Peter H. Marshall > Quotes

“The continued appeal of anarchism can probably be attributed to its enduring affinity with both the rational and emotional impulses lying deep within us. It is an attitude, a way of life as well as a social philosophy. It presents a telling analysis of existing institutions and practices, and at the same time offers the prospect of a radically transformed society.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“With their concern for personal autonomy and individual freedom, anarchists more than any other socialists are aware of the inhumanity of both physical punishment and manipulative cure for anti-social members of the community. They look to reasoned argument and friendly treatment to deal with criminals and wish to respect their humanity and individuality.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Whatever its future success as a historical movement, anarchism will remain a fundamental part of human experience, for the drive for freedom is one of our deepest needs and the vision of a free society is one of our oldest dreams. Neither can ever be fully repressed; both will outlive all rulers and their States.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many. MAX STIRNER”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Fear of the people is the sickness of all those who belong to authority; the people, for those in power, are the enemy.’33”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Left to themselves, humans have always managed their own affairs creatively and well. Indeed, for most of human evolution and history people have lived peaceful, co-operative lives without rulers, leaders, politicians, soldiers, policemen and taxmen.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Just as man seeks justice in equality, society seeks order in anarchy.’3”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Nature therefore has produced a common right for all, but greed has made it a right for a few.’ He”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“A study of anarchism will show that the drive for freedom is not only a central part of our collective experience but responds to a deeply felt human need. Freedom is necessary for original thought and creativity. It is also a natural desire for we can see that no animal likes to be caged and all conscious beings enjoy the free satisfaction of their desires. Anarchism further seeks in social life what appears to operate in nature: the call for self-management in society mirrors the self-regulation and self-organization of nature itself.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“It was clear to Winstanley that the State and its legal institutions existed in order to hold the lower classes in place. Winstanley at this stage suggested that the only solution would be to abolish private property and then government and church would become superfluous. Magistrates and lawyers would no longer be necessary where there was no buying and selling. There would be no need for a professional clergy if everyone was allowed to preach. The State, with its coercive apparatus of laws and prisons, would simply wither away: ‘What need have we of imprisonment, whipping or hanging laws to bring one another into bondage?’ 18 It is only covetousness, he argued, which made theft a sin. And he completely rejected capital punishment: since only God may give and take life, execution for murder would be murder. He looked forward to a time when ‘the whole earth would be a common treasury’, when people would help each other and find pleasure in making necessary things, and ‘There shall be none lords over others, but everyone shall be a lord of himself, subject to the law of righteousness, reason and equity, which shall dwell and rule in him, which is the Lord.’ 19 Winstanley did not call for mass insurrection or the seizure of the lands of the rich. He was always opposed to violence, although he was not an absolute pacifist and advocated an extreme form of direct action.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Godwin was certain that the punishment — the voluntary infliction of evil on a vicious being — threatened or imposed by law is not an appropriate way to reform human conduct. Since men are products of their environment, they cannot strictly speaking be held responsible for what they do: an assassin is no more guilty of the crime he commits than the dagger he holds. Since they are in the grip of circumstances, they do not have free will. There can therefore be no moral justification in punishment, whether it be for retribution, example or reform.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“general, I define an anarchist as one who rejects all forms of external government and the State and believes that society and individuals would function well without them.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Society, which will reorganise production on the basis of a free and equal association of the producers, will put the whole machinery of the state where it will then belong: into the museum of antiquities, by the side of the spinning-wheel and the bronze axe.37”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“What principally divides the family of anarchists is their different views of human nature, strategy and future organization.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Of all political doctrines, anarchism responds most to the deeply felt human need for freedom which is essential for creativity and fulfilment. It holds up the ideal of personal freedom as a form of autonomy which does not restrict the freedom of others. It proposes a free society without government in which people make their own free structures. It looks to a time when human beings are not only free from each other, but are able to help each other and all life-forms to realize their full potential.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Man seeks freedom as the magnet seeks the pole or water its level, and society can have”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Anarcho-capitalism is a recent current which has developed out of individualist anarchism. It wishes to dismantle government while retaining private property and to allow complete laissez-faire in the economy. Its adherents stress the sovereignty of the individual and reject all governmental interference in everyday life. They propose that government services be turned over to private entrepreneurs”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“As with horses, so it is with human beings. Left to themselves they live in natural harmony and spontaneous order. But when they are coerced and ruled, their natures become vicious.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“But the more collectivist anarchist thinkers like Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin believed that since we are social beings we can only be free to realize ourselves in the company of others. Individuality, in their case, is based on reciprocal awareness. As Proudhon put it, the individual ‘recognizes his own self in that of others’. 27 People need not therefore be a threat but a help.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“manifesto: The more laws and restrictions there are, The poorer people become.”
― Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“And just as plants grow best when allowed to follow their natures, so human beings thrive when least interfered with.6”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Theodore Roosevelt declared at the end of the nineteenth century: ‘Anarchism is a crime against the whole human race and all mankind should band against anarchists.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“All anarchists reject the legitimacy of external government and of the State, and condemn imposed political authority, hierarchy and domination. They seek to establish the condition of anarchy, that is to say, a decentralized and self-regulating society consisting of a federation of voluntary associations of free and equal individuals. The ultimate goal of anarchism is to create a free society which allows all human beings to realize their full potential.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“Nietzsche argued that our fundamental drive is the will to power. Even the pursuit of truth is often a disguised will to power. Nietzsche’s concept of the will to power is one of his most misunderstood doctrines. He celebrates not power over nature or over others but over oneself. He considered the will to power over others to be the will of the weak: the really strong person seeks power only over himself in order to forge his own destiny. The only person one should obey is oneself, and great power reveals itself in self-mastery and is measured by joy. The will to power is therefore an ‘instinct to freedom’, to transcend and perfect oneself.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“His follower Cratylus popularized his teaching: ‘You cannot step twice in the same river.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“If people could but understand that they are ‘sons of God’, Tolstoy wrote, ‘and can therefore be neither slaves nor enemies to one another—those insane, unnecessary, worn-out, pernicious organizations called Governments, and all the sufferings, violations, humiliations, and crimes they occasion, would cease.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“That government is best which governs not at all. HENRY THOREAU”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue … To be governed means that at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorized, recommended, admonished, prevented, reformed, set right, corrected. Government means to be subjected to tribute, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, pressured, mystified, robbed; all in the name of public utility and the general good. Then, at the first sign of resistance or word of complaint, one is repressed, fined, despised, vexed, pursued, hustled, beaten up, garroted, imprisoned, shot, machine-gunned, judged, sentenced, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to cap it all, ridiculed, mocked, outraged, and dishonoured. That is government, that is its justice and its morality!”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism

“The State emerged with economic inequality. It was only when a society was able to produce a surplus which could be appropriated by a few that private property and class relations developed.”
― Peter H. Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism