Full text : The Socialism of to-day

BAKUNIN  THE  APOSTLE  OF  NIHILISM.  229
the  first  place,  war  to  the  whole  religious  idea  :  “  God,”  says
the  Proletario,  “is  the  people’s  greatest  enemy;  for  He  has
cursed  labour.”  “  No  more  faith  nor  obedience  to  the  supernatural,” ­
  says  the  Almanaco  Republicano  ;  “  it  is  only  on  this
condition  that  materialistic  democracy  will  be  able  to  construct
a  new  society.”  “  One’s  country,”  says  the  Campana,  “  is  an
empty  abstraction,  in  the  name  of  which  kings  instigate
peoples  to  cut  each  other’s  throats.”  Speaking  of  the  cosmopolitan ­
  idea,  the  Plebe  is  indignant  at  the  Italia  irredenta
movement  :  “  What  !  ”  it  says,  “  you  want  to  go  to  war  with
Austria  to  take  from  her  a  part  of  Tyrol  and  Trieste?  nay,
iook  at  our  terra  redenta,  our  freed  territory  :  people  die  on
It  of  pellagra  and  hunger.”  No  more  government,  no  more
authority,  nothing  but  anarchy  ;  such  is  the  final  aim.  “  The
^ew  era,”  says  the  Campana,  “  will  establish  the  free  expansion
of  all  human  aspirations.  All  authority,  human  or  Divine,  must
disappear,  from  God  down  to  the  meanest  agent  of  police.”
The  following  are  extracts  from  socialistic  manifestoes.  In
that  of  the  Internationalists  of  La  Puglia,  dated  August,  1878,
we  read  :  “  The  end  to  be  attained  is  to  assure  to  men  the
most  complete  happiness  possible,  by  the  full  development  of
all  their  faculties.  The  woman  ought  to  be  the  companion  of
the  man,  not  a  slave  or  an  instrument  of  pleasure.  Love
ought  to  be  free  and  relieved  from  all  codes  and  rituals.  Every
one  ought  to  receive  a  complete  education,  so  as  to  enable
him  to  select  the  function  for  which  he  is  suited.  The  free
federation  of  individuals,  of  groups,  of  associations,  and  of
communes,  forms  the  confederacy  of  the  human  race.  The
revolution  is  not  a  conspiracy  which  seeks  to  change  the  face
of  society  in  a  day,  but  a  permanent  struggle,  material,  moral,
and  intellectual,  agginst  the  existing  organization,  in  order  to
put  in  its  place  free  association.”  On  the  6th  of  May,  1877,
the  lady  Internationalists  of  the  female  sections  of  the  Romagna
and  of  Naples  addressed  a  manifesto  to  all  the  working  women
of  the  peninsula  :  “  Our  wages,”  they  said,  “  being  insufficient,
we  have  to  depend  on  men  for  subsistence.  The  emancipation
of  women  is  at  bottom  the  emancipation  of  working  men  ;  both
are  the  victims  of  capital.  Existing  society  says  to  us,  ‘  Sell
            
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