It clearly follows that to make men moral it is necessary to make their social environment moral. And that can be done in only one way; by assuring the triumph of justice, that is, the complete liberty of everyone in the most perfect equality for all. Inequality of conditions and rights, and the resulting lack of liberty for all, is the great collective iniquity begetting all individual iniquities.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Moral individuals require a moral social environment built on justice, liberty, and equality; inequality breeds individual wrongdoing.
- In plain terms
- To make people good, make the society they live in just and equal.
- What can you take from it?
- Justice and equality create moral citizens.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does environment determine morality?
- Is equality necessary for justice?
Another view
Individuals can be moral even in unjust environments.
More from Mikhail Bakunin
Intellectual slavery, of whatever nature it may be, will always have as a natural result both political and social slavery.
Permalink to quote #40 It is the peculiarity of privilege and of every privileged position to kill the intellect and heart of man. The privileged man, whether he be privileged politi…
Permalink to quote #42 If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Czar himself.
Permalink to quote #39
Related quotes
We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.
John Perry BarlowJohn Perry Barlow quote #8 Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.
Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter quote #2 On the eventual death of racism: 'What ever truth drops on it eventually grinds to a powder.'
Art BlakeyArt Blakey quote #2