At The Café

Chapter 17 : Seventeen
LUIGI [a socialist]: Since everyone here has stated their opinion, allow me to state mine? These are just some of my own ideas, and I don't want to expose myself to the combined intolerance of the bourgeoisie and the anarchists. GIORGIO: I am amazed that you speak like that. Since we are both workers we can, and must, consider ourselves friends and comrades, but you seem to believe that anarchists are the enemies of socialists. On the contrary, we are their friends, their collaborators. Even if many notable socialists have attempted and still attempt to oppose socialism to anarchism, the truth is that, if socialism means a society or the aspiration for a society in which humans live in fellowship, in which the well being of all is a condition for the well being of each, in which no one is a slave or exploited and each person has the means to develop to the maximum extent possible and to enjoy in peace all the benefits of civilization and of... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 16 : Sixteen
PIPPO [War cripple]: I've had enough! Please allow me to tell you that I am amazed, I would almost say indignant that, even though you possess the most diverse opinions, you seem to agree in ignoring the essential question, that of the fatherland, that of securing the greatness and the glory of our Italy. Prospero, Cesare, Vincenzo, and everyone present, other than Giorgio and Luigi (a young socialist), uproariously protest their love for Italy and Ambrogio says on everyone's behalf: In these discussions we have not talked of Italy, as we have not talked of our mothers. It wasn't necessary to talk about what was already understood, of what is superior to any opinion, to any discussion. Please Pippo do not doubt our patriotism, not even that of Giorgio. GIORGIO: But, no; my patriotism can certainly be doubted, because I am not a patriot. PIPPO: I already guessed that: you are one of those that shouts down with Italy... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 15 : Fifteen
GINO [Worker]: I have heard that you discuss social questions in the evenings and I have come to ask, with the permission of these gentlemen, a question of my friend Giorgio. Tell me, is it true that you anarchists want to remove the police force. GIORGIO: Certainly. What! Don't you agree? Since when have you become a friend of police and carabinieri? GINO: I am not their friend, and you know it. But I'm also not the friend of murderers and thieves and I would like my goods and my life to be guarded and guarded well. GIORGIO : And who guards you from the guardians?... Do you think that men become thieves and murderers without a reason? Do you think that the best way to provide for one's own security is by offering up one's neck to a gang of people who, with the excuse of defending us, oppress us and practice extortion, and do a thousand times more damage than all the thieves and all the murderers? Wouldn't it be bet... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 14 : Fourteen
CESARE: Let's resume our usual conversation. Apparently, the thing that most immediately interests you is the insurrection; and I admit that, however difficult it seems, it could be staged and won, sooner or later. In essence governments rely on soldiers; and the conscripted soldiers, who are forced reluctantly into the army barracks, are an unreliable weapon. Faced with a general uprising of the people, the soldiers who are themselves of the people, won't hold on for long; and as soon as the charm and the fear of discipline is broken, they will either disband or join the people. I admit therefore that by spreading a lot of propaganda among the workers and the soldiers, or among the youth who tomorrow will be soldiers, you put yourselves in a position to take advantage of a favorable situation - economic crises, unsuccessful war, general strike, famine etc. etc. - to bring down the government. But then? You will tell me: the people themselves will d... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 13 : Thirteen
VINCENZO [Young Republican]: Permit me to enter into your conversation so that I can ask a few questions and make a few observations?... Our friend Giorgio talks of anarchism, but says that anarchism must come freely, without imposition, through the will of the people. And he also says that to give a free outlet to the people's will there is a need to demolish by insurrection the monarchic and militarist regime which today suffocates and falsifies this will. This is what the republicans want, at least the revolutionary republicans, in other words those who truly want to make the republic. Why then don't you declare yourself a republican? In a republic the people are sovereign, and if one does what the people want, and they want anarchism there will be anarchism. GIORGIO: Truly I believe I have always spoken of the will of humanity and not the will of the people, and if I said the lalter it was a form of words, an inexact use of language,... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Four
CESARE: I like arguing with you. You have a certain way of putting things that makes you appear correct... and, indeed, I am not saying that you are completely in the wrong. There are certainly some absurdities, real or apparent, in the present social order. For example, I find it difficult to understand the customs policy. While here people are dying of hunger or associated diseases because they lack sufficient bread of good quality, the government makes it difficult to import grain from America, where they have more than they need and would like nothing better than to sell it to us. It's like being hungry but not Wishing to eat! However… GIORGIO: Yes indeed, but the government is not hungry; and neither are the large wheat growers ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

One
PROSPERO [A plump member of the bourgeoisie, full of political economy and other sciences]: But of course... of course... we know all about it. There are people suffering from hunger, women prostituting themselves, children dying from a lack of care. You always say the same thing... in the end you become boring. Allow me to savor my gelati in peace... Certainly, there are a thousand evils in our society, hunger, ignorance, war, crime, plague, terrible mishaps... so what? Why is it your concern? MICHELE [A student who keeps company with socialists and anarchists]: I beg your pardon? Why is it my concern? You have a comfortable home, a well-provisioned table, servants at your command; for you everything is fine. And as long as you and yours a... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Five
GIORGIO: Well then, my dear magistrate, if I am not mistaken, we were talking about the right to property. AMBROGIO: Indeed. I am really curious to hear how you would defend, in the name of justice and morals, your proposals for despoliation and robbery. A society in which no-one is secure in their possessions would no longer be a society, but a horde of wild beasts ready to devour each other. GIORGIO: Doesn't it seem to you that this is precisely the case with today's society? You are accusing us of despoliation and robbery; but on the contrary, isn't it the proprietors who continually despoil the workers and rob them of the fruits of their labor? AMBROGIO: Proprietors use their goods in ways they believe for the best, and they have the ri... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Eleven
AMBROGIO: The other day you concluded that everything depends on the will. You were saying that if people want to be free, if they want to do what needs to be done to live in a society of equals, everything will be fine: or if not so much the worse for them. This would be all right if they all want the same thing; but if some want to live in anarchy and others prefer the guardianship of a government, if some are prepared to take into consideration the needs of the community and others want to enjoy the benefits derived from social life, but do not want to adapt themselves to the necessities involved, and want to do what they like without taking into account the damage it could do to others, what happens if there is no government that determ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Two
AMBROGIO [Magistrate]: Listen, Signor Prospero, now that it is just between ourselves, all good conservatives. The other evening when you were talking to that empty head, Michele, I did not want to intervene; but, do you think that was the way to defend our institutions? It very nearly seemed that you were the anarchist! PROSPERO: Well, I never! Why is that? AMBROGIO: Because, what you were saying in essence is that all of the present social organization is founded on force, thereby providing arguments for those who would like to destroy it with force. But what about the supreme principles which govern civil societies, rights, morality, religion, don't they count for anything? PROSPERO: Of course, you always have a mouth full of rights. It ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)