POSITIVITY OF ANARCHISM or 1s supposed to do, wherever an ana.rchist presence is felt. Precisely because anarchism encompasses the whole of man, and because it is a critique of the whole càpitallst system, and 11otonly of some of its features; because 1t is hlghly crltlcal also of alternative systems, anarchism lacks speclficity. By aimlng at too many targets, it ls argued, it !ails to shoot or to shoot effectlvely, at any one. Insurrectionary and ·revolutionary movements are triggered by speclfic issues. A particular law or institution, a body of people or a building, ls the object of a first concentrated attack and becomes the symbol of everything that is wrong and resented. Once the insurrectionary or revolutionary forces have corne into the open and have proven their strength, the attack may be generalized, and great transformations may be brought about. But before any such that would satlsfy an anarchist can be brought about, organlzed resistance to the will of those who take lt upon themselves to make the transformations must be· overcome, and the hatreds and resentments which move the masses to action must be diverted or appeased. This is, more or less, the argument of the revolutionary against the humanism of anarchism, and its strength must sadly be admitted, for many an anarchist bas forsaken his humanism and anarchlsm for the sake of revolution and revolut1on1sm. Anarchism and revolution1sm are often confused, not least in the minds of anarchists themselves. Speaking of anarchists Zinoviev said that «they do stupid things, but they are revolutionaries>, and stupid thlngs many an anarchist would do rather than not to be counted among the revolutionaries. The question then is whet~er revolution is somethlng more positive or negative than anarchism, or whether there is a conception of revolution whlch 1s distinctly anarchist. We believe there is, and we believe that once 1t 1s firmly grasped 1t wm help towards the undoing of the greatest mystification of our age, which ls precisely that of revolution, ln whose name oppression and exploitation of the worst kinds are ruthlessly and unashamedly carried out. Lack of space prevents us !rom doing full justice to this conception here, but we shall try to present it, however summarlly, so that its elements, when appearing in revolutionary practice, may be recognized, encouraged and defended. In his running down of Hannah Arendt booµOn-Revolution,, E. J. Hobsbawn observes that shey....-c"Jiieflyconcerned with the French and Russian revol~ns, and that she does not make even a passing referenc~to the revolutions of China, Cuba and Vietnam. What d ttnguishes the revolutions in 113
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