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04 - Anarchy - Errico Malatesta · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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We have hitherto considered government as it is, and as it necessarily must be
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in a society founded upon privilege, upon the exploitation and oppression of man by
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man, upon antagonism of interests, and social strife, in a word,
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upon private property. We have seen how this state of strife, far from
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being a necessary condition of human life, is contrary to the interests of the
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individual and of the species. We have observed how co operation solidarity of interest
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is the law of human progress. And we have concluded that with the abolition
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of private property and the cessation of all domination of man over man, there
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would be no reason for government to exist. Therefore it ought to be abolished.
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But it may be objected if the principle on which social organization is now
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founded were to be changed, and solidarity substituted for strife, common property for
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private property, the government also would change its nature. Instead of being the
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protector and representative of the interests of one class, it would become if there
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were no longer any classes representative of all society. Its mission would be to
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secure and regulate social co operation in the interests of all, and to fulfill
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public services of general utility. It would defend society against possible attempts to re
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establish privilege, and prevent or repress all attacks by whomsoever set on foot against
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the life, well being, or liberty of each. There are in society
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certain matters too important, requiring too much constant, regular attention for them to
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be left to the voluntary management of individuals without danger of everything getting into disorder.
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If there were no government, who would organize the supply and distribution of
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provisions, Who regulate matters pertaining to public hygiene, the postal, telegraph,
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and railway services at at time? Who would direct public instruction? Who undertake
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those great works of exploration, improvement on a large scale, scientific enterprise,
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et cetera, which transform in the face of the earth and augment a hundredfold
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the power of man. Who would care for the preservation and increase of capital,
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that it might be transmitted to posterity, enriched and improved. Who would
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prevent the destruction of the forests or the irrational exploitation and therefore impoverishment of the
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soil. Who would there be to prevent and repress crimes, that is,
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antisocial acts. What of those who, disregarding the law of solidarity, would
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not work, or of those who might spread infectis disease in a country by
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refusing to submit to the regulation of hygiene by science, Or what again could
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be done with those who, whether insane or know might set fire to the
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harvest, injure children, or abuse and take advantage of the weak. To
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destroy private property and abolish existing government without reconstituting a government that would organize collective
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life and secure social solidarity would not be to abolish privilege and bring peace and
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prosperity upon earth. It would be to destroy every social bond, to leave
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humanity to fall back into barbarism, to begin again the reign of each for
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himself, which would establish the triumph firstly of brute force and secondly of economic
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privilege. Such are the objections brought forward by authoritarians, even by those who
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are socialists, that is, who wish to abolish private property and class government
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founded upon the system of private property. We reply, in the first place,
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it is not true that with a change of social conditions, the nature
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of the government and its functions would also change. Organs and functions are inseparable
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terms. Take from an organ its function, and either the organ will die
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or the function will reinstate itself. Place an army in a country where there
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is no reason for or fear of foreign war, and this army will provoke
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war, or if it do not succeed in doing that, it will disband.
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A police force where there are no crimes to discover and delinquents to arrest,
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will provoke or invent crimes, or will cease to exist. For centuries,
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there existed in France an institution now included in the administration of the forests
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for the extermination of the wolves and other noxious beasts. No one will be
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surprised to learn that, just on account of this institution, wolves still exist
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in France, and that in rigorous seasons they do great damage. The public
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take little heed of the wolves, because there are the appointed officials whose duty
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it is to think about them. And the officials do hunt them, but
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in an intelligent manner, sparing their caves and allowing time for reproduction, that
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they may not run the risk of entirely destroying such an interesting species. The
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French peasants have indeed little confidence in these official wolf hunters, and regard them
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rather as the wolf preservers. And of course, what would these officials do
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if there were no longer any wolves to exterminate. A government, that is
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a number of persons deputed to make the laws and entitled to use the collective
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forces of society to make every individual to respect these laws, already constitutes a
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class privileged and separated from the rest of the community. Such a class,
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like every elected body, will seek instinctively to enlarge its powers, to place
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itself above the control of the people, to impose its tendencies, and to
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make its own interests predominate. Place. In a privileged position, the government
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always finds itself in antagonism to the masters of whose force it disposes. Furthermore,
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a government with the best intentions could never satisfy everybody, even if it
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succeeded in satisfying some. It must therefore always be defending itself against the discontented,
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and for that reason must ally itself with the satisfied section of the community
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for necessary support. And in this manner will arise again the old story of
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a privileged class, which cannot help but be developed in conjunction with the government.
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This class, if it could not again acquire possession of the soil,
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would certainly monopolize the most favored spots and would not be in the end less
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oppressive or less an instrument of exploitation than the capitalist class. The governors accustomed
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to command would never wish to mix with the common crowd. If they could
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not retain the power in their own hands. They would at least secure to
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themselves privileged positions for the time when they would be out of office. They
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would use all the means they have in their power to get their own friends
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elected as their successors, who would in their turn be supported protected by their
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predecessors. And thus the government would pass and repass into the same hands,
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and the democracy, that is, the government, presumably of the whole people,
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would end as it always has done, in becoming an oligarchy, or
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the government of a few, the government of a class. And this all
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powerful, oppressive, all absorbing olarcarchy would have always in its care, that
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is, at its disposition, every bit of social capital, all public services,
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from the production and distribution of provisions to the manufacture of matches, from
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the control of the university to that of the music hall. But let us
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even suppose that the government did not necessarily constitute a privileged class, and could
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exist without forming around itself a new privileged class. Let us imagine that it
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could remain truly representative the servant, if you will, of all society.
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What purpose would it then serve, in what particular and in what manner would
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it augment the power, intelligence, spirit of solidarity, care of the general
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welfare present and to come that, at any given moment existed in a given
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society. It is always the old story of the man with bound limbs,
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who, having managed to live in spite of his bands, believes that he
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lives by means of them. We are accustomed to live under a government which
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makes use of all that energy, that intelligence, and that will which it
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can direct to its own ends, but which hinders, paralyzes, and suppresses
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those that are useless or hostile to it. And we imagine that all that
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is done in society is done by virtue of the government, and that without
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the government there would be neither energy, intelligence, nor good will in society.
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So it happens, as we have already said, that the proprietor who
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has possessed himself of the soil as it cultivated for his own particular profit,
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leaving the laborer the bearest necessities of life for which he can and will continue
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to labor, while the enslaved laborer thinks that he could not live without his
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master, as though it were he who created the earth and the forces of
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nature. What can government of itself add to the moral and material forces which
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exist in a society, unless it be like the God of the Bible,
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who created the universe out of nothing. As nothing is created in the so
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called material world, so in this more complicated form of the material world,
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which is the social world, nothing can be created. And therefore governors can
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dispose of no other force than that which is already in society, and indeed
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not by any means of all of that, as much force is necessarily paralyzed
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and destroyed by governmental methods of action, while more again is wasted in the
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friction with rebellious elements inevitably great in such an artificial mechanism, whenever governors originate
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anything of themselves, it is as men and not as governors, that they
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do so. And of that amount of force, both material and moral,
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which does remain at the disposition of the government, only an infinitesimally small part
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achieves an end really useful to society. The remainder is either consumed in actively
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repressing rebellious opposition, or is otherwise diverted from the aim of general utility and
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turn to the profit of the few and to the injury of the majority of
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men. So much has been made at the part that individual initiative and social
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action play respectively in the life and progress of human society. And such is
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the confusion of metaphysical language, that those who affirm that individual initiative is the
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source and agency of all action seem to be asserting something quite preposterous. In
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reality, it is a truism which becomes apparent directly we begin to explain the
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actual facts represented by these words. The real being is the man, the
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individual, society or the collectivity, and the state or government which professes to
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represent it. If not hollow abstractions, can be nothing else than aggregates of
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individuals, and it is within the individual organism that all thoughts and all human
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action necessarily have their origin. Originally individual, they become collective thoughts and actions
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when shared in common by many individuals. Social action, then, is not
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the negation nor the complement of individual initiative, but it is the sum total
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of the initiatives, thoughts, and actions of all the individuals composing society,
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a result which other things equal, is more or less great, according as
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the individual forces tend towards the same aim or are divergent and opposed. If,
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on the other hand, as the authoritarians make out, by social action
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is meant governmental action, then it is again the result of individual forces,
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but only of those individuals who either form part of the government or by virtue
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of their position, are enabled to influence the conduct of the government. Thus,
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in the contest of centuries between liberty and authority, or in other words,
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between social equality and social castes, the question and issue has not really
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been the relations between society and the individual, nor the increase of individual independence
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at the cost of social control or vice versa. Rather, it has had
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to do with preventing any one individual from oppressing the others, with giving to
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everyone the same rights and the same means of action. It has had to
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do with substituting the initiative of all, which must naturally result in the advantage
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of all, for the initiative of the few, which necessarily results in the
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suppression of all the others. It is always, in short, the question
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of putting an end to the domination and ends exploitation of man by a man
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in such a way that all are interested in the common welfare, and that
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the individual force of each, instead of oppressing, combating, or suppressing others,
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will find the possibility of complete development, and every one will seek to
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associate with others for the greater advantage of all. From what we have said,
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it follows that the existence of a government, even upon the hypothesis that
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the ideal government of authoritarian socialists were possible, far from producing an increase of
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productive force, would immensely diminish it, because the government would restrict initiative to
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the few. It would give these few the right to do all things,
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without being able, of course, to endow them with the knowledge or understanding
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of all things. In fact, if you divest legislation and all the operations
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of government of what is intended to protect the privileged and what represents the wishes
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of the privileged classes alone, nothing remain means by the aggregate of individual governors.
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The state, says Hismondy quote, is always a conservative power that authorizes,
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regulates, and organizes the conquests of progress, and history testifies that it
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applies them to the profits of its own and the other privileged classes, but
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never does inaugurate them. New ideas always originate from beneath, are conceived in
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the foundations of society, and then when divulged, they become opinion and grow.
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But they must always meet on their path in combat the constituted powers of
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tradition, custom, privilege, and error end quote. In order to understand
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how society could exist without a government, it is sufficient to turn our attention
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for a short space to what actually goes on in our present society. We
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shall see that in reality, the most important social functions are fulfilled even nowadays,
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outside the use intervention of government. Also that government only interferes to exploit
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the masses or defend the privileged class, or lastly, the sanction most unnecessarily,
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all that has been done without its aid, often in spite of and
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in opposition to it. Men work, exchange, study, travel, follow
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as they choose the current rules of morality or hygiene. They profit by the
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progress of science and art, have numberless mutual interests, without ever feeling the
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need of anyone to direct them how to conduct themselves in regard to these matters.
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On the contrary, it is just those things in which there is no
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governmental interference that prosper best, and that give rise to the least contention,
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being unconsciously adapted to the wish of all in the way found most useful and
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agreeable. Nor is government more necessary in the case of large undertakings, or
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for those public services which require the constant cooperation of many people of different conditions.
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In countries, thousands of these undertakings are even now the work of voluntarily
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formed associations. And these are, by the acknowledgment of every one, the
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undertakings which succeed the best. Nor do we refer to the association of capitalists
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organized by means of exploitation, although even they show capabilities and powers of free
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association, which may extend at libitum until it embraces all the people of all
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lands and includes the widest and most varying interests. But we speak rather of
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those associations inspired by the love of humanity, or by the passion for knowledge,
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or even simply whether the desire for amusement and love of applause, as
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these better represent such grouping as will exist in a society where private property and
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internal strive between man being abolished, each will find his interests synonymous with the
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interests of every one else and his greatest satisfaction in doing good and pleasing others.
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Scientific societies and congresses, in national Lifeboat and Red Cross associations, et
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cetera, Laborers unions, peace societies, volunteers who hasten to the rescue at
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times of great public calamity are all examples among thousands of that power of the
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spirit of association, which always shows itself when a need arises or an enthusiasm
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takes hold, and the means do not fail. That voluntary associations do not
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cover the world and do not embrace every branch of material and moral activity is
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the fold of the obstacles placed in their way by governments, of the antagonisms
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created by the possession of private property, and of the impotence and degradation to
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which the monopolizing of wealth on the part of the few reduces the majority of
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mankind. The government takes charge, for instance, of the postal and telegraphic
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services, but in what way does it really assist them. When the people
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are in such a condition as to be able to enjoy and feel the need
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of such services, they will think about organizing them, and the man with
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the necessary technical knowledge will not require a certificate from the government to enable him
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to set to work. The more general and urgent the need, the more
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volunteers will offer to satisfy it. Would the people have the ability necessary to
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provide and distribute provisions. Oh, never fear, they will not die of
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hunger waiting for a government to pass laws on the subject. Wherever a government
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exists, it must wait until the people have first organized everything, and then
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come with its laws to sanction and exploit that which has been already done.
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It is evident that private interest is the great motive for all activity, that
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being so, when the interest of every one becomes the interest of each,
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and it necessarily will become so as soon as private property is abolished, then
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all will be active. And if now they work in the interest of the
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few, so much the more, and so much the better will they work
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to satisfy the interests of all. It is hard to understand how any one
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can believe that public services indispensable to social life can be better secured by order
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of a government than through the workers themselves, who, by their own choice
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or by agreement made with others, carry them out. Under the immediate control
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of all interested certainly, in every collective undertaking on a large skill, there
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is need for division of labor, for technical direction, administration, et cetera.
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But the authoritarians are merely playing with words when they deduce a reason for
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the existence of government from the very real necessity for organization of labor. The
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government, we must repeat, is the aggregate of the individuals who have had
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given them, or have taken the right or the means to make laws and
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force the people to obey them. The administrators, engineers, et cetera,
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on the other hand, are men who receive or assume the charge of doing
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a certain work and who do it. Government signifies delegation of power, that
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is, abdication of the initiative and sovereignty of every one into the hands of
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the few. Administration signifies delegation of work, that is a charge given and
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accepted the free exchange of services found on free agreement. A governor is a
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privileged person because he has the right to command others and to avail himself of
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the force of others to make his own ideas and desires triumph. An administrator
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or technical director is a worker like others. In a society, of course,
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where all have equal opportunities of development, and all are or can be,
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at the same time intellectual and manual workers, when there are no other
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differences between man than those derived from diversity of talents, And all work and
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all social functions give an equal right to the enjoyment of social advantages. The
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functions of government are in short, not to be confounded with administrative functions,
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as they are essentially different that they are to day. So often confused.
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Is entirely on account of the existence of economic and political privilege. But let
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us hasten to pass on to those functions for which government is thought indispensable by
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all who are not anarchists. These are the internal and excellent defense of society,
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that is, war, police and justice. Government being abolished, and
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social wealth at the disposal of every one, all antagonism between various nations would
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soon cease, and there would consequently be no more cause for war. Moreover,
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in the present state of the world, in any country where the spirit
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of rebellion is growing, even if it do not find an echo throughout the
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land, it will be certain of so much sympathy that the government will not
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dare to send all its troops to a foreign war. For fear the revolution
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should break out at home. But even supposing that the rulers of countries not
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yet emancipated would wish and could attempt to reduce a free people to servitude,
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would these require a government to enable them to defend themselves. To make war,
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we need men who with the necessary geographical and technical knowledge, and above
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all, people willing to fight. A government has no means of augmenting the
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ability of the former or the willingness or courage of the latter. And the
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experience of history teaches that a people really desires of defending their own country are
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invincible. In Italy, every one knows how throne tremble and regular armies of
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hired soldiers vanish before troops of volunteers, that is, armies anarchically formed.
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And as to the police and justice, many imagine that if it were not
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for the police and the judges, everybody would be free to kill, violate,
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or injure others. As the humor took him. That anarchists, if
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they are true to their principles, would like to see this strange kind of
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liberty respected, liberty that violates or destroys the life and freedom of others.
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Unrestrained. Such people believe that we, having overthrown the government and private property,
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shall, then tranquillity allow the re establishment of both out of respect for
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the liberty of those who may feel the need of having a government and private
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property as strange mode, indeed of construing our ideas in truth, one may
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better answer such notions with a shrug of the shoulders than by taking the trouble
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to confute them. The liberty we wish for for ourselves and others is not
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an absolute abstract by the physical liberty, which in practice can only amount to
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the oppression of the weak. But we wish for a tangible liberty, the
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possible liberty, which is the conscious communion of interests, that is, voluntary
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solidarity. We proclaim the maxim Do as you will, and in this our
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program is almost entirely contained, because, as may be easily understood, we
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hold that in a society without government or property, each one will wish that
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which he should. But if in consequence of a false education received in the
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present society, or of physical disease, or whatever other cause, an individual
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should wish to injure others, you may be sure we should adopt all the
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means in our power to prevent him. As we know that a man's character
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is the consequence of his physical organism and of the cosmic and social influences surrounding
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him, we certainly shall not confound the sacred right of self defense with the
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absurdly assumed right to punish. Also, we shall not regard the delinquent,
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that is, the man who commits antisocial acts, as the rebel he seems
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in the eyes of the judges. Nowadays. We shall regard him as a
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sick brother in need of cure. We therefore shall not act towards him in
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the spirit of hatred when repressing him, but shall confine ourselves solely to self
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protection. We shall not seek to revenge ourselves, but rather to rescue the
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unfortunate one by every means that science suggests. In theory, anarchists may go
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astray like others, losing sight of the reality under a semblance of logic.
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But it is quite certain that the emancipated people will not let their dearly bought
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liberty and welfare be attacked with impunity. If the necessity arose, they would
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provide for their own defense against the antisocial tendencies of certain amongst them. But
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how do those whose business it now is to make the laws protect society or
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those others who live by seeking for and inventing new infringements of law. Even
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now, when the masters of the people really disapprove of anything and think it
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injuries, they always find a way to prevent it, very much more effectually
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that all the professional legislators, constables or judges during insurrections. The people,
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though very mistakenly, have enforced the respect for private property, and they have
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secured this respect far better than an army of policemen could have done. Customs
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always follow the needs and sentiments of the majority, and they are always the
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more respected the less they are subject to the sanction of law. This is
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because everyone sees and comprehension their utility, and because the interested parties, not
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deluding themselves to the idea that government will protect them, are themselves concerned in
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seeing the custom respected. The economical use of water is of very great importance
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to a caravan crossing the deserts of Africa. Under these circumstances, water is
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a sacred thing, and no sane man dreams of wasting it. Conspirators are
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obliged to act secretly, so secrecy is preserved among them, and obloquy rests
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on whosoever violates it. Gambling debts are not guaranteed by law, but among
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gamblers it is considered dishonorable not to pay them, and the delinquent feels himself
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dishonored by not fulfilling his obligations. Is it on account of the police that
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more people are not murdered. The greater part of the Italian people never see
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the police accept at long intervals. Millions of men go over the mountains and
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through the country, far from the protecting eye of authority, where they might
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be attacked, without the slightest fear of their assailants being traced. But they
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run no greater risk than those who live in the best guarded spots. Statistics
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show that the number of crimes rise in proportion to the increase of repressive measures,
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while they vary rapidly with the fluctuations of economic conditions and with the state
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of public opinion. Preventive laws, however, only concern unusual exceptional acts.
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Everyday life goes on beyond the limits of the criminal code and is regulated almost
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unconsciously by the tacit and voluntary ascent of all by means of a number of
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usages and customs much more important to social life than the dictates of law,
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and they are also much better observed, although completely divested of any sanction beyond
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the natural odium which falls upon those who violate them, and such injury as
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this odium brings with it when disputes arise, would not voluntarily accepted arbitration or
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the pressure of public opinion be far more likely to bring about a just settlement
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of the difficulties in question than an irresponsible magistrate who has the right to pass
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judgment upon everybody and everything, and who is necessarily incompetent and therefore unjust.
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As every form of government only serves to protect the privileged classes, so do
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police and judges only aim at repressing those crimes often not considered criminal by the
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masses, which offend only the privileges of the rulers or property owners. For
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the real defense of society, the defense of the welfare and liberty of all,
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there can be nothing more pernicious than the formation of this class of functionaries,
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who exist on the pretense of defending all, and therefore habitually regard every
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man as game to be hunted down, often striking at the command of a
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superior officer without themselves even knowing why, like hired assassins and mercenaries. End
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of Section four