WHAT IS ANARCHISM? "Can you tell us briefly," your friend asks, "what Anarchism really is ? " I shall try. In the fewest words, Anarchism teaches that we can live in a society where there is no compulsion of any kind. A life without compulsion naturally means liberty; it means freedom from being forced or coerced, a chance to lead the life that suits you best. You cannot lead such a life unless you do away with the institu• tions that curtail your liberty and interfere with your life, the condition that compels you to act differently from the way you really would ·like to. What are those institutions and conditions ? Let us see what we have to do away with in order to secure a free and harmonious life. Once we know what has to be abolished and what must take its place, we shall also find the way to do it. What must be .abolished, then, to secure liberty ? First of all, of course, the thing that invades you most, that handicaps or erevents your free activity ; the thing that interferes with your liberty and compels you to live differently from what would be your own choice. That thing is government. . Take a good look at it and you will see that government is the greatest_invader ; more than that, the worst criminal man has ever known of. It fills the world with violence, with fraud and deceit, with oppression and misery. As a great thinker once said, "its breath is poison." It corrupts everything it touches. "Yes, government means violence and it is evil," you admit ; " but can we do without it ? " That is just what we want to talk over. Now, if I should ask you whethe'r you need government; I'm sure you would answer that you don't, but that it is for the others that it is neec;led. But if you should ask any one of those "others," he would reply as you do : he would say that he does not need it, but that it is necessary " for the others." Why does every one think that he can be decent enou~h without the policeman, but that the club is needed for " the others ? " " People would rob and murder each other if there were no ~overnment and no law," you say. Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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