The Majority

1

by Mikhail BakuninGrandfather of Social Anarchis...

from Marxism, Freedom, and the State

The State is government from above downward of an immense number of men, very different from the point of view of the degree of their culture, the nature of the countries or localities that they inhabit, the occupation they follow, the interests and the aspirations directing them -- the State is the government of all these by some or other minority; this minority, even if it were a thousand times elected by universal suffrage and controlled in its acts by popular institutions, unless it were endowed with the omniscience, omnipresence and the omnipotence which the theologians attribute to God, it is impossible that it could know and foresee the needs, or satisfy with an even justice the most legitimate and pressing interests in the world. Th... (From: Chapter 3..)

2

by Mikhail BakuninGrandfather of Social Anarchis...

from Rousseau's Theory of the State

We are firmly convinced that the most imperfect republic is a thousand times better than the most enlightened monarchy. In a republic, there are at least brief periods when the people, while continually exploited, is not oppressed; in the monarchies, oppression is constant. The democratic regime also lifts the masses up gradually to participation in public life -- something the monarchy never does. Nevertheless, while we prefer the republic, we must recognize and proclaim that whatever the form of government may be, so long as human society continues to be divided into different classes as a result of the hereditary inequality of occupations, of wealth, of education, and of rights, there will always be a class-restricted government and the ...

3

by Anselme BellegarrigueFrench Individualist Anarchist...

from World's First Anarchist Manifesto, The

...that act ceases to be an act of stupidity or an entitlement and becomes an act of theft when, having recourse to the brutal numbers game, the voter foists his sovereignty upon the sovereignty of the minorities. (From: Section 14: Conclusion, Page 33..)

4

by William BlackFighter of Anti-Semitism, Demo...

from If I Were a Jew

...governments do not, and cannot rise to a higher moral level than the moral level of the men who compose them. (From: Chapter 11: Is Hitler's Attitude Civilized or Barb....)

5

by Heywood BrounNew York City, American Journa...

from Christians Only

It may be more difficult to move the mind of millions than to move a mountain. (From: Chapter 11: The Way Out, Page 306..)

6

by Louis Charles DelescluzeFrench Revolutionary Leader, J...

from Fall of Paris

You complain that our decrees are not carried out. Well, citizens, are you not yourselves somewhat accessory to this fault? (From: Chapter 22: Return of the Jacobins, Page 333..)

7

by Adam FergusonScottish Philosopher, Historia...

from An Essay on the History of Civil Society

Even under popular governments, men sometimes drop the consideration of their political rights, and appear at times remiss or supine... (From: Part 5, Section II..)

8

by Benito P?rez Gald19th-Century, Spanish Realist ...

from Spanish Anticlericalism

...people...seem good but really are not. (From: Chapter 3: Anticlericalism in "Belles Lettres" in ....)

9

by Robert Green Ingersoll19th-Century American Seculari...

from The Truth

There is no authority in churches or priests -- no authority in numbers or majorities. The only authority is Nature -- the facts we know. Facts are the masters, the enemies of the ignorant, the servants and friends of the intelligent. Ignorance is the mother of mystery and misery, of superstition and sorrow, of waste and want.

10

by Sam MbahNigerian Awareness League Orga..., Iduma Igariwey EnwoHistorian of African Anarchism

from African Anarchism

...the divine right of majorities is a dogma as little possessed of absolute truth as any other. (From: Chapter 1: What is Anarchism?, Page 2..)

11

by George OrwellEnglish Novelist, Essayist, Jo...

from Spilling the Spanish Beans

The "liberal" bourgeois is genuinely liberal up to the point where his own interests stop.

12

by Jean Jacques RousseauGenevan Philosopher, Writer, C...

from The Social Contract, or the Principles of Right

...where, unless the election were unanimous, would be the obligation on the minority to submit to the choice of the majority? How have a hundred men who wish for a master the right to vote on behalf of ten who do not? (From: Book 1, Chapter 5..)

13

by Max StirnerFather Anarchist-Egoism, Anarc...

from The Ego and Its Own

Jurors, when their fixed ideas are attacked, have just as hard heads as the stiffest despots and their servile officials. (From: Part 2, Chapter II, Section 2..)

14

by Henry David ThoreauAmerican Naturalist, Essayist,...

from Civil Disobedience

...any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.

15

by Henry David ThoreauAmerican Naturalist, Essayist,...

from Slavery in Massachusetts

I wish my countrymen to consider, that whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can ever commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual, without having to pay the penalty for it. A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length ever become the laughing-stock of the world.

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