The State Is Your Enemy

The state represents the division of the people into rulers and ruled. As long as nation states and economic competition survive, so will international strife persist. In our present political impasse, people no longer believe that fundamental changes in society can come about. Yet, as these selections from the anarchist journal Freedom from 1965-1986 show, we do have a choice. They examine successive British governments – Labour and Conservative, including Thatcherism – over nearly 25 years, and the running farce of elections; they look at wars between statists in various parts of the world, including the Middle East, Vietnam, Northern Ireland and the Falklands; at the May 1968 events in France and Czechoslovakia; and at workers’ struggles, to mention but a few topics. Throughout, the writers attack both the principle and practice of statist society, with its disastrous effects on human life and dignity. Finally, The State Is Your Enemy puts the anarchist alternative, calling on ordinary people to bypass the politicians and organise their own lives. The anarchist analysis of power carries more weight as time goes by. The struggle is, quite simply, the people against every kind of state.