Chapter IV: Appendix: A

I have said very little about Anarchism—merely mentioned it by name; yet the inquiries I have made into this subject reveal an organisation and a literature astonishing to the everyday mind. To use the words of that ardent bibliophile, H. Bourdin:

“To most people the word Anarchy is evil-sounding, but it is not the same to learned men and to collectors and lovers who acquire the desire of accumulating documents for history’s sake.

“The Anarchist literature has not a determined origin, being not the expression of a system invented and progressively elaborated, but the negation of all systems, produced by the desire to batter down the despotic in all its forms, the rules and duty imposed by prejudice or by force, and to give impulse to the free development of humanity. All acts which have been accomplished and all words which have been pronounced in hatred of this constraint and in favour of this freedom are consciously or unconsciously the production of Anarchy.

“It is astonishing when one glances at the huge quantity of literature of all kinds which has been printed in the space of the last half-century for the exposition of their ideal thought; no other party or sect, for whatever cause they had to defend, can be compared to this, except Christianity, which has taken about 2,000 years over it. Consider the difficulty which they have met in publishing clandestinely their periodicals, broadsides, etc., hunted by society as wild beasts; domiciliary perquisitions destroyed their works, which were merely their thoughts.”

M. Bourdin has courteously allowed me to inspect the huge library of Anarchistical literature which he has collected, consisting of journals, broadsides, pamphlets, volumes, songs, theatrical plays, etc.

To give you an idea of the extent and nature of the Anarchistical press, I enumerate a few of the journals:

_L’Anarchie, Journal de l’Ordre_, May, 1850.

(In 1850, Anarchy had already a press.)

_Le Libertaire_, 1858–1861.

_L’Egalité_, 1869–1872.

_L’Internationale_, 1870–1873.

_La Révolution Sociale_, 1871–1872.

_L’Ami du Peuple_ (Liège), 1873–1875.

_Ni Dieu ni Maître_, 1880. (You see we are getting on in titles.)

_La Révolution Sociale_, 1880.

_Le Drapeau Noir_, 1883.

_L’Emeute_, 1883–1884.

_La Lutte_, 1883.

_Le Défi_, 1884.

_La Guerre Sociale_, 1885. (Brussels).

_La Révolte_, 1894.

_L’Antipatriote_, 1899. (Cat out of the bag.)

_Le Tocsin_, 1892–1894.

_La Débâcle_, 1893.

_L’Insurgé_ (Lyons), 1893.

_Le Cyclone_ (Buenos Aires), 1895–1896.

_La Cravache_, 1898.

_Le Cravacheur_, idem.

_Le Cri de Révolte_, 1898–9.

_Les Crimes de Dieu_, 1898.

_La Bastille_, 1902–3.

_Germinal_, 1904–1910.

_L’Anarchie_, 1905.

_L’Anarchiste_, 1907.

_L’Action Directe_, 1907–1908.

_La Mère Peinard_, 1908.

_La Révolution_, 1909.

_Les Révoltés_, 1909.

_La Bataille Syndicaliste_, 1911.

_The Anarchist_ (Glasgow), 1912.

And these are only a few of the journals in the great Bourdin collection.* I have only mentioned some of the French journals devoted to the cause; there are English and German as well, and there are sure to be Russian and Spanish and Italian journals to match.

* This collection is for sale, I believe.

It is a big movement. Give me the literature of a movement, and I will feel its pulse and tell you about its constitution. The literature of Anarchism tells that it is very much alive.

What is Anarchism? It is really unconstructive Socialism and Syndicalism.

The Anarchists want to destroy society as it is, and let Human Nature ramp on the remains.

The Socialist wants to destroy society, and build it again on an anti-Human-natural plan.

The Syndicalist wants to destroy the Business World and to erect a new business world on an unbusinesslike basis.

Of the three, I prefer Anarchy.

It is the only one of the three dreams based on common-sense, for it frankly aims at Anarchy, and Anarchy is exactly what it would get were it to succeed.

* * * *

I have said “The three dreams,” and though I have permitted myself to sneer at some points in the philosophy of some of these dreamers, I have no sneers at all to expend on their energy, and on their wholeheartedness. They are all trying to express something, and that something is the Poverty and the Misery of the world.

Socialism, Syndicalism, and Anarchism are all one voice speaking in different tones.

And that voice is growing and must be answered, not by Repression, but by Philosophy.

The world is not all wrong, but it is not all right. Man is speaking in no uncertain tones, and he wants some reply more apposite to his argument than the glib chirrup of Pippa.