9
FOREWORD
misrepresented, as it has always been — will no longer allow itself to be stifled;
it will penetrate to those who are receptive; it will be understood by those
who want to hear.
Slowly, infinitely slowly, but with absolute certainty these truths which should be nearest to us, but which are still the furthest away, break their way through; truths which the world has tried to do away with or to smother as "dangerous" because it has been unable to refute them — dangerous indeed, but only to delusion, superstition, privilege and usurped authority. AT THE FRONT OF THIS BOOK — as I did not dare to do with its predecessor thirty years ago — I have placed a dedication to a man who in a long and incomparable life, notable for its courage, energy and staying power, has done more for the cause of Freedom than any other living person; a man whose name, instead of being known and feted all over the world of today, is only known to and loved by a comparative few whose comfort must still be that in the midst of so much stupidity and brutality there are people like the man who bears this name. IN ALL THESE THIRTY YEARS nothing has been able to shake, even for a moment, the first revelations of my youth. There was no experience which did not corroborate them, no event which did not strengthen and deepen them. How could it be otherwise? — "The only thing that matters is that we do not allow the will to work, which is the will to live, to be bent or broken. For as long as this will remains with us, this power which can overcome, equally, hatred and indifference, we shall remain young — even without youth!" — I have written this somewhere. It was written in a good hour, and I have never written anything more true. The will to live is the will to be free. The love of Freedom is a long-lasting love — it dies only when Life dies, because it is Life itself. Berlin-Charlottenburg, Spring 1920 |