Month: August 2016

Anarchist Beginnings

César de Paepe, “Anarchy” (1863)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
The two texts that follow are both translations of an excerpt from the speech published as “Discours du citoyen César de Paepe prononcé á Patignies (Namur) en 1863” in 1898. The first, an edited translation, first appeared under the title “Anarchy” in The Commonweal 7 no. 287 (October 31, 1891): 137-139. The second is my own complete translation of the same passage, which includes some remarks on the transition to anarchy not included in the 19th century translation. The ideal of the democracy can only be Anarchy; not Anarchy in the sense of disorder, confusion, but Anarchy in the sense, […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Emma Goldman, “A Beautiful Ideal” (1908)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
— A — Beautiful Ideal BY EMMA GOLDMAN The lecture which Emma Goldman was to have read before the Edelstadt Social, March 17th, 1908, at Workingmens’ Hall, 12th & Waller Streets, Chicago. But was prevented by Captain Mahoney of Maxwell Street Station with a squad of about fifty police. INTRODUCTORY. In fact and in truth Miss Goldman is a mild mannered little woman who would not kill a. fly or a spider. On the contrary she teaches peace, harmony and brotherly love among all men regardless of race, creed or color. We are publishing this little booklet so that she […]
A Good Word

Gaston Leval, “Libertarian Socialist! Why? (1956)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
In the past, I’ve discussed the “libertarian socialist” current that broke away from language and organizational commitments of the anarchist movement and summarized some of their arguments, but I thought it would be useful to present some of the material in English, starting with a couple of Gaston Leval’s articles. The translation here is a little rough, in part because I don’t yet have a copy of the original publication in hand, and there are some questions about the transcription available online. But I think the general argument is clear enough, and I will update the translation when the original […]
A Good Word

Libertarian socialist historiography

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Contr’un, June 4, 2015] Recently, I’ve been looking at some very interesting work by René Berthier and Gaston Leval, some of it relating to the familiar question of just how anarchists have used the language of anarchy (anarchist, anarchist, etc.) Berthier (whose various works on Bakunin and Proudhon I have been finding very useful) has written a nice little essay on “L’usage du mot « anarchie » chez Bakounine” (The Use of the Word ‘Anarchy’ by Bakunin), which covers some of the same ground as my work on “Anarchy in All its Senses,” but in the works of Bakunin, rather […]
A Good Word

Anarchy, Understood in All its Senses—II

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
Anarchy, understood in all its senses—I (Proudhon, introduction) Anarchy, understood in all its senses—II (Proudhon, 1839-1841) Joseph Déjacque and the First Emergence of “Anarchism” Libertarian socialist historiography (Gaston Leval, René Berthier) Eliphalet Kimball, “Law, Commerce and Religion” (1862) William J. Gorsuch, “Tags” (1891) Gaston Leval, “Libertarian Socialist! Why?” (1956) “Whatever the carpers may say, the word Anarchy is rapidly vindicating itself. No other word could have given such an impetus to the gospel of Liberty in so short a time.” — Benj. R. Tucker “Anarchy is a good word. It means, ‘without a head.’” — Eliphalet Kimball [Contr’un, December 17, […]
A Good Word

Anarchy, Understood in All its Senses

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
A Good Word: Anarchy in All its Senses (outline) Anarchy, understood in all its senses—I (Proudhon, introduction) Anarchy, understood in all its senses—II (Proudhon, 1839-1841) Joseph Déjacque and the First Emergence of “Anarchism” Libertarian socialist historiography (Gaston Leval, René Berthier) Eliphalet Kimball, “Law, Commerce and Religion” (1862) William J. Gorsuch, “Tags” (1891) Gaston Leval, “Libertarian Socialist! Why?” (1956) [From Contr’un, June 30, 2013] “The first term of the series being thus Absolutism,  the final, fateful term is Anarchy, understood in all the senses.”–Proudhon, The General Idea of the Revolution In order to start to address the question posed in the […]
A Good Word

Joseph Déjacque and the First Emergence of “Anarchism”

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”]   [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] [From Contr’un, July 25, 2016] One of this week’s tasks was to finally go back and take a closer look at  how Joseph Déjacque used the language of anarchy in his writings. I finally assembled a couple of text files of all the articles from Le Libertaire and worked through the required keyword searches. That process led me to focus on some pieces that I admit I had never read, or read closely, before and produce some new translations. I think the results are interesting and pose some new […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Peter Kropotkin, “On Order” (1881)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
We are often reproached for accepting as a label this word anarchy, which frightens many people so much. “Your ideas are excellent”, we are told, “but you must admit that the name of your party is an unfortunate choice. Anarchy in common language is synonymous with disorder and chaos; the word brings to mind the idea of interests clashing, of individuals struggling, which cannot lead to the establishment of harmony”. Let us begin by pointing out that a party devoted to action, a party representing a new tendency, seldom has the opportunity of choosing a name for itself. It was […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Elisée Reclus, “An Anarchist on Anarchy” (1884)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
  “It is a pity that such men as Elisée Reclus cannot be promptly shot.” – Providence Press To most Englishmen, the word Anarchy is so evil-sounding that ordinary readers of the Contemporary Review will probably turn from these pages with aversion, wondering how anybody could have the audacity to write them. With the crowd of commonplace chatterers we are already past praying for; no reproach is too bitter for us, no epithet too insulting. Public speakers on social and political subjects find that abuse of Anarchists is an unfailing passport to public favor. Every conceivable crime is laid to […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Albert R. Parsons, “Parsons’ Plea for Anarchy” (1886)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
“So much is written and said nowadays about socialism or anarchism, that a few words on this subject from one who holds to these doctrines may be of interest to the readers of your great newspaper. “Anarchy is the perfection of personal liberty or self-government. It is the free play of nature’s law, the abrogation of the statute. It is the negation of force or the domination of man by man. In the place of the law maker it puts the law discoverer and for the driver, or dictator, or ruler, it gives free play to the natural leader. It […]