Freedom is the very essence of life, the impelling force in all
intellectual and social development, the creator of every new outlook
for the future of mankind. The liberation of man from economic
exploitation and from intellectual and political oppression, which finds
its finest expression in the world-philosophy of Anarchism, is the
first prerequisite for the evolution of a higher social culture and a
new humanity
Political rights do not exist because they have been legally set
down on a piece of paper, but only when they have become the ingrown
habit of a people, and when any attempt to impair them will meet with
the violent resistance of the populace. Where this is not the case,
there is no help in any parliamentary Opposition or any Platonic appeals
to the constitution. One compels respect from others when he knows how
to defend his dignity as a human being. This is not only true in private
life, it has always been the same in political life as well.The peoples owe all the political rights and privileges which we
enjoy today in greater or lesser measure, not to the good will of their
governments, but to their own strength.
