Date: Sun, 04 Jul 1999 09:51:03 -0400
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Fwd: Emma Goldman: New Declaration of Independence



A New Declaration of Independence

by Emma Goldman
(published in Mother Earth, Vol. IV, no. 5, July 1909.)

When, in the course of human development, existing institutions prove
inadequate to the needs of man, when they serve merely to enslave,
rob, and oppress mankind, the people have the eternal right to rebel
against, and overthrow, these institutions.

The mere fact that these forces--inimical to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness--are legalized by statute laws, sanctified by
divine rights, and enforced by political power, in no way justifies
their continued existence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings,
irrespective of race, color, or sex, are born with the equal right to
share at the table of life; that to secure this right, there must be
established among men economic, social, and political freedom; we hold
further that government exists but to maintain special privilege and
property rights; that it coerces man into submission and therefore
robs him of dignity, self-respect, and life.

The history of the American kings of capital and authority is the
history of repeated crimes, injustice, oppression, outrage, and abuse,
all aiming at the suppression of individual liberties and the
exploitation of the people. A vast country, rich enough to supply all
her children with all possible comforts, and insure well-being to all,
is in the hands of a few, while the nameless millions are at the mercy
of ruthless wealth gatherers, unscrupulous lawmakers, and corrupt
politicians. Sturdy sons of America are forced to tramp the country in
a fruitless search for bread, and many of her daughters are driven
into the street, while thousands of tender children are daily
sacrificed on the altar of Mammon. The reign of these kings is holding
mankind in slavery, perpetuating poverty and disease, maintaining
crime and corruption; it is fettering the spirit of liberty,
throttling the voice of justice, and degrading and oppressing
humanity. It is engaged in continual war and slaughter, devastating
the country and destroying the best and finest qualities of man; it
nurtures superstition and ignorance, sows prejudice and strife, and
turns the human family into a camp of Ishmaelites.

We, therefore, the liberty-loving men and women, realizing the great
injustice and brutality of this state of affairs, earnestly and boldly
do hereby declare, That each and every individual is and ought to be
free to own himself and to enjoy the full fruit of his labor; that man
is absolved from all allegiance to the kings of authority and capital;
that he has, by the very fact of his being, free access to the land
and all means of production, and entire liberty of disposing of the
fruits of his efforts; that each and every individual has the
unquestionable and unabridgeable right of free and voluntary
association with other equally sovereign individuals for economic,
political, social, and all other purposes, and that to achieve this
end man must emancipate himself from the sacredness of property, the
respect for man-made law, the fear of the Church, the cowardice of
public opinion, the stupid arrogance of national, racial, religious,
and sex superiority, and from the narrow puritanical conception of
human life. And for the support of this Declaration, and with a firm
reliance on the harmonious blending of man's social and individual
tendencies, the lovers of liberty joyfully consecrate their
uncompromising devotion, their energy and intelligence, their
solidarity and their lives.

This "Declaration" was written at the request of a certain newspaper,
which subsequently refused to publish it, though the article was
already in composition. ...

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) stands as a major figure in the history of
American radicalism and feminism. An influential and well-known
anarchist of 
her day, Goldman was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, 
women's equality and independence, union organization, and the
eight-hour 
work day. Her criticism of mandatory conscription of young men into the 
military during World War I led to a two-year imprisonment, followed by
her 
deportation in 1919. For the rest of her life until her death in 1940,
she 
continued to participate in the social and political movements of her
age, 
from the Russian Revolution to the Spanish civil war.
(from http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/ The Emma Goldman Papers)

For more information:
http://www.pitzer.edu/~dward/Anarchist_Archives/goldman/ Emma Goldman
(Anarchy Archives)


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