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Rudolf Rocker (1873 - 1958) is best remembered as perhaps one of the best educated, most erudite and articulate anarcho-syndicalist writers and union activists of the Twentieth century. His writings contain countless penetrating insights into the nature of power and its effects on the human character and the social environment. They ring of a deep desire for complete liberty of action and equality of situation, and as such are quite unique.
The story of Rocker's own life is also revealing. Not only did he talk of liberty and equality, but he practised both in his own life. His involvement with the Jewish community of London and his agitation against the Nazi regime in his native Germany reveals much about his character in this respect.
This site is dedicated to making available at least some of the writings of a brilliant mind, and without turning him into some sort of anarcho-idol, paying tribute to his efforts towards the cause of freedom and the creation of a less shallow, less insane world.
"Anarchism recognises only the relative significance of ideas,
institutions, and social conditions. It is, therefore not a fixed, self
enclosed social system, but rather a definite trend in the historical
development of mankind, which, in contrast with the intellectual
guardianship of all clerical and governmental institutions, strives for
the free unhindered unfolding of all the individual and social forces in
life. Even freedom is only a relative, not an absolute concept, since it
tends constantly to broaden its scope and to affect wider circles in
manifold ways. For the Anarchist, freedom is not an abstract
philosophical concept, but the vital concrete possibility for every
human being to bring to full development all capacities and talents with
which nature has endowed him, and turn them to social account. The less
this natural development of man is interfered with by ecclesiastical or
political guardianship, the more efficient and harmonious will human
personality become, the more will it become the measure of the
intellectual culture of the society in which it has grown."
- Rudolf Rocker, "Anarcho-Syndicalism"
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