nrelated to the
other individuals who make up society, is a true one; or whether the
Socialist idea that all individuals are inter-dependent upon each
other, bound to each other by so many ties that they cannot be
considered apart, is the true idea. Judge by your experience,
Jonathan!

So the Socialist says that "we are all members one of another," to use
another familiar biblical phrase. He is not less interested in
personal freedom than the Anarchist, not less desirous of giving to
each individual unit in society the largest possible freedom
compatible with the like freedom of all the other units. But, while
the Anarchist says that the best judge of that is the individual, the
Socialist says that society is the best judge. The Anarchist position
is that, in the event of a conflict of interests, the will of the
individual must rule at all costs; the Socialist says that, in the
event of such a conflict of interests, the will of the individual must
give way. That is the real philosophical difference between the two.

Anarchism is not important enough in America, friend Jonathan, to
justify our devoting so much time and space to the discussion of its
philosophy as opposed to the philosophy of Socialism, except for the
bearing it has upon the political movement of the working class. I
want you to see just how Anarchism works out when the test of
practical application is resorted to.

Just as the Anarchist sets up an abstract idea of individual liberty
as his ideal, so he sets up an abstract idea of tyranny. To him Law,
the will of society, is the essence of tyranny. Laws are limitations
of individual liberty set by society and therefore they are
tyrannical. No matter what the law may be, all laws are wrong. There
cannot be such a thing as a good law, according to this view. To
illustrate just where this leads us, let me tell of a recent
experience: I was lecturing in a New England town, and after the
lecture an Anarchist rose to ask some questions. He wanted to know if
it was not a fact that all laws were oppressive and bad, to which, of
course, I replied that I thought not.

I asked him whether the law forbidding murder and providing for its
punishment, oppressed _him_; whether _he_ felt it a hardship not to be
allowed to murder at will, and he replied that he did not. I cited
many other laws, such as the laws relating to arson, burglary,
criminal assault, and so on, with the same result. His outcry about
the oppres