All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are

In the words of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon—“All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are varieties of absolutism.”—there is unveiled a truth as sharp as iron: that the pursuit of power, no matter how clothed in virtue, tends toward domination. For the flame of ambition, once kindled, rarely rests content with balance or compromise; it longs to consume, to impose, to reign. Thus, Proudhon warns that every party, however noble its beginnings, risks becoming a new tyrant when its goal is power alone.

The ancients bore witness to this cycle. The Roman Republic, founded in defiance of kings, gave its power to the Senate and the people. Yet in time, factions arose—optimates and populares—each claiming to defend liberty, yet each hungering for control. Their quarrels ended not in freedom, but in the rule of Caesar, and the Republic was swallowed by empire. What began as guardianship of liberty became a new absolutism, born of the very parties that once claimed to oppose it.

There is in Proudhon’s words the spirit of warning: beware of entrusting your hope to banners and parties, for they are not immune to corruption. Consider Oliver Cromwell, who overthrew monarchy in England with the cry of liberty, only to rule with a hand so heavy it seemed a king had merely changed his name. Thus is the pattern of history: the oppressed, once in power, often mirror their oppressors, forgetting the very lessons that once gave them cause to rise.

Yet this teaching is not merely despair. It also calls for vigilance and humility. If all parties tend toward absolutism, then the duty of a free people is to guard against idolatry, to resist giving blind allegiance, and to remember that power must always be balanced, questioned, restrained. For liberty dies not only by the hand of kings, but also by the hands of those who claim to be its servants.

Thus, let us pass this wisdom to future generations: do not seek salvation in parties or ideologies, but in the eternal principles of justice, accountability, and restraint. For every structure of power, if left unchecked, will drift toward absolutism. The task of the people is never finished, but eternal—to keep watch, to resist domination, and to remember always that freedom is not a gift bestowed by rulers, but a flame that must be guarded by all.