THE ANCIENT WORLD

Mesopotamia

 From The Code of Hammurabi (1750 BCE)

195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. 

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye for 
an eye ] 

197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken. 

198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he 
shall pay one gold mina. 

199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he 
shall pay one­half of its value. 

200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [ A 
tooth for a tooth ] 

201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one­third of a gold 
mina. 

202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive 
sixty blows with an ox­whip in public. 

203. If a free­born man strike the body of another free­born man or equal rank, 
he shall pay one gold mina. 

204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels 
in money. 

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205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be 
cut off. 

206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall 
swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians. 

207. If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he (the 
deceased) was a free­born man, he shall pay half a mina in money. 

208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay one­third of a mina. 

209. If a man strike a free­born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall 
pay ten shekels for her loss. 

210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death. 

211. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five 
shekels in money. 

212. If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina. 

213. If he strike the maid­servant of a man, and she lose her child, he shall pay 
two shekels in money. 

214. If this maid­servant die, he shall pay one­third of a mina. 

215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating knife and cure it, or if 
he open a tumor (over the eye) with an operating knife, and saves the eye, he 
shall receive ten shekels in money. 

216. If the patient be a freed man, he receives five shekels. 

217. If he be the slave of some one, his owner shall give the physician two 
shekels. 

218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or 
open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut 
off. 

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219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, 
he shall replace the slave with another slave. 

220. If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and put out his eye, he 
shall pay half his value. 

221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the 
patient shall pay the physician five shekels in money. 

222. If he were a freed man he shall pay three shekels. 

223. If he were a slave his owner shall pay the physician two shekels. 

  
  

  
  

JUDAISM

The Covenant: Genesis 17

Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

"As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude 
of nations.

Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be 
Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will 
come out of you.  I will establish my covenant between me and you and your 
seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a 
God to you and to your seed after you.  I will give to you, and to your seed after 
you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting 
possession. I will be their God."

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 God said to Abraham, "As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed 
after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall 
keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall 
be circumcised.  You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a 
token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be 
circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born 
in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. 
He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be 
circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.  The 
uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul 
shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."

The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:2­17 

1. "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, 
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any 
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the 
water under the Earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve 
them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that 
hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep 
My Commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD 
will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and 
do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it 
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy 
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within 
thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and Earth, the sea, and all 
that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the 
Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land 
which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

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 6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his 
ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s. 

Psalm 23 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green 
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he 
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with 
me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in 
the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest  my head with oil; my cup runneth 
over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I 
will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. 

Psalm 137

The Mourning of the Exiles in Babylon

137By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered
Zion. 2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 For there they that
carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us
mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a
strange land? 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6 If I
do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not
Jerusalem above my chief joy.

7 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it,
rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed;
happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9 Happy shall he be, that
taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

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Isaiah 11:1-10

11A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
2
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 
3
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear; 
4
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
5
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 

6
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them. 
7
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
8
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 
9
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea. 

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10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the 
nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. 

HINDUISM

THE Rig Veda—Hymn 129

1. THEN was not non­existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky 
beyond it.
     What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, 
unfathomed depth of water?
2. Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the 
day's and night's divider.
     That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was 
nothing whatsoever.
3. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darknew this All was indiscriminated 
chaos.
     All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth 
was born that Unit.
4. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of 
Spirit.
     Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's 
kinship in the non­existent.
5. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and 
what below it?
     There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy 
up yonder
6. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and 
whence comes this creation?
     The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it 
first came into being?
7. He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,
     Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or 
perhaps he knows not.

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The Caste System

The Bhagavad Gita says this about the varnas: 

[41] The works of Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras are different, in 
harmony with the three powers of their born nature. 

[42] The works of a Brahmin are peace; self­harmony, austerity, and purity; 
loving­forgiveness and righteousness; vision and wisdom and faith. 

[43] These are the works of a Ksatriya:  a heroic mind, inner fire, constancy, 
resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity and noble leadership. 

[44] Trade, agriculture and the rearing of cattle is the work of a Vaishya. And the 
work of the Shudra is service. 

[Chapter 18, Juan Mascaró translation, Penguin Books, 1962]

THE  BHAGAVAD­GITA, Chapter 1

 Entitled "Arjun­Vishad,"

 Or "The Book of the Distress of Arjuna."

    Then, at the signal of the aged king,
  With blare to wake the blood, rolling around
  Like to a lion's roar, the trumpeter
  Blew the great Conch; and, at the noise of it,
  Trumpets and drums, cymbals and gongs and horns
  Burst into sudden clamour; as the blasts
  Of loosened tempest, such the tumult seemed!

  Then might be seen, upon their car of gold
  Yoked with white steeds, blowing their battle­shells,
  Krishna the God, Arjuna at his side:
  Krishna, with knotted locks, blew his great conch
  Carved of the "Giant's bone;"

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  Arjuna blew  Indra's loud gift;

             
"Killing these  Must breed but anguish, Krishna! If they be
  Guilty, we shall grow guilty by their deaths;
  Their sins will light on us, if we shall slay
  Those sons of Dhritirashtra, and our kin;
  What peace could come of that, O Madhava?

  For if indeed, blinded by lust and wrath,
  These cannot see, or will not see, the sin
  Of kingly lines o'erthrown and kinsmen slain,
  How should not we, who see, shun such a crime­
  We who perceive the guilt and feel the shame­

  O thou Delight of Men, Janardana?
  By overthrow of houses perisheth
  Their sweet continuous household piety,
  And­ rites neglected, piety extinct­
  Enters impiety upon that home;

  Its women grow unwomaned, whence there spring
  Mad passions, and the mingling­up of castes,
  Sending a Hell­ward road that family,
  And whoso wrought its doom by wicked wrath.

  Nay, and the souls of honoured ancestors
  Fall from their place of peace, being bereft
  Of funeral­cakes and the wan death­water.
  So teach our holy hymns. Thus, if we slay
  Kinsfolk and friends for love of earthly power,
  Ahovat! what an evil fault it were!

 "   Better I deem it, if my kinsmen strike, 
   To face them weaponless, and bare my breast 
   To shaft and spear, than answer blow with blow." 

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    So speaking, in the face of those two hosts,
  Arjuna sank upon his chariot­seat,
  And let fall bow and arrows, sick at heart.

**********************************         

Sacred Texts Speak On Ahimsa

The roots of ahimsa are found in the Vedas, Agamas, Upanishads, Dharma 
Shastras, Tirumurai, Yoga Sutras and dozens of other sacred texts of Hinduism. 
Here is a select collection.

Peace be the earth, peaceful the ether, peaceful heaven, peaceful the waters, 
peaceful the herbs, peaceful the trees. May all Gods bring me peace. May there 
be peace through these invocations of peace. With these invocations of peace 
which appease everything, I render peaceful whatever here is terrible, whatever 
here is cruel, whatever here is sinful. Let it become auspicious, let everything be 
beneficial to us.­­Atharva Veda: X. 191. 4

Let us have concord with our own people, and concord with people who are 
strangers to us; Asvins, create between us and the strangers a unity of hearts. 
May we unite in our midst, unite in our purposes, and not fight against the divine 
spirit within us. Let not the battle­cry rise amidst many slain, nor the arrows of the 
War­God fall with the break of day.­­Atharva Veda

Let your aims be common, and your hearts be of one accord, and all of you be of 
one mind, so you may live well together.­­Rig Veda X . 191

The twice­born should endure high­handed criticism; he should insult none. 
While yet in his body, he should not pick enmity with anyone; he should not return 
anger with anger; decried, he should say a good word.­­Dharma Shastras: VI.

Nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, purity, sense control­­this, in brief, says 
Manu, is the dharma of all the four castes.­­Dharma Shastras: X.

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One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one's own 
self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Yielding to desire and acting differently, 
one becomes guilty of adharma. ­­Mahabharata XVIII:113.8.

Those high­souled persons who desire beauty, faultlessness of limbs, long life, 
understanding, mental and physical strength and memory should abstain from 
acts of injury.­­Mahabharata XVIII:115.8.

Ahimsa is the highest dharma. Ahimsa is the best tapas. Ahimsa is the greatest 
gift. Ahimsa is the highest self­control. Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice. Ahimsa is 
the highest power. Ahimsa is the highest friend. Ahimsa is the highest truth. 
Ahimsa is the highest teaching.­­Mahabharata XVIII:116.37­41.

It is the principle of the pure in heart never to injure others, even when they 
themselves have been hatefully injured.­­Tiru Kural, Verse 312.

If a man inflicts sorrow on another in the morning, sorrow will come to him 
unbidden in the afternoon.­­Tiru Kural, Verse 319

What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life, for killing leads to every other 
sin.­­Tirukural, Verse 321

Many are the lovely flowers of worship offered to the Guru, but none lovelier than 
non­killing. Respect for life is the highest worship, the bright lamp, the sweet 
garland and unwavering devotion.­­Tirumantiram, Verse 197

May all beings look at me with a friendly eye. May I do likewise, and may we all 
look on each other with the eyes of a friend.­­Yajur Veda: 36.18.

Spiritual merit and sin are our own making. The killer of other lives is an outcast. 
Match your words with your conduct. Steal not, kill not, indulge not in self­praise, 
condemn not others to their face.­­Lingayat Vacanas

If the diet is pure the mind will be pure, and if the mind is pure the intellect also 
will be pure.­­Manu Samhita

Ahimsa is not causing pain to any living being at any time through the actions of 
one's mind, speech or body.­­Sandilya Upanishad

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Whatever I dig from Earth, may that have quick growth again. O Purifier, may we 
not injure your vitals or your heart. ­­Atharva Veda XII

When one is established in non­injury, beings give up their mutual animosity in 
his presence.­­Yoga Sutras

Without doing injury to living things, flesh cannot be had anywhere; and the killing 
of living beings is not conducive to heaven; hence eating of flesh should be 
avoided.­­Dharma Shastras

Everyone should make offerings to all creatures; thereby one achieves the 
propitiation of all creatures. Every day one should make gifts, even if it be only 
with a cup of water: thus one achieves the propitiation of human beings.­­Yajur 
Veda

The injury that we have caused to heaven and earth, mother or father­­from that 
sin may the domestic fire ceremony pull us out.­­Taittiriya Aranyaka

Without congestion, amidst men, She who has many heights, stretches, and level 
grounds, who bears herbs of manifold potency, may that Earth spread out and be 
rich for us. Let all the people milk Her with amity.­­Rig Veda XII. 1

The peace in the sky, the peace in the mid­air, the peace on earth, the peace in 
waters, the peace in plants, the peace in forest trees, the peace in all Gods, the 
peace in Brahman, the peace in all things, the peace in peace, may that peace 
come to me.­­ Rig Veda X

Do not injure the beings living on the earth, in the air and in the water.­­Yajur 
Veda

The Lord said, 'Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in knowledge and 
devotion, alms­giving, self­control and sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity 
and uprightness, nonviolence, truth, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, 
aversion to slander, compassion to all living beings, freedom from covetousness, 
gentleness, modesty, courage, patience, fortitude, purity and freedom from 
malice and overweening conceit­­these belong to him who is born to the heritage 
of the Gods, O Arjuna.'­­Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 16

12
            

BUDDHISM

The Four Noble Truths

THUS has it been said by the Buddha, the Enlightened 
One: It is through not understanding, not realizing four things, 
that I, Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through 
this round of rebirths. And what are these four things? They 
are the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Origin 
of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering, 
the Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the Extinction of 
Suffering.
As long as the absolutely true knowledge and insight as 
regards these Four Noble Truths was not quite clear in me, so 
long was I not sure, whether I had won that supreme 
Enlightenment which is unsurpassed in all the world with its 
heavenly beings, evil spirits and gods, amongst all the hosts of 
ascetics and priests, heavenly beings and men. But as soon as 
the absolutely true knowledge and insight as regards these Four 
Noble Truths had become perfectly clear in me, there arose in 
me the assurance that I had won that supreme Enlightenment 
unsurpassed.
And I discovered that­profound truth, so difficult to 
perceive, difficult to understand, tranquilizing and sublime, 
which is not to be gained by mere reasoning, and is visible 
only to the wise.
The world, however, is given to pleasure, delighted with 
pleasure, enchanted with pleasure. Verily, such beings will 
hardly understand the law of conditionality, the Dependent 
Origination of every thing; incomprehensible to them will also 
be the end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum 
of rebirth, the fading away of craving; detachment, extinction, 
Nirvana.

13
 Yet there are beings whose eyes are only a little covered 
with dust: they will understand the truth.

FIRST TRUTH
THE NOBLE TRUTH OF SUFFERING

WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of Suffering?
Birth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering; 
Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair, are suffering; 
not to get what one desires, is suffering; in short: the Five 
Groups of Existence are suffering.
What, now, is Birth? The birth of beings belonging to this 
or that order of beings, their being born, their conception and 
springing into existence, the manifestation of the groups of 
existence, the arising of sense activity­this is called Birth.
And what is Decay? The decay of beings belonging to 
this or that order of beings; their getting aged, frail, gray, and 
wrinkled; the failing of their vital force, the wearing out of the 
senses­this is called Decay.
And what is Death? The parting and vanishing of beings 
out of this or that order of beings, their destruction, 
disappearance, death, the completion of their life­period, 
dissolution of the groups of existence, the discarding of the 
body­this is called Death.
And what is Sorrow? The sorrow arising through this or 
that loss or misfortune which one encounters, the worrying 
oneself, the state of being alarmed, inward sorrow, inward 
woe­this is called Sorrow.
And what is Lamentation? Whatsoever, through this or 
that loss or misfortune which befalls one, is wail and lament, 
wailing and lamenting, the state of woe and lamentation this is 
called Lamentation.
And what is Pain? The bodily pain and unpleasantness, 
the painful and unpleasant feeling produced by bodily contact­
this is called Pain.
And what is Grief? The mental pain and unpleasantness, 

14
the painful and unpleasant feeling produced by mental contact­
this is called Grief.
And what is Despair? Distress and despair arising 
through this or that loss or misfortune which one encounters, 
distressfulness, and desperation­this is called Despair.
And what is the "suffering of not getting what one 
desires?" To beings subject to birth there comes the desire: "O 
that we were not subject to birth! O that no new birth was 
before us!" Subject to decay, disease, death, sorrow, 
lamentation, pain, grief, and despair, the desire comes to them: 
"O that we were not subject to these things! O that these things 
were not before us!" But this cannot be got by mere desiring; 
and not to get what one desires, is suffering.

SECOND TRUTH
THE NOBLE TRUTH OF THE ORIGIN OF SUFFERING

WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of the Origin of 
Suffering? It is that craving which gives rise to fresh rebirth, 
and, bound up with pleasure and lust, now here, now there, 
finds ever fresh delight.
[In the absolute sense, it is no real being, no self­
determined, unchangeable, Ego­entity that is reborn. Moreover, 
there is nothing that remains the same even for two consecutive 
moments; for the Five Khandhas, or Groups of Existence, are 
in a state of perpetual change, of continual dissolution and 
renewal. They die every moment, and every moment new ones 
are born. Hence it follows that there is no such thing as a real 
existence, or "being,"  but only as it were an 
endless process, a continuous change, a "becoming," consisting 
in a "producing," and in a "being produced"; in a "process of 
action," and in a "process of reaction," or "rebirth."
This process of perpetual "producing" and "being 
produced" may best be compared with an ocean wave. In the 
case of a wave, there is not the slightest quantity of water 
traveling over the surface of the sea. But the wave structure, 

15
that hastens over the surface of the water, creating the 
appearance of one and the same mass of water, is, in reality, 
nothing but the continuous rising and falling of continuous, but 
quite different, masses of water, produced by the transmission 
of force generated by the wind. Even so, the Buddha did not 
teach that Ego­entities hasten through the ocean of rebirth, but 
merely life­waves, which, according to their nature and 
activities (good, or evil),  manifest themselves here as men, 
there as animals, and elsewhere as invisible beings.]

THIRD TRUTH
THE NOBLE TRUTH OF THE EXTINCTION OF 
SUFFERING

WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of the Extinction of 
Suffering? It is the complete fading away and extinction of this 
craving, its forsaking and giving up, the liberation and 
detachment from it.
But where may this craving vanish, where may it be 
extinguished? Wherever in the world there are delightful and 
pleasurable things, there this craving may vanish, there it may 
be extinguished.
Be it in the past, present, or future, whosoever of the 
monks or priests regards the delightful and pleasurable things 
in the world as "impermanent," "miserable," and "without an 
Ego," as a disease and cancer; it is he who overcomes the 
craving.
And released from Sensual Craving, released from the 
Craving for Existence, he does not return, does not enter again 
into existence.

NIRVANA

This, truly, is the Peace, this is the Highest, namely the 
end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of 

16
rebirth, the fading away of craving: detachment, extinction­
Nirvana.
Enraptured with lust, enraged with anger, blinded by 
delusion, overwhelmed, with mind ensnared, man aims at his 
own ruin, at others' ruin, at the ruin of both parties, and he 
experiences mental pain and grief. But, if lust, anger, and 
delusion are given up, man aims neither at his own ruin, nor at 
others' ruin, nor at the ruin of both parties, and he experiences 
no mental pain and grief. Thus is Nirvana immediate, visible in 
this life, inviting, attractive, and comprehensible to the wise.
The extinction of greed, the extinction of anger, the 
extinction of delusion: this, indeed, is called Nirvana.

CHINA

DAOISM—“The Way”

On Government

The more restrictions there are, the poorer the people.
The more sharp weapons, the more trouble in the state.
The more clever cunning, the more contrivances.
The more rules and regulations, the more thieves and robbers.
Therefore the wise say,
"Do not interfere, and people transform themselves.
Love peace, and people do what is right.
Do not intervene, and people prosper.
Have no desires, and people live simply."

Making Things Ugly

When people see beauty, they think, "that's beautiful".
Thinking of something as beautiful makes you think other things are ugly.
Calling something "good" forces you to call some other things "evil."

The ideas "difficult" and "easy" support each other.

17
"Long" and "short" define each other.
"High" creates "low"
"Tone" creates "noise"
"Before" creates "after"
"Have" creates "don't have"

This is why the Sage acts without effort and teaches without words.
New things are created and the Sage just accepts them.
Things fade away and the Sage accepts that too.

A Sage can have things without feeling they "own" them.
The Sage does things without putting an emotional stake into the outcome.
The task is accomplished, but the Sage doesn't seek credit or take pride in the 
accomplishment.
Because the Sage is not attached to the accomplishment, the accomplishment lasts 
forever.

CONFUCIANISM

Kong­Fu Tze: “Quotes from The Analects”

"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect 
his work must first sharpen his tools." 

"What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others." 

"To go too far is as bad as to fall short." 

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." 

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another 
mistake." 

"Faithfulness and sincerity are the highest things."

18
"Consideration for others is the basic of a good life, a good society." 

"Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?" 

"To love a thing means wanting it to live." 

"Mankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that 
away." 

"When anger rises, think of the consequences." 

"Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you 
would be in fear of losing it." 

"If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?" 

"When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a 
thing, to allow that you do not know it­­this is knowledge." 

"The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your 
ignorance." 

"To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true 
knowledge." 

"Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a 
teacher of others." 

"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness." 

"With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow ­­ I have 
still joy in the midst of all these things." 

"Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop 
in." 

19
"Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star." 

"To be with God." 

"We take greater pains to persuade others we are happy than in trying to think so 
ourselves." 

"The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral 
development." 

"Have no friends not equal to yourself." 

"Love thy neighbor as thyself: Do not to others what thou wouldn't not wish be 
done to thyself: Forgive injuries. Forgive thy enemy, be reconciled to him, give 
him assistance, invoke God in his behalf." 

"A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart." 

"The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, 
and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them." 

"Not to alter one's faults is to be faulty indeed." 

"When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them." 

"The real fault is to have faults and not amend them." 

"The father who does not teach his son his duties is equally guilty with the son 
who neglects them." 

"Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend 
upon heaven." 

"The wheel of fortune turns round incessantly, and who can say to himself, I shall 
today be uppermost." 

20
"The parents age must be remembered, both for joy and anxiety." 

"The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home." 

"It is not possible for one to teach others who cannot teach his own family." 

"I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known." 

"Faithfulness and sincerity are the highest things." 

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another 
mistake." 

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." 

"To go too far is as bad as to fall short." 

"What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others." 

"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect 
his work must first sharpen his tools." 

"To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it." 

"I want you to be everything that's you, deep at the center of your being." 

"Of neighborhoods, benevolence is the most beautiful. How can the man be 
considered wise who when he had the choice does not settle in benevolence." 

"Study the past if you would divine the future." 

"To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, or of principle." 

"A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door." 

21
"In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country 
badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of." 

"Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors." 

"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it." 

"Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?" 

"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." 

"He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own." 

"The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what 
will sell." 

"Boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination." 

"When nature exceeds culture, we have the rustic. When culture exceeds nature 
then we the pedant." 

"He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior." 

"The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and 
the world at large." 

"When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an 
unworthy person, then examine your inner self." 

"Silence is the true friend that never betrays." 

"Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated." 

"Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue." 

22
"We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression." 

 LEGALISM: The School of Law 

Han Fei, Book 49: The Five Vermin

¶49.5b
Today Ru and Mohists alike praise the early kings for their universal love of the 
world, saying that they looked after their people the way parents do a beloved 
child. What do they use to prove that this is so? They say: "Whenever the 
Director of Crime applied the punishments, the lord would cancel his musical 
performances because of that and when he heard the announcement of an 
execution he would shed tears over it." This is what they praise about the early 
kings. If you require that the relation between ruler and minister be like father and 
son and make it the condition necessary to produce order in government, the 
implication is that there is no such thing as unruly fathers or sons. By inborn 
nature, nothing surpasses the love of parents for their children. But even though 
all parents have expressed their love their children, this love has never resulted in 
all their children being well­behaved. And even if parents were to love the unruly 
child even more, would that prevent it from being unruly? The love of the early 
kings for their children could not surpass the love of parents' for their children, so 
if parents love does not inevitably result in their children not being unruly, how 
can the love of kings make their people orderly? Moreover, if when the laws are 
applied to punish people the lord weeps about it­­this may exemplify humaneness 
but it is not a way to create orderly government. Shedding tears and not wanting 
to punish may be humaneness but, however that may be, that the punishments 
cannot but be applied is a matter of law. If the early kings let their laws triumph 
and did not heed their tears, it is obvious that practicing humaneness cannot be 
used to create an orderly government. 

¶49.6
Besides, by nature people submit to authority, but only a few are capable of 
cherishing moral principles. Confucius was the world's sage. He cultivated his 
conduct, clarified his Dao, traveled across the lands within the seas, but in all 
those places only 70 men rejoiced in his humaneness, admired his moral code, 
and were willing to become his disciples. To be sure, to prize humaneness 

23
belongs to the very few and to be capable of his moral code is a difficult thing. 
Thus, in the vastness of the world there were only 70 men who became his 
disciples and there was only one man who became humane and moral. 

Duke Ai of Lu was an inferior ruler, but when he faced south as lord of his 
country, not a single man within the borders of his state would dare refuse to be 
his servant. So since people by nature submit to authority, when a person holds a 
position of authority it is easy to cause others to submit. Thus it was that 
Confucius contrary to expectations remained a servant and Duke Ai, in contrast, 
remained lord. It was not a matter of Confucius cherishing the Duke's morality but 
of his submitting to his authority. Thus if it was based on morality Confucius 
would never have submitted to Duke Ai, but because he wielded authority Duke 
Ai made Confucius his servant. Today scholars advise rulers that they should 
strive to conduct themselves with humaneness and morality so that it will be 
possible for them to become universal kings. They do not advise that they wield 
their authority which is certain to triumph. This is to make it necessary for rulers 
to reach the level of a Confucius and that all his subjects should act like 
Confucius' disciples. Such a policy is certain to fail. 

¶49.9a
Ru scholars use their literary skills to destroy law and knights­errant use their 
military skills to violate prohibitions, yet rulers universally treat them with special 
courtesies so there is general disorder. Those who deviate from the law should 
be regarded as criminals but instead all these learned teachers are chosen for 
office for their literary accomplishments. Those who violate the prohibitions 
should be punished but instead every knight­errant is given a living for using their 
swords to further private interest. Thus, what law condemns the lord chooses and 
what officials punish their superior patronizes. Law and the ruler's personal 
inclinations, superior and subordinate are in contradiction. Where nothing is fixed, 
even ten Yellow Emperors would be incapable of governing. Thus those who 
practice humaneness and morality should not be those who are praised, for to 
praise their conduct is to harm military readiness. Men of literary accomplishment 
should not be given office, for giving them office brings confusion to the laws. 

¶49.10b
To reward those who cut off enemy heads and yet esteem acts of compassion 
and kindness; to provide emoluments and noble titles to those who capture cities 

24
and yet put you trust in persuasions which advocate universal love; to strengthen 
armor and sharpen weapons in order to be prepared to meet any kind of trouble 
and yet admire the ornamented robes and belts of the civil gentry; to try to enrich 
the country through agriculture and ward off the enemy with trained soldiers and 
yet prize scholars for their literary accomplishments; to disdain people who treat 
the ruler with reverence and respect the law and instead patronize knights­errant 
who travel from court to court wielding their swords on behalf of private interests­
those who recommend such conduct make it impossible for the state to be either 
well governed or strong. When the state is tranquil, it can nurture Ru scholars 
and knights­errant, but when difficulties arise, it must use armed knights. But in 
the present case, those who would benefit the state are not employed and those 
who are employed provide no benefit. This is precisely why those charged with 
particular responsibilities are negligent in carrying them out and the number of 
traveling scholars increases by the day. This is what causes the disorder of our 
age.

The Art of War
Sun Tzu / Translated by Lionel Giles

Chapter 1: Laying Plans 
Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. 
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is 
a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. 
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into 
account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions 
obtaining in the field. 
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; 
(5) Method and discipline. 
The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, 
so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any 
danger. 
Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. 

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Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open 
ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death. 
The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, 
courage and strictness. 
By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army 
in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the 
maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the 
control of military expenditure. 
These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them 
will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail. 
Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military 
conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise: ­­ (1) 
Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of 
the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages 
derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most 
rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are 
officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the 
greater constancy both in reward and punishment? 
By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. 
The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let 
such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my 
counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: ­­ let such a one be dismissed! 
While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful 
circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules. 
According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans. 
All warfare is based on deception. 
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, 
we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy 
believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are 
near. 
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. 
If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior 
strength, evade him. 

26
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be 
weak, that he may grow arrogant. 
If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate 
them. 
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. 
These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged 
beforehand. 
Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple 
ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few 
calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and 
few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by 
attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose. 

Chapter 2: Waging War 
Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a 
thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand 
mail­clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the 
expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, 
small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and 
armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is 
the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men. 
When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's 
weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a 
town, you will exhaust your strength. 
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be 
equal to the strain. 
Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength 
exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take 
advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to 
avert the consequences that must ensue. 
Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never 
been seen associated with long delays. 
There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. 

27
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can 
thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on. 
The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply­
wagons loaded more than twice. 
Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the 
army will have food enough for its needs. 
Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by 
contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a 
distance causes the people to be impoverished. 
On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and 
high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away. 
When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by 
heavy exactions. 
With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the 
people will be stripped bare, and three­tenths of their income will be 
dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn­out 
horses, breast­plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, 
protective mantles, draught­oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four­
tenths of its total revenue. 
Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One 
cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, 
and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from 
one's own store. 
Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that 
there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their 
rewards. 
Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, 
those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be 
substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in 
conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and 
kept. 
This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength. 
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. 

28
 Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the 
people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in 
peace or in peril. 

JAPAN 

Shintosim

 Ethics

Purity is one of the fundamental virtues of Shinto ethics. There are two significations of 
purity. One is outer purity or bodily purity and the other inner purity or purity of heart. If a 
man is endowed with true inner purity of heart, he will surely attain God­realization or 
communion with the Divine. Sincerity is also the guiding ethical principle of Shinto.

Ten Precepts Of Shinto

i) Do not transgress the will of the gods.

ii) Do not forget your obligations to ancestors.

iii) Do not offend by violating the decrees of the State.

iv) Do not forget the profound goodness of the, gods, through which calamity and 
misfortunes are averted and sickness is healed.

v) Do not forget that the world is one great family.

vi) Do not forget the limitations of your own person.

29
vii) Do not become angry even though others become angry.

viii) Do not be sluggish in your work.

ix) Do not bring blame to the teaching.

x) Do not be carried away by foreign teachings.

Shinto Sayings

The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form.

Even the wishes of an ant reach to heaven.

Leave the things of this world and come to me daily with pure bodies and pure hearts.

A single sincere prayer moves heaven. You will surely realize the divine presence 
through sincere prayer.

Where you have sincerity, there also is virtue. Sincerity is a witness to truth. Sincerity is 
the mother of knowledge. Sincerity is a single virtue that binds Divinity and man in one.

Retribution for good or ill is as sure as the shadow after substance.

To do good is to be pure. To commit evil is to be impure.

To admit a fault is the beginning of righteousness.

The first and surest means to enter into communion with the Divine is sincerity. If you 
pray to a deity with sincerity, you will surely feel the divine presence.

Common Shinto Prayer

Our eyes may see some uncleanliness, but let not our mind see things that are not 
clean. Our ears may hear some uncleanliness, but let not our mind hear things that are 
not clean.

ZOROASTER

30
YASNA 33.
1.
According as it is with the laws that belong to the present life, so shall the Judge
act with most just deed towards the man of the Lie and the man of the Right, and
him whose false things and good things balance (in equal measure).
2.
Whoso worketh ill for the liar by word or thought or hands, or converts his
dependent to the good -- such men meet the will of Ahura Mazda to his
satisfaction.
3.
Whose is most good to the righteous man, be he noble or member of the
community or the brotherhood, Ahura -- or with diligence cares for the cattle, he
shall be hereafter in the pasture of Right and Good Thought [Asha and Vohu
Manah].
4.
I who by worship would keep far from Thee, O Mazda, disobedience and Bad
Thought, heresy from the nobles, and from the community the Lie, that is most
near, and from the brotherhood the slanderers, and the worst herdsmen from the
pastures of the cattle; --
5.
I who would invoke thy Obedience as the greatest of all at the Consummation,
attaining long life, and the Dominion of Good Thought, and the straight ways into
Right, wherein Mazda Ahura dwells.
6.
I, as a priest, who would learn the straight (paths) by the Right, would learn by the
Best Spirit how to practice husbandry by that thought in which it is thought of;
these Twain of Thine, O Ahura Mazda, I strive to see and take counsel with them.
7.
Come hither to me, O ye Best Ones, hither, O Mazda, in Thine own person and
visibly, O Right and Good Thought, that I may be heard beyond the limits of the
people. Let the august duties be manifest among us and clearly viewed.
8.
Consider ye my matters whereon I am active, O Good Thought, my worship, O
Mazda, towards one like you, and O Right, the words of my praise. Grant, O
Welfare and Immortality, your own everlasting blessing.
9.
That Spirit of Thine, Mazda, together with the comfort of the Comrades Twain,
who advance the Right, let the Best Thought bring through the Reform wrought
by me. Sure is the support of those twain, whose souls are one.
10.
All the pleasures of life which thou holdest, those that were, that are, and that
shall be O Mazda, according to thy good will apportion them. Through Good
Thought advance thou the body, through Dominion and Right at will.
11.

31
 The most mighty Ahura Mazda, and Piety, and Right that blesses our substance,
and Good Thought and Dominion, hearken unto me, be merciful to me, when to
each man the recompense comes.
12.
Rise up for me, O Ahura, through Armaiti give strength, through the holiest Spirit
give might, O Mazda, through the good Recompense [âdâ, offering], through the
Right give powerful prowess, through Good Thought give the reward.
13.
To support me, O Thou that seest far onward, do ye assure me the incomparable
things in your Dominion, O Ahura, as the Destiny of Good Thought. O Holy
Armaiti, teach the Daenas about the Right.
14.
As an offering Zarathushtra brings the life of his own body, the choiceness of
good thought, action, and speech, unto Mazda, unto the Right, Obedience, and
Dominion.

THE CLASSICAL WORLD

GREECE

Science, Medicine, and Values

Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the 
gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will 
keep this Oath and this contract: 

To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in 
life with him, and to fulfill his needs when required; to look upon his offspring as equals 
to my own siblings, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or 
contract; and that by the set rules, lectures, and every other mode of instruction, I will 
impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to 
students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicine, but to 
no others.

32
I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest 
ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and 
similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

In purity and according to divine law will I carry out my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, even upon those suffering from stones, but I will leave this to 
those who are trained in this craft.

Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any 
voluntary act of impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, 
whether they are free men or slaves.

Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my 
professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, 
as considering all such things to be private.

So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me 
to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all 
time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.

Translated by Michael North, National Library of Medicine, 2002.

Thucydides: The Funeral Oration of Pericles (429 B.C.E.)

“. . .  So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must 
determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray 
that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only from 
words of the advantages which are bound up with the defense of your country, 
though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even before an audience 
so alive to them as the present, you must yourselves realize the power of Athens, 
and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and 
then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by 
courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honor in action that men were 
enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make 

33
them consent to deprive their country of their velour, but they laid it at her feet as 
the most glorious contribution that they could offer.  

"For this offering of their lives made in common by them all they each of 
them individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a 
sepulcher, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that 
noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon 
every occasion on which deed or story shall call for its commemoration. For 
heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, 
where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a 
record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart. These take 
as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of 
velour, never decline the dangers of war. For it is not the miserable that would 
most justly be unsparing of their lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is rather 
they to whom continued life may bring reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a 
fall, if it came, would be most tremendous in its consequences. And surely, to a 
man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous 
than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism! 

"Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents 
of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to which, as they 
know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed are they who draw for their 
lot a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning, and to whom life 
has been so exactly measured as to terminate in the happiness in which it has 
been passed. Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially when those are in 
question of whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the homes of 
others blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is felt not so much for 
the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have 
been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to beget children must 
bear up in the hope of having others in their stead; not only will they help you to 
forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement 
and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who 
does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of 
a father. While those of you who have passed your prime must congratulate 
yourselves with the thought that the best part of your life was fortunate, and that 
the brief span that remains will be cheered by the fame of the departed. For it is 

34
only the love of honor that never grows old; and honor it is, not gain, as some 
would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness. 

"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle 
before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your 
merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not merely to overtake, 
but even to approach their renown. The living have envy to contend with, while 
those who are no longer in our path are honored with a goodwill into which rivalry 
does not enter. 

"On the other hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female 
excellence to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised 
in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural 
character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men, 
whether for good or for bad. 

"My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and 
in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If deeds be in 
question, those who are here interred have received part of their honors already, 
and for the rest, their children will be brought up till manhood at the public 
expense: the state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in this 
race of velour, for the reward both of those who have fallen and their survivors. 
And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens. 

"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your 
relatives, you may depart." 

Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 2.34­46. Trans. Richard Crawley.

Plato on “The Philosopher Kings”

Inasmuch as philosophers only are able to grasp the eternal and 
unchangeable, and those who wander in the region of the many and variable are 
not philosophers, I must ask you which of the two classes should be the rulers of 
our State?

35
  And how can we rightly answer that question?

  Whichever of the two are best able to guard the laws and institutions of our 
State­­let them be our guardians.

  Very good.

  Neither, I said, can there be any question that the guardian who is to keep 
anything should have eyes rather than no eyes?

  There can be no question of that.

  And are not those who are verily and indeed wanting in the knowledge of the 
true being of each thing, and who have in their souls no clear pattern, and are 
unable as with a painter's eye to look at the absolute truth and to that original to 
repair, and having perfect vision of the other world to order the laws about beauty, 
goodness, justice in this, if not already ordered, and to guard and preserve the 
order of them­­are not such persons, I ask, simply blind?

  Truly, he replied, they are much in that condition.

  And shall they be our guardians when there are others who, besides being their 
equals in experience and falling short of them in no particular of virtue, also know 
the very truth of each thing?

  There can be no reason, he said, for rejecting those who have this greatest of 
all great qualities; they must always have the first place unless they fail in some 
other respect. Suppose, then, I said, that we determine how far they can unite 
this and the other excellences.

  By all means.

  In the first place, as we began by observing, the nature of the philosopher has 
to be ascertained. We must come to an understanding about him, and, when we 
have done so, then, if I am not mistaken, we shall also acknowledge that such a 
union of qualities is possible, and that those in whom they are united, and those 
only, should be rulers in the State. 

36
  What do you mean?

  Let us suppose that philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which 
shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation and corruption.

  Agreed.

  And further, I said, let us agree that they are lovers of all true being; there is no 
part whether greater or less, or more or less honorable, which they are willing to 
renounce; as we said before of the lover and the man of ambition. 

  True.

  And if they are to be what we were describing, is there not another quality which 
they should also possess?

  What quality?

  Truthfulness: they will never intentionally receive into their minds falsehood, 
which is their detestation, and they will love the truth.

  Yes, that may be safely affirmed of them.

  "May be." my friend, I replied, is not the word; say rather, "must be affirmed:" for 
he whose nature is amorous of anything cannot help loving all that belongs or is 
akin to the object of his affections. 

  Right, he said.

  And is there anything more akin to wisdom than truth?

  How can there be?

  Can the same nature be a lover of wisdom and a lover of falsehood?

  Never.

  The true lover of learning then must from his earliest youth, as far as in him lies, 
desire all truth?

37
  Assuredly.

  But then again, as we know by experience, he whose desires are strong in one 
direction will have them weaker in others; they will be like a stream which has 
been drawn off into another channel.

  True.

  He whose desires are drawn toward knowledge in every form will be absorbed 
in the pleasures of the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasure­­I mean, if he be 
a true philosopher and not a sham one.

  That is most certain.

  Such a one is sure to be temperate and the reverse of covetous; for the motives 
which make another man desirous of having and spending, have no place in his 
character. 

  Very true.

  Another criterion of the philosophical nature has also to be considered.

  What is that?

  There should be no secret corner of illiberality; nothing can be more antagonistic 
than meanness to a soul which is ever longing after the whole of things both 
divine and human. 

  Most true, he replied.

  Then how can he who has magnificence of mind and is the spectator of all time 
and all existence, think much of human life?

  He cannot.

  Or can such a one account death fearful?

  No, indeed.

38
  Then the cowardly and mean nature has no part in true philosophy?

  Certainly not.

  Or again: can he who is harmoniously constituted, who is not covetous or mean, 
or a boaster, or a coward­­can he, I say, ever be unjust or hard in his dealings? 

  Impossible.

  Then you will soon observe whether a man is just and gentle, or rude and 
unsociable; these are the signs which distinguish even in youth the philosophical 
nature from the unphilosophical.

  True.

  There is another point which should be remarked.

  What point?

  Whether he has or has not a pleasure in learning; for no one will love that which 
gives him pain, and in which after much toil he makes little progress.

  Certainly not.

  And again, if he is forgetful and retains nothing of what he learns, will he not be 
an empty vessel?

  That is certain.

  Laboring in vain, he must end in hating himself and his fruitless occupation?

  Yes.

  Then a soul which forgets cannot be ranked among genuine philosophic 
natures; we must insist that the philosopher should have a good memory?

  Certainly.

39
  And once more, the inharmonious and unseemly nature can only tend to 
disproportion?

  Undoubtedly.

  And do you consider truth to be akin to proportion or to disproportion?

  To proportion.

  Then, besides other qualities, we must try to find a naturally well­proportioned 
and gracious mind, which will move spontaneously toward the true being of 
everything. 

  Certainly.

  Well, and do not all these qualities, which we have been enumerating, go 
together, and are they not, in a manner, necessary to a soul, which is to have a 
full and perfect participation of being?

  They are absolutely necessary, he replied.

  And must not that be a blameless study which he only can pursue who has the 
gift of a good memory, and is quick to learn­­noble, gracious, the friend of truth, 
justice, courage, temperance, who are his kindred?

  The god of jealousy himself, he said, could find no fault with such a study.

  And to men like him, I said, when perfected by years and education, and to 
these only you will entrust the State. 

Source: Plato. The Republic.

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics

Book 5, Chapter 1

WITH regards to justice and injustice we must (1) consider what kind of actions they are
concerned with, (2) what sort of mean justice is, and (3) between what extremes the just
act is intermediate. Our investigation shall follow the same course as the preceding
discussions.

40
We see that all men mean by justice that kind of state of character which makes people
disposed to do what is just and makes them act justly and wish for what is just; and
similarly by injustice that state which makes them act unjustly and wish for what is
unjust. Let us too, then, lay this down as a general basis. For the same is not true of the
sciences and the faculties as of states of character. A faculty or a science which is one and
the same is held to relate to contrary objects, but a state of character which is one of two
contraries does not produce the contrary results; e.g. as a result of health we do not do
what is the opposite of healthy, but only what is healthy; for we say a man walks
healthily, when he walks as a healthy man would.

Now often one contrary state is recognized from its contrary, and often states are
recognized from the subjects that exhibit them; for (A) if good condition is known, bad
condition also becomes known, and (B) good condition is known from the things that are
in good condition, and they from it. If good condition is firmness of flesh, it is necessary
both that bad condition should be flabbiness of flesh and that the wholesome should be
that which causes firmness in flesh. And it follows for the most part that if one contrary is
ambiguous the other also will be ambiguous; e.g. if 'just' is so, that 'unjust' will be so too.

Now 'justice' and 'injustice' seem to be ambiguous, but because their different meanings
approach near to one another the ambiguity escapes notice and is not obvious as it is,
comparatively, when the meanings are far apart, e.g. (for here the difference in outward
form is great) as the ambiguity in the use of kleis for the collar-bone of an animal and for
that with which we lock a door. Let us take as a starting-point, then, the various meanings
of 'an unjust man'. Both the lawless man and the grasping and unfair man are thought to
be unjust, so that evidently both the law-abiding and the fair man will be just. The just,
then, is the lawful and the fair, the unjust the unlawful and the unfair.

Since the unjust man is grasping, he must be concerned with goods -- not all goods, but
those with which prosperity and adversity have to do, which taken absolutely are always
good, but for a particular person are not always good. Now men pray for and pursue these
things; but they should not, but should pray that the things that are good absolutely may
also be good for them, and should choose the things that are good for them. The unjust
man does not always choose the greater, but also the less -- in the case of things bad
absolutely; but because the lesser evil is itself thought to be in a sense good, and
graspingness is directed at the good, therefore he is thought to be grasping. And he is
unfair; for this contains and is common to both.

Since the lawless man was seen to be unjust and the law-abiding man just, evidently all
lawful acts are in a sense just acts; for the acts laid down by the legislative art are lawful,
and each of these, we say, is just. Now the laws in their enactments on all subjects aim at
the common advantage either of all or of the best or of those who hold power, or
something of the sort; so that in one sense we call those acts just that tend to produce and
preserve happiness and its components for the political society. And the law bids us do
both the acts of a brave man (e.g. not to desert our post nor take to flight nor throw away
our arms), and those of a temperate man (e.g. not to commit adultery nor to gratify one's
lust), and those of a good-tempered man (e.g. not to strike another nor to speak evil), and

41
similarly with regard to the other virtues and forms of wickedness, commanding some
acts and forbidding others; and the rightly-framed law does this rightly, and the hastily
conceived one less well. This form of justice, then, is complete virtue, but not absolutely,
but in relation to our neighbour. And therefore justice is often thought to be the greatest
of virtues, and 'neither evening nor morning star' is so wonderful; and proverbially 'in
justice is every virtue comprehended'. And it is complete virtue in its fullest sense,
because it is the actual exercise of complete virtue. It is complete because he who
possesses it can exercise his virtue not only in himself but towards his neighbour also; for
many men can exercise virtue in their own affairs, but not in their relations to their
neighbour. This is why the saying of Bias is thought to be true, that 'rule will show the
man'; for a ruler is necessarily in relation to other men and a member of a society. For this
same reason justice, alone of the virtues, is thought to be 'another's good', because it is
related to our neighbour; for it does what is advantageous to another, either a ruler or a
copartner. Now the worst man is he who exercises his wickedness both towards himself
and towards his friends, and the best man is not he who exercises his virtue towards
himself but he who exercises it towards another; for this is a difficult task. Justice in this
sense, then, is not part of virtue but virtue entire, nor is the contrary injustice a part of
vice but vice entire. What the difference is between virtue and justice in this sense is plain
from what we have said; they are the same but their essence is not the same; what, as a
relation to one's neighbour, is justice is, as a certain kind of state without qualification,
virtue.

Alexander of Macedon's Oath at Opis, 324 BC:

"I wish all of you, now that the wars are coming to an end, to live happily, in peace. All
mortals from now on will live like one people, united, and peacefully working towards a
common prosperity.

You should regard the whole world as your own country with common laws, a country
where the best and the brightest rule, regardless of race.

I do not separate people, as do the narrow-minded, into Greeks and barbarians. I am not
interested in the origin or race of citizens. I only distinguish them on the basis of their
virtue. For me each good foreigner is a Greek and each bad Greek is worse than a
barbarian.

If ever differences arose, never resort to arms, but resolve them peacefully. If need be, I
will serve as your arbitrator. Do not consider God as a dictatorial Ruler, but as Father of
all, so that your conduct would resemble the cohabitation of siblings within one family.

On my part, I consider all of you equal, white or dark, and I would like you not to be only
plain subjects of my Commonwealth, but all shareholders, all partners.

42
To the extent it is in my power, I shall try to accomplish all that I promise. Keep the oath
we are taking with the libation tonight like a Contract of Love"

--

ROME
The Law of the 12 Tables, 450 BCE

• IV. 1 "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."

• IV. 2 "If a father surrender his son for sale three times, the son shall be free."

• V. 1 "Our ancestors saw fit that "females, by reason of levity of disposition, shall
remain in guardianship, even when they have attained their majority."

• V. 7 A spendthrift is forbidden to exercise administration over his own goods.

• V. 8 The inheritance of a Roman citizen-freedman is made over to his patron, if

the freedman has died intestate and has no natural successor.

• VI. 1 When a party shall make bond or conveyance, what he has named by word-
of-mouth that shall hold good.

• VI. 2 Marriage by `usage' (usus): If a man and woman live together continuously
for a year, they are considered to be married; the woman legally is treated as the
man's daughter.

• VIII. 1 "If any person has sung or composed against another person a SONG
(carmen) such as was causing slander or insult.... he shall be clubbed to death."

• VIII. 2 "If a person has maimed another's limb, let there be retaliation in kind,
unless he agrees to make compensation with him." (Lex talionis)

• VIII. 21 "If a patron shall defraud his client, he must be solemnly forfeited
(`killed')."

• VIII. 23 "Whoever is convicted of speaking false witness shall be flung from the
Tarpeian Rock."

• VIII. 26 "No person shall hold meetings in the City at night."

• IX. 3 "The penalty shall be capital punishment for a judge or arbiter legally
appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision."

43
 • IX. 6 "Putting to death... of any man who has not been convicted, whosoever he
might be, is forbidden."

• X. 4 "Women must not tear cheeks or hold chorus of `Alas!' on account of a

funeral."

• X. 6a "Anointing by slaves is abolished, and every kind of drinking bout....there

shall be no costly sprinking, no long garlands, no incense boxes."

• XI. 1 "Marriage shall not take place between a patrician and a plebeian."

• XII. 5 "Whatever the People has last ordained shall be held as binding by law."

• ? "There are eight kinds of punishment: fine, fetters, flogging, retaliation in kind,
civil disgrace, banishment, slavery, death."

CHRISTIANITY: PAUL

1 Corinthians: Chapter 13

1
If I speak in human and angelic tongues 2 but do not have love, I am a resounding
gong or a clashing cymbal.
2
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all
knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am
nothing.
3
If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not
inflated,
5
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does
not brood over injury,
6
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
7
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8

44
 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if
tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
9
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
10
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
11
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
12
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I
know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
13
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 5 (New International

Version)

The Beatitudes
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples
came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me.

12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.

45
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 5

The Greatest Commandment 

 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that 
Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, 
which is the most important?" 

 29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord 
our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with 
all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'[f] 31The second is 
this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[g]There is no commandment greater than 
these." 

 32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one 
and there is no other but him. 

33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your 
strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt 
offerings and sacrifices." 

Alexander of Macedon's Oath at Opis, 324 BC:

"I wish all of you, now that the wars are coming to an end, to live happily, in peace. All
mortals from now on will live like one people, united, and peacefully working towards a
common prosperity.

You should regard the whole world as your own country with common laws, a country
where the best and the brightest rule, regardless of race.

I do not separate people, as do the narrow-minded, into Greeks and barbarians. I am not
interested in the origin or race of citizens. I only distinguish them on the basis of their
virtue. For me each good foreigner is a Greek and each bad Greek is worse than a
barbarian.

If ever differences arose, never resort to arms, but resolve them peacefully. If need be, I
will serve as your arbitrator. Do not consider God as a dictatorial Ruler, but as Father of
all, so that your conduct would resemble the cohabitation of siblings within one family.

46
On my part, I consider all of you equal, white or dark, and I would like you not to be only
plain subjects of my Commonwealth, but all shareholders, all partners.

To the extent it is in my power, I shall try to accomplish all that I promise. Keep the oath
we are taking with the libation tonight like a Contract of Love"

ISLAM 

From the Qu’ran THE Arahat, or The Holy One

And for a disciple thus freed, in whose heart dwells 
peace, there is nothing to be added to what has been done, and 

1. naught more remains for him to do. Just as a rock of one solid [3.14] The 
love of desires, of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and 
silver and well bred horses and cattle and tilth, is made to seem fair to 
men; this is the provision of the life of this world; and Allah is He with 
Whom is the good goal (of life).
2. [3.31] Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive 
you your faults, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful
3. [3.32] Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely 
Allah does not love the unbelievers.
4. [3.57] And as to those who believe and do good deeds, He will pay them 
fully their rewards; and Allah does not love the unjust.
5. [3.76] Yea, whoever fulfills his promise and guards (against evil)­­ then 
surely Allah loves those who guard (against evil).
6. [3.92] By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend 
(benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, Allah 
surely knows it.
7. [3.118] O you who believe! do not take for intimate friends from among 
others than your own people; they do not fall short of inflicting loss upon 
you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already 
appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is 
greater still; indeed, We have made the communications clear to you, if 
you will understand.

47
8. [3.119] Lo! you are they who will love them while they do not love you, and 
you believe in the Book (in) the whole of it; and when they meet you they 
say: We believe, and when they are alone, they bite the ends of their 
fingers in rage against you. Say: Die in your rage; surely Allah knows what 
is in the breasts.
9. [3.134] Those who spend (benevolently) in ease as well as in straightness, 
and those who restrain (their) anger and pardon men; and Allah loves the 
doers of good (to others).
10. [3.140] If a wound has afflicted you (at Ohud), a wound like it has also 
afflicted the (unbelieving) people; and We bring these days to men by 
turns, and that Allah may know those who believe and take witnesses from 
among you; and Allah does not love the unjust.
11. [3.146] And how many a prophet has fought with whom were many 
worshippers of the Lord; so they did not become weak­hearted on account 
of what befell them in Allah's way, nor did they weaken, nor did they abase 
themselves; and Allah loves the patient.
12. [3.148] So Allah gave them the reward of this world and better reward of 
the hereafter and Allah loves those who do good (to others).
13. [3.152] And certainly Allah made good to you His promise when you slew 
them by His permission, until when you became weak­hearted and 
disputed about the affair and disobeyed after He had shown you that 
which you loved; of you were some who desired this world and of you 
were some who desired the hereafter; then He turned you away from them 
that He might try you; and He has certainly pardoned you, and Allah is 
Gracious to the believers.
14. [3.159] Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently, 
and had you been rough, hard hearted, they would certainly have 
dispersed from around you; pardon them therefore and ask pardon for 
them, and take counsel with them in the affair; so when you have decided, 
then place your trust in Allah; surely Allah loves those who trust.
15. [3.188] Do not think those who rejoice for what they have done and love 
that they should be praised for what they have not done­­ so do by no 
means think them to be safe from the chastisement, and they shall have a 
painful chastisement.

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THE MIDDLE AGES: 500 TO 1450

Early European Law: Justinian’s Code

How do Natural Law, Law of Nations, and Civil Law work together to create a 
legal system?

"Civil law is thus distinguished from the law of nations. Every community 
governed by laws and customs uses partly its own law, partly laws common to all 
mankind. . . . The people of Rome, then, are governed partly by their own laws, 
and partly by the laws which are common to all mankind."

"{N]ations have established certain laws, as occasion and the necessities of 
human life required. Wars arose, and in their train followed captivity and then 
slavery, which is contrary to the law of nature; for by that law all men are 
originally born free. Further, by the law of nations almost all contracts were at first 
introduced, as, for instance, buying and selling, letting and hiring, partnership, 
deposits, loans returnable in kind, and very many others."

"The laws of nature, which all nations observe alike, being established by a 
divine providence, remain ever fixed and immutable. But the laws which every 
state has enacted, undergo frequent changes, either by the tacit consent of the 
people, or by a new law being subsequently passed."

VIII. Slaves 
1. Slaves are in the power of masters, a power derived from the law of nations: 
for among all nations it may be remarked that masters have the power of life and 
death over their slaves, and that everything acquired by the slave is acquired for 
the master. 

Book II, Of Things 

I. Division of Things 

28. If the wheat of Titius is mixed with yours, when this takes place by mutual 
consent, the mixed heap belongs to you in common because each body, that is, 

49
each grain, which before was the property of one or other of you, has by your 
mutual consent been made your common property; but, if the intermixture were 
accidental, or made by Titius without your consent, the mixed wheat does not 
then belong to you both in common; because the grains still remain distinct, and 
retain their proper substance. ...if either of you keep the whole quantity of mixed 
wheat, the other has a real actio [claim or suit] for the amount of wheat belonging 
to him, but it is in the province of the judge to estimate the quality of the wheat 
belonging to each. 

On Torture

It is declared in the Constitutions that torture should be considered neither 
as always trustworthy, nor as always untrustworthy. And as a matter of fact it is a 
fickle and dangerous business that ill serves the cause of truth (etenim res  
fragilis est et periculosa, et quae veritatem fallat). For there are not a few who are 
possessed of such powers of endurance, or such toughness, that they scorn the 
pain of torture, so that there is no way the truth can be wrung from them. Others, 
however, have so little resistance that they will make up any kind of lie rather than 
suffer torment; and that can lead them to keep changing their story, even 
incriminating others as well as themselves. 

Pope Gregory VII Dictatus papae (Rules of the Pope)

1. That the Roman church was founded by God alone.

2. That the Roman pontiff alone can with right be called universal.

3. That he alone can depose or reinstate bishops.

4. That, in a council, his legate, even if a lower grade, is above all bishops, and can pass
sentence of deposition against them.

5. That the pope may depose the absent.

6. That, among other things, we ought not to remain in the same house with those
excommunicated by him.

50
7. That for him alone is it lawful, according to the needs of the time, to make new laws, to
assemble together new congregations, to make an abbey of a canonry; and, on the other
hand, to divide a rich bishopric and unite the poor ones.

8. That he alone may use the imperial insignia.

9. That of the pope alone all princes shall kiss the feet.

10. That his name alone shall be spoken in the churches.

11. That this is the only name in the world.

12. That it may be permitted to him to depose emperors.

13. That he may be permitted to transfer bishops if need be.

14. That he has power to ordain a clerk of any church he may wish.

15. That he who is ordained by him may preside over another church, but may not hold a
subordinate position; and that such a one may not receive a higher grade from any bishop.

16. That no synod shall be called a general one without his order.

17. That no chapter and no book shall be considered canonical without his authority.

18. That a sentence passed by him may be retracted by no one; and that he himself, alone
of all, may retract it.

19. That he himself may be judged by no one.

20. That no one shall dare to condemn one who appeals to the apostolic chair.

21. That to the latter should be referred the more important cases of every church.

22. That the Roman church has never erred; nor will it err to all eternity, the Scripture
bearing witness.

23. That the Roman pontiff, if he have been canonically ordained, is undoubtedly made a
saint by the merits of St. Peter; St. Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, bearing witness, and many
holy fathers agreeing with him. As is contained in the decrees of St. Symmachus the
pope.

24. That, by his command and consent, it may be lawful for subordinates to bring
accusations.

25. That he may depose and reinstate bishops without assembling a synod.

51
26. That he who is not at peace with the Roman church shall not be considered catholic.

27. That he may absolve subjects from their fealty to wicked men.

From: "Pope Gregory VII," in E. F. Henderson, ed., Select Historical Documents of the
Middle Ages (London: George Bell, 1892), pp. 366-367, 365. Reprinted in Brian Tierney,
ed., The Middle Ages, Vol. I: Sources of Medieval History, 4th ed., (New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1983) pp. 142-143.

Fourth Lateran Council, 1215

CANON 67: On the Treatment of Jews

Summary. Jews should be compelled to make satisfaction for the tithes and offerings to
churches, which the Christians supplied before their properties fell into the hands of the
Jews.

Text. The more the Christians are restrained from the practice of usury, the more are they
oppressed in this matter by the treachery of the Jews, so that in a short time they exhaust
the resources of the Christians. Wishing, therefore, in this matter to protect the Christians
against cruel oppression by the Jews, we ordain in this decree that if in the future under
any pretext Jews extort from Christians oppressive and immoderate interest, the
partnership of the Christians shall be denied them till they have made suitable satisfaction
for their excesses. The Christians also, every appeal being set aside, shall, if necessary, be
compelled by ecclesiastical censure to abstain from all commercial intercourse with them.
We command the princes not to be hostile to the Christians on this account, but rather to
strive to hinder the Jews from practicing such excesses. Lastly, we decree that the Jews
be compelled by the same punishment (avoidance of commercial intercourse) to make
satisfaction for the tithes and offerings due to the churches, which the Christians were
accustomed to supply from their houses and other possessions before these properties,
under whatever title, fell into the hands of the Jews, that thus the churches may be
safeguarded against loss.

The Magna Carta  1215

[Preamble] Edward by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland and duke 
of Aquitaine sends greetings to all to whom the present letters come. We have 
inspected the great charter of the lord Henry, late King of England, our father, 
concerning the liberties of England in these words:

52
Henry by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy 
and Aquitaine and count of Anjou sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, 
abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all his bailiffs and 
faithful men inspecting the present charter. Know that we, at the prompting of 
God and for the health of our soul and the souls of our ancestors and 
successors, for the glory of holy Church and the improvement of our realm, freely 
and out of our good will have given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, 
abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of our realm these liberties written below to 
hold in our realm of England in perpetuity.

[1] In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for 
ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to 
have all its rights fully and its liberties entirely. We furthermore grant and give to 
all the freemen of our realm for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity the liberties 
written below to have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our heirs in 
perpetuity.

[2] If any of our earls or barons, or anyone else holding from us in chief by 
military service should die, and should his heir be of full age and owe relief, the 
heir is to have his inheritance for the ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an 
earl for a whole county £100, the heir or heirs of a baron for a whole barony 100 
marks, the heir or heirs of a knight for a whole knight’s fee 100 shillings at most, 
and he who owes less will give less, according to the ancient custom of (knights’) 
fees.

[3] If, however, the heir of such a person is under age, his lord is not to have 
custody of him and his land until he has taken homage from the heir, and after 
such an heir has been in custody, when he comes of age, namely at twenty­one 
years old, he is to have his inheritance without relief and without fine, saving that 
if, whilst under age, he is made a knight, his land will nonetheless remain in the 
custody of his lords until the aforesaid term.

 [5] The keeper, for as long as he has the custody of the land of such (an heir), is 
to maintain the houses, parks, fishponds, ponds, mills and other things pertaining 
to that land from the issues of the same land, and he will restore to the heir, when 
the heir comes to full age, all his land stocked with ploughs and all other things in 
at least the same condition as when he received it. All these things are to be 

53
observed in the custodies of archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, priories, 
churches and vacant offices which pertain to us, save that such custodies ought 
not to be sold.

[6] Heirs are to be married without disparagement.

[8] Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as 
the existing chattels of the debtor suffice for the payment of the debt and as long 
as the debtor is ready to pay the debt, nor will the debtor’s guarantors be 
distrained for so long as the principal debtor is able to pay the debt; and should 
the principal debtor default in his payment of the debt, not having the means to 
repay it, or should he refuse to pay it despite being able to do so, the guarantors 
will answer for the debt and, if they wish, they are to have the lands and rents of 
the debtor until they are repaid the debt that previously they paid on behalf of the 
debtor, unless the principal debtor can show that he is quit in respect to these 
guarantors.

[9] The city of London is to have all its ancient liberties and customs. Moreover 
we wish and grant that all other cities and boroughs and vills and the barons of 
the Cinque Ports and all ports are to have all their liberties and free customs.

[10] No­one is to be distrained to do more service for a knight’s fee or for any 
other free tenement than is due from it.

[11] Common pleas are not to follow our court but are to be held in a certain fixed 
place.

 [15] No town or free man is to be distrained to make bridges or bank works save 
for those that ought to do so of old and by right.

[16] No bank works of any sort are to be kept up save for those that were in 
defense in the time of King H(enry II) our grandfather and in the same places and 
on the same terms as was customary in his time.

[17] No sheriff, constable, coroner or any other of our bailiffs is to hold pleas of 
our crown.

54
[ [19] No constable or his bailiff is to take corn or other chattels from anyone who 
not themselves of a vill where a castle is built, unless the constable or his bailiff 
immediately offers money in payment of obtains a respite by the wish of the 
seller. If the person whose corn or chattels are taken is of such a vill, then the 
constable or his bailiff is to pay the purchase price within forty days.

[20] No constable is to distrain any knight to give money for castle guard if the 
knight is willing to do such guard in person or by proxy of any other honest man, 
should the knight be prevented from doing so by just cause. And if we take or 
send such a knight into the army, he is to be quit of (castle) guard in accordance 
with the length of time the we have him in the army for the fee for which he has 
done service in the army.

[21] No sheriff or bailiff of ours or of anyone else is to take anyone’s horses or 
carts to make carriage, unless he renders the payment customarily due, namely 
for a two­horse cart ten pence per day, and for a three­horse cart fourteen pence 
per day. No demesne cart belonging to any churchman or knight or any other 
lady (sic) is to be taken by our bailiffs, nor will we or our bailiffs or anyone else 
take someone else’s timber for a castle or any other of our business save by the 
will of he to whom the timber belongs.

[22] We shall not hold the lands of those convicted of felony save for a year and a 
day, whereafter such land is to be restored to the lords of the fees.

[23] All fish weirs (kidelli) on the Thames and the Medway and throughout 
England are to be entirely dismantled, save on the sea coast.

 [25] There is to be a single measure for wine throughout our realm, and a single 
measure for ale, and a single measure for Corn, that is to say the London 
quarter, and a single breadth for dyed cloth, russets, and haberjects, that is to say 
two yards within the lists. And it shall be the same for weights as for measures.

[26] Henceforth there is to be nothing given for a writ of inquest from the person 
seeking an inquest of life or member, but such a writ is to be given freely and is 
not to be denied.

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 [28] No bailiff is henceforth to put any man on his open law or on oath simply by 
virtue of his spoken word, without reliable witnesses being produced for the 
same.

[29] No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free tenement or 
of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will 
we go against such a man or send against him save by lawful judgement of his 
peers or by the law of the land. To no­one will we sell or deny of delay right or 
justice.

 [34] No­one is to be taken or imprisoned on the appeal of woman for the death of 
anyone save for the death of that woman’s husband.

 [36] Nor is it permitted to anyone to give his land to a religious house in such a 
way that he receives it back from such a house to hold, nor is it permitted to any 
religious house to accept the land of anyone in such way that the land is restored 
to the person from whom it was received to hold. If anyone henceforth gives his 
land in such a way to any religious house and is convicted of the same, the gift is 
to be entirely quashed and such land is to revert to the lord of that fee.

[37] Scutage furthermore is to be taken as it used to be in the time of King 
H(enry) our grandfather, and all liberties and free customs shall be preserved to 
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, Templars, Hospitallers, earls, barons and all 
others, both ecclesiastical and secular persons, just as they formerly had.

Translation by Professor Nicholas Vincent, Copyright Sotheby's Inc. 2007 

Thomas Aquinas

Whether it is always sinful to wage war?

 Objection 1: It would seem that it is always sinful to wage war. Because 
punishment is not inflicted except for sin. Now those who wage war are 
threatened by Our Lord with punishment, according to Mt. 26:52: "All that take 
the sword shall perish with the sword." Therefore all wars are unlawful.

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  Objection 2: Further, whatever is contrary to a Divine precept is a sin. But war 
is contrary to a Divine precept, for it is written (Mt. 5:39): "But I say to you not to 
resist evil"; and "Not revenging yourselves, my dearly beloved, but give place 
unto wrath." Therefore war is always sinful.

  Objection 3: Further, nothing, except sin, is contrary to an act of virtue. But war 
is contrary to peace. Therefore war is always a sin.

  Objection 4: Further, the exercise of a lawful thing is itself lawful, as is evident 
in scientific exercises. But warlike exercises which take place in tournaments are 
forbidden by the Church, since those who are slain in these trials are deprived of 
ecclesiastical burial. Therefore it seems that war is a sin in itself.

  On the contrary, Augustine says in a sermon on the son of the centurion [*Ep. 
ad Marcel. cxxxviii]: "If the Christian Religion forbade war altogether, those who 
sought salutary advice in the Gospel would rather have been counseled to cast 
aside their arms, and to give up soldiering altogether. On the contrary, they were 
told: 'Do violence to no man . . . and be content with your pay' [*Lk. 3:14]. If he 
commanded them to be content with their pay, he did not forbid soldiering."

  I answer that, In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the 
authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged. For it is 
not the business of a private individual to declare war, because he can seek for 
redress of his rights from the tribunal of his superior. Moreover it is not the 
business of a private individual to summon together the people, which has to be 
done in wartime. And as the care of the common weal is committed to those who 
are in authority, it is their business to watch over the common weal of the city, 
kingdom or province subject to them. And just as it is lawful for them to have 
recourse to the sword in defending that common weal against internal 
disturbances, when they punish evil­doers, according to the words of the Apostle 
(Rm. 13:4): "He beareth not the sword in vain: for he is God's minister, an 
avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil"; so too, it is their business to 
have recourse to the sword of war in defending the common weal against 
external enemies. Hence it is said to those who are in authority (Ps. 81:4): 

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"Rescue the poor: and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner"; and for 
this reason Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 75): "The natural order conducive 
to peace among mortals demands that the power to declare and counsel war 
should be in the hands of those who hold the supreme authority."

   Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should 
be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault. Wherefore 
Augustine says (Questions. in Hept., qu. x, super Jos.): "A just war is wont to be 
described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be 
punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or 
to restore what it has seized unjustly."

   Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so 
that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil. Hence 
Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [*The words quoted are to be found not in St. 
Augustine's works, but Can. Apud. Caus. xxiii, qu. 1]): "True religion looks upon 
as peaceful those wars that are waged not for motives of aggrandizement, or 
cruelty, but with the object of securing peace, of punishing evil­doers, and of 
uplifting the good." For it may happen that the war is declared by the legitimate 
authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered unlawful through a wicked 
intention. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 74): "The passion for 
inflicting harm, the cruel thirst for vengeance, an unpacific and relentless spirit, 
the fever of revolt, the lust of power, and such like things, all these are rightly 
condemned in war."

  Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 70): "To take the 
sword is to arm oneself in order to take the life of anyone, without the command 
or permission of superior or lawful authority." On the other hand, to have recourse 
to the sword (as a private person) by the authority of the sovereign or judge, or 
(as a public person) through zeal for justice, and by the authority, so to speak, of 
God, is not to "take the sword," but to use it as commissioned by another, 
wherefore it does not deserve punishment. And yet even those who make sinful 
use of the sword are not always slain with the sword, yet they always perish with 
their own sword, because, unless they repent, they are punished eternally for 

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their sinful use of the sword.

  Reply to Objection 2: Such like precepts, as Augustine observes (De Serm. 
Dom. in Monte i, 19), should always be borne in readiness of mind, so that we be 
ready to obey them, and, if necessary, to refrain from resistance or self­defense. 
Nevertheless it is necessary sometimes for a man to act otherwise for the 
common good, or for the good of those with whom he is fighting. Hence 
Augustine says (Ep. ad Marcellin. cxxxviii): "Those whom we have to punish with 
a kindly severity, it is necessary to handle in many ways against their will. For 
when we are stripping a man of the lawlessness of sin, it is good for him to be 
vanquished, since nothing is more hopeless than the happiness of sinners, 
whence arises a guilty impunity, and an evil will, like an internal enemy."

  Reply to Objection 3: Those who wage war justly aim at peace, and so they 
are not opposed to peace, except to the evil peace, which Our Lord "came not to 
send upon earth" (Mt. 10:34). Hence Augustine says (Ep. ad Bonif. clxxxix): "We 
do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have 
peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom 
you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace."

  Reply to Objection 4: Manly exercises in warlike feats of arms are not all 
forbidden, but those which are inordinate and perilous, and end in slaying or 
plundering. In olden times warlike exercises presented no such danger, and 
hence they were called "exercises of arms" or "bloodless wars," as Jerome states 
in an epistle [*Reference incorrect: cf. Veget., De Re Milit. i].

THE PRINCE by Nicolo Machiavelli

CHAPTER XIV
That Which Concerns A Prince On The Subject Of The Art Of War

A PRINCE ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study,
than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules,

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and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often
enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen that
when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states. And the
first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is
to be master of the art. Francesco Sforza, through being martial, from a private person
became Duke of Milan; and the sons, through avoiding the hardships and troubles of
arms, from dukes became private persons. For among other evils which being unarmed
brings you, it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against which
a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on. Because there is nothing
proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is
armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man
should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in
the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together. And therefore a
prince who does not understand the art of war, over and above the other misfortunes
already mentioned, cannot be respected by his soldiers, nor can he rely on them. He ought
never, therefore, to have out of his thoughts this subject of war, and in peace he should
addict himself more to its exercise than in war; this he can do in two ways, the one by
action, the other by study.

As regards action, he ought above all things to keep his men well organized and drilled,
to follow incessantly the chase, by which he accustoms his body to hardships, and learns
something of the nature of localities, and gets to find out how the mountains rise, how the
valleys open out, how the plains lie, and to understand the nature of rivers and marshes,
and in all this to take the greatest care. Which knowledge is useful in two ways. Firstly,
he learns to know his country, and is better able to undertake its defence; afterwards, by
means of the knowledge and observation of that locality, he understands with ease any
other which it may be necessary for him to study hereafter; because the hills, valleys, and
plains, and rivers and marshes that are, for instance, in Tuscany, have a certain
resemblance to those of other countries, so that with a knowledge of the aspect of one
country one can easily arrive at a knowledge of others. And the prince that lacks this skill
lacks the essential which it is desirable that a captain should possess, for it teaches him to
surprise his enemy, to select quarters, to lead armies, to array the battle, to besiege towns
to advantage.

Philopoemen, Prince of the Achaeans, among other praises which writers have bestowed
on him, is commended because in time of peace he never had anything in his mind but
the rules of war; and when he was in the country with friends, he often stopped and
reasoned with them: "If the enemy should be upon that hill, and we should find ourselves
here with our army, with whom would be the advantage? How should one best advance to
meet him, keeping the ranks? If we should wish to retreat, how ought we to set about it?
If they should retreat, how ought we to pursue?" And he would set forth to them, as he
went, all the chances that could befall an army; he would listen to their opinion and state
his, confirming it with reasons, so that by these continual discussions there could never
arise, in time of war, any unexpected circumstances that he could deal with.

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But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of
illustrious men, to see how they have borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of
their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former; and above all do
as an illustrious man did, who took as an exemplar one who had been praised and famous
before him, and whose achievements and deeds he always kept in his mind, as it is said
Alexander the Great imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, Scipio Cyrus. And whoever
reads the life of Cyrus, written by Xenophon, will recognize afterwards in the life of
Scipio how that imitation was his glory, and how in chastity, affability, humanity, and
liberality Scipio conformed to those things which have been written of Cyrus by
Xenophon. A wise prince ought to observe some such rules, and never in peaceful times
stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be
available to him in adversity, so that if fortune changes it may find him prepared to resist
her blows.

CHINA

From 300 Tang Poems

Heng-t'ang-t'ui-Shih, 618-907 

 Li Bai

DRINKING ALONE WITH THE MOON

From a pot of wine among the flowers
I drank alone. There was no one with me ­­
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends
To cheer me through the end of spring....
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
...Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.

Wang Wei

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TO QIWU QIAN BOUND HOME
AFTER FAILING IN AN EXAMINATION

In a happy reign there should be no hermits;

The wise and able should consult together....
So you, a man of the eastern mountains,
Gave up your life of picking herbs
And came all the way to the Gate of Gold --
But you found your devotion unavailing.
...To spend the Day of No Fire on one of the southern rivers,
You have mended your spring clothes here in these northern cities.
I pour you the farewell wine as you set out from the capital --
Soon I shall be left behind here by my bosomfriend.
In your sail-boat of sweet cinnamon-wood
You will float again toward your own thatch door,
Led along by distant trees
To a sunset shining on a far-away town.
...What though your purpose happened to fail,
Doubt not that some of us can hear high music.

Yuan Jie

TO THE TAX-COLLECTORS
AFTER THE BANDITS RETREAT

In the year Kuimao the bandits from Xiyuan entered Daozhou, set fire, raided, killed, and
looted. The whole district was almost ruined. The next year the bandits came again and,
attacking the neighbouring prefecture, Yong, passed this one by. It was not because we
were strong enough to defend ourselves, but, probably, because they pitied us. And how
now can these commissioners bear to impose extra taxes? I have written this poem for the
collectors' information.

I still remember those days of peace --

Twenty years among mountains and forests,
The pure stream running past my yard,
The caves and valleys at my door.
Taxes were light and regular then,
And I could sleep soundly and late in the morning-
Till suddenly came a sorry change.
...For years now I have been serving in the army.
When I began here as an official,
The mountain bandits were rising again;
But the town was so small it was spared by the thieves,
And the people so poor and so pitiable
That all other districts were looted
And this one this time let alone.

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...Do you imperial commissioners
Mean to be less kind than bandits?
The people you force to pay the poll
Are like creatures frying over a fire.
And how can you sacrifice human lives,
Just to be known as able collectors? --
...Oh, let me fling down my official seal,
Let me be a lone fisherman in a small boat
And support my family on fish and wheat
And content my old age with rivers and lakes!

JAPAN

3 Haiku

The wind from Mt. Fuji
I put it on the fan.
Here, the souvenir from Edo.

*Edo: the old name of Tokyo..

Sleep on horseback,
The far moon in a continuing dream,
Steam of roasting tea.

Spring departs.
Birds cry
Fishes' eyes are filled with tears

Summer zashiki
Make move and enter
The mountain and the garden.

*zashiki: Japanese­style room covered with tatamis and open to the garden.

A Tanka Poem

63
Saying Goodbye 

Carefully I walk
Trying so hard to be brave
They all see my fear
Dark glasses cover their eyes
As mine flow over with tears

YAMAUBA: A NOH PLAY

Nō (also spelled Noh) drama incorporates folk­tales, poetry, and dance in an  
exquisite, very formalized setting. These works are of interest beyond their artistic  
appeal, because they are interwoven with Buddhist (and to a lesser extent,  
Shinto) traditions and beliefs, and provide deep insight into Japanese culture.

(THE DAME OF THE MOUNTAINS)

REVISED BY KOMPARU ZENCHIKU UJINOBU FROM AN ORIGINAL BY 
SEAMI

YAMAUBA is the fairy of the mountains, which have been under her care since 
the world began. She decks them with snow in winter, with blossoms in spring; 
her task carrying her eternally from hill to valley and valley to hill. She has grown 
very old. Wild white hair hangs down her shoulders; her face is very thin.

There was a courtesan of the Capital who made a dance representing the 
wanderings of Yamauba. It had such success that people called this courtesan 
"Yamauba" though her real name was Hyakuma.

Once when Hyakuma was travelling across the hills to Shinano to visit the Zenkō 
Temple, she lost her way, and took refuge in the hut of a "mountain­girl," who was 
none other than the real Yamauba.

In the second part of the play the aged fairy appears in her true form and tells the 
story of her eternal wanderings­­"round and round, on and on, from hill to hill, 
from valley to valley." In spring decking the twigs with blossom, in autumn 

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clothing the hills with moonlight, in winter shaking snow from the heavy clouds. 
"On and on, round and round, caught in the Wheel of Fate. . . . Striding to the hill­
tops, sweeping through the valleys. . . ."

CHORUS.

On and on, from hill to hill.
Awhile our eyes behold her, but now
She is vanished over the hills,
Vanished we know not where.

The hill, says a commentator, is the Hill of Life, where men wander from 
incarnation to incarnation, never escaping from the Wheel of Life and Death.

Source: The Nō Plays of Japan By Arthur Waley [1921]

 Seven Codes of Bushido  

Bushido, literally meaning "Way of the Warrior", is the
Code of Honour and way of life of the Samurai.
There are eight virtues, which a Samurai must try to possess:

Justice (Gi)

Bravery (Yuu)

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Benevolence (Jin)

Politeness (Rei)

Veracity (Makoto)

Honor (Meiyo)

Loyalty (Chuugi)

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THE EARLY MODERN WORLD

The European Renaissance

Pico della Mirandola “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

I once read that Abdala the Muslim, when asked what was most worthy of awe 
and wonder in this theater of the world, answered, "There is nothing to see more 
wonderful than man!" Hermes Trismegistus  concurs with this opinion: "A great 
miracle, Asclepius, is man!" However, when I began to consider the reasons for 
these opinions, all these reasons given for the magnificence of human nature 
failed to convince me: that man is the intermediary between creatures, close to 
the gods, master of all the lower creatures, with the sharpness of his senses, the 
acuity of his reason, and the brilliance of his intelligence the interpreter of nature, 
the nodal point between eternity and time, and, as the Persians say, the intimate 
bond or marriage song of the world, just a little lower than angels as David tells 
us. (2) I concede these are magnificent reasons, but they do not seem to go to 
the heart of the matter, that is, those reasons which truly claim admiration. For, if 
these are all the reasons we can come up with, why should we not admire angels 
more than we do ourselves? After thinking a long time, I have figured out why 
man is the most fortunate of all creatures and as a result worthy of the highest 
admiration and earning his rank on the chain of being, a rank to be envied not 
merely by the beasts but by the stars themselves and by the spiritual natures 
beyond and above this world. This miracle goes past faith and wonder. And why 
not? It is for this reason that man is rightfully named a magnificent miracle and a 
wondrous creation. 

What is this rank on the chain of being? God the Father, Supreme Architect of the 
Universe, built this home, this universe we see all around us, a venerable temple 
of his godhead, through the sublime laws of his ineffable Mind. The expanse 
above the heavens he decorated with Intelligences, the spheres of heaven with 
living, eternal souls. The scabrous and dirty lower worlds he filled with animals of 
every kind. However, when the work was finished, the Great Artisan desired that 
there be some creature to think on the plan of his great work, and love its infinite 

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beauty, and stand in awe at its immenseness. Therefore, when all was finished, 
as Moses and Timaeus tell us, He began to think about the creation of man. But 
he had no Archetype from which to fashion some new child, nor could he find in 
his vast treasure­houses anything which He might give to His new son, nor did 
the universe contain a single place from which the whole of creation might be 
surveyed. All was perfected, all created things stood in their proper place, the 
highest things in the highest places, the midmost things in the midmost places, 
and the lowest things in the lowest places. But God the Father would not fail, 
exhausted and defeated, in this last creative act. God's wisdom would not falter 
for lack of counsel in this need. God's love would not permit that he whose duty it 
was to praise God's creation should be forced to condemn himself as a creation 
of God. 

Finally, the Great Artisan mandated that this creature who would receive nothing 
proper to himself shall have joint possession of whatever nature had been given 
to any other creature. He made man a creature of indeterminate and indifferent 
nature, and, placing him in the middle of the world, said to him "Adam, we give 
you no fixed place to live, no form that is peculiar to you, nor any function that is 
yours alone. According to your desires and judgment, you will have and possess 
whatever place to live, whatever form, and whatever functions you yourself 
choose. All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and bounded 
by our laws. You, with no limit or no bound, may choose for yourself the limits and 
bounds of your nature. We have placed you at the world's center so that you may 
survey everything else in the world. We have made you neither of heavenly nor of 
earthly stuff, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with free choice and dignity, you 
may fashion yourself into whatever form you choose. To you is granted the power 
of degrading yourself into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted 
the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher 
forms, the divine." 

Imagine! The great generosity of God! The happiness of man! To man it is 
allowed to be whatever he chooses to be! As soon as an animal is born, it brings 
out of its mother's womb all that it will ever possess. Spiritual beings from the 
beginning become what they are to be for all eternity. Man, when he entered life, 
the Father gave the seeds of every kind and every way of life possible. Whatever 
seeds each man sows and cultivates will grow and bear him their proper fruit. If 

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these seeds are vegetative, he will be like a plant. If these seeds are sensitive, he 
will be like an animal. If these seeds are intellectual, he will be an angel and the 
son of God. And if, satisfied with no created thing, he removes himself to the 
center of his own unity, his spiritual soul, united with God, alone in the darkness 
of God, who is above all things, he will surpass every created thing. Who could 
not help but admire this great shape­shifter? In fact, how could one admire 
anything else? . . . 

For the mystic philosophy of the Hebrews transforms Enoch into an angel called 
"Mal'akh Adonay Shebaoth," and sometimes transforms other humans into 
different sorts of divine beings. The Pythagoreans abuse villainous men by 
having them reborn as animals and, according to Empedocles, even plants. 
Muhammad also said frequently, "Those who deviate from the heavenly law 
become animals." Bark does not make a plant a plant, rather its senseless and 
mindless nature does. The hide does not make an animal an animal, but rather 
its irrational but sensitive soul. The spherical form does not make the heavens 
the heavens, rather their unchanging order. It is not a lack of body that makes an 
angel an angel, rather it is his spiritual intelligence. If you see a person totally 
subject to his appetites, crawling miserably on the ground, you are looking at a 
plant, not a man. If you see a person blinded by empty illusions and images, and 
made soft by their tender beguilements, completely subject to his senses, you 
are looking at an animal, not a man. If you see a philosopher judging things 
through his reason, admire and follow him: he is from heaven, not the earth. If 
you see a person living in deep contemplation, unaware of his body and dwelling 
in the inmost reaches of his mind, he is neither from heaven nor earth, he is 
divinity clothed in flesh. 

Who would not admire man, who is called by Moses (3) and the Gospels "all 
flesh" and "every creature," because he fashions and transforms himself into any 
fleshly form and assumes the character of any creature whatsoever? For this 
reason, Euanthes the Persian in his description of Chaldaean theology, writes 
that man has no inborn, proper form, but that many things that humans resemble 
are outside and foreign to them, from which arises the Chaldaean saying: 
"Hanorish tharah sharinas": "Man is multitudinous, varied, and ever changing." 
Why do I emphasize this? Considering that we are born with this condition, that 
is, that we can become whatever we choose to become, we need to understand 

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that we must take earnest care about this, so that it will never be said to our 
disadvantage that we were born to a privileged position but failed to realize it and 
became animals and senseless beasts. Instead, the saying of Asaph the prophet 
should be said of us, "You are all angels of the Most High." Above all, we should 
not make that freedom of choice God gave us into something harmful, for it was 
intended to be to our advantage. Let a holy ambition enter into our souls; let us 
not be content with mediocrity, but rather strive after the highest and expend all 
our strength in achieving it. 

Let us disdain earthly things, and despise the things of heaven, and, judging little 
of what is in the world, fly to the court beyond the world and next to God. In that 
court, as the mystic writings tell us, are the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones (4) 
in the foremost places; let us not even yield place to them, the highest of the 
angelic orders, and not be content with a lower place, imitate them in all their 
glory and dignity. If we choose to, we will not be second to them in anything. 

Translated by Richard Hooker 

THE REFORMATION OF THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH

Martin Luther

From the 95 Theses

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the 
entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that 
is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is 
worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.

4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner 
repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

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5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those 
imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.

6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has 
been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his 
judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt 
would certainly remain unforgiven.

7. God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things 
and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the 
canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.

9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the pope in 
his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.

10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, 
reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.

11. Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory 
were evidently sown while the bishops slept (Mt 13:25).

12. In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before 
absolution, as tests of true contrition.

13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far as the 
canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released from them.

14. Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily brings with 
it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear.

15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other things, to 
constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.

16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ the same as despair, fear, and 
assurance of salvation.

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17. It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily 
decrease and love increase.

18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that 
souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow in love.

19. Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are 
certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be entirely 
certain of it.

20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the words "plenary remission of all 
penalties," does not actually mean "all penalties," but only those imposed by 
himself.

21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved 
from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.

22. As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, 
according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.

23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, 
certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few.

24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate 
and high­sounding promise of release from penalty.

25. That power which the pope has in general over purgatory corresponds to the 
power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese and 
parish.

26. The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not 
by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for 
them.

27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks 
into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.

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28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice 
can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of 
God alone.

29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we 
have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend.

30. No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of having 
received plenary remission.

On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543 (Part 1) Martin Luther 

Translated by Martin H. Bertram

Part 1

I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. 
But since I learned that those miserable and accursed people do not cease to 
lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little 
book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous 
activities of the Jews and who warned the Christians to be on their guard against 
them. I would not have believed that a Christian could be duped by the Jews into 
taking their exile and wretchedness upon himself. However, the devil is the god of 
the world, and wherever God's word is absent he has an easy task, not only with 
the weak but also with the strong. May God help us. Amen. 

Grace and peace in the Lord. Dear sir and good friend, I have received a 
treatise in which a Jew engages in dialog with a Christian. He dares to pervert 
the scriptural passages which we cite in testimony to our faith, concerning our 
Lord Christ and Mary his mother, and to interpret them quite differently. With this 
argument he thinks he can destroy the basis of our faith. 

This is my reply to you and to him. It is not my purpose to quarrel with the 
Jews, nor to learn from them how they interpret or understand Scripture; I know 
all of that very well already. Much less do I propose to convert the Jews, for that 
is impossible. Those two excellent men, Lyra and Burgensis, together with others, 

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truthfully described the Jews' vile interpretation for us two hundred and one 
hundred years ago respectively. Indeed they refuted it thoroughly. However, this 
was no help at all to the Jews, and they have grown steadily worse. 

They have failed to learn any lesson from the terrible distress that has 
been theirs for over fourteen hundred years in exile. Nor can they obtain any end 
or definite terminus of this, as they suppose, by means of the vehement cries and 
laments to God. If these blows do not help, it is resonable to assume that our 
talking and explaining will help even less. 

Therefore a Christian should be content and not argue with the Jews. But 
if you have to or want to talk with them, do not say any more than this: "Listen, 
Jew, are you aware that Jerusalem and your sovereignty, together with your 
temple and priesthood, have been destroyed for over 1,460 years?" For this year, 
which we Christians write as the year 1542 since the birth of Christ, is exactly 
1,468 years, going on fifteen hundred years, since Vespasian and Titus destroyed 
Jerusalem and expelled the Jews from the city. Let the Jews bite on this nut and 
dispute this question as long as they wish. 

For such ruthless wrath of God is sufficient evidence that they assuredly 
have erred and gone astray. Even a child can comprehend this. For one dare not 
regard God as so cruel that he would punish his own people so long, so terribly, 
so unmercifully, and in addition keep silent, comforting them neither with words 
nor with deeds, and fixing no time limit and no end to it. Who would have faith, 
hope, or love toward such a God? Therefore this work of wrath is proof that the 
Jews, surely rejected by God, are no longer his people, and neither is he any 
longer their God. This is in accord with Hosea 1:9, "Call his name Not my people, 
for you are not my people and I am not your God." Yes, unfortunately, this is their 
lot, truly a terrible one. They may interpret this as they will; we see the facts 
before our eyes, and these do not deceive us. 

If there were but a spark of reason or understanding in them, they would 
surely say to themselves: "O Lord God, something has gone wrong with us. Our 
misery is too great, too long, too severe; God has forgotten us!" etc. To be sure, I 
am not a Jew, but I really do not like to contemplate God's awful wrath toward this 
people. It sends a shudder of fear through body and soul, for I ask, What will the 
eternal wrath of God in hell be like toward false Christians and all unbelievers? 

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Well, let the Jews regard our Lord Jesus as they will. We behold the fulfillment of 
the words spoken by him in Luke 21:20: "But when you see Jerusalem 
surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near ... for these 
are days of vengeance. For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon 
this people. 

And to fill the measure of their raving, mad, and stupid folly, they boast and 
they thank God, in the first place, because they were created as human beings 
and not as animals; in the second place. because they are Israelites and not 
Goyim (Gentiles); in the third place because they were created as males and not 
as females. They did not learn such tomfoolery from Israel but from the Goyim. 
For history records that the Greek Plato daily accorded God such praise and 
thanksgiving—if such arrogance and blasphemy may be termed praise of God. 
This man, too, praised his gods for these three items: that he was a human being 
and not an animal; a male and not a female; a Greek and not a non­Greek or 
barbarian. This is a fool's boast, the gratitude of a barbarian who blasphemes 
God! Similarly, the Italians fancy themselves the only human beings; they 
imagine that all other people in the world are nonhumans, mere ducks or mice by 
comparison. . , ,

No one can take away from them their pride concerning their blood and 
their descent from Israel. In the Old Testament they lost many a battle in wars 
over this matter, though no Jew understands this. All the prophets censured them 
for it, for it betrays an arrogant, carnal presumption devoid of spirit and of faith. 
They were also slain and persecuted for this reason. St. John the Baptist took 
them to task severely because of it, saying, "Do not presume to say to 
yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father'; for I tell you, God is able from 
these stones to raise up children to Abraham" [Matt. 3:9]. He did not call them 
Abraham's children but a "brood of vipers" [Matt. 3:7]. Oh, that was too insulting 
for the noble blood and race of Israel, and they declared, "He has a demon" 
[Matt. 11:18] Our Lord also calls them a "brood of vipers"; furthermore, in John' 
3:39 he states: "If you were Abraham's children would do what Abraham did.... 
You are of your father the devil." It was intolerable to them to hear that they were 
not Abraham's but the devil's children, nor can they bear to hear this today. If they 
should surrender this boast and argument, their whole system which is built on it 
would topple and change. 

75
 I hold that if their Messiah, for whom they hope, should come and do away 
with their boast and its basis they would crucify and blaspheme him seven times 
worse than they did our Messiah; and they would also say that he was not the 
true Messiah, but a deceiving devil. For they have portrayed their Messiah to 
themselves as one who would strengthen and increase such carnal and arrogant 
error regarding nobility of blood and lineage. That is the same as saying that he 
should assist them in blaspheming God and in viewing his creatures with disdain, 
including the women, who are also human beings and the image of God as well 
as we; more over, they are our own flesh and blood, such as mother, sister, 
daughter, housewives, etc. For in accordance with the aforementioned threefold 
song of praise, they do not hold Sarah (as a woman) to be as noble as Abraham 
(as a man). Perhaps they wish to honor themselves for being born half noble, of a 
noble father, and half ignoble, of an ignoble mother. But enough of this tomfoolery 
and trickery. 

We propose to discuss their argument and boast and prove convincingly 
before God and the world not before the Jews, for, as already said, they would 
accept this neither from Moses nor from their Messiah himself that their argument 
is quite empty and stands condemned. To this end we quote Moses in Genesis 
17, whom they surely ought to believe if they are true Israelites. When God 
instituted circumcision, he said, among other things, "Any uncircumcised male 
shall be cut off from his people" [Gen. 17:14]. With these words God consigns to 
condemnation all who are born of flesh, no matter how noble, high, or how low 
their birth may have been. He does not even exempt from this judgment the seed 
of Abraham, although Abraham was not merely of high and noble birth from 
Noah, but was also adjudged holy (Genesis 15) and became Abraham instead of 
Abram (Genesis 17). Yet none of his children shall be numbered among God's 
people, but rather shall he rooted out, and God will not be his God, unless he, 
over and above his birth, is also circumcised and accepted into the covenant of 
God. . . ,

Abraham was no doubt even nobler than the Jews, since as we pointed 
out above, he was descended from the noblest patriarch, Noah who in his day 
was the greatest and oldest lord, priest, and father of the entire world and from 
the other nine succeeding patriarchs. Abraham saw, heard, and lived with all of 
them, and some of them (as for instance Shem, Shelah, Eber) outlived him by 

76
many years. So Abraham obviously was not lacking in nobility of blood and birth; 
and yet this did not in the least aid him in being numbered among God's people. 
No, he was idolatrous, and he would have remained under condemnation if God's 
word had not called him, as Joshua in chapter 24:2 informs us out of God's own 
mouth: "Your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of 
Abraham and Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father 
Abraham from beyond the River and led him," etc. 

Even later, after he had been called and sanctified through God's word 
and through faith, according to Genesis 15, Abraham did not boast of his birth or 
of his virtues. When he spoke with God (Genesis 18) he did not say: "Look how 
noble I am, born from Noah and the holy patriarchs, and descended from your 
holy nation," nor did he say, "How pious and holy I am in comparison with other 
people!" No, he said, "Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I 
who am but dust and ashes" [Gen. 18:27]. This is, indeed, how a creature must 
speak to its Creator, not for getting what it is before him and how it is regarded by 
him. For that is what God said of Adam and of all his children (Genesis 3:19 ), 
"You are dust, and to dust you shall return," as death itself persuades us visibly 
and experientially, to counteract, if need be, any such foolish, vain, and vexatious 
presumption. . . .

Why should so much ado be made of this? After all, if birth counts before 
God, I can claim to be just as noble as any Jew, yes, just as noble as Abraham 
himself, as David, as all the holy prophets and apostles. Nor will I owe them any 
thanks if they consider me just as noble as themselves before God by reason of 
my birth. And if God refuses to acknowledge my nobility and birth as the equal to 
that of Isaac, Abraham, David, and all the saints, I maintain that he is doing me 
an injustice and that he is not a fair judge. For I will not give it up and neither 
Abraham, David, prophets, apostles nor even an angel in heaven, shall deny me 
the right to boast that Noah, so far as physical birth or flesh and blood is 
concerned, is my true, natural ancestor, and that his wife (whoever she may have 
been) is my true, natural ancestress; for we are all descended, since the Deluge, 
from that one Noah. We did not descend from Cain, for his family perished 
forever in the flood together with many of the cousins, brothers­in­law, and friends 
of Noah. . . .

77
  But what does it mean to be born in sin other than to be born under God's 
wrath and condemnation, so that by nature or birth we are unable to be God's 
people or children, and our birth, glory, and nobility, our honor and praise denote 
nothing more and can denote nothing else than that, in default of anything to our 
credit other than our physical birth, we are condemned sinners, enemies of God, 
and in his disfavor? There, Jew, you have your boast, and we Gentiles have ours 
together with you, as well as you with us. Now go ahead and pray that God might 
respect your nobility, your race, your flesh and blood. 

This I wanted to say for the strengthening of our faith; for the Jews will not 
give up their pride and boasting about their nobility and lineage. As was said 
above, their hearts are hardened. Our people, however, must be on their guard 
against them, lest they be misled by this impenitent, accursed people who give 
God the lie and haughtily despise all the world. For the Jews' would like to entice 
us Christians to their faith, and they do this wherever they can. If God is to 
become gracious also to them, the Jews, they must first of all banish such 
blasphemous prayers and songs, that boast so arrogantly about their lineage, 
from their synagogues, from their hearts, and from their lips, for such prayers 
ever increase and sharpen God's wrath toward them. However, they will not do 
this, nor will they humble themselves abjectly, except for a few individuals whom 
God draws unto himself particularly and delivers from their terrible ruin. 

The other boast and nobility over which the Jews gloat and because of 
which they haughtily and vainly despise all mankind is their circumcision, which 
they received from Abraham. My God, what we Gentiles have to put up with in 
their synagogues, prayers, songs, and doctrines! What a stench we poor people 
are in their nostrils because we are not circumcised! Indeed, God himself must 
again submit to miserable torment if I may put it thus as they confront him with 
inexpressible presumption, and boast: "Praised be Thou, King of the world, who 
singled us out from all the nations and sanctified us by the covenant of 
circumcision!" And similarly with many other words, the tenor of all of which is 
that God should esteem them above an the rest of the world because they in 
compliance with his decree are circumcised, and that he should condemn all 
other people, just as they do and wish to do. 

In this boast of nobility they glory as much as they do in their physical 
birth. Consequently I believe that if Moses himself would appear together with 

78
Elijah and their Messiah and would try to deprive them of this boast or forbid such 
prayers and doctrine, they would probably consider all three of them to be the 
three worst devils in hell, and they would be at a loss to know how to curse and 
damn them adequately, to say nothing of believing them. For they have decided 
among themselves that Moses, together with Elijah and the Messiah, should 
endorse circumcision, yes, rather that they should help to strengthen and praise 
such arrogance and pride in circumcision, that these should, like themselves, 
look upon all Gentiles as awful filth and stench because they are not circumcised. 
Moses, Elijah, and the Messiah must do an that they prescribe, think, and wish. 
They insist that they are right, and if God himself were to do other than they think, 
he would be in the wrong. 

THE CATHOLIC COUNTER­REFORMATION

The Council of Trent: 1545­1563

On the fourth day of December. 1563.

DECREE CONCERNING INDULGENCES.

Whereas the power of conferring Indulgences was granted by Christ to the 
Church; and she has, even in the most ancient times, used the said power, 
delivered unto her of God; the sacred holy Synod teaches, and enjoins, that the 
use of Indulgences, for the Christian people most salutary, and approved of by 
the authority of sacred Councils, is to be retained in the Church; and It condemns 
with anathema those who either assert, that they are useless; or who deny that 
there is in the Church the power of granting them. In granting them, however, It 
desires that, in accordance with the ancient and approved custom in the Church, 
moderation be observed; lest, by excessive facility, ecclesastical discipline be 
enervated. And being desirous that the abuses which have crept therein, and by 
occasion of which this honourable name of Indulgences is blasphemed by 
heretics, be amended and corrected, It ordains generally by this decree, that all 
evil gains for the obtaining thereof,­­whence a most prolific cause of abuses 
amongst the Christian people has been derived,­­be wholly abolished. But as 
regards the other abuses which have proceeded from superstition, ignorance, 
irreverence, or from what soever other source, since, by reason of the manifold 

79
corruptions in the places and provinces where the said abuses are committed, 
they cannot conveniently be specially prohibited; It commands all bishops, 
diligently to collect, each in his own church, all abuses of this nature, and to 
report them in the first provincial Synod; that, after having been reviewed by the 
opinions of the other bishops also, they may forthwith be referred to the 
Sovereign Roman Pontiff, by whose authority and prudence that which may be 
expedient for the universal Church will be ordained; that this the gift of holy 
Indulgences may be dispensed to all the faithful, piously, holily, and incorruptly. 

ON CHOICE OF MEATS; ON FASTS, AND FESTIVAL DAYS.

The holy Synod furthermore exhorts, and, by the most holy advent of our Lord 
and Saviour, conjures all pastors, that, like good soldiers, they sedulously 
recommend to all the faithful all those things which the holy Roman Church, the 
mother and  mistress of all churches, has ordained, as also those things which, 
as well in this Council, as in the other oecumenical Councils, have been 
ordained, and to use all diligence that they be observant of all thereof, and 
especially of those which tend to mortify the flesh, such as the choice of meats, 
and fasts ; as also those which serve to promote piety, such as the devout and 
religious celebration of festival days; often admonishing the people to obey those 
set over them (Heb. xiii. 17), whom they who hear, shall hear God as a rewarder, 
whereas they who contemn them, shall feel God himself as an avenger. 

ON THE INDEX OF BOOKS; ON THE CATECHISM, BREVIARY, AND MISSAL.

The sacred and holy Synod, in the second Session celebrated under our most 
holy lord, Pius IV., commissioned certain chosen Fathers to consider what ought 
to be done touching various censures, and books either suspected or pernicious, 
and to report thereon to the said holy Synod; hearing now that the finishing hand 
has been put to that labour by those Fathers, which, however, by reason of the 
variety and multitude of books cannot be distinctly and conveniently judged of by 
the holy Synod; It enjoins that whatsoever has been by them done shall be laid 
before the most holy Roman Pontiff, that it may be by his judgment and authority 
terminated and made public. And it commands that the same be done in regard 
of the Catechism, by the Fathers to whom that work was consigned, and as 
regards the missal and breviary. 

80
ON THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS, 1669

King James I
The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth ... Kings are justly called
Gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power upon earth. For if
you will consider the attributes to God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a
king. God has power to create, or destroy, make, or unmake at his pleasure, to give life,
or send death, to judge all, and to be judged nor accountable to none: to raise low things,
and to make high things low at his pleasure, and to God are both soul and body due. And
the like power have Kings; they make and unmake their subjects: they have power of
raising, and casting down: of life, and of death: judges over all their subjects, and in all
causes, and yet accountable to none but God only.

Now in these our times we are to distinguish between the state of kings in their
first original, and between the state of kings and monarchs, that do at this time govern in
civil kingdoms ... In the first original of kings, whereof some had their beginning by
conquest, and some by election of the people, their wills at that time served for law; Yet
how soon kingdoms began to be settled in civility and policy, then did kings set down
their minds by laws ... And I am sure to go to my grave with that reputation and comfort,
that never king was in all his time more careful to have his laws duly observed, and
himself to govern thereafter, than I.

I conclude then this point touching the power of kings, with this axiom of divinity,
that as to dispute what God may do, is blasphemy ... so is it sedition in subjects, to
dispute what a king may do in the height of his power: But just kings will ever be willing
to declare what they will do, if they will not incur the curse of God. I will not be content
that my power be disputed upon: but I shall ever be willing to make the reason appear of
all my doings, and rule my actions according to my laws ... Therefore all kings that are
not tyrants, or perjured, will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their laws;
and they that persuade them the contrary, are vipers, and pests, both against them and the
Commonwealth.

Thomas Hobbes: From Leviathan: Chapter VIII 

OF THE NATURAL CONDITION OF MANKIND AS CONCERNING THEIR 
FELICITY AND MISERY

NATURE hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind as 
that, though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of 
quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned together the difference 

81
between man and man is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon 
claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he. For 
as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, 
either by secret machination or by confederacy with others that are in the same 
danger with himself. 

And as to the faculties of the mind, setting aside the arts grounded upon 
words, and especially that skill of proceeding upon general and infallible rules, 
called science, which very few have and but in few things, as being not a native 
faculty born with us, nor attained, as prudence, while we look after some what 
else, I find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength. For 
prudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men in 
those things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps make 
such equality incredible is but a vain conceit of one's own wisdom, which almost 
all men think they have in a greater degree than the vulgar; that is, than all men 
but themselves, and a few others, whom by fame, or for concurring with 
themselves, they approve. For such is the nature of men that how so ever they 
may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent or more 
learned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves; for 
they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance. But this proveth 
rather that men are in that point equal, than unequal. For there is not ordinarily a 
greater sign of the equal distribution of any thing than that every man is 
contented with his share. 

From this equality of ability arise the quality of hope in the attaining of our 
ends. And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless 
they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end (which 
is principally their own conservation, and sometimes their delectation only) 
endeavour to destroy or subdue one another. And from hence it comes to pass 
that where an invader hath no more to fear than another man's single power, if 
one plant, sow, build, or possess a convenient seat, others may probably be 
expected to come prepared with forces united to dispossess and deprive him, not 
only of the fruit of his labour, but also of his life or liberty. And the invader again is 
in the like danger of another. 

And from this diffidence of one another, there is no way for any man to 
secure himself so reasonable as anticipation; that is, by force, or wiles, to master 

82
the persons of all men he can so long till he see no other power great enough to 
endanger him: and this is no more than his own conservation requireth, and is 
generally allowed. Also, because there be some that, taking pleasure in 
contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther 
than their security requires, if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease 
within modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would 
not be able, long time, by standing only on their defence, to subsist. And by 
consequence, such augmentation of dominion over men being necessary to a 
man's conservation, it ought to be allowed him. 

Again, men have no pleasure (but on the contrary a great deal of grief) in 
keeping company where there is no power able to overawe them all. For every 
man looketh that his companion should value him at the same rate he sets upon 
himself, and upon all signs of contempt or undervaluing naturally endeavours, as 
far as he dares (which amongst them that have no common power to keep them 
in quiet is far enough to make them destroy each other), to extort a greater value 
from his contemners, by damage; and from others, by the example. 

So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. 
First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. 

The first maketh men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, 
for reputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men's 
persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for 
trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, 
either direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, their 
nation, their profession, or their name. 

THE CONQUEST OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE BY

THE EUROPEAN POWERS

Juan Gines Sepulveda Defends the Conquest of the New World

Superior Spanish

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 The man rules over the woman, the adult over his children.
That is to say, the most powerful and most perfect rule over the
weakest and most imperfect. The same relationship exists among
men, there being some who by nature are masters and others who by
nature are slaves.
Those who surpass the rest in prudence and intelligence,
although not in physical strength, are by nature the masters. On
the other hand, those who are dim-witted and mentally lazy,
although they may be physically strong enough to fulfill all the
necessary tasks, are by nature slaves.
It is just and useful that it be this way. We even see it
sanctioned in the Book of Proverbs: "He who is stupid will serve
the wise man" [11:29].
And so it is with the barbarous and inhumane peoples [the
Indians] who have no civil life and peaceful customs. It will
always be just and in conformity with natural law that such
people submit to the rule of the more cultured and humane princes
and nations. Thanks to their virtues and the practical wisdom of
their laws, the latter [the Spanish] can destroy barbarism and
educate these people to a more humane and virtuous life. And if
the latter [the Indians] reject such rule, it can be imposed upon
them by force of arms. Such a war will be just, according to
natural law....

Barbaric Indians
Until now we have mentioned their impious religion and their
abominable sacrifices, in which they worship the Devil as God, to
whom they thought of offering no better tribute than human
hearts...They placed these hearts on their abominable altars.
With this ritual they believed that they had appeased their gods.
They also ate the flesh of sacrificed men.
War against these barbarians can be justified not only on
the basis of their paganism but even more so because of their
abominable licentiousness, their prodigious sacrifice of human
victims, the extreme harm that they inflicted on innocent
persons, their horrible banquets of human flesh, and the impious
cult of their idols....

Merciful force
Since the evangelical law of the New Testament is more
perfect and more gentle than the Mosiac law of the Old Testament,
so also wars are now waged with more mercy and clemency. Their
purpose is not so much to punish as to correct evils.
What is more appropriate and beneficial for these barbarians
than to become subject to the rule those whose wisdom, virtue,
and religion have converted them from barbarism into civilized

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men (insofar as they are capable of becoming so), from being
torpid and licentious to becoming servants of the Devil to
becoming believers of the true God?
For these barbarians, our rule ought to be even more
advantageous than for our Spaniards, since virtue, humanity, and
the true religion are more valuable than gold or silver. And if
they refuse our rule, they may be compelled by force of arms to
accept it. Such a war will be just according to natural law.

USE PERSUASION

Bartolome de Las Casas

The Dominican friar was his era's most outspoken critic of
the Conquest.

Human equality
There are no races in the world, however rude, uncultivated,
barbarous, gross, or almost brutal they may be, who cannot be
persuaded and brought to a good order and way of life....
Thus, the entire human race is one; all men are alike with
respect to their creation and the things of nature, and none is
born already taught. And so we all have the need, from the
beginning, to be guided and helped by those who have been born
earlier.
Thus, when some very rustic peoples are found in the world,
they are like untilled land, which easily produces worthless
weeds and thorns, but has within itself so much natural power
that when it is plowed and cultivated it gives useful and
wholesome fruits....

Noble Indians
All the races of the world have understanding and will, and
that which results from these two faculties in man--that is, free
choice. And consequently, all have the power and ability or
capacity...to be instructed, persuaded, and attracted to order
and reason and laws and virtue and all goodness.
They are very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be
endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion.
And once they begin to hear the tidings of the faith, they are so
insistent on knowing more...that truly, the missionaries who are
here need to be endowed by God with great patience to endure such
eagerness. Some of the secular Spaniards who have been here for
many years say that the goodness of the Indians is undeniable,
and that is this gifted people could be brought to know the one
true God, they would be the most fortunate people in the world.
A method contrary to the one we have been defending would be

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the following: Pagans should first be subjected, whether they
wished to be or not, to the rule of Christian people, and that
once they were subjected, organized preaching would follow.
But if the pagans find themselves first injured, oppressed,
saddened, and afflicted by the misfortunes of wars, through loss
of their children, their gods, and their own liberty...how can
they be moved voluntarily to listen to what is proposed to them
about faith, religion, justice, and truth...?

Merciful persuasion
The one and only method of teaching men the true religion
was established by Divine Providence for the whole world, and for
all times: that is, by persuading the understanding through
reasons, and by gently attracting or exhorting his will.
Divine Wisdom moves rational creatures, that is, men, to
their actions or operates gently....Therefore, the method of
teaching men the true religion ought to be gentle, enticing, and
pleasant. This method is by persuading the understanding and by
attracting the will.
Hearers, especially pagans, should understand that the
preachers of the faith have no intention of acquiring power over
them....
Preachers should be slow themselves so mild and humble,
courteous and...good-willed that the hearers eagerly wish to
listen and hold their teaching in greater reverence.
[Preachers must] posses that same love of charity by which
Paul was accustomed to love men in the world that they might be
saved: "You are witnesses and God also, how holy and just and
blameless was our conduct towards you who have believed."

Requerimiento (1510) (Document written by jurist Palacios Rubios, of the

Council of Castile):

"On the part of the King, Don Fernando, and of Doña Juana, his daughter, Queen of
Castille and León, subduers of the barbarous nations, we their servants notify and make
known to you, as best we can, that the Lord our God, Living and Eternal, created the
Heaven and the Earth, and one man and one woman, of whom you and we, all the men of
the world at the time, were and are descendants, and all those who came after and before
us. But, on account of the multitude which has sprung from this man and woman in the
five thousand years since the world was created, it was necessary that some men should
go one way and some another, and that they should be divided into many kingdoms and
provinces, for in one alone they could not be sustained.

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Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should
be Lord and Superior of all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he
should be the head of the whole human race, wherever men should live, and under
whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his kingdom
and jurisdiction.

And he commanded him to place his seat in Rome, as the spot most fitting to rule the
world from; but also he permitted him to have his seat in any other part of the world, and
to judge and govern all Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, and all other sects. This man
was called Pope, as if to say, Admirable Great Father and Governor of men. The men who
lived in that time obeyed that St. Peter, and took him for Lord, King, and Superior of the
universe; so also they have regarded the others who after him have been elected to the
pontificate, and so has it been continued even till now, and will continue till the end of
the world.

One of these Pontiffs, who succeeded that St. Peter as Lord of the world, in the dignity
and seat which I have before mentioned, made donation of these isles and Tierra-firme to
the aforesaid King and Queen and to their successors, our lords, with all that there are in
these territories, as is contained in certain writings which passed upon the subject as
aforesaid, which you can see if you wish.

So their Highnesses are kings and lords of these islands and land of Tierra-firme by virtue
of this donation: and some islands, and indeed almost all those to whom this has been
notified, have received and served their Highnesses, as lords and kings, in the way that
subjects ought to do, with good will, without any resistance, immediately, without delay,
when they were informed of the aforesaid facts. And also they received and obeyed the
priests whom their Highnesses sent to preach to them and to teach them our Holy Faith;
and all these, of their own free will, without any reward or condition, have become
Christians, and are so, and their Highnesses have joyfully and benignantly received them,
and also have commanded them to be treated as their subjects and vassals; and you too
are held and obliged to do the same. Wherefore, as best we can, we ask and require you
that you consider what we have said to you, and that you take the time that shall be
necessary to understand and deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the Church as
the Ruler and Superior of the whole world, and the high priest called Pope, and in his
name the King and Queen Doña Juana our lords, in his place, as superiors and lords and
kings of these islands and this Tierra-firme by virtue of the said donation, and that you
consent and give place that these religious fathers should declare and preach to you the
aforesaid.

If you do so, you will do well, and that which you are obliged to do to their Highnesses,
and we in their name shall receive you in all love and charity, and shall leave you, your
wives, and your children, and your lands, free without servitude, that you may do with
them and with yourselves freely that which you like and think best, and they shall not
compel you to turn Christians, unless you yourselves, when informed of the truth, should
wish to be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, as almost all the inhabitants of the rest

87
of the islands have done. And, besides this, their Highnesses award you many privileges
and exemptions and will grant you many benefits.

But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the
help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you
in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of
the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children,
and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their
Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the
mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive
their lord, and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which
shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these
cavaliers who come with us. And that we have said this to you and made this Requisition,
we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing, and we ask the rest
who are present that they should be witnesses of this Requisition."

THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE “RIGHTS 
OF MAN”

The English Bill of Rights, 1689

• That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws 
by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal;
• That the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws 
by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal;
• That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for 
Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like 
nature, are illegal and pernicious;
• That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of 
prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other 
manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal;
• That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments 
and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;

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 • That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of 
peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law;
• That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence 
suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;
• That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;
• That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament 
ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of 
Parliament;
• That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;
• That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which 
pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders;
• That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons 
before conviction are illegal and void;
• And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening 
and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.

The Declaration of Independence 1776

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people 
to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to 
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which 
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self­evident, that all men are created equal, that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these 
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the 
consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes 
destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and 
to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and 

89
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long 
established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and 
accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to 
which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under 
absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, 
and to provide new guards for their future security. ­­Such has been the patient 
sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains 
them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King 
of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in 
direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove 
this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the 
public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing 
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be 
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of 
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the 
legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and 
distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of 
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly 
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be 
elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned 
to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime 
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

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He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose 
obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to 
encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations 
of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for 
establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, 
and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to 
harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of 
our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of 
pretended legislation: 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they 
should commit on the inhabitants of these states: 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent: 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury: 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses: 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, 
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as 

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to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same 
absolute rule in these colonies: 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering 
fundamentally the forms of our governments: 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with 
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and 
waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete 
the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of 
cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally 
unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear 
arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and 
brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring 
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known 
rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most 
humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated 
injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a 
tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned 
them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable 
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our 
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and 
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to 

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disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and 
correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of 
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces 
our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in 
peace friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General 
Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good 
people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united 
colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection 
between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; 
and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts 
and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this 
declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. 

THE AMERICAN BILL OF RIGHTS OF 1791. 

Article 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the 
press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the 
Government for a redress of grievances. 

Article 2

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right 
of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

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Article 3

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent 
of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and 
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and 
no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or 
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons 
or things to be seized.

Article 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, 
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in 
the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or 
public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice 
put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a 
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 
process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just 
compensation.

Article 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and 
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall 
have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by 
law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be 
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for 
obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his 
defence.

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Article 7

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty 
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, 
shall be otherwise re­examined in any Court of the United States, than according 
to the rules of the common law.

Article 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and 
unusual punishments inflicted.

Article 9

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to 
deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Source: The Laws of the United States, printed by Richard Folwell, Philadelphia, 
1796. 

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

The representatives of the French people, constituted into a "National Assembly," 
considering that ignorance, forgetting or contempt of the rights of man are the 
sole causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments, are 
resolved to expose [i.e., expound], in a solemn declaration, the natural, 
inalienable and sacred rights of man, so that that declaration, constantly present 
to all members of the social body, points out to them without cease their rights 
and their duties; so that the acts of the legislative power and those of the 
executive power, being at every instant able to be compared with the goal of any 
political institution, are very respectful of it; so that the complaints of the citizens, 

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founded from now on on simple and incontestable principles, turn always to the 
maintenance of the Constitution and to the happiness of all.

In consequence, the "national Assembly" recognizes and declares, in the 
presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of 
man and of the citizen:

Article I ­ Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions 
can be founded only on the common utility.

Article II ­ The goal of any political association is the conservation of the natural 
and imprescriptible [i.e., inviolable] rights of man. These rights are liberty, 
property, safety and resistance against oppression.

Article III ­ The principle of any sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No 
body, no individual can exert authority which does not emanate expressly from it.

Article IV ­ Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, 
the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which 
assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights. These 
borders can be determined only by the law.

Article V ­ The law has the right to ward [i.e., forbid] only actions [which are] 
harmful to the society. Any thing which is not warded [i.e., forbidden] by the law 
cannot be impeded, and no one can be constrained to do what it [i.e., the law] 
does not order.

Article VI ­ The law is the expression of the general will. All the citizens have the 
right of contributing personally or through their representatives to its formation. It 
must be the same for all, either that it protects, or that it punishes. All the citizens, 
being equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all public dignities, places and 
employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that 
of their virtues and of their talents.

Article VII ­ No man can be accused, arrested nor detained but in the cases 
determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. Those 
who solicit, dispatch, carry out or cause to be carried out arbitrary orders, must 

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be punished; but any citizen called [i.e., summoned] or seized under the terms of 
the law must obey at the moment; he renders himself culpable by resistance.

Article VIII ­ The law should establish only strictly and evidently necessary 
penalties, and no one can be punished but under a law established and 
promulgated before the offense and [which is] legally applied.

Article IX ­ Any man being presumed innocent until he is declared culpable, if it 
is judged indispensable to arrest him, any rigor [i.e., action] which would not be 
necessary for the securing of his person must be severely reprimanded by the 
law.

Article X ­ No one may be questioned about his opinions, [and the] same [for] 
religious [opinions], provided that their manifestation does not trouble the public 
order established by the law.

Article XI ­ The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the 
most precious rights of man: any citizen thus may speak, write, print freely, save 
[if it is necessary] to respond to the abuse of this liberty, in the cases determined 
by the law.

Article XII ­ The guarantee of the rights of man and of the citizen necessitates a 
public force [i.e., a police force]: this force is thus instituted for the advantage of 
all and not for the particular utility of those to whom it is confided.

Article XIII ­ For the maintenance of the public force and for the expenditures of 
administration, a common contribution is indispensable; it must be equally 
distributed between all the citizens, by reason of their faculties [i.e., ability to pay].

Article XIV ­ Each citizen has the right of noting, by himself or through his 
representatives, the necessity of the public contribution, of free consent, of 
following the employment [of the contributions], and of determining the quotient 
[i.e., the share], the assessment, the recovering [i.e., the collecting] and the 
duration.

Article XV ­ The society has the right of requesting [an] account[ing] from any 
public agent of its [i.e., the society's] administration.

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Article XVI ­ Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured, nor the 
separation of powers determined, has not a bit of Constitution.

Article XVII ­ Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be 
deprived of private usage, if it is not when the public necessity, legally noted, 
evidently requires it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity [i.e., 
compensation].

Maximillien Robespierre

TERROR IS JUSTIFIED

If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the 
spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: 
virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. 
Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of 
virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general 
principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country. ... The 
government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny. Is force 
only intended to protect crime? Is not the lightning of heaven made to blast vice 
exalted?

The law of self­preservation, with every being whether physical or moral, is 
the first law of nature. ... The protection of government is only due to peaceable 
citizens; and all citizens in the republic are republicans. The royalists, the 
conspirators, are strangers, or rather enemies. Is not this dreadful contest, which 
liberty maintains against tyranny, indivisible? Are not the internal enemies the 
allies of those in the exterior? The assassins who lay waste the interior; the 
intriguers who purchase the consciences of the delegates of the people: the 
traitors who sell them; the mercenary libellants paid to dishonor the cause of the 
people, to smother public virtue, to fan the flame of civil discord, and bring about 
a political counter revolution by means of a moral one; all these men, are they 
less culpable or less dangerous than the tyrants whom they serve?

Source: M. Robespierre, "On the Principles of Political Morality" (1794)

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 This great purity of the French revolution's basis, the very sublimity of its 
objective, is precisely what causes both our strength and our weakness. Our 
strength, because it gives to us truth's ascendancy over imposture, and the rights 
of the public interest over private interests; our weakness, because it rallies all 
vicious men against us, all those who in their hearts contemplated despoiling the 
people and all those who intend to let it be despoiled with impunity, both those 
who have rejected freedom as a personal calamity and those who have 
embraced the revolution as a career and the Republic as prey. ... The two 
opposing spirits that have been represented in a struggle to rule nature might be 
said to be fighting in this great period of human history to fix irrevocably the 
world's destinies, and France is the scene of this fearful combat. Without, all the 
tyrants encircle you; within, all tyranny's friends conspire; they will conspire until 
hope is wrested from crime. We must smother the internal and external enemies 
of the Republic or perish with it; now in this situation, the first maxim of your 
policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people's enemies by 
terror. 

Society owes protection only to peaceable citizens; the only citizens in the 
Republic are the republicans. For it, the royalists, the conspirators are only 
strangers or, rather, enemies. This terrible war waged by liberty against tyranny­ 
is it not indivisible? Are the enemies within not the allies of the enemies without? 
The assassins who tear our country apart, the intriguers who buy the 
consciences that hold the people's mandate; the traitors who sell them; the 
mercenary pamphleteers hired to dishonor the people's cause, to kill public 
virtue, to stir up the fire of civil discord, and to prepare political counterrevolution 
by moral counterrevolution­are all those men less guilty or less dangerous than 
the tyrants whom they serve?

Source: M. Robespierre, "On the Moral and Political Principles of Domestic 
Policy" (1794)

THE GOALS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

What is the end of our revolution? The tranquil enjoyment of liberty and 
equality; the reign of that eternal justice, the laws of which are graven, not on 
marble or stone, but in the hearts of men, even in the heart of the slave who has 
forgotten them, and in that of the tyrant who disowns them. 

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 We wish that order of things where all the low and cruel passions are 
enchained, all the beneficent and generous passions awakened by the laws; 
where ambition subsists in a desire to deserve glory and serve the country: 
where distinctions grow out of the system of equality, where the citizen submits to 
the authority of the magistrate, the magistrate obeys that of the people, and the 
people are governed by a love of justice; where the country secures the comfort 
of each individual, and where each individual prides himself on the prosperity and 
glory of his country; where every soul expands by a free communication of 
republican sentiments, and by the necessity of deserving the esteem of a great 
people: where the arts serve to embellish that liberty which gives them value and 
support, and commerce is a source of public wealth and not merely of immense 
riches to a few individuals.

We wish in our country that morality may be substituted for egotism, 
probity for false honour, principles for usages, duties for good manners, the 
empire of reason for the tyranny of fashion, a contempt of vice for a contempt of 
misfortune, pride for insolence, magnanimity for vanity, the love of glory for the 
love of money, good people for good company, merit for intrigue, genius for wit, 
truth for tinsel show, the attractions of happiness for the ennui of sensuality, the 
grandeur of man for the littleness of the great, a people magnanimous, powerful, 
happy, for a people amiable, frivolous and miserable; in a word, all the virtues 
and miracles of a Republic instead of all the vices and absurdities of a Monarchy. 

We wish, in a word, to fulfill the intentions of nature and the destiny of 
man, realize the promises of philosophy, and acquit providence of a long reign of 
crime and tyranny. That France, once illustrious among enslaved nations, may, by 
eclipsing the glory of all free countries that ever existed, become a model to 
nations, a terror to oppressors, a consolation to the oppressed, an ornament of 
the universe and that, by sealing the work with our blood, we may at least witness 
the dawn of the bright day of universal happiness. This is our ambition, ­ this is 
the end of our efforts.

Source: M. Robespierre, "On the Principles of Political Morality" (1794)

Manifesto of the Equals

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Written by Sylvain Marechal, one of the conspirators, the Manifesto didn’t meet with
unanimous support from the directors of the revolt. Especially contested was Marechal’s
“Let the arts perish, if need be, as long as real equality remains.”

People of France!

For fifteen centuries you lived as a slave and, consequently, unhappy. For the last 
six years you barely breathe, waiting for independence, freedom and equality.

EQUALITY! The first wish of nature, the first need of man, the first knot of all 
legitimate association! People of France! You were not more blessed than the 
other nations that vegetate on this unfortunate globe! Everywhere and at all times 
the poor human race, handed over to more or less deft cannibals, served as an 
object for all ambitions, as feed for all tyrannies. Everywhere and at all times men 
were lulled with beautiful words; at no time and in no place was the thing itself 
ever obtained through the word. From time immemorial they hypocritically repeat; 
all men are equa,; and from time immemorial the most degrading and monstrous 
inequality insolently weighs upon the human race. As long as there have been 
human societies the most beautiful of humanity’s rights is recognized without 
contradiction, but was only able to be put in practice one time: equality was 
nothing but a beautiful and sterile legal fiction. And now that it is called for with an 
even stronger voice we are answered: be quiet, you wretches! Real equality is 
nothing but a chimera; be satisfied with conditional equality; you’re all equal 
before the law. What more do you want, filthy rabble? Legislators, you who hold 
power, rich landowners, it is now your turn to listen.

Are we not all equal? This principle remains uncontested, because unless 
touched by insanity, you can’t say it’s night when it’s day.

Well then! We claim to live and die equal, the way we were born: we want this 
real equality or death; that’s what we need.

And we’ll have this real equality, at whatever price. Unhappy will be those who 
stand between it and us! Unhappy will be those who resist a wish so firmly 
expressed.

The French Revolution was nothing but a precursor of another revolution, one 
that will be bigger, more solemn, and which will be the last. 

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The people marched over the bodies of kings and priests who were in league 
against it: it will do the same to the new tyrants, the new political Tartuffes seated 
in the place of the old.

What do we need besides equality of rights?

We need not only that equality of rights written into the Declaration of the Rights 
of Man and Citizen; we want it in our midst, under the roofs of our houses. We 
consent to everything for it, to make a clean slate so that we hold to it alone. Let 
all the arts perish, if need be, as long as real equality remains!

Legislators and politicians, you have no more genius than you do good faith; 
gutless and rich landowners, in vain you attempt to neutralize our holy enterprise 
by saying: They do nothing but reproduce that agrarian law asked for more than 
once in the past.

Slanderers, be silent: and in the silence of your confusion listen to our demands, 
dictated by nature and based on justice.

The Agrarian law, or the partitioning of land, was the spontaneous demand of 
some unprincipled soldiers, of some towns moved more by their instinct than by 
reason. We reach for something more sublime and more just: the common good 
or the community of goods! No more individual property in land: the land belongs  
to no one. We demand, we want, the common enjoyment of the fruits of the land: 
the fruits belong to all.

We declare that we can no longer put up with the fact that the great majority work 
and sweat for the smallest of minorities. 

Long enough, and for too long, less than a million individuals have disposed of 
that which belongs to 20 million of their like, their equals. 

Let it at last end, this great scandal that our descendants will never believe 
existed! Disappear at last, revolting distinctions between rich and poor, great and 
small, masters and servants, rulers and ruled.

Let there no longer be any difference between people than that of age and sex. 
Since all have the same faculties and the same needs, let there then be for them 

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but one education, but one food. They are satisfied with one sun and one air for 
all: why then would the same portion and the same quality of food not suffice for 
each of them?

Already the enemies of the most natural order of things we can imagine raise a 
clamor against us. 

They say to us: You are disorganizers and seditious; you want nothing but 
massacres and loot. 

PEOPLE OF FRANCE:

We won’t waste our time responding to them; we tell you: the holy enterprise that 
we are organizing has no other goal than to put an end to civil dissension and 
public misery.

Never before has a vaster plan been conceived of or carried out. Here and there 
a few men of genius, a few men, have spoken in a low and trembling voice. None 
have had the courage to tell the whole truth. 

The moment for great measures has arrived. Evil has reached its height: it covers 
the face of the earth. Under the name of politics, chaos has reigned for too many 
centuries. Let everything be set in order and take its proper place once again. Let 
the supporters of justice and happiness organize in the voice of equality. The 
moment has come to found the REPUBLIC OF EQUALS, this great home open 
to all men. The day of general restitution has arrived. Groaning families, come sit 
at the common table set by nature for all its children.

PEOPLE OF FRANCE:

The purest of all glories was thus reserved for you! Yes it is you who the first 
should offer the world this touching spectacle.

Ancient habits, antique fears, would again like to block the establishment of the 
Republic of Equals. The organization of real equality, the only one that responds 
to all needs, without causing any victims, without costing any sacrifice, will not at 
first please everyone. The selfish, the ambitious, will tremble with rage. Those 
who possess unjustly will cry out about injustice. The loss of the enjoyments of 

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the few, solitary pleasures, personal ease will cause lively regret to those 
heedless of the pain of others. The lovers of absolute power, the henchmen of 
arbitrary authority, will with difficulty bow their superb heads before the level of 
real equality. Their shortsightedness will understand with difficulty the imminent 
future of common happiness; but what can a few thousand malcontents do 
against a mass of happy men, surprised to have searched so long for a 
happiness that they had in their hands.

The day after this real revolution, they’ll say with astonishment: What? Common 
happiness was so easy to obtain? All we had to do was want it? Why oh why 
didn’t we desire it sooner? Did they really have to make us speak of it so many 
times? Yes, without a doubt, one lone man on earth richer, stronger than his like, 
than his equals, and the balance is thrown off: crime and unhappiness are on 
earth. 

PEOPLE OF FRANCE;

By what sign will you now recognize the excellence of a constitution? ...That 
which rests in its entirety on real equality is the only one that can suit you and 
fulfill all your wishes. 

The aristocratic charters of 1791 and 1795 tightened your chains instead of 
breaking them. That of 1793 was a great step towards true equality, and we had 
never before approached it so closely. But it did not yet touch the goal, nor reach 
common happiness, which it nevertheless solemnly consecrated as its great 
principle.

PEOPLE OF FRANCE,

Open your eyes and your hearts to the fullness of happiness: recognize and 
proclaim with us the REPUBLIC OF EQUALS. 

National Anthem of France
Words and music by Rouger de lisle (1760­1836)

104
 Le Marseilles

Arise children of the fatherland

The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts

To arms citizens
Form you battalions
March, march
Let impure blood
Water our furrows

What do they want this horde of slaves

Of traitors and conspiratorial kings?
For whom these vile chains
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What methods must be taken?
It is we they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!

What! These foreign cohorts!

They would make laws in our courts!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would cut down our warrior sons
Good Lord! By chained hands
Our brow would yield under the yoke
The vile despots would have themselves be
The masters of destiny

Tremble, tyrants and traitors

The shame of all good men
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will receive their just reward
Against you we are all soldiers
If they fall, our young heros
France will bear new ones
Ready to join the fight against you

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors

Bear or hold back your blows

105
 Spare these sad victims
Who with regret are taking up arms against us
But not these bloody despots
These accomplices of BouillŽ
All these tigers who pitilessly
Are ripping open their mothers' breasts (womb)

We shall enter into the pit

When our elders will no longer be there
There we shall find their ashes
And the mark of their virtues
We are much less jealous of surviving them
Than of sharing their coffins
We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or joining them

Sacred Love for the Fatherland

Lead and support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty
Join the struggle with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
hasten to you virile (or manly) force
So that in death your enemies
See your triumph and our glory!

(Drive on sacred patriotism

Support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty
Join the struggle with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your evil tone
So that in death your enemies
See your triumph and our glory!)

THE CODE NAPOLEON: 1804

Of the Publication, Effect, and Application of the Laws in General

1. The laws are executory throughout the whole French territory, by virtue of 
the promulgation thereof made by the First Consul. They shall be executed 

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 in every part of the Republic, from the moment at which their promulgation 
can have been known. The promulgation made by the First Consul shall 
be taken to be known in the department which shall be the seat of 
government, one day after the promulgation; and in each of the other 
departments, after the expiration of the same interval augmented by one 
day for every ten myriameters (about twenty ancient leagues) between the 
town in which the promulgation shall have been made, and the chief place 
of each department.
2. The law ordains for the future only; it has no retrospective operation.
3. The laws of police and public security bind all the inhabitants of the 
territory. Immovable property, although in the possession of foreigners, is 
governed by the French law. The laws relating to the condition and 
privileges of persons govern Frenchmen, although residing in a foreign 
country.

6. Private agreements must not contravene the laws which concern public 
order and good morals.

Book I: Of Persons
Title I: Of the Enjoyment and Privation of Civil Rights

1. The exercise of civil rights is independent of the quality of citizen, which is 
only acquired and preserved conformably to the constitutional law.

8. Every Frenchman shall enjoy civil rights.

Chapter VI: Of the Respective Rights and Duties of Married Persons

212.Married persons owe to each other fidelity, succor, assistance.
213.The husband owes protection to his wife, the wife obedience to her 
husband.
214.The wife is obliged to live with her husband, and to follow him to every 
place where he may judge it convenient to reside: the husband is obliged 
to receive her, and to furnish her with every necessity for the wants of life, 
according to his means and station.

107
 215.The wife cannot plead in her own name, without the authority of her 
husband, even though she should be a public trader, or noncommunicant, 
or separate in property.
216.The authority of the husband is not necessary when the wife is 
prosecuted in a criminal manner, or relating to police.
217.A wife, although noncommunicant or separate in property, cannot give, 
pledge, or acquire by free or chargeable title, without the concurrence of 
her husband in the act, or his consent in writing.
218.If the husband refuses to authorize his wife to plead in her own name, the 
judge may give her authority.
219.If the husband refuses to authorize his wife to pass an act, the wife may 
cause her husband to be cited directly before the court of the first 
instance, of the circle of their common domicil[e], which may give or refuse 
its authority, after the husband shall have been heard, or duly summoned 
before the chamber of council.
220.The wife, if she is a public trader, may, without the authority of her 
husband, bind herself for that which concerns her trade; and in the said 
case she binds also her husband, if there be a community between them. 
She is not reputed a public trader if she merely retails goods in her 
husband’s trade, but only when she carries on a separate business.
221.When the husband is subjected to a condemnation, carrying with it an 
afflictive or infamous punishment, although it may have been pronounced 
merely for contumacy, the wife, though of age, cannot, during the 
continuance of such punishment, plead in her own name or contract, until 
after authority given by the judge, who may in such case give his authority 
without hearing or summoning the husband.

226.The wife may make a will without the authority of her husband.

Title VI: Of Divorce
Section II: Of the Provisional Measures to Which the Petition for Cause  
Determinate May Give Rise

267.The provisional management of the children shall rest with the husband, 
petitioner, or defendant, in the suit for divorce, unless it be otherwise 
ordered for the greater advantage of the children, on petition of either the 
mother, or the family, or the government commissioner.

108
 271.Every obligation contracted by the husband at the expense of the 
community, every alienation made by him of immovable property 
dependent upon it, subsequent to the date of the order mentioned in 
article 238, shall be declared void, if proof be given, moreover, that it has 
been made or contracted in fraud of the rights of the wife. 

Title IX: Of Paternal Power 

375.A father who shall have cause of grievous dissatisfaction at the conduct. 
of a child, shall have the following means of correction.
376.If the child has not commenced his sixteenth year, the father may cause 
him to be confined for a period which shall not exceed one month; and to 
this effect the president of the court of the circle shall be bound, on his 
petition, to deliver an order of arrest.
377.From the age of sixteen years commenced to the majority or 
emancipation, the father is only empowered to require the confinement of 
his child during six months at the most; he shall apply to the president of 
the aforesaid court, who, after having conferred thereon with the 
commissioner of government, shall deliver an order of arrest or refuse the 
same, and may in the first case abridge the time of confinement required 
by the father.

379.The father is always at liberty to abridge the duration of the confinement 
by him ordered or required. If the child after his liberation fall into new 
irregularities, his confinement may be ordered anew, according to the 
manner prescribed in the preceding articles.

Section II: Of the Administration of the Community, and of the Effect of the Acts  
of Either of the Married Parties Relating to the Conjugal Union

1421.The husband alone administers the property of the community. He may sell 
it, alienate and pledge it without the concurrence of his wife.

Section II: Of the Rights of the Husband over the Property in Dowry, and of the  
Inalienable Nature of the Funds of the Dower

109
1549. The husband alone has the management of the property in dowry, during 
the marriage. He has alone the right to use the debtors and detainers thereof, to 
enjoy the fruits and interest thereof, and to receive reimbursements of capital. 
Nevertheless it may be agreed, by the marriage contract, that the wife shall 
receive annually, on her single acquaintance, a part of her revenues for her 
maintenance and personal wants.

[Source: E. A. Arnold, ed. and trans., A Documentary Survey of Napoleonic  
France (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1993), pp. 151­164, quoted in 
Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, eds., The French Revolution: A Document  
Collection (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), pp. 340­347.]

NINETEENTH CENTURY IDEOLOGIES

Radicalism

THE PROGRAM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY 1848

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public 
purposes. 
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 
5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank 
with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of 
the State. 
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the 
bringing into cultivation of waste­lands, and the improvement of the soil generally 
in accordance with a common plan. 
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for 
agriculture. 
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of 

110
all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the 
populace over the country. 
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory 
labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, 
&c, &c. 

When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all 
production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole 
nation, the public power will lose its political character. Political power, properly so 
called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another. If the 
proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled, by the force of 
circumstances, to organise itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution, it makes 
itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away by force the old conditions of 
production, then it will, along with these conditions, have swept away the 
conditions for the existence of class antagonisms and of classes generally, and 
will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class. 

In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we 
shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition 
for the free development of all. 

The Internationale

1. Arise! ye starvelings, from your slumbers;
Arise! ye prisoners of want.
For reason in revolt now thunders
And ends at last the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses, arise! arise!
We’ll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

Chorus

111
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race.

2. No saviour from on high delivers;
No faith have we in prince or peer.
Our own right hand the chains must shiver:
Chains of hatred, greed and fear.
E’er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at his forge must do his duty
And strike the iron while it’s hot!

3. The law oppresses us and tricks us,
The wage slave system drains our blood;
The rich are free from obligation,
The laws the poor delude.
Too long we’ve languished in subjection,
Equality has other laws;
“No rights,” says she “without their duties,
No claims on equals without cause.”

4. Behold them seated in their glory
The kings of mine and rail and soil!
What have you read in all their story,
But how they plundered toil?
Fruits of the workers’ toil are buried
In strongholds of the idle few
In working for their restitution
The men will only claim their due.

5. No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we’ll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They’ll break ranks and fight no more

112
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We’ll shoot the Generals on Our Own Side.

6. We peasants, artisans, and others
Enrolled among the sons of toil,
Let’s claim the earth henceforth for brothers,
Drive the indolent from the soil!
On our Flesh too Long has fed the Raven;
We’ve too long been the vulture’s prey.
But now farewell the spirit craven:
The dawn brings in a brighter day.

Lyrics by Eugène Pottier
Music by Pierre Degeyter

113
LIBERALISM

FROM JOHN STUART MILL “ON LIBERTY”

The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in 
interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self­protection. That 
the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of 
a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, 
either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be 
compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it 
will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, 
or even right...The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable 
to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns 
himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body 
and mind, the individual is sovereign.

On Slavery

But the great ethical doctrine of the discourse, than which a doctrine more 
damnable, I should think, never was propounded by a professed moral reformer, 
is, that one kind of human beings are born servants to another kind. “You will 
have to be servants,” he tells the negroes, “to those that are born wiser than you, 
that are born lords of you — servants to the whites, if they are (as what mortal 
can doubt that they are?) born wiser than you.” I do not hold him to the absurd 
letter of his dictum; it belongs to the mannerism in which he is enthralled like a 
child in swaddling clothes. By “born wiser,” I will suppose him to mean, born more 
capable of wisdom: a proposition which, he says, no mortal can doubt, but which, 
I will make bold to say, that a full moiety of all thinking persons, who have 
attended to the subject, either doubt or positively deny. Among the things for 
which your contributor professes entire disrespect, is the analytical examination 
of [p.468] human nature. It is by analytical examination that we have learned 

114
whatever we know of the laws of external nature; and if he had not disdained to 
apply the same mode of investigation to the laws of the formation of character, he 
would have escaped the vulgar error of imputing every difference which he finds 
among human beings to an original difference of nature. As well might it be said, 
that of two trees, sprung from the same stock one cannot be taller than another 
but from greater vigor in the original seedling. Is nothing to be attributed to soil, 
nothing to climate, nothing to difference of exposure — has no storm swept over 
the one and not the other, no lightning scathed it, no beast browsed on it, no 
insects preyed on it, no passing stranger stript [sic] off its leaves or its bark? If the 
trees grew near together, may not the one which, by whatever accident, grew up 
first, have retarded the other’s development by its shade? Human beings are 
subject to an infinitely greater variety of accidents and external influences than 
trees, and have infinitely more operation in impairing the growth of one another; 
since those who begin by being strongest, have almost always hitherto used their 
strength to keep the others weak. What the original differences are among 
human beings, I know no more than your contributor, and no less; it is one of the 
questions not yet satisfactorily answered in the natural history of the species. 
This, however, is well known — that spontaneous improvement, beyond a very 
low grade — improvement by internal development, without aid from other 
individuals or peoples — is one of the rarest phenomena in history; and 
whenever known to have occurred, was the result of an extraordinary 
combination of advantages; in addition doubtless to many accidents of which all 
trace is now lost. No argument against the capacity of negroes for improvement, 
could be drawn from their not being one of these rare exceptions. It is curious, 
withal, that the earliest known civilization was, we have the strongest reason to 
believe, a negro civilization. The original Egyptians are inferred, from the 
evidence of their sculptures, to have been a negro race: it was from negroes, 
therefore, that the Greeks learnt their first lessons in civilization; and to the 
records and traditions of these negroes did the Greek philosophers to the very 
end of their career resort (I do not say with much fruit) as a treasury of 
mysterious wisdom. But I again renounce all advantage from facts: were the 
whites born ever so superior in intelligence to the blacks, and competent by 
nature to instruct and advise them, it would not be the less monstrous to assert 
that they had therefore a right either to subdue them by force, or circumvent them 
by superior skill; to throw upon them the toils and hardships of life, reserving for 
themselves, under the misapplied name of work, its agreeable excitements.

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On Economics

In short, I was a democrat, but not the least of a Socialist. We were now much 
less democrats than I had been, because so long as education continues to be 
so wretchedly imperfect, we dreaded the ignorance and especially the 
selfishness and brutality of the mass: but our ideal of ultimate improvement went 
far beyond Democracy, and would class us decidedly under the general 
designation of Socialists. While we repudiated with the greatest energy that 
tyranny of society over the individual which most Socialistic systems are 
supposed to involve, we yet looked forward to a time when society will no longer 
be divided into the idle and the industrious.

NATIONALISM
Die Wacht am Rhein

1. The cry resounds like thunder's crash,

Like ringing swords and waves that clash:
The Rhine, the Rhine, go to our Rhine,
Who'll guard our River, hold the line?
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

2. A hundred thousand hearts beat fast,

The eyes of all to you are cast,
The German youth, devout and strong.
Protects you, as he has so long.
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

3. He casts his eyes to heaven's blue,

From where past heroes hold the view,
And swears pugnaciously the oath,
You Rhine and I, stay German, both.
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

4. While still remains one breath of life,

While still one fist can draw a knife,
One gun still fired with one hand,

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 No foe will stand on this Rhine sand.
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

5. Should my heart not survive this stand,

You'll never fall in foreign hand,
Much, as your waters without end,
Have we our heroes' blood to spend.
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

6. The oath resounds, on rolls the wave,

The banners fly in wind. We'll save
The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine
Together we will hold the line.
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

7. So lead us with your tried command,

With trust in God, take sword in hand,
Hail Wilhelm! Down with all that brood!
Repay our shame with the foes blood!
|: Land of our fathers, have no fear, :|
|: Your watch is true, the line stands here. :|

IMPERIALISM: A HYMN AND A POEM

From Greenland’s Icy Mountains

Rev. Reginald Heber, 1819

1. From Greenland’s icy mountains,

From India’s coral strand,
Where Afric’s sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand,
From many an ancient river,
From many a palmy plain,
They call us to deliver
Their land from error’s chain.

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2. What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle;
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile:
In vain with lavish kindness
The gifts of God are strown;
The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone.

3. Can we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high,
Can we to men benighted
The lamp of life deny?
Salvation! O salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till each remotest nation
Has learned Messiah’s Name.

4. Waft, waft, ye winds, His story,

And you, ye waters, roll,
Till like a sea of glory
It spreads from pole to pole;
Till o’er our ransomed nature
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns to reign.

The White Man’s Burden 

Rudyard Kipling (1899)

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need

To wait in heavy harness

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On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new­caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child

Take up the White Man’s burden

In patience to abide

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple

An hundred times made plain

To seek another’s profit

And work another’s gain

Take up the White Man’s burden—

And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better

The hate of those ye guard—

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah slowly) to the light:

"Why brought ye us from bondage,

“Our loved Egyptian night?”

Take up the White Man’s burden­

119
Have done with childish days­

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold­edged with dear­bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!

Source: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States & The
Philippine Islands, 1899.” Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Definitive Edition (Garden City, New
York: Doubleday, 1929).

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

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Part I. The Covenant of the League of Nations

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,

IN ORDER TO PROMOTE international co-operation and to achieve international peace

and security

by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war

by the prescription of open, just and honourable relations between nations

by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of
conduct among Governments, and

by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the
dealings of organised peoples with one another

AGREE to this Covenant of the League of Nations.

Article 10

The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external
aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of
the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such
aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be
fulfilled.

Article 11

Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the Members of the
League or not, is hereby declared a matter of concern to the whole League, and the
League shall take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the
peace of nations. In case any such emergency should arise the Secretary General shall on
the request of any Member of the League forthwith summon a meeting of the Council.

It is also declared to be the friendly right of each Member of the League to bring to the
attention of the Assembly or of the Council any circumstance whatever affecting
international relations which threatens to disturb international peace or the good
understanding between nations upon which peace depends.

Article 12

The Members of the League agree that if there should arise between them any dispute
likely to lead to a rupture, they will submit the matter either to arbitration or to inquiry by

121
the Council, and they agree in no case to resort to war until three months after the award
by the arbitrators or the report by the Council.

In any case under this Article the award of the arbitrators shall be made within a
reasonable time, and the report of the Council shall be made within six months after the
submission of the dispute.

Article 13

The Members of the League agree that whenever any dispute shall arise between them
which they recognise to be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot be
satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole subject-matter to
arbitration.

Disputes as to the interpretation of a treaty, as to any question of international law, as to

the existence of any fact which if established would constitute a breach of any
international obligation, or as to the extent and nature of the reparation to be made or any
such breach, are declared to be among those which are generally suitable for submission
to arbitration.

For the consideration of any such dispute the court of arbitration to which the case is
referred shall be the Court agreed on by the parties to the dispute or stipulated in any
convention existing between them.

The Members of the League agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award
that may be rendered, and that they will not resort to war against a Member of the League
which complies therewith. In the event of any failure to carry out such an award, the
Council shall propose what steps should be taken to give effect thereto.

QUOTES FROM VLADIMIR ILLYICH LENIN

The progressive historical role of capitalism may be summed up in two brief

propositions: increase in the productive forces of social labour, and the socialization

of that labour. But both these facts manifest themselves in extremely diverse processes in
different branches of the national economy.

Lenin, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, The “The Mission of Capitalism”

(1899)

122
If democracy, in essence, means the abolition of class domination, then why should not a
socialist minister charm the whole bourgeois world by orations on class collaboration?

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Dogmatism And ‘Freedom of Criticism’” (1901)

We are marching in a compact group along a precipitous and difficult path, firmly
holding each other by the hand. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies, and we have
to advance almost constantly under their fire. We have combined, by a freely adopted
decision, for the purpose of fighting the enemy, and not of retreating into the
neighbouring marsh, the inhabitants of which, from the very outset, have reproached us
with having separated ourselves into an exclusive group and with having chosen the path
of struggle instead of the path of conciliation. And now some among us begin to cry out:
Let us go into the marsh! And when we begin to shame them, they retort: What backward
people you are! Are you not ashamed to deny us the liberty to invite you to take a better
road! Oh, yes, gentlemen! You are free not only to invite us, but to go yourselves
wherever you will, even into the marsh. In fact, we think that the marsh is your proper
place, and we are prepared to render you every assistance to get there. Only let go of our
hands, don’t clutch at us and don’t besmirch the grand word freedom, for we too are
“free” to go where we please, free to fight not only against the marsh, but also against
those who are turning towards the marsh!

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Dogmatism And ‘Freedom of Criticism’” (1901)

In a country ruled by an autocracy, with a completely enslaved press, in a period of

desperate political reaction in which even the tiniest outgrowth of political discontent and
protest is persecuted, the theory of revolutionary Marxism suddenly forced its way into
the censored literature before the government realized what had happened and the
unwieldy army of censors and gendarmes discovered the new enemy and flung itself
upon him.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Criticism in Russia” (1901)

History has now confronted us with an immediate task which is the most revolutionary of
all the immediate tasks confronting the proletariat of any country. The fulfillment of this
task, the destruction of the most powerful bulwark, not only of European, but (it may now
be said) of Asiatic reaction, would make the Russian proletariat the vanguard of the
international revolutionary proletariat. And we have the right to count upon acquiring this
honourable title, already earned by our predecessors, the revolutionaries of the seventies,

123
if we succeed in inspiring our movement, which is a thousand times broader and deeper,
with the same devoted determination and vigour.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Criticism in Russia” (1901)

Since there can be no talk of an independent ideology formulated by the working masses
themselves in the process of their movement, the only choice is – either bourgeois or
socialist ideology. There is no middle course (for mankind has not created a “third”
ideology).

(This does not mean, of course, that the workers have no part in creating such an
ideology. They take part, however, not as workers, but as socialist theoreticians, as
Proudhons and Weitlings, to the extent that they are able to acquire the knowledge of
their age and develop that knowledge.)

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “The Spontaneity of the Masses and the Consciousness of
the Social-Democrats” (1901)

To belittle the socialist ideology in any way, to turn aside from it in the slightest degree
means to strengthen bourgeois ideology. There is much talk of spontaneity. But the
spontaneous development of the working-class movement leads to its subordination to
bourgeois ideology; for the spontaneous working-class movement is trade-unionism, and
trade unionism means the ideological enslavement of the workers by the bourgeoisie.
Hence, our task, the task of Social-Democracy, is to combat spontaneity, to divert the
working-class movement from this spontaneous, trade-unionist striving to come under the
wing of the bourgeoisie, and to bring it under the wing of revolutionary Social
Democracy.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “The Spontaneity of the Masses and the Consciousness of
the Social-Democrats” (1901)

Revolutionary Social-Democracy has always included the struggle for reforms as part of
its activities. But it utilizes “economic” agitation for the purpose of presenting to the
government, not only demands for all sorts of measures, but also (and primarily) the
demand that it cease to be an autocratic government.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Trade-Unionist Politics And Social-Democratic Politics”

(1901)

124
A basic condition for the necessary expansion of political agitation is the organization of
comprehensive political exposure.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Political Exposures And ‘Training In Revolutionary

Activity’” (1901)

It is particularly necessary to arouse in all who participate in practical work, or are

preparing to take up that work, discontent with the amateurism prevailing among us and
an unshakable determination to rid ourselves of it.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “The Primitiveness of the Economists and the Organization
of the Revolutionaries” (1901)

This struggle must be organized, according to “all the rules of the art”, by people who are
professionally engaged in revolutionary activity. The fact that the masses are
spontaneously being drawn into the movement does not make the organization of this
struggle less necessary. On the contrary, it makes it more necessary.

Lenin, The Primitiveness of the Economists and the Organization of the Revolutionaries
(1901)

Attention must be devoted principally to raising the workers to the level of

revolutionaries; it is not at all our task to descend to the level of the “working masses.”

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “The Primitiveness of the Economists and the Organization
of the Revolutionaries” (1901)

In the beginning we had to teach the workers the ABC, both in the literal and in the
figurative senses. Now the standard of political literacy has risen so gigantically that we
can and should concentrate all our efforts on the more direct Social-Democratic
objectives aimed at giving an organized direction to the revolutionary stream.

Lenin, New Tasks and New Forces (1905)

Social-Democracy, however, wants, on the contrary, to develop the class struggle of the
proletariat to the point where the latter will take the leading part in the popular Russian
revolution, i.e., will lead this revolution to a the democratic-dictatorship of the proletariat
and the peasantry.

125
Lenin, Two Tactics of Social Democracy (1905)

The basic mistake made by those who now criticise What Is To Be Done? (1901) is to
treat the pamphlet apart from its connection with the concrete historical situation of a
definite, and now long past, period in the development of our Party.

Lenin, Preface to the Collection “Twelve Years” (1905)

When the masses are digesting a new and exceptionally rich experience of direct
revolutionary struggle, the theoretical struggle for a revolutionary outlook, i.e., for
revolutionary Marxism, becomes the watchword of the day.

Lenin, Two Letters (1908)

The art of any propagandist and agitator consists in his ability to find the best means of
influencing any given audience, by presenting a definite truth, in such a way as to make it
most convincing, most easy to digest, most graphic, and most strongly impressive.

Lenin, The Slogans and Organization of Social-Democratic Work (1919)

The Marxist doctrine is omnipotent because it is true. It is comprehensive and

harmonious, and provides men with an integral world outlook irreconcilable with any
form of superstition, reaction, or defense of bourgeois oppression. It is the legitimate
successor to the best that man produced in the nineteenth century, as represented by
German philosophy, English political economy and French socialism.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

Where the bourgeois economists saw a relation between things (the exchange of one
commodity for another) Marx revealed a relation between people.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

Capital, created by the labour of the worker, crushes the worker, ruining small proprietors
and creating an army of unemployed.

126
Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

By destroying small-scale production, capital leads to an increase in productivity of

labour and to the creation of a monopoly position for the associations of big capitalists.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

Capitalism has triumphed all over the world, but this triumph is only the prelude to the
triumph of labour over capital.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

When feudalism was overthrown and “free” capitalist society appeared in the world, it at
once became apparent that this freedom meant a new system of oppression and
exploitation of the working people.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics,
and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or
other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and promises.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

And there is only one way of smashing the resistance of those classes, and that is to find,
in the very society which surrounds us, the forces which can—and, owing to their social
position, must—constitute the power capable of sweeping away the old and creating the
new, and to enlighten and organize those forces for the struggle.

Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (1913)

Dialectics as living, many-sided knowledge (with the number of sides eternally

increasing), with an infinite number of shades of every approach and approximation to

127
reality (with a philosophical system growing into a whole out of each shade)

Lenin, Summary of Dialectics (1914)

Philosophical idealism is only nonsense from the standpoint of crude, simple,

metaphysical materialism. From the standpoint of dialectical materialism, on the other
hand, philosophical idealism is a one-sided, exaggerated, development (inflation,
distension) of one of the features, aspects, facets of knowledge, into an absolute, divorced
from matter, from nature, apotheosised.

Lenin, Summary of Dialectics (1914)

Human knowledge is not (or does not follow) a straight line, but a curve, which endlessly
approximates a series of circles, a spiral. Any fragment, segment, section of this curve
can be transformed (transformed one-sidedly) into an independent, complete, straight
line, which then (if one does not see the wood for the trees) leads into the quagmire, into
clerical obscurantism (where it is anchored by the class interests of the ruling classes).

Lenin, Summary of Dialectics (1914)

War cannot be abolished unless classes are abolished and Socialism is created.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

We fully regard civil wars, i.e., wars waged by the oppressed class against the oppressing
class, slaves against slave-owners, serfs against land-owners, and wage-workers against
the bourgeoisie, as legitimate, progressive and necessary.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

If tomorrow, Morocco were to declare war on France, India on England, Persia or China
on Russia, and so forth, those would be “just” “defensive” wars, irrespective of who
attacked first; and every Socialist would sympathise with the victory of the oppressed,
dependent, unequal states against the oppressing, slave-owning, predatory “great”
powers.

128
Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

The working class cannot play its world-revolutionary role unless it wages a ruthless
struggle against this renegacy. spinelessness, subservience to opportunism and
unexampled vulgarization of the theories of Marxism.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

A revolutionary class cannot but wish for the defeat of its government in a reactionary
war.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

Socialists must explain to the masses that they have no other road of salvation except the
revolutionary overthrow of “their” governments, and that advantage must be taken of
these governments’ embarrassments in the present war precisely for this purpose.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

Socialists cannot achieve their great aim without fighting against all oppression of
nations.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

The Socialists of oppressed nations must, in their turn, unfailingly fight for the complete
(including organizational) unity of the workers of the oppressed and oppressing
nationalities.

Lenin, Socialism and War (1915)

The war of 1914-18 was imperialist (that is, an annexationist, predatory, war of plunder)
on the part of both sides; it was a war for the division of the world, for the partition and
repartition of colonies and spheres of influence of finance capital.

129
Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1914)

Monopolies, oligarchy, the striving for domination and not for freedom, the exploitation
of an increasing number of small or weak nations by a handful of the richest or most
powerful nations — all these have given birth to those distinctive characteristics of
imperialism which compel us to define it as parasitic or decaying capitalism.

Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1914)

When nine-tenths of Africa had been seized (by 1900), when the whole world had been
divided up,there was inevitably ushered in the era of monopoly possession of colonies
and, consequently, of particularly intense struggle for the division and the redivision of
the world.

Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1914)

The so-called Great Powers have long been exploiting and enslaving a whole number of
small and weak nations. And the imperialist war is a war for the division and redivision
of this kind of booty.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

It is not done in modern socialist parties to talk or even think about the significance of
this idea, — the “withering away” of the state.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

A standing army and police are the chief instruments of state power.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

Our Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks themselves share, and instil into the minds
of the people, the false notion that universal suffrage “in the present-day state” is really

130
capable of revealing the will of the majority of the working people and of securing its
realization.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

The working class must break up, smash the “ready-made state machinery,” and not
confine itself merely to laying hold of it.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

Democracy is a form of the state, it represents, on the one hand, the organized, systematic
use of force against persons; but, on the other hand, it signifies the formal recognition of
equality of citizens, the equal right of all to determine the structure of, and to administer,
the state.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy
of capitalist society.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular
representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

The dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the organization of the vanguard of the oppressed
as the ruling class for the purpose of suppressing the oppressors, cannot result merely in
an expansion of democracy. Simultaneously with an immense expansion of democracy,
which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and
not democracy for the money-bags, the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of
restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

131
And so in capitalist society we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false, a
democracy only for the rich, for the minority. The dictatorship of the proletariat, the
period of transition to communism, will for the first time create democracy for the
people, for the majority, along with the necessary suppression of the exploiters, of the
minority.

Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

In our attitude towards the war, which under the new government of Lvov and Co.
unquestionably remains on Russia’s part a predatory imperialist war owing to the
capitalist nature of that government, not the slightest concession to “revolutionary
defencism” is permissible.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

In view of the undoubted honesty of those broad sections of the mass believers in
revolutionary defencism who accept the war only as a necessity, and not as a means of
conquest, in view of the fact that they are being deceived by the bourgeoisie, it is
necessary with particular thoroughness, persistence and patience to explain their error to
them, and to prove that without overthrowing capital it is impossible to end the war by a
truly democratic peace.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

The masses must be made to see that the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies are the only
possible form of revolutionary government.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

Abolition of the police, the army and the bureaucracy. The salaries of all officials, all of
whom are elective and displaceable at any time, not to exceed the average wage of a
competent worker.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

132
It is not our immediate task to “introduce” socialism, but only to bring social production
and the distribution of products at once under the control of the Soviets of Workers’
Deputies.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

It is, of course, much easier to shout, abuse, and howl than to attempt to relate, to explain.

Lenin, April Theses (1917)

A party is the vanguard of a class, and its duty is to lead the masses and not merely to
reflect the average political level of the masses.

Lenin, Speech On The Agrarian Question November 14 (1917)

It is the duty of the revolution to put an end to compromise, and to put an end to
compromise means taking the path of socialist revolution.

Lenin, Speech On The Agrarian Question November 14 (1917)

The Russian is a bad worker compared with people in advanced countries. It could not be
otherwise under the tsarist regime and in view of the persistence of the hangover from
serfdom. The task that the Soviet government must set the people in all its scope is - learn
to work. The Taylor system, the last word of capitalism in this respect, like all capitalist
progress, is a combination of the refined brutality of bourgeois exploitation and a number
of the greatest scientific achievements in the field.

Lenin, The Immediate Task of the Soviet Government (1918)

Human child birth is an act which transforms the woman into an almost lifeless,
bloodstained heap of flesh, tortured, tormented and driven frantic by pain.

Lenin, Prophetic Words (1918)

133
Let the “socialist” snivellers croak, let the bourgeoisie rage and fume, but only people
who shut their eyes so as not to see, and stuff their ears so as not to hear, can fail to notice
that all over the world the birth pangs of the old, capitalist society, which is pregnant with
socialism, have begun.

Lenin, Prophetic Words (1918)

The passing of state power from one class to another is the first, the principal, the basic
sign of a revolution, both in the strictly scientific and in the practical political meaning of
that term. To this extent, the bourgeois, or the bourgeois-democratic, revolution in Russia
is completed.

Lenin, Letters on Tactics (1918)

The Bolshevik slogans and ideas on the whole have been confirmed by history; but
concretely things have worked out differently; they are more original, more peculiar,
more variated than anyone could have expected..

Lenin, Letters on Tactics (1918)

“The revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry” has

already become a reality in the Russian revolution, for this “formula” envisages only a
relation of classes, and not a concrete political institution implementing this relation.

Lenin, Letters on Tactics (1918)

The crisis in Germany has only begun. It will inevitably end in the transfer of political
power to the German proletariat. The Russian proletariat is following events with the
keenest attention and enthusiasm. Now even the blindest workers in the various countries
will see that the Bolsheviks were right in basing their whole tactics on the support of the
world workers' revolution.

Lenin, Letter To A Joint Session Of The All-Russia Central Executive Committee (1918)

In the course of two years Soviet power in one of the most backward countries of Europe
did more to emancipate women and to make their status equal to that of the “strong” sex

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than all the advanced, enlightened, “democratic” republics of the world did in the course
of 130 years.

Lenin, Soviet Power and the Status of Women (1919)

Down with this contemptible fraud! There cannot be, nor is there nor will there ever be
“equality” between the oppressed and the oppressors, between the exploited and the
exploiters. There cannot be, nor is there nor will there ever be real “freedom” as long as
there is no freedom for women from the privileges which the law grants to men, as long
as there is no freedom for the workers from the yoke of capital, and no freedom for the
toiling peasants from the yoke of the capitalists, landlords and merchants.

Lenin, Soviet Power and the Status of Women (1919)

Bourgeois democracy is democracy of pompous phrases, solemn words, exuberant

promises and the high-sounding slogans of freedom and equality. But, in fact, it screens
the non-freedom and inferiority of women, the non-freedom and inferiority of the toilers
and exploited.

Lenin, Soviet Power and the Status of Women (1919)

Modern monopolist capitalism on a world-wide scale — imperialist wars are absolutely

inevitable under such an economic system, as long as private property in the means of
production exists.

Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1920)

We must display determination, endurance, firmness and unanimity. We must stop at

nothing. Everybody and everything must be used to save the rule of the workers and
peasants, to save communism.

Lenin, Speech to Third All-Russia Congress of Textile Workers (1920)

But the dictatorship of the proletariat cannot be exercised through an organisation

embracing the whole of that class, because in all capitalist countries (and not only over
here, in one of the most backward) the proletariat is still so divided, so degraded, and so

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corrupted in parts (by imperialism in some countries) that an organisation taking in the
whole proletariat cannot directly exercise proletarian dictatorship.

Lenin, The Trade Unions, The Present Situation and Trotsky's Mistakes (1920)

The Bolsheviks could not have retained power for two and a half months, let alone two
and a half years, without the most rigorous and truly iron discipline in our Party.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

How is the discipline of the proletariat’s revolutionary party maintained? How is it

tested? How is it reinforced? First, by the class-consciousness of the proletarian vanguard
and by its devotion to the revolution, by its tenacity, self-sacrifice and heroism. Second,
by its ability to link up, maintain the closest contact, and—if you wish—merge, in certain
measure, with the broadest masses of the working people—primarily with the proletariat,
but also with the non-proletarian masses of working people. Third, by the correctness of
the political leadership exercised by this vanguard, by the correctness of its political
strategy and tactics, provided the broad masses have seen, from their own experience, that
they are correct.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

Russia achieved Marxism—the only correct revolutionary theory—through the agony she
experienced in the course of half a century of unparalleled torment and sacrifice, of
unparalleled revolutionary heroism, incredible energy, devoted searching, study, practical
trial, disappointment, verification, and comparison with European experience.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

Thanks to the political emigration caused by tsarism, revolutionary Russia acquired a

wealth of international links and excellent information on the forms and theories of the
world revolutionary movement, such as no other country possessed.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

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Bolshevism went through fifteen years of practical history (1903-17) unequalled
anywhere in the world in its wealth of experience. During those fifteen years, no other
country knew anything even approximating to that revolutionary experience, that rapid
and varied succession of different forms of the movement—legal and illegal, peaceful
and stormy, underground and open, local circles and mass movements, and parliamentary
and terrorist forms.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

It is at moments of need that one learns who one’s friends are. Defeated armies learn their
lesson.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

Experience has proved that, on certain very important questions of the proletarian
revolution, all countries will inevitably have to do what Russia has done.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

Without such thorough, circumspect and long preparations [since 1903], we could not
have achieved victory in October 1917, or have consolidated that victory.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

To reject compromises “on principle,” to reject the permissibility of compromises in

general, no matter of what kind, is childishness. A political leader who desires to be
useful to the revolutionary proletariat must be able to distinguish concrete cases of
compromises that are inexcusable and are an expression of opportunism and treachery.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

In 1912 the agent provocateur Malinovsky got into the Bolshevik Central Committee. He
betrayed scores and scores of the best and most loyal comrades; he was obliged, with the
other, to assist in the education of scores and scores of thousands of new Bolsheviks
through the medium of the legal press.

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Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

If you want to help the “masses” and win the sympathy and support of the “masses,” you
should not fear difficulties, or pinpricks, chicanery, insults and persecution from the
“leaders,” but must absolutely work wherever the masses are to be found.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

All efforts and all attention should now be concentrated on the next step — the search
after forms of the transition or the approach to the proletarian revolution.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

One must not count in thousands, like the propagandist belonging to a small group that
has not yet given leadership to the masses; in these circumstances one must count in
millions and tens of millions.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

Any army which does not train to use all the weapons, all the means and methods of
warfare that the enemy possesses, or may possess, is behaving in an unwise or even
criminal manner. This applies to politics even more than it does to the art of war.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

It is not difficult to be a revolutionary when revolution has already broken out and is in
spate, when all people are joining the revolution just because they are carried away,
because it is the vogue, and sometimes even from careerist motives. It is far more
difficult—and far more precious—to be a revolutionary when the conditions for direct,
open, really mass and really revolutionary struggle do not yet exist.

Lenin, Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)

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One of the biggest and most dangerous mistakes made by Communists is the idea that a
revolution can be made by revolutionaries alone. On the contrary, to be successful, all
serious revolutionary work requires that the idea that revolutionaries are capable of
playing the part only of the vanguard of the truly virile and advanced class must be
understood and translated into action.

Lenin, The Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)

Without an alliance with non-Communists in the most diverse spheres of activity there
can be no question of any successful communist construction.

Lenin, The Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)

The most important thing is to know how to awaken in the still undeveloped masses an
intelligent attitude towards religious questions and an intelligent criticism of religions.

Lenin, The Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)

No natural science can hold its own in the struggle against the onslaught of bourgeois
ideas and the restoration of the bourgeois world outlook unless it stands on solid
philosophical ground. In order to hold his own in this struggle and carry it to a victorious
finish, the natural scientist must be a modern materialist, a conscious adherent of the
materialism represented by Marx, i.e., he must be a dialectical materialist.

Lenin, The Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)

Modern natural scientists (if they know how to seek, and if we learn to help them) will
find in the Hegelian dialectics, materialistically interpreted, a series of answers to the
philosophical problems which are being raised by the revolution in natural science.

Lenin, The Significance of Militant Materialism (1922)

The prime factors in the question of stability are such members of the C.C. as Stalin and
Trotsky. I think relations between them make up the greater part of the danger of a split.

Lenin, Letter to the Congress (1922)

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Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated
in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority
with sufficient caution.

Lenin, Letter to the Congress (1922)

Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing
among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest
that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing
another man in his stead.

Lenin, Letter to the Congress (1922)

Our schoolteacher should be raised to a standard he has never achieved, and cannot
achieve, in bourgeois society. This is a truism and requires no proof.

Lenin, Pages from a Diary (1923)

If a definite level of culture is required for the building of socialism (although nobody
can say just what that definite ‘level of culture’ is, for it differs in every Western
European country), why cannot we began by first achieving the prerequisites for that
definite level of culture in a revolutionary way, and then, with the aid of the workers’ and
peasants’ government and Soviet system, proceed to overtake the other nations?

Lenin, Our Revolution (1923)

Napoleon, I think, wrote: “On s’engage et puis ... on voit.” rendered freely this means:
“First engage in a serious battle and then see what happens. ” Well, we did first engage in
a serious battle in October 1917. And now there can be no doubt that in the main we have
been victorious.

Lenin, Our Revolution (1923)

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We must follow the rule: Better fewer, but better. We must follow the rule: Better get
good human material in two or even three years than work in haste without hope of
getting any at all.

Lenin, Better fewer, but Better (1923)

While the bourgeois state methodically concentrates all its efforts on doping the urban
workers, adapting all the literature published at state expense and at the expense of the
tsarist and bourgeois parties for this purpose, we can and must utilise our political power
to make the urban worker an effective vehicle of communist ideas among the rural
proletariat.

Lenin, Pages from a Diary (1923)

Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.

Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “Dogmatism And ‘Freedom of Criticism’” (1902)

So long as the state exists there is no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no
state.

Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)

Democracy means equality. The great significance of the proletariat's struggle for
equality and of equality as a slogan will be clear if we correctly interpret it as meaning
the abolition of classes. But democracy means only formal equality. And as soon as
equality is achieved for all members of society in relation to ownership of the means of
production, that is, equality of labor and wages, humanity will inevitably be confronted
with the question of advancing father, from formal equality to actual equality, i.e., to the
operation of the rule “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.

Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)

We say: our aim is to achieve a socialist system of society, which, by eliminating the
division of mankind into classes, by eliminating all exploitation of man by man and
nation by nation, will inevitably eliminate the very possibility of war.

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Lenin, War and Revolution (1917)

The real education of the masses can never be separated from their independent political,
and especially revolutionary, struggle. Only struggle educates the exploited class. Only
struggle discloses to it the magnitude of its own power, widens its horizon, enhances its
abilities, clarifies its mind, forges its will.

Lenin, Lecture on the 1905 Revolution (1917)

Capital is an international force. To vanquish it, an international workers' alliance, an

international workers' brotherhood, is needed.
We are opposed to national enmity and discord, to national exclusiveness. We are
internationalists.

Lenin, Letter to the Workers and Peasants of the Ukraine (1919)

[...] I must say that the tasks of the youth in general, and of the Young Communist
Leagues and all other organizations in particular, might be summed up in a single word:
learn.

Lenin, The Tasks of the Youth Leagues (1920)

History

The creation of the Court represented the culmination of a long development of methods
for the pacific settlement of international disputes, the origins of which can be traced
back to classical times.

Article 33 of the United Nations Charter lists the following methods for the pacific
settlement of disputes between States: negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation,
arbitration, judicial settlement, and resort to regional agencies or arrangements; good
offices should also be added to this list. Among these methods, certain involve appealing
to third parties. For example, mediation places the parties to a dispute in a position in
which they can themselves resolve their dispute thanks to the intervention of a third party.
Arbitration goes further, in the sense that the dispute is submitted to the decision or award
of an impartial third party, so that a binding settlement can be achieved. The same is true

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of judicial settlement (the method applied by the International Court of Justice), except
that a court is subject to stricter rules than an arbitral tribunal, particularly in procedural
matters.

Mediation and arbitration preceded judicial settlement in history. The former was known
in ancient India and in the Islamic world, whilst numerous examples of the latter are to be
found in ancient Greece, in China, among the Arabian tribes, in maritime customary law
in medieval Europe and in Papal practice.

The origins

The modern history of international arbitration is, however, generally recognized as

dating from the so-called Jay Treaty of 1794 between the United States of America and
Great Britain. This Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation provided for the creation
of three mixed commissions, composed of American and British nationals in equal
numbers, whose task it would be to settle a number of outstanding questions between the
two countries which it had not been possible to resolve by negotiation. Whilst it is true
that these mixed commissions were not strictly speaking organs of third-party
adjudication, they were intended to function to some extent as tribunals. They
reawakened interest in the process of arbitration. Throughout the nineteenth century, the
United States and the United Kingdom had recourse to them, as did other States in
Europe and the Americas.

The Alabama Claims arbitration in 1872 between the United Kingdom and the United
States marked the start of a second, and still more decisive, phase. Under the Treaty of
Washington of 1871, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to submit to
arbitration claims by the former for alleged breaches of neutrality by the latter during the
American Civil War. The two countries stated certain rules governing the duties of neutral
governments that were to be applied by the tribunal, which they agreed should consist of
five members, to be appointed respectively by the Heads of State of the United States, the
United Kingdom, Brazil, Italy and Switzerland, the last three States not being parties to
the case. The arbitral tribunal’s award ordered the United Kingdom to pay compensation
and it was duly complied with. The proceedings served as a demonstration of the
effectiveness of arbitration in the settlement of a major dispute and it led during the latter
years of the nineteenth century to developments in various directions, namely:

• sharp growth in the practice of inserting in treaties clauses providing for recourse
to arbitration in the event of a dispute between the parties;
• the conclusion of general treaties of arbitration for the settlement of specified
classes of inter-State disputes;
• efforts to construct a general law of arbitration, so that countries wishing to have
recourse to this means of settling disputes would not be obliged to agree each time
on the procedure to be adopted, the composition of the tribunal, the rules to be
followed and the factors to be taken into consideration in making the award;

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 • proposals for the creation of a permanent international arbitral tribunal in order to
obviate the need to set up a special ad hoc tribunal to decide each arbitrable
dispute.

The Hague Peace Conferences and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

The Hague Peace Conference of 1899, convened at the initiative of the Russian
Czar Nicholas II, marked the beginning of a third phase in the modern history of
international arbitration. The chief object of the Conference, in which — a remarkable
innovation for the time — the smaller States of Europe, some Asian States and Mexico
also participated, was to discuss peace and disarmament. It ended by adopting a
Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, which dealt not only with
arbitration but also with other methods of pacific settlement, such as good offices and
mediation.

With respect to arbitration, the 1899 Convention made provision for the creation of
permanent machinery which would enable arbitral tribunals to be set up as desired and
would facilitate their work. This institution, known as the Permanent Court of
Arbitration, consisted in essence of a panel of jurists designated by each country acceding
to the Convention — each such country being entitled to designate up to four — from
among whom the members of each arbitral tribunal might be chosen. The Convention
further created a permanent Bureau, located at The Hague, with functions corresponding
to those of a court registry or a secretariat, and it laid down a set of rules of procedure to
govern the conduct of arbitrations. It will be seen that the name “Permanent Court of
Arbitration” is not a wholly accurate description of the machinery set up by the
Convention, which represented only a method or device for facilitating the creation of
arbitral tribunals as and when necessary. Nevertheless, the system so established was
permanent and the Convention as it were “institutionalized” the law and practice of
arbitration, placing it on a more definite and more generally accepted footing. The
Permanent Court of Arbitration was established in 1900 and began operating in 1902.

A few years later, in 1907, a second Hague Peace Conference, to which the States of
Central and South America were also invited, revised the Convention and improved the
rules governing arbitral proceedings. Some participants would have preferred the
Conference not to confine itself to improving the machinery created in 1899. The United
States Secretary of State, Elihu Root, had instructed the United States delegation to work
towards the creation of a permanent tribunal composed of judges who were judicial
officers and nothing else, who had no other occupation, and who would devote their
entire time to the trial and decision of international cases by judicial methods. “These
judges”, wrote Secretary Root, “should be so selected from the different countries that the
different systems of law and procedure and the principal languages shall be fairly
represented”. The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany submitted a joint
proposal for a permanent court, but the Conference was unable to reach agreement upon
it. It became apparent in the course of the discussions that one of the major difficulties
was that of finding an acceptable way of choosing the judges, none of the proposals made
having managed to command general support. The Conference confined itself to

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recommending that States should adopt a draft convention for the creation of a court of
arbitral justice as soon as agreement was reached “respecting the selection of the judges
and the constitution of the court”. Although this court was never in fact to see the light of
day, the draft convention that was to have given birth to it enshrined certain fundamental
ideas that some years later were to serve as a source of inspiration for the drafting of the
Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ).

Notwithstanding the fate of these proposals, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which in
1913 took up residence in the Peace Palace that had been built for it thanks to a gift from
Andrew Carnegie, has made a positive contribution to the development of international
law. Among the classic cases that have been decided through recourse to its machinery,
mention may be made of the Carthage and Manouba cases (1913) concerning the seizure
of vessels, and of the Timor Frontiers (1914) and Sovereignty over the Island of Palmas
(1928) cases. Whilst demonstrating that arbitral tribunals set up by recourse to standing
machinery could decide disputes between States on a basis of law and justice and
command respect for their impartiality, these cases threw into bold relief the
shortcomings of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Tribunals of differing composition
could hardly be expected to develop a consistent approach to international law to the
same extent as a permanently constituted tribunal. Besides, there was the entirely
voluntary character of the machinery. The fact that States were parties to the 1899 and
1907 Conventions did not oblige them to submit their disputes to arbitration nor, even if
they were minded so to do, were they duty-bound to have recourse to the Permanent
Court of Arbitration nor to follow the rules of procedure laid down in the Conventions.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration has recently sought to diversify the services that it
can offer, alongside those contemplated by the Conventions. The International Bureau of
the Permanent Court has inter alia acted as Registry in some important international
arbitrations, including that between Eritrea and Yemen on questions of territorial
sovereignty and maritime delimitation (1998 and 1999), that concerning the delimitation
of the boundary between Eritrea and Ethiopia (2002), and that between Ireland and the
United Kingdom under the 1992 Convention for the Protection of the Marine
Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR). Moreover, in 1993, the Permanent
Court of Arbitration adopted new “Optional Rules for Arbitrating Disputes between Two
Parties of Which Only One Is a State” and, in 2001, “Optional Rules for Arbitration of
Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and/or the Environment”.

The work of the two Hague Peace Conferences and the ideas they inspired in statesmen
and jurists had some influence on the creation of the Central American Court of Justice,
which operated from 1908 to 1918, as well as on the various plans and proposals
submitted between 1911 and 1919 both by national and international bodies and by
governments for the establishment of an international judicial tribunal, which culminated
in the creation of the PCIJ within the framework of the new international system set up
after the end of the First World War.

The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ)

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Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations gave the Council of the League
responsibility for formulating plans for the establishment of a Permanent Court of
International Justice (PCIJ), such a court to be competent not only to hear and determine
any dispute of an international character submitted to it by the parties to the dispute, but
also to give an advisory opinion upon any dispute or question referred to it by the Council
or by the Assembly. It remained for the League Council to take the necessary action to
give effect to Article 14. At its second session early in 1920, the Council appointed an
Advisory Committee of Jurists to submit a report on the establishment of the PCIJ. The
committee sat in The Hague, under the chairmanship of Baron Descamps ( Belgium). In
August 1920, a report containing a draft scheme was submitted to the Council, which,
after examining it and making certain amendments, laid it before the First Assembly of
the League of Nations, which opened at Geneva in November of that year. The Assembly
instructed its Third Committee to examine the question of the Court’s constitution. In
December 1920, after an exhaustive study by a subcommittee, the Committee submitted a
revised draft to the Assembly, which unanimously adopted it. This was the Statute of the
PCIJ.

The Assembly took the view that a vote alone would not be sufficient to establish the
PCIJ and that each State represented in the Assembly would formally have to ratify the
Statute. In a resolution of 13 December 1920, it called upon the Council to submit to the
Members of the League of Nations a protocol adopting the Statute and decided that the
Statute should come into force as soon as the protocol had been ratified by a majority of
Member States. The protocol was opened for signature on 16 December. By the time of
the next meeting of the Assembly, in September 1921, a majority of the Members of the
League had signed and ratified the protocol. The Statute thus entered into force. It was to
be revised only once, in 1929, the revised version coming into force in 1936. Among
other things, the new Statute resolved the previously insurmountable problem of the
election of the members of a permanent international tribunal by providing that the
judges were to be elected concurrently but independently by the Council and the
Assembly of the League, and that it should be borne in mind that those elected “should
represent the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world”.
Simple as this solution may now seem, in 1920 it was a considerable achievement to have
devised it. The first elections were held on 14 September 1921. Following approaches by
the Netherlands Government in the spring of 1919, it was decided that the PCIJ should
have its permanent seat in the Peace Palace in The Hague, which it would share with the
Permanent Court of Arbitration. It was accordingly in the Peace Palace that on
30 January 1922 the Court’s preliminary session devoted to the elaboration of the Court’s
Rules opened, and it was there too that its inaugural sitting was held on
15 February 1922, with the Dutch jurist Bernard C. J. Loder as President.

The PCIJ was thus a working reality. The great advance it represented in the history of
international legal proceedings can be appreciated by considering the following:

• unlike arbitral tribunals, the PCIJ was a permanently constituted body governed
by its own Statute and Rules of Procedure, fixed beforehand and binding on
parties having recourse to the Court;

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 • it had a permanent Registry which, inter alia, served as a channel of
communication with governments and international bodies;
• its proceedings were largely public and provision was made for the publication in
due course of the pleadings, of verbatim records of the sittings and of all
documentary evidence submitted to it;
• the permanent tribunal thus established was now able to set about gradually
developing a constant practice and maintaining a certain continuity in its
decisions, thereby enabling it to make a greater contribution to the development
of international law;
• in principle the PCIJ was accessible to all States for the judicial settlement of their
international disputes and they were able to declare beforehand that for certain
classes of legal disputes they recognized the Court’s jurisdiction as compulsory in
relation to other States accepting the same obligation. This system of optional
acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Court was the most that it was then possible
to obtain;
• the PCIJ was empowered to give advisory opinions upon any dispute or question
referred to it by the League of Nations Council or Assembly;
• the Court’s Statute specifically listed the sources of law it was to apply in
deciding contentious cases and giving advisory opinions, without prejudice to the
power of the Court to decide a case ex aequo et bono if the parties so agreed;
• it was more representative of the international community and of the major legal
systems of the world than any other international tribunal had ever been before it.

Although the Permanent Court of International Justice was brought into being through,
and by, the League of Nations, it was nevertheless not a part of the League. There was a
close association between the two bodies, which found expression inter alia in the fact
that the League Council and Assembly periodically elected the Members of the Court and
that both Council and Assembly were entitled to seek advisory opinions from the Court,
but the latter never formed an integral part of the League, just as the Statute never formed
part of the Covenant. In particular, a Member State of the League of Nations was not by
this fact alone automatically a party to the Court’s Statute.

Between 1922 and 1940 the PCIJ dealt with 29 contentious cases between States and
delivered 27 advisory opinions. At the same time several hundred treaties, conventions
and declarations conferred jurisdiction upon it over specified classes of disputes. Any
doubts that might thus have existed as to whether a permanent international judicial
tribunal could function in a practical and effective manner were thus dispelled. The
Court’s value to the international community was demonstrated in a number of different
ways, in the first place by the development of a true judicial technique. This found
expression in the Rules of Court, which the PCIJ originally drew up in 1922 and
subsequently revised on three occasions, in 1926, 1931 and 1936. There was also the
PCIJ’s Resolution concerning the Judicial Practice of the Court, adopted in 1931 and
revised in 1936, which laid down the internal procedure to be applied during the Court’s
deliberations on each case. In addition, whilst helping to resolve some serious
international disputes, many of them consequences of the First World War, the decisions

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of the PCIJ at the same time often clarified previously unclear areas of international law
or contributed to its development.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The outbreak of war in September 1939 inevitably had serious consequences for the
PCIJ, which had already for some years known a period of diminished activity. After its
last public sitting on 4 December 1939, the Permanent Court of International Justice did
not in fact deal with any judicial business and no further elections of judges were held. In
1940 the Court removed to Geneva, a single judge remaining at The Hague, together with
a few Registry officials of Dutch nationality. It was inevitable that even under the stress
of the war some thought should be given to the future of the Court, as well as to the
creation of a new international political order.

In 1942 the United States Secretary of State and the Foreign Secretary of the United
Kingdom declared themselves in favour of the establishment or re-establishment of an
international court after the war, and the Inter-American Juridical Committee
recommended the extension of the PCIJ’s jurisdiction. Early in 1943, the United
Kingdom Government took the initiative of inviting a number of experts to London to
constitute an informal Inter-Allied Committee to examine the matter. This Committee,
under the chairmanship of Sir William Malkin ( United Kingdom), held 19 meetings,
which were attended by jurists from 11 countries. In its report, which was published on
10 February 1944, it recommended:

• that the Statute of any new international court should be based on that of the
Permanent Court of International Justice;
• that advisory jurisdiction should be retained in the case of the new Court;
• that acceptance of the jurisdiction of the new Court should not be compulsory;
• that the Court should have no jurisdiction to deal with essentially political
matters.

Meanwhile, on 30 October 1943, following a conference between China, the USSR, the
United Kingdom and the United States, a joint declaration was issued recognizing the
necessity “of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international
organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving States,
and open to membership by all such States, large and small, for the maintenance of
international peace and security”.

This declaration led to exchanges between the Four Powers at Dumbarton Oaks, resulting
in the publication on 9 October 1944 of proposals for the establishment of a general
international organization, to include an international court of justice. The next step was
the convening of a meeting in Washington, in April 1945, of a committee of jurists
representing 44 States. This Committee, under the chairmanship of G. H. Hackworth
( United States), was entrusted with the preparation of a draft Statute for the future
international court of justice, for submission to the San Francisco Conference, which
during the months of April to June 1945 was to draw up the United Nations Charter. The

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draft Statute prepared by the Committee was based on the Statute of the PCIJ and was
thus not a completely fresh text. The Committee nevertheless felt constrained to leave a
number of questions open which it felt should be decided by the Conference: should a
new court be created? In what form should the court’s mission as the principal judicial
organ of the United Nations be stated? Should the court’s jurisdiction be compulsory, and,
if so, to what extent? How should the judges be elected? The final decisions on these
points, and on the definitive form of the Statute, were taken at the San Francisco
Conference, in which 50 States participated. The Conference decided against compulsory
jurisdiction and in favour of the creation of an entirely new court, which would be a
principal organ of the United Nations, on the same footing as the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the
Secretariat, and with the Statute annexed to and forming part of the Charter. The chief
reasons that led the Conference to decide to create a new court were the following:

• as the court was to be the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, it was felt
inappropriate for this role to be filled by the Permanent Court of International
Justice, which had up until then been linked to the League of Nations, then on the
point of dissolution;
• the creation of a new court was more consistent with the provision in the Charter
that all Member States of the United Nations would ipso facto be parties to the
court’s Statute;
• several States that were parties to the Statute of the PCIJ were not represented at
the San Francisco Conference, and, conversely, several States represented at the
Conference were not parties to the Statute;
• there was a feeling in some quarters that the PCIJ formed part of an older order, in
which European States had dominated the political and legal affairs of the
international community, and that the creation of a new court would make it easier
for States outside Europe to play a more influential role. This has in fact happened
as the membership of the United Nations grew from 51 in 1945 to 192 in 2006.

The San Francisco Conference nevertheless showed some concern that all continuity with
the past should not be broken, particularly as the Statute of the PCIJ had itself been
drawn up on the basis of past experience, and it was felt better not to change something
that had seemed to work well. The Charter therefore plainly stated that the Statute of the
International Court of Justice was based upon that of the PCIJ. At the same time, the
necessary steps were taken for a transfer of the jurisdiction of the PCIJ so far as was
possible to the International Court of Justice. In any event, the decision to create a new
court necessarily involved the dissolution of its predecessor. The PCIJ met for the last
time in October 1945 when it was decided to take all appropriate measures to ensure the
transfer of its archives and effects to the new International Court of Justice, which, like its
predecessor, was to have its seat in the Peace Palace. The judges of the PCIJ all resigned
on 31 January 1946, and the election of the first Members of the International Court of
Justice took place on 6 February 1946, at the First Session of the United Nations General
Assembly and Security Council. In April 1946, the PCIJ was formally dissolved, and the
International Court of Justice, meeting for the first time, elected as its President Judge
José Gustavo Guerrero ( El Salvador), the last President of the PCIJ. The Court appointed

149
the members of its Registry (largely from among former officials of the PCIJ) and held an
inaugural public sitting, on the 18th of that month. The first case was submitted in
May 1947. It concerned incidents in the Corfu Channel and was brought by the United
Kingdom against Albania.

A TREATY THAT OUTLAWS WAR

Treaty between the United States and other Powers providing for the renunciation of war
as an instrument of national policy. Signed at Paris, August 27, 1928; ratification
advised by the Senate, January 16, 1929; ratified by the President, January 17, 1929;
instruments of ratification deposited at Washington by the United States of America,
Australia, Dominion of Canada, Czechoslovkia, Germany, Great Britain, India, Irish
Free State, Italy, New Zealand, and Union of South Africa, March 2, 1929: By Poland,
March 26, 1929; by Belgium, March 27 1929; by France, April 22, 1929; by Japan, July
24, 1929; proclaimed, July 24, 1929.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS a Treaty between the President of the United States Of America, the
President of the German Reich, His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the President of the
French Republic, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British
Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, His Majesty the King of Italy, His
Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the President of the Republic of Poland, and the President
of the Czechoslovak Republic, providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of
national policy, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotontiaries at Paris
on the twenty-seventh day of August, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight, the
original of which Treaty, being in the English and the French languages, is word for word
as follows:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN REICH, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES OF AMERICA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE
PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT
BRITAIN IRELAND AND THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS,
EMPEROR OF INDIA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF ITALY, HIS MAJESTY THE
EMPEROR OF JAPAN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND THE
PRESIDENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC,

Deeply sensible of their solemn duty to promote the welfare of mankind;

150
Persuaded that the time has, come when a frank renunciation of war as an instrument of
na tional policy should be made to the end that the peaceful and friendly relations now
existing between their peoples may be perpetuated;

Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by
pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory
Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its ts national interests by resort to war a
should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty;

Hopeful that, encouraged by their example, all the other nations of the world will join in
this humane endeavor and by adhering to the present Treaty as soon as it comes into force
bring their peoples within the scope of its beneficent provisions, thus uniting the civilized
nations of the world in a common renunciation of war as an instrument of their national
policy;

Benito Mussolini Defines Fascism

In 1932 Mussolini wrote (with the help of Giovanni Gentile) an entry for the Italian  
Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism.

Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of 
humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither 
in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine 
of Pacifism ­­ born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the 
face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and 
puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All 
other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where 
they have to make the great decision ­­ the alternative of life or death.... 

...The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: 
he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, but above all for 
others ­­ those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, 
and those who will come after... 

...Fascism [is] the complete opposite of…Marxian Socialism, the materialist 
conception of history of human civilization can be explained simply through the 
conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and 
development in the means and instruments of production.... Fascism, now and 

151
always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced 
by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of 
history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, 
carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite 
out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and 
unchanging class­war is also denied ­ the natural progeny of the economic 
conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class­war can be the 
preponderant force in the transformation of society.... 

After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic 
ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical 
application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a 
majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by 
means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and 
fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through 
the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage.... 

...Fascism denies, in democracy, the absurd conventional untruth of political 
equality dressed out in the garb of collective irresponsibility, and the myth of 
"happiness" and indefinite progress.... 

...iven that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, 
and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must 
also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy: political doctrines 
pass, but humanity remains, and it may rather be expected that this will be a 
century of authority...a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a 
century of individualism it may be expected that this will be the century of 
collectivism and hence the century of the State.... 

The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, 
and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with 
which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their 
relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing 
force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a 
collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on 
the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a 
personality ­­ thus it may be called the "ethic" State.... 

152
...The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty 
to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful 
freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot 
be the individual, but the State alone.... 

...For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is 
an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence. 
Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of decadence, are always 
imperialist; and renunciation is a sign of decay and of death. Fascism is the 
doctrine best adapted to represent the tendencies and the aspirations of a 
people, like the people of Italy, who are rising again after many centuries of 
abasement and foreign servitude. But empire demands discipline, the 
coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice: this fact 
explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of 
many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be 
taken against those who would oppose this spontaneous and inevitable 
movement of Italy in the twentieth century, and would oppose it by recalling the 
outworn ideology of the nineteenth century ­ repudiated wheresoever there has 
been the courage to undertake great experiments of social and political 
transformation; for never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of 
direction and order. If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a 
thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time. 
For if a doctrine must be a living thing, this is proved by the fact that Fascism has 
created a living faith; and that this faith is very powerful in the minds of men is 
demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for it.

NAZISM AND RACISM

Speech delivered by Hitler in Salzburg, 7 or 8 August 1920. (NSDAP 
meeting)

The following quotation is from a shorthand transcript.

153
"This is the first demand we must raise and do [reversal of the Versailles Treaty 
provisions]: that our people be set free, that these chains be burst asunder, that 
Germany be once again captain of her soul and master of her destinies, together 
with all those who want to join Germany. (Applause)

And the fulfillment of this first demand will then open up the way for all the other 
reforms.  And here is one thing that perhaps distinguishes us from you 
[Austrians] as far as our programme is concerned, although it is very much in the 
spirit of things: our attitude to the Jewish problem.

For us, this is not a problem you can turn a blind eye to­one to be solved by small 
concessions.  For us, it is a problem of whether our nation can ever recover its 
health, whether the Jewish spirit can ever really be eradicated.  Don't be misled 
into thinking you can fight a disease without killing the carrier, without destroying 
the bacillus.  Don't think you can fight racial tuberculosis without taking care to rid 
the nation of the carrier of that racial tuberculosis.  This Jewish contamination will 
not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, the 
Jew, has been banished from our midst. (Applause)

Source: D Irving, The War Path: Hitler's Germany 1933­1939. Papermac, 1978, 
p.xxi

Adolf Hitler’s Speech to the Doctors’ Union in April 1933 on racial 
purification of the German people.

"The greatest achievements in intellectual life can never be produced by those of 
alien race but only by those who are inspired by the Aryan or German spirit. In 
view of the narrowness of the space within which German intellectual work and 
German intellectual workers have to live they had a natural moral claim to 
precedence and preference. If the number of foreigners admitted to take part in 
German intellectual life was out of proportion to the number of native Germans 
sharing in that life foreigners might interpret this as a recognition of the 
intellectual superiority of other races." 

(Quoted in N H Baynes, The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, Oxford University Press, 
1942, Volume I, pp.728)

154
Hitler's Closing speech at the Nuremberg Party Conference, 1938 (12 
September)

"When the question is still put to us why National Socialism fights with such 
fanaticism against the Jewish element in Germany, why it pressed and still 
presses for its removal then the answer can only be: Because National Socialism 
desires to establish a true community of the people…. Because we are National 
Socialists we can never suffer an alien race which has nothing to do with us to 
claim the leadership of our working people." 

(Adolf Hitler, quoted in N H Baynes, The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, Oxford 
University Press, 1942, Volume I, pp.735)

Hitler's Speech to Party Congress at Nuremberg, September 12, 1938

"They complain… of the boundless cruelty with which Germany­and now Italy 
also­seek to rid themselves of their Jewish elements. All these great democratic 
empires taken together have only a handful of people to the square kilometre. 
Both in Italy and Germany there are over 140. Yet formerly Germany, without 
blinking an eyelid, for whole decades admitted these Jews by the hundred 
thousand. But now… when the nation is no longer willing to be sucked dry by 
these parasites, on every side one hears nothing but laments. But lamentations 
have not led these democratic countries to substitute helpful activity at last for 
their hypocritical questions; on the contrary, these countries with icy coldness 
assured us that obviously there was no place for the Jews in their territory. … So 
no help is given, but morality is saved. 

(Source: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922­August 1939. Edited by N H 
Haynes. Volume I, pp.719­720 Oxford University Press, 1942)

Heinrich Himmler, 25 November 1939

"We won’t waste much time on the Jews. It’s great to get to grips with the Jewish 
race at last. The more they die the better… We want to put half to three­quarters 
of all Jews east of the Vistula. We will crush these Jews wherever we can. … Get 
the Jews out of the Reich… We have no use for Jews in the Reich. Probably the 

155
line of the Vistula, behind this line no more. We are the most important people 
here…" 

(Source: J Noakes, G Pridham. Nazism, 1919­1945: A Documentary Reader. 
Volume 3. p.1055. University of Exeter Press, 1991)

Statement by Hitler, March 20, 1943

"By now it is clear that [the conflict between Germany and the USSR] has … 
gradually assumed the characteristics of a struggle that can only be compared to 
the greatest historical events of the past. The pitiless and merciless war that has 
been forced upon us by external Jewry will lay the entire Continent in ruins unless 
the forces of [eastern] destruction can be stopped before reaching Europe’s 
borders. [Should they break through], the worst consequences would be not 
burned cities and wrecked cultural monuments but the bestial massacres of 
masses of human beings comparable to those that followed the invasions of the 
Huns and Mongols out of inner Asia." 

(Quoted in A J Mayer, Why Did the Heavens Not Darken: The "Final Solution" in  
History. London: Verso, 1990, p. 346)

THE NUREMBERG LAWS 
(September 15, 1935)
Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of
the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the
future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously resolved upon the following
law, which is promulgated herewith:

Section 1

1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are

forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if,
for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.
2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor.

Section 2

156
 1. Extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of
Germany or related blood is forbidden.

(Supplementary decrees set Nazi definitions of racial Germans, Jews, and half-breeds or
Mischlinge --- see the latter entry for details and citations. Jews could not vote or hold
public office.)

Section 3
Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood
as domestic workers under the age of 45.
Section 4

1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national
colours.
2. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colours. The
exercise of this right is protected by the State.

Section 5

1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section 1 will be

punished with hard labour.
2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section 2 will be
punished with imprisonment or with hard labor.
3. A person who acts contrary to the provisions of Sections 3 or 4 will be
punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a fine, or with one of
these penalties.

Section 6
The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy Fuhrer and the
Reich Minister of Justice will issue the legal and administrative regulations
required for the enforcement and supplementing of this law.
Section 7
The law will become effective on the day after its promulgation; Section 3,
however, not until January 1, 1936.

THE RESPONSE TO FASCISM

The Atlantic Charter

157
AUGUST 14, 1941

The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill,
representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem
it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their
respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.

First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;

Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely
expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;

Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which
they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those
who have been forcibly deprived of them;

Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the
enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to
the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic
prosperity;

Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the
economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic
advancement and social security;

Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace
which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own
boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all lands may live out
their lives in freedom from fear and want;

Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without
hindrance;

Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual
reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be
maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which
threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the
establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament
of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable
measure which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Winston S. Churchill

158
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Third Inaugural Address 
January 20, 1941 

On each national day of inauguration since 1789, the people have renewed  
their sense of dedication to the United States. 

In Washington's day the task of the people was to create and weld together a 
nation. 

In Lincoln's day the task of the people was to preserve that Nation from disruption 
from within. 

In this day the task of the people is to save that Nation and its institutions from 
disruption from without. 

To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to pause for a 
moment and take stock­­to recall what our place in history has been, and to 
rediscover what we are and what we may be. If we do not, we risk the real peril of 
inaction. 

Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of 
the human spirit. The life of a man is three­score years and ten: a little more, a 
little less. The life of a nation is the fullness of the measure of its will to live. 

There are men who doubt this. There are men who believe that democracy, as a 
form of Government and a frame of life, is limited or measured by a kind of 
mystical and artificial fate that, for some unexplained reason, tyranny and slavery 
have become the surging wave of the future­­and that freedom is an ebbing tide. 

But we Americans know that this is not true. 

Eight years ago, when the life of this Republic seemed frozen by a fatalistic terror, 
we proved that this is not true. We were in the midst of shock­­but we acted. We 
acted quickly, boldly, decisively. 

159
These later years have been living years­­fruitful years for the people of this 
democracy. For they have brought to us greater security and, I hope, a better 
understanding that life's ideals are to be measured in other than material things. 

Most vital to our present and our future is this experience of a democracy which 
successfully survived crisis at home; put away many evil things; built new 
structures on enduring lines; and, through it all, maintained the fact of its 
democracy. 

For action has been taken within the three­way framework of the Constitution of 
the United States. The coordinate branches of the Government continue freely to 
function. The Bill of Rights remains inviolate. The freedom of elections is wholly 
maintained. Prophets of the downfall of American democracy have seen their dire 
predictions come to naught. 

Democracy is not dying. 

We know it because we have seen it revive­­and grow. 

We know it cannot die­­because it is built on the unhampered initiative of 
individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise­­an enterprise 
undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority. 

We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full 
force of men's enlightened will. 

We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited civilization 
capable of infinite progress in the improvement of human life. 

We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on 
every continent­­for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the 
most unconquerable of all forms of human society. 

A nation, like a person, has a body­­a body that must be fed and clothed and 
housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that measures up to the objectives 
of our time. 

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A nation, like a person, has a mind­­a mind that must be kept informed and alert, 
that must know itself, that understands the hopes and the needs of its 
neighbors­­all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world. 

And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more permanent, 
something larger than the sum of all its parts. It is that something which matters 
most to its future­­which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its present. 

It is a thing for which we find it difficult­­even impossible­­to hit upon a single, 
simple word. 

And yet we all understand what it is­­the spirit­­the faith of America. It is the 
product of centuries. It was born in the multitudes of those who came from many 
lands­­some of high degree, but mostly plain people, who sought here, early and 
late, to find freedom more freely. 

The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human 
history. It permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It blazed anew in the 
middle ages. It was written in Magna Charta. 

In the Americas its impact has been irresistible. America has been the New 
World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this continent was a new­found 
land, but because all those who came here believed they could create upon this 
continent a new life­­a life that should be new in freedom. 

Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the Declaration of 
Independence, into the Constitution of the United States, into the Gettysburg 
Address. 

Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their spirit, and the millions 
who followed, and the stock that sprang from them­­all have moved forward 
constantly and consistently toward an ideal which in itself has gained stature and 
clarity with each generation. 

The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or 
self­serving wealth. 

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We know that we still have far to go; that we must more greatly build the security 
and the opportunity and the knowledge of every citizen, in the measure justified 
by the resources and the capacity of the land. 

But it is not enough to achieve these purposes alone. It is not enough to clothe 
and feed the body of this Nation, and instruct and inform its mind. For there is 
also the spirit. And of the three, the greatest is the spirit. 

Without the body and the mind, as all men know, the Nation could not live. 

But if the spirit of America were killed, even though the Nation's body and mind, 
constricted in an alien world, lived on, the America we know would have 
perished. 

That spirit­­that faith­­speaks to us in our daily lives in ways often unnoticed, 
because they seem so obvious. It speaks to us here in the Capital of the Nation. 
It speaks to us through the processes of governing in the sovereignties of 48 
States. It speaks to us in our counties, in our cities, in our towns, and in our 
villages. It speaks to us from the other nations of the hemisphere, and from those 
across the seas­­the enslaved, as well as the free. Sometimes we fail to hear or 
heed these voices of freedom because to us the privilege of our freedom is such 
an old, old story. 

The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken by our first 
President in his first inaugural in 1789­­words almost directed, it would seem, to 
this year of 1941: "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of 
the republican model of government are justly considered ... deeply, ... finally, 
staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people." 

If we lose that sacred fire­­if we let it be smothered with doubt and fear­­then we 
shall reject the destiny which Washington strove so valiantly and so triumphantly 
to establish. The preservation of the spirit and faith of the Nation does, and will, 
furnish the highest justification for every sacrifice that we may make in the cause 
of national defense. 

In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong purpose is to 
protect and to perpetuate the integrity of democracy. 

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For this we muster the spirit of America, and the faith of America. 

We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, 
in the service of our country, by the will of God. 

THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and  
proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which  
appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called  
upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it  
to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and  
other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of  
countries or territories."

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and 
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of 
freedom, justice and peace in the world, 

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in 
barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the 
advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech 
and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the 
highest aspiration of the common people, 

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as 
a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human 
rights should be protected by the rule of law, 

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 Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations 
between nations, 

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed 
their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the 
human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have 
determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger 
freedom, 

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co­
operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for 
and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, 

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the 
greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL 
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for 
all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of 
society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and 
education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive 
measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective 
recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States 
themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. 

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are 
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another 
in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this 
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, 
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, 
property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made 
on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the 

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 country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, 
trust, non­self­governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade 
shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading 
treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the 
law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to 
equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any 
discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to 
such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national 
tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the 
constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

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Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an 
independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and 
obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed 
innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he 
has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act 
or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or 
international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier 
penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal 
offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, 
home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. 
Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such 
interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within 
the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to 
return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum 
from persecution.

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 (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely 
arising from non­political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and 
principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the 
right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, 
nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They 
are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its 
dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the 
intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is 
entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association 
with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this 
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either 
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his 
religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

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Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right 
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, 
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and 
regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and 
association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, 
directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; 
this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall 
be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by 
equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is 
entitled to realization, through national effort and international co­operation 
and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of 
the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and 
the free development of his personality.

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Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just 
and favourable conditions of work and to protection against 
unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for 
equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration 
ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, 
and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the 
protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation 
of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health 
and well­being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, 
housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to 
security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old 
age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. 
All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social 
protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in 
the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be 
compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally 

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 available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the 
basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human 
personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and 
fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and 
friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further 
the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be 
given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the 
community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its 
benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material 
interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which 
he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights 
and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full 
development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject 
only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of 
securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others 
and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the 
general welfare in a democratic society.

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 (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the 
purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, 
group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act 
aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

THE TOTALITARIAN RESPONSE

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong 

5. War and Peace 
 

War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have 
developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political 
groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of 
classes. 

"Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War" (December 1936), Selected 
Works, Vol. I, p. 180.

"War is the continuation of politics." In this sense, war is politics and war itself is a 
political action; since ancient times there has never been a war that did not have 
a political character.... However, war has its own particular characteristics and in 
this sense, it cannot be equated with politics in general. "War is the continuation 
of politics by other . . . means." When politics develops to a certain stage beyond 
which it cannot proceed by the usual means, war breaks out to sweep the 
obstacles from the way.... When the obstacle is removed and our political aim 
attained the war will stop. Nevertheless, if the obstacle is not completely swept 
away, the war will have to continue until the aim is fully accomplished.... It can 

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therefore be said that politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with 
bloodshed. 

"On Protracted War" (May 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 152­53 *

History shows that wars are divided into two kinds, just and unjust. All wars that 
are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. We 
Communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but we do not oppose 
progressive, just wars. Not only do we Communists not oppose just wars; we 
actively participate in them. As for unjust wars, World War I is an instance in 
which both sides fought for imperialist interests; therefore, the Communists of the 
whole world firmly opposed that war. The way to oppose a war of this kind is to 
do everything possible to prevent it before it breaks out and, once it breaks out, to 
oppose war with war, to oppose unjust war with just war, whenever possible. 

Ibid., p. 150.

Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society, and without 
them it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to 
overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people 
to win political power. 

"On Contradiction" (August1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 344.*

Revolutionary war is an antitoxin that not only eliminates the enemy's poison but 
also purges us of our own filth. Every just, revolutionary war is endowed with 
tremendous power and can transform many things or clear the way for their 
transformation. The Sino­Japanese war will transform both China and Japan; 
provided China perseveres in the War of Resistance and in the united front, the 
old Japan will surely be transformed into a new Japan and the old China into a 
new China, and people and everything else in both China and Japan will be 
transformed during and after the war. 

"On Protracted War" (May 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 131.*

Every Communist must grasp the truth; "Political power grows out of the barrel of 
a gun." 

172
"Problems of War and Strategy" (November 6, 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 
224.

The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the 
central task and the highest form of revolution. This Marxist­Leninist principle of 
revolution holds well universally, for China and for all other countries. Ibid. p. 219.

Without armed struggle neither the proletariat, nor the people, nor the Communist 
Party would have any standing at all in China and it would be impossible for the 
revolution to triumph. In these years [the eighteen years since the founding of the 
Party] the development, consolidation and bolshevization of our Party have 
proceeded in the midst of revolutionary wars; without armed struggle the 
Communist Party would assuredly not be what it is today. Comrades throughout 
the Party must never forget this experience for which we have paid in blood. 
"Introducing The Communist" (October 4, 1939), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 292.*

According to the Marxist theory of the state, the army is the chief component of 
state power. Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong 
army. Some people ridicule us as advocates of the "omnipotence of war". Yes, we 
are advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good, not bad, it is 
Marxist. The guns of the Russian Communist Party created socialism. We shall 
create a democratic republic. Experience in the class struggle in the era of 
imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working 
class and the laboring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords; 
in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed. 
"Problems of War and Strategy" (November 6, 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 
225.

We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only 
be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take 
up the gun. Ibid. 

War, this monster of mutual slaughter among men, will be finally eliminated by 
the progress of human society, and in the not too distant future too. But there is 
only one way to eliminate it and that is to oppose war with war, to oppose 
counterrevolutionary war with revolutionary war, to oppose national counter­
revolutionary war with national revolutionary war, and to oppose counter­

173
revolutionary class war with revolutionary class war.... When human society 
advances to the point where classes and states are eliminated, there will be no 
more wars, counter­revolutionary or revolutionary, unjust or just; that will be the 
era of perpetual peace for mankind. Our study of the laws of revolutionary war 
springs from the desire to eliminate all wars. Herein, lies the distinction between 
us Communists and all the exploiting classes.  "Problems of Strategy in China's 
Revolutionary War" (December 1936), Selected Works, Vol. I, pp. 182­83.

Our country and all the other socialist countries want peace; so do the peoples of 
all the countries of the world. The only ones who crave war and do not want 
peace are certain monopoly capitalist groups in a handful of imperialist countries 
that depend on aggression for their profits.  "Opening Address at the Eighth 
National Congress of the Communist Party of China" (September 15, 1956).

To achieve a lasting world peace, we must further develop our friendship and co­
operation with the fraternal countries in the socialist camp and strengthen our 
solidarity with all peace­loving countries. We must endeavor to establish normal 
diplomatic relations, based on mutual respect for territorial integrity and 
sovereignty and of equality and mutual benefit, with all countries willing to live 
together with us in peace. We must give active support to the national 
independence and liberation movement in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin 
America as well as to the peace movement and to just struggles in all the 
countries of the world. Ibid. 

As for the imperialist countries, we should unite with their peoples and strive to 
coexist peacefully with those countries, do business with them and prevent any 
possible war, but under no circumstances should we harbour any unrealistic 
notions about them.  On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the 
People (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 75.

We desire peace. However, if imperialism insists on fighting a war, we will have 
no alternative but to take the firm resolution to fight to the finish before going 
ahead with our construction. If you are afraid of war day in day out, what will you 
do if war eventually comes? First, I said that the East Wind is prevailing over the 
West Wind and war will not break out, and now I have added these explanations 
about the situation in case war should break out. Both possibilities have thus 
been taken into account.  

174
Speech at the Moscow Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (November 
18, 1957), quoted in "Statement by the Spokesman of the Chinese Government" 
(September 1, 1963).*

People all over the world are now discussing whether a third world war will break 
out. On this question, too, we must be mentally prepared and do some analysis. 
We stand firmly for peace and against war. However, if the imperialists insist on 
unleashing another war, we should not be afraid of it. Our attitude on this 
question is the same as our attitude towards any disturbance: first, we are 
against it; second, we are not afraid of it. The First World War was followed by the 
birth of the Soviet Union with a population of 200 million. The Second World War 
was followed by the emergence of the socialist camp with a combined population 
of 900 million. If the imperialists insist on launching a third world war, it is certain 
that several hundred million more will turn to socialism, and then there will not be 
much room left on earth for the imperialists; it is also likely that the whole 
structure of imperialism will utterly collapse. 

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 
1957), 1st pocket ed., pp. 67­68.

Make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again . . . until their doom­ that is the 
logic of the imperialists and all reactionaries the world over in dealing with the 
people's cause and they will never go against this logic. This is a Marxist law. 
When we say "imperialism is ferocious", we mean that its nature will never 
change, that the imperialists will never lay down their butcher knives, that they 
will never become Buddhas, till their doom. Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight 
again . . . until their victory; that is the logic of the people, and they too will never 
go against this logic. This is another Marxist law. The Russian people's revolution 
followed this law, and so has the Chinese people's revolution. 

"Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle" (August 14, 1949), Selected Works, 
Vol. IV, p. 428.

Just because we have won victory, we must never relax our vigilance against the 
frenzied plots for revenge by the imperialists and their running dogs. Whoever 
relaxes vigilance will disarm himself politically and land himself in a passive 
position. 

175
"Address to the Preparatory Committee of the New Political Consultative 
Conference" (June 15, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 407.

The imperialists and their running dogs, the Chinese reactionaries, will not resign 
themselves to defeat in this land of China. They will continue to gang up against 
the Chinese people in every possible way. For example, they will smuggle their 
agents into China to sow dissension and make trouble. That is certain; they will 
never neglect these activities. To take another example, the imperialists will incite 
the Chinese reactionaries, and even throw in their own forces, to blockade 
China's ports. They will do this as long as it is possible. Furthermore, if they still 
hanker after adventures, they will send some of their troops to invade and harass 
frontiers of China; this, too, is not impossible. All this we must take fully into 
account. 

Ibid.* 

The world is progressing, the future is bright and no one can change this general 
trend of history. We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on 
the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their 
confidence in victory. 

"On the Chungking Negotiations" (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV. p. 
59.

The commanders and fighters of the entire Chinese People's Liberation Army 
absolutely must not relax in the least their will to fight; any thinking that relaxes 
the will to fight and belittles the enemy is wrong. 

"Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the 
Communist Party of China" (March 5, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 361.

THE NUCLEAR AGE 

176
Albert Einstein on Philosophy of Religion, Theology, God

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal 
God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it 
should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things 
natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If 
there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be 
Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is 
being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have 
never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can 
be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the 
world so far as our science can reveal it. (Albert Einstein, 1954, The Human Side, 
edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press)

Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is 
determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. 
For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events 
could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural 
Being.
(Albert Einstein, 1936, The Human Side. Responding to a child who wrote and 
asked if scientists pray.)

A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, 
and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be 
in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward 
after death.
(Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, 9 November 
1930)

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, 
whose purposes are modeled after our own ­­ a God, in short, who is but a 
reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the 
death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or 
ridiculous egotisms
(Albert Einstein, Obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955)

177
One strength of the Communist system ... is that it has some of the 
characteristics of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
(Albert Einstein, Out Of My Later Years, 1950)

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of
individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot
do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed
in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking
down of determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely
superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory
understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for
us, not for God. (Albert Einstein, The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and 
Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press)

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then 
we are a sorry lot indeed. (Albert Einstein) 

The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I am unable to 
take seriously. (Albert Einstein, Letter to Hoffman and Dukas, 1946)

The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to 
any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority 
imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action. (Albert Einstein) 

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an 
exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. (Albert 
Einstein, The Human Side)

I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike 
one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose 
fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious 
indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to 
the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being. 
(Albert Einstein) 

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very 
imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of "humility." This is 
a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism. (Albert 
Einstein) 

178
The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant 
growth of the so­called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a 
symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of 
reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul 
without a body seems to me to be empty and devoid of meaning. (Albert Einstein) 

Sigmund Freud on Modern Warfare

"The individual in any given nation has in this war a terrible opportunity to 
convince himself of what would occasionally strike him in peacetime ― that the 
state has forbidden to the individual the practice of wrong­doing, not because it 
desired to abolish the practice of wrong­doing, not because it desires to it, but 
because it desires to monopolize it like salt [oil] and tobacco. The warring state 
permits itself every misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the 
individual man. It practices not only the accepted stratagems, but also deliberate 
lying and deception against the enemy; and this, too, in a measure which 
appears to surpass the usage of former wars. The state exacts the utmost degree 
of obedience and sacrifice from its citizens, but at the same time treats them as 
children by maintaining an excess of secrecy, and a censorship of news and 
expression of opinion that renders the spirits of those thus intellectually 
oppressed defenseless against every unfavourable turn of events and every 
sinister rumour. It absolves itself from guarantees and contracts it had formed 
with other states, and makes unabashed confession of the rapacity and lust for 
power, which the private individual is then called upon to sanction in the name of 
patriotism." Sigmund Freud, On War, Sex, and Neurosis

A NEW INTERNATIONALISM

ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT*

PART 2. JURISDICTION, ADMISSIBILITY AND APPLICABLE LAW
 

179
 Article 5
Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court

1.         The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of 
concern to the international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction in 
accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes: 

(a)     The crime of genocide; 

(b)     Crimes against humanity; 

(c)     War crimes; 

(d)     The crime of aggression.

  
2.        The Court shall exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression once a 
provision is adopted in accordance with articles 121 and 123 defining the crime 
and setting out the conditions under which the Court shall exercise jurisdiction 
with respect to this crime. Such a provision shall be consistent with the relevant 
provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. 
  
Article 6
Genocide

            For the purpose of this Statute, "genocide" means any of the following 
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, 
racial or religious group, as such: 

(a)     Killing members of the group; 

(b)     Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 

(c)     Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 

(d)     Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; 

180
 (e)     Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. 
 

 Article 7
Crimes against humanity

1.         For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of 
the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack 
directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack: 

(a)     Murder; 

(b)     Extermination; 

(c)     Enslavement; 

(d)     Deportation or forcible transfer of population; 

(e)     Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in 
violation of fundamental rules of international law; 

(f)     Torture; 

(g)     Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, 
enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable 
gravity; 

(h)     Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, 
racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 
3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under 
international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or 
any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court; 

(i)     Enforced disappearance of persons; 

(j)     The crime of apartheid; 

(k)     Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing 
great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

181
2.         For the purpose of paragraph 1: 
(a)     "Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of 
conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 
1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or 
organizational policy to commit such attack; 

(b)     "Extermination" includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, 
inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to 
bring about the destruction of part of a population; 

(c)     "Enslavement" means the exercise of any or all of the powers 
attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise 
of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women 
and children; 

(d)     "Deportation or forcible transfer of population" means forced 
displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive 
acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds 
permitted under international law; 

(e)     "Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, 
whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the 
control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or 
suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions; 

(f)     "Forced pregnancy" means the unlawful confinement of a woman 
forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition 
of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law. 
This definition shall not in any way be interpreted as affecting national laws 
relating to pregnancy; 

(g)     "Persecution" means the intentional and severe deprivation of 
fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of 
the group or collectivity; 

(h)     "The crime of apartheid" means inhumane acts of a character similar 
to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an 

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 institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one 
racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the 
intention of maintaining that regime; 

(i)     "Enforced disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention or 
abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or 
acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to 
acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate 
or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from 
the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.

3.         For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term "gender" 
refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term 
"gender" does not indicate any meaning different from the above. 
  
  
Article 8
War crimes
  
1.         The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular 
when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large­scale commission 
of such crimes. 
  
2.         For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means: 
(a)     Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, 
namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected 
under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention: 
(i)     Wilful killing; 

(ii)     Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological 
experiments; 

(iii)     Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or 
health; 

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 (iv)     Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not 
justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and 
wantonly; 

(v)     Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to 
serve in the forces of a hostile Power; 

(vi)     Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person 
of the rights of fair and regular trial; 

(vii)     Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; 

(viii)     Taking of hostages. 
 

(b)     Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in 
international armed conflict, within the established framework of 
international law, namely, any of the following acts: 
(i)     Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as 
such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in 
hostilities; 

(ii)     Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, 
objects which are not military objectives; 

(iii)     Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, 
material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or 
peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United 
Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to 
civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed 
conflict; 

(iv)     Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such 
attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or 
damage to civilian objects or widespread, long­term and severe 
damage to the natural environment which would be clearly 
excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military 
advantage anticipated; 

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(v)     Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, 
dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not 
military objectives; 

(vi)     Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his 
arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at 
discretion; 

(vii)     Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the 
military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, 
as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, 
resulting in death or serious personal injury; 

(viii)     The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of 
parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or 
the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the 
occupied territory within or outside this territory; 

(ix)     Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to 
religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic 
monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are 
collected, provided they are not military objectives; 

(x)     Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party 
to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any 
kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital 
treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her 
interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health 
of such person or persons; 

(xi)     Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the 
hostile nation or army; 

(xii)     Declaring that no quarter will be given; 

(xiii)     Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such 
destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities 
of war; 

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(xiv)     Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of 
law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party; 

(xv)     Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in 
the operations of war directed against their own country, even if 
they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of 
the war; 

(xvi)     Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; 

(xvii)     Employing poison or poisoned weapons; 

(xviii)     Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all 
analogous liquids, materials or devices; 

(xix)     Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the 
human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not 
entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions; 

(xx)     Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of 
warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or 
unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in 
violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that 
such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are 
the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an 
annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the 
relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123; 

(xxi)     Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular 
humiliating and degrading treatment; 

(xxii)     Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, 
forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced 
sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a 
grave breach of the Geneva Conventions; 

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 (xxiii)     Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person 
to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from 
military operations; 

(xxiv)     Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, 
medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive 
emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with 
international law; 

(xxv)     Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of 
warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, 
including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the 
Geneva Conventions; 

(xxvi)     Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen 
years into the national armed forces or using them to participate 
actively in hostilities. 
 

(c)     In the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, 
serious violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 
12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts committed against 
persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of 
armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de 
combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause: 
  
(i)     Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, 
mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; 

(ii)     Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular 
humiliating and degrading treatment; 

(iii)     Taking of hostages; 

(iv) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions 
without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly 

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 constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are 
generally recognized as indispensable. 

Speech by Frantz Fanon at the Congress of Black African

Writers, 1959
Wretched of the Earth
Reciprocal Bases of National Culture and the Fight for Freedom

Colonial domination, because it is total and tends to over-simplify, very soon

manages to disrupt in spectacular fashion the cultural life of a conquered people. This
cultural obliteration is made possible by the negation of national reality, by new legal
relations introduced by the occupying power, by the banishment of the natives and their
customs to outlying districts by colonial society, by expropriation, and by the systematic
enslaving of men and women.

Three years ago at our first congress I showed that, in the colonial situation, dynamism is
replaced fairly quickly by a substantification of the attitudes of the colonising power. The
area of culture is then marked off by fences and signposts. These are in fact so many
defence mechanisms of the most elementary type, comparable for more than one good
reason to the simple instinct for preservation. The interest of this period for us is that the
oppressor does not manage to convince himself of the objective non-existence of the
oppressed nation and its culture. Every effort is made to bring the colonised person to
admit the inferiority of his culture which has been transformed into instinctive patterns of
behaviour, to recognise the unreality of his 'nation', and, in the last extreme, the confused
and imperfect character of his own biological structure.

Vis-à-vis this state of affairs, the native's reactions are not unanimous While the mass of
the people maintain intact traditions which are completely different from those of the
colonial situation, and the artisan style solidifies into a formalism which is more and
more stereotyped, the intellectual throws himself in frenzied fashion into the frantic
acquisition of the culture of the occupying power and takes every opportunity of
unfavourably criticising his own national culture, or else takes refuge in setting out and
substantiating the claims of that culture in a way that is passionate but rapidly becomes
unproductive.

The common nature of these two reactions lies in the fact that they both lead to
impossible contradictions. Whether a turncoat or a substantialist the native is ineffectual
precisely because the analysis of the colonial situation is not carried out on strict lines.
The colonial situation calls a halt to national culture in almost every field. Within the
framework of colonial domination there is not and there will never be such phenomena as
new cultural departures or changes in the national culture. Here and there valiant attempts

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are sometimes made to reanimate the cultural dynamic and to give fresh impulses to its
themes, its forms and its tonalities. The immediate, palpable and obvious interest of such
leaps ahead is nil. But if we follow up the consequences to the very end we see that
preparations are being thus made to brush the cobwebs off national consciousness to
question oppression and to open up the struggle for freedom.

A national culture under colonial domination is a contested culture whose destruction is

sought in systematic fashion. It very quickly becomes a culture condemned to secrecy.
This idea of clandestine culture is immediately seen in the reactions of the occupying
power which interprets attachment to traditions as faithfulness to the spirit of the nation
and as a refusal to submit. This persistence in following forms of culture which are
already condemned to extinction is already a demonstration of nationality; but it is a
demonstration which is a throw-back to the laws of inertia. There is no taking of the
offensive and no redefining of relationships. There is simply a concentration on a hard
core of culture which is becoming more and more shrivelled up, inert and empty.

By the time a century or two of exploitation has passed there comes about a veritable
emaciation of the stock of national culture. It becomes a set of automatic habits, some
traditions of dress and a few broken-down institutions. Little movement can be discerned
in such remnants of culture; there is no real creativity and no overflowing life. The
poverty of the people, national oppression and the inhibition of culture are one and the
same thing. After a century of colonial domination we find a culture which is rigid in the
extreme, or rather what we find are the dregs of culture, its mineral strata. The withering
away of the reality of the nation and the death-pangs of the national culture are linked to
each other in mutual dependences. This is why it is of capital importance to follow the
evolution of these relations during the struggle for national freedom. The negation of the
native's culture, the contempt for any manifestation of culture whether active or
emotional and the placing outside the pale of all specialised branches of organisation
contribute to breed aggressive patterns of conduct in the native. But these patterns of
conduct are of the reflexive type; they are poorly differentiated, anarchic and ineffective.
Colonial exploitation, poverty and endemic famine drive the native more and more to
open, organised revolt. The necessity for an open and decisive breach is formed
progressively and imperceptibly, and comes to be felt by the great majority of the people.
Those tensions which hitherto were non-existent come into being. International events,
the collapse of whole sections of colonial empires and the contradictions inherent in the
colonial system strengthen and uphold the native's combativity while promoting and
giving support to national consciousness.

These new-found tensions which are present at all stages in the real nature of colonialism
have their repercussions on the cultural plane. In literature, for example, there is relative
over-production. From being a reply on a minor scale to the dominating power, the
literature produced by natives becomes differentiated and makes itself into a will to
particularism. The intelligentsia, which during the period of repression was essentially a
consuming public, now themselves become producers. This literature at first chooses to
confine itself to the tragic and poetic style; but later on novels, short stories and essays
are attempted. It is as if a kind of internal organisation or law of expression existed which

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wills that poetic expression become less frequent in proportion as the objectives and the
methods of the struggle for liberation become more precise. Themes are completely
altered; in fact, we find less and less of bitter, hopeless recrimination and less also of that
violent, resounding, florid writing which on the whole serves to reassure the occupying
power. The colonialists have in former times encouraged these modes of expression and
made their existence possible. Stinging denunciations, the exposing of distressing
conditions and passions which find their outlet in expression are in fact assimilated by the
occupying power in a cathartic process. To aid such processes is in a certain sense to
avoid their dramatisation and to clear the atmosphere. But such a situation can only be
transitory. In fact, the progress of national consciousness among the people modifies and
gives precision to the literary utterances of the native intellectual. The continued cohesion
of the people constitutes for the intellectual an invitation to go farther than his cry of
protest. The lament first makes the indictment; then it makes an appeal. In the period that
follows, the words of command are heard. The crystallisation of the national
consciousness will both disrupt literary styles and themes, and also create a completely
new public. While at the beginning the native intellectual used to produce his work to be
read exclusively by the oppressor, whether with the intention of charming him or of
denouncing him through ethnical or subjectivist means, now the native writer
progressively takes on the habit of addressing his own people.

It is only from that moment that we can speak of a national literature. Here there is, at the
level of literary creation, the taking up and clarification of themes which are typically
nationalist. This may be properly called a literature of combat, in the sense that it calls on
the whole people to fight for their existence as a nation. It is a literature of combat,
because it moulds the national consciousness, giving it form and contours and flinging
open before it new and boundless horizons; it is a literature of combat because it assumes
responsibility, and because it is the will to liberty expressed in terms of time and space.

On another level, the oral tradition - stories, epics and songs of the people - which
formerly were filed away as set pieces are now beginning to change. The storytellers who
used to relate inert episodes now bring them alive and introduce into them modifications
which are increasingly fundamental. There is a tendency to bring conflicts up to date and
to modernise the kinds of struggle which the stories evoke, together with the names of
heroes and the types of weapons. The method of allusion is more and more widely used.
The formula 'This all happened long ago' is substituted by that of 'What we are going to
speak of happened somewhere else, but it might well have happened here today, and it
might happen tomorrow'. The example of Algeria is significant in this context. From
1952-3 on, the storytellers, who were before that time stereotyped and tedious to listen to,
completely overturned their traditional methods of storytelling and the contents of their
tales. Their public, which was formerly scattered, became compact. The epic, with its
typified categories, reappeared; it became an authentic form of entertainment which took
on once more a cultural value. Colonialism made no mistake when from 1955 on it
proceeded to arrest these storytellers systematically.

The contact of the people with the new movement gives rise to a new rhythm of life and
to forgotten muscular tensions, and develops the imagination. Every time the storyteller

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relates a fresh episode to his public, he presides over a real invocation. The existence of a
new type of man is revealed to the public. The present is no longer turned in upon itself
but spread out for all to see. The storyteller once more gives free rein to his imagination;
he makes innovations and he creates a work of art. It even happens that the characters,
which are barely ready for such a transformation - highway robbers or more or less
antisocial vagabonds - are taken up and remodelled. The emergence of the imagination
and of the creative urge in the songs and epic stories of a colonised country is worth
following. The storyteller replies to the expectant people by successive approximations,
and makes his way, apparently alone but in fact helped on by his public, towards the
seeking out of new patterns, that is to say national patterns. Comedy and farce disappear,
or lose their attraction. As for dramatisation, it is no longer placed on the plane of the
troubled intellectual and his tormented conscience. By losing its characteristics of despair
and revolt, the drama becomes part of the common lot of the people and forms part of an
action in preparation or already in progress.

Where handicrafts are concerned, the forms of expression which formerly were the dregs
of art, surviving as if in a daze, now begin to reach out. Woodwork, for .example, which
formerly turned out certain faces and attitudes by the million, begins to be differentiated.
The inexpressive or overwrought mask comes to life and the arms tend to be raised from
the body as if to sketch an action. Compositions containing two, three or five figures
appear. The traditional schools are led on to creative efforts by the rising avalanche of
amateurs or of critics. This new vigour in this sector of cultural life very often passes
unseen; and yet its contribution to the national effort is of capital importance. By carving
figures and faces which are full of life, and by taking as his theme a group fixed on the
same pedestal, the artist invites participation in an organised movement.

If we study the repercussions of the awakening of national consciousness in the domains

of ceramics and pottery-making, the same observations may be drawn. Formalism is
abandoned in the craftsman's work. Jugs, jars and trays are modified, at first
imperceptibly, then almost savagely. The colours, of which formerly there were but few
and which obeyed the traditional rules of harmony, increase in number and are influenced
by the repercussion of the rising revolution. Certain ochres and blues, which seemed
forbidden to all eternity in a given cultural area, now assert themselves without giving
rise to scandal. In the same way the stylisation of the human face, which according to
sociologists is typical of very clearly defined regions, becomes suddenly completely
relative. The specialist coming from the home country and the ethnologist are quick to
note these changes. On the whole such changes are condemned in the name of a rigid
code of artistic style and of a cultural life which grows up at the heart of the colonial
system. The colonialist specialists do not recognise these new forms and rush to the help
of the traditions of the indigenous society. It is the colonialists who become the defenders
of the native style. We remember perfectly, and the example took on a certain measure of
importance since the real nature of colonialism was not involved, the reactions of the
white jazz specialists when after the Second World War new styles such as the be-bop
took definite shape. The fact is that in their eyes jazz should only be the despairing,
broken-down nostalgia of an old Negro who is trapped between five glasses of whisky,
the curse of his race, and the racial hatred of the white men. As soon as the Negro comes

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to an understanding of himself, and understands the rest of the world differently, when he
gives birth to hope and forces back the racist universe, it is clear that his trumpet sounds
more clearly and his voice less hoarsely. The new fashions in jazz are not simply born of
economic competition. We must without any doubt see in them one of the consequences
of the defeat, slow but sure, of the southern world of the United States. And it is not
utopian to suppose that in fifty years' time the type of jazz howl hiccupped by a poor
misfortunate Negro will be upheld only by the whites who believe in it as an expression
of nigger-hood, and who are faithful to this arrested image of a type of relationship.

We might in the same way seek and find in dancing, singing, and traditional rites and
ceremonies the same upward-springing trend, and make out the same changes and the
same impatience in this field. Well before the political or fighting phase of the national
movement an attentive spectator can thus feel and see the manifestation of new vigour
and feel the approaching conflict. He will note unusual forms of expression and themes
which are fresh and imbued with a power which is no longer that of invocation but rather
of the assembling of the people, a summoning together for a precise purpose. Everything
works together to awaken the native's sensibility and to make unreal and inacceptable the
contemplative attitude, or the acceptance of defeat. The native rebuilds his perceptions
because he renews the purpose and dynamism of the craftsmen, of dancing and music and
of literature and the oral tradition. His world comes to lose its accursed character. The
conditions necessary for the inevitable conflict are brought together.

We have noted the appearance of the movement in cultural forms and we have seen that
this movement and these new forms are linked to the state of maturity of the national
consciousness. Now, this movement tends more and more to express itself objectively, in
institutions. From thence comes the need for a national existence, whatever the cost.

A frequent mistake, and one which is moreover hardly justifiable is to try to find cultural
expressions for and to give new values to native culture within the framework of colonial
domination. This is why we arrive at a proposition which at first sight seems paradoxical:
the fact that in a colonised country the most elementary, most savage and the most
undifferentiated nationalism is the most fervent and efficient means of defending national
culture. For culture is first the expression of a nation, the expression of its preferences, of
its taboos and of its patterns. It is at every stage of the whole of society that other taboos,
values and patterns are formed. A national culture is the sum total of all these appraisals;
it is the result of internal and external extensions exerted over society as a whole and also
at every level of that society. In the colonial situation, culture, which is doubly deprived
of the support of the nation and of the state, falls away and dies. The condition for its
existence is therefore national liberation and the renaissance of the state.

The nation is not only the condition of culture, its fruitfulness, its continuous renewal,
and its deepening. It is also a necessity. It is the fight for national existence which sets
culture moving and opens to it the doors of creation. Later on it is the nation which will
ensure the conditions and framework necessary to culture. The nation gathers together the
various indispensable elements necessary for the creation of a culture, those elements
which alone can give it credibility, validity, life and creative power. In the same way it is

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its national character that will make such a culture open to other cultures and which will
enable it to influence and permeate other cultures. A non-existent culture can hardly be
expected to have bearing on reality, or to influence reality. The first necessity is the re-
establishment of the nation in order to give life to national culture in the strictly
biological sense of the phrase.

Thus we have followed the break-up of the old strata of culture, a shattering which
becomes increasingly fundamental; and we have noticed, on the eve of the decisive
conflict for national freedom, the renewing of forms of expression and the rebirth of the
imagination. There remains one essential question: what are the relations between the
struggle - whether political or military - and culture? Is there a suspension of culture
during the conflict? Is the national struggle an expression of a culture? Finally, ought one
to say that the battle for freedom, however fertile a posteriori with regard to culture, is in
itself a negation of culture? In short is the struggle for liberation a cultural phenomenon
or not?

We believe that the conscious and organised undertaking by a colonised people to re-
establish the sovereignty of that nation constitutes the most complete and obvious cultural
manifestation that exists. It is not alone the success of the struggle which afterwards gives
validity and vigour to culture; culture is not put into cold storage during the conflict. The
struggle itself in its development and in its internal progression sends culture along
different paths and traces out entirely new ones for it. The struggle for freedom does not
give back to the national culture its former value and shapes; this struggle which aims at a
fundamentally different set of relations between men cannot leave intact either the form
or the content of the people's culture. After the conflict there is not only the
disappearance of colonialism but also the disappearance of the colonised man.

This new humanity cannot do otherwise than define a new humanism both for itself and
for others. It is prefigured in the objectives and methods of the conflict. A struggle which
mobilises all classes of the people and which expresses their aims and their impatience,
which is not afraid to count almost exclusively on the people's support, will of necessity
triumph. The value of this type of conflict is that it supplies the maximum of conditions
necessary for the development and aims of culture. After national freedom has been
obtained in these conditions, there is no such painful cultural indecision which is found in
certain countries which are newly independent, because the nation by its manner of
coming into being and in the terms of its existence exerts a fundamental influence over
culture. A nation which is born of the people's concerted action and which embodies the
real aspirations of the people while changing the state cannot exist save in the expression
of exceptionally rich forms of culture.

The natives who are anxious for the culture of their country and who wish to give to it a
universal dimension ought not therefore to place their confidence in the single principle
of inevitable, undifferentiated independence written into the consciousness of the people
in order to achieve their task. The liberation of the nation is one thing; the methods and
popular content of the fight are another. It seems to me that the future of national culture

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and its riches are equally also part and parcel of the values which have ordained the
struggle for freedom.

And now it is time to denounce certain pharisees. National claims, it is here and there
stated, are a phase that humanity has left behind. It is the day of great concerted actions,
and retarded nationalists ought in consequence to set their mistakes aright. We, however,
consider that the mistake, which may have very serious consequences, lies in wishing to
skip the national period. If culture is the expression of national consciousness, I will not
hesitate to affirm that in the case with which we are dealing it is the national
consciousness which is the most elaborate form of culture.

The consciousness of self is not the closing of a door to communication. Philosophic

thought teaches us, on the contrary, that it is its guarantee. National consciousness, which
is not nationalism, is the only thing that will give us an international dimension. This
problem of national consciousness and of national culture takes on in Africa a special
dimension. The birth of national consciousness in Africa has a strictly contemporaneous
connexion with the African consciousness. The responsibility of the African as regards
national culture is also a responsibility with regard to African-Negro culture. This joint
responsibility is not the fact of a metaphysical principle but the awareness of a simple
rule which wills that every independent nation in an Africa where colonialism is still
entrenched is an encircled nation, a nation which is fragile and in permanent danger.

If man is known by his acts, then we will say that the most urgent thing today for the
intellectual is to build up his nation. If this building up is true, that is to say if it interprets
the manifest will of the people and reveals the eager African peoples, then the building of
a nation is of necessity accompanied by the discovery and encouragement of
universalising values. Far from keeping aloof from other nations, therefore, it is national
liberation which leads the nation to play its part on the stage of history. It is at the heart of
national consciousness that international consciousness lives and grows. And this two-
fold emerging is ultimately the source of all culture.

Source: Reproduced from Wretched of the Earth (1959) publ. Pelican. Speech to
Congress of Black African Writers.

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