“This is the secret of wealth; find the starving and destitute, pay them half a crown, and make them produce five shillings worth in the day, amass a fortune by these means, and then increase it by some lucky hit, made with the help of the State.” WealthPovertyCapitalismSocialismCommunismAnarchism Book:The Conquest of Bread Source: The Conquest of Bread
“They fear that without compulsion the masses will not work. But during our own lifetime, have we not heard the same fears expressed twice? Once, by the anti-abolitionists in America before the emancipation of the Negroes, and, for a second time, by the Russian nobility before the liberation of the serfs? 'Without the whip the Negro will not work,' said the anti- abolitionist. 'Free from their master's supervision the serfs will leave the fields uncultivated,' said the Russian serf-owners. It was the refrain of the French noblemen in 1789, the refrain of the Middle Ages, a refrain as old as the world, and we shall hear it every time there is a question of sweeping away an injustice. And each time actual facts give it the lie. The liberated peasant of 1792 ploughed with an eager energy, unknown to his ancestor so, the emancipated Negro works more than his fathers; and the Russian peasant, after having honoured the honeymoon of his emancipation by celebrating Fridays as well as Sundays, has taken up work with an eagerness proportionate to the completeness of his liberation. There, where the soil is his, he works desperately; that is the exact word for it. The anti-abolitionist refrain can be of value to slave-owners; as to the slaves them- selves, they know what it is worth, as they know its motive.” WorkSlaveryCommunismEmancipationWage LaborSerfdom Book:The Conquest of Bread Source: The Conquest of Bread
“The Utopists won the battle. They proved that they were the really practical people, and that those who pretended to be practical were imbeciles.” CommunismAnarchismImbecilesAre We Good EnoughUtopists Author:Peter Kropotkin
“It is only by the abolition of the State, by the conquest of perfect liberty by the individual, by free agreement, association, and absolute free federation that we can reach Communism — the possession in common of our social inheritance, and the production in common of all riches.” StatesIndividualSocialPerfectCommonLibertyAbsolutesProductionsPossessionRichesCommunismAgreementAssociationConquestInheritanceAbolitionFederation Book:Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings Source: Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings
“The two great movements of our century -- towards Liberty of the individual and social co-operation of the whole community -- are summed up in Anarchist-Communism.” TwoWholeIndividualSocialCommunityLibertyCenturyMovementCommunismOperationsAnarchist Author:Peter Kropotkin
