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EM
19th Century
Errico Malatesta
1853–1932 · Anarchist organizing
An anarchist who argued with anarchists about how far to go.
Malatesta spent most of his life in exile or prison, edited papers on three continents, and wrote the sharpest short case for anarchism: that the state's authority is a claim rather than a service, and that people are capable of managing their own affairs without a master. He rejected both authoritarian socialism and quietist purity, insisting on organization for the sake of action.
Why it matters for freedom
He insisted that the means must already be free, because an organization built on command reproduces command.
Who they stood against
the Italian state, fascism, and the Marxists who wanted its machinery instead