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

Anarchy And Anarchism / 135
dren, feeding them, sharing the meager sustenance of the week, seeking to make
ends meet by doubling their hours of work. A sort of communism is instituted among
neighbours through lending, in which there is a constant coming and going of household
implements and provisions. Poverty unites the unfortunate in a fraternal league.
Together they are hungry; together they are satisfied. Anarchist morality and practice
are the rule even in bourgeois gatherings where they might seem to be entirely
absent. Imagine a party in the countryside at which some participant, whether the
host or one of the guests, would put on airs of superiority, order people around, or
impose his whims rudely on everyone! Wouldn't this completely destroy all the pleasure
and joy of the occasion True geniality can only exist between those who are
free and equal, between those who can enjoy themselves in whatever way suits them
best, in separate groups if they wish, or drawing closer to one another and intermingling
as they please, for the hours spent in this way are the most agreeable ones.
39. }ean Grave: Moribund Society and Anarchy (1893)
At the invitation of Eli see Reclus, Jean Grave (1854- 1939) became the editor ofle Revolte [The
Rebel] in 1883, after Kropotkin, one of its fo unding editors, and several other anarchists were
imprisoned in France for advocating anarchy. In 1887, Grave changed tIle name of the publication
to la Revolte {Revolt], which he continued to publish until it was suppressed by the French
government in 1894 and Grave was also imprisoned fo r publishing anarchist propaganda. He
began a new paper in 1895, les Temps nouveaux {New Times], which lasted until the First
World War in 1914, publishing the works of leading anarchist theorists, including Kropotkin
and Reclus, as well as contemporary art and literature by anarchist artists and sympathizers,
such as the painter, Camille Pissarro (1830- 1903), and the writer, Octave Mirbeau (1850-
1917). The fo llowing excerpts are taken from Voltairine de Cleyre's 1899 translation of Grave's
Moribund Society and Anarchy (San Francisco: A. Isaak, 1899), originaIly published in
French in 1893 (P. V. Stock), with a preface by Octave Mirbeau.
THE STRONGEST OBJECTION ... persons have so fa r been able to bring against the Anarchists
is to say to them, "Your theories are very fine, but they cannot be realized."
This is not an argument. "Why can they not be realized" we ask, and instead of answering
us with reasons they bring fo rward their fears. They tell us that with man's
evil nature it is to be feared that he would profit by his liberty to stop working altogether;
that when no mediating power existed it might happen that the stronger
would exploit the weaker, etc. The Anarchists have shown the lack offoundation fo r
these fears by proving that this evil tendency in man, these shortcomings in his character,
are stimulated and encouraged by the present social organization which sets