The Question of Violence

The organised use of violence cannot be justified, especially for offensive or “proactive” purposes. Organised violence can only be combated by passive means or by spontaneous, disorganised, individual violence. The reason for this is that the use of organised violence, as a method of struggle and even if this does not lead to tyranny, always provides an excuse for opponents to use the same tactics, thus leading to tyranny and arbitrary violence.

Of course, in any war both sides usually claim their cause is just, but if this were always true, this would be obvious to all non-participants. In this case, and especially in industrialised warfare, the non-participants would be able to enforce the peace in favour of one side by peacefully denying support to the other. If one side is right, everyone will see this and the wrong sides ability to make war will be defeated by organised labour. In this fashion, the threat of wildcat strikes may have kept Spain’s neutrality during WW2.

Although disorganised or unsupported violence can be a useful method of struggle, it cannot be an end in itself. However, it can be combated by peaceful means, such as strikes and other forms of Non-Violent Direct Action.