Max Nomad's observation that anarchism is a dying creed is largely correct.
The chief landmarks of anarchist history are all a matter of the past, and
even the last rally of libertarian forces to the field in the Spanish Civil
War was witnessed by another, now lost, generation. It is impossible in the
light of this to talk to-day of anarchism in a spirit of hopefulness about
practical advances or in terms of large-scale aims; what we can say about
it will have to be quite different from discussing the Political aims of
present-day left-wing movements. Events of the last hundred years,
especially the story of forty years of successful socialist dictatorship in
Russia, make this easy for us to see; but it is not less clear that a
different view of anarchism, a view of it as something that will change the
whole of society in favour of freedom, has always depended on certain
errors. Those who criticize Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin and the rest for
being utopian are usually not blind .to these errors. As a matter of fact
such criticism consists mainly of an exposure of the false optimism of
nineteenth century anarchist theory.
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