Month: May 2012

Utopian and Scientific

Charles Fourier on the Antienne, or first repast

May 26, 2012 anarchisms_w4l2ii
Charles Fourier and Charles A. Dana (translator), “An Unpublished Fragment of Fourier,” The Harbinger 3, no. 10 (August 15, 1846): 150-151. Charles Fourier [main page] AN UNPUBLISHED FRAGMENT OF FOURIER. Translated [by Charles A. Dana] from La Democratie Pacifique. Each repast of the day has a special character, a tone which prevails generally at the three classes of tables. I will confine myself to the description of the Antienne, or first repast, which takes place in the morning before leaving the palace. The Antienne cannot be made perfectly regular; — a beautiful disorder will distinguish it. As the hour of […]
Contr'un

The Splendors of the Combined Order

May 25, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
I’ve finally made a start at a blog-archive of material related to Charles Fourier, passional economy, attractive labor, etc. There is a real wealth of such material tucked away in the pages of various 19th century radical periodicals, and my own work is beginning to draw more directly on parts of the tradition, so it will be nice to have the relevant texts available for readers. It will be an on again, off again affair, but I think many of you will enjoy The Splendors of the Combined Order.
Contr'un

The Lesson of the Pear Growers’ Series

May 25, 2012
The Lesson of the Pear Growers’ Series (Commentary) Given the reputation of “classical” anarchists these days, it might be too much to ask anarchists to consider the lessons of those “utopian” socialists who came before. But I want to do just that. It is generally acknowledged that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was influenced by Charles Fourier, whose Le Nouveau Monde Industriel et Sociétaire Proudhon helped to print in 1829. Fourier’s Theory of Four Movements found an echo in the theory of “four movements” which ends Proudhon’s De la création de l’ordre dans l’humanité, and less specialized versions of Fourier’s analysis of series […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Charles Fourier on the Papillon, or Butterfly Passion

May 25, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[A bit from Charles Fourier’s Passions of the Human Soul, dealing with dinner parties and the passion for variation, the papillon. Some of Fourier’s influence no doubt comes through in Stephen Pearl Andrews analogy of the dinner party.] According to the property common to the three distributives, the papillon is of two species, distinguished into contrasted and identical. 1st. The contrasted papillon arises from transitions from one extreme to another. For example: a company of sybarites, accustomed to sumptuous banquets, will eat with great pleasure in a cottage, rustic fare,—milk and fruit served up in earthern vessels; they will find […]
Utopian and Scientific

Gabriel-Desire Laverdant, “Of Property” (1846)

May 25, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
  FROM THE FRENCH OF “LA PHALANGE.” Translated for the Harbinger.   OF PROPERTY, AND THE VARIOUS LEGITIMATE MODES OF ACQUIRING IT. ——————- Attractions are proportional to Destinies. The Series distribute the Harmonies. ——————- FIRST SECTION. ATTRACTIONS. I. Unity, the Fundamental Principle. The theory of Association is true simply because it is true that Attractions are proportional to Destinies. It is upon Attractions that the great Social Architect has framed the edifice of our terrestrial destiny. In other words, the Phalanstery is made in the image of Man. What constitutes the supreme science of Fourier, is the thorough knowledge of […]
Utopian and Scientific

Charles Fourier on the Pear-Grower’s Series

May 25, 2012 anarchisms_w4l2ii
This illustration of Fourier’s theory of the play of passional attractions and progressive series is something I have referred to in the past, in “The Lesson of the Pear-Growers’ Series.” Ian Patterson has done a lovely, complete translation of it for the Cambridge edition of The Theory of the Four Movements, but I’ve wanted for some time to spend enough time with the French to work up a usable translation of my own, since I expect to have recourse to the example again in forthcoming work. Working through Fourier’s prose is at once maddening and delightful, since there is frequently […]
Contr'un

Séverine — The Anarchists of Chicago

May 23, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ANARCHISTS OF CHICAGO They have taken these four men full of life and health, cast over their shoulders the shrouds that shall, some few minutes later, wrap their twisted limbs, and hide their contorted faces—eyes bulging out of their orbits to punish them for having seen too far and too high into the future of humanity; tongues bulging from mouths, gags of purple flesh sealing forever these lips guilty of speaking of justice and truth! Their gait was unsteady, for their ankles were cut by the cords which hobbled their feet, as the legs of beasts are tied before […]
Contr'un

Tentative outline for the Bakunin Project

May 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
From this point on, I’ll be directing most of the Bakunin-related material to the Bakunin Library blog, but I wanted to let my readers here, and on the aggregators where this blog appears, know that I have posted a tentative outline for the Collected Works of Bakunin and would welcome feedback.
Bakunin Library

Strategizing a bit

May 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
There are inevitably choices to be made about any “collected works” project. Even a “complete works” collection generally has to draw some specific lines around what will count as “complete,” generally by limiting what will count as “works.” In the case of Bakunin, the most complete writings are his letters, addresses, and a body of shorter articles, generally addressing fairly specific occasions. His longest and most ambitious published works were nearly all extracted from larger, unfinished manuscripts. It’s not an uncommon problem, but it does pose a particular set of problems, not the least of which is that it takes […]