Chapter 6

We don’t want there to be any confusion. Our strong defense of organization doesn’t mean that we claim that it’s a medicine for all diseases. We know well that first and foremost is the spirit that invigorates and inspires a movement; when there’s a lack of such a spirit, organization is of no use. You can’t bring the dead back to life by organizing them. What we do think is that wherever the spirit and necessary forces exist, the organization of forces through a federalist foundation is the best method to reach great results. In organizing there’s a field of activity for all. The close cooperation of the individuals for a common cause is a powerful path for the surge of moral force and solidarity in each member. It’s absolutely false to state that one loses individuality and personal sentiments in an organization, thanks to the constant contact with equals the best qualities of the personality come to surface. If by Individualism one understands nothing more than the constant polishing of the “Me” and the ridiculous notion that in all close contact with others there is a danger for the person itself, then (s)he’s forgetting that the greatest obstacle to the development of individuality is exactly that. The closer one is connected to his/her fellow Man and the more profoundly feels joys and pains, the deeper and richer is his/her personal feelings and the greater is the individuality. Personal feelings and developed as a direct result of social sentiments.

As such Anarchism is not opposed to organization, on the contrary, Anarchism is its strongest supporter, this assuming that it’s a natural organization on every level that resulted from the common relationships of people and that finds its expression in a federative cooperation of forces. As a result it opposes all imposition of cooperation from the top over the rest of the people, because it destroys natural relationships between them, which is the base for all real organization and it coverts each individual into a part of a machine that works for the interests of the privileged.

One can, like Malatesta, rest the whole weight on the organizations of anarchist groups and their federative union. Or one can, like Kropotkin, defend that anarchists should remain with their small groups and rest the whole weight of their activities in the syndicalist organizations. One can even take the point of view of James Guillaume, the great comrade of Bakunin, that one shouldn’t even talk of anarchist organizations, since one should work exclusively in revolutionary unions to propagate the evolution and deepening of libertarian socialism. These are differences stances that should be discussed, but in all of them the need for organization is stated.

Now, before the storm comes, that need is all the more urgent. The social contradictions have become more palpable in all countries and huge masses of the proletariat are still dominated by the belief that the use of State violence by this same proletariat puts it under conditions to solve the social problem. Not even the frightening collapse of the East can cure the majority from that conceitedness. It’s absurd to think that State Socialism lost its power over the masses. Quite the opposite, over it and all other kinds of slavery one has to place the IDEAL OF FREEDOM AND SOCIALISM. A struggle, a struggle without mercy of any force of tyranny and any worshiper of power and domination, no matter what mask they use. The luck of our next agreement is on the hands of history. As such all forces have to unite into a great alliance and open the doors to a free future.