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The Philosopher Between the Capitalist and the Communist Chapter 25 : Half of a World By Punkerslut
The Communists and the Capitalists in Anarchia had split into halves. Both Benjamin and Emma were begged by their people to do something about the situation. It wasn't just the begging of a few revolutionaries. It was the begging of mothers and fathers with families, it was the begging of isolated spirits of revolt amidst a mass of society, it was the begging of children who would never know their parents, it was the begging of the disenchanted, the lost, the forgotten, the ignored. Emma and Benjamin felt every word. "They are my people, so I must follow them," [*1] they each thought to themselves. And so Anarchia was divided. The one side Communist on the Left, the other side Capitalist on the Right. Like a planet separated into two hemispheres by some cartographer's fingers, or a tree split down its center by lighting, there was no longer the world of the Anarchists. There was only the half-world of Anarcho-Communists and the half-world of Anarcho-Capitalists. *1. Unknown, although often attributed to Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin and a Maoist general from the People's Republic of China. Spargo had convinced Emma of an agreement and promise by Solon and the Athenian Communist Party that she could return and rejoin the city with her people, just as Benjamin had been convinced of the same thing by Agent 354, even if Benjamin only knew her as "Ally." The Socialists, the Cooperativists, the Unionists, and even the "pure Marxists" and "out-and-out Anarchist-Communists" were all to be welcomed back to Athens, Spargo carrying a letter promising as much with a seal of approval from the Chairman of the Communist Party. The Farmers, the Professors, the Small Shopkeepers, and even the "purely-military trained" and "entirely undisciplined Anarchist-Capitalists" were to be forgiven and accepted back at Babylon. Agent 354 held signed letters from Hammurabi and the General from the Babylonian Military Academy to prove her claims to Benjamin. The dreams of the workers in Anarchia now shifted towards Athens, and those of the poor peasant and the middle-class intellectual shifted back towards Babylon.
The final decisions were being made, the votes were being counted, the Anarchists were making their future. Emma stood with the Communists, Benjamin stood with the Capitalists. It was already clear to everyone what the referendum results would be, everyone could already tell that the vote for splitting was going to pass. It was announced, met with a mixture of grief and joy, some of the shouts not clearly one or the other. The Anarchists had decided to no longer live in Anarchy, and to return their respective homes of Athens and Babylon. And just at that moment, when Emma and Benjamin were shaking hands, in their parting moment of farewell, in the distance they could see something -- there was a hooded man rushing up to them, panting and out of breathe, sweat rushing down his forehead and vapor out of his lungs. "Stop! Stop!" he shouted, "You can't do this!" It was the Philosopher.
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