tter of fact this separation had long
since taken place; the long-drawn struggle between Marxists and
Bakuninists had caused a complete division between the Social
Democrats and Anarchists; latterly even the adherents of Collectivism,
the Possibilists, and other groups had separated from the Anarchists;
and thus the Geneva Congress merely gave expression to the complete
individualisation of the new movement, and it was decided to make the
new programme officially known in a manifesto. This manifesto ran:

"Our ruler is our enemy. We Anarchists, _i. e._, men without any
rulers, fight against all those who have usurped any power, or who
wish to usurp it. Our enemy is the owner who keeps the land for
himself, and makes the peasant work for his advantage. Our enemy is
the manufacturer who fills his factory with wage-slaves; our enemy is
the State, whether monarchical, oligarchical, or democratic, with its
officials and staff of officers, magistrates, and police spies. Our
enemy is every thought of authority, whether men call it God or devil,
in whose name the priests have so long ruled honest people. Our enemy
is the law which always oppresses the weak by the strong, to the
justification and apotheosis of crime. But if the landowners, the
manufacturers, the heads of the State, the priests, and the law are
our enemies, we are also theirs, and we boldly oppose them. We intend
to reconquer the land and the factory from the landowner and the
manufacturer; we mean to annihilate the State, under whatever name it
may be concealed; and we mean to get our freedom back again in spite
of priest or law. According to our strength, we will work for the
annihilation of all legal institutions, and are in accord with
everyone who defies the law by a revolutionary act. We despise all
legal means because they are the negation of our rights; we do not
want so-called universal suffrage, since we cannot get away from our
own personal sovereignty, and cannot make ourselves accomplices in the
crimes committed by our so-called representatives. Between us
Anarchists and all political parties, whether Conservatives or
Moderates, whether they fight for freedom or recognise it by their
admissions, a deep gulf is fixed. We wish to remain our own masters
and he among us who strives to become a chief or leader is a traitor
to our cause. Of course we know that individual freedom cannot exist
without a union with other free associates. We all live by the su