A.B.C. OF ANARCHISM beckon to heart and' spirit. These the world condemns, but little 'by little it follows· their example and lead, and finally it comes up abreast of · them. -In the meantime those pathfinders have gone much further or died, and then we build monuments to them and _glorifythe men we -have vilified and crucified as we go on-crucifying their brothers in spirit, the pioneers of our own day. · . Beneath this spirit of intolerance and persecution is the habit of authority : coercion to conform to dominant standards, compulsion -moral and legal-to be and act as other~, according to precedent and rule. · · But the general view that conformity is a natural trait is entirely false. On the contrary, given the least chan'ce, unimpeded by the mental habits instilled from the ·very cradle, man evidences uniqueness and originality. Observe children, for instance, and you will see most varied diff,erentiation in manner and attitude, in mental and psychic expression. You will discover an instinctive tendency to individuality and independence, to nonconformity, manife'sted in open and secret defiance of the will imposed from the outside, in rebellion against the ·authority· of parent and teacher. The' whole training and " education " of the child is a continuous process of stifling and crushing this tendency, the eradication of his distinctive characteristics, of his unlikeness to others, or ·his personality and ,originality. Yet even in spitti of year-long repression, suppression, and moulding, some originality persists in the chird when it reaches maturity, which shows how deep are the springs of individuality. Take any \wo persons, for example, who have witnessed some tragedy, a big fire, let us say, at the same time and place. · Each will tell the story in a different manner, each will be original in his way of relating it and in the impression he will produce, because of his naturally different psychology. But talk to the same two persons on some fundamental social matter, about life and government, for instance, and immediately you hear expressed an exactly similar ~ttitude, the accepted view, the dominant mentality. Why ? Because where man is left free to think and feel for himself, unhindered by precept and rule, and not restrained by the fea.r of being " different " and unorthodox, with the unpleasant ,consequences it involves, he -will be independent and free. But the moment the conversation touches matters within the sphere of our social imperatives, one is in the clutches of the taboos and becomei a copy and a parrot. . . -Life in freedom, in Anarchy, will do more than liberate man merely from his present political and economic bondage. That will be only the first step, the preliminary to a truly human existence. 38 B1bllotecaGino Bianco
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