Victor Yarros

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Victor Yarros (1865-1956) was a 19th century American anarchist and author. He was a prolific contributor to the individualist anarchist periodical in the United States called Liberty.

Yarros was early on associated with the anarcho-communists but soon converted to individualist anarchism, and was very critical of everything collectivist. Yarros did not see anarchism as a utopian system, but like the other individualists in his league, he envisioned a society in which coercion was used only in defense: "The anarchists, as anarchists, work directly, not for a perfect social state, but for a perfect political system. A perfect social state is a state totally free from sin or crime of folly; a perfect political system in which justice is observed, in which nothing is punished but crime and nobody coerced but invaders." This was to be accomplished by private forces, rather than by a tax-funded state.

Like other individualist anarchists, he opposed anarchist revolution through violent conflict. He did not believe an anarchist society could be achieved until individuals learned to value liberty:

The abolition of the external State must be preceded by the decay of the notions which breathe life and vigour into that clumsy monster: in other words, it is only when the people learn to value liberty, and to understand the truths of the anarchistic philosophy, that the question of practically abolishing the State looms up and acquires significance.

Yarros initially based his individualist anarchism on egoism, penning an essay called Why I Am An Egoist, however, he later repudiated egoism calling it "monstrously absurd and miserably nonsensical" (Liberty, VII, May 6 1891).