Solneman
(Kurt H. Zube)

An Anarchist Manifesto
The Manifesto of Peace and Freedom
The Alternative to the Communist Manifesto

(1977)

 



PRESENTATION

This work begins with a clarification of much used - and mis-used - concepts such as: FREEDOM, FORCE, and ANARCHY. It launches a critical attack upon prevalent stereotyped ideas about the nature of the modern State. It goes on to present new thought-processes as well as concrete suggestions for the realization of equal freedom for all:

1)  Equal access to natural resources and distribution of the land-rent to everyone (especially in the cities);

2)  Freedom of the means of exchange (of money and credit);

3)  Open associations of management (and absurdity of unemployment);

4)  Autonomous legal and social communities (genuine pluralism and freedom of choice).

Above all, THE MANIFESTO offers an alternative way of thinking, which is necessary if we are to avoid catastrophe. Laying the basis for new social relationships upon general agreement instead of ideology, it presents the reader with an inevitable choice: either the law of the sword and aggressive force - or non-domination and equal freedom!

 


 

ESSENTIAL TERMS
used in this book

"If we want to discuss any important and interesting topic for an hour, then we ought first to spend  four hours reaching agreement on the terms to be used. Otherwise we will talk past each other." (Prof. Carl Ludwig Schleich)


The following concepts will be used as defined below:

FREEDOM: This is not a subjective, but an objective and quite exactly definable concept when we are dealing with freedom in a social context. Either my freedom is greater than that of another person, by occurring at his or their expense (in which case they are not free) or it is less than that of another person or group, at my expense (in which case I am not free). In either case there is no state of freedom. Freedom can, therefore, mean nothing other than equal freedom (not equality!) for all - which is essentially identical with non-domination.

DOMINATION: is a state of unequal freedom. Here the freedom of some is greater than the freedom of others and occurs at their expense and against their will. Thus a condition of unequal freedom which exists with the consent of the disadvantaged is not domination.

FORCE: is the physical or mental coercion exercised in an aggressive way, e.g. by injuring the equal freedom sphere of others. Defence against such aggression, including physical means, should thus not be considered as force.

METAPHYSICS: This comprises all concepts and doctrines which go beyond the realm of sensibly and logically graspable experienced reality and which, therefore, cannot be proven either true or false. Here one may leave open the question as to whether these concepts and doctrines expressing a subjective reality of experience and transcendent reality also represent an actual reality, perhaps even the true reality, or whether they are merely vacuous games of thought. When something cannot be proven with the standards of experienced reality then one can just as easily assert its opposite.

IDEOLOGIES: are statements which - like metaphysical statements - are, in essence or subject, beyond empirical proof or refutation because they contain at least some elements which go beyond experienced reality.

DEMOCRACY: is an ideology which submits the interests of individuals to the pretended interest of a majority, or of the abstractions "people" or "state." It is a system of domination which, to be sure, lets the representatives of the new gods "people," "state," and "humanity" be elected by individuals, but expressly exempts them from any contractual obligation towards their voters. Democracy pre-supposes and aims at a state of unequal freedom.

ANARCHY: is a state of non-domination. Since there has never been such a state in a consistent form, the assertion that it would be identical with disorder, or even with chaos, does not express an experienced fact but amounts only to polemics and demagogy on the part of those who proclaim domination a necessity.

ANARCHISM: is a concept distorted by arbitrary mis-interpretations. Real anarchism sees in freedom not the daughter but the mother of order. It is not an ideology but begins with provable facts which lead to an unavoidable conclusion. (Kant: "Anarchism is freedom without violence.")

 


 

1. EITHER - OR !

 

The peaceful and bloodless revolution of the 20th century which will lead to a true world revolution differs by its radicalism from all preceding ones, which were actually only revolts. It goes to the roots of the establishment.

For it brings not only some liberties but full and complete freedom, real freedom. It does not replace previous domination by a new domination, but brings non-domination for each and all. It frees not only abstract groups or classes but, without exception, all individuals. It proceeds not from an ideological basis but from a logically unassailable one.

It therefore differs from all previous revolutions in its starting point, means and end, and will also supply a surprisingly simple answer to Pilate's old question: "What is truth?" It states only incontestable facts, which for many will mean saying goodbye to untenable ideas and accustomed ways of thinking. However, these facts can give everyone what he most lacked up to now - though without always being conscious of the lack. For the logical conclusion of these facts points to the unavoidable alternative: the alternative between aggressive force and agreement - on the only possible lasting basis!

For the first time in human history a basis is offered on which different world views, religions, moral systems and ideologies meet and not only can but must agree. For who can dare to declare himself openly an adherent of the law of the club and of aggressive force?

On this new, unshakable basis, from a surprising as well as a convincing point of view, there follows the description of a social state which is without domination not because it is classless, but is classless because it is without domination. Marx and his successors failed to describe such a society or even to think it through consistently.

Since the Greek word AN-ARCHY was chosen because of its meaning as the appropriate designation of this state, one should first of all exclude all notions which are normally associated with this concept. For it has to do neither with chaos nor with force, and not at all with terrorism. What has been and is considered "anarchistic" and "anarchy" is - with only relatively few exceptions - a distorted image of the real anarchism and rather the very opposite of it. One could even present the consequences developed here as what is actually meant by true democracy (which, of course, does not agree at all with the present reality of democracy).

A clever Frenchman once said: In the future there will be only two groups of people - those who want to live by their own work, and those who want to live by the work of others. More appropriately and inclusively one could say: A line is to be drawn between those who want to enlarge their own sphere of freedom by force, at the expense of the freedom of others, or wish to maintain a state which already ensures such an im-balance of freedom, and those whose goal is the equal freedom of everyone, and who, therefore, do not require additional freedom for themselves at the expense of the freedom of others.

A condition of equal freedom for everyone (in which, for example, unemployment is as absurd as it is impossible) needs no dictatorship. On the contrary, it cannot tolerate a dictatorship. The non-dominating society corresponding to this state is not a mere future aim either. Its foundations can be established here and now, that is immediately (and to the benefit of all). With all its consequences it can be realized in the quite near future.

Einstein, among others, pointed out that progress in human thinking, especially in the social sciences, has limped far behind technological progress. Thus, as the most urgent task for our time, he demanded a new way of thinking. It is offered here.

Apart from the optimal solution for all social relationships, this new way of thinking offers the indispensable conditions for peace!

And it requires a clear decision.

 


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