Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-30
ANARCHIsM.
WHAT DO IT'S ADHERENTS BE.
LIEVE.
Formal Statement of Their Creed
1t Should be Iatelligently In
uerstood to be Refuted.

people of this country ought to try to get
such understanding The surest way of
preventing the spread of an evil system is
to make people see that it Isl evil. Probably
very few people could define Anarchism if
called upon 10 do SO. They know well
enough that to throw dynamite bombs and
murder policemen is so outrageously bad
that not only those who light the fuse and
throw the bombs ought to be hung, but
| also those who in any way encourage such
a deed. The common sense of the Ameri-
can people sustains the verdict and judg-
ment which erect the gallows and knot the
rope for the Chicago Anarchists. But how
few even claim to comprehend what theories
and beliefs led these wild beasts of society
to become wild beasts, and to do what they
have done? Why do they desire TO sweep
out of existence all existing human insti-
tutions? Those who believe in law and
order, in industries, in the accumulation of
wealth, in the established social relations,
and in the peaceful and protected homes,
ought to be able to answer these questions,
! Until they can answer them, and can show
| that the creed of the Anarchists is false
when tested by the fundamental and uni
versal laws of nature and human nature,
how can there beany sure safeguard against
| the growth of Anarchism.
| A great many people will deny that even
| Socialists, much more Anarchists, have
any consistent creed. or one which COM
mon sense everyday people can understand.
But, however difficult il may be- it is alto
| gether wiser for US to admit that great
many of these people are really believers in
the doctrines which they proclaim. His
tory shows clearly enough, with its Shaker
| ism, Mormonism and hundred other falsi-
ties and absurdities, that there are always
people who will believe anything.
By carefully studying the speeches of the
condemned Anarchists of Chicago, it is
possible to get an idea of the creed which
they accept. Below all the ignorance, the
half-knowledge, the egotism, the falsehoods
and the bitter hatreds shown III these
speeches, the outlines of a system of beliefs
and principles can be traced. That system
is substantially as follows:
| l. The character and condition in life of
every human being is determined by the
sum total of all the circumstances and in
fuences which surround him-or to use the
| term which has become currently his
environment.
| 3 The individual man is absolutely in
capable of asserting himself against this
| environment, or of becoming anything else
than what it makes him. 1t is this envi-
ronment, extending, as it does, from the
| beginning down through human history,
| and including every influence, direct and
remote, which affects the nature and the
character-it is this environment which
makes a man a worker, tramp, drunkard-
whatever he may be. If he has a nature
| smitten through with laZinesS or falsehood,
| or if his tastes are low or criminal, he is
| not to blame for having such nature and
such tastes, or for yielding to them. Men
| have no more power of resistance or self
assertion against this environment than the
crystal has against the forces which caused
its particles to crystalline or against the
rock which enceses it.
5. The principal feature and strongest
element in the environment of men to-day
is capital. Capital has, so these Anarchists
| believe, given form TO our social institu-
tons and to our lows. 1t has made this
environment helpful TO the rich and HARM
full TO the poor. The laws protect capital
society cherishes it.
| i. The existing environment, in which
capital is the ruling power, has brought the
masses of this and all other civilized coun-
| tries into hopeless depths of misery. Ofthis
fact the Socialists and Anarchists are very
sure. They refuse to see anything but
blackness and despair in the condition Of
| those who work for wages and have no &C
cumulated capital.
| 5. The only way to give these degraded
masses chance of betterment is to utterly
destroy the environment which has made
| them what they are and against which they
have no power. The law must be throt-
tied, the police exterminated, the machines
OF capital broken, and capital itself scat
tered and destroyed, and all existing capt.
talized or capital-ruled institution, whether
social, political or religious, must be ami
| hilated. The existing system-so these
men say-Eas proved a failure, therefore
let the dynamite level ali things and fire
sweep all things away, so that IN a new
! world, men can have new environment.
1t is easy TO understand why the Anar-
chist has such hatred of the law and
| Courts of justice. He believes that the
| individual is wholly the creature of his
| environment and has no power nor re-
sponsibili y Of his own, but our laws and
| our administration of justice proceed upon
| the doctrine that man can do right and
| keep from criminal acts if he chooses. For
| the same reason the Anarchist hates society
as it now exists. Society Furnishes with
| rebuke and final outlawry the lazy man,
| the sot and the tramp, because il holds that
| men need not sink to such degrada;ions il
! they do not wish to. And the Socialist end
the Anarchist hate capital because to
acquire capital one must accept the exist
ing order of things and be industrious and
| temperate and saving. The man who has
| these virtues finds this world to be pretty
good world on the whole, and is fairly
we'll satisfied with matters as they exist
But anarchism has no approval for con-
! tended industry, for forward looking econ
omy or for self-restraint as regards appe-
titeS and passions.
II is true that our existing institutions
are largely for the protection of the capital.
That means, simply, that under our laws
and social institutions encouragement is
given to those who seek by diligent labor
and economy to accumulate wealth.
| Ninety-nine hundredths of existing capital
has been acquired by such means and not
by fraud or speculation. Is it not right
| that men should seek to accumulate wealth,
and that wealth, so accumulated, should be
protected2 If not then all our proverbs
| and all that we have been taught by wise
men in the past is false.
! No doubt our readers are familiar with
Elias delightful essay on roast pig. He
| tells how once upon time in China pig
| sty burned down and family of piglings
persisted. The careless pig-herd mourning
over the crisp little shoats, touched one of
them, thrust his burned fingers into his
mouth and straightway began to dance for
| Joy. because he for the FIRST time in the
worlds history tasted TIE lusciousness Of
roast pig. He communicated bis discov-
| cry TO his father and friends, and soon the
pig stys throughout that district Of country
were continually burning down. Roast
pig they must have, but they knew no
other way to roast pigs than by burning
| pig pens. L. other words, they destroyed
| the environment of the pigs. II is true
| that this contiagration of the environment
did produce a new and altogether delicious
article of food. But il was learned after i
while that this destruction of the environ
ment of the pigs was wasteful and alto
gether useless. Roast pig could be obtained
| with far less expense and trouble. And SO
| it is not difficult to show that there are
much easier and cheaper ways of helping
the laboring masses than by sweeping the
| world clean and beginning every thing
anew.
! And, indeed. what utter nonsense it is to
think that the destruction of existing insti-
| tutions will give mankind or any class of
men better chance What is this en-
vironment OF which philosophers speak
understandingly, and which anarchism
does not comprehend? 1t is made up of
two great t!lings-the facts and forces Of
| nature, and the nature and character Of