💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › ross-winn-government-by-the-majority.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 13:49:15. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Title: Government by the majority
Author: Ross Winn
Date: 1896
Language: en
Topics: government
Source: Retrieved on February 29, 2012 from http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/47d8bp
Notes: The Rebel January 1896 (An anarchist-Communist journal devoted to the solution of the labor question)

Ross Winn

Government by the majority

Throughout the centuries that have fled since man crawled forth from his

cave an ignorant savage, there has been some form of organized

government under which somebody has been oppressed. During all these

unknown ages the people have had but little voice in the affairs of

nations. For a long time the source of authority was not in this world

at all. The king sat on his throne by the will of god, and therefore was

not accountable to the people for his acts. He commanded — the people

obeyed. He was lord of their bodies, and his partner, the priest, was

master of their souls. The government of earth was a duplicate of the

“kingdom of heaven.” God was the supreme despot above, the king was his

faithful imitator below. Between the heavenly king and the earthly king

the people were very much like the fellow who got caught between the

devil and the deep sea. That is to say, if they rebelled against the

one, they were confronted by the agents of the other, and the argument

in both cases was the same — force.

But in the course of human progress the people became more enlightened,

and the divinity of kings as the basis of government had to go. But

government itself remained, and under it the people were enslaved. But

government — this monster of the ages — that has been guilty of every

possible crime, has been compelled to change its garb, to put on a new

mask, in order to keep the people in subjection, otherwise they would

have rid themselves of it long ago. But, while government has changed

its garb — its form — it never has changed in principle, because, like

the christian god, government is the same in principle yesterday,

to-morrow and forever.

There are but two theories upon which government can be based. One is

the divine right of kings, the other is the natural right of majority

rule. In this country at least, no one will maintain the divine right of

kingcraft. So we have only to notice the majority rule fallacy.

Admitting that the will of the majority does, in some mysterious way,

prevail, (which is not true) the question arises, by what right does it

rule? When two men meet, one man on the highway, have they, because of

their superior number, the right to dispose of his life or his property?

If A. has no right to control B. when acting as a single individual,

does he acquire this right by combining with C.? Let those who advocate

government meet this question fairly. Let them candidly admit that ten

men when combined possess rights which belong to none of them as

individuals. That is the logic of majority rule. Let them deny this

proposition, and their whole case is gone “like the baseless fabric of a

schoolboy’s dream.”

We have had coercion enough. For ages man has ruled with sword and

bayonet, with bars and chains. For many centuries the strong hand of

power has crushed the liberties of the people, has soaked the soil with

human blood, has cast the sable shadow of oppression over the earth, and

now are we not civilized enough to dispense with it forever? What

blessings does government confer?

Has it not ever been an engine of oppression in the hands of the few? Is

it not in its very nature antagonistic to freedom, and can we expect it

to defend that which it destroys? For many centuries government has held

sway, and liberty has been driven from among men. Let us give liberty

control.

Liberty does not bring confusion, it brings peace. Under government the

nations are armed constantly for war. The state thrives on war and

bloodshed. Its chief prop is the sword. It lives only by violence. Take

from it the power of its arms, and it will die a natural death.

The government of man by man is essentially tyrannical. It is this

infernal doctrine that has painted on the sable canvas of the past the

wildest scenes of rapine and murder. Let us away with it.

Ross Winn.