The Impossibilities of Anarchism

Bernard Shaw's sharp Fabian essay takes anarchism seriously enough to test it against the hard facts of politics. With wit and irony, he contrasts Social-Democrats and Anarchists, exposing the quarrels of socialist circles, the distortions of newspaper labels, and the danger of mistaking rigid principle for workable reform. He argues that while anarchists rightly denounce the corruption of law, religion, education, the military, and Parliament, abolishing the State outright is not a practical answer to class power. Shaw turns instead to the problems of communism, rent, wages, scarce resources, and personal domination, insisting that social justice cannot be achieved by coercion or mastership. Democratic organization, not abstract revolt, is his preferred path: seize public power, use it against entrenched privilege, and build reform through collective action. The volume also reflects the Fabian Society's wider program, with its emphasis on municipal ownership, labor rights, education, poor law reform, land nationalization, and independent labor representation. Analytical, polemical, and often biting, it is a forceful defense of Social-Democracy as practical political change. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.