Libertarian communism is an open channel through which society may organize freely and of its own accord, and through which the evolution of society may follow its course without artificial deviations.
It is the most rational of all solutions to the economic question in that it corresponds to an equitable sharing out of production and labour required to achieve a solution. No one must shirk this necessity to join in the comparative effort of production, for it is nature itself that imposes this harsh law of labour upon us in climates where our nourishment does not grow spontaneously.
Economic compulsion is the bond of society. But it is, and must be, the only compulsion that the whole should exercise over the individual. All other activities - cultural, artistic, and scientific - should remain beyond the control of the collective and stay in the hands of those groups keen upon pursuing and encouraging them.
Just as the obligatory working day (i.e. the working day actually necessary given existing technology - Ed.) would not, exhaust the individual's capacity for work- there will, alongside controlled production, be other, free, spontaneous production - a production inspired by keenness and enthusiasm, a production which will be its own satisfaction; its own reward. In this production will be sown and will germinate the seeds of another society, the new society exalted and propagated by anarchism, and, so far as it meets the needs of society, the economic supervision of individuals by organisations will have been made redundant.
A thousand objections will be raised, most of them so devoid of sense as not to merit refutation. One objection that is often repeated is laziness. Now laziness is the natural product of a particularly favourable climate, for it is there that nature justifies laziness, making the individual indolent.
We recognize the right to be lazy provided that those who seek to exercise that right agree to get along without help from others. We live in a society where the lazy person, the incompetent and the antisocial being are types who prosper and enjoy plenty, power and honours. If such persons agree to renounce all this, there is no obstacle to their remaining, as exhibits in museums or galleries, just as fossilized animals are placed on display today.