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“Anarchism, to me, means not only the denial of authority, not only a new economy, but a revision of the principles of morality. It means the development of the individual as well as the assertion of the individual. It means self-responsibility, and not leader worship.”

WellsMeanSelfIndividualResponsibilityLeaderPrinciplesEconomyDevelopmentMoralityAuthorityWorshipDenialAnarchyAnarchismAnarchistPersonal ResponsibilityAssertionRevisionSelf Responsibility
Author:Voltairine de Cleyre
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“Anarchists are extreme libertarian socialists , "libertarian" meaning the demand for freedom from prohibition, and "socialist" meaning the demand for social equality . ...Complete freedom implies equality, since if there are rich and poor, the poor cannot be permitted to take liberties with riches. Complete equality implies freedom, since those who suffer restrictions cannot be the equals of those who impose them.”

IfsSufferingSocialPoorLibertyRichDemandExtremesLibertarianRichesSocialistRestrictionAnarchismAnarchistRich And PoorProhibitionComplete FreedomSocial Equality
Author:Donald Rooum
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“Anarchists are opposed to violence; everyone knows that. The main plank of anarchism is the removal of violence from human relations. It is life based on freedom of the individual, without the intervention of the gendarme. For this reason we are the enemies of capitalism which depends on the protection of the gendarme to oblige workers to allow themselves to be exploited--or even to remain idle and go hungry when it is not in the interest of the bosses to exploit them. We are therefore enemies of the State which is the coercive violent organization of society.”

KnowsHumansStatesReasonIndividualInterestEnemyViolenceDependsCapitalismOrganizationRelationWorkersProtectionViolentHungryBossAnarchyIdleInterventionExploitsAnarchismAnarchistHuman RelationsRemoval
Author:Errico Malatesta
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“Anarchists believe that we can govern ourselves in the absence of coercive and centralized authority; the underlying premise about human nature (to use an infinitely problematized but necessary term here) is fundamentally positive. And the evidence that in disasters people are really pretty kind, generous, brave, resourceful and creative fed that.”

PeopleBelieveHumansKindUseTermCreativeHuman NatureAuthorityEvidenceBraveAbsenceDisasterGenerousFedsPremisesAnarchistResourcefulReally Pretty
Author:Rebecca Solnit
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“Anarchists did not try to carry out genocide against the Armenians in Turkey; they did not deliberately starve millions of Ukrainians; they did not create a system of death camps to kill Jews, gypsies, and Slavs in Europe; they did not fire-bomb scores of large German and Japanese cities and drop nuclear bombs on two of them; they did not carry out a ‘Great Leap Forward’ that killed scores of millions of Chinese; they did not attempt to kill everybody with any appreciable education in Cambodia; they did not launch one aggressive war after another; they did not implement trade sanctions that killed perhaps 500,000 Iraqi children. In debates between anarchists and statists, the burden of proof clearly should rest on those who place their trust in the state. Anarchy’s mayhem is wholly conjectural; the state’s mayhem is undeniably, factually horrendous.”

GovernmentChaosKillingAnarchyGenocideAnarchismStateStatismMayhem
Author:Robert Higgs
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“Anarchists generally make use if the word "State" to mean all the collection of institutions, political, legislative, judicial, military, financial, etc., by means of which management of their own affairs, the guidance of their personal conduct, and the care of ensuring their own safety are taken from the people and confided to certain individuals, and these, whether by usurpation or delegation, are invested with the right to make laws over and for all, and to constrain the public to respect them, making use of the collective force of the community to this end.”

PeopleIfsMeanEndsStatesUseCareLawPoliticalCertainIndividualForceCommunityTakenMilitaryManagementSafetyInstitutionsAffairFinancialGuidanceCollectionsEtcCollectivesAnarchismAnarchistJudicialConstrainDelegationUsurpation
Author:Errico Malatesta
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“Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals. We look away from government for relief, because we know that force (legalized) invades the personal liberty of man, seizes upon the natural elements and intervenes between man and natural laws; from this exercise of force through governments flows nearly all the misery, poverty, crime and confusion existing in society.”

ThinkingKnowsMenBelieveLooksLongSelfGovernmentLawPoliticalIndividualForceNaturalLibertyPovertyCrimeDevelopmentPeriodsExerciseElementsFlowVoteFundamentalsMiseryCampaignsConfusionReliefAnarchismAnarchistBeggingNatural LawPolitical CampaignPersonal LibertyChanges In SocietyNatural Elements
Author:Lucy Parsons
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“Anarchists should get together who agree, and develop their gifts at a critical point, in a critical place, and form genuine affinity groups in areas where they can have certain results, notable results - not move into areas of great resistance where they're almost certain to be crushed, defeated, demoralized.”

ShouldTogetherMovingFormCertainResultsGroupsAreasAgreeCriticalGenuineResistanceDefeatedCrushedAnarchistNotableGet TogetherAffinityDemoralized
Author:Murray Bookchin
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“Anarcho-capitalism, in my opinion, is a doctrinal system which, if ever implemented, would lead to forms of tyranny and oppression that have few counterparts in human history. There isn't the slightest possibility that its (in my view, horrendous) ideas would be implemented, because they would quickly destroy any society that made this colossal error. The idea of 'free contract' between the potentate and his starving subject is a sick joke, perhaps worth some moments in an academic seminar exploring the consequences of (in my view, absurd) ideas, but nowhere else.”

IfsHumansMadeIdeasMomentsWould BeFormViewsOpinionSubjectsPossibilityJokesCapitalismConsequenceSickErrorsTyrannyAbsurdOppressionContractsAcademicExploringHuman HistoryStarvingCounterpartsColossalSeminars
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Anarcho-syndic alism took for granted that working people ought to control their own work, its conditions, the enterprises in which they work, along with communities, so they should be associated with one another in free associations, and democracy of that kind should be the foundational elements of a more general free society.”

PeopleShouldKindCommunityDemocracyConditionsOughtElementsGrantedEnterpriseAssociationFree SocietyTook For Granted
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Anarchy has the flexibility to overcome many of the traditional problems of activism by focusing on revolution not as another cause but as a philosophy of living. This philosophy is as concrete as a brick being thrown through a window or flowers growing in the garden. By making our daily lives revolutionary, we destroy the artificial separation between activism and everyday life. Why settle for comrades and fellow activists when we can have friends and lovers?”

PhilosophyRevolutionLoversActivismAnarchyAnarchismComradesFriendshipshipCrimethic
Author:Curious George Brigade
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“Anarchy is a word that comes from the Greek, and signifies, strictly speaking, "without government": the state of a people without any constituted authority. Before such an organization had begun to be considered possible and desirable by a whole class of thinkers, so as to be taken as the aim of a movement (which has now become one of the most important factors in modern social warfare), the word "anarchy" was used universally in the sense of disorder and confusion, and it is still adopted in that sense by the ignorant and by adversaries interested in distorting the truth.”

PeopleStillsImportantStatesWholeGovernmentUsedSocialClassTakenModernMovementAuthorityOrganizationAimIgnorantConfusionFactorsGreekDisorderThinkerAnarchyWarfareDesirableAdoptedAdversariesAnarchism
Author:Errico Malatesta
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“Anarchy is all around us. Without it, our world would fall apart. All progress is due to it. All order extends from it. All blessed things that rise above the state of nature are owned to it. The human race thrives only because of the lack of control, not because of it. I’m saying that we need ever more absence of control to make the world a more beautiful place. It is a paradox that we must forever explain.”

WorldNeedsHumansStatesBeautifulOrderFallRaceForeverProgressBlessedDuesAbsenceHuman RaceThriveParadoxOur WorldAnarchyFalling ApartRise AboveBeautiful PlacesLack Of Control
Author:Jeffrey Tucker
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“Anarchy loves theatre. That's the whole point. People forget that. You have to laugh at the devil, not fight him. They'll always have more guns, they'll always have more bombs that go off with a bigger bang. No matter how revolting you become they'll always be willing to be more revolting to you. They've had so much more practice.”

PeopleMatterWholeFightingForgetPracticeLaughingWillingGunDevilBiggerTheatreBombsAnarchyBangs
Author:Melvin Burgess
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“Anarchy wears two faces, both Creator and Destroyer. Thus Destroyers topple empires; make a canvas of clean rubble where creators can then build a better world. Rubble, once achieved makes further ruins' means irrelevant. Away with our explosives, then! Away with our Destroyers! They have no place within our better world. But let us raise a toast to all our bombers, all our bastards, most unlovely and most unforgivable, let's drink their health, then meet with them no more.”

WorldMeanTwoFacesDrinkRaisesCleanCreatorRuinsEmpiresAnarchyCanvasIrrelevantAnother WorldToastsExplosivesDestroyersBombersUnforgivableRubbleVendetta
Author:Alan Moore
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