Demanding the Impossible Quotes

“The continued appeal of anarchism can probably be attributed to its enduring affinity with both the rational and emotional impulses lying deep within us. It is an attitude, a way of life as well as a social philosophy. It presents a telling analysis of existing institutions and practices, and at the same time offers the prospect of a radically transformed society.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Fear of the people is the sickness of all those who belong to authority; the people, for those in power, are the enemy.’33”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Just as man seeks justice in equality, society seeks order in anarchy.’3”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many. MAX STIRNER”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“With their concern for personal autonomy and individual freedom, anarchists more than any other socialists are aware of the inhumanity of both physical punishment and manipulative cure for anti-social members of the community. They look to reasoned argument and friendly treatment to deal with criminals and wish to respect their humanity and individuality.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Left to themselves, humans have always managed their own affairs creatively and well. Indeed, for most of human evolution and history people have lived peaceful, co-operative lives without rulers, leaders, politicians, soldiers, policemen and taxmen.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Whatever its future success as a historical movement, anarchism will remain a fundamental part of human experience, for the drive for freedom is one of our deepest needs and the vision of a free society is one of our oldest dreams. Neither can ever be fully repressed; both will outlive all rulers and their States.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“There is no way to mitigate its defects. Democratic government is a contradiction, for the people can never be truly consulted or represented. It cannot express the will of constituents who vote for it and remain powerless between elections. As Proudhon wrote in a notebook, representative government is ‘a perpetual abuse of power for the profit of the reigning caste and the interests of the representatives, against the interests of the represented’.47 Universal suffrage is thus a real lottery, ensuring the triumph of mediocrity and the tyranny of the majority.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Nietzsche argued that our fundamental drive is the will to power. Even the pursuit of truth is often a disguised will to power. Nietzsche’s concept of the will to power is one of his most misunderstood doctrines. He celebrates not power over nature or over others but over oneself. He considered the will to power over others to be the will of the weak: the really strong person seeks power only over himself in order to forge his own destiny. The only person one should obey is oneself, and great power reveals itself in self-mastery and is measured by joy. The will to power is therefore an ‘instinct to freedom’, to transcend and perfect oneself.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“That government is best which governs not at all. HENRY THOREAU”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“It was clear to Winstanley that the State and its legal institutions existed in order to hold the lower classes in place. Winstanley at this stage suggested that the only solution would be to abolish private property and then government and church would become superfluous. Magistrates and lawyers would no longer be necessary where there was no buying and selling. There would be no need for a professional clergy if everyone was allowed to preach. The State, with its coercive apparatus of laws and prisons, would simply wither away: ‘What need have we of imprisonment, whipping or hanging laws to bring one another into bondage?’ 18 It is only covetousness, he argued, which made theft a sin. And he completely rejected capital punishment: since only God may give and take life, execution for murder would be murder. He looked forward to a time when ‘the whole earth would be a common treasury’, when people would help each other and find pleasure in making necessary things, and ‘There shall be none lords over others, but everyone shall be a lord of himself, subject to the law of righteousness, reason and equity, which shall dwell and rule in him, which is the Lord.’ 19 Winstanley did not call for mass insurrection or the seizure of the lands of the rich. He was always opposed to violence, although he was not an absolute pacifist and advocated an extreme form of direct action.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“If people could but understand that they are ‘sons of God’, Tolstoy wrote, ‘and can therefore be neither slaves nor enemies to one another—those insane, unnecessary, worn-out, pernicious organizations called Governments, and all the sufferings, violations, humiliations, and crimes they occasion, would cease.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Of all political doctrines, anarchism responds most to the deeply felt human need for freedom which is essential for creativity and fulfilment. It holds up the ideal of personal freedom as a form of autonomy which does not restrict the freedom of others. It proposes a free society without government in which people make their own free structures. It looks to a time when human beings are not only free from each other, but are able to help each other and all life-forms to realize their full potential.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“But the more collectivist anarchist thinkers like Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin believed that since we are social beings we can only be free to realize ourselves in the company of others. Individuality, in their case, is based on reciprocal awareness. As Proudhon put it, the individual ‘recognizes his own self in that of others’. 27 People need not therefore be a threat but a help.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“That government is best which governs not at all.
HENRY THOREAU”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Nature therefore has produced a common right for all, but greed has made it a right for a few.’ He”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“had rather be mad than delighted’.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“His follower Cratylus popularized his teaching: ‘You cannot step twice in the same river.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“As with horses, so it is with human beings. Left to themselves they live in natural harmony and spontaneous order. But when they are coerced and ruled, their natures become vicious.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“And just as plants grow best when allowed to follow their natures, so human beings thrive when least interfered with.6”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue … To be governed means that at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorized, recommended, admonished, prevented, reformed, set right, corrected. Government means to be subjected to tribute, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, pressured, mystified, robbed; all in the name of public utility and the general good. Then, at the first sign of resistance or word of complaint, one is repressed, fined, despised, vexed, pursued, hustled, beaten up, garroted, imprisoned, shot, machine-gunned, judged, sentenced, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to cap it all, ridiculed, mocked, outraged, and dishonoured. That is government, that is its justice and its morality!”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“The State emerged with economic inequality. It was only when a society was able to produce a surplus which could be appropriated by a few that private property and class relations developed.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“The State did not appear until about 5500 years ago in Egypt. While great empires like those of the Chinese and Romans ebbed and flowed, with no clear boundaries on their outer limits, most of the world’s population continued to live in clans or tribes. Their conduct was regulated by customs and taboos; they had no laws, political administration, courts, or police to maintain order and cohesion.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Liberty, as Proudhon observed, is the mother, not the daughter of order.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Anarchists agree with Locke that humanity has always lived in society but argue that government simply exasperates potential social conflict rather than offering a cure for it.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Society is eternal motion; it does not have to be wound up; and it is not necessary to beat time for it. It carries its own pendulum and its ever-wound-up spring within it. An organized society needs laws as little as legislators. Laws are to society what cobwebs are to a beehive; they only serve to catch the bees.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Anarcho-capitalism is a recent current which has developed out of individualist anarchism. It wishes to dismantle government while retaining private property and to allow complete laissez-faire in the economy. Its adherents stress the sovereignty of the individual and reject all governmental interference in everyday life. They propose that government services be turned over to private entrepreneurs”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Individualist anarchism comes closest to classical liberalism, sharing its concepts of private property and economic exchange, as well as its definitions of freedom as the absence of restraint, and justice as the reward of merit.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“What principally divides the family of anarchists is their different views of human nature, strategy and future organization.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“The first person deliberately to call himself an anarchist was the Frenchman Pierre-Joseph Proudhon; he insisted that only a society without artificial government could restore natural order: ‘Just as man seeks justice in equality, society seeks order in anarchy.’3 He launched the great slogans ‘Anarchy is Order’ and ‘Property is Theft’.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism