1
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:21,200
It is evident that we are advancing 
rapidly towards revolution, 
2
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:27,340
towards an upheaval 
that will begin in one country
3
00:00:27,340 --> 00:00:31,462
and spread into 
all the neighbouring lands, 
4
00:00:31,462 --> 00:00:37,160
and, will rock existing society 
to its foundations. 
5
00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:40,840
It is evident that we are advancing 
rapidly towards revolution, 
6
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,366
towards an upheaval 
that will begin in one country
7
00:00:44,366 --> 00:00:47,086
and spread into 
all the neighbouring lands, 
8
00:00:47,086 --> 00:00:50,121
and, will rock existing society 
to its foundations.
9
00:00:52,695 --> 00:00:54,360
There are periods in human existence 
10
00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,255
when the inevitability of a great upheaval, 
11
00:00:57,255 --> 00:01:02,322
of a cataclysm, imposes itself.
12
00:01:15,026 --> 00:01:18,102
At such epochs, 
13
00:01:18,102 --> 00:01:22,463
all men of good will begin to realise 
14
00:01:22,463 --> 00:01:25,806
that things cannot go on as they are; 
15
00:01:25,806 --> 00:01:28,445
that we need me great events 
16
00:01:28,445 --> 00:01:32,710
that roughly break the thread of history, 
17
00:01:32,710 --> 00:01:39,403
shake humanity out of the ruts 
in which it is stuck, 
18
00:01:39,403 --> 00:01:44,081
and propel it towards new ways, 
19
00:01:44,081 --> 00:01:47,733
towards the unknown. 
20
00:01:50,315 --> 00:01:55,432
One feels the inevitability 
of a revolution, vast, implacable, 
21
00:01:55,432 --> 00:01:58,864
not only to overthrow the economic machine,
22
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,918
not merely to throw down the political ladder
23
00:02:01,918 --> 00:02:05,742
but also to stir up the intellectual 
and moral life of society, 
24
00:02:05,742 --> 00:02:09,375
shake it out of its torpor, 
reshape our moral life.
25
00:02:10,729 --> 00:02:14,471
The need for a new life becomes apparent. 
26
00:02:14,471 --> 00:02:17,805
The code of established morality, 
that which governs 
27
00:02:17,805 --> 00:02:20,281
the greater number of people 
in their daily life, 
28
00:02:20,281 --> 00:02:22,599
no longer seems sufficient. 
29
00:02:22,599 --> 00:02:25,010
What formerly seemed just 
30
00:02:25,010 --> 00:02:27,290
is now felt to be a crying injustice. 
31
00:02:27,290 --> 00:02:31,405
The morality of yesterday is today 
recognized as revolting immorality. 
32
00:02:31,405 --> 00:02:34,901
The conflict between 
new ideas and old traditions 
33
00:02:34,901 --> 00:02:37,545
flames up in every class of society,
 in every possible environment, 
34
00:02:37,545 --> 00:02:39,511
in the very bosom of the family. 
35
00:02:39,511 --> 00:02:43,921
The children become conflicted
with their parents.
36
00:02:43,921 --> 00:02:48,484
The son finds revolting what his father
has all his life found natural; 
37
00:02:48,484 --> 00:02:50,198
the daughter rebels 
against the principles 
38
00:02:50,198 --> 00:02:55,387
which her mother has handed down to her 
as the result of long experience. 
39
00:02:58,548 --> 00:03:03,916
In those eras when prideful mediocrity 
stifles all intelligence 
40
00:03:03,916 --> 00:03:08,452
that does not kowtow to authority, 
when the niggardly morality of compromise 
41
00:03:08,452 --> 00:03:14,332
creates the law, and servility 
reigns supreme; 
42
00:03:14,332 --> 00:03:18,705
in such eras revolution becomes a need. 
43
00:03:18,705 --> 00:03:23,000
Honest men of all classes 
call down me tempest, 
44
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,960
so that it can burn up 
with its breath of flame
45
00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,293
the pestilence 
that afflicts us, 
46
00:03:29,293 --> 00:03:32,639
blow away the miasmas 
that stifle us, 
47
00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,734
and sweep up in its furious progress 
all that debris of the past 
48
00:03:35,734 --> 00:03:39,759
which weighs down on us, stifles us,
49
00:03:39,759 --> 00:03:43,927
deprives us of air and light, 
so that in the end ...
50
00:03:43,927 --> 00:03:46,992
In the factories as much as 
in the kitchens,
51
00:03:46,992 --> 00:03:49,784
in the granaries 
as much as in the mines,
52
00:03:49,784 --> 00:03:51,811
a new world 
is taking shape these days. 
53
00:03:51,811 --> 00:03:54,066
Among those shadowy masses, 
54
00:03:54,066 --> 00:03:57,772
whom the bourgeois despise 
as much as they fear them, 
55
00:03:57,772 --> 00:04:00,475
the most difficult problems 
of social economy 
56
00:04:00,475 --> 00:04:04,268
and political organization 
are posed one after another, 
57
00:04:04,268 --> 00:04:07,163
discussed, and given new solutions. 
58
00:04:07,163 --> 00:04:11,742
These discussions cut to 
the heart of society's sickness. 
59
00:04:11,742 --> 00:04:15,287
New hopes are awakened, 
new ideas emerge. 
60
00:04:15,287 --> 00:04:18,316
Opinions mingle and vary to 
the point of infinity, 
61
00:04:18,316 --> 00:04:20,240
but two ideas already 
62
00:04:20,316 --> 00:04:23,240
sound more and more distinctly 
in this din of voices: 
63
00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,539
the abolition of individual 
property and communism; 
64
00:04:27,539 --> 00:04:30,358
and the abolition of the State, 
65
00:04:30,358 --> 00:04:32,481
its replacement by the free commune, 
66
00:04:32,481 --> 00:04:35,181
and the international 
union of working men. 
67
00:04:35,181 --> 00:04:38,042
Humankind understands 
more and more clearly 
68
00:04:38,042 --> 00:04:41,461
that the individual's welfare 
is no longer possible in isolation; 
69
00:04:41,461 --> 00:04:45,499
it can only be sought in the welfare of all - 
the happiness of the human race. 
70
00:04:46,485 --> 00:04:53,287
"But it has been announced so often, 
that revolution of yours. 
71
00:04:53,287 --> 00:04:59,065
Even I believed in it for a while, 
but it has not happened." 
72
00:04:59,677 --> 00:05:04,394
On March 18,  
the people of Paris rose
73
00:05:04,394 --> 00:05:08,735
against a despised 
and detested government, 
74
00:05:08,735 --> 00:05:13,533
and proclaimed the city independent free, 
belonging to itself. 
75
00:05:14,668 --> 00:05:17,861
This overthrow of 
the central power took place 
76
00:05:17,861 --> 00:05:20,676
without the usual stage 
effects of revolution, 
77
00:05:20,676 --> 00:05:22,432
without the firing of guns, 
78
00:05:22,432 --> 00:05:25,403
without the shedding of blood 
upon barricades. 
79
00:05:25,403 --> 00:05:28,022
When the armed people 
came out into the streets, 
80
00:05:28,022 --> 00:05:32,022
the rulers fled away, 
the troops evacuated the town, 
81
00:05:32,022 --> 00:05:36,420
the civil functionaries 
hurriedly retreated to Versailles. 
82
00:05:36,420 --> 00:05:37,973
The government evaporated
83
00:05:37,973 --> 00:05:42,151
like a pond of stagnant water 
in a spring breeze,
84
00:05:42,151 --> 00:05:45,627
and on the nineteenth 
the great city of Paris 
85
00:05:45,627 --> 00:05:49,327
found herself free from the 
impurity which had defiled her. 
86
00:05:50,327 --> 00:05:53,125
Those fighters did not realize 
87
00:05:53,125 --> 00:05:59,220
the full extent of the 
revolution they inaugurated 
88
00:05:59,220 --> 00:06:04,128
nor the fertility of the new principle 
they tried to put in practice. 
89
00:06:04,128 --> 00:06:10,289
The Commune of 1871 could be 
nothing but a first attempt. 
90
00:06:10,289 --> 00:06:13,443
Beginning at the close of a great war, 
91
00:06:13,443 --> 00:06:18,367
hemmed in between two armies 
ready to join hands and crush the people, 
92
00:06:18,367 --> 00:06:21,781
it dared not unhesitatingly set forth 
upon the path of economic revolution. 
93
00:06:21,781 --> 00:06:25,044
It neither boldly declared 
itself socialist 
94
00:06:25,044 --> 00:06:28,529
nor proceeded to 
the expropriation of property 
95
00:06:28,529 --> 00:06:30,550
nor the organization of labor. 
96
00:06:30,550 --> 00:06:34,824
Nor did it break with the tradition 
of the state, of representative government. 
97
00:06:37,363 --> 00:06:39,235
It is true that if 
we limit ourselves merely 
98
00:06:39,235 --> 00:06:42,124
to observing the actual and palpable deeds 
accomplished by the Paris Commune, 
99
00:06:42,124 --> 00:06:45,343
we have to admit that 
this idea was not vast enough, 
100
00:06:45,343 --> 00:06:48,520
that it embraced only a minute part 
of the revolutionary programme. 
101
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,938
But if, on the other hand, 
we observe the spirit, 
102
00:06:51,938 --> 00:06:54,190
the tendencies that tried to emerge 
103
00:06:54,190 --> 00:06:57,140
and did not have the time 
to become reality 
104
00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:01,372
because, before flowering, they were 
already stifled under the mounds of corpses, 
105
00:07:01,372 --> 00:07:03,599
we will then understand 
the scope of the movement 
106
00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:05,025
and the sympathies that it inspired 
107
00:07:05,025 --> 00:07:07,382
in the hearts of the working masses. 
108
00:07:08,270 --> 00:07:11,054
The Commune gladdens our hearts, 
not for what it achieved, 
109
00:07:11,054 --> 00:07:13,577
but for what it has promised 
one day to achieve. 
110
00:07:13,577 --> 00:07:16,549
It was only with 
practical application 
111
00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,541
that one began to perceive 
its future importance; 
112
00:07:19,541 --> 00:07:24,005
it was only in the working out of the 
thought from this time onwards 
113
00:07:24,005 --> 00:07:26,880
that the new principle became more and 
more specific and clear. 
114
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:31,243
Under the name "Commune of Paris" 
a new idea was born, 
115
00:07:31,243 --> 00:07:35,980
to become the starting point 
for future revolutions. 
116
00:07:52,983 --> 00:07:54,958
The human mind is reluctant 
117
00:07:54,958 --> 00:07:57,368
to plunge itself into 
a work of destruction, 
118
00:07:57,368 --> 00:08:01,957
without forming at least 
a vague outline 
119
00:08:01,957 --> 00:08:04,331
of what is to replace the 
object of its destruction.
120
00:08:04,331 --> 00:08:08,000
But if one would ask all those 
working on the Commune
121
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,100
what should be done, 
122
00:08:11,100 --> 00:08:14,715
what a cacophony of conflicting 
answers one would get. 
123
00:08:14,715 --> 00:08:17,235
Should the workplaces be exproriated 
124
00:08:17,235 --> 00:08:22,000
Can the homes be declared
as the property of the rebelling city? 
125
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,556
Should all food 
be requisited and 
126
00:08:24,556 --> 00:08:27,170
should it be organized 
to ration them out? 
127
00:08:27,170 --> 00:08:30,728
Should all wealth be declared 
as common property 
128
00:08:30,728 --> 00:08:33,715
and should that mighty instrument 
be used for liberation? 
129
00:08:33,715 --> 00:08:37,341
None of these questions is 
undisputed among the revolutionaries.
130
00:08:37,341 --> 00:08:41,417
On the day of revolution 
the social democrat, 
131
00:08:41,417 --> 00:08:43,348
will hurry to the parliament and 
132
00:08:43,348 --> 00:08:46,491
pass his regulations regarding 
the system of property; 
133
00:08:46,491 --> 00:08:50,839
he will attempt to install himself 
as a powerful government
134
00:08:50,839 --> 00:08:53,648
setting up statistics and rules
135
00:08:53,648 --> 00:08:57,695
regarding the number of chickens 
in the smallest village. 
136
00:08:57,695 --> 00:09:00,326
The supporter of the commune 
will hurry for the town hall, too, 
137
00:09:00,326 --> 00:09:02,555
and try to install himself 
as the government; 
138
00:09:02,555 --> 00:09:05,192
he will prohibit to touch 
the holy property
139
00:09:05,192 --> 00:09:07,668
unless the town council 
regards this as appropriate. 
140
00:09:07,668 --> 00:09:09,875
The communist anarchist, 
however, will declare
141
00:09:09,875 --> 00:09:13,884
that one must disregard the 
parliaments and town administrations. 
142
00:09:13,884 --> 00:09:19,303
The workers shall declare the workplaces, 
the houses and the grainaries, 
143
00:09:19,303 --> 00:09:21,806
for short, the whole 
wealth of society, 
144
00:09:21,806 --> 00:09:24,391
to be in the property 
of the community. 
145
00:09:24,391 --> 00:09:27,640
The communistic anarchist will elect 
no "revolutionary government", 
146
00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,440
but try to organize the collective 
production and consumption 
147
00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,982
in every commune, 
in every group.
148
00:09:37,082 --> 00:09:40,181
The idea is that 
organisations of workers 
149
00:09:40,181 --> 00:09:42,563
for  production, exchange 
and distribution  
150
00:09:42,563 --> 00:09:46,003
will take the place of the existent 
capitalistic exploitation and of the state.
151
00:09:46,003 --> 00:09:49,755
In doing so, all goods will change 
into the gratuitous public use 
152
00:09:49,755 --> 00:09:52,965
immediately at the onset 
of the social revolution.
153
00:09:52,965 --> 00:09:56,323
Let each take from the pile 
what he needs 
154
00:09:56,323 --> 00:09:59,215
and be sure that in 
the warehouses of our towns 
155
00:09:59,215 --> 00:10:01,698
there will be enough food 
to feed everyone 
156
00:10:01,698 --> 00:10:05,415
until free production 
has made a fair start; 
157
00:10:05,415 --> 00:10:08,944
in the shops of our towns there are 
enough clothes to dress everyone. 
158
00:10:08,944 --> 00:10:12,066
There are even enough luxuries for each 
159
00:10:12,066 --> 00:10:14,974
to choose among them 
according to his liking. 
160
00:10:14,974 --> 00:10:18,543
Make yourselves at home 
in the palaces and lordly houses 
161
00:10:18,543 --> 00:10:22,526
and build a bonfire from the 
heaps of bricks and rotten wood 
162
00:10:22,526 --> 00:10:25,173
that once were your dwellings. 
163
00:10:27,732 --> 00:10:30,502
The instinct of destruction, 
so natural and just 
164
00:10:30,502 --> 00:10:33,593
when it is at the same time 
an instinct of renewal, 
165
00:10:33,593 --> 00:10:35,977
will be plentifully satisfied. 
166
00:10:35,977 --> 00:10:39,726
How much old junk has to 
be replaced by the new. 
167
00:10:39,726 --> 00:10:41,651
Is not everything to be created anew: 
168
00:10:41,651 --> 00:10:47,361
the houses, the cities, the agricultural 
and industrial means of production 
169
00:10:47,361 --> 00:10:51,997
in one word: the whole material 
of the whole society?
170
00:10:53,748 --> 00:10:56,193
Can we admit, even for a moment, 
171
00:10:56,193 --> 00:10:58,950
that the immense work of 
revision and reformation 
172
00:10:58,950 --> 00:11:02,461
can be satisfied by a simple
change of government? 
173
00:11:02,461 --> 00:11:05,933
The Commune developing
in our century of railways 
174
00:11:05,933 --> 00:11:11,050
and telegraphs and international science 
will know to do better. 
175
00:11:11,050 --> 00:11:15,948
It will be a factual Commune, 
and not just one by name. 
176
00:11:15,948 --> 00:11:18,048
Revolutionary in political regard,
177
00:11:18,048 --> 00:11:21,838
it will act revolutionary in matters of 
production and circulation.
178
00:11:21,838 --> 00:11:24,991
It will know that there
can be no middle way: 
179
00:11:24,991 --> 00:11:27,079
either the Commune
will be absolutely free 
180
00:11:27,079 --> 00:11:29,364
to adopt all the 
institutions it wishes, 
181
00:11:29,364 --> 00:11:31,639
or it will remain what it 
has been up to today, 
182
00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:36,567
a mere branch of the State, 
restricted in all its movements. 
183
00:11:37,410 --> 00:11:43,436
She knows that it must break the State 
and replace it by the Federation, 
184
00:11:43,436 --> 00:11:47,601
and it will act in that way.
185
00:11:54,449 --> 00:11:58,607
The coming revolution will 
have an universal character 
186
00:11:58,607 --> 00:12:02,235
distinguishing it from its predecessors. 
187
00:12:02,235 --> 00:12:05,617
It will no longer be one country 
that launches itself into the turmoil, 
188
00:12:05,617 --> 00:12:07,810
it will be all the countries. 
189
00:12:07,810 --> 00:12:10,826
A small commune could not 
survive a week 
190
00:12:10,826 --> 00:12:14,384
without being forced by circumstances 
to establish stable relations 
191
00:12:14,384 --> 00:12:18,296
with industrial, commercial 
and artistic centres, 
192
00:12:18,296 --> 00:12:23,097
and these centres, in their turn, 
would feel the need 
193
00:12:23,097 --> 00:12:26,379
to open their doors wide to 
the inhabitants of nearby villages, 
194
00:12:26,379 --> 00:12:29,397
of the surrounding communes, 
and of the more distant cities. 
195
00:12:29,397 --> 00:12:32,914
Thanks to the infinite 
variety of the needs, 
196
00:12:32,914 --> 00:12:36,630
all inhabited places are already 
connected to several centers, 
197
00:12:36,630 --> 00:12:39,291
and as their needs develop, 
198
00:12:39,291 --> 00:12:43,795
they will enter into relations 
with new centres to fullfil them.
199
00:12:45,111 --> 00:12:50,001
Take up an economic atlas 
of any country, 
200
00:12:50,001 --> 00:12:54,277
and you will see that fixed economic 
frontiers do not exist anywhere: 
201
00:12:54,277 --> 00:12:57,553
the zones of production and 
exchange of various goods 
202
00:12:57,553 --> 00:12:59,847
interpenetrate each other, 
tangle with each other, 
203
00:12:59,847 --> 00:13:02,300
impose themselves on each other. 
204
00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:05,770
In the same way the federations 
of Communes will cross,  
205
00:13:05,770 --> 00:13:08,300
intersect and overlap each other, 
206
00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:10,800
and in this way will grow 
into a firm mesh. 
207
00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:15,080
This mesh is comprised of 
a multiplicity of associations, 
208
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:19,286
which associate for all purposes
that require cooperative work: 
209
00:13:19,286 --> 00:13:22,240
for associations for each 
kind of production, 
210
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,472
agricultural, industrial, 
intellectual or artistical; 
211
00:13:26,472 --> 00:13:30,088
consumptive associations that 
take charge of habitation, 
212
00:13:30,088 --> 00:13:34,218
for illumination and heating, 
for food, sanitation and so on. 
213
00:13:34,218 --> 00:13:39,441
All these groups cooperate 
in free mutual association.
214
00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:47,885
So for us, "Commune" 
no longer means 
215
00:13:47,885 --> 00:13:50,885
a territorial agglomeration; 
216
00:13:50,885 --> 00:13:56,785
it is rather a generic name, 
a synonym for the grouping of equals 
217
00:13:56,785 --> 00:13:59,786
which knows neither frontiers nor walls. 
218
00:13:59,786 --> 00:14:04,986
The social Commune will soon cease 
to be a clearly defined entity. 
219
00:14:04,986 --> 00:14:07,932
Each group in the Commune 
will necessarily be drawn 
220
00:14:07,932 --> 00:14:11,000
towards similar groups in other communes; 
221
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,402
they will come together and 
the links that federate them 
222
00:14:16,402 --> 00:14:20,575
will be as solid as those that attach 
223
00:14:20,575 --> 00:14:25,055
them to their fellow citizens, 
224
00:14:25,055 --> 00:14:30,200
and in this way there will 
emerge a Commune of interests 
225
00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,161
whose members are scattered 
over countless cities and villages. 
226
00:14:34,161 --> 00:14:36,965
There will be thousands of communes, 
227
00:14:36,965 --> 00:14:40,827
and they will no longer be territorial, 
228
00:14:40,827 --> 00:14:44,868
but brotherly extend their hands 
across rivers, mountains and oceans, 
229
00:14:44,868 --> 00:14:47,886
uniting all individuals and peoples 
who live scattered across the earth 
230
00:14:48,522 --> 00:14:52,302
into one grand family of equals. 
231
00:14:52,302 --> 00:14:57,638
This new community is comprised 
of equal members 
232
00:14:57,638 --> 00:15:01,805
who are no longer forced to sell 
their hand and their head to others 
233
00:15:01,805 --> 00:15:06,255
and be exploited by them 
at will and without a plan; 
234
00:15:06,255 --> 00:15:09,572
instead, they can 
direct their knowledge 
235
00:15:09,572 --> 00:15:12,995
and their abilities 
toward the production, 
236
00:15:12,995 --> 00:15:16,000
with in an organism that 
completely leaves room 
237
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,000
for the individual initiative.
238
00:15:23,424 --> 00:15:25,619
"All that you say is very true. 
239
00:15:25,619 --> 00:15:30,529
Your ideal of anarchist communism is 
excellent, and its realization would 
240
00:15:30,529 --> 00:15:33,641
in fact lead to well-being 
and peace on earth; 
241
00:15:33,641 --> 00:15:36,899
but so few want it, 
and so few understand it, 
242
00:15:36,899 --> 00:15:40,942
and so few have the devotion that 
is needed to work for its achievement! 
243
00:15:40,942 --> 00:15:43,938
You are only a tiny minority, 
244
00:15:43,938 --> 00:15:46,969
your feeble groups scattered 
here and there, 
245
00:15:46,969 --> 00:15:51,000
lost in the middle of an indifferent mass, 
and you face a terrible enemy, 
246
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,672
well-organized and in control of armies, 
of capital, of education. 
247
00:15:54,672 --> 00:15:58,831
The struggle you have undertaken 
is beyond your powers."
248
00:15:59,905 --> 00:16:03,532
That our anarchist groups are 
only a small minority 
249
00:16:03,532 --> 00:16:07,000
in comparison with the millions populating
France, Spain, Italy and Germany 
250
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,500
- nothing could be more true. 
251
00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:13,741
Groups who represent a new idea 
have always begun as a minority. 
252
00:16:13,741 --> 00:16:17,498
And it is highly probable that, 
as an organisation,  
253
00:16:17,498 --> 00:16:20,424
we will remain a minority 
until the day of revolution.  
254
00:16:20,424 --> 00:16:23,482
But can that really be 
held against us?
255
00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:27,422
At this very moment, it is the 
opportunists who form the majority:    
256
00:16:27,422 --> 00:16:30,825
but should that really mean that 
we should become opportunists, too? 
257
00:16:30,825 --> 00:16:33,868
History is there to tell us that those 
258
00:16:33,868 --> 00:16:36,717
who have been a minority 
on the eve of the revolution, 
259
00:16:36,717 --> 00:16:40,000
become the predominant force 
on the day of the revolution, 
260
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,493
if they truly express popular aspirations 
261
00:16:43,493 --> 00:16:48,583
and if the revolution lasts long enough 
to allow the revolutionary idea to spread. 
262
00:16:48,583 --> 00:16:54,060
For we must not forget that 
it is not by a revolution 
263
00:16:54,060 --> 00:16:57,978
lasting a couple of days that we 
shall come to transform society. 
264
00:16:57,978 --> 00:17:03,704
An uprising of short duration can overthrow 
a government to put another in its place, 
265
00:17:03,704 --> 00:17:08,177
but it changes nothing in 
the basic institutions of society. 
266
00:17:08,177 --> 00:17:12,137
It is a whole insurrectionary 
period of years that we must traverse 
267
00:17:12,137 --> 00:17:18,351
to accomplish our revolution in the 
property system and in social organization. 
268
00:17:18,351 --> 00:17:24,875
It took five years of continual 
insurrection, from 1788 to 1793, 
269
00:17:24,875 --> 00:17:27,786
to batter down the feudal 
landholding system 
270
00:17:27,786 --> 00:17:30,852
and the omnipotence 
of the crown in France. 
271
00:17:30,852 --> 00:17:34,057
It will probably take 
at least as many years 
272
00:17:34,057 --> 00:17:39,254
to overthrow the feudal bourgeois rule
and the omnipotence of the rule of money.
273
00:17:39,254 --> 00:17:42,234
It would be a rouinous mistake to believe 
274
00:17:42,234 --> 00:17:45,599
that the idea of exproriation has 
already entered the mind of all workers. 
275
00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:47,599
Far from it. 
276
00:17:47,599 --> 00:17:52,469
There are millions who never heard a word 
about it except from its opponents.
277
00:17:52,469 --> 00:17:55,718
However we know that 
the idea of exproriation 
278
00:17:55,718 --> 00:17:59,597
will gain folowers mainly during 
the social transformation itself, 
279
00:17:59,597 --> 00:18:03,456
at a time where everyone takes 
an interest in the public affairs, 
280
00:18:03,456 --> 00:18:06,395
where all the people 
read, debate, act, 
281
00:18:06,395 --> 00:18:10,618
and where especially the most clear and 
simple ideas can carry along the masses.
282
00:18:10,618 --> 00:18:13,998
It is above all in 
that period of excitement, 
283
00:18:13,998 --> 00:18:16,886
when people's minds work 
with accelerated vitality, 
284
00:18:16,886 --> 00:18:19,716
in those times they will 
addopt the anarchist idea, 
285
00:18:19,716 --> 00:18:22,425
now being spread 
by the existing groups. 
286
00:18:22,425 --> 00:18:27,016
It is then that the 
indifferent ones of today 
287
00:18:27,016 --> 00:18:30,000
will become partisans 
of the new idea.
288
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,517
Yet remember what a 
sad picture France offered 
289
00:18:33,517 --> 00:18:37,016
only a few years before that revolution, 
and what a feeble minority
290
00:18:37,016 --> 00:18:43,500
were those who dreamed of the 
abolition of royalty and feudalism.
291
00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:48,036
A deep despair inspired the few 
real revolutionaries of the period 
292
00:18:48,036 --> 00:18:49,930
when they cast an eye around them, 
293
00:18:49,930 --> 00:18:52,304
and Camille Desmoulins was justified: 
294
00:18:52,304 --> 00:18:57,271
"We republicans were hardly 
a dozen in number before 1789." 
295
00:18:57,271 --> 00:19:02,672
During the whole year of 1788 there were 
only small riots among the peasantry. 
296
00:19:02,672 --> 00:19:06,546
Like the small and hesitant strikes today, 
they broke out here and there, 
297
00:19:06,546 --> 00:19:11,526
but gradually they spread, became more 
broad and bitter, more difficult to suppress. 
298
00:19:11,526 --> 00:19:15,800
It will be just the same with the revolution 
whose approach we foresee. 
299
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,816
The idea of anarchist  communism, 
today represented by feeble minorities' 
300
00:19:20,816 --> 00:19:22,853
but increasingly finding 
popular expression, 
301
00:19:22,853 --> 00:19:25,416
will make its way among 
the mass of the people. 
302
00:19:25,416 --> 00:19:27,671
Sometimes tragic, sometimes humorous, 
but always daring; 
303
00:19:27,671 --> 00:19:30,228
sometimes collective, 
sometimes purely individual, 
304
00:19:30,228 --> 00:19:33,309
this policy of action will 
neglect none of the means at hand, 
305
00:19:33,309 --> 00:19:37,208
no event of public life, 
in order to keep the spirit alive, 
306
00:19:37,208 --> 00:19:41,031
to propagate and find 
expression for dissatisfaction, 
307
00:19:41,031 --> 00:19:45,023
to excite hatred against exploiters, 
to ridicule the government 
308
00:19:45,023 --> 00:19:49,169
and expose its weakness, and above 
all and always, by actual example, 
309
00:19:49,169 --> 00:19:54,050
to awaken courage and 
fan the spirit of revolt. 
310
00:20:04,383 --> 00:20:09,396
Perhaps the masses will 
stay indifferent in the begining.
311
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,359
Perhaps the masses will 
stay indifferent in the begining.
312
00:20:15,815 --> 00:20:19,787
It is possible that while 
admiring the courage 
313
00:20:19,787 --> 00:20:23,289
of the individual or the group 
which takes the initiative, 
314
00:20:23,289 --> 00:20:28,476
the masses will at first follow those 
who are prudent and cautious, 
315
00:20:28,476 --> 00:20:34,853
who will immediately describe 
this act as "insanity" 
316
00:20:35,712 --> 00:20:42,239
and say that "those madmen, those 
fanatics will endanger everything." 
317
00:20:46,317 --> 00:20:49,483
They have calculated so well,
318
00:20:50,886 --> 00:20:55,109
They have calculated so well, 
those prudent and cautious men, 
319
00:20:55,109 --> 00:20:59,137
that their party, slowly 
pursuing its work would, 
320
00:20:59,137 --> 00:21:02,605
in a hundred years, two hundred years, 
three hundred years perhaps, 
321
00:21:02,605 --> 00:21:05,038
succeed in conquering 
the whole world, 
322
00:21:05,038 --> 00:21:08,828
- and now the unexpected intrudes! 
323
00:21:08,828 --> 00:21:15,378
This is whatever has not been expected 
by those prudent and cautious ones! 
324
00:21:15,378 --> 00:21:20,722
Indifference from this 
point on is impossible. 
325
00:21:23,402 --> 00:21:27,605
Indifference from this 
point on is impossible. 
326
00:21:28,591 --> 00:21:33,503
Those who at the beginning never so much 
as asked what the "madmen" wanted, 
327
00:21:33,503 --> 00:21:36,944
are compelled to 
think about them, 
328
00:21:36,944 --> 00:21:42,930
to discuss their ideas, to 
take sides for or against. 
329
00:21:45,605 --> 00:21:49,592
By actions which compel 
general attention, 
330
00:21:49,592 --> 00:21:53,960
the new idea seeps into people's 
minds and wins converts. 
331
00:21:56,028 --> 00:21:58,605
Her realisation
332
00:22:00,916 --> 00:22:06,301
The realisation of this idea, breaking out 
simultaneously in a thousand places, 
333
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,909
will prevent the establishment 
of any government 
334
00:22:09,909 --> 00:22:13,186
that might hinder the 
unfolding of events, 
335
00:22:14,727 --> 00:22:21,307
and the revolution will burn on until 
it has accomplished its mission: 
336
00:22:22,898 --> 00:22:27,478
the abolition of private property 
and of the state. 
337
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:30,051
the abolition of private property 
338
00:22:30,051 --> 00:22:33,112
and of the state.