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Title: Anarchism and Revolution Author: Pëtr Kropotkin Language: en Topics: revolution Source: retrieved on October 3, 2019, from https://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/anarchism-and-revolution/view.php.
If each member of society is to have the opportunity of earning his
living by his own labor - without as a result enslaving himself to
anyone else, either to a private individual, or to a company, or to a
union - he must obviously always have the opportunity of acquiring that
spade with which he wishes to dig, that cotton from which he wishes to
spin thread or weave cloth, that bread, those clothes, that room to live
in, that place to work in, before he can manufacture anything having an
exchange value for society. It is apparent that in previous times
production was so simple that an this did not require a vast
accumulation of the initial products of personal labor, that anyone,
though working only with the instruments of labor available in his
family, only on those raw materials which he took free of charge from
nature, could produce useful exchange values. But now - and the progress
of society consists of this - the preliminary accumulation of the
products of labor for the creating of instruments of labor and the
storing of raw material must be so great that it can no longer be the
business of a private individual or a group of individuals.
It is therefore clear that if it is desirable that a person setting to
work should not enthralled himself, should not give up part of his
labor, his strength, his independence, either temporarily or
permanently, to private individuals whose arbitary power will always
determine how great that part shall be, then it is necessary that
private individuals should control neither the instruments of labor
(tools, machines, factories), nor the places of cultivation of raw
materials (the earth), nor the raw materials previously stored up, nor
the means of storing and transporting them to particular places (the
means of communication, warehouses, and so on), nor the means of
existence during work (the supplies of the means of subsistence and
housing).
So we arrive at the elimination in that future system whose realization
we desire, of any property of individuals, of any property of an
incorporated company, a union, and so on.
Those writers of previous times who came to this conclusion saw no other
way out than the transfer of all the capital of society to the state -
that is, to a powerful organization representing in itself the interests
of society and managing all affairs which concern the whole of society.
It was left to it to guarantee each member of society the opportunity of
obtaining the necessary instruments of labor, and so on; it was also
left to it to distribute among the members of society those goods made
by them. But precisely because of this, the brilliant dreams of the
followers of these thinkers did not find enough adherents among those
people who would have to put these dreams into practice. In the ideal of
these thinkers only one aspect of life is considered - the economic.
Those who were used to thinking in a concrete way understood very well
that no matter what combination of conditions was worked out so that
this government should express the views of the majority, that no matter
how mobile, flexible and susceptible to change its composition might be,
the group of individuals to whom society gives up its rights would
always be a power separate from society, trying to widen its influence,
its interference in the affairs of each separate individual. And the
wider the sphere of activity of this government, the greater the danger
of the enslavement of society, the greater the probability that the
government would stop being: the expression of the interests and desires
of the majority.
So both the masses and many individual thinkers long ago realized that
the transfer of this most essential element of the life of society into
the hands of any elected government at all would be the source of the
most crucial inconvenience, if not the actual suicide of society. ...
In our opinion the realization of our ideal must be brought about
through a social revolution. Here we do not flatter ourselves at all
with the hope that the ideal will be put completely into effect in the
first revolution; indeed we are convinced that for the realization of
the equality we have sketched, many years are still needed, and so many
limited - perhaps even general - outbursts. But we are also convinced
that the more completely, the more widely the demands of the masses are
set out from the very first revolution: the more clearly and concretely
these demands are expressed - then the more the first step will destroy
those cultural forms which hinder the realization of the socialist
system, the more disorganized those forces and attitudes which present
social and state life cling to; then the successive upheavals will be
more peaceful and successively large-scale improvements in the attitude
of the people will follow.
So our goals must be to apply our strength to hastening this outburst,
so as to illuminate those hopes and aspirations which exist in the great
majority in vague forms, so that in time we shall be able to take
advantage of the circumstances in which an outburst may have the most
favorable outcome, so that in take end the outburst itself will occur in
the name of clearly expressed demands, and exactly in the name of those
we have stated....
We are profoundly convinced that no revolution is possible if the need
for it is not felt among the people themselves. No handful of
individuals, however energetic and talented, can arouse a popular
insurrection if the people themselves through their best representatives
do not come to the realization that they have no other way out of the
situation they are dissatisfied with except insurrection. Therefore the
task of any revolutionary party is not to call for insurrection but only
to prepare the way for the success of the approaching insurrection -
that is, to unite the dissatisfied elements, to increase the knowledge
of individual units or groups about the aspirations and actions of other
such groups, to help the people in defining more clearly the real causes
of dissatisfaction, to help them in identifying more clearly their real
enemies, stripping the mask from enemies who hide behind some
respectable disguise, and, finally, to contribute to the illumination of
both the immediate practical ends and the means of putting them into
practice. ...
Where should our activity be directed, where should we mainly spread our
ideas and look for like-minded people - among the student youth and
upper classes, or among the peasants and workers?
We can answer this question categorically, and we consider this answer
to be the fundamental position in our practical program: undoubtedly
among the peasants and workers. Here we must spread our ideas, here we
must look for comrades who will help in the further dissemination of
these ideas; with these comrades we must enter into a friendly and
closely united organization. We do not wish to break off relations with
the educated section of society, and especially not with the section of
student youth; but refusing to take on the permanent role of instructing
this youth in a given direction, we shall enter into close relations
only with those groups or individuals who immediately inspire the
confidence or the almost certain hope that they will direct their future
activity among the peasants and workers. For the mass of educated youth
we are prepared to do only one thing: to disseminate, and --`if the
cause cannot be spread without our assistance, and also if we have
enough energy to spare - to prepare those books which directly assist
the explanation of our ideals and our ends, which make available those
facts which show the complete inevitability of the social upheaval and
the necessity to unite, to organize the awakened strength of the people.
The insurrection must take place among the peasants and workers
themselves. Only then can it count on success. But no less necessary for
the success of the insurrection is the existence among the
insurrectionists themselves of a strong, friendly, active group of
people who, acting as a link between the various areas, and having
dearly worked out how to express the demands of the people, how to avoid
the various traps, how to bring about their victory, are agreed on the
means of action. It is moreover clear that such a party must not stand
outside the people, but among them, but act not as the champion of
outside ideas elaborated in isolation, but merely as a more distinct,
more complete expression of the demands of the people themselves; in
short, it is clear that such a party cannot be a group of people outside
the peasants and workers, but must be the focus of the most conscious
and decisive forces of the peasants and workers. Any party standing
outside the people - especially one that come from the upper class -
however much it is inspired with a wish for the welfare of the people,
however well it expresses the demands of the people, will inevitably be
doomed to failure, like all the rest, as soon as the insurgent people
with their first actions open up the gulf between the upper and lower
classes. And we can see in this a completely deserved retribution for
the fact that the members of this party were previously unable to become
the comrades of the people, but instead remained superior leaders. Only
those whose previous way of life and previous actions are entirely of a
kind which deserves the faith of the peasants and workers will be
listened to; and these will be only the activists among the peasants
themselves, and those who wholeheartedly give themselves up to the
people's cause, and prove themselves not with heroic deeds in a moment
of enthusiasm but with the whole previous ordinary life; those who,
discarding any tinge of the upper class, enter into dose relations with
the peasants and workers, linked by personal friendship and
confidence....
We consider it to be a crucial mistake to set up as an end the creation
of agitators among the people who keep themselves at a distance from the
people and move in the sphere of their colleagues of the intelligentsia.
It is impossible suddenly to cross at a given moment from the sphere of
the intelligentsia to the environment of the people, just as one
pleases. The sphere of the intelligentsia permanently leaves a
characteristic stamp on those who have moved in it, and it is necessary
to renounce this first to have success among the people. It is
impossible to become a populist agitator in a few days; it is necessary
to be trained in this work. For this reason, We consider that the best
means for the achievement of our aim is to proceed immediately to
activity among the people, no matter how small the circle of individuals
who have come to this conclusion. We are also convinced that it is
impossible to ;ally the people in the name of future activity, or at
least extremely difficult, and that it is much easier to rally the
people in the name of an activity whose feasibility and appropriateness
everyone can believe in now, and in which one can engage immediately. By
showing results which have been achieved, and by acting on people not
only through words, but through both words and deeds, it is considerably
easier to convert them of the things one is oneself convinced of....