It Is Only Those Who Do Nothing

Anarchy, When It Works To Destroy Authority In All Its Aspects, When It Demands The Abrogation Of Laws And The Abolition Of The Mechanism That Serves To Impose Them, When It Refuses All Hierarchical Organization And Preaches Free Agreement - At The Same Time Strives To Maintain And Enlarge The Precious Kernel Of Social Customs Without Which No Human Or Animal Society Can Exist. Only, Instead Of Demanding That Those Social Customs Should Be Maintained Through The Authority Of A Few, It Demands It From The Continued Action Of All.

...do Not The Bewitching Power Of All Studies Lie In That They Continually Open Up To Us New, Unsuspected Horizons, Not Yet Understood, Which Entice Us To Proceed Further And Further In The Penetration Of What Appears At First Sight Only In Vague Outline?

A Different Conception Of Society, Very Different From That Which Now Prevails, Is In Process Of Formation. Under The Name Of Anarchy, A New Interpretation Of The Past And Present Life Of Society Arises, Giving At The Same Time A Forecast As Regards Its Future, Both Conceived In The Same Spirit As The Above-mentioned Interpretation In Natural Sciences. Anarchy, Therefore, Appears As A Constituent Part Of The New Philosophy, And That Is Why Anarchists Come In Contact, On So Many Points, With The Greatest Thinkers And Poets Of The Present Day.

But Times And Tempers Are Changed. Rebels Are Everywhere To Be Found Who No Longer Wish To Obey The Law Without Knowing Whence It Comes, What Are Its Uses, And Whither Arises The Obligation To Submit To It, And The Reverence With Which It Is Encompassed. The Rebels Of Our Day Are Criticizing The Very Foundations Of Society Which Have Hitherto Been Held Sacred, And First And Foremost Amongst Them That Fetish, Law.

Waste Of Time Is The Leading Feature Of Our Present Education. Not Only Are We Taught A Mass Of Rubbish, But What Is Not Rubbish Is Taught So As To Make Us Waste Over It As Much Time As Possible.