“My personal freedom, affirmed by the freedom of all, thus extends to infinity.” —Mikhail Bakunin

The authors of the following texts are Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), a prominent Russian revolutionary and theorist of anarchism, Emma Goldman (1869-1940), a Lithuanian of Jewish descent and an emblematic figure of the revolutionary movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the Italian Errico Malatesta (1853-1932), one of the most distinguished fighters of the anarchist movement.

Apart from their common theoretical starting point, a shared denominator of the five texts in this anthology is the honesty and clarity with which they attempt to approach the issue of individual and collective emancipation of mankind.

Anarchism, as theory and practice, claims the full liberation of the individual and does not seek a position in the realm of power. The authors of the following texts do not seek to easily and reassuringly resolve the issue of social liberation. Therefore, they do not indulge in easy messianic solutions or general, complacent declarations that flatter the “poor, wretched people.”

On the contrary, they present a series of questions and reflections regarding the difficult and, in many ways, uncharted path that humanity is compelled to follow (and is following) in the long and uncertain journey of its emancipation from its material and spiritual shackles.