s, the yearning to commit some memorable act of
revolt in order to be remembered. In fact, the ego in its worst, as well
as in its best aspect, dominates the thought and the literature of
anarchism. Max Stirner, considered by some the founder of philosophical
anarchism, calls his book "The Ego and His Own." "Whether what I think
and do is Christian," he writes, "what do I care? Whether it is human,
liberal, humane, whether unhuman, illiberal, inhuman, what do I ask
about that? If only it accomplishes what I want, if only I satisfy
myself in it, then overlay it with predicates as you will; it is all
alike to me."[18] "Consequently my relation to the world is this: I no
longer do anything for it 'for God's sake,' I do nothing 'for man's
sake,' but what I do I do 'for my sake.'"[19] "Where the world comes in
my way--and it comes in my way everywhere--I consume it to quiet the
hunger of my egoism. For me you are nothing but--my food, even as I,
too, am fed upon and turned to use by you."[20]

Here society is conceived of as merely a collection of egos. The world
is a history of gods and of devils. All the evils of the time are
embodied in individual tyrants. Some of these individuals control the
social forces, others the political, still others the industrial forces.
As individuals, they overpower and enslave their individual enemies.
Remove a man and you destroy the source of tyranny. A judge commits a
man to death, and the judge is dynamited. A Prime Minister sends the
army to shoot down striking workmen and the Prime Minister is shot. A
law is passed violating the rights of free speech, and, following that,
an Emperor is shot. The rich exploit the poor, and a fanatic throws a
bomb in the first cafe he passes to revenge the poor. Wicked and unjust
laws are made, and Vaillant goes in person to the Chamber of Deputies to
throw his bomb. The police of Chicago murder some hungry strikers, and
an avenger goes to the Haymarket to murder the police. In all these acts
we find a point of view in harmony with the dominant one of our day. It
is the one taught in our schools, in our pulpits, on our political
platforms, and in our press. It is the view, carried to an extreme, of
that man or group of men who believes that the ideas of individuals
determine social evolution. Nothing could be more logical to the
revolutionist who holds this view than to seek to remove those
individuals who are responsible for the existing order of society