The Complete Works of Malatesta Vol. III. Errico MalatestaЧитать онлайн книгу.
of the number of perpetrators, or the accoutrements used, or other incidental factors.
This writer, for instance, disapproved of the Terminus Café outrage that so pleases Parrini, on the grounds that it struck him as unjust, vicious, and senseless—that being his assessment, not of Henry’s intentions and personality, since this writer is not well versed in guessing at psychology, but of the social implications of the objective action, which is to say, the good or bad that it managed to deliver to others. Whereas we can all agree on admiring so many acts of selflessness and self-sacrifice that have brought humankind glory and honor down through the ages.
We cannot delve into details, since—you never know!—it might be that we approve of some deed condemned by the Chief Prosecutor, who would then be quite capable of impounding us for glorifying… that which displeases him. But, with a modicum of good will, Parrini will get our point.
On the other hand, we were taught at school, and we believe that the aforementioned Procurator was too, that Pietro Micca was a hero!152
Let us move on to another point.
Parrini wants no mischief-makers in anarchist ranks, and he labels as slanderers and would like to see cruelly punished our London friends, who in the single issue L’Anarchia doubted whether we were all paragons of virtue.
If that doubt were unfounded, we would be very happy and we reckon the London ones would be too, even should the groundless suspicion cost them a puncture wound in the kidneys from an avenging dagger…153 But the problem is that Parrini raises a straightforward question of definition and definitions, be they good or bad, leave things just as they are, unfortunately. There are no mischief-makers among the anarchists “on the basis that the mischief-maker is not an anarchist.” Fine. Then we shall say—most readily—that mischief-makers purporting to be anarchists are false anarchists. But, that said, if there are mischief-makers, they still remain where they are!
By the way, what did the people around the London Anarchia say? They said that we had been infiltrated by poisonous elements who had nothing to do with anarchist ideas—and they strove to be rid of them, that is, to get it across to the public that these were no anarchists, but men who had stolen the anarchists’ clothing. The very point that Parrini makes! Parrini therefore needs to see that he would be well advised to weigh his opinion carefully before thinking about punishment… unless he belongs to that brand of “anarchists” who argue that an anarchist has no right to judge anybody, but has every right to condemn and kill.
One more thing. Parrini says that he saw Merlino’s evolution coming years ago. We, too, have been active in the anarchist camp for many years and we foresaw nothing, so we can but marvel at his perspicacity.
But a suspicion stings us. Back when Parrini foresaw Merlino’s evolution, Merlino subscribed to the very same ideas as we do. So in all likelihood Parrini also foresees us undergoing an evolution of the same sort, and, being a cautious prophet eager to keep his feet on solid ground, is waiting for the facts to prove him right before he says so. If that is the case, we wish him joy of it, but… heaven forbid!
To conclude, let Parrini know that we have no wish to act as father, or as mother to anybody, but we do want to be able to express our view on everything and everybody, and always will, as long as we deem it useful, with no fear, let him rest assured, of any threats of “punishment.” And in the meantime, let him practice that mutual respect so dear to his heart.154
148 The abbreviation “s. r.” stands for “social revolution.”
149 Between January 13 and 16, 1894, the Lunigiana region, an area in the north of Tuscany with a solid anarchist presence, witnessed insurrectional agitations in the wake of the crackdown on the Fasci movement in Sicily. Less than a month later, on February 12, Émile Henry tossed a bomb in the Terminus Café in Paris, injuring around twenty people, one of them fatally.
150 The one-off publication L’Anarchia was published in August 1896 by Malatesta and other anarchists living in London. In the piece “Errori e rimedi” (Errors and remedies), Malatesta argued with those who endorsed anarchist outrages that indiscriminately hurt innocent people.
151 Icilio Ugo Parrini was one of the main driving forces behind Italian anarchism in Egypt from the 1870s onwards and espoused a strongly anti-organizationist line. See also the collective letter from Alexandria carried in L’Agitazione, December 2, 1897, p. 393 of this volume.
152 On the night of August 30, 1706, during the siege of Turin by the French, the Piedmontese soldier Pietro Micca thwarted an enemy attempt to penetrate the city through a tunnel by setting fire to a mine, at the cost of his own life.
153 The reference is probably to Celso Ceretti who had been stabbed in 1889 in the wake of a harsh controversy between anarchists. Thus, it is likely that the reference omitted from Parrini’s letter was also to Ceretti. On Ceretti’s episode, see the article “For The Sake of the Truth,” p. 357 of this volume.
154 This entire article, including the letter from Parrini, was seized by the censor.
First Impoundment.
A Couple of Words to the Censors
Translated from “Primo sequestro. Due parole al fisco,”
L’Agitazione (Ancona) 1, no. 5 (April 12, 1897).
You impounded our last issue.155
Those who got the chance to read it will say whether or not there were grounds for that, and the jury will say, too—if you have the nerve and honesty to bring us before a popular jury.
This impoundment was wholly arbitrary, a really unlawful act.
We are not legalitarians, because… well, we shall not tell you the reason why lest it send you into a rage.
Even so, we have no intention of surrendering what few freedoms the people have won.
Too many freedoms have already been snatched from us because we’ve failed to exercise them and have allowed them to fall into disuse!
The law leaves us the right to make a newspaper and we avail of that right; and since we do so with the intention that it should be read rather than furnishing the police offices with waste paper, we strive to abide strictly within the limits of the law.
This has done us no good; you have impounded the abstract and theoretical expression of thought, to which the law takes no exception.
You have violated the law that you are called upon to uphold.
So be it. We have no effective means of requiring you to respect the law. We do have one consolation, though: you are making propaganda by deed against the law better than we ever could.
If in so doing you help educate the people in unlawfulness, you might even have our thanks for that. Will your masters be so thankful for it, though?
155 Besides the two articles cited already, two more articles and three reports were impounded.
The Anarchists and the
Eastern Question
Translated from “Gli Anarchici e la Questione d’Oriente,”
L’Agitazione (Ancona) 1, no. 5, 1st ed. (April 11, 1897).156
We have advised and still advise our friends against going to Greece because, given the current circumstances of the Italian anarchist movement