In giving dynamite to the down-trodden millions of the globe, science
has done its best work... a pound of this good stuff beats a bushel of
ballots all hollow.
(Johann Most, Science of Revolutionary Warfare – a Manual
of Instruction in the Uses and Preparation of Nitro-glycerine,
Dynamite, Gun-Cotton, Fulminating Mercury, Bombs, Fuses,
Poisons, etc., etc., 1885; quoted in Horowitz, 1964: 41–42)Anarchism as a political movement has had only a small direct
practical impact. Perhaps the most influential avowedly anarchist
groupings were those in 1930s Spain. Anarchist thinking, however,
influenced Gandhi and the Indian Independence movement, the
student movements of the 1960s and many other left-wing protest
movements, and contemporary feminist and ecological groups (see
Chapter 4, Ideologies).Why should i obey the state?
The example of the anarchist who declares that we should secede
from the authority of the state prompts the question of why we
should obey the state. Of course part of the answer to this may be
merely prudential. If we do not obey the state (pay our taxes, enrol in
the armed forces when required, wear clothes in public places, etc.),
its agencies may detect our violation of its laws and punish them.
However, if we look for a moral justification for obedience we must
look in two main directions. First, we need to consider arguments
based on the moral need to preserve an essential or desirable social
institution and second, arguments based on the idea of our consent to
the authority of a specific form of state (probably a liberal democratic
one). Conservative theorists (like Burke) have tended to emphasise
the first line of argument, liberal theorists (like Locke) the second.
To the extent that the state represents a safeguard against the
chaos, crime and confusion resulting from the acts of selfish and
conflicting individuals, it may be seen as having a claim upon our
obedience. As the institutionalisation of law it may be seen as worthy
of respect and obedience. Theologians, following St Augustine’s
[354–430] City of God, have often seen the state as an institution
ordained by God to discipline sinful humanity. Classical Greek54 CONCEPTS