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

28 / ANARCHISM
The French Revolution is but the precursor of another. .. greater and more solemn
revolution, which will be the last.
The People has marched over the bodies of kings and priests who allied against
it: it will be the same with the new tyrants, with the new political hypocrites, seated
in the place ofthe old ones! What do we want more than equality of rights We want
not only the equality transcribed in the Declaration al the Rights aIMan and Citizen; we
will have it in the midst of us. under the roofs of our houses. We consent to everything
for its sake; to make a clean start. that we may hold to it alone. Perish. if must
be, all the arts, provided real equality be left us!
... No more individual property in land: the land belongs to no one. We demand
... the communal enjoyment of the fruits of the earth. fruits which are fo r everyone!
We declare we can no longer suffer. with the enormous majority of men. labour
and sweat in the service and fo r the good pleasure of a small minority! Enough and
too long have less than a million individuals disposed of that which belongs to more
than twenty million of their kind!
Let this great scandal, that our grandchildren will hardly be willing to believe.
cease! Let disappear. once and for all. the revolting distinction of rich and poor. of
great and small. of masters and valets, of governors and governed!
Let there be no other diffe rence between human beings than those of age and
sex. Since all have the same needs and the same faculties. let there be one education
fo r all. one Isupply of] fo od fo r all. We are contented with one sun and one Isupply of]
air fo r all. Why should the same portion and the same quality of nourishment not suffice
fo r each of us But already the enemies of an order of things the most natural
that can be imagined, declaim against us. Disorganizers and factious persons
say ... you only seek massacre and plunder. People of France! we shall not waste our
time in replying to them. but we shall tell you: the holy enterprise which we organize
has no other aim than to put an end to civil dissensions and ... public miseIY ...
The moment for great measures has come. Evil is at its height. It covers the face
of the earth. Chaos. under the name of politics. has reigned there throughout too
many centuries. Let everything return once more to order, and reassume its just
place!
At the voice of equality. let the elements of justice and well-being organize
themselves. The moment has arrived fo r founding the Republic of the Equals. that
grand refuge open fo r all men. The days of general restitution have come. Families
groaning in misery. come and seat yourselves at the common table prepared by na-