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Errico Malatesta QUOTES

Errico Malatesta QUOTES

1 " The freedom we want, for ourselves and for others, is not an absolute metaphysical, abstract freedom which in practice is inevitably translated into the oppression of the weak; but it is real freedom, possible freedom, which is the conscious community of interests, voluntary solidarity. "

― Errico Malatesta

2 " The needs, tastes, aspirations and interests of mankind are neither similar nor naturally harmonious; often they are diametrically opposed and antagonistic. On the other hand, the life of each individual is so conditioned by the life of others that it would be impossible, even assuming it were convenient to do so, to isolate oneself and live one’s own life. Social solidarity is a fact from which no one can escape. "

― Errico Malatesta , Malatesta: Life & Ideas

3 " Logically, federalism, brought to its ultimate consequences, applied not only to the different places people inhabit but also to the various functions they perform in society, right to the commune, to whatever association, up to the individual, means the same thing as anarchy - free and sovereign units that associate for the common benefit. "

― Errico Malatesta

4 " We too aspire to communism as the most perfect achievement of human solidarity, but it must be anarchist communism, that is, freely desired and accepted, and the means by which the freedom of everyone is guaranteed and can expand; for these reasons we maintain that State communism, which is authoritarian and imposed, is the most hateful tyranny that has ever afflicted, tormented and handicapped mankind. "

― Errico Malatesta , Malatesta: Life & Ideas

5 " When the bosses exploit them [the workers] they pay no heed to party distinctions and starve them all the same; when the carabinieri pepper their chests with the kings lead, they do not bother to ask what sort of membership card they carry in their pockets. "

― Errico Malatesta

6 " Communism made through the will of a government instead of through the direct and voluntary work of groups of workers does not really appeal to me. If it was possible, it would be the most suffocating tyranny to which human society has ever been subjected. "

― Errico Malatesta , At the Cafe: Conversations on Anarchism

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

― Errico Malatesta

8 " Hate does not produce love, and by hate one cannot remake the world. "

― Errico Malatesta

9 " In all times and in all places, whatever may be the name that the government takes, whatever has been its origin, or its organization, its essential function is always that of oppressing and exploiting the masses, and of defending the oppressors and exploiters. Its principal characteristic and indispensable instruments are the bailiff and the tax collector, the soldier and the prison. And to these are necessarily added the time-serving priest or teacher, as the case may be, supported and protected by the government, to render the spirit of the people servile and make them docile under the yoke. "

― Errico Malatesta , Anarchy

10 " Impossibility never prevented anything from happening. "

― Errico Malatesta

11 " 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

12 " By definition an anarchist is he who does not wish to be oppressed nor wishes to be him self an oppressor; who wants the greatest well-being, freedom and development for all human beings. His ideas, his wishes have their origin in a feeling of sympathy, love and respect for humanity: a feeling which must be sufficiently strong to induce him to want the well-being of others as much as his own, and to renounce those personal advantages, the achievement of which, would involve the sacrifice of others. "

― Errico Malatesta , Malatesta: Life & Ideas

13 " Capitalism is the same everywhere. In order to survive and prosper it needs a permanent situation of partial scarcity: it needs it to maintain its prices and to create hungry masses to work under any conditions. "

― Errico Malatesta , At the Cafe: Conversations on Anarchism

14 " we are, in any case, only one of the forces acting in society "

― Errico Malatesta

15 " To condone ferocious anti-human feelings and raise them to the level of principle as a tactic for a movement... is both evil and counter-revolutionary. "

― Errico Malatesta

16 " Governments oppress mankind in two ways, either directly, by brute force, that is physical violence, or indirectly, by depriving them of the means of subsistence and thus reducing them to helplessness at discretion. "

― Errico Malatesta , Anarchy

17 " Anarchism is organization, organization and more organization. "

― Errico Malatesta

18 " If today we fall without lowering our colors, our cause is certain of victory tomorrow. "

― Errico Malatesta , Anarchy

19 " There is among us a tendency to consider true, good and fine everything that appears under the agreeable cloak of revolt against the accepted “truths”, especially if supported by people who are, or call themselves, anarchists. This shows a deficiency of that spirit of investigation and criticism that should be maximally developed in anarchists. "

― Errico Malatesta , Democracy is a lie: thoughts and notes on Anarchism.

20 " Anarchy is synonymous with Socialism. Because both signify the abolition of exploitation and of the domination of man over man, whether maintained by the force of arms or by the monopolization of the means of life. "

― Errico Malatesta , Anarchy