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The Libertarian Society
by
Georges Bastien
Some Words on Georges Bastien
This pamphlet was written in 1926 by Georges Bastien. Bastien (1885-1940) was a French Anarcho-syndicalist, that is he combined his Anarchist beliefs with Syndicalism. Syndicalism is the name of a school of socialism that views the building of revolutionary unions amongst the working class as the key to creating a revolutionary movement strong enough to supplant capitalism and begin the construction of a better world. Syndicalism, which literally translates into English as Trade Unionism, -from the Romance languages shared name for Labour Unions which is a Syndicate- traces its origins to the 19th century socialist movement. Its early strongholds being the nations of France, Spain and Italy.
In France, Syndicalism first rose to prominence with the creation of the Confederation Generale du Travail the General Confederation of Work (CGT). Georges Bastien joined the workers struggle in 1904 in the aftermath of textile workers strike in Amiens. In November 1904 he was one of the founders of the newspaper Germinal, and would spend the rest of his life working as a journalist and Anarchist militant within the workers Syndicates. He was also a committed anti-militarist, in 1906 Bastien and a fellow Anarchist Jules Lemaire were sentenced to six months in prison for cowriting an article in Germinal titled “L’antimilitarisme et l’antipatriotisme” (Anti-militarism and anti-patriotism) and both were then sentenced a second time on similar charges for producing another anti-militarist pamphlet called Aux Conscripts (To the Conscripts). The sentences did not bar him from compulsory military service and he was conscripted in 1907, however he remained in uniform for just 45 days. He had been approached by his commanding officer with an offer, shut up or desert, he chose the latter and lived in exile for a time in Belgium and London, and at some point after 1910 Bastien went to South America and learnt the Spanish language. The details on this period of his life are scarce though he translate French Anarchist texts into Spanish during it. The list of organisations Bastien belonged to is very long, the one thing they all had in common was a commitment to revolutionary struggle and the creation of a Libertarian Communist society. One of the important events he participated in was as a signatory of the document that became known as the Charter of Amiens in 1906. This Charter for the CGT became its main guiding document for several years and represents the height of Anarchosyndicalist influence within the CGT. The Charter of Amiens secured the CGT’s independence from political parties and focused attention on more overtly revolutionary aims and goals for the union as a vehicle for class struggle.
In the aftermath of the First World War Bastien returned to France and worked to revive Germinal and support the French Anarchist movement. In reaction to the Russian Revolution Bastien was an open and early supporter who opposed French intervention in the country. “We are not Bolsheviks. But we will fight for them because they represent sincere, honest and courageous action”. Though it wasn’t long before the actions of the Bolsheviks forced Bastien to distinguish between the revolution and the Bolshevik party.
From the 1920s to his death in 1940 Bastien remained an active and important writer. In addition to the Germinal and other newspapers Bastien authored several pamphlets including this one Libertarian Society, and was also a contributor to Sebastian Faure’s L’Encyclopedie Anarchiste (Anarchist Encyclopedia) among many other works. He kept writing up to the year of his death in Amiens. And in addition to speaking French and Spanish he had some knowledge of Esperanto, he contributed a special forward for the Esperanto language addition of the pamphlet.
I chose to translate this pamphlet to add to the knowledge of Bastien’s important contributions in the English speaking corners of the world. There is a lot of information out there for French speakers, including an article that manages to catalogue most of the names and acronyms of the groups he founded or joined through out his life and documents some of his activity in strikes and protests1. But not much in English. The work itself is also of value beyond the connections to its author, its an early attempt to sketch out a potential new society. Anarchists are often accused of being good at destruction, riots, black blocks, assassinations, terrorism etc, but having little to offer constructively. This in my opinion is a mischaracterisation, but its easy to say that and just ignore the criticism. This work addresses these charges in a general sense, it is not a blueprint to be copied by the Anarchist revolutionaries after successfully abolishing the old order, it is instead an argument for the values, ways and means of a new way of life in general, a direction marker rather than a map through a maze.
I’m sure the words Libertarian and Communism being stuck next to each other is surprising to at least a few English speakers reading this, but its an old idea with many advocates and Georges Bastien was one of them.
Reddebrek
Foreword to the Esperanto Publication
It is with great pleasure that I received the news that the World Anational Association SAT (Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda), wanted to publish in Esperanto “The Libertarian Society” the short work written to shed some light on the positive and practical concepts of libertarian communism.
First, I should make a confession. I do not think that the libertarian organisation of society, complete and definitive, is possible in the realm of regions and nations, the interdependence of all human fractions would not allow the new social regime to live for long and achieve its full maturity if it is restrained and limited to an experimental field. This new way would have only three paths open to it: to internalise and isolate amongst the minority of the so-called civilised world, or to join with the older neighbouring forces and stagnate, or to disappear, suffocated by nearby hostile social organisations.
I do not believe one can get free of this dilemma though these three ways.
I also conform to the logic that every adept of social transformation in the sense of freedom and well being for all must be convinced internationalists.
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A quick glance at the world, across all the lands shows us a clear trend towards the unification of human activity.
Even the most backward lands tend, either by conquest or the influence of capitalism to imitate the so-called civilised world. The mechanisms, the industries, commerce, financial procedures of our regions penetrate everywhere. The same social organisation implants itself bit by bit on every continent. And everywhere we all work under the same conditions. The competition that the capitalists implanted between the poorly paid indigenous workers and more expensive domestic labourers pushes the unification of existence.
Not even fashion both male or female is an exception as it becomes international. The cities have an accentuated tendency to become uniform, and in the process lose their local character.
We should not complain about this inevitable progress of human unity. It is one of the necessary conditions for social progress; its one of the foundations of the free society of the future. To love each other well we must respect each other. In order to appreciate each other we must have understanding, we cannot be too different from each other.
This is why I consider an international language to be a necessity for buildings truly libertarian society. And this is further proof that the libertarian idea follows the evolutionary path, because everything tends toward internationalism, people are trying to understand each other by speaking a common language.
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A few personal words to end this introduction.
I traveled a little in my youth. I had to learn English, and swallowed some knowledge in German and Spanish, in order to “get around” in the countries I passed through. Relatively easy work when one is young, but which becomes difficult at a certain age. The assimilation skill is lost to time and other studies.
How sad I was to not find comrades in every country who spoke Esperanto! It is for that reason that I did not continue my study of the international language despite feeling its urgent necessity2.
So I wholeheartedly wish for the international language to become the medium of communication amongst all free spirits, and through them grows to become the universal language of all humanity.
Georges Bastien
Introduction to Georges Bastien’s
The Libertarian Society
Foreword
The remains and discoveries from man’s ancient past have taught us that humanity did not always live and behave as we do now. By a slow process of development, which has taken many centuries mankind has grown beyond the ancient animal tendencies. There is no reason why this progress should be halted. The people of future centuries will not be the same as the people of today. They will be evolved physiologically, intellectually and morally.
In the same manner the techniques, the means of production, means of transportation and travel etc, experience has been deeply transformed over the centuries. Who can predict the capabilities of technology a century or two into the future? Or just how far the development of machinery will push the productive capabilities of the people? On these matters we know nothing. However it is certain that the social question of the future will not present itself in the same way as they do in the present. Just as the solutions proposed one or two centuries ago are not appropriate for today.
With that in mind it would be folly to try to predict the social structure of future centuries, because despite the wishes of theorists, legislators and builders of utopia, humanity will always be moving.
That is not the goal I set for myself, I do not wish to look too far ahead.
By researching the social question and the factors it demonstrates for the present, with regard to the actually existing conditions and technical means available to humanity today, I am searching for the foundations of a libertarian society and the physical conditions in which it could live.
If technology and science developed in a different way then the principles which form the basis of human society would be very different, and our movement would not exist.
It is not acceptable that with all that practical and theoretical science has given to mankind, and the means at our disposal to build a social organisation, that the majority of the population is still forced to live at a level beneath that of dirt. We Anarchists believe that if humanity rids itself of the stupid prejudices inherited from past ages, rejected its cowardice, both morally and intellectually, and if they get used to acting and thinking for themselves then the obstacles that block human social development would soon disappear.
The oppressed masses are afraid of leaping into the unknown, and this fear is preserved and stoked by the few enjoyers of privilege and those who wish to join their ranks.
The desire to banish this state of spiritual stagnation is my sole reason for writing this pamphlet.
I do not pretend to have explored and solved every social issue. Moreover the limited scope of this pamphlet prevents me from attempting to do so.
I merely wish to make some use of the work of several Anarchist theorists, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta and Sebastian Faure, combined with fundamental ideas of the wider social movement to outline the general features of how a libertarian society without gods and masters, but based on the relationship between freely formed associations of equal and fraternal people. In short, I wish to show that we are not just simple demolitionists and utopians, but that we have a clear and accurate social program.
Part One
The Libertarian Principles
To Destroy or to Build
The Anarchists wish to destroy everything: States, judiciary, police, army, private property, money, commerce, exploitation,; morality, religion, patriotism, the family.
They are the systematic destroyers of today’s society. So, why do they want to do this?
The answer is simple. The Anarchists believe that our current society has been built in direct opposition to rationality, and every principle of equality and humanity. All for a minority who know how to profit from and take advantage. And nothing for the rest.
Today’s economic institutions have built a dictatorship that rests on hunger, its a system entirely for the benefit of a few parasites, and disadvantages the producers who are subjected to misery and servitude.
The political institutions combine into a vast Union that organises violence to terrify the masses and keep them in servitude.
The official, religious and patriotic morality completes the work of this monstrous inequality, dumbing down their brains, worshiping their enemies, filling their minds with prejudices so that they don't see clearly, cultivating hatred in their hearts to divide the oppressed, because their agreement would be dangerous.
Everything: All the political, economic and moral authority, has been established little by little, through the ages. They form a block in which they all, every kind of authority supports the others. It is impossible to break one without first destroying the rest. If any form of leadership be it political, economic or moral survives after revolution, then it will reconnect with and rebuild all the others… everything would have to start over. This has been the fate of all previous revolutions.
The experiments of the past have taught us that we can not do things by halves, and be satisfied by social outbreaks that keep the old rotten house intact.
It is a new world that we must create, with a social contract totally different from that of the old. It is necessary that the leadership cedes its position to the association of free people; for the development of a society based on real equality, otherwise it will become the enemy of the spirit and practice of solidarity.
If you want to build a house on the site of another, and if no other land is available, it is certainly necessary to demolish the old one first. Because the globe is almost entirely appropriated by the privileged, who subjugate all humanity under their yoke, the only way the new libertarian society can establish itself is on the ruins of institutions that stand today.
The State
We want to destroy the state!
The state or the political leadership is a coalition of bureaucratic, police, legal and military institutions. Simply, it is oppression by violence. Its chief function is the maintenance order, so that the privileged few can enjoy their gains in peace. The state is bureaucrat, trustee, judge and soldier, it is all these things combined for the purpose of keeping the masses under the yoke of servitude using all means available to it. Who in a free society, where everyone would be equal, where misery and ignorance have disappeared, could make use of this apparatus of compulsion? The social regime built on liberty and solidarity cannot have any connection to those old institutions, which are hated by the people on instinct. And how right it is to hate the chains that bind them, and the whip that strikes them.
Study the court statistics. Nearly every crime and misdemeanor has a cause, poverty, ignorance, intoxication, the lust for wealth etc. or else they concern the unfortunate people punished for not submitting to their masters. Society should be organised in a way that everyone can enjoy a good standard of living in exchange for a reasonable amount of work, in an atmosphere of profound freedom; so that it is no longer possible for one man to gain from the misfortune of another. By removing the profit of crime and abolishing the conditions for its other causes crime itself disappears, this evil will in effect vanish.
Regarding the few crimes caused by passions and not profit the contemporary institutions are powerless. A new moral environment, one where lives and freedom of others are respected, idiotic prejudices have been overcome and where the merits of solidarity are taught since childhood, this will have more effect than any attempt to punish them into non-existence. Contemporary society creates a hundred criminals while punishing one. The highly pious and greatly respected in society, those honoured and protected by the laws of the state are great evildoers.
The people of the future will be wise enough to solve the anti-social cases themselves. They won’t be so foolish as to maintain salaried executioners, who threaten us all, under the pretext that society is threatened by the existence of a few abnormals. They will solve these anti-social cases by eliminating poverty, spreading education and improvement of living and - working conditions – the building of a new society that always attempts to eliminate vice by removing the root of its creation. They will only take drastic measures when the danger becomes great and imminent. But what the period of revolution? It will be the task of the revolutionaries in that time of social readjustment to overcome entrenched resistance. For my part, I sincerely believe that the idlers, narcissists and criminals are in greater number amongst the bourgeois class than amongst the ranks of the people. But the temptation to restore the organs of oppression under the pretext of eliminating social evil must be avoided like the plague, as the problem can be better solved directly.
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The state departments and communes that are run as public offices,: schools, post offices, roads etc. might be adapted and conserved. Without anticipating the consequences of that study, let's say that these organisms can work by local, regional or national organizations of workers, through labor associations or federations, and that they would work so much better if they were freed from the indecisive bureaucracy, from the scheming hierarchy, from the centralization that kills initiative and pushes corrupt policy.
Militarism
Militarism has for a long time been condemned by those with healthy spirits “The army is the school of crime” said Anatole France3. The attempts to define a nation are all absurd. A country is just a collection of slaves obeying the same masters. That’s all it is in truth. The provinces merged into nations, and the same will happen to nations that will one day unite in an International of peoples. Militarism will no longer have a reason to exist.
There are some revolutionaries who are steeped in soldiering and still trust in the pillars of the present social regime, believe in using the arguments of the nationalists. They propagate the pretext that the revolutionary nation will be threatened and attacked by the slave hordes of the rest of the world. We on the other hand believe that the most valuable revolutionary weapons are the power of infection. The example given to foreign proletarians and most importantly the effect of the real sentiment it encourage within the hearts of the rebels and international proletarians that at last a new world is starting to be born, a world built on good and freedom, and that finally there is something worth defending.
But if, in spite of everything the counter-revolutionary attack still takes place, then the rebelling populous will know that they must find new ways of fighting that differ from those of the armies of the bourgeois patriots. Because if they make the mistake of rebuilding military power than tomorrow it will become the tool of social oppression.
Without going deeper into the subject, let's say that the last short war proved the absurdity of a professional army that the soldiers themselves trust more to the method of an armed nation, than to that of the standing army. Should we continue to be more backward, more militaristic than the professionals of mass murder?
Every bureaucratic, judicial, military and financial institutions must disappear. Evil must be uprooted entirely. The stubborn remains of the of the old world will be destroyed by the direct action of the people; there will be no need to place in the hands of a few the power to menace and threaten both the good and bad alike. A power which would enable the gradual rebuilding of the old regime.
Capital
We want dissolve private property and its consequences; capitalism and wages, commerce and rent, and all other forms of exploitation of man by man which allow the few to enjoy privileges at the expense of the many who produce.
Proudhon defined property as “the right to payment of the work of others and from the circulation of their products”. That is the truth of the matter.
Sheltered by the political institutions of society and the slave morality preached to the masses has enabled and emboldened the capitalists to declare that all the natural riches of the earth – which no one created – and all the social riches – created by the work of everyone – belong to them alone. Leaning firmly on the concept of property rights they demand rents, loans, profits, dividends etc, from the people.
We want to do away with this system of organised theft. You must not misunderstand us; it is not the material capital, the lands, the buildings, the factories, the machines and the products that we wish to banish. It is the right of exploitation from which our masters profit that must be done away with.
We say to the people, take back your riches, you who have been dispossessed through violence, trickery, threats and all the other methods at the disposal of the ruling class. Riches that have been created by your own labour and from your forefather nature itself.
They should abolish the ugly system of private property and communalize all property.
We are libertarian communists, supporters of social property, because we think it is impossible to attribute to a single person or group of people the whole labor product, because, in our era of economic interdependence, in which the production of the smallest object involves the whole social mechanism, the product is social, not individual. And on the other hand, it cannot be accepted that people declare themselves the sole owners of something, taking the best part, while others have the worst, or nothing at all. That would restore the curse of competition and conflicts.
When we declare ourselves opponents of private property, we are not talking about the objects of individual use and pleasure; clothes, personal objects, even a home. The new social contract will respect the freedom of everyone in regards to these things. The social property will be the common ownership of the means of production, transportation, communication, tools in other words.
Instead of being the instruments of the owners, they will belong to everyone, and the associations of producers, of workers from factories, from workers in the countryside, from the technical staff, and from the organizations of consumers and users society advantageously for the common good replace the owners, renters, landlords, financiers, merchants, etc.
Our Morality
We are against the moral authorities whether religious, patriotic or familial. That does not mean however that we are without morals. It is in fact the opposite.
Patriotism, religious faith, civic pride, respect for the bosses of every stripe. These are all symptoms of prejudices that exist purely so the masses submit, obey and reject resistance and remain exploited by their masters. We reject this morality of slaves, which is ill suited for free people. Our propaganda aims to teach the servants that they are the equals of their masters, and that there are not two species of humanity; the rich and the poor.
We are opposed to the idiotic and chaotic mess that is official morality, and promote the principles of a human and rational morality. These principles are respect for the freedom of others and total solidarity. Freedom is needed for a society built for the good of all. And its inseparable brother is equality, but not that brotherhood that is written on monuments, but the concrete brotherhood of material life, equality of social conditions.
The Libertarian society can be nothing more than an association freely accepted and eagerly sought, sought because its establishment brings nothing but benefits to its membership. Society can be firm and rational only if all are equal, only if it rests on the individual freedom of all, because otherwise the friction and abuses will lead to conflicts, and coercion becomes necessary to preserve the social classes.
The other great Libertarian principle is solidarity, the great trait that has enabled humanity to rise above the animal kingdom. By joining together man became what he is today and continue to advance his civilisation. The struggle for survival is the main source of all of our misfortunes. Man is wolf to man only because he is not certain about the present or the future. And so, man must push away his good feelings and strengthen his fighting instincts if he is to maintain his shaky position. Every movement to improve development of humanity to a better and higher morality has to suppress the spirit of division and strengthen the spirit of solidarity to some degree. Philosophers have claimed that once the social feelings will have become so strong that they will become instinctual, and that we will practice solidarity the same way as we breathe, eat and walk. It is certain that development is going in this direction and will condemn the prejudices of today, the sowers of discord and hate.
The religious, patriotic and authoritarian prejudices of the present combined with other impediments continue to methodically place obstacles, often bloody and always painful to the normal and desirable development. All these efforts and sacrifices are made for God, the country, the board etc, and these sacrifices are made often against the public and there removal would lessen greatly the problems facing humanity, By challenging these obstacles and their false moralities, and by strengthening the spirit of solidarity through moral and material cooperation among the people, we can increase the pace of progress and spin the wheel of humanity faster towards happiness, plenty and liberty. It will praise the forces, initiatives, sacrifices, used for the improvement of the moral and material conditions of humanity; it will condemn the forces used to create misery and suffering.
This morality places the individual at its foundation instead of ignoring it. For the body to feel good, it is necessary that every part that makes it up, even the smallest, should be healthy. The sickness of one cell endangers the life of the whole organism. For humanity to reach its maximum potential, it is necessary that each individual find in it as much freedom and goodness as is possible; it is necessary that all mans interests and all his feelings should lead him to seek union with his contemporaries, and not to take refuge in them. A perfect society can only be the perfect harmony between the individuals that make it up, in finding the means to maximize their enjoyment.
This is the highly humane morality with which the anarchists oppose the prejudices skillfully perpetuated by the masters of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The greatest freedom for all, the most intimate solidarity uniting people, these are the great moral principles on which we want to establish the libertarian society.
The Intellectual Dictatorship
The spirit of authority, or rather the thirst for control and exploitation, ever persistent and feeling that the state, religion, country, capital, etc., are shaking under the blows of reason, tries to disguise itself under another face. Alas! Before the people have fully learned to lead themselves they will be manipulated into once again obeying, because they will still not have the courage to say `No!` to those who want to be leaders, the successors of that vile type.
After the nobles, the kings, the priests, the politicians have been dealt with, we find ourselves being told about directing society by the intellectuals and civil bureaucrats. We would see the graduates under the pretext of competence capture the positions of social leadership. They would use their positions and acquired knowledge to instruct the rest of us in how to behave. Too often the diploma in most cases is just a license to parasitism, a means to exploit the poor. Apart from a few exceptions the intellectual professions are a business of a slightly different type. That is enough for us to understand that the intellectual authority, if it were to rule society, without delay would grant to itself political and economic privileges and that a caste of masters would soon be restored.
It is the society that enables any individual to study, to become a technician, it takes care of him, it can provide him with what he needs. The simple logic indicates that it is then the society that has acquired rights over the technician, and not him over it.
The libertarian society will have technicians: engineers, doctors, etc. even more than today, because it will not make these positions a monopoly of caste, a privilege reserved for a lucky few. Schools and universities will be established everywhere. The child's education will be more comprehensive than today. A better social organization will yield more leisure, and those who will feel in themselves an ability and desire for study will find libraries, museums and courses to realize their aspirations. Instead warring against intellectual development, the libertarian society will promote it to the maximum possible extent. That will be its interest and its security.
The intellectual worker is as useful as the professional technician. The first is as necessary as the latter. It is better for man that he is not condemned to be one or the other. But the relations between them must not develop into a hegemony. Technicians are needed in all branches of human work. Same - in all councils of groups or associations of the future that will replace the current economy. Technicians are needed in all branches of human work. The same is true- in all the councils, groups or associations of the future that will replace the current economy.
But those intellectual workers will be equals with everyone else. There will be a specialization of the work, nothing more. No privilege to some against the others. Everyone will share in the hard work in a friendly manner according to the particular abilities of each person.
We are not Politicians
Do not misunderstand the purpose of our merciless criticisms. We are not a political party that after exposing the defects in others, presents itself as a savior, the only one capable of bringing goodness and freedom to the masses.
We do not demand the power to rule. Thinking it a poison for others that we also consider it the case for us too. Power corrupts its users as well as its victims. We want to destroy it in every guise it presents itself, hidden or overt, hypocritical or honest.
It is not because the power to rule is in the hands of others that we oppose it. We leave that thinking to jealous revolutionaries. Anarchists wish neither to rule nor coerce. Put simply the people in general are responsible for founding and administering the new society.
The task of creating a new social harmony will belong to an organisation established freely from among the people. The Libertarian society is and can only be an agreement founded on the principles of freedom and solidarity an association of all kinds: production, transport, public offices, distribution, teaching, art, etc. etc., which will form freely in all fields, uniting in them all branches of human activity, being administered at will, grouping together and later federating, always according to the principles of freedom and collaboration.
We dismiss with contempt the idea of being a party imposing its will on the people. We are satisfied with a more modest role. But a role much more useful and more noble, to constitute the active agitators, always ready for the struggle of the people's revolution, which will sweep away all injustices and all pressures.
The way to progress
We have said that the economic foundations of the society of tomorrow will be the regime of free associations harmonising their efforts and balancing their needs and federating as needed. This will not be utopia nor will it be founded on the fragile ground of magic.
The libertarian society is already embryonic today, and is starting to function in contemporary society. The principle of the association replacing conflict is not an unfounded dream. It begins to materialize, begins to develop, begins to conquer society, before our very eyes.
The workers are organising into Unions, some are forming associations of producers. Consumers are setting up co-operatives, many have since formed federations out of several co-operatives. There are also unions for tenants, artist collectives, networks of scientists, even associations for tourists. This impulse to unite for a common gain can be seen in every field of human society. Already there are many societies promoting mutual aid in existence. Even the bourgeoisie make us of associations, even though the very concept condemns their way of life. Whether Unions or agricultural co-operatives, industrial, commercial, even joint stock companies etc. The practice of associating appears everywhere, conquers everything, the routine spirit and stupid customs of work fall into the past, and thus a collective property of some kind comes into being.
The big businesses and their big ideas are mainly the reason for these associations, to counter the associations of their bosses who have used them to gain all the profit from the work. One can even say that the many and varied associations are above politics, in the ordinary sense, for they promote countless initiatives, and they are almost always the ones who drag the state behind and actively pushes human development forward.
The association is everywhere on the agenda. It is the great force of the future, perfectly constructive in spirit, the most direct method for social improvements.
Authority and property inherently hinder and oppose the way to fulfilling the principle of association. The social revolution having swept away all these fences will open wide the door of success and will enable association to become the fundamental principle of future society, and will conquer all fields of human activity.
Libertarian communism, which is based not on the codification of social relations, but on the balance and harmony of the many diverse associations of residents, consumers, producers, artists, etc., in short of those interested in participating. And so remain, therefore, on the path of human development. It the forces themselves, which germinate and develop before our eyes, it will nurture them into the elements constituting the new social life and replace the decaying forms of contemporary political and economic organization.
A few numbers
We do not expect miracles from the people’s revolution. Later just as before society can only consume what it produces. That should be obvious. Let those who laugh absurdly at our "utopias" say nonsense. They are invested in devaluing the concept of equality, because they benefit from society as it functions in the present. The poor will not wish to become millionaires. It is not among the people you find the obsessive drive to live life solely through amusements and banquets. For them the new society will guarantee well being and material security, in exchange for work on a basis of rational need; they can be free in the fullest sense of that word, this is what they want.
Does contemporary society as it exists today produce enough to allow for a good standard of living for all? Without hesitation we answer `Yes!`
The official statistics for the year 1923 sum up the profits between 150-160 billion francs. Since then they may have increased a little, because the means of subsistence for the poor does not increase in proportion to the commodity costs, whereas for the rich their share follows their rise. If the consumption power represented by these benefits would be shared fairly among all, the welfare resulting would present approximately the standard of living that a family of 4 would have had in 1923 persons having an annual income of 16,000 Fr. Francs.
Note from the translator [Alberto Orze]
In 1923 for an 8 hour working day a skilled worker received an average wage of 40 ff. Multiplied by 300 working days that there are 2,400 working hours per year and a salary of 12,000 ff. So, if all the able-bodied people cited by the author worked usefully, even together with the homeless, we would have the 6-hour labourday and more than 53 ff as salary. In other words, the working time would decrease 33- percent and there would be a 30 percent salary increase.
Relations to the working time do not take into account the unemployed who existed in 1931, due to the development of machinery; their inclusion too would lower the working time, if it were divided equally.
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In France there are around 40 million inhabitants. Many are absolute duds, digestive tubers. Others do work that is wholly or partially unprofitable. There are, according to official figures, approximately 10 million wage earners in France, of which at least one million perform functions that would disappear in a rational society. If you count 3 million useful workers, though not salaried (the number is a bit excessive), this represents a total of 12 million useful workers, who harvest, manufacture, transport, prepare the products for consumption. Each of them works an average of 3,000 hours a year, the French consumption therefore requires 36 billion working hours with the current poor technical organization.
The Libertarian society will be able to keep the children in school up to the 15th year: 10 million children; and accounting for the elderly over the age of 60 (though they will still be able to help, or participate with their own advice to the common creative efforts): 4,900,000 elderly people; the mothers of children up to 4 years old will need to take care of the little one: 2,500,000. And accepting for argument sake that of the remaining able-bodied people there are 2 million for one reason or another unable to work, 20 million will remain, who will be able to participate in the joint effort.
If they shared the work fairly and everyone could turn to where his native abilities lead him and can develop them, then each person would have to complete only 1,800 working hours per year to ensure, changing nothing from the current methods of work, the same amount of consumables, as exists today, that means comfort for all, which the vast majority have never known.
There is no doubt that when the economic life would be more rationally organized, the rate of production could to be much more intense. The machinery is not used as it should be. The collective work is not yet installed everywhere, where it could be useful. The productivity of the proletarians is certainly inferior to what it could be if they lived in better conditions and would feel like their own masters.
On the other hand the current economic organisation often promotes the unrestrained dispersion of products and compels useless work. Manipulations, transportation advertising etc. All of which can be removed or at least reduced by improved organisation.
That means that, the sum of good and freedom would continually increase according to the degree of consolidation of the libertarian society.
The Errors
We will talk only to remind ourselves about politics, about this representative and parliamentary system, by which the population entitles a few to rule the rest and do the thinking for everyone, to lead society on our behalf. The example that politics gives us, both the national and provincial, over the past century, is conclusive. Incompetence, careerism, corruption, no complaint is lacking in this record.
On the other hand, the socialist authoritarian schools predict the next state, tomorrow's economic life centered in the hands of government. Experimental experience has already given a verdict on this. Extreme centralisation of power demands a strong hierarchical system, which must be enforced, and soon to the rebuilding of all the institutions of social violence. To subdue a nation under a common law, the rulers are forced to use violence. Far above the people, far from all control and accountability, the chiefs finally believe themselves to be a separate caste, and a new aristocracy.
Both in the political field and in the economic field, centralisation is condemned by simple wisdom and reason. The last experiment in Russia proves this. They wanted to centralize everything. It was a terrible failure. And the rulers, who destroyed the people's initiative, were forced to turn to the capitalists.
We condemn centralisation as a danger to public liberty, as technical nonsense and economic error.
The libertarian society will throw away those evil methods which have given their regrettable proofs in the past.
It will decentralize as much as possible the offices of public interest. It will be based mainly on the free associations that the individuals will found among themselves. This is the only means to leave free the flow of all initiatives, to stifle no aspiration, nor news, to allow society to develop freely to an ever higher ideal, no longer having a need for revolutionary violence.
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There is another error that we want to expose, to correctly explain our point of view. In the explanation, which we shall do, we shall content ourselves with sketching roughly the method of future association that seems to us most practical and most capable of leading to the establishment of an era of solidarity, respect to individual freedom.
We do not believe that the same kind of association will be practiced everywhere. That would be a serious error; the experiments must multiple. Each method will have to show the evidence of the positives and negatives that they contain. And there is the differences of temperaments, the characteristics of the various peoples, and preferences for this or that practice.
The libertarian society will avoid imposing a single type of association, because then it would slip into centralisation, in other words to authority and to all that comes from it.
It will only require individuals and groups to respect the new social contract, that is balance and harmony between the principle of freedom and that of solidarity.
The interest of the people, conforming with the feelings of sociability, which develop constantly, will establish a mutual agreement by which each individual and group guarantees the others, between the invalids and able-bodied, the old and the young, to men and women etc. the material right to exist. That certainty and freedom from harm in material life must replace the decaying forms of authority, to the ending of every institution that takes away all possibilities beyond themselves via justification or excuses.
Outside the practice of this solidarity, whose positive name is Anarchist Communism, the most absolute freedom must be left to all for the choice of the forms of associating and for the ways of existence that they prefer.
Part
II
Libertarian Communism
The Libertarian Community
The previous section may be enough to indicate how we would begin to build a libertarian society.
However, in my opinion, it is not useless to start a somewhat detailed scheme of the structure of society as we see it, and as it could be realized, right now, if the people really wanted it.
We established, as a fundamental principle, that the libertarian society will be the material and practical organization of society, that is, in other words, it will guarantee to everyone without distinction of age and sex, of health and ability, the satisfaction of his needs: food, housing, clothing, education, hygiene, etc. The new social contract will be a guarantee for each individual that, from its birth to its death, its livelihood will be secured.
However, it would be too risky, perhaps unwise to suggest, that there will be no limit, that everyone will be able satisfy themselves without measure. As soon as the future popular organizations have taken control of production, and begun operating for the general well-being that the fruits of labour will be able to be guaranteed to all. And a superior standard of living to the one many working families have today will be secured. But, it will not be unlimited. It will be necessary to even, as a consequence of the resistance of the reactionary forces who will strive to limit and prevent production during the revolutionary period, to live more or less from the provisions of the country and exercise some restriction, until the time of difficulties is settled by the full triumph of the revolution.
It will be necessary to organize consumption on the one hand, production on the other, and the circulation of the products.
There is no one better than the consumer groups and users, consisting of all interested parties, more qualified to take care of the distribution of the products.
No organization, political or not, will have the competence of the labor associations in operating the factories, organizing the public offices, undertaking cultural or any other type of work.
On the one hand the grouping of needs, on the other hand the association of efforts. Accord, balance, harmony between these two coalitions, this is roughly the structure of the libertarian society.
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For reasons we explained above, when we talked about centralisation, we believe it is neither wise nor practical to want to establish a vast social state, encompassing one or more nations. If you no longer want to repeat the mistakes of the past and face the dangers of centralization, it is necessary that the core, the cell of the social organization be directly controlled by its interested parties, this is the only means to prevent authority from reestablishing itself, the only means also for everyone to take an interest in the social functioning of the economy and society, because they are connected to it, they know what is happening, what is necessary, what is good or bad. An organization too far from the individuals who make it up ultimately create a state of mind of separation and disinterest. This distance and mindset accounts for a lot of the actions of authoritarian bodies.
The libertarian social cell will, therefore, be narrow enough, so that the direct collaboration of each is not an empty expression. It will also still be big enough, so that the practice of solidarity between individuals can be effective compensating for flaws and shortcomings with their strengths and talents, mutual aid in other words. Its vastness will be sufficient so that the work and the organization can benefit from the technical capabilities of today, from the mechanisms and expertise, because too great a separation is ultimately too expensive and hinders practical collaboration.
We see this balanced middle in the popular communes, groupings of inhabitants who combine and interact directly with each other.
In the countryside they will be smaller, and larger in the cities. Inspired by the regional needs and conditions, the residents will define the area themselves of their community. And later, if it is thought necessary by the interested parties, nothing will prevent them from transforming, expanding, reducing, joining or separating their community.
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What exactly will that community be like? Neither a caricature of a district government, nor an administration acting on behalf of all. We do not wish to repeat in detail the errors which we condemn on a large scale.
The community will be, in our opinion, an agreement of solidarity contracted between all the inhabitants, a kind of mutual aid association guaranteeing everyone the necessities of life, material, intellectual etc.
Today communities supply water, install streetlights, organise ridiculous institutions for the provision of charity and hygiene. Official support humiliates those who require it. Tomorrow, after the revolution society will not be satisfied with these ridiculous methods and will instead guarantee to all without prejudice or privilege, the satisfaction of the main means of life. A minimum of welfare will be assured to all, which will be the inalienable right of all. Guarantees that all will be able to eat, be clothed and housed, and the people no longer knowing misery and want, will soon free themselves from the state of slavery that they have today. It is need that bows heads. When education is given to all on a grand scale, the prejudices will fall together with the spirits of resignation and inferiority which cloud the minds of the poor. It has long been established that crimes and misdemeanors spread according to the extent of poverty. If the latter disappears, those will disappear as well. If life is assured to all, all pretexts are taken away for the restoration of the authority.
We do not persist in the illusion that we would believe that everything will exist in abundance. The possibilities of production will define what will be distributed. The organizations responsible for ensuring the distribution will have to apply a system of rationalization to some goods. But we have already seen that the level of well-being feasible even at the earliest stage will certainly be superior to the miserable life of today's proletarians. Later, according to the intensification of production through better working methods, by the removal of contemporary wastages, then soon the level guaranteed to all will be able to be raised, the rationalization of production will leave room for the free distribution for number of products and will increase with time and development.
In exchange for this mutual guarantee for the means of life, of the effects of solidarity in practice, the community will require those able to work to join one of the community’s production associations, leaving to them the choice of affiliation to one or the other, according to their preferences, their relationships and skills. The number of working hours required for the needs of the community will be relatively few, as we’ve shown before. It will be refused less than today, when the work is arduous, unhealthy it is treated as dishonorable, is considered a defect, a punishment.
Today's morality honors the parasite, criticizes the worker, the one of tomorrow will be quite the opposite. It will not be tolerated that a person lives at the expense of another. We have more faith in this regard in the opinion and action of the people than in the authoritarian institutions led by the parasites themselves.
The individual who, through his work accomplished in the terms of as much freedom as possible delivered his share of labour to the common effort, will be completely free to seek other pleasures later, alone or in a group with those who have the same inclinations.
The Communal Organisation
Associations, as numerous and diverse as the needs and ways of work, this is the organic basis of the libertarian society. The commune is the harmoniously established accord between the various associations.
The study of the associations that are being created today, shows us that there are three paths open to us:
the associations of consumers and users, which joins together to fight against exploitation and in some cases creates co-operative distribution organizations;
associations of producers. Rural, industrial, transport; managers or workers; capitalistic joint stock companies; labor unions, which tomorrow may transform into groups of production;
the various associations: artistic, tourist, sports, literary, school, etc., etc.
We will find these three tendencies of association in the libertarian society developed, having hit their stride and spread everywhere, having taken the place of the owners, entrepreneurs, landlords, financiers, traders, transport companies, etc. The revolution will make them grow. Expropriating the current privileged few, it will be entrusted to the associations of the interested parties to directly guide the various parts of the social organism.
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The number of these associations cannot be estimated beforehand, nor can they be defined for all regions accordingly in the same uniform way. An agricultural community, or a mining community for example will have only one or a few production groups while the central location of numerous industries will have a larger number of them. A community of 3-4,000 inhabitants will be able to satisfy itself with one supply cooperative, and a larger community will have one cooperative per neighborhood or possibly one per Department4.
In addition, it is not at all absolutely necessary that each individual resident must be a member of a single group. The differences of temperament and inclinations will be able to encourage the organization of associations with the same purpose. It will be up to the interested parties to judge whether the inconveniences of too great a division are compensated by advantages in freedom for others. Let's trust to the simple wisdom of the people to prefer the constancy and harmony of efforts, for their self interest.
Outside the activity and life in the Commune, the individuals will enjoy sufficient freedom to satisfy the needs and feelings of independence. The libertarian society will not be a barracks.
Moreover, this is of secondary importance. When the consumption groups have their share of products, this security will guarantee that all have the ability and freedom to do as they please? The main thing is that the principle of solidarity should be respected by all. It is in no way incompatible with respect for individual freedom.
Consumption
The consumption groups already exist in the form of co-operatives, although very saturated by the bourgeois spirit. The revolution will pass through them, putting them into the hands of the rebels. Yes there will be created everywhere a system to replace the businesses and to organize fairly the distribution of the objects and products. Instead of the businessmen and other brokers the people's revolution will support the growth of groups of consumers who will take the resources of consumption and will organize them.
The operation is simple. General meetings defining the big questions; committees of volunteers approved by those meetings, controlling the functioning of those organisations and taking care of the detailed questions; the workforce, grouped in a labor society, for the implementations, the calculations etc. Among that workforce and its technicians of course. If the spirit of freedom have penetrated well into the masses, the relations between workers, the committees and meetings etc, will be completely comradely. Each one of the interested parties will have an equal right, as the others, to take care of the operation of the creative labour. And then, the option is open for the dissatisfied to found another association, if the interaction is difficult, this freedom serves as a powerful brake against the spirit of authority. Let's repeat for the last time, it is necessary that the associates of any organization should be completely structured so as not to prevent any one member from having the ability to takeover leadership of the association for themselves. Otherwise everything would have to start over. The revolution would not be definitive.
There will also be groups for food, housing, clothing, the various public offices. The current tenant unions, no longer needed for legal struggles over rent and right of occupancy, will become groups that will manage the housing with its architecture, working in collaboration with the construction workers groups. The companies with monopolies, gas, electricity etc., will have to leave and be replaced by the administration of user committees.
And the same for all forms of consumption or public offices, although no compulsory form of distribution should be imposed. There may be, for example, several sections of a food cooperative: one for home distribution, another for organizing restaurants. Same for the apartments. Someone in an association will be able to create garden houses, canteen, another a type of phalanstère (5), etc.,
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The public offices will be handled along the same lines. The users will be able to meet to discuss and take part in the great management and delegating comrades with needed skills.
The public offices will be expanded and developed. They will gradually bring everyone together and serve the main needs of the individual and community life.
The communities, through the associations, will spread education by all means, including the creation of universities.
Hygiene and health will no longer be the object of medical business, but will be organised by a rational system.
More and more people will abandon the practice of isolated work and individual needs to seek comfort, prosperity, even luxury, in common buildings, although attention will be paid to the need for necessary isolation for individuals, libraries, meeting rooms, parks etc. will be at the disposal of the people.
This practice of sharing will benefit mainly the woman, slave of the home today. The society of the future will try to eliminate the tiring work of the household, through the arrangement of kitchen cooperatives, of washrooms, of more convenient residences, nurseries, garden schools, etc. Freed from the primal thinking, consequence of the current economic life, the woman will become equal to the man, delivering her work to the community according to her abilities, no longer having a need to make a living. The agreement of solidarity to her will ensure, to her and her children, if she is a mother, means of life equal to all. Her emancipation is, as we can see, more of a technical problem than a philosophical one. Love, like the rest will be free.
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We said that out of respect for the agreement on common solidarity, a minimum well-being, the basic needs will be guaranteed.
Other needs may arise: new needs, personal needs, or needs that society will not be able to guarantee to everyone.
If the possibilities allow it, if the opinion is unanimous, those needs will automatically form a minimum of collective well-being.
If it will be otherwise, well, we will proceed as we must, but, with more facilities available. Those interested will try to realize themselves, in isolation or in groups, the satisfaction of these needs will be seen to when possible.
A sense of progress prevailing in the future world, the sympathy and help of all will be its spirit. The community will be able to provide the initiatives with sites, resources to advertise, tools to research, etc. The scientific researches will undoubtedly be considered equal to public work. If 1800 working hours per year is enough for social life, there will be time left for the initiatives of everyone’s goals that please them, travel, sport, art, or simply an increase in well-being. No impossibility exists, so that, in exchange for these additional enjoyments, the interested parties should deliver additional work under conditions quite easy to define.
Thus, on through the collective, the individual will live in the fullest freedom. The road to progress material, intellectual, artistic, etc. will be completely unhindered to whoever wants to walk down it.
Work
For the organisms of production, the method of the association also appears as the most advantageous, as the method that leaves the most freedom possible, without disturbing the productive operations. The associations of production will replace the masters, and the exploiting companies.
Property must remain social, so that the children, the elderly, the infirm, the invalids should have their right to life! The conditions of work are different according to some regions. There is no justification for someone to set themselves up in a position in society, to the detriment of all, which would evoke conflicts. “The land to the farmers, the factories to the workers!” is a naive and unfair formula. It is necessary to say: “The land, the factories, the machines belong to everyone. But the farmer and the worker will be free to organize their own work as they please”. In a word, the labour associations of agriculture, industry, transport, public offices are managed by the workers involved in those branches of the economy. They should be co-initiated to operate a public office, run a factory, cultivate soil, the associations of producers will manage themselves freely. Like the production organizations, the consumption organizations will be able, according to the limits of practical possibility, to divide and arrange themselves at will.
Some types of work can be done individually or in small groups: small cultivation, vines, etc. s. Those individual jobs or the work of small groups, will still be connected to society cooperatively through transportation and logistics, even some difficult jobs can be done very well that well that way. Other jobs on the contrary, will require a rather large workforce; some offices require the staff to be present without interruption. However these roles will be shared out in accordance to absolute freedom. Everyone can find, as the saying goes "a shoe for his foot", the craft that fits best to his temperament.
Interruptions in work may be planned: closing of factories during the grain harvest, for example. In short, in this multitude of working methods there will be the greatest freedom for all. In addition, the labor associations, which will be free organize the work as desired, will try to make it more pleasant, more healthy, etc.
Every work association will naturally be a whole: craftsmen, specialists, technicians, all with equal rights, everyone's skills are valued by everyone.
From time to time there will be community meetings, where all groups will be represented, whether by all members in the smaller population centers, or from delegations in the big ones. In those meetings, the consumption groups will say what they need, and so will the users of the public services The production groups will describe the efforts needed. An agreement will be made, an agreement defining what will be acceptable, defining the workforce and the material needs of the working groups. These, whose task has been defined, will be arranged as it pleases. All forms of co-operative work will undoubtedly be used: guild, labor unions, co-operative of individual workers, etc. Does it matter in any way to the community the methods of work, if the goals are fulfilled in satisfactory conditions, or the production need fulfilled punctually?
Such will be, in its great features, the internal organization of the community.
The Intercommunal Life
We have sketched out communal life in a way that is precise enough so that one can understand our social ideal and its practicability.
But, the future life will not be contained to the inside of a community, however completely organized it may be. Regional, national, even global relationships are necessary. Moreover, there must always be an aim to the development of the interdependence of the regions and nations among themselves.
On the other hand, although we will try to live by our own powers as much as possible, industrial and rural decentralization will have to coincide as much as possible with the political decentralization, there are products that it are not found in some regions or which ones are rare and difficult to obtain locally.
The many covenants in all fields which have been established throughout the world among people, are currently hindered by borders, customs, codes, conflicts of interest. The libertarian society will remove all those obstacles and establish between the communities, the regions and nations relations, as free, diverse and numerous as the individual relations within the community.
This is what we call libertarian federalism, in opposition to central authority.
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Each of the special groups constituting the organizational base of the community will be obliged to group with the groups with the same purpose and the same composition from the other communities, to find out about the news, to have notifications, directions, etc. c. The particular needs of all those groups will encourage them to the creation of regional or global federations for the organization of the circulation of their materials, for the creation of centers manufacturing the necessary equipment etc.
So many groups in the community, so many scattered networks of threads securing the bond with the rest of the world.
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Besides that, some of these associations will not just have a purpose within one commune; their field of action will be able to spread over several communities. Some even, like scientific or tourist associations will spread over a large part of the earth. The communities themselves will often need to associate with each other, either directly or indirectly through the agreement of the groups of users, to achieve some goals.
These unions of
communities or groupings will be formed directly, not needing the
consent of anyone other than that of the interested parties, they
will be very numerous and diverse.
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The great public offices, like the mail, the sea and river transportation, the power plants etc., will necessitate an organization that operates beyond the individual communes.
We will proceed as in the middle of the commons. There will be a staff association that will take over the administration, as it were, by cooperating with the group formed by all the communities.
In a word, instead of local staff, there will be a regional, national, global even labor federation, who would secure this office. The groupings of private users would have become groups representing the communities.
Thus, for the railways, a thousand communes agree to operate a rail network between them, define how many trains they need for travelers and for goods. The workers' federation of the railways defines in turn how many workers and materials are needed. The needs for the staff and the material will be supplied by those interested communities.
In total, it will be necessary for the realization of the fact that the existing labor organizations expropriate the companies, and organize with their own resources the operation of their offices, in agreement with the rebel communities.
Exchange Federations
The communities will need to provide themselves with products, materials and machines that they do not harvest or manufacture. There is nothing easier for this than to embrace the idea realized by the cooperative movement, by the central cooperatives or federations of cooperatives.
Federations of exchange will be created on points conveniently defined. The role of these federations will be to first register and fulfill the orders of the communes, and in addition, to receive from those communes, in return, the excess of their production.
I don't think it's necessary to immediately establish global communism for reasons mentioned above. It's more likely that will be achieved later, with the development of the means of production and the introduction of new customs? At present it is too bold to believe it practicable.
The federations will establish, therefore, at least for some time in the early days, a running account for each community. On the credit side, the products supplied by the community; on the debit side, the products ordered by it. The two accounts balance.
That system of exchange would allow the communes to provide themselves with what they’re lacking for the consumption of their population, for obtaining some materials, raw materials, tools and machines.
Perhaps instead of a single federation involved in all fields of productions, there could be several departments, one for food, another for tools, etc. A system of simple of rotation, as practiced among themselves by the banks, could allow the communities to make use of their resources indifferently or in accordance to their needs with several different federations.
When you consider the monstrous commercial and financial complication of the present society, occupying hundreds of thousands of civil servants in France, you can see the huge saving, in terms of workers, calculations and initiatives that could be achieved through this new system.
Through the system of the federations the communes or constituent groupings could pay their contributions to their debt directly to the large intercommunal organisations: public offices, railways, etc. The same relation applies to the contributions, which the various groupings of the community would be indebted to their own federations.
Some communities might be favored, others disadvantaged by the nature of their soil, poverty or wealth of their production: coal as an example. The principle of solidarity will be important for the intercommunal relations. From the beginning it will be able to apply practically the definition of the value of the products circulated by the federations. Let experts define the value of the products supplied by the community according to the necessary working time. The commune delivering so many hundred liters of wheat, for example, will see noted on its credit account a value representing the work to produce, that amount of wheat. Later the federation will determine the value for delivery of that wheat setting a mean for the various and distinct values. Some regional cooperatives, with many branches, will then practice this equalization of prices. That is a means to establish now as far as possible the balance between the various communities. There is also means to improve transport and production in the most favorable regions, making larger orders from them, which will encourage them to increase their own population and perfect their gear.
This will not prevent these communities from showing solidarity with the poorer communes or regions affected by disaster and cataclysm. This is already the case in our current bourgeois civil society. This will be all the more the case in the libertarian society!
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The exchange federations will have another role to be played during the revolutionary period; the role of serving as an intermediary between the rebel communities, between them first, and then with the territories that have not completed their social transformation or completed it according to different methods.
In that particular case they will be able to trade, exchange products with the aforementioned untransformed regions. They will also prevent the rebel communities from using money or any other monetary system.
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There are certainly other means of bonding the people into more rational and human groupings. We sketched those that seemed to us the main ones and the most applicable at the beginning of social transformation. Others continue this study, which is and can only remain incomplete.
We simply wanted to show that a libertarian society can function without a state, nor a central power, that the principles of association can be immediately applied. In the same way that God was reduced to the level of historical accessory, so too will the idea of authority disappear from this world. People will realise that they no longer need it.
Conclusion
We know what we want. That to us signifies our line of conduct in relation to current society, in its entirety and in its parts.
Everything that is contrary to our ideal, we fight against without mercy. A fight to the death with the prejudices and immoral institutions.
Everything that contains future promises, we’ll protect, develop and, if necessary, show the way to the road of progress.
We do not pretend we’ll fall asleep during an evening in today's society and wake up tomorrow in a libertarian society. We know that it will take long, repeated and energetic efforts to achieve it. We also know that the privileged, the exploiters, authorities, all accustomed to using violence to rule, will not hesitate to use these violent powers to defend themselves. Let's prepare ourselves and the people for the inevitable revolutionary battle.
The spread of our ideal, which will be the more cherished the more it is understood and will encourage sacrifices. The education of the people and the preparations for the Social Revolution, will complete themselves by constant activity in the midst of contemporary society.
Every time we can weaken evil, strengthen the good, hindering the forces of reaction on some particular points, demanding improvements for the people, freeing victims, reducing the amount of control and misery, this is what we must do in the present.
Every time we can help to raise the intellectual, moral and material standing of the people, and aid organisations that will make up the elements of tomorrow, let's not hesitate, let's act.
Contrary to the believers and electorates who simply wait for happiness to be brought to them, for us there is no to be found in the gods, nor from dictators, nor of supermen.
Happiness, prosperity and freedom will be the property of the people only when they have the energy to conquer and the wisdom to preserve them.
We are accused of being dreamers. At least, let's dream awake, let's dream marching towards our ideal. We will get closer to it continuously, and our descendants will reach it one day.
Georges Bastien
August 1926
1https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article156151
2This inconsistency of comrade Bastien is not uncommon amongst the internationalists, everyone is waiting for their neighbour to start! The Anationalists on the other hand, use Esperanto as the foundation of all their social activity, and to them the national languages are only auxiliary languages whose disappearance they hope to see.
3Famous journalist and novelist, winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize for Literature. France was a social critic and socialist who joined the Communist Party of France shortly after its founding. He is the author of the famous observation "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread."
4Administrative division of the territory of France and its overseas territories. Currently France is broken up into 101 Departments.
5Mansion for multiple families according to theory of Fourier. — Trans. [To expand, the phalanstère was a sort of self contained collective living space for several hundred families who would live and work together. The concept was popularized by Charles Fourier a early socialist thinker.
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