Month: July 2017

The Sex Question

Francisco Ferrer, “L’École Rénovée” (1909; Voltairine de Cleyre, tr.)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
L’École Rénovée By Francisco Ferrer. Literal translation of an article written by Francisco Ferrer for the L’Ecole Renovee, the Paris review published in the interests of Modern Education. TO those who wish to renovate the education of children two methods are open: To work for the transformation of the school by studying the child, so as to prove scientifically that the present organization of education is defective and to bring about progressive modification; or, to found new schools in which shall be directly applied those principles corresponding directly to the ideal of society and of its units, as held by […]
fiction

Liebin, “Little Albert’s Punishment” (1907; Voltairine de Cleyre, tr.)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Links:  Voltairine de Cleyre [main page] LITTLE ALBERT’S PUNISHMENT (Translated from the Jewish of Liebin.) ALBERT is nine years old. He is little, thin, and pale. There was no place for him in school, so he has to stay at home. Very likely the hand of an overseeing Providence is in that, since Albert’s being at home has been of much use. Albert’s father is a button-hole maker, but he will soon have forgotten all about his trade, for he has been out of a job for a long, long time. Day in and day out he goes about looking […]
The Sex Question

L. I. Peretz, “Hope and Fear” (1906; Voltairine de Cleyre, tr.)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
HOPE AND FEAR.* (Translated from the Jewish of L. I. Peretz.) . . . My heart is with you. My eye does not get weary looking at your flaming banner; my ear does not get tired listening to your powerful song . . . My heart is with you; man’s hunger must be appeased, and he must have light; he must be free, and he must be his own master, master over himself and his work. And when you snap at the fist which is trying to strangle you, your voice, and your ardent protest, preventing you from being heard […]
The Sex Question

“Buddhism,” translated by Voltairine de Cleyre (1903)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Buddhism. A few weeks before Voltairine de Cleyre was struck down in the street by the bullets from Herman Helscher’s revolver, she read in one of her French journals the story of a Chinaman who was shot by a Russian soldier in the streets of a Manchurian village. This story made a profound impression on the young woman’s mind. “That Chinaman was an anarchist and did not know it,” she said to her friends. “His sentiments, his ideas, are mine. I will translate the story for the benefit of my friends.” And she translated, but scarcely had her work been […]
fiction

Voltairine de Cleyre, “She Died for Me” (1895)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE Doctor was a lean dark man, with sad eyes. They looked up, wide and singularly deep, as his visitor said: “I don’t understand you half-way freethinkers in the least. I am out and out. I have no patience with wishy-washiness. I just tell them straight that I haven’t any use for their musty old frauds, nor their whole outfit of priests, that live by them. But you-you know religion is all superstition, yet you go on talking to those people as if you accepted their belief in God and immortality and the vicarious atonement and the whole programme! “ […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “American Progress” (1891)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
IN a very able article in the October Monist, Mr. T. R. Preston gives a bird’s-eye view of American Politics, for the purpose, it would appear of pointing out the coincidence of American political development with the more general theory of Evolution. This article commands admiration for its evident spirit of fairness, and desire to bring out the truth concerning the purpose of the rise, growth, and decay of political parties. Nevertheless he has arrived at certain conclusions which, in my opinion, are incorrect, and should not pass without criticism. If I rightly apprehend the general tenor and particularly the […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Lance for Anarchy” (1891)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE perusal of Dr. Carus’s article, “Freethought: Its Truth and its Error” in The Open Court of Aug. 6th, has impelled me to a parallel line of thought concerning a doctrine, a principle, less understood, more misinterpreted, both by enemies and followers, than even that much abused, much misunderstood, much misinterpreted principle of freethought; and, as is the case with the latter, the greatest damage proceeds not so much from the opposition of prejudice as from the profession of ignorance. “Freethought,” says Dr. Carus, “has arisen in revolution to blind obedience.” It was indeed the great revolt against human authority […]

Voltairine de Cleyre, “The Philosophy of Selfishness and Metaphysical Ethics” (1891)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The Philosophy of Selfishness and Metaphysical Ethics In No. 197 of The Open Court appeared a criticism of the egoistic conception of life from the pen of Mr. Salter in which I was deeply interested. Interested because I believe that as one of the leaders of the ethical movement Mr. Slater is aware that there is no more frequent or more fatal error to overcome, in his work, than this very philosophy of selfishness, and therefore should be one of those best conversant with the proofs of its shallowness and falsity. It is plain that the increasing interest in the […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Glance at Communism” (1892)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A GLANCE AT COMMUNISM. BY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE “Cast thy bread upon the waters, Find it after many days.” Two years ago, in a little uptown parlor, the home of a Philadelphia weaver, a group of inquirers after truth were wont to assemble bi-weekly for the discussion of “Communism vs. Individualism.” There were generally present some fifteen Communists and five or six Individualists. Let it be here admitted that while all were earnestly seeking truth, each side was pretty thoroughly convinced that the other was searching in the wrong direction, and as near as I am able to ascertain we […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Why I Am an Anarchist” (1897)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
(A lecture delivered in Hammond, Ind.) IT was suggested to me by those who were the means of securing me this opportunity of addressing you, that probably the most easy and natural way for me to explain Anarchism would be for me to give the reasons why I myself am an Anarchist. I am not sure that they were altogether right in the matter, because in giving the reasons why I am an Anarchist, I may perhaps infuse too much of my own personality into the subject, giving reasons sufficient unto myself, but which cool reflection might convince me were […]