GIOVANNI BALDELLI and let it not be subjugated. by another, social instincts w1ll flow unhindered, all human. relationshlps will steeped wlth love, human life will be spirttualized, and there w111be such happiness and wonder that out man in the street will not want it, feeling completely unprepared for and unworthy of it, and needing far more evidence than he has to be convinced that there are many who deserve it more than he does. It 1s an e-?(cessof positivity in anarchism, and not lack of it, whlch makes it mistrusted. Anarchism would be all rtght, thus reasons the man in the street, if men were angels; as they are not angels, you need power to stop them turning i,nto devils. But what if it were power that stops them from tuming into angels? What if power were an invention of the devil, and if its main effect,. not to say its purpose, were to bring out and foster whatever devilishness there is in them? Anarchy has never been trted, and that may well be negativity. But there 1s posltivity in trying the unprecedented. Anarchy would, if trled, be man's greatest adventure. There is posltlvlty ln the falth and courage, and in all the ·other virtues needed to preserve an anarchlst society, not Ièss than to establlsh lt ln the first place. Downrlght host111tyto anarchism is to be found, not unexpectedly, among exploiters and power-holders. But it 1s also found among people committed to putting an end to capitallst exploitation. The reason ls not far to seek. The more ambitious their revolutionary programme, and the bigger thelr organization, the greater, less. divlded and less challengeable 1s the power they want. The anarchist objection to power raises awkward questions about the purlty and genuineness of woUldbe revolutlonartes and Uberators. It 1s also a warning that revolution may be pursued as an end in itself, and theretore prtmarily to the advantage .of those who stimulate, organize and direct lt. It ls a warnlng against the polltlcally profitable deception that ail evil stems from capitalist exploitation, and that lts so-called abolition w~l leave the masses wlth no ground for discontent, as fully happy as they will be fully submisslve to their party and leaders. Anarchism 1s not historical, and that 1s both its weakness and lts strength. It is not historical in the sense that lt does not derive its principles and .programme from a general theory of history,or from one particular historical situation. The antlhistoricism of anarchists prevents them from securing a firrn grip on events and situations, and !rom gainlng wide popularity in competition with tacticians of all descriptions, for whom 110
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