y struggle," the purely "economic" struggle.
But this struggle, developing naturally, must inevitably bring about the
entry of the proletariat into the arena of political struggles. Not
wishing to come back to the very starting-point of their negation, the
"Independents," for a time, preached what they called "political
demonstrations," a new kind of old Bakounist riots. As riots, by
whatever name they are called, always come too late for the fiery
"revolutionists," there was only left to the Independents to "march
forward," to become converts to Anarchy, and to propagate--in words--the
propaganda of deed. The language of the "young" Landauers and Co. is
already as "revolutionary" as that of the "oldest" Anarchists.

"Reason and knowledge only thou despise
The highest strength in man that lies!
Let but the lying spirit bind thee,
With magic works and shows that blind thee,
And I shall have thee fast and sure."

As to the "magic work and shows," they are innumerable in the arguments
of the Anarchists against the political activity of the proletariat.
Here hate becomes veritable witchcraft. Thus Kropotkine turns their own
arm--the materialist conception of history--against the
Social-Democrats. "To each new economical phase of life corresponds a
new political phase," he assures us. "Absolute monarchy--that is
Court-rule--corresponded to the system of serfdom. Representative
government corresponds to capital-rule. Both, however, are class-rule.
But in a society where the distinction between capitalist and labourer
has disappeared, there is no need of such a government; it would be an
anachronism, a nuisance."[66] If Social-Democrats were to tell him they
know this at least as well as he does, Kropotkine would reply that
possibly they do, but that then they will not draw a logical conclusion
from these premises. He, Kropotkine, is your real logician. Since the
political constitution of every country is determined by its economic
condition, he argues, the political action of Socialists is absolute
nonsense. "To seek to attain Socialism or even (!) an agrarian
revolution by means of a political revolution, is the merest Utopia,
because the whole of history shows us that political changes flow from
the great economic revolutions, and not _vice versa_."[67] Could the
best geometrician in the world ever produce anything more exact than
this demonstration? Basing his argument upon this impregnable