^^\^ y.sij.v.--'™* *\, mi ®«)tneU Uttivetsitg Jikatg ^THE GIFT OF KrlSiOli. f»(r*.jl^iPl :^iU BmtrH86,MH. fl^^ Cornell University Library HX86 .T89 1897 Instead o' ? book 3 1924 030 333 052 olin The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030333052 ^\5 /C?"! INSTEAD OF A BOOK By a Man Too Busy to Write One A FRAGMENTARY EXPOSITION OF PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM CULLED FROM THE WRITINGS OF BENJ. R. TUCKER Editor of Liberty Liberty, Not the Daughter, but the Mother of Order.—Proudhon SECOND EDITION NEW YORK BENJ. R. TUCKER, Publisher K Foy always in thine eyes^ O Liberty ! Shines that high light whereby the world is saved; And though thou slay us, we will trust in thee. John Hay. In abolishing rent and interest^ the last vestiges of old-time slavery ^ the Revolu- tion abolisH.es at one stroke the sword o/ the executioner^ the seal 0/ the magistrate,, the club 0/ the policeman^ the gauge 0/ the exciseman^ the erasing-kni/e 0/ the department clerks all those insignia of Politics^ which young Liberty grinds beneath kar heel* Proudhon. a:o tb.e iHicmorg OF My Old Friend and Master JOSIAH WARREN Whose Teachings were My First Source of Light I Gratefully Dedicate this Volume CONTENTS. PAGE Preface, ix State Socialism and Anarchism : How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ, i The Individual, Society, and the State, ig The Relation of the State to the Individual 21 Contract or Organism, What's That to Us ? . .31 The Nature of the State, 34 A Misinterpretation of Anarchism, 38 Mr. Levy's Maximum, 40 Resistance to Taxation 43 Puppet . A for a God, . ...... 46 Mr. Perrine's Difficulties, . 50 Where We Stand, . 52 Tu-Whit ! . Tu-Whoo ! 55 Rights and Duties Under Anarchy, 58 More Questions, .61 Mr. Blodgett's Final Question, 62 Trying to Be and Not to Be, 63 My Explanation, 65 A Plea for Non-Resistance' 67 Liberty and Aggression, ........ 72 Rule or Resistance—Which ? 75 The Advisability of Violence 78 Mr. Pentecost an Abettor of Government, . .81 The Philosopher of the Disembodied, 82 The Woes of an Anarchist, 89 The Moral of Mr. Donisthorpe's Woes, 98 L'Etat est ; I'^tat Mort Vive ! 99 Voluntary Co-operatioti, 1O3 L'Etat, C'est I'Ennemi, 105 A Libertarian's Pet Despotisms, 115 Defensive Despotism, 116 Still in the Procrustean Bed, 116 Pinney Struggling with Procrustes, 118 A Back Town Heard From, 120 In Form a Reply, In Reality a Surrender 122 ' Fool Voters and Fool Editors, 125 Ergo and Presto, 126 V VI Contents. tAGS The Right of Ownership .129 Individual Sovereignty Our Goal, . .. 131 New Abolition and Its Nine Demands, 133 Compulsory Education Not Anarchistic, 134 Relations Between Parents and Children 136 Compulsory Education and Anarchism, 143 Children Under Anarchy, '44 Not a Decree, but a Prophecy, ....... 146 Anarchy and Rape, i49 An Unfortunate Analogy, 150 The Boycott and Its Limit, 152 A Case Where Discussion Convinced, I53 A Spirit More Evil Than Alcohol I54 A Word About Capital Punishment, 156 No Place for a Promise, ........ I57 On Picket Duty, 158 Money and Interest, ......... i75 "Who is the Somebody ?" i77 Reform Made Ridiculous, I79 A Defence of Capital, 180 "The Position of William," 181 Capital's Claim to Increase, . .183 A Baseless Charge, . 186 Another Answer to Mr. Babcock, i8g Attention, " Apex !" 189 Usury, . 190 Apex or Basis, 191 "The Position of William," J99 Economic Hodge-Podge, 200 An Unwarranted Question, ....... 208 An Alleged Flaw in Anarchy, 209 Shall the Transfer Papers be Taxed ? 212 Money and Capital, ......... 215 To-day's View of Interest, . 217 To-day's Excellent Fooling 220 Government and Value, ........ 222 The Power of Government Over Values, 223 Free Trade in Banking, ........ 227 Currency and Government, 235 The Equalization of Wage and Product, ..... 237 A False Idea of Freedom, 245 Monopoly, Communism, and Liberty, ..... 246 Pinney His Own Procrustes, 248 Ten Questions Briefly Answered, 252 A Standard of Value a Necessity, 253 A Necessity or a Delusion—Which ? 256 Anarchy's New Ally, 259 Economic Superstition, ........ 260 A Book That is Not Milk for Babes, 262 State Banking Versus Mutual Banking, ..... 265 Mr. Bilgram's Rejoinder, . 268 Free Money, 269 Free Money First 273 StoD the Main Leak First, 274 CGHTENTg. Vli PAGE An Indispensable Accident 276 Leland Stanford's Land Bank, ....... 278 Mutualism in the Service of Capital 281 Edward Atkinson's Evolution, 282 A Greenbacker in a Corner 284 Free Money and the Cost Principle, 286 • Proudhon's Bank, . 287 Why Wages Should Absorb Profits, 289 A Great Idea Perverted 290 On Picket Duty, 292 Lanb and Rent, 297 "The Land for the People," ....... 299 Basic Principles of Economics : Rent, . • . 300 Rent : Parting Words, . 304 Property Under Anarchism, ....... 309 Mere Land No Saviour for Labor, 313 Henry George's " Secondary Factors," 314 The State Socialists and Henry George 315 Liberty and the George Theory, 316 A Criticism That Does Not Apply 322 Land Occupancy and Its Conditions, 324 Competitive Protection, 326 Protection, and Its Relation to Rent, 328 Liberty and Land, 333 Rent, and Its Collection by Force, 337 The Distribution of Rent, 339 Economic Rent, 343 Liberty and Property, . / 348 Going to Pieces on the Rocks, 351 "Simplifying Government," 352 On Picket Duty 353 Socialism, 359 'Socialism : What It Is, ....... 361 Armies That Overlap, 363 Socialism and the Lexicographers 365 The Sin of Herbert Spencer, 370 Will Professor Sumner Choose? 371 After Freiheit, Der Socialist, . 375 State Socialism and Liberty 377 On Picket Duty 378 Communism, 381 General Walker and the Anarchists 383 Herr Most on Libertas, 393 Still Avoiding the Issue, 397 Herr Most Distilled and Consumed, . 401 Should Labor be Paid or Not ? 403 Does Competition Mean War.? 404 Competition and Monopoly Confounded, 406 On Picket Duty, 407 Methods 409 The Power of Passive Resistance 411 The Irish Situation in 1881 414 The Method of Anarchy, 415 Theoretical Methods, 417 vni CONTENTS. PAGB A Seed Planted, , . 420 The " Home Guard " Heard From 421 Colonization, 423 Labor's New Fetich, 424 Mr. Pentecost's Belief in the Ballot, 426 A Principle of Social Therapeutics, 427 The Morality 6f Terrorism, 428 The Beast of Communism, 429 Time Will Tell, . .434 The Facts Coming to Light, .,...•. 435 Liberty and Violence, •439 Convicted by a Packed Jury, 442 Why Expect Justice from the State ? 444 The Lesson of the Hour 446 Convicted for Their Opinions 447 To the Breach, Comrades ! 448 On Picket Duty, 449 Miscellaneous, .451 The Lesson of Homestead 453 Save Labor from Its Friends 455 Is Frick a Soldier of Liberty ? 457 Shall Strikers be Court-Martialled? 459 Census-Taking Fatal to Monopoly, ...... 461 Anarchy Necessarily Atheistic, 463 A Fable for Malthusians 465' Auberon Herbert and His Work, 469 Solutions of the Labor Problem, 472 Karl Marx as Friend and Foe, ... ... 476 Do the Knights of Labor Love Liberty ? 480 Play-House Philanthropy, ........ 4S3 Beware of Batterson ! 487 A Gratifying Discovery, ........ 489 Cases of Lamentable Longevity, . "490 Spooner Memorial Resolutions, 491 On Picket Duty 493 Index, 497 PREFACE. "iNSTEAEk of a b(3ok !" I hear the reader exclaim, as he picks up this " volume and glances at its title ; why, it is a book." To all appearance, yes ; essentially, no. It is, to be sure, an assemblage within a cover of printed sheets consecutively numbered ; but this alone does not constitute a book. A book, properly speaking, is first of all a thing of unity and symmetry, of order and finish ; it is a literary structure, each part of which is subordinated to the whole and created for it. To satisfy such a standard this volume does not pretend ; it is not a structure, but an afterthougnt, a more or less coherent arrangement, each part of which was created almost without reference to any other. Yet not quite so, after all ; otner- wise even the smallest degree of coherence were scarcely possible. The facts are these. In August, 1881, I started in Boston, in a very quiet way, a little fortnightly journal called Liberty. Its purpose was to contribute to the solution of social problems by carrying to a logical con- clusion the battle, against authority, —to aid in what Proudhon had called "the dissolution of government in the economic organism." Beyond the opportunity of thus contributing my mite I looked for little from my ex- periment. But, almost before I knew it, the tiny paper had begun to exert an influence of which I had not dreamed. It went the wide world over. In nearly every important city, and in many a country town, it found some mind ripe for its reception. Each of these minds became a centre of influence, and in considerably less than a year a specific movement had sprung into existence, under Proudhon's happily chosen name. Anarchism, of which Liberty was generally recognized as the organ. Since that time, through varying fortunes, the paper has gone on, with slow but steady growth, doing its quiet work. Books inspired by it, and other journals which it called into being, have made their appearance, not only in various parts of the United States, but in England, France, Germany, and at the antipodes. Anarchism is now one of the forces of the world. But its literature, voluminous as it already is, lacks a systematic text-book. I have often been urged to attempt the task of writing one. Thus far, ix X pfefiFACfi. however, I have been too busy, and there is no prospect that I shall evet be less so.