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Chiefly responsible for the bad name of anarchism are the supporters of political power, but anarchists too have contributed by being vague and perfunctory concerning the social side of their doctrine and by frequently espousing the cause of rebellion without insisting on its social illumination. Antisocial impulses and practices may only too easily find in anarchism a pseudo-rational justification. For these reasons the adjective "social" is a useful addition to the word "anarchism"—in order to be truly anarchist one has to be social.

— Giovanni Baldelli Social Anarchism (1971)

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More quotes by Giovanni Baldelli

For the anarchist, rebellion is not only a statement of will but a statement of rightness and truth.

Social Anarchism (1971)

It is time to apply to the mystique of revolution the same critical intelligence that has been applied to the mystique of war.

Social Anarchism (1971)

Rebellion presupposes the existence of oppression and, on the psychological plane, deification of rebellion creates an affective compact with oppression.

Social Anarchism (1971)

Although many laws perpetuate advantages gained by antecendent violence and apply unequally to rich and poor, and although most are outwardly prohibitive and therefore negative, they rest on the positive basis of the will of most men to live peacefully together.

Social Anarchism (1971)

It is fashionable to present hate and contempt for humanity as the exasperation and despair of compassion, but in that case rebellion should be against existence itself. When a man who is horrified by the basic evil of the world and his own existence, and who sees no God to rebel against, takes revenge on his fellow beings, he is a coward and a hypocrite. Perhaps the ugly, sordid, and horrifying things of which there is no end have always been produced by hypocritical and cowardly rebellion against existence, but that is not the rebellion of the social anarchist.

Social Anarchism (1971)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Giovanni Baldelli (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.