336 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
336 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
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non serviam #5
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**************
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Contents: Ken Knudson: A Critique of Communism and
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The Individualist Alternative (serial: 5)
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Ken Knudson:
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A Critique of Communism
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and
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The Individualist Alternative
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(continued)
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But where did the common labourer fit into all this?
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Kropotkin makes the remarkable generalisation that "at no
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time has labour enjoyed such conditions of prosperity and
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such respect." [42] As proof he cites the "glorious
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donations" [43] the workers gave to the cathedrals. These,
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he says, "bear testimony of their relative well-being." [44]
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(Just as the Taj Mahal bears testimony of the relative
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well-being of the people of India, no doubt). "Many
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aspirations of our modern radicals were already realised in
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the Middle Ages [and] much of what is described now as
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Utopian was accepted then as a matter of fact." [45]
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As for the material achievements of the Middle Ages,
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Kropotkin can't find a superlative super enough to describe
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them - but he tries:
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"The very face of Europe had been changed. The land was
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dotted with rich cities, surrounded by immense thick walls
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[I wonder why?] which were embellished by towers and gates,
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each of them a work of art in itself. The cathedrals,
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- 20 -
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conceived in a grand style and profusely decorated, lifted
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their bell-towers to the skies, displaying a purity of form
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and a boldness of imagination which we now vainly strive to
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attain....[He displays a bit of `boldness of imagination'
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himself (to be quite charitable) when he goes on to say:]
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Over large tracts of land well-being had taken the place of
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misery; learning had grown and spread. The methods of
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science had been elaborated; the basis of natural philosophy
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had been laid down; and the way had been paved for all the
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mechanical inventions of which our own times are so proud.
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Such were the magic [sic] changes accomplished in Europe in
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less than four hundred years." [46]
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Just what were these "magic changes" of which Kropotkin
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is so proud? He lists about a dozen. [47] Among them are:
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printing (neglecting to inform us that the Gutenberg press
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was invented in the middle of the 15th century, sometime
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after the mediaeval cities "degenerated into centralised
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states"); steelmaking (neglecting to inform us that
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steelmaking had been mentioned in the works of Homer and was
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used continuously since that time); glassmaking (neglecting
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to inform us that the Encyclopaedia Britannica - to which he
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contributed numerous articles - devotes to the Middle Ages
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all of two sentences of a 27 page article on the history of
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glassmaking); the telescope (neglecting to inform us that it
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wasn't even invented until 1608); gunpowder and the compass
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(neglecting to inform us that the Chinese lay earlier claims
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to both of these inventions); algebra (neglecting to inform
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us that algebra was in common use in ancient Babylonia and
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that, although being introduced to mediaeval Europe by the
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Arabs, no important contributions were made by Europeans
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until the Renaissance); the decimal system (neglecting to
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inform us that the Hindus invented the system about a
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thousand years before it gained any ground in Europe in the
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17th century); calendar reform (neglecting to inform us that
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although Roger Bacon suggested such reform to the Pope in
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the 13th century, no action was taken until 300 years later
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under the reign of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582); chemistry
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(neglecting to inform us of an earlier work of his where he
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said chemistry was "entirely a product of our [19th]
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century." [48]) Indeed the only things he mentions as
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products of the Middle Ages which stand up under scrutiny
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are counterpoint and, paradoxically, the mechanical clock.
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To top it all off, he then has the gall to cite Galileo and
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Copernicus as being "direct descendents" of mediaeval
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science [49] - somehow managing to ignore the fact that
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Galileo spent the last eight years of his life under house
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arrest for supporting the Copernican theory, thanks to that
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grand mediaeval institution, the Inquisition.
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You may be wondering why the people of the Middle Ages
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- 21 -
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let such a Utopia slip through their fingers. Kropotkin
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cites foreign invasions - notably those of the Mongols,
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Turks, and Moors [50] - but makes it quite clear that the
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"greatest and most fatal error of most cities was to bass
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their wealth upon commerce and industry." [51] So here we
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have it laid bare for all to see: Kropotkin's ideal
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community would not only return us to the dark ages, but
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would take away the one thing that could bring us back -
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commerce and industry.
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Rudolf Rocker, the darling of the anarcho-syndicalists,
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similarly eulogises the Middle Ages. He, too, felt that
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mediaeval man led a "rich life" [52] which gave "wings to
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his spirit and prevent[ed] his mental stagnation." [53] But
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unlike Kropotkin - who chalked up mediaeval solidarity to
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man's innate "nature" - Rocker (correctly) explains these
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"fraternal associations" by means of a most unanarchistic
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concept - Christianity:
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"Mediaeval man felt himself to be bound up with a single,
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uniform culture, a member of a great community extending
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over all countries, in whose bosom all people found their
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place. It was the community of Christendom which included
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all the scattered units of the Christian world and
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spiritually unified them....The deeper the concept of
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Christianity took root in men, the easier they overcame all
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barriers between themselves and others, and the stronger
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lived in them the consciousness that all belonged to one
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great community and strove toward a common goal." [54]
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So we see that the glue that held these idyllic
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mediaeval communities together was not Kropotkin's "mutual
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aid," but rather Christian mysticism. Rocker was perceptive
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enough to see this; Kropotkin apparently was not. But what
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both of these men failed to see was that mysticism is the
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necessary glue of ANY communist society. The mystical
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Garden of Eden is the ultimate goal of every church of the
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communist religion. Unfortunately, as every good Christian
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will tell you, the only way you can stay in the Garden of
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Eden is to abstain from the "tree of knowledge." Communists
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are apparently willing to pay this price. Individualists are
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not. It is communism's intention to carry religion to its
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ultimate absurdity: it would sacrifice man on the cross of
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altruism for the sake of - Man.
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* * * * *
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I'd like to end my diatribe against communism by
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quoting another one. This is what one prophetic Frenchman,
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Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, had to say about communism eight
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years before the "Communist Manifesto" appeared like a
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- 22 -
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spectre to haunt Europe - and like a good French wine, his
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words seem to have improved with age:
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"Communism - or association in a simple form - is the
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necessary object and original aspiration of the social
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nature, the spontaneous movement by which it manifests and
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establishes itself. It is the first phase of human
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civilisation. In this state of society, - which the jurists
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have called `negative communism', - man draws near to man,
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and shares with him the fruits of the field and the milk and
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flesh of animals. Little by little this communism - negative
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as long as man does not produce - tends to become positive
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and organic through the development of labour and industry.
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But it is then that the sovereignty of thought, and the
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terrible faculty of reasoning logically or illogically,
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teach man that, if equality is the sine qua non of society,
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communism is the first species of slavery....The
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disadvantages of communism are so obvious that its critics
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never have needed to employ much eloquence to thoroughly
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disgust men with it. The irreparability of the injustice
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which it causes, the violence which it does to attractions
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and repulsions, the yoke of iron which it fastens upon the
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will, the moral torture to which it subjects the conscience,
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the debilitating effect which it has upon society; and, to
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sum it all up, the pious and stupid uniformity which it
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enforces upon the free, active, reasoning, unsubmissive
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personality of man, have shocked common sense, and condemned
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communism by an irrevocable decree. The authorities and
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examples cited in its favour disprove it. The communistic
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republic of Plato involved slavery; that of Lycurgus
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employed Helots, whose duty it was to produce for their
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masters, thus enabling the latter to devote themselves
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exclusively to athletic sports and to war, Even J. J.
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Rousseau - confounding communism and equality - has said
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somewhere that, without slavery, he did not think equality
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of conditions possible. The communities of the early Church
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did not last the first century out, and soon degenerated
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into monasteries....The greatest danger to which society is
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exposed today is that of another shipwreck on this rock.
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Singularly enough, systematic communism - the deliberate
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negation of property - is conceived under the direct
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influence of the proprietary prejudice; and property is the
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basis of all communistic theories. The members of a
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community, it is true, have no private property; but the
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community is proprietor, and proprietor not only of the
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goods, but of the persons and wills. In consequence of this
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principle of absolute property, labour, which should be only
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a condition imposed upon man by Nature, becomes in all
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communities a human commandment, and therefore odious.
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Passive obedience, irreconcilable with a reflecting will, is
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strictly enforced. Fidelity to regulations, which are always
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- 23 -
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defective, however wise they may be thought, allows of no
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complaint. Life, talent, and all the human faculties are the
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property of the State, which has the right to use them as it
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pleases for the common good. Private associations are
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sternly prohibited, in spite of the likes and dislikes of
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different natures, because to tolerate them would be to
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introduce small communities within the large one, and
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consequently private property; the strong work for the weak,
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although this ought to be left to benevolence, and not
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enforced, advised, or enjoined; the industrious work for the
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lazy though this is unjust; the clever work for the foolish,
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although this is absurd; and, finally, man - casting aside
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his personality, his spontaneity, his genius, and his
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affections - humbly annihilates himself at the feet of the
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majestic and inflexible Commune! Communism is inequality,
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but not as property is. Property is the exploitation of the
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weak by the strong.* Communism is the exploitation of the
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strong by the weak. In property, inequality of conditions is
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the result of force, under whatever name it be disguised:
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physical and mental force; force of events, chance, FORTUNE;
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force of accumulated property, etc. In communism, inequality
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springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
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This damaging equation is repellent to the conscience, and
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causes merit to complain; for although it may be the duty of
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the strong to aid the weak, they prefer to do it out of
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generosity, - they never will endure a comparison. Give them
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equal opportunities of labour, and equal wages, but never
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allow their jealousy to be awakened by mutual suspicion of
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unfaithfulness in the performance of the common task.
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Communism is oppression and slavery. Man is very willing to
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obey the law of duty, serve his country, and oblige his
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friends; but he wishes to labour when he pleases, where he
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pleases, and as much as he pleases. He wishes to dispose of
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his own time, to be governed only by necessity, to choose
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his friendships, his recreation, and his discipline; to act
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from judgement, not by command; to sacrifice himself through
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selfishness, not through servile obligation. Communism is
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essentially opposed to the free exercise of our faculties,
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to our noblest desires, to our deepest feelings. Any plan
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which could be devised for reconciling it with the demands
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of the individual reason and will would end only in changing
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the thing while preserving the name. Now, if we are honest
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truth-seekers, we shall avoid disputes about words. Thus,
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communism violates the sovereignty of the conscience and
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equality: the first, by restricting spontaneity of mind and
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heart, and freedom of thought and action; the second, by
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placing labour and laziness, skill and stupidity, and even
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vice and virtue on an equality in point of comfort." [55]
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--------------------
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* See footnote on page 5.
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-----
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REFERENCES
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42. Ibid., p. 194.
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43. Ibid., p. 194.
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44. Ibid,, p. 194.
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45. Ibid., pp. 194-5.
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46. Ibid., pp. 209-10.
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47. Ibid., p. 214.
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48. Kropotkine, "Paroles," p. 333.
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49. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid," p. 215.
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50. Ibid., p. 217.
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51. Ibid., p. 219.
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52. Rudolf Rocker, "Nationalism and Culture," trans. Ray E.
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Chase (Los Angeles: Rocker Publications Committee, 1937), p.
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92.
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53. Ibid., p. 91.
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54. Ibid., p. 92.
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55. Proudhon, op. cit., pp. 248-51.
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____________________________________________________________________
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***********************************************************************
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* "Nothing is more to me than myself." *
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* -- Max Stirner *
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***********************************************************************
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