A.B.C. OF ANARCHISM "But I thought you were an Anarchist," interrupts your friend. "I've.heard that Anarchists don't believe in organisation." -I imagine you have, but that's an old argument. Any one who tells you that Anarchists don'.t believe in organisation is talking nonsense. Organisation is everything, and everything is organisation. The whole of life is organisation, conscious or unconscious. Every nation, every family, why; even every individual is an organisation or organism. Every part of every living thing is organised in such a manner that the whole works in harmony. Otherwise the different organs could not function properly and life could not exist. But there is organisation and organisation. Capitalist society is so badly organised that its various members suffer : just as when you have pain in some part of you, your whole body aches and you =fil .. There is organisation that is painful because it is ill, and organisation that is joyous because it means health ·and strength. An organisation is ill or evil when it neglects or suppresses any of its organs or members. In the healthy organism all parts are equally valuab>leand none is discriminated against. The organisation built on compulsion, which coerces and forces, is bad and unhealthy~ The libertarian organisation, formed voluntarily anq in which every member is free and equal, is a sound body and can work well. Such an organisation is a free union of equal parts. It is the kind of organisation the Anarchists believe in. Such must be the organisation of. the workers if labour: is to have a healthy body, one that can operate effectively. It means, first of all, that not a single member of the organisation or union may with impµnity be discriminated against, suppressed or ignored. To do so would -be the same as to ignore an aching tooth: you would be sick all over. In other words, the labour union must be built on the .principle of the equal liberty of all its members. Only when each is a free and independent unit, co-operating with the others from his own choice because of mutual interests, can the whole work successfully and become powerful. This equality means that it makes no difference what or who the particular worker is : whether he is skilled or unskilled, whether he is mason, carpenter, engineer or day labourer, whether he earn much or little. The mterests of all are the same; all belong together, and only by standing together can they acccomplish their purpose. It means that the workers in the· factory, mill or mine must be or{\'anisedas one body; for it is not a question of what particular jobs they hold, what craft or· trade they follow, but what their 66 Biblioteca G no Bianco
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