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

440 I ANARCHISM
By learning this we shall grow into the spirit of true liberty and solidarity, and know
that free associatioll is the soul of every achievement. We shall then realize that the social
revolution is the work of cooperation, of solidaric purpose, of mutual effort ...
What we call progress has been a painful but continuous march in the direction
of limiting authority and the power of government and increasing the rights and liberties
of the individual, of the masses. It has been a struggle that has taken thousands
of years . The reason that it took such a long time-and is not ended yet-is because
people did not know what the real trouble was: they fought against this and for that,
they changed kings and formed new governments, they put out one ruler only to set
lip another, they drove away a "foreign" oppressor only to suffer the yoke of a native
one, they abolished one form of tyranny, such as the Tsars, and submitted to that of a
party dictatorship, and always and ever they shed their blood and heroically sacrifIced
their lives in the hope of securing liberty and welfare.
But they secured only new masters, because however desperately and nobly
they fO llght, they never touched the real source of trouble, the principle of authority and
g;ovemmetll. They did not know that that was the fountainhead of enslavement and
oppression, and therefore they never succeeded in gaining liberty.
But now we understand that true liberty is not a matter of changing kings or rulers.
We know that the whole system of master and slave must go, that the entire social
scheme is wrong, that government and compulsion must be abolished, that the
very foundations of authority and monopoly must be uprooted ...
The main purpose of the social revolutioll must be the immediate betterment of
conditions for the masses. The success of the revolution fundamentally depends on
it. This can be achieved only by organizing consumption and production so as to be
of real benefit to the populace. In that lies the greatest-in fact, the only-security of
the social revolution ...
The object of revolution is to secure greater freedom, to increase the material
welfare of the people. The aim of the social revolution, in particular, is to enable the
masses by their own efforts to bring about conditions of material and social well-being,
to rise to higher moral and spiritual levels ...
Every revolution is accompanied by a great outburst of popular enthusiasm full
of hope and aspiration. It is the spring-board of revolution. This high tide, spontaneous
and powerful, opens up the human sources of initiative and activity. The sense of
equality liberates the best there is in man and makes him consciously creative. These
are the great motors of the social revolution, its moving forces. Their free and unhindered
expression signifies the development and deepening of the revolution. Their