Anarchy: It is NOT bombs, disorder or chaos. It is NOT robbery and murder. It is NOT a war of each against all. It is NOT a return to barbarism or to the wild state of man. Anarchism is the very opposite of all that.
Interpretation
Anarchy is often misunderstood; it is not chaos or violence but a system of freedom and order.
In this quote, Alexander Berkman emphasizes that anarchy is frequently misrepresented as a state of chaos or lawlessness. He asserts that true anarchism is about creating a society based on mutual aid and freedom, contrasting sharply with the common misconceptions that link it to violence or disorder.
In practice
During a debate on governance, one might use this quote to illustrate the true nature of anarchism.
When the highwayman holds his gun to your head, you turn your valuables over to him. You 'consent' alright, but you do so because you cannot help yourself, because you are compelled by his gun. Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you, just as the highwayman's gun.
What is this thing we call government? Is it anything but organized violence? The law orders you to obey, and if you don't obey, it will compel you by force - all governments, all law and authority finally rest on force and violence, on punishment or fear of punishment.
Man's inhumanity to man is not the last word. The truth lies deeper. It is economic slavery, the savage struggle for a crumb, that has converted mankind into wolves and sheep.
War means blind obedience, unthinking stupidity, brutish callousness, wanton destruction, and irresponsible murder.
There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.
Capitalism has socialized production. It has brought thousands of people together in the factory and involved them in new social relationships.
Perhaps you considered yourself an oracle, Mouthpiece of the dead, or of some god or other. Thirty years now I have labored To dredge the silt from your throat. I am none the wiser.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
A government is an institution that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.
Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God. Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have.
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