Month: March 2019

Nettlau Project

Roads to Anarchism: Introduction

March 30, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Max Nettlau’s work as a theorist of anarchist development, based in his extensive work as a historian of the movement, found expression in a long series of short articles (some of which are being assembled in a collection called New Fields, forthcoming from PM Press.) But he also produced three longer works addressing the question of anarchism’s progress, or lack thereof, and future prospects:

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Blazing Star Library

William B. Greene in the Second Seminole War

March 26, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] “From Florida.—Captain Beall, of the second regiment of dragoons, captured four Indians on the 4th instant, one of them said to be Holatoochee, a sub-chief of the Micasookies. The captain had about a dozen of his men with him, and the capture was made after some hours of chase, from among a party of thirty Indians. The four were taken to Fort Poinsett, and were to be employed by Captain Beall as guides. “On the 7th, the house of Mr. Dorsey, two miles and a half from Chattachoochie, was plundered and […]
From the Archives

William Henry Van Ornum, “Why Government at All?” (1892)

March 23, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Why Government at All? William Henry Van Ornum —– Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1892 issued without copyright TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface PART I. REVIEWS. Introduction Henry George: his Economic Absurdities and Contradictions The Single Tax: Inadequate, Illogical, Cumbersome, and Unjust State Socialism: its Origin, Objects, and Methods State Socialism: its Foundation and Necessary Development The Fallacies of Karl Marx The Fallacies of Edward Bellamy The Fallacies of P. J. Proudhon and his School Social Palliatives Reform by Political Methods PART II. PRINCIPLES The Motive of Human Action The Object of […]
From the Archives

“King Killing” (1795)

March 22, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] KING KILLING. —– Shall Kings alone claim an exemption from Law, an impunity of Wickedness? Shall our idolatrous and servile spirit set up for worship a golden Image, like that of Nebuchadnezzar—a piece of metal, which neither hopes for Reward, nor fears Punishment? Shall Vice and Villainy, whom accident may have encircled with the diadem, be deified and worshipped by uncomplaining impotence and servile fear? What reader, of whatever party or principle, is shocked, when he reads in ancient history, that the Roman Senate voted Nero Their Sovereign to be a […]
Utopian and Scientific

Mathieu Briancourt, “The Organization of Labor & Association” (1846)

March 22, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Many good minds have long been persuaded that on the present generation must devolve the task of solving the formidable problem of the organization of labor, under penalty of being visited by a social revolution, the terrible consequences of which are incalculable. This belief gains ground every moment, and already this question of life and death for civilization is placed among the orders of the day by the most valuable organs of publication.

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The Sex Question

Works by Sophie Kropotkin (La Frondeuse #6)

March 19, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] LA FRONDEUSE unruly writing by radical women No. 6 FEATURING WORKS BY SOPHIE KROPOTKIN CORVUS EDITIONS MARCH 2013 It is an unfortunately common experience to find, while researching some one of the more-or-less well-known male figures in anarchist history, some glimpses of wives, daughters, sisters, lovers or female comrades who have barely left a mark in the historical record. In the case of Sophie Ananiev, the wife of Peter Kropotkin, we are fortunate to have a small, but diverse selection of works which have been translated into English. SOPHIE KROPOTKIN THE […]
Working Translations

Sylvain Maréchal, “The Desert Island” (1788)

March 19, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
In the opening pages of Sylvain Maréchal’s play, The Last Judgment of Kings, we find the following notice: [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] L’idée de cette pièce est prise dans l’Apologue suivant, faisant partie des Leçons du fils ainé d’un roi, ouvrage philosophique du même auteur, publié au commencement de 1789, et mis à l’index par la Police. [/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] The idea for this play is taken from the following Apologue, part of the Lessons for the Eldest Son of a King, a philosophical work by the same author, published at the beginning of 1789, and put […]
Working Translations

Sylvain Maréchal, “The Pig-Keeper King” (1788)

March 18, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
In those days, a young king was inclined to dissipation, even to villainy; it was a hereditary vice. The états-généraux, natural guardians of the sovereign, who had never been emancipated from them, assembled & agreed on a means of correcting the young prince. One day, when he had abandoned himself completely to his foul penchants, and was plunged into a deep sleep, they seized his royal person; from his palace, they transported him on a litter, still sleeping, to a stable.

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