free distribution is inapplicable4 ,one practical point more requires a word2 and that is the difficulty of communizing any branch of distribution without first collectivizing it4 ,for instance1 we might easily communize the postal service by simply announcing that in future letters would be carried without stamps just as they now are with them1 the cost being thrown entirely upon imperial taxation4 ,but if the postal service were1 like most of our distributive business1 in the hands of thousands of competing private traders1 no such change would be directly possible4 ,communism must grow out of ,collectivism1 not out of anarchic private enterprise4 ,that is to say1 it cannot grow directly out of the present system4 ,but must the transition system therefore be a system of despotic coercion8 ,if so1 it will be wrecked by the intense impulse of men to escape from the domination of their own kind4 ,in #ahhh a ,russian subject1 giving evidence before the ,sweating ,inquiry in the ,house of ,lords1 declared that he left the ,russian dominion1 where he worked thirteen hours a day1 to work eighteen hours in ,england1 because he is freer here4 ,reason is dumb when confronted with a man who1 exhausted with thirteen hours' toil1 will turn to for another five hours for the sake of being free to say that ,mr4 ,gladstone is a better man than ,lord ,salisbury1 and to read ,mill1 ,spencer1 and ,reynold's ,newspaper in the six hours left to him for sleep4 ,it brings to mind the story of the ,american judge who tried to induce a runaway slave to return to the plantation by pointing out how much better he was treated there than the free wage-nigger of the ,abolitionist states4 ,yes1 said the runaway2 but would you go back if you were in my place8 ,the judge turned ,abolitionist at once4 ,these things are not to be reasoned away4 ,man will submit to fate1 circumstance1 society1 anything that comes impersonally over him2 but against the personal oppressor1 whether parent1 schoolmaster1 overseer1 official chief1 or king1 he eternally rebels4 ,like the ,russian1 he will rather be compelled by necessity to agree to work eighteen hours1 than ordered by a master to work thirteen4 ,no modern nation1 if deprived of personal liberty or national autonomy1 would stop to think of its economic position4 ,establish a form of ,socialism which shall deprive the people of their sense of personal liberty2 and1 though it double their rations and halve their working hours1 they will begin to conspire against it before it is a year old4 ,we only disapprove of monopolists3 we hate masters4 ,then1 since we are too dishonest for ,communism without taxation or compulsory labor1 and too insubordinate to tolerate task work under personal compulsion1 how can we order the transition so as to introduce just distribution without ,communism1 and maintain the incentive to labor without mastership8 ,the answer is1 by ,democracy4 ,and now1 having taken a positive attitude at last1 ,i must give up criticizing the ,anarchists1 and defend ,democracy against their criticisms4 ,democracy4 ,i now1 accordingly1 return to ,mr4 ,tucker's criticism of ,state ,socialism1 which1 for the sake of precision1 had better be called ,social-,democracy4 ,there is a ,socialism--that of ,bismarck2 of the extinct young ,england party2 of the advocates of moralized feudalism2 and of mob contemners generally--which is not ,social-,democracy1 but ,social-,despotism1 and may be dismissed as essentially no more hopeful than a system of ,moralized ,criminality1 ,abstemious ,gluttony1 or ,straightforward ,mendacity would be4 ,mr4 ,tucker1 as an ,american1 passes it over as not worth powder and shot3 he clearly indicates a democratic ,state by his repeated references to the majority principle1 and in particular by his assertion that there would be but one article in the constitution of a ,state ,socialistic country3 ',the right of the majority is absolute4' ,having thus driven ,democracy back on its citadel1 he proceeds to cannonade it as follows3 ,under the system of ,state ,socialism1 which holds the community responsible for the health1 wealth and wisdom of the individual1 the community1 through its majority expression1 will insist more and more on prescribing the conditions of health1 wealth1 and wisdom1 thus impairing and finally destroying individual independence and with it all sense of individual responsibility4 ,whatever1 then1 the ,state ,socialists may claim or disclaim1 their system1 if adopted1 is doomed to end in a ,state religion1 to the expense of which all must contribute and at the altar of which all must kneel2 a ,state school of medicine1 by whose practitioners the sick must invariably be treated2 a ,state system of hygiene1 proscribing what all must and must not eat1 drink1 wear and do2 a ,state code of morals1 which will not content itself with punishing crime1 but will prohibit what the majority decide to be vice2 a ,state system of instruction1 which shall do away with all private schools1 academies and colleges2 a ,state nursery1 in which all children must be brought up in common at the public expense2 and1 finally1 a ,state family1 with an attempt at stirpiculture1 or scientific breeding1 in which no man or woman will be allowed to have children if the ,state prohibits them1 and no man or woman can refuse to have children if the ,state orders them4 ,thus will ,authority achieve its acme and ,monopoly be carried to its highest power4 ,in reading this one is reminded of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's habit of assuming that whatever is not white must be black4 ,mr4 ,tucker1 on the ground that it has ever been the tendency of power to add to itself1 to enlarge its sphere1 to encroach beyond the limits set for it1 admits no alternative to the total subjection of the individual1 except the total abolition of the ,state4 ,if matters really could and did come to that ,i am afraid the individual would have to go under in any case2 for the total abolition of the ,state in this sense means the total abolition of the collective force of ,society1 to abolish which it would be necessary to abolish ,society itself4 ,there are two ways of doing this4 ,one1 the abolition of the individuals composing society1 could not be carried out without an interference with their personal claims much more serious than that required1 even on ,mr4 ,tucker's shewing1 by ,social-,democracy4 ,the other1 the dispersion of the human race into independent hermitages over the globe at the rate of twenty-five to the square mile1 would give rise to considerable inequality of condition and opportunity as between the hermits of ,terra del ,fuego or the ,arctic regions and those of ,florida or the ,riviera1 and would suit only a few temperaments4 ,the dispersed units would soon re-associate2 and the moment they did so1 goodbye to the sovereignty of the individual4 ,if the majority believed in an angry and jealous ,god1 then1 ,state or no ,state1 they would not permit an individual to offend that ,god and bring down his wrath upon them3 they would rather stone and burn the individual in propitiation4 ,they would not suffer the individual to go naked among them2 and if he clothed himself in an unusual way which struck them as being ridiculous or scandalous1 they would laugh at1 him2 refuse him admission to their feasts2 object to be seen talking with him in the streets2 and perhaps lock him up as a lunatic4 ,they would not allow him to neglect sanitary precautions which they believed essential to their own immunity from zymotic disease4 ,if the family were established among them as it is established among us1 they would not suffer him to intermarry within certain degrees of kinship4 ,their demand would so rule the market that in most places he would find no commodities in the shops except those preferred by a majority of the customers2 no schools except those conducted in accordance with the ideas of the majority of parents2 no experienced doctors except those whose qualifications inspired confidence in a whole circle of patients4 ,this is not the coming slavery of ,social-,democracy3 it is the slavery already come4 ,what is more1 there is nothing in the most elaborately negative practical program yet put forward by ,anarchism that offers the slightest mitigation of it4 ,that in comparison with ideal irresponsible absolute liberty it is slavery1 cannot be denied4 ,but in comparison with the slavery of ,robinson ,crusoe1 which is the most ,anarchistic alternative ,nature1 our taskmistress1 allows us1 it is pardonably described as freedom4 ,robinson ,crusoe1 in fact1 is always willing to exchange his unlimited rights and puny powers for the curtailed rights and relatively immense powers of the slave of majorities4 ,for if the individual chooses1 as in most cases he will1 to believe and worship as his fellows do1 he finds temples built and services organized at a cost to himself which he hardly feels4 ,the clothes1 the food1 the furniture which he is most likely to prefer are ready for him in the shops2 the schools in which his children can be taught what their fellow citizens expect them to know are within fifteen minutes' walk of his door2 and the red lamp of the most approved pattern of doctor shines reassuringly at the corner of the street4 ,he is free to live with the women of his family without suspicion or scandal2 and if he is not free to marry them1 what does that matter to him1 since he does not wish to marry them8 ,and so happy man be his dole1 in spite of his slavery4 ,yes1 cries some eccentric individual2 but all this is untrue of me4 ,i want to marry my deceased wife's sister4 ,i am prepared to prove that your authorized system of medicine is nothing but a debased survival of witchcraft4 ,your schools are machines for forcing spurious learning on children in order that your universities may stamp them as educated men when they have finally lost all power to think for themselves4 ,the tall silk hats and starched linen shirts which you force me to wear1 and without which ,i cannot successfully practice as a physician1 clergyman1 schoolmaster1 lawyer1 or merchant1 are inconvenient1 unsanitary1 ugly1 pompous1 and offensive4 ,your temples are devoted to a ,god in whom ,i do not believe2 and even if ,i did believe in him ,i should still regard your popular forms of worship as only redeemed from gross superstition by their obvious insincerity4 ,science teaches me that my proper food is good bread and good fruit3 your boasted food supply offers me cows and pigs instead4 ,your care for my health consists in tapping the common sewer1 with its deadly typhoid gases1 into my house1 besides discharging its contents into the river1 which is my natural bath and fountain4 ,under color of protecting my person and property you forcibly take my money to support an army of soldiers and policemen for the execution of barbarous and detestable laws2 for the waging of wars which ,i abhor2 and for the subjection of my person to those legal rights of property which compel me to sell myself for a wage to a class the maintenance of which ,i hold to be the greatest evil of our time4 ,your tyranny makes my very individuality a hindrance to me3 ,i am outdone and outbred by the mediocre1 the docile1 the time-serving4 ,evolution under such conditions means degeneracy3 therefore ,i demand the abolition of all these officious compulsions1 and proclaim myself an ,anarchist4 ,the proclamation is not surprising under the circumstances2 but it does not mend the matter in the least1 nor would it if every person were to repeat it with enthusiasm1 and the whole people to fly to arms for ,anarchism4 ,the majority cannot help its tyranny even if it would4 ,the giant ,winkelmeier must have found our doorways inconvenient1 just as men of five feet or less find the slope of the floor in a theatre not sufficiently steep to enable them to see over the heads of those in front4 ,but whilst the average height of a man is #e;ft4 #h;in4 there is no redress for such grievances4 ,builders will accommodate doors and floors to the majority1 and not to the minority4 ,for since either the majority or the minority must be incommoded1 evidently the more powerful must have its way4 ,there may be no indisputable reason why it ought not2 and any clever ,tory can give excellent reasons why it ought not2 but the fact remains that it will1 whether it ought or not4 ,and this is what really settles the question as between democratic majorities and minorities4 ,where their interests conflict1 the weaker side must go to the wall1 because1 as the evil involved is no greater than that of the stronger going to the wall1#g the majority is not restrained by any scruple from compelling the weaker to give way4 ,in practice1 this does not involve either the absolute power of majorities1 or the infallibility of the odd man4 ,there are some matters in which the course preferred by the minority in no way obstructs that preferred by the majority4 ,there are many more in which the obstruction is easier to bear than the cost of suppressing it4 ,for it costs something to suppress even a minority of one4 ,the commonest example of that minority is the lunatic with a delusion2 yet it is found quite safe to entertain dozens of delusions1 and be generally an extremely selfish and troublesome idiot1 in spite of the power of majorities2 for until you go so far that it clearly costs less to lock you up than to leave you at large1 the majority will not take the trouble to set itself in action against you4 ,thus a minimum of individual liberty is secured1 under any system1 to the smallest minority4 ,it is true that as minorities grow1 they sometimes1 in forfeiting the protection of insignificance1 lose more in immunity than they gain in numbers2 so that probably the weakest minority is not the smallest1 but rather that which is too large to be disregarded and too weak to be feared2 but before and after that dangerous point is weathered1 minorities wield considerable power4 ,the notion that they are ciphers because the majority could vanquish them in a trial of strength leaves out of account the damage they could inflict on the victors during the struggle4 ,ordinarily an unarmed man weighing thirteen stone can beat one weighing only eleven2 but there are very few emergencies in which it is worth his while to do it1 because if the weaker man resists to the best of his ability 7which is always possible7 the victor will be considerably worse off after the fight than before it4 ,in #ahfa the ,northern and ,southern ,states of ,america fought1 as prize-fighters say1 to a finish2 and the ,north carried its point1 yet at such a heavy cost to itself that the ,southern ,states have by no means been reduced to ciphers2 for the victorious majority have ever since felt that it would be better to give way on any but the most vital issues than to provoke such another struggle4 ,but it is not often that a peremptory question arises between a majority and minority of a whole nation4 ,in most matters only a fragment of the nation has any interest one way or the other2 and the same man who is in a majority on one question is in a minority on another1 and so learns by experience that minorities have rights which must be attended to4 ,minorities1 too1 as in the case of the ,irish ,party in the ,english ,parliament1 occasionally hold the balance of power between majorities which recognize their rights and majorities which deny them4 ,further1 it is possible by decentralization to limit the power of the majority of the whole nation to questions upon which a divided policy is impracticable4 ,for example1 it is not only possible1 but democratically expedient1 to federate the municipalities of ,england in such a manner that ,leicester might make vaccination penal whilst every other town in the island made it compulsory4 ,even at present1 vaccination is not in fact compulsory in ,leicester1 though it is so in law4 ,theoretically1 ,leicester has been reduced to a cipher by the rest of ,england4 ,practically1 ,leicester counts twelve to the dozen as much as ever in purely local affairs4 ,in short1 then1 ,democracy does not give majorities absolute power1 nor does it enable them to reduce minorities to ciphers4 ,such limited power of coercing minorities as majorities must possess1 is not given to them by ,democracy any more than it can be taken away from them by ,anarchism4 ,a couple of men are stronger than one3 that is all4 ,there are only two ways of neutralizing this natural fact4 ,one is to convince men of the immorality of abusing the majority power1 and then to make them moral enough to refrain from doing it on that account4 ,the other is to realize ,lytton's fancy of vril by inventing a means by which each individual will be able to destroy all his fellows with a flash of thought1 so that the majority may have as much reason to fear the individual as he to fear the majority4 ,no method of doing either is to be found in ,individualist or ,communist ,anarchism3 consequently these systems1 as far as the evils of majority tyranny are concerned1 are no better than the ,social-,democratic program of adult suffrage with maintenance of representatives and payment of polling expenses from public funds--faulty devices enough1 no doubt1 but capable of accomplishing all that is humanly possible at present to make the ,state representative of the nation2 to make the administration trustworthy2 and to secure the utmost power to each individual and consequently to minorities4 ,what better can we have whilst collective action is inevitable8 ,indeed1 in the mouths of the really able ,anarchists1 ,anarchism means simply the utmost attainable thoroughness of ,democracy4 ,kropotkine1 for example1 speaks of free development from the simple to the composite by the free union of free groups2 and his illustrations are the societies for study1 for commerce1 for pleasure and recreation which have sprung up to meet the varied requirements of the individual of our age4 ,but in every one of these societies there is government by a council elected annually by a majority of voters2 so that ,kropotkine is not at all afraid of the democratic machinery and the majority power4 ,mr4 ,tucker speaks of voluntary association1 but gives no illustrations1 and indeed avows that ,anarchists are simply unterrified ,jeffersonian ,democrats4 ,he says1 indeed1 that if the individual has a right to govern himself1 all external government is tyranny2 but if governing oneself means doing what one pleases without regard to the interests of neighbors1 then the individual has flatly no such right4 ,if he has no such right1 the interference of his neighbors to make him behave socially1 though it is external government1 is not tyranny2 and even if it were they would not refrain from it on that account4 ,on the other hand1 if governing oneself means compelling oneself to act with a due regard to the interests of the neighbors1 then it is a right which men are proved incapable of exercising without external government4 ,either way1 the phrase comes to nothing2 for it would be easy to show by a little play upon it1 either that altruism is really external government or that democratic ,state authority is really self-government4 ,mr4 ,tucker's adjective1 voluntary1 as applied to associations for defence or the management of affairs1 must not be taken as implying that there is any very wide choice open in these matters4 ,such association is really compulsory1 since if it be foregone affairs will remain unmanaged and communities defenceless4 ,nature makes short work of our aspirations towards utter impunity4 ,she leaves communities in no wise free to choose whether they will labor and govern themselves4 ,it is either that or starvation and chaos4 ,her tasks are inexorably set3 her penalties are inevitable3 her payment is strictly payment by results4 ,all the individual can do is to shift and dodge his share of the task on to the shoulders of others1 or filch some of their natural wage to add to his own4 ,if they are fools enough to suffer it1 that is their own affair as far as ,nature is concerned4 ,but it is the aim of ,social-,democracy to relieve these fools by throwing on all an equal share in the inevitable labor imposed by the eternal tyranny of ,nature1 and so secure to every individual no less than his equal quota of the nation's product in return for no more than his equal quota of the nation's labor4 ,these are the best terms humanity can make with its tyrant4 ,in the eighteenth century it was easy for the philosophers and for ,adam ,smith to think of this rule of ,nature as being natural liberty in contrast to the odious and stupid oppression of castes1 priests1 and kings--the detested dominion of man over man4 ,but we1 in detecting the unsoundness of ,adam ,smith's private property and laisser-faire recipe for natural liberty1 begin to see that though there is political liberty1 there is no natural liberty1 but only natural law remorselessly enforced4 ,and so we shake our heads when we see ,,liberty on the title-page of ,mr4 ,tucker's paper1 just as we laugh when we see ,,the ,,coming ,,slavery on ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's ,man and the ,state4 ,we can now begin to join the threads of our discussion4 ,we have seen that private appropriation of land in any form1 whether limited by ,individualist ,anarchism to occupying owners or not1 means the unjust distribution of a vast fund of social wealth called rent1 which can by no means be claimed as due to the labor of any particular individual or class of individuals4 ,we have seen that ,communist ,anarchism1 though it partly--and only partly--avoids the rent difficulty1 is1 in the condition of morals developed under existing ,unsocialism1 impracticable4 ,we have seen that the delegation of individual powers by voting2 the creation of authoritative public bodies2 the supremacy of the majority in the last resort2 and the establishment and even endowment1 either directly and officially or indirectly and unconsciously1 of conventional forms of practice in religion1 medicine1 education1 food1 clothing1 and criminal law1 are1 whether they be evils or not1 inherent in society itself1 and must be submitted to with the help of such protection against their abuse as democratic institutions more than any others afford4 ,when ,democracy fails1 there is no antidote for intolerance save the spread of better sense4 ,no form of ,anarchism yet suggested provides any escape4 ,like bad weather in winter1 intolerance does much mischief2 but as1 when we have done our best in the way of overcoats1 umbrellas1 and good fires1 we have to put up with the winter2 so1 when we have done our best in the way of ,democracy1 decentralization1 and the like1 we must put up with the ,state4 ,the ,anarchist ,spirit4 ,i suppose ,i must not leave the subject without a word as to the value of what ,i will call the ,anarchist spirit as an element in progress4 ,but before ,i do so1 let me disclaim all intention of embarrassing our ,anarchist friends who are present by any sympathy which ,i may express with that spirit4 ,on the ,continent the discussion between ,anarchism and ,social-,democracy is frequently threshed out with the help of walking-sticks1 chair-legs1 and even revolvers4 ,in ,england this does not happen1 because the majority of an ,english audience always declines to take an extreme position1 and1 out of an idle curiosity to hear both sides1 will1 on sufficient provocation1 precipitately eject theorists who make a disturbance1 without troubling itself to discriminate as to the justice of their views4 ,when ,i had the privilege some time ago of debating publicly with ,mr4 ,g4 ,w4 ,foote on the ,eight ,hours question1 a ,french newspaper which dealt with the occasion at great length devoted a whole article to an expression of envious astonishment at the fact that ,mr4 ,foote and ,i abstained from vilifying and finally assaulting one another1 and that our partisans followed our shining example and did not even attempt to prevent each other's champions from being heard4 ,still1 if we do not permit ourselves to merge ,socialism1 ,anarchism1 and all the other isms into rowdyism1 we sometimes debate our differences1 even in this eminently respectable ,fabian ,society1 with considerable spirit4 ,now far be it from me to disarm the ,anarchist debater by paying him compliments4 ,on the contrary1 if we have here any of those gentlemen who make it their business to denounce ,social-,democrats as misleaders of the people and trimmers2 who declaim against all national and municipal projects1 and clamor for the abolition of ,parliaments and ,county ,councils2 who call for a desperate resistance to rent1 taxes1 representative government and organised collective action of every sort3 then ,i invite them to regard me as their inveterate opponent--as one who regards such doctrine1 however sincerely it may be put forward1 as at best an encouragement to the workers to neglect doing what is possible under pretext of waiting for the impossible1 and at worst as furnishing the reactionary newspapers in ,england1 and the police agents on the ,continent1 with evidence as to the alleged follies and perils of ,socialism4 ,but at the same time1 it must be understood that ,i do not stand here to defend the ,state as we know it4 ,bakounine's comprehensive aspiration to destroy all ,states and ,established ,churches1 with their religious1 political1 judicial1 financial1 criminal1 academic1 economic and social laws and institutions1 seems to me perfectly justifiable and intelligible from the point of view of the ordinary educated man1 who believes that institutions make men instead of men making institutions4 ,i fully admit and vehemently urge that the ,state at present is simply a huge machine for robbing and slave-driving the poor by brute force4 ,you may1 if you are a stupid or comfortably-off person1 think that the policeman at the corner is the guardian of law and order--that the gaol1 with those instruments of torture1 the treadmill1 plank bed1 solitary cell1 cat o' nine tails1 and gallows1 is a place to make people cease to do evil and learn to do well4 ,but the primary function of the policeman1 and that for which his other functions are only blinds1 is to see that you do not lie down to sleep in this country without paying an idler for the privilege2 that you do not taste bread until you have paid the idler's toll in the price of it2 that you do not resist the starving blackleg who is dragging you down to his level for the idler's profit by offering to do your work for a starvation wage4 ,attempt any of these things1 and you will be haled off and tortured in the name of law and order1 honesty1 social equilibrium1 safety of property and person1 public duty1 ,christianity1 morality1 and what not1 as a vagrant1 a thief1 and a rioter4 ,your soldier1 ostensibly a heroic and patriotic defender of his country1 is really an unfortunate man driven by destitution to offer himself as food for powder for the sake of regular rations1 shelter and clothing2 and he must1 on pain of being arbitrarily imprisoned1 punished with petty penances like a naughty child1 pack-drilled1 flogged or shot1 all in the blessed name of discipline1 do anything he is ordered to1 from standing in his red coat in the hall of an opera house as a mere ornament1 to flogging his comrade or committing murder4 ,and his primary function is to come to the rescue of the policeman when the latter is overpowered4 ,members of ,parliament whose sole qualifications for election were #ajjj loose cash1 an independent income1 and a vulgar strain of ambition2 parsons quoting scripture for the purposes of the squire2 lawyers selling their services to the highest bidder at the bar1 and maintaining the supremacy of the moneyed class on the bench2 juries of employers masquerading as the peers of proletarians in the dock2 ,university professors elaborating the process known as the education of a gentleman2 artists striving to tickle the fancy or flatter the vanity of the aristocrat or plutocrat2 workmen doing their work as badly and slowly as they dare so as to make the most of their job2 employers starving and overworking their hands and adulterating their goods as much as they dare3 these are the actual living material of those imposing abstractions known as the ,state1 the ,church1 the ,law1 the ,constitution1 ,education1 the ,fine ,arts1 and ,industry4 ,every institution1 as ,bakounine saw1 religious1 political1 financial1 judicial1 and so on1 is corrupted by the fact that the men in it either belong to the propertied class themselves or must sell themselves to it in order to live4 ,all the purchasing power that is left to buy men's souls with after their bodies are fed is in the hands of the rich2 and everywhere1 from the ,parliament which wields the irresistible coercive forces of the bludgeon1 bayonet1 machine gun1 dynamite shell1 prison and scaffold1 down to the pettiest centre of shabby-genteel social pretension1 the rich pay the piper and call the tune4 ,naturally1 they use their power to steal more money to continue paying the piper2 and thus all society becomes a huge conspiracy and hypocrisy4 ,the ordinary man is insensible to the fraud just as he is insensible to the taste of water1 which1 being constantly in contact with his mucous membrane1 seems to have no taste at all4 ,the villainous moral conditions on which our social system is based are necessarily in constant contact with our moral mucous membrane1 and so we lose our sense of their omnipresent meanness and dishonor4 ,the insensibility1 however1 is not quite complete2 for there is a period in life which is called the age of disillusion1 which means the age at which a man discovers that his generous and honest impulses are incompatible with success in business2 that the institutions he has reverenced are shams2 and that he must join the conspiracy or go to the wall1 even though he feels that the conspiracy is fundamentally ruinous to himself and his fellow-conspirators4 ,the secret of writers like ,ruskin1 ,morris and ,kropotkine is that they see the whole imposture through and through1 in spite of its familiarity1 and of the illusions created by its temporal power1 its riches1 its splendor1 its prestige1 its intense respectability1 its unremitting piety1 and its high moral pretension4 ,but ,kropotkine1 as ,i have shewn1 is really an advocate of free ,democracy2 and ,i venture to suggest that he describes himself as an ,anarchist rather from the point of view of the ,russian recoiling from a despotism compared to which ,democracy seems to be no government at all1 than from the point of view of the ,american or ,englishman who is free enough already to begin grumbling over ,democracy as the tyranny of the majority and the coming slavery4 ,i suggest this with the more confidence because ,william ,morris's views are largely identical with those of ,kropotkine3 yet ,morris1 after patient and intimate observation of ,anarchism as a working propaganda in ,england1 has definitely dissociated himself from it1 and has shewn1 by his sketch of the communist folk-mote in his ,news from ,nowhere1 how sanely alive he is to the impossibility of any development of the voluntary element in social action sufficient to enable individuals or minorities to take public action without first obtaining the consent of the majority4 ,on the whole1 then1 ,i do not regard the extreme hostility to existing institutions which inspires ,communist ,anarchism as being a whit more dangerous to ,social-,democracy than the same spirit as it inspires the peculiar ,toryism of ,ruskin4 ,much more definitely opposed to us is the survival of that intense jealousy of the authority of the government over the individual which was the mainspring of the progress of the eighteenth century4 ,only those who forget the lessons of history the moment they have served their immediate turn will feel otherwise than reassured by the continued vitality of that jealousy among us4 ,but this consideration does not remove the economic objections which ,i have advanced as to the practical program of ,individualist ,anarchism4 ,and even apart from these objections1 the ,social-,democrat is compelled1 by contact with hard facts1 to turn his back decisively on useless denunciation of the ,state4 ,it is easy to say1 ,abolish the ,state2 but the ,state will sell you up1 lock you up1 blow you up1 knock you down1 bludgeon1 shoot1 stab1 hang--in short1 abolish you1 if you lift a hand against it4 ,fortunately1 there is1 as we have seen1 a fine impartiality about the policeman and the soldier1 who are the cutting edge of the ,state power4 ,they take their wages and obey their orders without asking questions4 ,if those orders are to demolish the homestead of every peasant who refuses to take the bread out of his children's mouths in order that his landlord may have money to spend as an idle gentleman in ,london1 the soldier obeys4 ,but if his orders were to help the police to pitch his lordship into ,holloway ,gaol until he had paid an ,income ,tax of twenty shillings on every pound of his unearned income1 the soldier would do that with equal devotion to duty1 and perhaps with a certain private zest that might be lacking in the other case4 ,now these orders come ultimately from the ,state--meaning1 in this country1 the ,house of ,commons4 ,a ,house of ,commons consisting of #ffj gentlemen and #aj workmen will order the soldier to take money from the people for the landlords4 ,a ,house of ,commons consisting of #ffj workmen and #aj gentlemen will probably1 unless the #ffj are fools1 order the soldier to take money from the landlords for the people4 ,with that hint ,i leave the matter1 in the full conviction that the ,state1 in spite of the ,anarchists1 will continue to be used against the people by the classes until it is used by the people against the classes with equal ability and equal resolution4 ,printed by ,g4 ,,standring1 #g and #i ,finsbury ,street1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 ,,fabian ,,society4--,the ,fabian ,society consists of ,socialists4 ,a statement of its ,rules1 etc41 and the following publications can be obtained from the ,secretary1 at the ,fabian ,office1 #bgf ,strand1 ,london1 ,w4,c4 ,,fabian ,,essays ,,in ,,socialism4 7#ceth ,thousand47 ,library ,edition1 #f_/-2 or1 direct from the ,secretary for ,cash1 #d_/f 7postage1 #d #a_/b;d474 ,cheap ,edition1 ,paper cover1 #a_/-2 plain cloth1 #b_/-4 ,at all booksellers1 or post free from the ,secretary for #a_/- and #b_/- respectively4 ,,fabian ,,tracts4 #fc4--,parish ,council ,cottages1 and how to get them4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d4 #a_/- #ajj4 #fb4--,parish and ,district ,councils3 ,what they are and what they can do4 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 #fa4--,the ,london ,county ,council3 ,what it is and what it does4 #a;d42 #i;d4 doz4 #fj4--,the ,london ,vestries4 ,including a complete statement of the changes made in ,london by the ,local ,government ,act1 #ahid4 #a;d42 #i;d4 doz4 #eh4--;,allotments and ,how to ,get ,them4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- per #ajj4 #ee4--,the ,workers' ,school ,board ,program4 #bj pp41 #a;d42 or #i;d4 per doz4 #ed4--,the ,humanizing of the ,poor ,law4 ,by ,j4 ,f4 ,,oakeshott4 #bd pp41 #a;d4 #eb4--,state ,education at ,home and ,abroad4 ,by ,j4 ,w4 ,,martin4 #af pp41 #a;d4 #ea4--,socialism3 ,true and ,false4 ,by ,,sidney ,,webb4 #bj pp41 #a;d4 ea42 #i;d4 doz4 #ej4--,sweating3 its ,cause and ,remedy4 #af pp41 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 #di4--;,a ,plan of ,campaign for ,labor4 ,a detailed scheme for ,independent ,labor ,representation4 #cf pp41 #b;d4 #a_/f per doz4 #dh4--;,eight ,hours by ,law4 #af pp41 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 #dg4--,the ,unemployed4 ,by ,,john ,,burns1 ,m4,p4 #bj pp41 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 #df4--,socialism and ,sailors4 ,by ,b4 ,t4 ,,hall4 #af pp41 #de4--,the ,impossibilities of ,anarchism4 ,by ,g4 ,b4 ,,shaw4 #bh pp41 #b;d42 #a_/f per doz4 #dd4--;,a ,plea for ,poor ,law ,reform4 7,revised #ahid74 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- #ajj4 #db4--;,christian ,socialism4 ,by the ,rev4 ,s4 ,d4 ,,headlam4 #af pp41 #a;d4 #i;d4 per doz4 #da4--,the ,fabian ,society4 ,by ,,bernard ,,shaw4 #cb pp41 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 #ci4--;,a ,democratic ,budget4 #af pp41 #a;d42 or #i;d4 per doz4 #ch4--;,a ,welsh ,translation of ,no4 #a4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- per #ajj4 #bi4--,what to ,read4 ,a ,list of ,books for ,social ,reformers4 ,contains the best books and blue-books relating to ,economics1 ,socialism1 ,labor ,movements1 ,poverty1 etc4 #crd edn42 revised #ahie4 ,paper cover1 #c;d4 each2 or #b_/c per doz4 #bc4--,the ,case for an ,eight ,hours ,bill4 #af pp41 #a;d42 or #i;d4 per doz4 #bb4--,the ,truth about ,leasehold ,enfranchisement4 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- per #ajj4 #ai4--,what the ,farm ,laborer ,wants4 7,revised #ahid74 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- per #ajj4 #ag4--,reform of the ,poor ,law4 ,by ,,sidney ,,webb4 #bj pp41 #a;d42 #i;d4 per doz4 #af4--;,a ,plea for an ,eight ,hours ,bill4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 #a_/- per #ajj4 #ae4--;,english ,progress towards ,social ,democracy4 ,by ,s4 ,,webb4 #a;d42 #i;d4 doz4 #ad4--,the ,new ,reform ,bill4 #aeth thous4 #bj pp41 #a;d42 #i;d4 per doz4 #ac4--,what ,socialism ,is4 #hjth thous4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 or #a_/- per #ajj4 #ab4--,practicable ,land ,nationalization4 ,revised #ahid4 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 #a_/- #ajj4 #g4--;,capital and ,land4 ,a survey of the distribution of property amongst the classes in ,england4 #eth edition2 revised #ahie4 #af pp41 #a;d42 or #i;d4 doz4 #e4--;,facts for ,socialists4 ,a similar survey of the distribution of income and the condition of the people4 #gth edn42 revised #ahie4 #a;d42 or #i;d4 per doz4 #a4--,why are the ,many ,poor8 #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 #a_/- per #ajj4 ,,question ,,leaflets4 ,each #d pp41 #f for #a;d42 or #as4 per #ajj4 ,these contain ,questions for ,candidates for the following bodies3--,no4 #bj1 ,poor ,law ,guardians 7,revised #ahid74 ,no4 #ba1 ,london ,vestries 7,revised #ahid74 ,no4 #bd1 ,parliament4 ,no4 #be1 ,school ,boards 7,revised #ahid74 ,no4 #bf1 ,london ,county ,council4 ,no4 #bg1 ,town ,councils4 ,no4 #bh1 ,county ,councils1 ,rural 7,revised #ahie74 ,no4 #ef1 ,parish ,councils4 ,no4 #eg1 ,rural ,district ,councils4 ,no4 #ei1 ,urban ,district ,councils4 ,,fabian ,,municipal ,,program 7,tracts ,nos4 #cj to #cg74 #a4 ,the ,unearned ,increment4 #b4 ,london's ,heritage in the ,city ,guilds4 #c4 ,municipalization of the ,gas ,supply4 #d4 ,municipal ,tramways4 #e4 ,london's ,water ,tribute4 #f4 ,municipalization of the ,london ,docks4 #g4 ,the ,scandal of ,london's ,markets4 #h4 ,a ,labor ,policy for ,public ,authorities4 ,each #d pp4 ,the eight in a red cover for #a;d4 7#i;d4 per doz472 or separately #a_/- per #ajj4 ,,fabian ,,election ,,leaflets4--,no4 #fd1 ,how to ,lose and ,how to ,win2 ,no4 #fe1 ,trade ,unionists and ,politics2 ,no4 #ff1 ,a ,program for ,workers4 ,each #b pp41 #f;d4 per #ajj1 or #es4 per #ajjj4 ,illustration3 7pointing finger7 ,the ,set post free #b_/c4 ,bound in ,buckram post free for #c_/i4 ,boxes for set of ,tracts #as41 post free #as4 #c;d4 ,manifesto of ,english ,socialists4 ,in red cover4 #h pp41 #a;d4 each2 or #i;d4 per doz4 ,parcels to the value of #aj_/- and upwards1 post free4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,a paper read to the ,fabian ,society by ,g4 ,bernard ,shaw1 on #afth ,october1 #ahia4 ,footnote #b3 ,this is an inference from the following paragraph in ,mr4 ,tucker's article3 ,second in importance comes the land monopoly1 the evil effects of which are seen principally in exclusively agricultural countries1 like ,ireland4 ,this monopoly consists in the enforcement by government of land titles which do not rest on personal occupancy and cultivation4 ,it was obvious to ,warren and ,proudhon that as soon as individuals should no longer be protected by their fellows in anything but personal occupation and cultivation of land1 ground rent would disappear1 and so usury have one less leg to stand on4 ,see also ,mr4 ,tucker's article entitled ,a ,singular ,misunderstanding1 in ,liberty of the #ajth ,september1 #ahib4 ,regarding land1 writes ,mr4 ,tucker1 it has been steadily maintained in these columns that protection should be withdrawn from all land titles except those based on personal occupancy and use4 ,footnote #c3 ,nor does the ,anarchistic scheme furnish any code of morals to be imposed on the individual4 ',mind your own business1' is its only moral law4 ,footnote #d3 ,this would of course be largely practicable under a ,collectivist system4 ,footnote #e3 ,english readers need not baulk themselves here because of the late fall of agricultural rents in this country4 ,rent1 in the economic sense1 covers payment for the use of land for any purpose1 agricultural or otherwise2 and town rents have risen oppressively4 ,a much more puzzling discrepancy between the facts and the theory is presented by the apparent absence of any upward tendency in the prices of general commodities4 ,however1 an article may be apparently no less cheap or even much cheaper than it was twenty years ago2 and yet its price may have risen enormously relatively to its average cost of production1 owing to the average cost of production having been reduced by machinery1 higher organization of the labor of producing it1 cheapened traffic with other countries1 etc4 ,thus1 in the cotton industry1 machinery has multiplied each man's power of production eleven hundred times2 and ,sir ,joseph ,whitworth was quoted by the ,president of the ,iron and ,steel ,institute some years ago as having declared that a ,nottingham lace machine can do the work formerly done by #h1jjj lacemakers4 ,the articles entitled ,great ,manufacture of ,little ,things1 in ,cassell's ,technical ,educator1 may be consulted for examples of this sort in the production of pins1 pens1 etc4 ,suppose1 then1 that an article which cost1 on the average1 fivepence to make in #ahej1 was then sold for sixpence4 ,if it be now selling for threepence1 it is apparently twice as cheap as it was4 ,but if the cost of production has also fallen to three-halfpence1 which is by no means an extravagant supposition1 then the price1 considered relatively to the cost of production1 has evidently risen prodigiously1 since it is now twice the cost1 whereas the cost was formerly five-sixths of the price4 ,in other words1 the surplus1 or rent1 per article1 has risen from #af #b_/c per cent4 to #ajj per cent41 in spite of the apparent cheapening4 ,this is the explanation of the fact that though the workers were probably never before so monstrously robbed as they are at present1 it is quite possible for statisticians to prove that on the whole wages have risen and prices fallen4 ,the worker1 pleased at having only to pay threepence where he formerly paid sixpence1 forgets that the share of his threepence that goes to an idler may be much larger than that which went out of each of the two threepences he paid formerly4 ,footnote #f3 ,written in the #ahhg-ib period1 during which ,trafalgar ,square was forcibly closed against public meetings by the ,salisbury administration4 ,footnote #g3 ,the evil is decidedly less if the calculation proceeds by the popular method of always estimating an evil suffered by a hundred persons as a hundred times as great as the same evil suffered by only one4 ,this1 however1 is absurd4 ,a hundred starving men are not a hundred times as hungry as one starving man1 any more than a hundred five-foot-eight men are each five hundred and sixty-six feet eight inches high4 ,but they are a hundred times as strong a political force4 ,though the evil may not be cumulative1 the power to resist it is4 99 99 99 99 99 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------- ,transcriber ,notes3 ,p4#ag4 'antonomy' changed to 'autonomy' ,p4#bb4 ',tuc er's' changed to ',tucker's' ---------------------------------------- ----------------------