20th Century – Page 3 – Anarchist Quotes

"According to their absurd programs, the statist socialists and communists have decided to "allow" man to emancipate himself socially, without its thereby being feasible for him to manifest that freedom in his social life."

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

"We have come more and more under the dominance of mechanics and sacrificed living humanity to the dead rhythm of the machine without most of us even being conscious of the monstrosity of the procedure."

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

"Non-violent resistance activities cannot succeed against an enemy that is able freely to use violence."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Go to any elite university and you are usually speaking to very disciplined people, people who have been selected for obedience."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"I mean, "chaos" is a meaning of the word, but it's not a meaning that has any relevance to social thought. Anarchy as a social philosophy has never meant "chaos" - in fact, anarchists have typically believed in a highly organized society, just one that's organized democratically from below."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"A structure based on centuries of history cannot be destroyed with a few kilos of explosives."

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

"A structure based on centuries of history cannot be destroyed with a few kilos of explosives."

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

"Intellectuals: put yourself at the service of the weak. Meditate upon this; this is the really urgent work."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"Fascism becomes less and less possible. We have to accept that we are moving towards some sort of anarchy."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most."

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

"The word anarchist seems to me too restrictive and I don't use it unless it is joined by the word communist."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"To us it means nothing that there is a Soviet Union somewhere in the world, for the sake of whose peace and tranquility the workers of Germany and China were sacrificed to Fascist barbarians by Stalin."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves."

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

"The peoples owe all the political rights and privileges which we enjoy today in greater or lesser measure, not to the good will of their governments, but to their own strength."

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

"A man who does not think for himself does not think at all."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"True intellectual culture and the demand for higher interests in life does not become possible until man has achieved a certain material standard of living, which makes him capable of these."

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

"No feats of heroism are needed to achieve the greatest and most important changes in the existence of humanity."

— Leo Tolstoy,
anarcho-pacifist (1828 ‐ 1910)
Russian author, pacifist and social anarchist

"It is through the inspiration of collective responsibility that the revolutionaries of all epochs and all schools have united their forces; it is upon this that they based their hope that their partial revolts - revolts which opened the path for the oppressed - were not in vain, that the exploited would understand their aspirations, would extract from them the applications suitable for the time and would use them to find new paths toward their emancipation."

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

"Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society."

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

"The paramount question of the day is not political, is not religious, but is economic. The crying-out demand of today is for a circle of principles that shall forever make it impossible for one man to control another by controlling the means of his existence."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"To be really medieval one should have no body. To be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"If you say that you reject violence when it exceeds the limits imposed by the needs of defense, they accuse you of pacifism, without understanding that violence is the whole essence of authoritarianism, just as the repudiation of violence is the whole essence of anarchism."

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

"A small group of comrades, a small group who simply meet in the evening to have a chat would not be an affinity group but a group of friends, pub-mates who meet in the evenings to talk about anything under the sun."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"The lunacy of the Soviet regime must be eliminated and replaced by the vital principles of the exploited workers, on a basis of solidarity, freedom and equal voice for each and every person."

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

"Revolutionary methods must be in tune with revolutionary aims."

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

"There has not been one revolution in the world's history which was carried out by the working people in their own interests - by urban workers and poor peasants who do not exploit the work of others."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"Things tend to organise themselves. If there is any message from contemporary science, it is surely that."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"It makes a lot of sense, if you accept capitalist system, to try to accumulate property, not just because you want material welfare, but because that guarantees your freedom."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Individualist anarchism and communist anarchism are the same, or nearly so, in terms of moral motivations and ultimate goals."

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

"The fact that the modern state is the organizational form of an authority founded upon arbitrariness and violence in the social life of toilers is independent of whether it may be "bourgeois" or "proletarian.""

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

"As a credo, individualist anarchism remained largely a bohemian lifestyle, most conspicuous in its demands for sexual freedom ("free love") and enamored of innovations in art, behavior, and clothing."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"It is a sad sight to see those who believe themselves to be revolutionaries unleashing their hatred on the anarchist."

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

"It is a sad sight to see those who believe themselves to be revolutionaries unleashing their hatred on the anarchist."

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

"I am a famous man. My name has been trumpeted to the four corners of the globe. All those people who go through so much trouble to get others to talk about them, yet don't succeed, must be very jealous about the publicity that the press has given my humble self."

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

"If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"I believe in the human soul regnant over all laws which man has made or will make; I believe there is no peace now, and there will never be peace, so long as one rules over another; I believe in the total disintegration and dissolution of the principle and practice of authority; I am an anarchist, and if for this you condemn me, I stand ready to receive your condemnation."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"During humankind's long centuries societies have risen and fallen, all alike in this one fact which rules all history: the great are protected, the small are crushed."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"No one should ever work... In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"The morality which is born out of the present conception of the state and social hierarchy is necessarily corrupt."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"The philosophy of anarchism is included in the word "Liberty"; yet it is comprehensive enough to include all things else that are conducive to progress."

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

"Every organization has more in common with every other organization than it does with any of the unorganized."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"Sexually progressive cultures gave us mathematics, literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think."

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

"Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals."

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

"The Cold War serves as a useful device for the managers of American society and their counterparts in the Soviet Union to control their own populations and their own respective imperial systems."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Freedom means more than the right to change masters."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"Whereas we anarchists desire the extinction of the state through the social revolution and the constitution of an autonomist federal order, the Leninists desire the destruction of the bourgeois state and moreover the conquest of the state by the "proletariat.""

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

"The right to vote, or equal civil rights, may be good demands, but true emancipation begins neither at the polls nor in courts. It begins in woman's soul."

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

"I consider it immoral to be a supporter of a power system."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"The anarchist individualists do not present themselves as proletarians, absorbed only in the search for material amelioration, tied to a class determined to transform the world and to substitute a new society for the actual one."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Do not quarrel or deal in personalities. Listen to opposing arguments after you have presented your own. Learn how to remain silent and reflect. Do not try to get the better in an argument at the expense of your own sincerity."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"The most complete freedom for the individual, his right to full satisfaction of all his needs, are absolutely legitimate claims, and there was no need to go out to dig up Nietszche and Stirner to give them some consecration."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Most anarchists believe the coming change can only come through a revolution, because the possessing class will not allow a peaceful change to take place; still we are willing to work for peace at any price, except at the price of liberty."

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

"It is capitalism and government which stand for disorder and violence. Anarchism is the very reverse of it; it means order without government and peace without violence."

— Alexander Berkman,
Anarcho-communist (1870 ‐ 1936)
Anarchist, political activist, writer

"Today, go blossom in the shadow of the dark and sad prisons. Go, bloom near the somber captive, and tell them truly that we love them. Tell them that through fleeting time, everything belongs to the future, that the livid conqueror can die more surely than the conquered."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"The view which sees in every capitalist only a profit machine may very well meet the demands of propaganda, but it is conceived much too narrowly and does not correspond to reality."

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

"Capitalism and communism felt like they were always going to be around, but it turns out they were just two ways of ordering an industrial society. If you were looking for more fundamental human political poles, you'd take anarchy and fascism, for my money."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"Armies are necessary, before all things, for the defense of governments from their own oppressed and enslaved subjects."

— Leo Tolstoy,
anarcho-pacifist (1828 ‐ 1910)
Russian author, pacifist and social anarchist

"In an informal organization there is no question of synthesis."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"While we do preach perfect communism, it is not in the certainty or expectation of communism's being the social form of the future: it is in order to further men's education, and round it off as completely as possible, so that, by the time that the day of conflagration comes, they will have attained maximum emancipation."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"The state idea means something quite different from the idea of government."

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

"The state idea means something quite different from the idea of government."

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

"To my mind, the struggle for liberty is too great and the few steps we have gained have been won at too great a sacrifice, for the great mass of the people of this 20th century to consent to turn over to any political party the management of our social and industrial affairs."

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

"I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment."

— Bertrand Russell,
Philosophical anarchist, Libertarian socialist (1872 ‐ 1970)
Renowned philosopher, mathematician, and anarchist

"The people are asleep; they remain indifferent. They forge their own chains and do the bidding of their masters to crucify their Christs."

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

"The conditions of contemporary life encircle the workers on all sides, surround them, like water surrounds fish in the sea. The workers are not able to escape from these conditions."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"He who attempts to control another is a governor, an aggressor, an invader; and the nature of such invasion is not changed, whether it is made by one man upon another man, after the manner of the ordinary criminal, or by one man upon all other men, after the manner of an absolute monarch, or by all other men upon one man, after the manner of a modern democracy."

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

"Of course it's extremely easy to say, "The heck with it. I'm just going to adapt myself to the structures of power and authority and do the best I can within them." Sure, you can do that. But that's not acting like a decent person."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

""Communist society"; in the sense of a society organized exclusively on that single principle - could never exist. But all social systems, even economic systems like capitalism, have always been built on top of a bedrock of actually-existing communism."

— David Graeber,
Anarcho-Communist (1961 ‐ 2020)
Anthropologist, anarchist activist and author

"The great majority of people have to work in order to earn a livelihood, and a sizable proportion of them are productive workers. A huge number of workers are unproductive as well. They operate entirely with the circumstances and framework created by the capitalist system, such as shuffling invoices, contracts, credit slips, insurance policies, and so forth. Probably nine out of ten "workers" wouldn't have any work to do in a rational society - one that would not require insurance or any other commercial transactions."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"Many claim to speak in liberty's name, but few really understand her."

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

"Idlers do not make history: they suffer it!"

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

"Idlers do not make history: they suffer it!"

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

"Every person who ever thought he had a right to assert, and went boldly and asserted it, himself, or jointly with others that shared his convictions, was a direct actionist."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Those who produce everything have nothing, and those who produce nothing have everything. Such a state of affairs can only produce antagonism between the laboring class and the owning, i.e., do-nothing, class. The fight breaks out and hatred delivers its blows."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

"Each of you hungry tramps who read these lines, avail yourselves of those little methods of warfare which science has placed in the hands of the poor man, and you will become a power in this or any other land. Learn the use of explosives!"

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

"It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that revolution is in vain unless inspired by its ultimate ideal."

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

"In anarchy, there are as many "moralities" as there are anarchists, taken individually, or groups or associations of anarchists. Thus, in anarchy, one is amoral."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"Wherever there is a man who exercizes authority, there is a man who resists authority."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The most that a working-class party could do, even if its politicians remained honest, would be to form a strong faction in the legislatures which might, by combining its vote with one side or another, win certain political or economic palliatives."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Theft is the restitution, the regaining of possession. Instead of being cloistered in a factory, like in a penal colony; instead of begging for what I had a right to, I preferred to rebel and fight my enemy face to face by making war on the rich, by attacking their goods."

— Marius Jacob,
Anarcho-Individualist (1879 ‐ 1954)
French anarchist and prolific burglar

"The man who would completely isolate himself from his fellow men, would return to the state of a brute animal, if the better armed species had not killed him before."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Only the shallow know themselves."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The conflict between wage labor and capital, while it has by no means disappeared, nonetheless lacks the all-embracing importance that it possessed in the past."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"Libertarian communism is as yet only an approximation, and not a dogma of absolute truth."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"The only generals that we should follow are the generals of the little tin soldiers."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"After all, it means thirteen dollars per month, three meals a day, and a place to sleep. Yet even necessity is not sufficiently strong a factor to bring into the army an element of character and manhood."

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

"If the individual has a right to govern himself, all external government is tyranny. Hence the necessity of abolishing the state."

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

"One should always be a little improbable."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"Socialism and communism both demand a degree of joint effort and administration which would beget more regulation than is wholly consistent with ideal anarchism."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Anarchism is not mysticism; it is not a discourse on beauty; it is not a cry of despair."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"We do not fetishize organization, but in order to elaborate and defend this struggle, organization is a necessity."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"If you consider these worthy electors as unable to look after their own interests themselves, how is it that they know how to choose for themselves the shepherds who must guide them? And how will they be able to solve this problem of social alchemy, of producing the election of a genius from the votes of a mass of fools?"

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

"Once you drain the vitality from people at work, they'll likely submit to heirarchy and expertise in everything. They're used to it."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"All of the exploited, legal or illegal, cooperate in the state of domination."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"As early as World War I, American historians offered themselves to President Woodrow Wilson to carry out a task they called "historical engineering," by which they meant designing the facts of history so that they would serve state police."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Socialism, on the contrary, extends its function to the description of society as it should be, and the discovery of the means of making it what it should be."

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

"We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"Good people don't much like those who tread a different path."

— Georges Brassens,
anarcho-individualist (1921 ‐ 1981)
Anarchist, French singer-songwriter and poet

"To take something from a person and keep it for oneself: that is robbery. To take something from one person and then turn it over to another in exchange for as much money as you can get: that is business."

— Octave Mirbeau,
Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-pacifist (1848 ‐ 1917)
French novelist, playwright and anarchist

"I am sorry to see friends impelled by passion drifting to the idea of vengeance, which is so little scientific, so sterile. But armed defense of a right is not violence."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

"The means of production being the collective work of humanity, the product should be the collective property of the race."

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

"The means of production being the collective work of humanity, the product should be the collective property of the race."

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

"As man grows refined, he comes also to live not only for himself and in himself."

— Jean Grave,
Anarcho-communist (1854 ‐ 1939)
Influential French anarcho-communist writer

"Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"America is just the country that shows how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind."

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

"America is just the country that shows how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind."

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

"Organization is, after all, only a means to an end. When it becomes an end in itself, it kills the spirit and the vital initiative of its members and sets up that domination by mediocrity which is the characteristic of all bureaucracies."

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

"Power is cursed, that is why I am an anarchist."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"Unless we realize that the present market society, structured around the brutally competitive imperative of "grow or die," is a thoroughly impersonal, self-operating mechanism, we will falsely tend to blame other phenomena - such as technology or population growth - for growing environmental dislocations."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"No, it is not life that is bad, but the conditions in which we live. Therefore we shall address ourselves not to life, but to these conditions: let us change them."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Anarchists no more want to be masters than they want to be servants - they no more want to exercise violence than to submit to it. They expose, they propose, but they do not impose."

— Emile Armand,
Anarcho-Individualist (1872 ‐ 1962)
French individualist anarchist and prolific writer

"I do not believe in God, because I believe in man."

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

"Social ecology is based on the conviction that nearly all of our present ecological problems originate in deep-seated social problems."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism."

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

"The one thing that the public dislike is novelty."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society."

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

"Obviously, the revolution will produce many misfortunes, many sufferings; but if it produced one hundred times more of them, it would still be a blessing relative to what one endures today."

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

"Collective responsibility in revolutionary action... is a fundamental principle, which guides each one of us in our way of understanding the anarchist idea, in our determination that it should penetrate to the masses, in its spirit of sacrifice."

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

"The Bolshevik practice of the last ten years shows clearly the counter-revolutionary role of their dictatorship of the Party."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"The whole history of man is continuous proof of the maxim that to divest one's methods of ethical concepts means to sink into the depths of utter demoralization."

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

"It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"The period of the actual revolution, the so-called transitory stage, must be the introduction, the prelude to the new social conditions."

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

"In the name of Purity what lies are told! What queer morality it has engendered. For fear of it you dare not tell your own children the truth about their birth; the most sacred of all functions, the creation of a human being, is a subject for the most miserable falsehood."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Governmental communism, like theocratic communism, is repugnant to the worker."

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

"Governmental communism, like theocratic communism, is repugnant to the worker."

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

"Ambition is the last refuge of the failure."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"You anarchist ministers, you make eloquent speeches and you write brilliant articles, but it is not with speeches and articles that one wins the war and defends the revolution."

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

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"If we do not do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"Oppressed brother, banish all power from within you and do not allow any to be established either over you or over your brother, be he near or far!"

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

"In certain intellectual circles in France, the very basis for discussion - minimal respect for facts and logic - has been virtually abandoned."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Leninism constitutes, without any doubt, a return to the revolutionary spirit of Marxism, but it also constitutes a return to the fallacies and abstractions of Marxist metaphysics."

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

"By anarchist spirit I mean that deeply human sentiment, which aims at the good of all, freedom and justice for all, solidarity and love among the people; which is not an exclusive characteristic only of self-declared anarchists, but inspires all people who have a generous heart and an open mind."

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

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"This perversion of the ethical values soon crystallized into the all-dominating slogan of the Communist Party: THE END JUSTIFIES ALL MEANS."

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

"Aggression is simply another name for government."

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

"Proletarians of the world, look into the depths of your own beings, seek out the truth and realise it yourselves: you will find it nowhere else."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"Education is a slow process, and may not come too quickly."

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

"There are even moments when the authority of the socialists and communists is worse than the bourgeois, for they tear down their own ideas and trample on them."

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

"Government is as unreal, as intangible, as unapproachable as God."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Trades organization is still only in the embryonic stages. Once rid of politicians' tyranny, it can stride out freely and, like the child learning to take his first steps, toddle along the road of independence."

— Fernand Pelloutier,
anarcho-syndicalist (1867 ‐ 1901)
French syndicalist and anarchist theorist.

"The subject is not whether we accomplish anarchism today, tomorrow, or within ten centuries, but that we walk towards anarchism today, tomorrow, and always."

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

"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate."

— Bertrand Russell,
Philosophical anarchist, Libertarian socialist (1872 ‐ 1970)
Renowned philosopher, mathematician, and anarchist

"For two decades the supporters of Bolshevism have been hammering it into the masses that dictatorship is a vital necessity for the defense of the so-called proletarian interests against the assaults of counter-revolution and for paving the way for socialism."

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

"The inherent tendency of the state is to concentrate, to narrow, and monopolize all social activities."

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

"The strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence from it is the greatest crime."

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

"The really wholesome, joyous life of the individual or group is not built up with the aid of power and programs that seek to enclose it within artificial constructs and written laws."

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

"The ecological principle of unity in diversity grades into a richly mediated social principle; hence my use of the term social ecology."

— Murray Bookchin,
Anarcho-Communist (1921 ‐ 2006)
Philosopher, social theorist, author

"Whether individually or as a countless mass, man finds himself at the mercy of this band of drones going under the name of "governors and masters," when in reality they are nothing but straightforward exploiters and oppressors."

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

"Let the guarantee of free speech be in every man's determination to use it, and we shall have no need of paper declarations."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Anarchism embraces two worlds: the world of philosophy, of ideas, and the world of practice, of activity. The two are intimately linked."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"It is not a crumb of bread, but the harvest of the entire world that the human race needs, without exploiters and without exploited."

— Louise Michel,
Anarcho-communist, Feminist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French anarchist and feminist revolutionary

"I do not expect any help for a libertarian revolution from any government in the world... we expect no help, not even from our own government, in the last analysis."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"I offered to stay awake to let the others go to sleep, and everyone laughed, saying that I would not even hear the cannon! But afterwards, one by one, they fell asleep, and I am watchful over all of them, while working for those who are to come."

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

"Resignation is death. Revolt is life."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Basically, revolutionaries never go far enough, and if they're not going to go far enough, they should stop upsetting people. Or killing them, for that matter."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"The Ottoman Empire was an ugly affair, but they had the right idea. The rulers in Turkey were fortunately so corrupt that they left people alone pretty much - were mostly interested in robbing them - and they left them alone to run their own affairs, and their own regions and their own communities with a lot of local self determination."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"It is often said that anarchists live in a world of dreams to come, and do not see the things which happen today. We do see them only too well, and in their true colors, and that is what makes us carry the hatchet into the forest of prejudice that besets us."

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

"It is often said that anarchists live in a world of dreams to come, and do not see the things which happen today. We do see them only too well, and in their true colors, and that is what makes us carry the hatchet into the forest of prejudice that besets us."

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

"In place of the cowardly phrase, "Obey the law," our cry is "Revolt against all laws!""

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

"The reaction always begins where one tries to bring life to a certain norm. That is why yesterday's revolutionaries so often become today's reactionaries."

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

"The CNT which is the most powerful organisation in Spain must take up its rightful place in the collective order. Its battles must be in tune with its greatness."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"The task of the conscious minority is to profit from every situation to change the environment in a way that will make possible the education of the whole people."

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

"In place of the cowardly phrase, "Obey the law," our cry is "Revolt against all laws!""

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

"We must tear down the pyramids, the tumuli, the tombs. We must bring the wheelbarrows into the cemeteries so as to rid humanity of what they call respect for the dead, but which is the cult of carrion."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"No one wants a boss, to be a boss, to work under a boss. The people you like working with are the people you respect as individuals."

— Alan Moore,
individualist anarchist
English writer known for graphic novels.

"We cannot pretend that we do not see the policeman who walks in front of the windows with a loaded revolver, defending us, while we eat our savory dinner or view a new performance, or those soldiers who will immediately go with their guns and loaded cartridges to where our property will be violated."

— Leo Tolstoy,
anarcho-pacifist (1828 ‐ 1910)
Russian author, pacifist and social anarchist

"Where the state lacks means of coercion, it is important to control what people think."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"No, there is no need to fear life without government; we long for it with all of our hearts."

— Ricardo Flores Magon,
Anarcho-communist (1874 ‐ 1922)
Mexican anarchist and revolutionary journalist

"Instead of inanely repeating the old formula, "Respect the law," we say, "Despise law and all its attributes!""

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

"Instead of inanely repeating the old formula, "Respect the law," we say, "Despise law and all its attributes!""

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

"What economists call over-production is but a production that is above the purchasing power of the worker, who is reduced to poverty by capital and state."

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

"What economists call over-production is but a production that is above the purchasing power of the worker, who is reduced to poverty by capital and state."

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

"You who are resigned, look: I spit on your idols. I spit on God, the Fatherland, I spit on Christ, I spit on the flag, I spit on capital and the golden calf; I spit on laws and Codes, on the symbols of religion; they are baubles, I could not care less about them, I laugh at them..."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"A consistent anarchist must oppose private ownership of the means of production, and the wage-slavery which is a component of this system, as incompatible with the principle that labor must be freely undertaken and under the control of the producer."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics."

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

"The liberal government of Spain could have rendered the fascist elements powerless long ago. Instead it compromised and dallied."

— Buenaventura Durruti,
anarcho-syndicalist (1896 ‐ 1936)
Influential Spanish anarchist and militant

"Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Charity creates a multitude of sins."

— Oscar Wilde,
anarcho-individualist (1854 ‐ 1900)
Irish author and poet known for his wit.

"So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Freedoms are not given, they are taken."

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

"Freedoms are not given, they are taken."

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

"Cleansed of its leftist residues, anarchy - anarchism minus Marxism - will be free to get better at being what it is."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle."

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

"Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle."

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

"Private capitalism, condemned by history, only survives today thanks to the arms race on the one hand, and the comparative failure of state communism on the other."

— Daniel Guerin,
Anarcho-communist (1904 ‐ 1988)
French libertarian communist author

"The Communist power installed itself by military force, not only when the Bolsheviks occupied a place after a battle to drive out the Petliurists, but also in places where the region was already free and the peasants were on their own."

— Peter Arshinov,
anarcho-communist (1887 ‐ 1937)
Russian anarchist, memoirist, and metalworker

"The anarchist ideals are far from being in contradiction, as the "scientific socialists" claim, to the laws of evolution as proved by science; they are a conception which fits these laws perfectly; they are the experimental system brought from the field of research to that of social realization."

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

"A worker is a part-time slave."

— Bob Black,
post-left anarchist (1951 ‐ 2020)
American author and anarchist.

"It is the fundamental duty of the citizen to resist and to restrain the violence of the state."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"It is highly advantageous for the business world to foster hatred for pointy-headed government bureaucrats and to drive out of people's minds the subversive idea that the government might become an instrument of popular will, a government of, by and for the people."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state."

— Noam Chomsky,
Anarcho-Syndicalist
Linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist.

"Being an anarchist does not mean one has reached a certainty or said once and for all, "There, from now on I hold the truth and as such, at least from the point of view of the idea, I am a privileged person." Anyone who thinks like this is an anarchist in word alone."

— Alfredo Bonanno,
Political Activist
Italian anarchist and writer

"There is one common struggle against those who have appropriated the earth, the money, and the machines."

— Voltairine De Cleyre,
Anarcho-Feminist (1866 ‐ 1912)
American anarchist, writer, and feminist

"Those that envision the goal from the first steps, those that want the certitude of reaching it before walking never arrive."

— Albert Libertad,
Anarcho-individualist (1875 ‐ 1908)
Anarchist militant and writer

"Instead of entrusting the defence of your interests to others, see to the matter by yourselves. Instead of trying to choose advisers that will guide you in future actions, do the thing yourselves, and do it now! Men of good will shall not have to look long in vain for the opportunity. To put on others' shoulders the responsibility of one's actions is cowardice."

— Elisee Reclus,
Anarcho-Communist (1830 ‐ 1905)
French geographer, writer and anarchist

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