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

The IntelWar Years /45 1
feudal and barbarous prejudices concerning violence, which are completely obsolete,
and to which the majority of men still cling. Just as it is the inevitable fate of all
political or social power, even though it may be exercised in the name of the Revolution,
not to be able any longer to rid itself of horizontal and vertical violence, so it is
the task of the social revolution to go beyond this violence and to emancipate itself
from it. If the masses of the people really raise themselves, they will substitute for the
violence of the State the freedom which comes from self-government.
The traditional belief in horizontal and vertical violence is nothing but a kind of
moral enslavement to the nobility, clergy and bourgeoisie. It is nothing but a kind of
blind, savage Messianism. It is the intrusion ofthe past into the present, to the peril
of the fu ture. He who cannot break loose from this fatal heritage is doomed to confuse
it more and more with the revolution. which in turn is corrupted by it. For if the
Revolution does offer a real value, it is just this, that it has shaken off barbarism and
based itself on its essential principles: universal solidarity and co-operation.
121. Rudolf Rocker: Nationalism and Culture (1937)
Rudolf Rocker (1873- 1 958) was a German anarcho-syndicalist and a moving fo rce behind the
refounding of tIle International Workers' Association in 1922 (Selection 114). He wrote extensively
on a wide variety of topics, ji"om anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism to Marxism
and dictatorship. His book, Anarcho-Syndicalism (London: Seeker & Warburg, 1938; Pluto
Press reprint, 1989, with a preface by Noam Chomsky) , is one of the best introductions to the
subject. The fo llowing extracts are taken ji"011l his more philosophically ambitious work. Nationalism
and Culture (Los Angeles: Rocker Publications Committee, 1937; most recently
reprinted by Black Rose Books), in which he analyzes the connection between power politics,
capitalism and racism.
THE MORBID DESIRE TO MAKE MILLIONS of men submissive to a definite will and to
fo rce whole empires into courses which are useful to the secret purposes of small minorities,
is frequently more evident in the typical representatives of modern capitalism than
are purely economic considerations or the prospect of greater material profit. The desire
to heap up ever increasing profits today no longer satisfies the demands ofthe great capitalistic
oligarchies. Every one of its members knows what enormous power the possession
of great wealth places in the hands of the individual and the caste to which he
belongs. This knowledge gives a tempting incentive and creates that typical consciousness
of mastery whose consequences are frequently more destructive than the fa cts of
monopoly itself. It is this mental attitude of the modem Grand Seigneur ofindustry and
high finance which condemns all opposition and will tolerate no equality ...