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

Chinese Anarchism / 347
fore, private property is highly valued. Because individuals are weak, they gather together.
When the group is big and powerful, they always win; when the group is small
and weak, they always lose ... They have to set up government to maintain their advantages.
Thus national boundaries are set lip. Therefore, to eliminate interest, we
must start with national boundaries. To eliminate national boundaries, we must start
with private property. When private property has been eliminated, there will be no
way to determine national and racial boundaries. Then people will abandon ideas of
interest. Humankind will achieve equality and enjoy great harmony. There will be no
national and racial boundaries, but only philanthropy. love will thus be universal.
(New Era, Nos. 15, 17, 18, 20 & 23, September-November 1907)
98. Wu Zhihui: Education as Revolution (1908)
Wu Zhilwi (1869- 1 953) was an influential member of the Paris group that publislled the
New Era. He regarded education as a particularly important part of the anarchist social revolution
and later helped to fo und the Labour University ill China, where some of his ideas were
put into practice, but ol1ly fo r a brief period wllile it served the purposes of the Guomilldang
government prior to its suppression of the anarchist movement. Tile fo llowing excerpts are
from Ilis article, "On Anarchist Advocacy of Education as Revolution, " originally published in
the New Era in September 1908. The translation is by Guannan Li of the University of Oregon
(History Department).
THE GOAL OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION is the struggle fo r rights. It equates public morality
with national sovereignty. Therefore, when political revolution occurs, it easily
turns into mob action by the revolutionary party. At first, they grab power from the
monarchs. Then they fight against and indiscriminately slaughter and coerce each
other. The only thing they dare not openly transgress is the motherland and national
sovereignty .
... Those who advocate political revolution use rights as a catalyst to arouse
emotions. In this case, rights are opposed to public morality. Here, revolution and
education are viewed as two separate things. So bad effects are inevitable.
The call for constitutionalism in political revolution is especially contemptible ...
even if they captured political power, the coercive imperial house would remain in existence
...
Anarchist revolution is totally different. Anarchists aim at arousing public morality,
are concerned with the mutual interaction between the individual and the society,
and are willing to abnegate all personal rights in order to pursue collective
happiness. This actually emphasizes education, not revolution. When education is