which society is
undergoing its classless transformation. When all property is
centralized into the hands of this working-class "State" and when the
administration of things has taken the place of political dominance, the
State, in its final form, will have withered away. Therefore, the
communist realizes that the State cannot be abolished in the manner
visualized by anarchists, but that it must be used, that is, the
proletariat must be raised "to the position of ruling class," for the
purpose of expropriating the capitalists and putting an end to the
exploitation of the producing class. The State is not abolished. Only
its capitalist form is abolished. The State dies out in the hands of the
workers when there is no longer an opposing class to coerce.

PREFACE.

The work of my friend George Plechanoff, "Anarchism and Socialism," was
written originally in French. It was then translated into German by Mrs.
Bernstein, and issued in pamphlet form by the German Social-Democratic
Publishing Office "Vorwaerts." It was next translated by myself into
English, and so much of the translation as exigencies of space would
permit, published in the _Weekly Times and Echo_. The original French
version is now appearing in the _Jeunesse Socialiste_, and will be
issued in book form shortly. The complete English translation is now
given to English readers through the Twentieth Century Press. I have to
thank the Editor of the _Weekly Times and Echo_, Mr. Kibblewhite, for
his kindness in allowing me to use those portions of the work that
appeared in his paper.

As to the book itself. There are those who think that the precious time
of so remarkable a writer, and profound a thinker as George Plechanoff
is simply wasted in pricking Anarchist wind-bags. But, unfortunately,
there are many of the younger, or of the more ignorant sort, who are
inclined to take words for deeds, high-sounding phrases for acts, mere
sound and fury for revolutionary activity, and who are too young or too
ignorant to know that such sound and fury signify nothing. It is for the
sake of these younger, or for the sake of the more ignorant, folk, that
men like Plechanoff deal seriously with this matter of Anarchism, and do
not feel their time lost if they can, as this work must, help readers to
see the true meaning of what is called "Anarchism."

And a work like this one of Plechanoff's is doubly necessary in England,
where the Socialist movement is still large