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e Anarchist LibraryAnti-Copyright

Ricardo Flores Magne beggar and the thief

1915

Retrieved on April 8th

, 2009 from www.waste.orgTranslated from Spanish by Mitchell Cowen Verter. FromRegeneration number 216. December 11, 1915.

theanarcistlibrary.org

Te beggar and the thief

Ricardo Flores Magn

1915

Along the cheerful boulevard, pedestrians come and go, per-fumed, elegant, insulting. e beggar is sticking to the wall, hisinsistent hand in front of him, a servile supplication trembling onhis lips:

Alms for the poor, for the love of God!Occasionally, a coin falls in the panhandlers palm. He quickly

stu s it into his pocket as he lavishes degrading praise and grati-tude upon hisbene ciary. e thief passesby,but cannot avoid theentreaties of the beggar, and he scowls contemptuously. e pan-handler becomes indignant, and this indignation makes him redwith anger. He growls with irritation:

Why dont you blush from embarrassment, scoundrel? You arelooking face to face with an honorable man like myself. I respectthe law: I do not commit the crime of pu ing my hand in another

persons pocket. My footsteps are rm, like all the good citizenswho do not regularly scamper on tiptoe around other peopleshomes in the silence of the night. I can show my face in all places.I do not avoid the eyes of the police. e rich look at me benevo-lently. rowing a coin in my hat, they pat my shoulder, saying tome good man!

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e thief lowers the brim of his hat to his nose and gestures asif he were vomiting. He casts a glance, scrutinizing all around him,and replies to the beggar:

Do not wait for me to blush in front of you, vilebeggar! Are youhonorable? Honor does notliveon itsknees waiting forsomeonetoing a bone for it to nibble upon. Honor puts on airs of excellence.I do not know if I am honorable of not. However, I admit to youthat I do not lack the courage to beg rich people to give me, for thelove of God, a crumb of what they have despoiled from me. Whoviolates the law? It is clear; but the law is a very distinct thing from justice. I violate the law wri en by the bourgeoisie, and this viola-tion contains in it an act of justice, because the law authorizes richpeople to rob at the expense of poor people. is is an injustice. Bysnatching from the rich a fraction of what they have robbed fromus poor people, I am executing an act of justice. e rich pat youon the shoulder for your servility, your base abjectness, endorsingtheir tranquil enjoyment of what is rightfully yours and mine, of all the things they have robbed from all the poor people all overthe world. e ideal of the rich is that all the poor should have thesouls of beggars. If you were a man, you would bite the hand of therich who tosses you a crust of bread. I scorn you!

e thief spits andloseshimselfin themultitude. e beggarli shis eyes to the sky and groans:

Alms for the poor, for the love of God

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