Graham R (Ed.) - Anarchism - A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One - From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)

The Franco-Prussian War /103
know. But it is the only fe asible alternative. Without it, there is no salvation for
France. All the ordinary means having failed, there is left only the primitive fe rocious
energy of the French people who must now choose between the slavery of bourgeois
civilization and the political and primitive fe rocity of the proletariat.
I have never believed that the workers in the cities, even under the most favourable
conditions, will ever be able to impose communism or collectivism on the peasants;
and I have never believed in this method of bringing about socialism, because I
abhor every imposed system and because I am a sincere and passionate lover of freedom.
This false idea and this ill-conceived hope are destructive ofliberty and constitute
the fundamental fallacy of authoritarian communism. For the imposition of
violence, systematically organized, leads to the reinstitution of the principle of authority
and makes necessary the State and its privileged ranks. Collectivism could be
imposed only on slaves, and this kind of collectivism would then be the negation of
humanity. In a free community, collectivism can come about only through the pressure
of circumstances, not by imposition from above but by a free spontaneous
movement from below, and only when the conditions of privileged individualism,
the politics of the State, criminal and civil codes, the juridical family, and the law of
inheritance will have been swept away by the revolution.
Since the revolution cannot be imposed upon the rural areas, it must be germinated
within the agricultural communities, by stirring up a revolutionary movement of the
peasants themselves. inciting them to destroy, by direct action, every political, judicial, civil,
alld military institution, and to establish and organize anarchy t11rough the whole coullllyside.
This can be done in only one way, by speaking to the peasants in a manner
which will impel them in the direction oI tlIeir own interests. They love the land Let them
take the land and throw out those landlords who live by the labour of others!! They
do not like paying mortgages, taxes, rents, and private debts Let them stop paying!!
And lastly, they hate conscription Don't fo rce them to join the army!!
And who will fight the Prussians You need not worry about that. Once the peasants
are aroused and actually see the advantages of the Revolution, they will voluntarily
give more money and more men to defend the Revolution than it would be
possible to extract from them by compulsory official measures. The peasants will, as
they did in 1 792, again repel the Prussian invaders. It is necessary only that they have
the opportunity to raise hell, and only the anarchist revolution can inspire them to
do it.