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

Revolutionary Ideas And Action / 59
Indeed:
Who says anarchy, says negation of government;
Who says negation of government says affirmation of the people;
Who says affirmation of the people, says individual liberty;
Who says individual liberty, says sovereignty of each;
Who says sovereignty of each, says equality;
Who says equality, says solidarity or fraternity;
Who says fraternity, says social order.
By contrast:
Who says government, says negation of the people;
Who says negation of the people, says affirmation of political authority;
Who says affirmation of political authority, says individual dependency;
Who says individual dependency, says class supremacy;
Who says class supremacy, says inequality;
Who says inequality, says antagonism;
Who says antagonism, says civil war;
From which it follows that who says government, says civil war.
Yes, anarchy is order, whereas government is civil war.
When my intellect looks past the wretched details underpinning the day to day
dialectic, I discover that the intestinal strife which, throughout the ages, has decimated
humankind, is bound up with a single cause, to wit: the destruction or preservation
of government.
In the realm of politics, sacrifice of self for the purpose of the maintenance or installation
of a government has always meant having one's throat cut and one's entrails
torn out. Point me to a place where men openly slaughter one another and I will
show you a government behind all the carnage. If you try to explain civil war away as
other than the manner of a government's trying to ensconce itself or a government's
refusal to quit the stage, you are wasting your time; you will not be able to corne up
with anything.
And the reason is simple.
A government is set up. In the very instant of its creation, it has its servants and,
as a result, its supporters; and the moment that it has its supporters it has its adversaries
too. That very fact alone quickens the seed of civil war, because the govern-