Page:Roads to freedom.djvu/132

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130
Roads to Freedom

instances the old Volunteers in Great Britain as an example of a movement on Anarchist lines.[1] Even if a predatory army were not formed from within, it might easily come from a neighbouring nation, or from races on the borderland of civilization. So long as the love of power exists, I do not see how it can be prevented from finding an outlet in oppression except by means of the organized force of the community.

The conclusion which appears to be forced upon us is that the Anarchist ideal of a community in which no acts are forbidden by law is not, at any rate for the present, compatible with the stability of such a world as the Anarchists desire. In order to obtain and preserve a world resembling as closely as possible that at which they aim, it will still be necessary that some acts should be forbidden by law. We may put the chief of these under three heads:—


1. Theft.

2. Crimes of violence.

3. The creation of organizations intended to subvert the Anarchist régime by force.


We will briefly recapitulate what has been said already as to the necessity of these prohibitions.

1. Theft.—It is true that in an Anarchist world there will be no destitution, and therefore no thefts motived by starvation. But such thefts are at present by no means the most considerable, or the most harm-

  1. "Anarchist Communism." p. 27.