That marriage is a failure none but the very stupid will deny. Thus Dante’s motto over Inferno applies with equal force to marriage: “Ye who enter here leave all hope behind.” He feels his chains more in an economic sense. Man, too, pays his toll, but as his sphere is wider, marriage does not limit him as much as woman. If, how ever, woman’s premium is a husband, she pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life, “until death doth part.” Moreover, the marriage insurance condemns her to life-long dependency, to parasitism, to complete uselessness, individual as well as social. In taking out an insurance policy one pays for it in dollars and cents, always at liberty to discontinue payments. Its returns are insignificantly small compared with the investments. It differs from the ordinary life insurance agreement only in that it is more binding, more exacting. Marriage is primarily an economic arrangement, an insurance pact. Certainly the growing-used to each other is far away from the spontaneity, the intensity, and beauty of love, without which the intimacy of marriage must prove degrading to both the woman and the man.

On rare occasions one does hear of a miraculous case of a married couple falling in love after marriage, but on close examination it will be found that it is a mere adjustment to the inevitable. On the other hand, it is utterly false that love results from marriage. At any rate, while it is true that some marriages are based on love, and while it is equally true that in some cases love continues in married life, I maintain that it does so regardless of marriage, and not because of it. There are to-day large numbers of men and women to whom marriage is naught but a farce, but who submit to it for the sake of public opinion. Not, however, because love could assert itself only in marriage much rather is it because few people can completely outgrow a convention. No doubt some marriages have been the result of love. Marriage and love have nothing in common they are as far apart as the poles are, in fact, antagonistic to each other. Like most popular notions this also rests not on actual facts, but on superstition. THE popular notion about marriage and love is that they are synonymous, that they spring from the same motives, and cover the same human needs. It shows the thoughtful, personal touch.Source: Emma Goldman’s Anarchism and Other Essays. Everyone’s least-favorite snitch will be there, so be sure to have the proper attire on hand for greeting him. Now it’s time for healing, resting, and conserving our strength for CCC in August. Still hungover from Suits and Spooks (and Snitches?)? Us too, kittens.

Goldman anarchism and other essays