Down With the Anarchists!
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~2,110 words · 10 passages
Cite this work
- APAEmma Goldman. (n.d.). Down With the Anarchists!. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/emma-goldman/down-with-the-anarchists
- MLAEmma Goldman. Down With the Anarchists!. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/emma-goldman/down-with-the-anarchists.
- ChicagoEmma Goldman. Down With the Anarchists!. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/emma-goldman/down-with-the-anarchists.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
An ironic article: Goldman writes 'down with the anarchists!' to show what those who shout it are really asking for.
Context and history
The title is the trick and the point. A short fighting piece, in the register that made Mother Earth a feared magazine. This is a short article, not a book: its size in the catalogue is no defect of the copy. Much of Goldman's work took this form, in her magazine Mother Earth and in pamphlets.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
What do the Anarchist really want? When you know that, you will be able to decide for yourself whether the Anarchists are your enemies or your friends. The Anarchists say that it is not necessary to have murder and crime, poverty and corruption in the world. They say that we are cursed with these evils because a handful of people have monopolized the earth and all the wealth of the country. But who produces that wealth? Who builds the railroads, who digs the coal, who works in the fields and factories? You can answer that question for yourself. It is the toilers who do all the work and who produce all that we have in the world. The Anarchists say: The products of Labor should belong to the producers. The industries should be carried on to minister to the needs of the people instead of for profit, as at present. Abolishing monopoly in land and in the sources of production, and making the opportunity for production accessible to all, would do away with capitalism and introduce free and equal distribution. That, in turn, would do away with laws and government, as there would be no need for them, government serving only to conserve the institutions of today and to protect the masters in their exploitation of the people. It would abolish war and crime, because the incentive to either would be lacking. It would be a society of real freedom, without coercion or violence, based on the voluntary communal arrangement of "To each according to his needs; from each according to his ability." That is what the Anarchists teach. Suppose they are all wrong. Are you going to prove it by hanging them? If they are wrong, the people will not accept their ideas, and therefore there can be no danger from them. But, if they are right, it would be good for us to find it out. In any case it is a question of learning what these Anarchists really want. Let the people hear them. But how about violence? you say.…