Propaganda of the deed

Propaganda of the deed was an anarchist doctrine that promoted the decisive action of individuals to inspire further action by others. It was thought that exemplary forms of direct action would ignite a revolutionary fervor among the working classes. Peter Kropotkin, the well known exponent of anarchist communism, wrote that a single "act may, in a few days, make more propaganda than thousands of pamphlets."[1]

An early proponent of propaganda by the deed was the Italian revolutionary, Carlo Pisacane (1818-1857), who wrote in his "Political Testament" (1857) that "ideas spring from deeds and not the other way around." Michael Bakunin (1814-1876), in his "Letters to a Frenchman on the Present Crisis" (1870) stated that "we must spread our principles, not with words but with deeds, for this is the most popular, the most potent, and the most irresistible form of propaganda." [2]

The phrase "propaganda by the deed" was popularized by the French anarchist, Paul Brousse (1844-1912). In his article of that name, published in the August 1877 Bulletin of the Jura Federation, he cited the Paris Commune, a workers' demonstration in Berne provocatively using the socialist red flag, and the Benevento uprising in Italy as examples of "propaganda by the deed." [3]

Some anarchists, such as Johann Most, called for violent insurrection. In his paper, Die Freiheit, Most wrote that: "The existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents." Most was an early influence on American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. Berkman attempted propaganda by the deed when he tried to kill industrialist Henry Clay Frick following the shooting deaths of several striking workers.

Other theorists advocating propaganda of the deed included Luigi Galleani and Errico Malatesta, although Malatesta was clear that by "propaganda by the deed" he did not mean terrorism, which he rejected as authoritarian ("Violence as a Social Factor," 1895). [4] For the German anarchist Gustav Landauer "propaganda of the deed" meant the creation of libertarian social forms and communities that would inspire others to transform society ("Anarchism in Germany," 1895). In "Weak Statesmen, Weaker People," he wrote that the state is not something "that one can smash in order to destroy. The state is a relationship between human beings... one destroys it by entering into other relationships" (Der Sozialist, 1910). [5]

See also

• Anarchism and violence
• Anarchist terrorism