---
title: "1 Compelled Work Quotes By Alexander Berkman"
description: "1 Compelled Work quotes by Alexander Berkman. Plus more from Alexander Berkman and more Compelled Work sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png"
---

> [Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you just as the highwayman’s gun. You must live … You can’t work for yourself … The factories, machinery, and tools belong to the employing class, so you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-employer-your-need-compels-you/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png)

## More by Alexander Berkman

> [Anarchism means voluntary co-operation instead of forced participation. It means harmony and order in place of interference and disorder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/anarchism-means-voluntary-co-operation-instead-of-forced/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [When the highwayman holds his gun to your head, you turn your valuables over to him. You 'consent' alright, but you do so because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/when-the-highwayman-holds-his-gun-to-your-head-you-turn-your/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [War means blind obedience, unthinking stupidity, brutish callousness, wanton destruction, and irresponsible murder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/war-means-blind-obedience-unthinking-stupidity-brutish-callousness/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [“In an absolutism, the autocrat is visible and tangible. The real despotism of republican institutions is far deeper, more insidious, because it rests on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/in-an-absolutism-the-autocrat-is-visible-and-tangible-the-real/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [It is the system, rather than individuals, that is the source of pollution and degradation. My prison-house environment is but another manifestation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/it-is-the-system-rather-than-individuals-that-is-the-source-of/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [...existence has become an unreasoning, wild dance around the golden calf, a mad worship of God Mammon. In that dance and in that worship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/existence-has-become-an-unreasoning-wild-dance-around-the-golden-calf/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [Man's inhumanity to man is not the last word. The truth lies deeper. It is economic slavery, the savage struggle for a crumb, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/man-s-inhumanity-to-man-is-not-the-last-word-the-truth-lies-deeper-it/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [“No intelligent radical can fail to realize the need of the rational education of the young. The rearing of the child must become a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/no-intelligent-radical-can-fail-to-realize-the-need-of-the-rational/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood. It degrades and stupefies with the sense that you are not responsible, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/war-paralyzes-your-courage-and-deadens-the-spirit-of-true-manhood-it/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/war-paralyzes-your-courage-and-deadens-the-spirit-of-true-manhood/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [Socialism, like Christianity destroyed itself to gain power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/socialism-like-christianity-destroyed-itself-to-gain-power/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [If you can see, hear, feel, and think, you should know that King Dollar rules the United States, and that the workers are robbed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/if-you-can-see-hear-feel-and-think-you-should-know-that-king-dollar/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [In short, Anarchism means a condition or society where all men and women are free, and where all enjoy equally the benefits of an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/in-short-anarchism-means-a-condition-or-society-where-all-men-and/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [“I have said that there is no "average" American. That is due to the circumstance that the people of the United States differ from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/i-have-said-that-there-is-no-average-american-that-is-due-to-the/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

> [“Violence is the method of ignorance, the weapon of the weak. The strong of heart and brain need no violence, for they are irresistible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/violence-is-the-method-of-ignorance-the-weapon-of-the-weak-the-strong/)

[Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Compelled Work Quotes By Alexander Berkman",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you just as the highwayman’s gun. You must live … You can’t work for yourself … The factories, machinery, and tools belong to the employing class, so you must hire yourself out to that class in order to work and live. Whatever you work at, whoever your employer may be, it always comes to the same: you must workfor him. You can’t help yourself. You are compelled.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Alexander Berkman"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-employer-your-need-compels-you/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Are you not compelled to work for an employer? Your need compels you just as the highwayman’s gun. You must…” — Alexander Berkman",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/",
            "name": "Compelled Work Quotes by Alexander Berkman",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03c/alexander-berkman-24501_class_are-you-not-compelled-to-work-for-an-emp_2612777.png"
            },
            "description": "1 Compelled Work quotes by Alexander Berkman. Plus more from Alexander Berkman and more Compelled Work sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Compelled Work",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Alexander Berkman",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compelled-work/alexander-berkman/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
