,transcriber's ,note    ,italic text    
displayed as3 italic                    
,,anarchy        ,illustration3 ,tree   
by ,robert ,le,fevre                    
,copyright #aiei1 by ,robert ,le,fevre  
,permission to reprint in whole or in   
part    granted without special request4
      ,,printed ,,in ,,colorado         
,,springs1 ,u4,s4,a4      ,published    
,june1 #aiei      ,library of ,congress 
,catalog ,card ,number3    #ei-acdhj    
,,the ,,freedom ,,school    ,p4,o4 ,box 
#afe    ,colorado ,springs1 ,colorado   
,,editor',s ,,note      ,robert         
,le,fevre1 president and founder of the 
,freedom ,school1 has also  served as   
the editorial writer for the ,gazette   
,telegraph in ,colorado  ,springs1 since
 #aied4 ,in addition to several thousand
 editorials1 he  has written numerous   
articles for the ,freeman ,magazine1    
including3  8,the ,straight ,line10     
8,jim ,leadbetter's ,discovery10        
8,shades of  ,hammurabi10 8,grasshoppers
 and ,widows10 and 8,coercion at the    

,local  ,level40    ,his article 8,even 
the ,girl ,scouts0 7,human ,events1     
#aiec7 led to a recall  of the ,handbook
 of this organization and extensive     
revisions4 ,his book1  8,the ,nature of 
,man and ,his ,government10 has recently
 been published by  ,caxton ,printers1  
,caldwell1 ,idaho4          ,,anarchy   
,a rational being1 intent upon learning 
the nature of liberty or  freedom1 is   
confronted almost at once with          
innumerable instances of  governmental  
predation against liberty4    ,as the   
subject of liberty is pursued1 the more 
frequently and the more  persistently   
the fact emerges that governments have  
been one of the  principal opponents if 
not the only principal opponent to      
liberty4    ,invariably1 this discovery 
leads the perspiring seeker after truth 
to a  fork in the road4 ,is it possible1
 the aspirant to libertarian certainty  
asks himself1 to pursue the end of the  
rainbow of liberty into a miasma  of    
quicksand and uncertainty8    ,might ,i 

not end at a place where ,i would       
advocate the cessation of all           
government8 ,and if ,i reached such a   
conclusion1 would ,i not find myself    
aligned with the very forces ,i sought  
to oppose in the beginning1  namely1 the
 forces of lawlessness1 chaos and       
anarchy8    ,at this fork in the road1  
libertarians hesitate1 some briefly and 
some  for lengthy periods of time4 ,the 
choice to be made is a difficult one4   
,to abandon liberty at this juncture and
 to endorse minimal governments  as     
devices which might prevent license1    
could cause the devotee of  liberty to  
endorse the active enemy of liberty1    
albeit in small doses4  ,on the other   
hand1 to pursue liberty to its logical  
conclusions might  end in an endorsement
 of license1 ,the very antonym of       
liberty4    ,it is at this juncture that
 the word 8anarchy0 rears its dreadful  
visage4 ,it becomes incumbent upon      
sincere seekers after liberty to        
grapple with this word and to seek to   

understand its implications4    ,anarchy
 has very ancient roots4 ,it is not     
wholly essential to probe to  the last  
hidden tendril altho such a probe can be
 highly instructive4  ,what does appear 
to be a necessary minimal effort1       
however1 is to  explore at least the    
principal authors of anarchistic thought
 with the  view to discovering what it  
was that motivated these men4    ,we can
 begin with ,william ,godwin of         
,england4 ,godwin is noteworthy as  the 
8father of anarchistic communism0       
7,encyclopaedia ,britannica74    ,in    
#agic he published the first of several 
works on this subject  entitled1        
8,inquiry ,concerning ,political        
,justice40 ,he is probably most  famous 
as the author of an anarchistic novel   
which he named1 8,caleb  ,williams40    
,it was ,godwin's thesis that           
governments are instruments of eternal  
bickering and war2 that wars are fought 
over property2 that the  ownership of   
property privately is the greatest curse

 ever to beset the  human race4 ,as a   
specific example of tyranny in its worst
 form1 ,godwin  suggests marriage4      
,before we lay the soubriquet 8crackpot0
 behind his name1 let us look  at the   
,england of ,godwin's time to try to    
find an explanation for his  radical    
conclusions4    ,in ,godwin's day       
7#agef-ahcf7 with only a few minor      
exceptions1 all  property was owned by  
the nobility1 which is to say by the    
persons  favored by government4 ,the    
common people owned little save the     
shirts  on their backs4 ,as for         
marriage1 women were chattels1 given by 
a male  parent to another male1 during a
 governmentally approved ceremony4  ,the
 idea of one person actually owning and 
controlling another1 which  we would    
call slavery1 and which ,godwin saw as  
the marriage state1 was  repellent to   
him4 ,he insisted that females were     
human beings and as  such had as much   
right to individuality as males4    ,to 
cure the malady1 which ,godwin saw as   

ownership of property1 the  early       
,briton recommended an abolition of     
governments4 ,it was the  government    
which sanctified and protected property 
rights1 even in  marriage4 ,to return to
 a state of nature 7see ,rousseau7      
governments  would have to be abolished4
    ,be it noted to ,godwin's credit    
that he despised violence4 ,and in  this
 position he is far removed from both   
the true communist and the  anarchists  
of action who followed him4    ,the next
 anarchist to be examined is ,pierre    
,joseph ,proudhon of  ,bexancon1 ,france
 7#ahji-ahfe74 ,proudhon drank deeply   
from ,godwin's well  and came forward   
with certain modifications and          
extensions of the  ,godwin doctrine4    
,proudhon acknowledged a debt of        
gratitude to both ,plato and ,thomas    
,more1 a pair of dedicated socialists   
7see ,plato's 8,republic0 and ,more's   
8,utopia07 and busied himself with some 
practical means for implementing  the   
socialist dream4    ,like his           

precursors1 he was fundamentally opposed
 to property  ownership4 ,his most      
famous work1 8,qu'est-ce que ,la        
,propriete80  78,what ,is ,property8071 
got him into immediate difficulties with
 the  government4 ,proudhon1 in this    
opus1 declared that 8property is        
robbery0  and set about outlining a     
social order in which no property could 
be  privately owned4    ,the            
,encyclopedia ,americana says that      
,proudhon was the 8first to  formulate  
the doctrines of philosophic anarchism40
    ,it is probably true that there are 
no better writings extant extolling     
individualism as opposed to collectivism
 than ,proudhon's early essays4  ,yet1  
it should be recalled that ,proudhon's  
aim1 in addition to a  society free of  
governmental coercion1 was a state in   
which property as  a private device was 
abolished4    ,it is also interesting to
 recall that ,karl ,marx was deeply     
moved by  ,proudhon's arguments4 ,the   
first of ,proudhon's writings appeared  

in  print in #ahdj and formed the basis 
of ,marx's first expostulations which   
appeared in #ahdb4 ,shortly thereafter1 
,marx veered away from ,proudhon's      
individualism and contrived his concept 
of collectivism as the natural  and the 
inevitable course of history4    ,marx1 
however1 was never an anarchist1 despite
 the well-known phrase  frequently      
attributed to him that in time the      
government of the  proletariat would    
simply 8wither away40 ,this phrase      
should properly be  attributed to       
,lenin4    ,however1 it is known that   
,marx did make an attempt to lure the   
anarchists of ,france into the first    
8,internationale0 and was hooted  down  
for his pains4 ,the anarchists of that  
time were shrewd enough to  sense that  
the enlargement of government into a    
general holding company  for all        
property1 would never result in the     
abolition of private  ownership of      
property4 ,rather1 it would result in   
the perpetuation of a  privileged class 

of persons who would have possession of 
the property  to the exclusion of all   
others1 the very contingency the        
anarchists  sought to avoid4 ,and since 
the aim of the anarchists was to        
eliminate  exclusive ownership1 they    
could not agree to the ,marxist         
arguments  respecting the usefulness of 
a government as the repository of all   
property4    ,we pass from ,proudhon to 
another noteworthy anarchist1 the       
,russian  ,prince ,peter ,alexeivich    
,kropotkin 7#ahdb-aiba74 ,in his hands1 
the  doctrine of anarchism took on an   
international aspect4 ,in point of fact 
he added little to either ,godwin or    
,proudhon1 except the more grandiose    
concept of a world order4 ,he suggested 
that ,,all governments must be          
overthrown either peacefully or in any  
other manner after which 8the  present  
system of class privilege and unjust    
distribution of the wealth  produced by 
labor that creates and fosters crime0   
would be abolished4    ,it was          

,kropotkin who endeavored to preserve   
the ideals of a  property-less society  
after the most exciting and destructive 
of all  the anarchists had done his     
work4 ,this was ,michael ,bakunin       
7#ahad-ahgf74  ,bakunin took his        
ideology both from ,proudhon and from   
,marx and  endeavored to unite the      
objectives of the former with the       
methods of  the latter4    ,bakunin     
despaired of bringing about a state of  
universal  property-less-ness by means  
of education and propaganda4 ,so did    
,marx4  ,marx declared that those who   
owned property would never give it up   
without a struggle4 ,this idea entranced
 ,bakunin4 ,he devised what was to  be  
called 8propaganda of action40    ,it   
was ,bakunin's contribution to          
anarchistic methods that persons  who   
held governmental offices should be     
assassinated while they held  office4   
,such assassination1 he argued1 would   
have a persuasive effect  upon future   
politicians4 ,if the offices could be   

made sufficiently  dangerous and risky1 
there would be few who would care to    
hazard  their necks in such unrewarding 
positions4 ,the answer to the force of  
government1 according to ,bakunin1 was  
the force of non-government4 ,as  an    
educational device1 a thrown bomb was   
considered to be the final  argument4   
,it is unnecessary to embroider the     
result4 ,the peaceful arguments  of     
,proudhon and ,godwin went by the boards
 as anarchists rallied  to ,bakunin's   
banner4 ,beginning in #ahgh there was a 
series of  assassinations and attempted 
assassinations against the heads of     
governments4    ,germany's ,emperor     
,william had a narrow escape and so did 
the ,german  princes in #ahhc4 ,in #ahhf
 in ,chicago1 a bomb explosion in the   
,haymarket  killed a number of persons4 
,in the resulting hysteria1 seven       
arrests  were made1 all of persons known
 to be teaching anarchy4 ,four were     
hanged1 two drew life sentences1 and one
 was imprisoned for #ae years4 ,no  one 

to this day is certain who threw the    
bomb4    ,anarchists were pictured in   
cartoons as bearded radicals carrying   
smoking bombs4 ,president ,carnot of    
,france was assassinated in #ahid4 ,the 
,empress ,elizabeth of ,austria was     
assassinated in #ahih4 ,king ,humber of 
,italy was assassinated in #aijj4       
,president ,mc,kinley was assassinated  
in  #aija4    ,but ,bakunin's enthusiasm
 wrecked the anarchist movement despite 
all  ,kropotkin could do to save the    
fragments4 ,these excesses1 which have  
even been repeated in modern times1 have
 had the effect of uniting  public      
opinion against anything that smacks of 
anarchy4    ,there were1 of course1     
other anarchists4 ,some have credited   
,rousseau1  and some even ,zeno with the
 actual birth of the idea of a          
property-less  society4 ,but the four   
men briefly reviewed here1 with the     
possible  additions of ,elisee ,reclus  
and the ,american1 ,benjamin ,r4        
,tucker1 made  the major contributions  

to anarchist doctrine4 ,there is no     
serious  cleavage in anarchist ranks4   
,it is these thoughts which must        
confront the libertarian as he seeks to 
understand the meaning of individualism1
 liberty1 property1 and so on4    ,but  
in complete candor1 the sincere         
libertarian cannot be called an         
anarchist whichever fork of the road he 
elects to pursue4 ,it must  be recalled 
that without exception1 anarchists      
wished to do away  with private         
ownership of property4 ,some advocated  
peaceful means  ending the abolition of 
government4 ,some advocated violent     
means by  destroying politicians in     
government4 ,but by any yardstick       
employed1  and whether we are speaking  
of 8philosophic anarchists0 or          
8anarchistic  communists10 the central  
aim of the anarchist movement was to    
eliminate  private ownership4 ,the      
reduction of the government to zero was 
simply1  to them1 a necessary first     
step4    ,in contrast1 the libertarian  

is a better economist4 ,from first to   
last  he is in favor of private         
ownership4 ,it is1 in fact1 the abuses  
of  private ownership inflicted by      
government which arouse the most ardent 
libertarians4    ,if we take the        
8communist0 anarchists1 we are          
confronted with violence  as a means to 
abolish private ownership with the      
abolition of  government as the first   
step4 ,if we take the 8philosophic0     
anarchists1  we are confronted with     
essays on individualism and the desire  
to do  away with private ownership by   
means of the elimination of government4 
,the aim of the anarchist is to         
eliminate private ownership4 ,the       
libertarian is dedicated to the         
perpetuation and the full enjoyment of  
private ownership4    ,never could two  
doctrines be more in opposition4    ,the
 most constructive of the anarchists    
were1 socially speaking1                
individualists1 peaceful and harmless4  
,the least constructive1 socially       

speaking1 were dedicated to the         
overthrow of force by counter force4    
,but without exception1 in the realm of 
economics1 every anarchist comes        
unglazed4    ,in brief1 let us define   
the anarchist as a political            
individualist and  an economic          
socialist4 ,in contrast1 the libertarian
 can be defined as  an individualist1   
both politically and economically4      
,as the libertarian approaches or       
hesitates at the fork in the road1 one  
direction seems to him to indicate      
anarchy and the other1 an advocacy  of  
coercion in minor doses4 ,but1 on       
careful analysis1 the branch which      
seems to carry the banner 8anarchy0 does
 no such thing4    ,the libertarian1    
however he mulls over this dilemma to   
his progress1  is not concerned with    
government4 ,his concern is with        
liberty4 ,he is  not opposed to         
government4 ,he favors freedom4 ,the    
libertarian wishes to  preserve all     
human rights1 among which and           

predominantly among them is  the right  
to own property privately and to enjoy  
it fully4    ,the libertarian is a      
champion of individualism4 ,he is an    
advocate of  tools which can perform    
certain functions for him4 ,he has no   
objection  to the formation of any kind 
of tool that will assist him to protect 
his rights or his property4 ,but he     
cannot brook the forceful compulsive    
tool which he is compelled to pay for   
when he has no use for it4    ,he has no
 objection to policemen whose function  
is solely that of  protection4 ,but he  
resists the supposition that others know
 better than  he1 how much protection he
 needs or can afford4    ,he sees in    
government a tool of man's devising4 ,he
 has no objection  to this tool so long 
as it is totally responsive to the man  
who hires  the tool and pays for its    
use4 ,he does object to the employment  
of  this tool by some against others in 
an aggressive manner1 since he is       
primarily concerned with human liberty  

and the preservation of it for  all     
individuals4    ,but it is destructive  
of libertarian aims and objectives to   
label a  seeker after total freedom with
 the opprobrium of 8anarchist40         
,economically speaking1 all anarchists  
are1 socialists1 however they  may      
coalesce to the political spectrum4     
,economically speaking1  the libertarian
 is an individualist1 believing in and  
supporting  the concept of private      
ownership1 individual responsibility and
  self-government4      ,information    
about the ,freedom ,school will be sent 
on request4