"Very possibly the reasonings showing the state to be a necessary form of the development of the individual, and governmental violence to be necessary for the good of Society, can all be deduced from history, and are all correct,"each honest and sincere man of our times will reply; "but murder is an evil, that I know more certainly than any reasonings ; by de-manding that I should enter the army or pay for hiring and equipping soldiers, or for buying cannons and building ironclads, you wish to make me an accomplice in nnirder, and that I cannot and will not be.Neither do I wish, nor can I, make use of money you have collected from hungry people with threats of murder; nor do I wish to make use of land or capital defended by you, because I know that your defence rests on murder.
"I could do these things when I did not understand all their criminality, but when Ihave once seen it, I cannot avoid seeing it, and can no longer take part in these things.
"I know that we are all so bound up by violence that it is difficult to avoid it altogether, but I will, neverthless, do all I can not to take part in it; I will not be an accomplice to it, and will try not to make use of what is obtained and defended by murder.
"I have but one life, and why should I, in this brief life of mine, act contrary to the voice of conscience and become a partner in your abominable deeds?
"I cannot, and I will not.
"And what will come of this? I do not know.Only I think no harm can result from acting as my conscience demands."So in our time should each honest and sincere man reply to all the arguments about the necessity of governments and of violence, and to every demand or invitation to take part in them.
So that the supreme and unimpeachable judge-the voice of conscience-confirms to each man the conclusion to which also general reasoning should bring us.The Slavery of Our Times -- Afterword -- Leo TolstoyFrom The Slavery of Our Times by Leo Tolstoy AN AFTERWORDBut this is again the same old sermon: on the one hand, urging the destruction of the present order of things without putting anything in its place; on the other hand, exhorting to non-action, is what many will say on reading what I have written."Governmental action is bad, so is the action of the landowner and of the man of business; equally bad is the activity of the Socialist and of the revolutionary Anarchists-that is to say, all real, practical activities are bad, and only some sort of moral, spiritual, indefinite activity which brings everything to utter chaos and inaction is good." Thus I know many serious and sincere people will think and speak!
What seems to people most disturbing in the idea of no violence is that property will not be protected, and that each man will, therefore, be able to take from another what he needs or merely likes, and to go unpunished.To people accustomed to the defence of property and person by violence it seems that without such defence there will be perpetual disorder, a constant struggle of every one against every one else.
I will not repeat what I have said elsewhere to show that the defence of property by violence does not lessen, but increases, this disorder.But allowing that in the absence of defence disorder may occur, what are people to do who have understood the cause of the calamities from which they are suffering?
If we have understood that we are ill from drunkenness, we must continue to drink, hoping to mend matters by drinking moderately, or continue drinking and take medicines that shortsighted doctors give us.
And it is the same with our social sickness.If we have understood that we are ill because some people use violence to others, it is impossible to improve the position of society either by continuing to support the governmental violence that exists, or by introducing a fresh kind of revolutionary or socialist violence.That might have been done as long as the fundamental cause of people's misery was not clearly seen.But as soon as it has become indubitably clear that people suffer from the violence done by some to others, it is already impossible to improve the position by continuing the old violence or by introducing a new kind.The sick man suffering from alcoholism has but one way to be cured: by refraining from intoxicants which are the cause of his illness; so there is only one way to free men from the evil arrangement of society-that is, to refrain from violence-the cause of the suffering-from personal violence, from preaching violence, and from in any way justifying violence.
And not only is this the sole means to deliver people from their ills, but we must also adopt it because it coincides with the moral consciousness of each individual man of our times.If a man of our day has once understood that every defence of property or person by violence is obtained only by threatening to murder or by murdering, he can no longer with a quiet conscience make use of that which is obtained by murder or by threats of murder, and still less can he take part in the murders or in threatening to murder.So that what is wanted to free people from their misery is also needed for the satisfaction of the moral consciousness of every individual.And, therefore, for each individual there can be no doubt that both for the general good and to fulfil the law of his life he must take no part in violence, nor justify it, nor make use of it.
