unibomber-manifesto

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INDUSTRlAL SOCIETY AND rrs Fl1T\JRE
no other source than the article itself, howevCT, it is clear that Ge\emtCT U helping to usher in an
authoritarian dystopia based on all the latest high-tech vittas.lik:e genetic engineering.
Is it unethical to try \0 stop tbose whose contributions are bringing an unprecedented waul! on
life10r1s it unethicaJ. to just accepI our passive roles in the CUITenI zeitgeist of postrl1odem cynicism
and know-nothingism? As a friend in California put il recently, when justice is aaa.i.nst the law, only
outlaws can effect justice.
The lengthy Unabornber manuscript wiU go undiscusscd here; its slIengths and weaknesses
deserve sepanue scrutiny.
These mnarb mainly shed light on lOme orlhe various, mGStly negative commentary TlIlher than
ditectly on their ObjecL It i! often the case that one can molt readily learn aboul society by watching
iu rcact:lOtll, acron the spectrum, to those who would challenge it
Well, I believe In FClUnahomber -- it's all over the country ... his ideas m, a.o; the situaIiuonisu
said, 'in everyone's heads': it's just. mailer of llilening to yer own rage
• MidWesterner in the know.
Or as Anno Eisenberg, from Polytechnic University in Brroldyn, admitted, "SCTlUch moa people and
you'll get a Luddite".
And from the Boulder Wu.tly, Robert Perldnson', 6 July 1995 column sagely concluded:
Amidst overwhelming madness of unbridled economic growth and postmodem disintegration,
is such nostalgia, or even such overwhelming raIge, really crazy? For many, especially th05e
who scrape by in unfulfilling jobs and peer klngingly towatds the stars obscured by beaming
street lights, the answer is probably no. And for thcm, the Unambombcr may not be a
psychopathic demon. They may wish FC the best of luck.
Autonomous Anarchists Anonymous ,
PO Box 11331. Eugene.
Oregon 97440, USA.
lHE UNABOMBER
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
AND ITS FUTURE
INTRODUCTION
1. The Industria! Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the buman race. 'They
nave greaJ.ly increased the lifo-upectancy of those ot us who live in advanced countries, but they
have de5tabUiu:.d sociery, have made lite unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities,
have led to widespread psycbological5lllfering (in the Third World to pb)'iical suffering u well) and
have inflicted severe damage on the natural wcn:ld. The continued development of technology will
WOIKO the iituatiol1. Ii will oenainly subject buman beings to grealer indignities and in!liCl: greater
damage on the natural world, it will probllbly (cad 10 greater socw disruption and psycho!ogica1
suffering, and it may lead to increased phy5ica1 suffering even in "advanced" countries.
2. The industrial-technological system may survive or it may break down. If it survives, it MAY
eventually achieve a low levd of physical and psycholOgical suffering, but only after passing through
a long and very painful pc:dod of adjustment and only Ilt the cost of pennanenliy reducing human
beings and many other living organisms 10 engineered prodUClS and mere cogs in the social machine.
Funhermore, if the syaem mrvivcs, the consequences will be ineviIable: 1bere is no way of
reforming or modifying the system so as 10 prevent 11 from deprivinl people of dignity and
autonomy.
3. If the system breaks down the conscquence3 will still be very painful. But the tigger the system
grows the more disastrous the results of its breakdown will be, 50 if it is 10 break down it had besl
break down sooner rather lha.n later.
4. We therefore advocale I revolution against !he industrial system. This revolution may or may not
make use of violence: il may be IUcldeu or it may be a re1ativdy gradu.aJ prooeu spanning I few
decades. We can't predict any of thal. BUI we do outline in a very general way the mea:surcl that
those who hate the industrial .ystem should take in Of'da 10 prepare the way for a revolution againsl
that fonn of sociery. This is nol 10 be I pounCAL revolulion. 115 object will be to overthrow DOl
governments bullbe economic Illd teehnolopcal basis oflbe present society.
5. In this article we give attention 10 only some of the negative devdopments that have ifOWIl OUI of
the industrial-techoological J)'stem. Other luch developmenu we mendon only brieny or ignon:
altogether. 1bi.s does not mc.aD thllt we regan! these otber developmenu !Ill unimponanL PoT
practical reasons we have to confine oW' discussion to areas that have recci,ved insufficient public
IIIttntion or in which we have something IlCW 10 say. For example, since are well-developed
environmental and wilderoeu movements, we have written very Iitlic abouc environmental
degradatiOD or the destJUction of wild nature, even though we consider these to he highly lmportanl.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MODERN LEFTISM
6. Almost everyone will agree Ihllt we live in. deeply troubled socielY. One of thc most widespread
manifestations of tbe auincu of our wcn:ld is (cftism, so • discussion ot the psychology of leftism
can serve as an introducdon 10 the discussion ofthc problem. ot modem .aciety in general.
7. BUI what is leftism? During the first half ot the 20th century (cftism could have been practically
identified with JOCiwsm. Today the movemelll is fragmelllcd and it is Il()( clear who caD properly be
called a leftist. When we speak ot lcftisu in thU article we have in mind mainly socia.Wts,
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