Propaganda of the deed
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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, an early proponent of propaganda by the deed, wrote that "A single deed is better propaganda than a thousand pamphlets."
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."
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." [[1]]
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. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most published a manual, The Science of Revolutionary Warfare, describing, among other things, how to make dynamite, earning him the nickname "Dynamost". 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 (see for example his article, "Violence as a Social Factor". [[2]]