I am a fanatic lover of liberty, considering it as the unique condition under which intelligence, dignity and human happiness can develop and grow; not the purely formal liberty conceded, measured out and regulated by the State, an eternal lie which in reality represents nothing more than the privilege of some founded on the slavery of the rest; not the individualistic, egoistic, shabby, and fictitious liberty extolled by the School of J.-J. Rousseau and other schools of bourgeois liberalism, which considers the would-be rights of all men, represented by the State which limits the rights of each - an idea that leads inevitably to the reduction of the rights of each to zero. No, I mean the only kind of liberty that is worthy of the name, liberty that consists in the full development of all the material, intellectual and moral powers that are latent in each person; liberty that recognizes no restrictions other than those determined by the laws of our own individual nature, which cannot properly be regarded as restrictions since these laws are not imposed by any outside legislator beside or above us, but are immanent and inherent, forming the very basis of our material, intellectual and moral being - they do not limit us but are the real and immediate conditions of our freedom.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Liberty is the condition for human growth, not a formal right controlled by the state. True liberty develops all human powers, not just individualistic privileges.
- In plain terms
- Freedom means developing your full potential, not just following state rules.
- What can you take from it?
- Liberty is about growth, not just legal permission.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What kind of liberty is worth having?
- How does the state limit freedom?
Another view
The quote is cut off mid-sentence.
More from Mikhail Bakunin
Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.
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