ARGUMENTS FOR & AGAINST
Albert Meltzer
/
AK
PRESS
© Copyright: 1996 Albert Meltzer
Anarchism: Arguments For and Against.
ISBN 1-87317619 8
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this title is available from the
Library of Congress.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this title is available from the
British Library.
1st published, Cienfuegos, Sanday, Orkneys 1981
2nd, Cie!lfuegos, Minneapolis (U.S.)
3rd, Belfast Anarchists
4th, ASP, Doncaster .r
5th revised edition, 1993
6th second revised edition, 1996 by:
AKPress
AKPress
P.O. Box 1 2766
P.O. Box 40682
Edinburgh, Scotland
San Francisco, CA
EH89YE
94140-0682
Design and layout work donated by Freddie Baer.
Proofread by Aimee Larsen
Table of Contents
ALBERT MELTZER
1
Stuart Christie
ANARCHISM: ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST
4
Introduction
4
/The Historical Background to Anarchism
4
Inalienable Tenets of Anarchism
12
12
That Mankind is Born Free
If Mankind is Born Free, Slavery is Murder _12
As Slavery is Murder, so Property is Theft
__
If Property is Theft, Government is Tyranny
_
13
13
If Government is Tyranny, Anarchy is Liberty _13
The Class Struggle
Organisation and Anarchism
14
�-17
______
The Role of an Anarchist in an
Authoritarian Society
19
Workers Control
20
The Anarchist as Rebel
21
Nonviolence
24
Immediate Aims of the Anarchist
25
Workers' Self-Defence
28
How Will a Revolution Come About?
29
Bringing About the New Society
31
W hat Constitutes an Authoritarian Society?_ 31
Can One Do Without the State?
33
The Money Myth
35
The Myth of Taxation
37
The Effect of ImJ?1igration
The Abolition of'lhe Wage and
38
Monetary Systems
38
Community Control
41
Need There be a Transitional Society?
42
A Free Society
43
The Employers Do Not Give Work
44
Objections to Anarchism
45
Leadership
47
Is Anarchism Compatible with Capitalism? _ 40
Can Public Opinion Itself be