They [anarchists] spring from a single seed, no matter the flowering of their ideas. The seed is liberty. And that is all it is. It is not a socialist seed. It is not a capitalist seed. It is not a mystical seed. It is not a determinist seed. It is simply a statement. We can be free. After that it’s all choice and chance.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the core of anarchism is the concept of freedom, independent of other ideological frameworks.
In this quote, Karl Hess argues that anarchists are united by a fundamental belief in liberty, which he describes as the 'seed' from which their ideas grow. He asserts that this seed is not tied to socialism, capitalism, or any other ideology, but rather serves as a straightforward declaration of the human capacity for freedom. After establishing this idea, he implies that the choices individuals make and the outcomes that follow are based on personal decisions and random events.
In practice
In a discussion about political ideologies, you might quote Hess to emphasize the importance of individual liberty.
It is curious to note that when for reasons of conscience, people refuse to kill, they are often exempted from active military duty. But there are no exemptions for people who, for reasons of conscience, refuse to financially support the bureaucracy that actually does the killing. Apparently, the state takes money more seriously than life.
We have the illusion of freedom only because so few ever try to exercise it. Try it sometime. Try to save your home from the highway crowd, or to work a trade without the approval of the goons, or to open a little business without a permit, or to grow a crop without a quota, or to educate your child the way you want to, or to not have a child. We all have the freedom of a balloon floating in a pin factory.
The revolution occurs when the victims cease to cooperate.
The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace.
Here was what Kilgore Trout cried out to me in my father's voice: "Make me young, make me young, make me young!
As far as social-economic theory is concerned, I am still a Marxist
Money motivates neither the best people, nor the best in people. It can move the body and influence the mind, but it cannot touch the heart or move the spirit; that is reserved for belief, principle, and morality.
Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.
A good society is characterised not just by liberty but by mutual respect and responsibility. When this breaks down it takes a lot more than police officers to put things right.
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