19th Century – Anarchist Quotes

"At the basis of Proudhon's economic theory we find two essential ideas, that of value and that of exchange. These two ideas are only of interest in the regime of individual property."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"Do I want to propose my own system? Not at all! I am an advocate of all systems."

— Max Nettlau,
Prolific historian (1865 ‐ 1944)
Historian and prolific writer on anarchism

"I -- anarchist and individualist -- don't want to and cannot embrace the cause of atheist communism, because I don't believe in the supreme elevation of the masses and therefore I refuse the realization of Anarchy understood as a social form of human life together."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"What we mean by equality between the sexes is not just that men will no longer oppress women. We also want men to no longer be oppressed by other men and women no longer to be oppressed by other women."

— He Zhen,
Influential Theorist
Anarchist, feminist, and writer

"The legitimate, the equitable compensation for the loan of money, is the cost of labor in lending it and receiving it back again."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"When society refuses you the right to exist, you have to take it and not help it along, which is cowardice."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"The nature of a species can be changed completely as a result of the modifications resulting from the passage through a series of environments."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"As set forth by theologians, the idea of "God" is an argument that assumes its own conclusions, and proves nothing."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The future social revolution must take into account the circumstance that the industry and agriculture inherited by it from capitalism would not be uniform in the degrees of development of their various branches."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"We used to pay too little attention to utopias, or even disregard them altogether, saying with regret they were impossible of realization. Now indeed they seem to be able to be brought about far more easily than we supposed, and we are actually faced by an agonising problem of quite another kind: how can we prevent their final realization?"

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"We need to return to heroic anarchism, to individual, violent, reckless, poetic, decentering audacity..."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"The anarchist is the one who refuses every cause for the joy of his life radiating from inner spiritual intensity."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"The internationalism of socialists is just an empty phrase."

— Lev Chernyi,
Poet, Anarchist (1893 ‐ 1921)
Anarchist and poet who died in a show trial.

"What consoles me is that there are combatants that remain, because despite all the persecution, the anarchist idea has germinated and the theoretical revolution is ending, being quickly replaced by the practice of action."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"They make revolutionary propaganda because they know the privileged class can never be overturned peacefully."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The revolution, in my opinion, comrade delegates, is not, and cannot be, the work of a party. A party does not carry out a revolution; a party cannot do more than organize a coup d'etat and a coup d'etat is not a revolution."

— Angel Pestana,
Ideological Leader (1886 ‐ 1937)
Anarchist and Trade Unionist

"We need do no more than repeat: only under communism does the individual become himself and lead his own life."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"How many times this must be proven in history before the libertarian believers in violent overthrow of the social order see the light is a deep and serious question. Some people never learn."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"Whoever looks at America will see: the ship is powered by stupidity, corruption, or prejudice."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"In the midst of the unspeakable chaos of philosophies of all kinds and of various moralities we can cull out the constant and persistent tendency which pushes the individual towards life. Towards an ever better life, freer and more noble: that is, towards happiness."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"In short, progress is out of communism toward individualism, out of a condition of status to one of contract, out from authority toward liberty. But the "herd instinct" still remains."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"The struggles of doctrinal exclusivism languish at present. My desire is to have contributed to making them disappear entirely."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"The whole economic system of capitalism is an offshoot of a devouring and overwhelming lust, of a kind that can hold sway only in a society that has deliberately renounced the Christian asceticism and turned away from heaven to give itself over exclusively to earthly gratifications."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"Bakunin was unquestionably inferior to Marx as a political economist. His economics are Marxist, and he subscribed enthusiastically to Marx's theory of surplus value and dissection of the capitalist system."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"Freedom must be so extensive that it includes the right not to be free."

— Max Nettlau,
Prolific historian (1865 ‐ 1944)
Historian and prolific writer on anarchism

"Almost all contemporary political ideologies, with their characteristic tendency to state-idolatry, are likewise largely a product of two world wars, begotten as they are of the inexorability's of fate."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"The life that society offers us is not a full, free and joyful life. It is a crushed, mutilated, humiliated life. We must refuse it."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"It is important not to confuse federalism as it is understood by the Paris Commune with the so-called federalism which exists in Switzerland and in the United States of America."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"Fascism may be briefly described as the reluctant acquiescence of capitalists to governmental regimentation in order to stem the increasing impotency of a one-sided wealth accumulation to satisfy the needs of a country."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"Is anarchism possible? The failure of attempts to attain freedom does not mean the cause is lost."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Poverty is the cause of crime, and the laws that stand in the way of free production and exchange are the cause of poverty."

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"Is anarchism desirable? Well, who does not seek freedom? What man, unless willing to declare himself in bondage, would care to call any control agreeable? Think about it!"

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The revolt of the individual against society is not given by that of the masses against governments."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"If we hope and even assume that the social question will be answered through communism, and not in this or that country but in the world, any thought of centralization must be a monstrosity."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"What constitutes equity is the greatest question of all. It is the "unknown quantity" that even algebra has failed to furnish!"

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"The anarchists reject the path of parliamentary activity. Their tactics are based on the principle of direct action: mass protests, strikes, boycott, sabotage and other methods of direct influence."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Anarchy is the negation of all authority."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Above all, what socialist, without flushing with shame, maintains he is not a revolutionary? We say: none!"

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"If the state would only remove those laws that stand in the way of free land, free money, and transportation, its other statutes would, in course of time, become useless and "repeal" themselves."

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"I believe that anarchism and communism are feasible on an international scale only, and I do not believe in them in one country alone."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"The demand for equality is nothing other than the demand: equal rights for all!"

— Erich Muhsam,
Anarchist Writer (1878 ‐ 1934)
German-Jewish Antifascist Anarchist, Writer

"Governments involve the citizen in national and state responsibilities from which he would choose to be exempt; under these circumstances he can feel no security for person or property."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"If on the one side we do not harbor the illusion that the entire proletariat must be enlightened before it can be called into battle, so on the other we do not doubt that as much enlightenment as possible must be produced with oral and printed agitation."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The revolution is the outcome of many causes whose origin we situate in a higher level of culture of the people, in the discrepancy between their aspirations and the organization that rules and governs the people."

— Angel Pestana,
Ideological Leader (1886 ‐ 1937)
Anarchist and Trade Unionist

"I am an individualist because I am an anarchist; and I am an anarchist because I am a nihilist."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"The anarchist believes that the government is the limit of liberty. He hopes, by destroying government, to expand liberty. The true limit is not government, but society. Government is a social product like another. We don't destroy a tree by cutting one of its branches."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"Spirit, like flame, like freedom, like creativeness, is opposed to any social stagnation or any lifeless tradition."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"True organisation like true liberty belongs to the future -- and the Socialist Commonwealth, or, as I have termed it elsewhere, the Anarchist Republic."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"The anarchist teaching prescribes no method of struggle and rejects none which is in harmony with self-determination and free will."

— Erich Muhsam,
Anarchist Writer (1878 ‐ 1934)
German-Jewish Antifascist Anarchist, Writer

"In France, Portugal, the United States and the South American republics, the trade union organizations were apolitical; how many of them collaborated in the war? France is the only one where such a reproach is warranted."

— Angel Pestana,
Ideological Leader (1886 ‐ 1937)
Anarchist and Trade Unionist

"At the base of contemporary capitalist society lies the principle of private property, owing to which society is divided into two fundamental classes -- the capitalists and the proletariat."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Socialists, so called, have degraded Marx's declaration of a political class struggle to mean something which it never did and never can mean, namely, parliamentary action."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"Federalism is above all the negation of the nation and the state."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"Man as we know him, in the highest actual stage of development, loves learning, yearns alter truth, and identifies his personal happiness with the realization and maintenance of his ideals."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"If cost is made the limit of price, everyone becomes interested in reducing cost, by bringing in all the economies, all the facilities to their aid. But, on the contrary, if cost does not govern the price, but every thing is priced at what it will bring, there are no such cooperating interests."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"Proudhon was an anti-authoritarian, anti-statist communist, a federalist communist. Was he a communist without knowing it? No, he suspected it, and he said it, at least once."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"While we have entertained the contention that a deed may make more propaganda than hundreds of speeches, thousands of articles, and tens of thousands of pamphlets, we have held that an arbitrary act of violence will not necessarily have such an effect."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"I despise humanity because it is not my humanity. I hate tyrants and I detest slaves."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"I have a good idea that will exempt you from relying on others while still finding food naturally. How? By practicing communism."

— He Zhen,
Influential Theorist
Anarchist, feminist, and writer

"The wise man knows that the words "The happiness of the people," have no meaning. Happiness is internal and individual. It can only be produced within oneself."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"The anarchists have but one party, and that is humanity."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

""God" -- as revealed in his book of edicts and narratives is practically an idiot. He has nothing to say that any sensible person should want to listen to."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Ah well, this is the crime that I am here for: for not recognizing the right of these people to die of plenty while the producers, the creators of all social wealth, starve."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"No serious-minded man would venture to predict exactly how the Revolution, the indispensable condition for social renovation, will come about."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"There is no principle of anarchy that denies the right of free contract, and have I not a right to contract with others to live with them under the principles of communism?"

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"Anarchism will be seen to be an idealistic philosophy in the sense that it believes freedom will come from the conscious activity of men. No automatic process is to bring it about."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"Not all those who are considered anarchists are pure anarchists. Tolstoy and Kropotkin have to be thrown out, having very little anarchy in their systems. They are anarchists only in the political sphere, and in all other relations between people they remain ardent communists."

— Lev Chernyi,
Poet, Anarchist (1893 ‐ 1921)
Anarchist and poet who died in a show trial.

"Are there any altruists who would go to hell in order that their neighbors should go to heaven? There is no hope of reward in hell, and a true altruist must expect no reward for his acts."

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"The complete transformation of everyone's living conditions can never be achieved on the path of slow development, through which at most improvements within a social system are possible."

— Erich Muhsam,
Anarchist Writer (1878 ‐ 1934)
German-Jewish Antifascist Anarchist, Writer

"It is the lash of hunger which compels the poor man to submit. In order to live he must sell -- "voluntarily" sell -- himself every day and hour to the "beast of property.""

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"While governments are subjected to the principle of free experimentation, to free competition, they will improve and perfect themselves on their own. No more aloofness, up in the clouds, which only hides their emptiness. Success for them will entirely depend upon them doing it better and cheaper than the others do."

— Max Nettlau,
Prolific historian (1865 ‐ 1944)
Historian and prolific writer on anarchism

"You have accused me of theft, as if a worker that has nothing could be a thief."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"The wise man notes that reforms change the names of things and not the things themselves. The slave became a serf, and then a salaried worker: nothing has been reformed but language. The wise man remains indifferent to these questions of philology."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"Anarchists prepare for social revolution and use every means -- speech, writing, or deed, whichever is more to the point -- to accelerate revolutionary development."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"What is the most important thing in the world? It is eating. Why do you women suffer mistreatment? It is relying on others in order to eat."

— He Zhen,
Influential Theorist
Anarchist, feminist, and writer

"It is Marx's tortured truisms that give a plausibility to his works in their totality."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"Between these two classes, and with the growth of manufacture and commerce, there arose an intermediate class whose affluence depended on personal ingenuity and ability, in whose attitude entered little of either the master or slave psychology but who clearly saw that their well-being depended on the freedom to exercise their abilities."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"I believe that it behooves every honest man to urge the toiling masses not to let the flames of revolution be extinguished."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"In anarchy the Russian, Finn, Jew, Georgian, and Ukrainian are not enemies, but comrades. In short, there is only one conclusion: anarchy inevitably leads to internationalism."

— Lev Chernyi,
Poet, Anarchist (1893 ‐ 1921)
Anarchist and poet who died in a show trial.

"No one today likes truth: utility and self interest have long ago been substituted for truth."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"In this way, the state commune transforms the workers into soulless parts in the huge, centralised communist machine, parts who are obliged to be directed for their whole lives to a single purpose -- the maximum fulfilment of certain production tasks decreed by the state, and who are condemned to a minimum field of initiative, independent action and personal choice."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Out of the class or property social system there cannot emerge a "representation" which signifies an honest attempt to secure just exposition of principles and expressions of antagonistic interests."

— Guy Aldred,
Prolific writer and orator (1886 ‐ 1963)
British anarchist and publisher

"The revealed despotic character of state communism, Marxism, caused a reaction in the proletarian movement and brought about world Fascism in politics."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Federalism is socialist, and for it solidarity is inseparable from liberty."

— James Guillaume,
Historian and Activist (1844 ‐ 1916)
Swiss anarchist and historian

"The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power... the Kingdom of God is anarchy."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"What is "being an active agent?" It is women struggling for liberation with their own might. What is "being a passive agent?" It is men's granting liberation to women... what active forces there have been have come from men, and as a result the benefits to women have not equaled those garnered by men."

— He Zhen,
Influential Theorist
Anarchist, feminist, and writer

"Anarchists emphatically reject a morality which denies the original concepts of right and wrong."

— Erich Muhsam,
Anarchist Writer (1878 ‐ 1934)
German-Jewish Antifascist Anarchist, Writer

"The revolution has cast a powerful net of sympathy among the workers of the entire world, and it would be most unfortunate if we were to deliver ourselves over to debates that are more or less partisan and biased and thus destroy the achievements to which this sympathy has given rise."

— Angel Pestana,
Ideological Leader (1886 ‐ 1937)
Anarchist and Trade Unionist

"Society will have no need to create special institutions for a social insurance. Since it expects all to work, it will determine the minimum and maximum working ages, before and after which all people will be provided, on an equal footing with others, with the necessities for existence and the comforts of life. Similarly, society will provide for invalids, cripples and the sick."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"In the first place, we are unequivocally opposed to the doctrine of total depravity. We hold that men are depraved only in so far as their surroundings make them so, and if those surroundings were removed, their depravity would disappear."

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"I passionately love humanity, and have dedicated my best efforts to the fight for the oppressed. All tyrants disgust me -- and all those who put up with them, adulate them, support them. After having brought them down will I make myself a tyrant in their place? I would be disgusted with myself."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"People, beware of demagogues. They are your worst enemies. They caress you only so they can better shear you."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"The human animal is an animated alimentary canal. He has evolved from and differs from the worm only by the appendages which have developed on him."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"No future and no humanity, no communism and no anarchy is worthy of the sacrifice of my life."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"Whoever has not emancipated himself will be left behind with the current movement and will seek redemption in vain. He will die a slave."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"For a long time I have been fascinated by the thought how wonderful it would be if at last, in public opinion on the succession of political and social institutions, the fateful term "one after another" would be replaced through the very simple and self-evident "simultaneously.""

— Max Nettlau,
Prolific historian (1865 ‐ 1944)
Historian and prolific writer on anarchism

"The existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"I am not a robber but one who has been robbed, someone who brings justice, who says that everything belongs to everyone, and that it is this clear logic of the anarchist idea, which makes your legs tremble."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Ever since the advent of "Scientific Socialism" every attempt to better the conditions of mankind has been labelled "Utopian" by the followers of Karl Marx."

— Laurance Labadie,
Individualist Anarchist (1898 ‐ 1975)
Anarchist, social critic and son of Joseph Labadie

"Infinite diversity instead of unity is inevitable, especially in the progressive or transitionary stage."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"The equal exchange of labor would give as great a reward for honest and useful employments as for useless and fraudulent ones, and individual and unequivocal responsibilities (if for no other reasons) would induce a preference for the honest."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"The present Russian regime and the present order of things can not be called bourgeois -- still less can it be called socialistic or communistic."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Experience proves to the wise man that revolutions never have lasting results. Reason tells him that lies are not refuted by lies, and that violence isn't destroyed by violence."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"Plebeian and bourgeois are equivalent. They deserve each other."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"Freedom, we want nothing more than freedom, since what freedom does not do, not one institution whatsoever will be able to make possible."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"The majority can hardly accept the existence of anything but the two extremes: masters and slaves."

— Lev Chernyi,
Poet, Anarchist (1893 ‐ 1921)
Anarchist and poet who died in a show trial.

"I am not a thief but a sincere revolutionary, who has the courage of his convictions and who is devoted to his cause."

— Clement Duval,
Serial Burglar (1850 ‐ 1935)
French anarchist and criminal.

"Nobody scolded or hated capitalism more than him, but the subtle mind of Proudhon saw the vileness of communism."

— Lev Chernyi,
Poet, Anarchist (1893 ‐ 1921)
Anarchist and poet who died in a show trial.

"Man will only be able to act usefully when he will have managed to destroy all lies, freed himself from all the superstitions given birth to by error, sought the truth in the jumble of knowledge and observations."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"The state, the society, the institutions, the body politic, the nation, the system, or customs we live in, must not be permitted to become primary, but must be secondary!"

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"The freedom of everyone, and thereby the freedom of each individual, requires community in socialism."

— Erich Muhsam,
Anarchist Writer (1878 ‐ 1934)
German-Jewish Antifascist Anarchist, Writer

"To analyze ownership, such as it is now constituted, is a chore little more than superfluous. Its justification has yet to be formulated; nobody has ventured to defend it as anything more than something necessary."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"Indeed, in many cases, maliciousness and stupidity will put many obstacles in the road of the new idea. That is the reason why hard struggles must be fought for unconditional mutual tolerance, until it is finally achieved. Only from then on will everything proceed automatically, science will bloom and advance, because the necessary foundation for every progress, namely experimental freedom and free research have been achieved."

— Max Nettlau,
Prolific historian (1865 ‐ 1944)
Historian and prolific writer on anarchism

"We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"Anarchy -- the sovereignty of the individual over his own actions -- is the goal for which we strive. Communism is one of those incidents that come afterwards."

— Joseph Labadie,
Labor Activist (1850 ‐ 1933)
American labor organizer, anarchist

"Is work a social or a natural law? Work is a natural law worsened by society."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"Ultimately, anarchist collectivism aspires to the spontaneous organization of society by means of free agreement, without asserting processes, or a necessary result."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"All past revolutions were in the end, bourgeois and conservative."

— Renzo Novatore,
Rebellious Philosopher (1890 ‐ 1922)
Italian anarchist and anti-fascist

"The revolutionary trade unions, in the view of the anarchists, are not only organs of the struggle against the contemporary structure; they are also the cells of the future society."

— Gregori Maximoff,
Anarchist Scholar (1893 ‐ 1950)
Political activist, author, and leading anarcho-syndicalist.

"Responsibility must be individual, or there is no responsibility at all."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"In Germany, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Belgium, England, the trade union organizations were political; they tailored their policies to be in accord with the socialist parties; can you deny that they collaborated in the war?"

— Angel Pestana,
Ideological Leader (1886 ‐ 1937)
Anarchist and Trade Unionist

"The individualist is like a wolf who prefers the dangers of liberty to the routine of domestication. Individualists compare themselves to the bird who would prefer to suffer and struggle on its branch than to die a slow death in the servitude of a gilded cage."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"Fate and freedom alike play a part in history; and there are times, as in wars and revolutions, when fate is the stronger of the two."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"The god of the Christians, as we have seen, is the god who makes promises only to break them; who sends them pestilence and disease in order to heal them; a god who demoralizes mankind in order to improve it."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Anarchist communism in Spain differs from collectivism in that it denies all organization for the present and for the future."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"What one needs to do at every moment of one's life is to put an end to the old world and to begin a new world."

— Nikolai Berdyaev,
Philosopher, Activist (1874 ‐ 1948)
Philosopher and political activist

"Wars are, probably, the greatest of all destroyers of property, and they originate chiefly in two roots. First, for direct or indirect plunder; secondly, for the privileges of governing."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"In the face of dogmas, of despots, of the sentimental, of charlatans and regimenters, humanity's future belongs to reason."

— Andre Lorulot,
Provocative Anarchist (1885 ‐ 1963)
French Anarchist, pacifist and free-thinker.

"Apart from the individualist faction, we are all socialist anarchists and all in favor of community. I say all, because collectivism, as the Spanish anarchists understand it, is only a degree of the community of which, in their turn, those who call themselves communists do not reject a single word."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"Anarchic socialism and the revolutionary spirit still survive in Spain; they will do their work and the solidarity of the other nations will not fail us."

— Ricardo Mella,
Mutualist Thinker (1861 ‐ 1925)
Influential Spanish anarchist thinker

"All social arrangements should admit of this freedom of choice of every individual and all subordination should be voluntary."

— Josiah Warren,
Inventor, anarchist theorist (1798 ‐ 1874)
American individualist anarchist, inventor

"The wise man knows that the oppressed who complain aspire to be oppressors. He relieves them according to his means, but he doesn't believe in salvation through common action."

— Han Ryner,
Pacifist Philosopher (1861 ‐ 1938)
French individualist anarchist and pacifist

"You must liberate your ego from all limitedness so entirely that it becomes a human ego."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Anarchism's outward form is a free, non-governed society, which offers freedom, equality and solidarity for its members. Its foundations are to be found in man’s sense of mutual responsibility, which has remained unchanged in all places and times."

— Nestor Makhno,
Anarcho-communist (1888 ‐ 1934)
Anarchist Revolutionary and commander of an independent army in Ukraine

"The State always has the sole purpose to limit, tame, subordinate, the individual to make him subject to some generality or other;"

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"The situation is like this: they hired our parents to destroy this world, and now they'd like to put us to work rebuilding it, and -- to add insult to injury -- at a profit. The Invisible Committee Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"Anarchists prepare for social revolution and use every means- speech, writing, or deed, whichever is more to the point - to accelerate revolutionary development."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The real transformation of society will come only in love, in work, and in stillness."

— Gustav Landauer,
Anarcho-socialist (1870 ‐ 1919)
Influential theoretician of anarchism and socialist activist

"I think the question is not about communists and individualists, but rather about anarchists and non-anarchists."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"Revolution is aimed at new arrangements; insurrection leads us no longer to let ourselves be arranged, but to arrange ourselves, and set no glittering hope on institutions"

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"The coming Revolution could render no greater service to humanity than by making the wage system, in all its forms, an impossibility, and by rendering Communism, which is the negation of wage-slavery, the only possible solution."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"The coming Revolution could render no greater service to humanity than by making the wage system, in all its forms, an impossibility, and by rendering Communism, which is the negation of wage-slavery, the only possible solution."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"Governments oppress mankind in two ways, either directly, by brute force, that is physical violence, or indirectly, by depriving them of the means of subsistence and thus reducing them to helplessness at discretion."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"Unfortunately, there are still a number of people who continue in the fatal belief that government rests on natural laws, that it maintains social order and harmony, that it diminishes crime, and that it prevents the lazy man from fleecing his fellows."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Capitalism is the same everywhere. In order to survive and prosper it needs a permanent situation of partial scarcity: it needs it to maintain its prices and to create hungry masses to work under any conditions."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"Moral influence takes its start where humiliation begins; yes, it is nothing else than this humiliation itself, the breaking and bending of the temper down to humility."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"The urge to destory is a creative urge."

— Mikhail Bakunin,
Collectivist anarchist (1814 ‐ 1876)
Russian revolutionary and anarchist philosopher

"All things are Nothing to Me"

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"In Russia the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat has not led to Socialism, but to the domination of a new bureaucracy over the proletariat and the whole people."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"There can be no doubt that the Anarchist Idea, denying government, is by its very nature opposed to violence, which is the essence of every authoritarian system - the mode of action of every government"

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"What do your laws amount to if no one obeys them?"

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"Power operates only destructively, bent always on forcing every manifestation of life into the straitjacket of its laws. Its intellectual form of expression is dead dogma, its physical form brute force."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle; therefore they take boys from one village and another village; stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against each other."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Socialism greatly needs Anarchism as a critic and to keep it from sacrificing the individual and his originality to the domination of the mass."

— John William Lloyd,
Anarchist Thinker (1857 ‐ 1940)
American individualist anarchist

"To condone ferocious anti-human feelings and raise them to the level of principle as a tactic for a movement... is both evil and counter-revolutionary."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist."

— Lysander Spooner,
Anarcho-Individualist (1808 ‐ 1887)
American political philosopher and abolitionist

"If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself."

— Mikhail Bakunin,
Collectivist anarchist (1814 ‐ 1876)
Russian revolutionary and anarchist philosopher

"The state is a social relationship; a certain way of people relating to one another. It can be destroyed by creating new social relationships; ie, by people relating to one another differently."

— Gustav Landauer,
Anarcho-socialist (1870 ‐ 1919)
Influential theoretician of anarchism and socialist activist

"Common to all Anarchists is the desire to free society of all political and social coercive institutions which stand in the way of development of a free humanity."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"Anarchism is for liberty, and neither for nor against anything else … I define Anarchism as the belief in the greatest amount of liberty compatible with equality of liberty; or, in other words, as the belief in every liberty except the liberty to invade."

— Benjamin Tucker,
Anarcho-Individualist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Leading theorist of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century

"The Anarcho-Syndicalists know that wars are only waged in the interest of the ruling classes; they believe, therefore, that any means is justifiable that can prevent the organised murder of peoples."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"We are the slaves of slaves. We are exploited more ruthlessly than men."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"Anarchy is synonymous with Socialism. Because both signify the abolition of exploitation and of the domination of man over man, whether maintained by the force of arms or by the monopolization of the means of life."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"Might is a fine thing, and useful for many purposes; for one goes further with a handful of might than with a bagful of right."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"Just as you cannot see, at pleasure, with your ears and you cannot, at will, hear with your eyes so too you cannot make the state act in the interests of the working people. As an organ in the social body, its purpose is for the repression of self-determination."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"Never does a State aim to bring in the free activity of individuals, but always that which is bound to the purpose of the State."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"And capital punishment, however ineffective it may be and through whatever ignorance it may be resorted to, is a strictly defensive act, - at least in theory."

— Benjamin Tucker,
Anarcho-Individualist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Leading theorist of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century

"Prisons are universities of crime, maintained by the state."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"Prisons are universities of crime, maintained by the state."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"The anarchists, on behalf of the proletariat, therefore consider it necessary to show the proletariat that it will have to win a gigantic battle before it realizes its goals."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Communism made through the will of a government instead of through the direct and voluntary work of groups of workers does not really appeal to me. If it was possible, it would be the most suffocating tyranny to which human society has ever been subjected."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"Impossibility never prevented anything from happening."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law. How can it be within the law? The law is stationary. The law is fixed. The law is a chariot wheel which binds us all regardless of conditions or place or time."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"The urge for social justice can only develop properly and be effective when it grows out of man's sense of personal freedom and is based on that. In other words Socialism will be free or it will not be at all."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"Anarchism has but one infallible, unchangeable motto, 'Freedom.' Freedom to discover any truth, freedom to develop, to live naturally and fully."

— Lucy Parsons,
Anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1942)
Influential American labor organizer and radical socialist

"One who is constantly striving to force everything into a mechanical order at last becomes a machine himself and loses all human feeling."

— Rudolf Rocker,
anarcho-syndicalist (1873 ‐ 1958)
Influential anarchist writer and speaker

"Give us what belongs to us in peace, and if you don't give it to us in peace, we will take it by force."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Hate does not produce love, and by hate one cannot remake the world."

— Errico Malatesta,
anarcho-communist (1853 ‐ 1932)
Influential Italian anarchist theorist

"It is possible I can make very little of myself; but this little is everything, and better than what I allow to be made out of me by the might of others, by the training of custom, religion, the laws, the State."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"Be strong. Overflow with emotional and intellectual energy, and you will spread your intelligence, your love, your energy of action broadcast among others! This is what all moral teaching comes to."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"Fortunately, no country was ever more suited for anarchist agitation than present-day America."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Be strong. Overflow with emotional and intellectual energy, and you will spread your intelligence, your love, your energy of action broadcast among others! This is what all moral teaching comes to."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"Anarchism's lone objective is to reach a point at which the belligerence of some humans against humanity, in whatever form, comes to a halt."

— Gustav Landauer,
Anarcho-socialist (1870 ‐ 1919)
Influential theoretician of anarchism and socialist activist

"An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to make him behave."

— Ammon Hennacy,
Christian anarchist (1893 ‐ 1970)
American Christian Anarchist and Social Activist

"Anarchists are socialists because they want the improvement of society, and they are communists because they are convinced that such a transformation of society can only result from the establishment of a commonwealth of property."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"The mutual-aid tendency in man has so remote an origin, and is so deeply interwoven with all the past evolution of the human race, that is has been maintained by mankind up to the present time, notwithstanding all vicissitudes of history."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"The mutual-aid tendency in man has so remote an origin, and is so deeply interwoven with all the past evolution of the human race, that is has been maintained by mankind up to the present time, notwithstanding all vicissitudes of history."

— Peter Kropotkin,
Anarcho-communist (1842 ‐ 1921)
Russian anarchist and philosopher

"If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"My power is my property. My power gives me property. My power am I l myself, and through it am I my property."

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

"He who negates present society, and seeks social conditions based on the sharing of property, is a revolutionary whether he calls himself an anarchist or a communist."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"The aims of anarchists and true communists are identical."

— Johann Most,
Anarcho-communist, Propagandist (1846 ‐ 1906)
Prominent German-American anarchist and newspaper editor

"Are not laws dangerous which inhibit the passions? Compare the centuries of anarchy with those of the strongest legalism in any country you like and you will see that it is only when the laws are silent that the greatest actions appear."

— Marquis De Sade,
Egoist anarchist (1740 ‐ 1814)
French philosopher and political activist

"Anarchism: The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary."

— Emma Goldman,
anarcho-feminist (1869 ‐ 1940)
Influential anarchist, political activist, writer.

"Whoever says "proletarian State" says "State Capitalism" whoever says "dictatorship of the Proletariat" says "Dictatorship of the Communist Party;" whoever says "strong government" says "Tsarist oligarchy of politicians.""

— Camillo Berneri,
Anarcho-Communist (1897 ‐ 1937)
Italian anarchist, philosopher and educator

"Whoever calls himself revolutionary and speaks of dictatorship is only an imbecile or a traitor."

— Joseph Dejacque,
Anarcho-Communist (1821 ‐ 1864)
French early anarchocommunist, poet and essayist

"I regretted Mathillet's death because he was a prole like us, a slave of bourgeois society. It was his gesture that was fatal."

— Jules Bonnot,
Anarcho-nihilist (1876 ‐ 1912)
French illegalist and bank robber

"Do truth, freedom, humanity, justice, desire anything else than that you grow enthusiastic and serve them?"

— Max Stirner,
egoist anarchist (1806 ‐ 1856)
Influential philosopher and anarchist

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