The Mystics Of Anarchy - Part 6

The Anarchists, shall we say, are fatally religious, and the state of the spirit, of all those who practice the so-called propaganda of the deed, is that of fanatical ferocious propagators of religious doctrines, of Arabs putting the coasts of the Mediterranean to fire and sword, of Charlemagne slitting the throats of the Saxons in order to convert them to Catholicism, of monks in times past who built the monstrous pyres of the Inquisition. That is so true that even the theoreticians of their party, the philosophers of their sect, even those who are incapable themselves of committing anarchic murder, are impregnated with the idea that it is necessary to sacrifice some men, a large number even, in order to achieve the human happiness dreamt of by their imagination.

So we find in the reports of the assizes of the Seine for February 1894, amongst the convicts, one Jean Grave, theoretician of Anarchy. In his writings Jean Grave had incited conscripts to desert or to ‘puncture the skin of their superiors’ skin.’ The Anarchists have a supreme hate for the army and for the nation. He has written these lines, ‘The struggle should be directed principally to destroying the institutions, setting fire to legal documents, property deeds and other devices of lawyers and advocates, boundary stones must be overturned, everything must be taken in possession in the name of everyone, putting everything at the disposal of everyone……………………………  Should one of the bosses be executed we must hang a sign around his neck explaining that he has been killed as an exploiter, or that his factory has been burnt down for the same reason. In that way there will be no mistake as to why we have acted this way and we can be sure to be applauded for our work. Our acts should always be rational and flow from a guiding principle.’

These are the theories of Anarchy. Various witnesses said that this man with his monstrous ideas was a fanatic, an apostle and a mystic. One witness, M. Elisée Reclus, who is an Anarchist, but also a man of great intelligence, universally well-regarded, incapable of speaking contrary to his beliefs, spoke thus of Jean Grave: ‘He is an elite spirit. Even though his primary education was not completed he has pursued his studies on his own and he has become a remarkable man. As far as concerns his moral values, they are superior to most people’s due to the profound sincerity of his convictions, and I can vouch that he is one of those few men who has never lied.’

A second witness, M. Octave Mirbeau, a Parisian journalist, with no connections to Anarchy, spoke thus: ‘This is the first time that I have seen M. Grave. There has been no correspondence between us, but he holds such lofty ideals that I have conceived a certain sympathy and regard for him. Moreover, I find that I am in almost complete agreement with him. I consider him to be an apostle and a logician of the highest calibre. He pushes logic to its extreme, and that is why he reaches his extreme conclusions.’

Upon being asked by the chief prosecutor about the details of Jean Grave’s theories, M. Mirabeau said that, “there is no great harm when the storm knocks down some greedy oaks if it gives strength to some more humble plants.”

That just about some up the basic idea of Anarchy. It is the mother ideas, which may be jumbled up in the uneducated minds of the sect’s disciples, and which is expressed by a man who knows how to read.

It is the same idea that guided the executioners of the Inquisition. It is the same idea that lit up the stakes in Spain in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in France during the time of the later Valois and the Bourbons. Is it not this idea, that some must fall to give strength to others, that led to the murders of St Bartholomew’s Eve? Cyvoct, Emile Henry and Vaillant are the direct descendants of the frightful torturers of Spain and Rome. It is the eternal need to pacify their own suffering which pushes the wretches to the maddest and most mystic theories, sometimes unleashing sinister and bloody furies of fanaticism. So it has ever been, in the dark days of the Middle Ages and in our own neurotic century.