Year: 2007

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Warren in New York, 1830

May 25, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
During the week of July 17, 1830, the “equal exchange of labor for labor” dominated the pages of both the Free Enquirer and the New York Sentinel and Working Man’s Advocate. Josiah Warren had two pieces published in the Free Enquirer—“To the Friends of the Equal Exchange of Labor in the West” and “Improvement in the Machinery of Law“—alongside another piece, “Equal Exchange of Labor,” reprinted from the “Workie” paper. The Sentinel contained another piece on “Female Labor,” which made reference, though not by name, to Warren. Warren had just come to New York, at the invitation of Robert Dale […]
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William Bailie, “Josiah Warren” (New Harmony Movement)

May 24, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
William Bailie, “Josiah Warren,” in George B. Lockwood, The New Harmony Movement, New York: Appleton, 1905. CHAPTER XXI JOSIAH WARREN[1] “A remarkable American, Josiah Warren.” —JOHN STUART MILL. AMONG the most remarkable characters attracted to New Harmony in community days was Josiah Warren, equally notable as an inventive genius, a social philosopher, and a peaceful revolutionist. He was born in Boston in 1798, of historically famous Puritan stock. Of his parents and early life but little is known. At an early age he displayed musical talents, and, with his brother George, played professionally in local bands. At the age of […]
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Resource on British labor periodicals

May 19, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Dr. Detlev Mares has posted a number of pdfs of “Source material on British popular radicalism (1864-1886).” There are some partial periodical indexes, plus a number of other resources. I ran across it looking for references to A. C. Cuddon, the British advocate of equitable commerce.
equitable commerce

Equitable Commerce bibliography and miscellany

May 16, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
For your education, edification, and amusement: Josiah Warren and Equitable Commerce: A Bibliography A Work-in-Progress: I currently have most of my notes from 1821 to about 1853 incorporated into this sprawling bibliography+, which includes the full text of many short articles. If you’re one of the folks looking forward to Crispin Sartwell’s anthology, check my progress once in awhile, and take a look at Crispin’s Josiah Warren Project, which just got a major update.
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stupid search engine tricks

May 14, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Specific searches get specific results. Right? It depends, actually. Here are a couple of examples: I was searching for a particular edition of one of Josiah Warren’s works, the full title of which is, believe it or not, The former title of this work was “Equitable Commerce”, but it is now ranked as the first part of True Civilization: a subject of vital and serious interest to all people; but most immediately to the men and women of labor and sorrow. This is not to be confused with the first book to be published as True Civilization an immediate necessity, […]
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Josiah Warren’s stereotype-plate patents

May 12, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Josiah Warren’s 1830 “Reduction in the Cost of Printing Apparatus” described one of his attempts to make the power of the press widely available. An 1846 patent (#4479) issued for “Improvement in Compositions for Stereotype-Plates” marked on advance in this project. Matrices of a composite material, largely made up of clay, took the place of the lead matrices proposed in 1830 (themselves an improvement of copper matrices, in terms of the ease with which they could be used. (There is a reissue on file for either 1853 or 1883.) It took me quite awhile to actually find this patent, although […]
equitable commerce

How NOT to Read Josiah Warren

May 12, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[The following note comes from David Ames, Robinson Crusoe’s Money (1876, pages 59-60). I include in here for the specimen notes, both of which were new to me, and for the hints about E. D. Linton’s scheme, but it can also stand as a textbook failure to read Josiah Warren’s actual proposals. Those who have just read William Pare’s “Equitable Villages in America“ will get a chuckle at the differences between the two accounts.] * If to any it may seem puerile and unnecessary to enter into such explanations, it may be well to remind them that one of the […]
equitable commerce

William Pare on equitable commerce

May 11, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] William Pare’s “Equitable Villages in America,” a lecture from 1854, is a particularly good short treatment of the system of “equitable commerce” proposed and practiced by Josiah Warren. Pare never forgot that the first principle of Warren’s philosophy was individualization, and this helped him to understand that the “cost principle” is not simply a matter of exchanging labor time, but a system which incorporates into the notion of “cost” a whole range of subjective valuations, which cannot be subordinated to any social or institutional standard of equity without betraying the system completely. I recommend the […]
equitable commerce

The Dual Commerce Association, Boston, 1859

May 9, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
One of the things that is becoming clearer from continuing research into the practical history of mutualism is that there were lots of small experiments in, and local enthusiasts for, equitable commerce and mutual currency. I’ve already documented one Practical application of the cost principle in Massachusetts, 1863. If appears that this was preceded in Boston by an 1859 project, The Dual Commerce Association. The OCLC catalog lists one 16-page pamphlet: Dual Commerce Association. The Dual Commerce Association: its Experience, Results, Plans & Prospectus : First Report. Boston, Mass.: Dual Commerce Association, 1859. and The Circular includes the following short […]
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The Big Time, at last!

May 6, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Just recently, in a Wikipedia talk-page debate about the significance of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left, the True Intentions of the Agorists, etc., someone asked the interesting, if slightly incoherent question: Why aren’t “Shawn Wilbur” and “Brad Spangler” have Wikipedia articles if they are notable people? Who are these people? Who, indeed? Well, it turns out that yours truly does have a Wikipedia article dedicated to him. On it, we learn the following: Shawn P. Wilbur, född 1963, är en nutida amerikansk individualanarkist och mutualist. Now you know. Funny, though, that’s far from the first indication I’ve had that […]