Title: Why I Am an Anarchist
Author: Pierre Ramus
Date: 1928
Notes: “Pourquoi je suis anarchiste,” L’en dehors 7 no. 131 (fin Mars 1928): 1. [Working translation by Shawn P. Wilbur]

I am an anarchist because the idea of human dignity includes that of liberty. But it is impossible for a human being to be free as a proletarian in the framework of the present social organization, of the statist and authoritarian principle, of monopolistic violence and exploitation in the economic domain. It is only with the abolition of the State and the monopolistic capitalist organization, its protégé, that the proletarian will obtain a liberty that guarantees them their human digntity.

The abolition of the State implies the suppression of militarism and of all the armed forces within society and their elimination will lead to the ruin of capitalism and its monopolizing violence. It is only through anarchism that humanity will reach an era of culture where the basis is liberty, and where dignity and human happiness form the vital element. I am an anarchist because I hate domination and violence in all its forms, because I consider human individuality and liberty as the unique object of existence.