"The dreamer is the designer of tomorrow. The practical man, the sensible, cold head, can laugh at the dreamer; they do not know that he, the dreamer, is the true dynamic force that pushes the world forward. Suppress the dreamer, and the world will deteriorate toward barbarism. Despised, impoverished, the dreamer opens the way for his people, sowing, sowing, sowing the seeds which will be harvested, not by him, but by the practical men, the sensible, cold heads of tomorrow, who will laugh at the sight of another indefatigable dreamer seeding, seeding, seeding." -- RFM: June 28, 1921
"I am already old; but when I die, my friends will perhaps inscribe on my tomb: 'Here lies a dreamer,' and my enemies: 'Here lies a madman." But no one will be able to stamp the inscription: 'Here lies coward and traitor to his ideals'" -- RFM: December 6, 1920
{"the truth is only known by guttersnipes"}
Now that fascism is afoot, Freedom finds its neck on the chopping block; the guillotine dangling above its head, glinting in the sun; the tyrant crying "Off with its head!" The vampire has sunken its teeth deeply into the jugular vein of the enslaved, and has run off to Babylon to search for an alchemist who can transmute their blood into oil. Already the jackboot of repression and censorship grinds against the throat of the disinherited, crushing its windpipe, attempting to suffocate the voice that screams at the top of its lungs "Murderers! Murderers! Murderers!"
The fascist, however, does not see that under its foot is not merely a neck, but the entirety of the Revolutionary snake, hissing out "Don't Tread on Me," ready to sink its poisonous fangs into the heel that would quash it. Long ago in Babylon, a prophet already warned that the colossus whose head is filled with only gold; whose arms and chest of silver know only the embrace of commerce, but not of love; whose fat thighs and paunchy belly are cast in bronze; whose legs of iron crush the oppressed with their enormous weight; still has feet of clay which can be smashed to pieces, sending the entire structure crashing to the ground.
In these few, passionate moments of life, before the blade of death plucks the mind from its shoulders, the slave, beaten and exploited, almost bled dry from exhaustion and torture, still has the freedom to dream of the day when its liberation will come. A century ago, Ricardo Flores Magón, born in 1874, struggled against the tyrants of government, the vampires of capitalism, and the parasites of religion through dreams that sowed the seeds of future revolution. Starting with this volume, this series will collect the dreams of this great prophet of liberation. In these parables, the entirety of creation, even pens, garments, iron ore, and barricades discourse on the nobility of the class struggle; a thief teaches a beggar the merit of expropriation; judges, priests, capitalists, and governors contemplate their empire over the disinherited. In other stories, particularly the beautiful "New Life", Magón pushes the world forward, dreaming of a future when no one will command and no one will obey, when anarchy will order everyone together as sisters and brothers, each contributing her or his share to all and each satisfying her or his desires through the donations of others.
Like many dreamers, underneath Magón's hopeful mind shook a soul that had witnessed too much tragedy and a body that had survived too much torture. Throughout his life, Magón was persecuted for publishing his passionate visions, chased out of Mexico, relentlessly pursued throughout the United States, and repeatedly thrown in prison. Many of the parables in this volume were probably written from a jail cell. In 1922, Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary finally murdered Magón who died sick at the age of 48. This booklet is dedicated to all who have been or are being persecuted or imprisoned for their political beliefs. In particular, I send it out to my friend Camilo Viveiros who faces up to 40 years in prison because, during the nomination of our current tyrant George W. Bush to the Republican candidacy for president, he protested against the Criminal Injustice System, the police forces that beat and kill people and the for-profit prisons where they are tortured, where they have already imprisoned activists like Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Pelletier. Please read the enclosed flyer and check www.friendsofcamilo.org to find out more and get involved.
Thanks to Camilo and Julia Daniels for bringing these texts to me in their original Mexican. Thanks to all the folks who believed in me and encouraged me to continue, especially Andrew McKinley of Adobe Bookstore, the Atlas upon whose shoulders so many worlds rest. This volume is also dedicated in memoriam to d. boon and joe strummer, for loving the Kids and teaching the Kids how to love. May all the gobwads in heaven come smacking down on your heads for all eternity.
Your pal,
Mitchell Cowen Verter