The Constitution for the
United States, Its Sources and Its Application
Senate Report 93-549 War and Emergency Powers Acts,
Executive Orders, and the New World Order
Who is Running America?
Senate Report 93-549 War and Emergency Powers Acts,
Executive Orders, and the New World Order
Who is Running America?
Our Enemy, The State
by Albert J. Nock - 1935
His Classic Critique Distinguishing 'Government' from the 'STATE'.
by Albert J. Nock - 1935
His Classic Critique Distinguishing 'Government' from the 'STATE'.
In Memoriam
|
Albert Jay Nock
1870 - 1945
1870 - 1945
In Memoriam
Edmund Cadwalader Evans
Edmund Cadwalader Evans
Be it or be it not true that Man is shapen in iniquity and
conceived in sin, it is unquestionably true that Government is begotten of
aggression, and by
aggression. --
Herbert Spencer, 1850.
This is the gravest danger that today threatens
civilization: State intervention, the absorption of all spontaneous social
effort by the State; that is to say, of spontaneous historical action, which in
the long-run sustains, nourishes and impels human destinies. -- Jose Ortega y Gasset, 1922.
It [the State]
has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out
its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it
has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of
a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with
authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still
remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed,
industrious and decent men. -- Henry L.
Mencken, 1926.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
When OUR ENEMY, THE
STATE appeared in 1935, its literary merit rather than its philosophic
content attracted attention to it. The times were not ripe for an acceptance of
its predictions, still less for the argument on which these predictions were
based. Faith in traditional frontier individualism had not yet been shaken by
the course of events. Against this faith the argument that the same economic
forces which in all times and in all nations drive toward the ascendancy of
political power at the expense of social power were in operation here made
little headway. That is, the feeling that "it cannot happen here" was too
difficult a hurdle for the book to overcome.
By the time the first edition had run out, the development
of public affairs gave the argument of the book ample testimony. In less than a
decade it was evident to many Americans that their country is not immune from
the philosophy which had captured European thinking. The times were proving Mr.
Nock's thesis, and by irresistable word-of-mouth advertising a demand for the
book began to manifest itself just when it was no longer available. And the
plates had been put to war purposes.
In 1943 he had a second edition in mind. I talked with him
several times about it, urging him to elaborate on the economic ideas, since
these, it seemed to me, were inadequately developed for the reader with a
limited knowledge of political economy. He agreed that this ought to be done,
but in a separate book, or in a second part of his book, and suggested that I
try my hand at it. Nothing came of the matter because of the war. He died on
August 19, 1945.
This volume is an exact duplication of the first edition. He
intended to make some slight changes, principally, as he told me, in the
substitution of current illustrations for those which might carry less weight
with the younger reader. As for the sequel stressing economics, this will have
to be done. At any rate, OUR ENEMY THE
STATE needs no support.
Frank Chodorov
New York City, May 28th, 1946
New York City, May 28th, 1946
Books By Mr. Nock
· Jefferson
· On Doing
the Right Thing; and other essays
· The Theory
of Education in the United States, (The Page-Barbour Lectures for
1930)
· The
Urquhart-Le Motteux Translation of the Works of Francis Rabelais, with
introduction, critical notes and documentary illustrations (Edited, with
Catherine Rose Wilson)
· A Journal
of These Days
· A Journey
into Rabelais's France
· Our Enemy,
the State Paperback Reprint Edition Available (September 1983)
Hallberg Pub Corp; ISBN: 0873190238 from Amazon.com
$9.95
Reproduction
of all or any parts of the above text may be used for general information.
This HTML presentation is copyright by Barefoot, December 1999
This HTML presentation is copyright by Barefoot, December 1999
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