This little know text by the Dutch anarchist Cornelissen (1864-1942) was first published in German in 1908. It examines the development of anarchism and its various doctrines. Cornelissen was a key figure in the Dutch socialist movement and a pioneer of revolutionary syndicalism; he was the main architect of the Dutch revolutionary syndicalist union, the Nationaal Arbeiderssecretariaat (NAS), which precceded the French CGT. Initially a marxist, he quickly outgrew it and later looked back on it with some embarrassment. His anarchism wa sin line with the early anarchists within the First International, especially those assoviated with Bakunin’s Alliance, such as James Guillaume, who advocated pluralist unions of all workers based on economic class struggle, regardless of ideological background. While anarchists organize in parallel in separate anarchist organizations active in the unions (and social movements) advocating and defending revolutionary ideas and libertarian socialism. But coming from a new generation, this direct lineage got broken, yet the similarities are striking. While he started out as a close comrade of Domela Nieuwnhuis, they soon had conflicting views as Domela became more individualistic and opposed to organized anarchism. This split led to Cornelissen to leave the Netherlands for France. Drawing on his experiences in Holland and France, Cornelissen analyzes in this text the social contexts that shaped different anarchist doctrines and the social motivations behing the individualists’ extreme positions.