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Title: Letter from Orleans, France
Author: Émile Armand
Date: January 1915
Language: en
Topics: anti-militarist, anti-war, war, World War I
Source: Retrieved on December 22, 2011 from http://libertarian-labyrinth.org/archive/Letter_from_Orleans,_France][libertarian-labyrinth.org]].  Proofread online source [[http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=3768, retrieved on July 14, 2020.
Notes: From Mother Earth

Émile Armand

Letter from Orleans, France

Orleans, France, November 8^(th).

Dear Comrade:

I read in The Spur your few lines to Guy Aldred. A large number of our

comrades, especially the Individualist Anarchists, have withstood the

jingo contagion.

Others have enlisted as volunteers, it is true, but they are a small

minority. On the other hand, I am literally terrified by the ideas

revealed by the communists and the syndicalists.

As an Individualist Anarchist, I am against war, ever and forever. First

of all, because, in a country at war, what few liberties an individual

possessed are taken from him. Everything under the arbitrary control of

the military administration; every plan of meeting, all literature,

every newspaper, must pass the military censor. You no longer belong to

yourself, neither your person nor your property. Not only this, but

Nationalism and Clericalism develop into frightful proportions. Under

the pretext of “unity,” the advanced parties give up hard won liberties

to the reactionaries, who always profit from times such as these. The

military caste, and the clerical caste are the masters of the day. How

much of our propaganda can we restore the moment war is over is what I

ask? And what will the reactionaries not dare to do against us?

I know well enough that the problem is complex. The victory of

“Kaiserism” will not profit our propaganda. But neither do I believe

that French jingoism, English imperialism and Tzarism will be favorable

for the spread of our ideas. It seems to me that, though I am not a

Communist, Kropotkin, Malato, Cornelissen and others could have shown

another point of view.

We live in sad days and the future does not appear very clear to me.

I have read with pleasure “The Social Significance of the Modern Drama.”

You know that “Chanticler” made rather (from a literary standpoint) an

unfavorable impression on us.

Sincerely,

E. Armand.