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Violence as a social factor by Errico Malatesta
Violence ie physical force
Used to another's hurt, which is the most brutal form the struggle between man can assume
is imminently corrupting. It tends by its very nature to suffocate the best sentiments of man and to develop all the
antisocial qualities; ferocity
hatred, revenge, the spirit of domination and tyranny, contempt of the weak
servility towards the strong. And this harmful tendency arises, also when violence is used for a good end
The love of justice which impelled one to the struggle amid
All the good original intentions is not sufficient guarantee
Against the depraving influence exerted by violence on the mind and actions of him who uses it.
In the whirl of battle one too often loses sight of the goal for which one fights and
One only thinks of returning a hundredfold if possible the blows
Received and when at last victory crowns the efforts of the party who fought for justice and humanity
It is already corrupt and incapable of realizing the program by which it was inspired.
How many men who enter on a political struggle inspired with the love of humanity of liberty and of toleration end
by becoming cruel and
inexorable prescribers?
How many sects have started with the idea of doing a work of justice in punishing some oppressor whom official
justice could not or would not strike have ended by becoming the instruments of private vengeance and based cupidity? and
the anarchists who rebel against every form of oppression and struggle for the integral liberty of each and who ought
thus to shrink instinctively from all acts of violence which ceased to be mere resistance to oppression and
Become oppressive in their turn
Also are liable to fall into the abyss of brutal force
facts have proved that the anarchists are not free from the errors and faults of
authoritarian parties and that in their case as in that of the rest of humanity
Atavistic instincts and the influence of the environment are often stronger than the best theories and noblest intentions
The excitement caused by some recent explosions in the admiration for the courage with which the bomb throwers face death
Suffice to cause many anarchists to forget their program and to enter on a path which is the most absolute negation of all
anarchist ideas and sentiments.
Hatred and revenge seemed to have become the moral basis of anarchism. "The bourgeoisie does as bad and worse".
Such as the argument with which they tried to justify and exalt every brutal deed
"The masses are brutalized we must force our ideas on them by violence"
"One has the right to kill those who preach false theories"
"The masses allow us to be oppressed; Let us revenge ourselves on the masses." "The more workers one kills the fewer slaves remained".
such are the ideas current in certain anarchist circles an
Anarchist review in a controversy on the different tendencies of the anarchist movement replied to a comrade with this unanswerable argument
"There will be bombs for you also".
It is true that these ultra authoritarians whose so strangely persist in calling themselves
Anarchists are but a small fraction who acquired a momentary importance owing to exceptional circumstances
But we must remember that generally speaking
They entered the movement inspired with those feelings of love and respect for the liberty of others which distinguish the true
anarchist.
and only in consequence of a sort of moral
intoxication produced by the violent struggle
They got to defend and extol acts and Maxim's worthy of the greatest tyrants
Nor must we forget that we have all or nearly all
Run the same danger that if most of us have stopped in time is perhaps due to these mad
Exaggerations which have shown us beforehand into what in abyss we were in danger of falling
Thus the danger of being corrupted by the use of violence and of despising the people and
becoming cruel as well as fanatical
persecutors
exists for all. And if in the coming revolution this moral degradation of the anarchist were to prevail on a large scale
What would become of anarchist ideas and what would be the outcome of the revolution?
Let us not consider humanity as a metaphysical conception
devoid of reality and let us not transform the love of others into a continuous
absurd and impossible
self-sacrifice.
Humanity is the slim total of human units and everyone who defends in himself those rights, which he recognizes in others
Defends them to the advantage of all
Altruism cannot go beyond loving others as one loves oneself
Otherwise it ceases to be a practical reality and becomes a misty idea which may attract some Minds inclined to mysticism
But can certainly not become a moral law to be lived up to
The object of the ideally moral man, is that all men may have as little suffering and as much joy as possible
Supposing the predominant instinct of self-preservation be eliminated the moral man when obliged to fight
Should act in such fashion that the total ill inflicted on the diverse combatants be as small as possible.
Consequently, he should not do another great evil to avoid suffering a small one for instance
he should not kill a man to avoid being punched
but he should not hesitate to break his legs if he could not do otherwise to prevent his killing him and
When this question of like evils such as killing so as not to be killed
Even then it seems to me that it is an advantage to society that the aggressor should die rather than the aggressed.
But if self-defense is a right one may renounce the defense of others at the risk of hurting the aggressor is a duty of solidarity
Is it true that the masses can emancipate themselves today without resorting to violent means?
Today above the great majority of mankind who derive a scanty livelihood by their labor or who die through want of work
There exists a privileged class who having monopolized the means of existence and the management of social interest
Shamefully exploit the former and deny the latter the means of work in life
this class who are influenced solely by a thirst for power and profit show no inclination to
Voluntarily renounce their privileges and to merge their private interest in the common good. On the contrary
it is ever arming itself with more powerful means of repression and
systematically uses violence not only to check every direct attack on their privileges but also to crush in the bud
every movment every
pacific organisation whose growth might endanger their power.
What means does Bell advise for getting out of this situation?
Propaganda,
organisation, moral resistance
certainly these are the essential factors in social evolution and
It is from them that we must start. And without these revolutionary violence would be senseless nay impossible
Bell admits the rights of the workers to break in the doors of a factory in order to seize the machinery
but he does not recognize their right to injure the factory owner and
In this he is right if the owner should allow the workers to proceed without opposing them with force.
But unfortunately, the policeman will come with their trench ins and revolvers.
What should the workers do then? Should they allow themselves to be taken and sent to prison?
That is a game one soon gets tired of
Bell certainly admits that the workers have the right to organize for the defeat of the bourgeoisie by means of a general strike
But what if the government sends down soldiers to slaughter them or what if the bourgeoisie which after all can afford to wait
holds out?
It will be absolutely necessary for the strikers if they do not wish to be starved out at the end of the second day to
seize on food wherever they can find it and as it will not be given up to them without resistance
They will be obliged to take it by force. So they would either have to fight or consider themselves as conquered. In
reality Bell's errors consist in this; that while discussing the methods of attaining an ideal
he presupposes that the ideal is already attained if
It were really possible to progress peacefully if the partisans of a social system
different to that which we desire do not force us to submit to it
Then we might say that we are living under anarchy for what is anarchy?
We do not wish to impose on others any hard and fast system nor do we pretend at least I do not
to possess the secret of a perfect social system
We wish that each social group be able within the limits imposed by the liberty of others
to experiment on the mode of life, which it believes to be the best and
we believe in the efficacy of persuasion and example. If
society did not deny us the right
We should have no right to complain and we would simply have to strive to make our system the most
successful so as to prove that it was the better.
It is only because
today one class has the monopoly of power and riches and is therefore able to force the people at the end of a bayonet
to work for it, that we have the right and that it is our duty to
fight for attaining with the aid of force those conditions which render it possible to experiment on better forms of society.
In short it is our duty to call attention to the dangers attendant on the use of violence
to insist on the principle of the involubility of human life, to
combat the spirit of hatred and revenge and to preach love and toleration.
But to blind ourselves to the true conditions of the struggle to
renounce the use of force for the purpose of repelling and attack force
relying on the fanciful efficacy of
"passive resistance" and then in in the name of a mystical morality to deny the right of self-defense
or to restrain it to the point of rendering it illusionary
can only end in nothing or in leaving a free field of action to the oppressors.
If we really wish to strive for the
emancipation of the people do not let us reject in principle the means without which the struggle can never be ended. And
remember the most energetic measures are also the most efficient and the least wasteful.
Only do not let us lose sight of the fact that ours is a struggle inspired by love and not by hatred.
And that it is our duty to do all in our power to see that the necessary violence does not
Degenerate into mere ferocity and that it be used only as a weapon in the struggle of right against wrong.
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