The floodgates holding back anarchy are constantly under strain. The liberal would ease the pressure by diverting some of the water; the conservative would shore up the dykes, the totalitarian would construct a stronger dam.
But is anarchy a destructive force? The absence of government may alarm the authoritarian, but is a liberated people really its own worst enemy-or is the true enemy of mankind, as the anarchists claim, the means by which he is governed? Without government the world could manage to end exploitation and war. Anarchy should not be confused with weak, divided or manifold government. As Christie and Meltzer point out, only with the total abolition of government can society develop in freedom.
Autorentext
Stuart Christie was born in Glasgow in 1946. He has been an apprentice dental technician, sheet metal worker, barrow boy, litho printer, gas fitter, bookseller, occasional farmhand, lobster fisherman, writer and publisher. He became a socialist (Labour Party Young Socialists) at the age of 15, but moved rapidly to anarchism. He served over three years of a twenty-year sentence for 'banditry and terrorism' imposed by a Spanish court for his part in an attempt to assassinate General Franco in 1964. He was later arrested and imprisoned in London for eighteen months until acquitted in the 'Angry Brigade' trial at the Old Bailey, one of the longest trials in British legal history.
Zusammenfassung
The floodgates holding back Anarchism are constantly under strain. In confrontation with opposing liberal, totalitarian and conservative camps, Anarchism is often seen as a destructive force. But this is not necessarily so. Stuart Christie and Albert Meltzer defy the assumption that anarchism is a nihilistic force, arguing that whilst the absence of government may be alarming for those living within a democratic political system, the reality of the limitations that governments impress upon the people is equally worrying.