{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71418/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71418","id":"gutenberg_71418","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71418","summary":null,"tags":["Anarchism","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Individualism"],"text":"_The_\n        PLACE OF THE INDIVIDUAL\n               IN SOCIETY\n\n    [Illustration: Author Photograph]\n\n            By EMMA GOLDMAN\n\n\n\n\n\u201cNATIONALISM AND ITS RELATION TO CULTURE\u201d\n\n_By_ RUDOLF ROCKER\n\n\nThis profound work will revolutionize the intellectual world of thought\nby showing that the heretofore accepted notions as to the underlying\ncauses of Social Phenomena are only partially true and therefore,\ninadequate to explain how social changes are affected.\n\nMany great thinkers have sought to formulate a \u201cPhilosophy of History\u201d\nwhich would enable us to analyze and explain, as well as predict social\nand historical events. Buckle, Hegel, Marx and Spengler are just a few\namong the great thinkers who have contributed to this great task, but\nRocker with his profound understanding and in his illuminating style\nshows why the \u201cHegelian Dialectics\u201d, \u201cMarx\u2019s Economic Determinism\u201d and\n\u201cThe Spenglerian Philosophy of Destiny\u201d have failed.\n\nIn this veritable encyclopedia of knowledge, we see before us, in a\nliving procession, the great cultures of all ages. The thoughts and\nideals of the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans become\naccessible to us with the same clarity and understanding as the thoughts\nand ideals of our contemporaries. No intelligent person regardless of\nhis school of thought, can afford to miss reading this great work.\n\n\u201cNationalism and Its Relation to Culture\u201d will be published in two\nvolumes and sold at $7.50 for both volumes. We offer You this great work\nat a price of $5.00, if you SUBSCRIBE IN ADVANCE.\n\nThis monumental work will soon be off the press. We urge you to send\nyour subscriptions now--in advance. By so doing, you will help our\ncommittee complete the work and you will save $2.50.\n\nSUBSCRIBE TODAY.\n\nSubscriptions can be mailed to the following committees:\n\n    ADELAIDE SCHULKIND\n    104 Fifth Avenue\n    New York, New York\n\n    B. YELENSKY\n    3332 Potomac Ave.\n    Chicago, Illinois\n\n    C. V. COOK\n    1038 S. Alvarado St.\n    Los Angeles, Calif.\n\n\n\n\nTHE INDIVIDUAL, SOCIETY AND THE STATE\n\nBy\n\nEMMA GOLDMAN\n\n\nThe minds of men are in confusion, for the very foundations of our\ncivilization seem to be tottering. People are losing faith in the\nexisting institutions, and the more intelligent realize that capitalist\nindustrialism is defeating the very purpose it is supposed to serve.\n\nThe world is at a loss for a way out. Parliamentarism and democracy are\non the decline. Salvation is being sought in Fascism and other forms of\n\u201cstrong\u201d government.\n\nThe struggle of opposing ideas now going on in the world involves social\nproblems urgently demanding a solution. The welfare of the individual\nand the fate of human society depend on the right answer to those\nquestions. The crisis, unemployment, war, disarmament, international\nrelations, etc., are among those problems.\n\nThe State, government with its functions and powers, is now the subject\nof vital interest to every thinking man. Political developments in all\ncivilized countries have brought the questions home. Shall we have a\nstrong government? Are democracy and parliamentary government to be\npreferred, or is Fascism of one kind or another,\ndictatorship--monarchical, bourgeois or proletarian--the solution of the\nills and difficulties that beset society today?\n\nIn other words, shall we cure the evils of democracy by more democracy,\nor shall we cut the Gordian knot of popular government with the sword of\ndictatorship?\n\nMy answer is neither the one nor the other. I am against dictatorship\nand Fascism as I am opposed to parliamentary regimes and so-called\npolitical democracy.\n\nNazism has been justly called an attack on civilization. This\ncharacterization applies with equal force to every form of dictatorship;\nindeed, to every kind of suppression and coercive authority. For what is\ncivilization in the true sense? All progress has been essentially an\nenlargement of the liberties of the individual with a corresponding\ndecrease of the authority wielded over him by external forces. This\nholds good in the realm of physical as well as of political and economic\nexistence. In the physical world man has progressed to the extent in\nwhich he has subdued the forces of nature and made them useful to\nhimself. Primitive man made a step on the road to progress when he first\nproduced fire and thus triumphed over darkness, when he chained the wind\nor harnessed water.\n\nWhat role did authority or government play in human endeavor for\nbetterment, in invention and discovery? None whatever, or at least none\nthat was helpful. It has always been the =individual= that has\naccomplished every miracle in that sphere, usually in spite of the\nprohibition, persecution and interference by authority, human and\ndivine.\n\nSimilarly, in the political sphere, the road of progress lay in getting\naway more and more from the authority of the tribal chief or of the\nclan, of prince and king, of government, of the State. Economically,\nprogress has meant greater well-being of ever larger numbers.\nCulturally, it has signified the result of all the other\nachievements--greater independence, political, mental and psychic.\n\nRegarded from this angle, the problems of man\u2019s relation to the State\nassumes an entirely different significance. It is no more a question of\nwhether dictatorship is preferable to democracy, or Italian Fascism\nsuperior to Hitlerism. A larger and far more vital question poses\nitself: Is political government, is the State beneficial to mankind, and\nhow does it affect the individual in the social scheme of things?\n\nThe individual is the true reality in life. A cosmos in himself, he does\nnot exist for the State, nor for that abstraction called \u201csociety,\u201d or\nthe \u201cnation,\u201d which is only a collection of individuals. Man, the\nindividual, has always been and, necessarily is the sole source and\nmotive power of evolution and progress. Civilization has been a\ncontinuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals\nagainst the State and even against \u201csociety,\u201d that is, against the\nmajority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship. Man\u2019s\ngreatest battles have been waged against man-made obstacles and\nartificial handicaps imposed upon him to paralyze his growth and\ndevelopment. Human thought has always been falsified by tradition and\ncustom, and perverted false education in the interests of those who held\npower and enjoyed privileges. In other words, by the State and the\nruling classes. This constant incessant conflict has been the history of\nmankind.\n\nIndividuality may be described as the consciousness of the individual as\nto what he is and how he lives. It is inherent in every human being and\nis a thing of growth. The State and social institutions come and go, but\nindividuality remains and persists. The very essence of individuality is\nexpression; the sense of dignity and independence is the soil wherein it\nthrives. Individuality is not the impersonal and mechanistic thing that\nthe State treats as an \u201cindividual\u201d. The individual is not merely the\nresult of heredity and environment, of cause and effect. He is that and\na great deal more, a great deal else. The living man cannot be defined;\nhe is the fountain-head of all life and all values; he is not a part of\nthis or of that; he is a whole, an individual whole, a growing,\nchanging, yet always constant whole.\n\nIndividuality is not to be confused with the various ideas and concepts\nof Individualism; much less with that \u201crugged individualism\u201d which is\nonly a masked attempt to repress and defeat the individual and his\nindividuality. So-called Individualism is the social and economic\n=laissez faire=: the exploitation of the masses by the classes by means of\nlegal trickery, spiritual debasement and systematic indoctrination of\nthe servile spirit, which process is known as \u201ceducation.\u201d That corrupt\nand perverse \u201cindividualism\u201d is the strait-jacket of individuality. It\nhas converted life into a degrading race for externals, for possession,\nfor social prestige and supremacy. Its highest wisdom is \u201cthe devil take\nthe hindmost.\u201d\n\nThis \u201crugged individualism\u201d has inevitably resulted in the greatest\nmodern slavery, the crassest class distinctions, driving millions to the\nbreadline. \u201cRugged individualism\u201d has meant all the \u201cindividualism\u201d for\nthe masters, while the people are regimented into a slave caste to serve\na handful of self-seeking \u201csupermen.\u201d America is perhaps the best\nrepresentative of this kind of individualism, in whose name political\ntyranny and social oppression are defended and held up as virtues; while\nevery aspiration and attempt of man to gain freedom and social\nopportunity to live is denounced as \u201cun-American\u201d and evil in the name\nof that same individualism.\n\nThere was a time when the State was unknown. In his natural condition\nman existed without any State or organized government. People lived as\nfamilies in small communities; They tilled the soil and practiced the\narts and crafts. The individual, and later the family, was the unit of\nsocial life where each was free and the equal of his neighbor. Human\nsociety then was not a State but an =association=; a =voluntary=\nassociation for mutual protection and benefit. The elders and more\nexperienced members were the guides and advisers of the people. They\nhelped to manage the affairs of life, not to rule and dominate the\nindividual.\n\nPolitical government and the State were a much later development,\ngrowing out of the desire of the stronger to take advantage of the\nweaker, of the few against the many. The State, ecclesiastical and\nsecular, served to give an appearance of legality and right to the wrong\ndone by the few to the many. That =appearance= of right was necessary the\n=easier= to rule the people, because no government can exist without the\n=consent= of the people, consent open, tacit or assumed. Constitutionalism\nand democracy are the modern forms of that alleged consent; the consent\nbeing inoculated and indoctrinated by what is called \u201ceducation,\u201d at\nhome, in the church, and in every other phase of life.\n\nThat consent is the belief in authority, in the necessity for it. At its\nbase is the doctrine that man is evil, vicious, and too incompetent to\nknow what is good for him. On this all government and oppression is\nbuilt. God and the State exist and are supported by this dogma.\n\nYet the State is nothing but a =name=. It is an abstraction. Like other\nsimilar conceptions--nation, race, humanity--it has no organic reality.\nTo call the State an organism shows a diseased tendency to make a fetish\nof words.\n\nThe State is a term for the legislative and administrative machinery\nwhereby certain business of the people is transacted, and badly so.\nThere is nothing sacred, holy or mysterious about it. The State has no\nmore conscience or moral mission than a commercial company for working a\ncoal mine or running a railroad.\n\nThe State has no more existence than gods and devils have. They are\nequally the reflex and creation of man, for man, the =individual=, is the\nonly reality. The State is but the shadow of man, the shadow of his\nopaqueness of his ignorance and fear.\n\nLife begins and ends with man, the individual. Without him there is no\nrace, no humanity, no State. No, not even \u201csociety\u201d is possible without\nman. It is the individual who lives, breathes and suffers. His\ndevelopment, his advance, has been a continuous struggle against the\nfetishes of his own creation and particularly so against the \u201cState.\u201d\n\nIn former days religious authority fashioned political life in the image\nof the Church. The authority of the State, the \u201crights\u201d of rulers came\nfrom on high; power, like faith, was divine. Philosophers have written\nthick volumes to prove the sanctity of the State; some have even clad it\nwith infallibility and with god-like attributes. Some have talked\nthemselves into the insane notion that the State is \u201csuperhuman,\u201d the\nsupreme reality, \u201cthe absolute.\u201d\n\nEnquiry was condemned as blasphemy. Servitude was the highest virtue. By\nsuch precepts and training certain things came to be regarded as\nself-evident, as sacred of their truth, but because of constant and\npersistent repetition.\n\nAll progress has been essentially an unmasking of \u201cdivinity\u201d and\n\u201cmystery,\u201d of alleged sacred, eternal \u201ctruth\u201d; it has been a gradual\nelimination of the abstract and the substitution in its place of the\nreal, the concrete. In short, of facts against fancy, of knowledge\nagainst ignorance, of light against darkness.\n\nThat slow and arduous liberation of the individual was not accomplished\nby the aid of the State. On the contrary, it was by continuous conflict,\nby a life-and-death struggle with the State, that even the smallest\nvestige of independence and freedom has been won. It has cost mankind\nmuch time and blood to secure what little it has gained so far from\nkings, tsars and governments.\n\nThe great heroic figure of that long Golgotha has been Man. It has\n=always= been the individual, often alone and singly, at other times in\nunity and co-operation with others of his kind, who has fought and bled\nin the age-long battle against suppression and oppression, against the\npowers that enslave and degrade him.\n\nMore than that and more significant: It was man, the individual, whose\nsoul first rebelled against injustice and degradation; it was the\nindividual who first conceived the idea of resistance to the conditions\nunder which he chafed. In short, it is always the individual who is the\nparent of the liberating =thought= as well as of the =deed=.\n\nThis refers not only to political struggles, but to the entire gamut of\nhuman life and effort, in all ages and climes. It has always been the\nindividual, the man of strong mind and will to liberty, who paved the\nway for every human advance, for every step toward a freer and better\nworld; in science, philosophy and art, as well as in industry, whose\ngenius rose to the heights, conceiving the \u201cimpossible,\u201d visualizing its\nrealization and imbuing others with his enthusiasm to work and strive\nfor it. Socially speaking, it was always the prophet, the seer, the\nidealist, who dreamed of a world more to his heart\u2019s desire and who\nserved as the beacon light on the road to greater achievement.\n\nThe State, every government whatever its form, character or color--be it\nabsolute or constitutional, monarchy or republic, Fascist, Nazi or\nBolshevik--is by its very nature conservative, static, intolerant of\nchange and opposed to it. Whatever changes it undergoes are always the\nresult of pressure exerted upon it, pressure strong enough to =compel= the\nruling powers to submit peaceably or otherwise, generally\n\u201cotherwise\u201d--that is, by revolution. Moreover, the inherent conservatism\nof government, of authority of any kind, unavoidably becomes\nreactionary. For two reasons: first, because it is in the nature of\ngovernment not only to retain the power it has, but also to strengthen,\nwiden and perpetuate it, nationally as well as internationally. The\nstronger authority grows, the greater the State and its power, the less\nit can tolerate a similar authority or political power along-side of\nitself. The psychology of government demands that its influence and\nprestige constantly grow, at home and abroad, and it exploits every\nopportunity to increase it. This tendency is motivated by the financial\nand commercial interests back of the government, represented and served\nby it. The fundamental =raison d\u2019etre= of every government to which,\nincidentally, historians of former days wilfully shut their eyes, has\nbecome too obvious now even for professors to ignore.\n\nThe other factor which impels governments to become even more\nconservative and reactionary is their inherent distrust of the\nindividual and fear of individuality. Our political and social scheme\ncannot afford to tolerate the individual and his constant quest for\ninnovation. In \u201cself-defense\u201d the State therefore suppresses,\npersecutes, punishes and even deprives the individual of life. It is\naided in this by every institution that stands for the preservation of\nthe existing order. It resorts to every form of violence and force, and\nits efforts are supported by the \u201cmoral indignation\u201d of the majority\nagainst the heretic, the social dissenter and the political rebel--the\nmajority for centuries drilled in State worship, trained in discipline\nand obedience and subdued by the awe of authority in the home, the\nschool, the church and the press.\n\nThe strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence\nfrom it is the greatest crime. The wholesale mechanisation of modern\nlife has increased uniformity a thousandfold. It is everywhere present,\nin habits, tastes, dress, thoughts and ideas. Its most concentrated\ndullness is \u201cpublic opinion.\u201d Few have the courage to stand out against\nit. He who refuses to submit is at once labelled \u201cqueer,\u201d \u201cdifferent\u201d\nand decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of\nmodern life.\n\nPerhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity\nand sameness that harass the individual mast. His very \u201cuniqueness,\u201d\n\u201cseparateness\u201d and \u201cdifferentiation\u201d make him an alien, not only in his\nnative place, but even in his own home. Often more so than the foreign\nborn who generally falls in with the established.\n\nIn the true sense one\u2019s native land, with its background of tradition,\nearly impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not\nenough to make sensitive human beings feel =at home=. A certain atmosphere\nof \u201cbelonging,\u201d the consciousness of being \u201cat one\u201d with the people and\nenvironment, is more essential to one\u2019s feeling of home. This holds good\nin relation to one\u2019s family, the smaller local circle, as well as the\nlarger phase of the life and activities commonly called one\u2019s country.\nThe individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feels\nnowhere so hedged in and out of touch with his surroundings than in his\nnative land.\n\nIn pre-war time the individual could at least escape national and family\nboredom. The whole world was open to his longings and his quests. Now\nthe world has become a prison, and life continual solitary confinement.\nEspecially is this true since the advent of dictatorship, right and\nleft.\n\nFriedrich Nietzsche called the State a cold monster. What would he have\ncalled the hideous beast in the garb of modern dictatorship? Not that\ngovernment had ever allowed much scope to the individual; but the\nchampions of the new State ideology do not grant even that much. \u201cThe\nindividual is nothing,\u201d they declare, \u201cit is the collectivity which\ncounts.\u201d Nothing less than the complete surrender of the individual will\nsatisfy the insatiable appetite of the new deity.\n\nStrangely enough, the loudest advocates of this new gospel are to be\nfound among the British and American intelligentsia. Just now they are\nenamored with the \u201cdictatorship of the proletariat.\u201d In theory only, to\nbe sure. In practice, they still prefer the few liberties in their own\nrespective countries. They go to Russia for a short visit or as salesmen\nof the \u201crevolution,\u201d but they feel safer and more comfortable at home.\n\nPerhaps it is not only lack of courage which keeps these good Britishers\nand Americans in their native lands rather than in the millenium come.\nSubconsciously there may lurk the feeling that individuality remains the\nmost fundamental fact of all human association, suppressed and\npersecuted yet never defeated, and in the long run the victor.\n\nThe \u201cgenius of man,\u201d which is but another name for personality and\nindividuality, bores its way through all the caverns of dogma, through\nthe thick walls of tradition and custom, defying all taboos, setting\nauthority at naught, facing contumely and the scaffold--ultimately to be\nblessed as prophet and martyr by succeeding generations. But for the\n\u201cgenius of man,\u201d that inherent, persistent quality of individuality, we\nwould be still roaming the primeval forests.\n\nPeter Kropotkin has shown what wonderful results this unique force of\nman\u2019s individuality has achieved when strengthened by =co-operation= with\nother individualities. The one-sided and entirely inadequate Darwinian\ntheory of the struggle for existence received its biological and\nsociological completion from the great Anarchist scientist and thinker.\nIn his profound work, _Mutual Aid_, Kropotkin shows that in the animal\nkingdom, as well as in human society, co-operation--as opposed to\ninternecine strife and struggle--has worked for the survival and\nevolution of the species. He demonstrated that only mutual aid and\nvoluntary co-operation--=not= the omnipotent, all-devastating State--can\ncreate the basis for a free individual and associational life.\n\nAt present the individual is the pawn of the zealots of dictatorship and\nthe equally obsessed zealots of \u201crugged individualism.\u201d The excuse of\nthe former is its claim of a new objective. The latter does not even\nmake a pretense of anything new. As a matter of fact \u201crugged\nindividualism\u201d has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Under its\nguidance the brute struggle for physical existence is still kept up.\nStrange as it may seem, and utterly absurd as it is, the struggle for\nphysical survival goes merrily on though the necessity for it has\nentirely disappeared. Indeed, the struggle is being continued apparently\n=because= there is no necessity for it. Does not so-called overproduction\nprove it? Is not the world-wide economic crisis an eloquent\ndemonstration that the struggle for existence is being maintained by the\nblindness of \u201crugged individualism\u201d at the risk of its own destruction?\n\nOne of the insane characteristics of this struggle is the complete\nnegation of the relation of the producer to the things he produces. The\naverage worker has no inner point of contact with the industry he is\nemployed in, and he is a stranger to the process of production of which\nhe is a mechanical part. Like any other cog of the machine, he is\nreplaceable at any time by other similar depersonalized human beings.\n\nThe intellectual proletarian, though he foolishly thinks himself a free\nagent, is not much better off. He, too, has a little choice or\nself-direction, in his particular metier as his brother who works with\nhis hands. Material considerations and desire for greater social\nprestige are usually the deciding factors in the vocation of the\nintellectual. Added to it is the tendency to follow in the footsteps of\nfamily tradition, and become doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.\nThe groove requires less effort and personality. In consequence nearly\neverybody is out of place in our present scheme of things. The masses\nplod on, partly because their senses have been dulled by the deadly\nroutine of work and because they must eke out an existence. This applies\nwith even greater force to the political fabric of today. There is no\nplace in its texture for free choice of independent thought and\nactivity. There is a place only for voting and tax-paying puppets.\n\nThe interests of the State and those of the individual differ\nfundamentally and are antagonistic. The State and the political and\neconomic institutions it supports can exist only by fashioning the\nindividual to their particular purpose; training him to respect \u201claw and\norder;\u201d teaching him obedience, submission and unquestioning faith in\nthe wisdom and justice of government; above all, loyal service and\ncomplete self-sacrifice when the State commands it, as in war. The State\nputs itself and its interests even above the claims of religion and of\nGod. It punishes religious or conscientious scruples against\nindividuality because there is no individuality without liberty, and\nliberty is the greatest menace to authority.\n\nThe struggle of the individual against these tremendous odds is the more\ndifficult--too often dangerous to life and limb--because it is not truth\nor falsehood which serves as the criterion of the opposition he meets.\nIt is not the validity or usefulness of his thought or activity which\nrouses against him the forces of the State and of \u201cpublic opinion.\u201d The\npersecution of the innovator and protestant has always been inspired by\nfear on the part of constituted authority of having its infallibility\nquestioned and its power undermined.\n\nMan\u2019s true liberation, individual and collective, lies in his\nemancipation from authority and from the belief in it. All human\nevolution has been a struggle in that direction and for that object. It\nis not invention and mechanics which constitute development. The\nability to travel at the rate of 100 miles an hour is no evidence of\nbeing civilized. True civilization is to be measured by the individual,\nthe unit of all social life; by his individuality and the extent to\nwhich it is free to have its being, to grow and expand unhindered by\ninvasive and coercive, authority.\n\nSocially speaking, the criterion of civilization and culture is the\ndegree of liberty and economic opportunity which the individual enjoys;\nof social and international unity and co-operation unrestricted by\nman-made laws and other artificial obstacles; by the absence of\nprivileged castes and by the reality of liberty and human dignity; in\nshort, by the true emancipation of the individual.\n\nPolitical absolutism has been abolished because men have realized in the\ncourse of time that absolute power is evil and destructive. But the same\nthing is true of all power, whether it be the power of privilege, of\nmoney, of the priest, of the politician or of so-called democracy. In\nits effect on individuality it matters little what the particular\ncharacter of coercion is--whether it be as black as Fascism, as yellow\nas Nazism or as pretentiously red as Bolshevism. It is power that\ncorrupts and degrades both master and slave and it makes no difference\nwhether the power is wielded by an autocrat, by parliament or Soviets.\nMore pernicious than the power of a dictator is that of a class; the\nmost terrible--the tyranny of a majority.\n\nThe long process of history has taught man that division and strife mean\ndeath, and that unity and co-operation advance his cause, multiply his\nstrength and further his welfare. The spirit of government has always\nworked against the social application of this vital lesson, except where\nit served the State and aided its own particular interests. It is this\nanti-progressive and anti-social spirit of the State and of the\nprivileged castes back of it which has been responsible for the bitter\nstruggle between man and man. The individual and ever larger groups of\nindividuals are beginning to see beneath the surface of the established\norder of things. No longer are they so blinded as in the past by the\nglare and tinsel of the State idea, and of the \u201cblessings\u201d of \u201crugged\nindividualism.\u201d Man is reaching out for the wider scope of human\nrelations which liberty alone can give. For true liberty is not a mere\nscrap of paper called \u201cconstitution,\u201d \u201clegal right\u201d or \u201claw.\u201d It is not\nan abstraction derived from the non-reality known as \u201cthe State.\u201d It is\nnot the =negative= thing of being free =from= something, because with\n=such= freedom you may starve to death. Real freedom, true liberty =is\npositive=: it is freedom to something; it is the liberty to be, to do;\nin short, the liberty of actual and active opportunity.\n\nThat sort of liberty is not a gift: it is the natural right of man, of\nevery human being. It cannot be given; it cannot be conferred by any law\nor government. The need of it, the longing for it, is inherent in the\nindividual. Disobedience to every form of coercion is the instinctive\nexpression of it. Rebellion and revolution are the more or less\nconscious attempt to achieve it. Those manifestations, individual and\nsocial, are fundamentally expressions of the values of man. That those\nvalues may be nurtured, the community must realize that its greatest and\nmost lasting asset is the unit--the individual.\n\nIn religion, as in politics, people speak of abstractions and believe\nthey are dealing with realities. But when it does come to the real and\nthe concrete, most people seem to lose vital touch with it. It may well\nbe because reality alone is too matter-of-fact, too cold to enthuse the\nhuman soul. It can be aroused to enthusiasm only by things out of the\ncommonplace, out of the ordinary. In other words, the Ideal is the spark\nthat fires the imagination and hearts of men. Some ideal is needed to\nrouse man out of the inertia and humdrum of his existence and turn the\nabject slave into an heroic figure.\n\nRight here, of course, comes the Marxist objector who has outmarxed Marx\nhimself. To such a one, man is a mere puppet in the hands of that\nmetaphysical Almighty called economic determinism or, more vulgarly, the\nclass struggle. Man\u2019s will, individual and collective, his psychic life\nand mental orientation count for almost nothing with our Marxist and do\nnot affect his conception of human history.\n\nNo intelligent student will deny the importance of the economic factor\nin the social growth and development of mankind. But only narrow and\nwilful dogmatism can persist in remaining blind to the important role\nplayed by an idea as conceived by the imagination and aspirations of the\nindividual.\n\nIt were vain and unprofitable to attempt to balance one factor as\nagainst another in human experience. No one single factor in the complex\nof individual or social behavior can be designated as the factor of\ndecisive quality. We know too little, and may never know enough, of\nhuman psychology to weigh and measure the relative values of this or\nthat factor in determining man\u2019s conduct. To form such dogmas in their\nsocial connotation is nothing short of bigotry; yet, perhaps, it has its\nuses, for the very attempt to do so proved the persistence of the human\nwill and confutes the Marxists.\n\nFortunately even some Marxists are beginning to see that all is not well\nwith the Marxian creed. After all, Marx was but human--all too\nhuman--hence by no means infallible. The practical application of\neconomic determinism in Russia is helping to clear the minds of the more\nintelligent Marxists. This can be seen in the trans-valuation of Marxian\nvalues going on in Socialist and even Communist ranks in some European\ncountries. They are slowly realising that their theory has overlooked\nthe human element, _den Menschen_, is a Socialist paper put it.\nImportant as the economic factor is, it is not enough. The rejuvenation\nof mankind needs the inspiration and energising force of an ideal.\n\nSuch an ideal I see in Anarchism. To be sure, not in the popular\nmisrepresentations of Anarchism spread by the worshippers of the State\nand authority. I mean the philosophy of a new social order based on the\nreleased energies of the individual and the free association of\nliberated individuals.\n\nOf all social theories Anarchism alone steadfastly proclaims that\nsociety exists for man, not man for society. The sole legitimate purpose\nof society is to serve the needs and advance the aspiration of the\nindividual. Only by doing so can it justify its existence and be an aid\nto progress and culture.\n\nThe political parties and men savagely scrambling for power will scorn\nme as hopelessly out of tune with our time. I cheerfully admit the\ncharge. I find comfort in the assurance that their hysteria lacks\nenduring quality. Their hosanna is but of the hour.\n\nMan\u2019s yearning for liberation from all authority and power will never be\nsoothed by their cracked song. Man\u2019s quest for freedom from every\nshackle is eternal. It must and will go on.\n\n\n    This pamphlet is sponsored by the Free Society Forum\n    1241 N. 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Yelensky, Secretary\n\n     3332 Potomac Avenue\n\n     Chicago, Illinois\n\n\n\n\n     LIVING MY LIFE\n\n     by\n\n     _Emma Goldman_\n\n     Recognized as one of the greatest autobiographies ever written.\n\n     Formerly $5.00\n\n     Now available for $1.49\n\n     through\n     THE GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY\n     GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK\n\n     \u201cA human document of the most absorbing thought.\u201d\n\n     The N. Y. Times\n\n     \u201cA life unmatched by any woman of our time.\u201d\n\n     The N. Y. Herald-Tribune\n\n\n\n\n     \u201cjaybass\u201d [Illustration: printers logo] printing\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note\n\n\nObvious typographical errors corrected as follows:\n\n  On Page 3: \u2018Is political goverment, is the State...\u2019--corrected to\n      \u2018government\u2019.\n  On Page 10: \u2018But for the \u201cgenuis of man,\u201d that...\u2019--corrected to\n      \u2018genius\u2019.\n  On Back Cover: \u2018...most absorbing though.\u2019--corrected to\n      \u2018thought\u2019.\n\nPunctuation errors corrected without note.\n\nQuestionable spellings of \u2018millenium\u2019, \u2018wilful\u2019 and \u2018wilfully\u2019 retained.\n\n_Text_ denotes italic and =text= denotes bold in this e-text version.\n\nThe title given on the cover of this Pamphlet and the title given on\nthe first page are indeed different.","title":"The place of the individual in society","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":5360}