"I want to tell you about anarchism. I want to tell you what anarchism is, because I think it is well you should know it. Also because so little is known about it, and what is known is generally hearsay and mostly false. I want to tell you about it, because I believe that anarchism is the finest and biggest thing man has ever thought of; the only thing that can give you liberty and well-being, and bring peace and joy to the world. I want to tell you about it in such plain and simple language that there will be no misunderstanding it. Big words and high-sounding phrases serve only to confuse. Straight thinking means plain speaking. But before I tell you what anarchism is, I want to tell you what it is not. That is necessary because so much falsehood has been spread about anarchism. Even intelligent persons often have entirely wrong notions about it. Some people talk about anarchism without knowing a ting about it. And some lie about anarchism, because they don't want you to know the truth about it. Anarchism has many enemies; they won't tell you the truth about it. Why anarchism has enemies and who they are, you will see later, in the course of this story. Just now I can tell you that neither your political boss nor your employer, neither the capitalist nor the policeman will speak to you honestly about anarchism. Most of them know nothing about it, and all of them hate it. Their newspapers and publications- the capitalistic press- are all also against it. Even most socialists and Bolsheviks misrepresent anarchism. True, the majority of them don't know any better. But those who do know better also often lie about anarchism and speak of it as "disorder and chaos". You can see for yourself how dishonest they are in this: the greatest teachers of socialism- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels- had taught that anarchism would come from Socialism. They said that we must first have socialism, but that atfer socialism there would be anarchism, and that it would be a freer and more beautiful condition of society to live in than socialism. Yet the socialists, who swear by Marx and Engels, insist on calling anarchism "chaos and disorder," which shows you how ignorant and dishonest they are. The Bolsheviks do the same, although their greatest teacher, Lenin, had said that anarchism would follow Bolshevism, and that then it will be better and freer to live. Therefore I must tell you, first of all, what anarchism is not. It is not bombs, disorder or chaos. It is not robbery and murder. It is not war of each against all. It is not a return of barbarism or to the wild state of man. Anarchism is the very opposite of all that. Anarchism means that you should be free; that no one should enslave you, boss you, rob you, or impose upon you. It means that you should be free to do things you want to do; and that you should not be compelled to do what you don't want to do. It means that you should have a chance to choose the kind of life you want to live, and live it without anybody interfering. It means that the next fellow should have the same freedom as you; that everyone should have the same rights and liberties. It means that all men are brothers and all women are sisters, and that they should live like brothers and sisters, in peace and harmony. That is to say, that there should be no war, no violence by one set of men against another, no monopoly, and no poverty, no oppression, no taking advantage of your fellow man. In short, anarchism means a condition of society where all men and women are free, and where all enjoy equally the benefits of an ordered and sensible life. "Can that be?" you ask; "and how?" "Not before we all become angels," your friend remarks. Well, let us talk it over. Maybe I can show you that we can be decent and live as decent folks without throwing things."
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