The Eagle and the Serpent – Ricardo Flores Magón (1911)

From ‘Regeneración’, English Section, June 17, 1911, Los Angeles, edited by William C. Owen

Noble impulse, away! I am the Maderism that creeps about and bites the heels of the valiant and of the unselfish.

Away, noble impulse! I am Maderism incarnate; I am the representation of the Money-God; the God that has no nerves, that has no heart, that feeds on the suffering, on the tears, on the sweat, on the blood of the humble.

Noble impulse, away! I say. You are a nuisance. You are the eagle and I am the serpent. You fly, I crawl; but I have an advantage over you in that I can easily hide myself. My legions creep like me. They are envy, avarice, disloyalty, cupidity, treason, infamy. All who follow me have “an axe to grind,” like the character in Franklin’s story.

Some want to be governors, others are satisfied to become but deputies and there are those so miserable as to aspire to have but the job of a common policeman. To be but a “cuico” [cop] means a good deal to some luckless ones.

Away, noble impulse! I am Maderism; to me the end justifies the means: Loyola is my preceptor. Soaring aloft as you do you cannot hide yourself; I, on the contrary, creeping about, may utilize crevices. I slip away in any crack, however sinuous, I may come across, a briar bush will serve me as a cover and concealed there I lie in wait for you in order to bite you when you come down.

I am Maderism; I am treason itself. Ideals are beyond me. Comes Attila? I open to him the portals. What I want is to get into power, and if the Yankee will guarantee to place me in power over the people, welcome be the Yankee. I, like the “cientificos,” will go even to ignominy.

(Translated from the Spanish of Ricardo Flores Magon, by George Petersen).