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THE NEWEST ANARCHISM 235
troops all along them. The 300,000
men of the active
army, charged with the surveillance of 39 million meters,
will be isolated from one another by 130 meters, and this
can be done only on the condition of abandoning the protection
of the depots, of the stations, of the factories,
etc. . . . and of abandoning the employers to themselves,
thus leaving the field free in the large cities to the
rebellious workingmen. The principal force of the general
strike consists in its
power of imposing A
itself.
strike in one branch of industry must involve other
branches. The general strike cannot be decreed in advance;
it will burst forth suddenly; a strike of the railway
men, for instance, if declared, will be the signal for
the general strike. It will be the duty of militant workingmen,
when this signal is given, to make their comrades
in the trade unions leave their work. Those who
continue to work on that day will be compelled, or forced,
to quit.
. . . The general strike will be the Revolution,
peaceful or not." (5)
Here is a new program of action, several points of
which are worthy of attention. It is clear that the general
strike is here conceived of as a panacea, an unfailing
weapon that obviates the necessity of political parties,
parliamentary work, or any action tending toward the
capture of political power. It is
granted that it must
end in civil war, but it is thought that this war cannot
fail ;
it must result in a complete social revolution. Even
more significant is the thought that it will burst forth
suddenly, without requiring any preliminary education,
extensive preparations, or even widespread organization.
In one line it is
proposed as an automatic revolution ;
in
another it is said that the militant workingmen
are expected
to force the others to quit work. Out of 11,000,-
000 toilers in France, about 1,000,000 are organized. Out