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

432/ ANARCHISM
dered, rounded whole. I say to some extent because of course the anarchist outlook
could not and should not ever become rigid, immutable or stagnant. It must remain
supple, lively, rich in terms of ideas and its various strands. But suppleness should
not mean confusion. And, then again, there is a happy medium between immobility
and flux. It is precisely that happy medium that the "Anarchist Synthesis" aims to
identifY, pin down and arrive at ...
The three key ideas which ... should be embraced by all serious anarchists in order
to unite the movement, are as follows:
1. Definitive acceptance of the syndicalist principle, which points the way to the
real methodology of social revolution.
2. Definitive acceptance of the (libertarian) communist principle, which lays the
organizational basis fo r the new society in the making.
3. Definitive acceptance of the individualist principle, the utter emancipation
and happiness of the individual being the real goal of the social revolution and the
new society ...
Is the existence of several inimical anarchist currents, squabbling with one another, a
positive thing or a negative one Does the disintegration of the libertarian idea and
movement into several mutually hostile tendencies further or frustrate the success of
the anarchist belief If it be thought to further it, there is no point in further discussion.
If, on the other hand, it is regarded as damaging, then we must draw all the requisite
conclusions from that acknowledgment.
To that first question, our answer is this:
/\t the outset, the anaichist idea was still under-developeu dUO confused and it
was only natural and useful that every aspect of it should be analyzed, taken apart,
scrutinized thoroughly, its components examined and measured alongside one another,
etc. Which is what was done. Anarchism was broken down into several elements
(or currents). Thus the overly general and vague whole was dissected and this
helped us delve deeper and make a more thoroughgoing study of that whole as well
as of its component parts. So at the time this dismemberment of the anarchist idea
was a positive thing. Various persons probed the various strands of anarchism and
the details and the whole gained in depth and precision as a result. But then, once
this initial task had been accomplished, after the components of anarchist thinking
(communism, individualism, syndicalism) had been turned over and over from every
angle, minds ought to have turned to rebuilding, with these same well-honed components,
the organic whole from which they had sprung. Following a thoroughgoing
analysis, we had to return (shrewdly) to the restorative of synthesis.