Year: 2019

Blazing Star Library

W. B. G., “Fourierism” (1844)

December 2, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
W. B. G., “Fourierism,” Boston Courier 20 no. 6167 (April 13, 1844): 1. We can be fairly certain that there was more than one writer using the initials W. B. G. in New England newspapers during the years we might expect to find articles by William Batchelder Greene. One was involved in a debate about railroads in Vermont—and was almost certainly not “our” W. B. G. Another wrote at least two letters to the Massachusetts Teacher and Journal of Home and School Education in 1857—and might have been. The author of two letters to the Christian Register on the subject […]
poetry

Paul Paillette, “The New Voice”

November 19, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
One of the missing pieces in my collection of Ravachol-related material has been the source of a phrase by Paul Paillette—often quoted, but always without enough information to even begin track it down: Ravachol-Jesus. I recently found a modern citation that at least gave me the name of the poem and, almost immediately after, was able to track down a copy of Paillette’s scarce collection, Les Tablettes d’un lézard, which contained the poem. The translation provided is very imperfect, but at least finally provides some context for the elusive phrase. VOIX NOUVELLE « De ces faits quels fronts vont porter […]
From the Archives

M. R., “Gigi Damiani” (1954)

November 16, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
M. R., “Gigi Damiani,” Resistance 11 no. 4 (February, 1954): 5-6.   Gigi Damiani Gigi Damiani, one of the outstanding men of the anarchist movement, died in Rome, Italy, November 16, 1953, at the age of 77. The death of Comrade Damiani is a loss which will be felt throughout the Italian anarchist movement, for he was one of its most outstanding thinkers and writers, especially in the field of journalism, And the loss will be felt in many other countries where his varied writings appeared from time to time in anarchist periodicals, Although self-educated, Damiani was a keen interpreter […]
bibliographies

Balzac Library (Tucker Publishing Company)

November 15, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Numbers in parentheses are the numbers printed on the pamphlet.] Balzac Library [Hathi Trust] (1) Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Ghost of Doctor Harris (February 19, 1900) [Hathi] (2) Hannah Lynch, Zola vs. Tolstoi: or, “Fecundity” vs. “The Kreutzer Sonata” (February 20, 1900) [Hathi] (3) Gaston Deschamps, Tolstoi’s “Resurrection” (February 21, 1900) [Hathi] (4) Woods Hutchinson, Animal Chivalry (March 1, 1900) [Hathi] (1) J. A. Hobson, Capitalism and Imperialism in South Africa (March 2, 1900) [Hathi] (2) John Morley, Was the War a Necessity? (March 3, 1900) [Hathi] (3) Richard Le Gallienne, Grant Allen (March 5, 1900) [Hathi] (4) Grant Allen, Luigi […]
Featured articles

Gigi Damiani, “Jesus and Bonnot: A Christmas Tale” (FR/EN) (1927)

November 9, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
The gray car is stopped alongside a ditch, at the edge of the woods (which of its nerves has tensed? — which of its arteries has clogged, refusing the vital rush to its heart?) and under the car a young man crawls, thrashes, swears. On the road, his footsteps silent on the carpet of yellowed leaves (for we are in autumn, the sad autumn of all things!) He approaches. He is a blond vagabond, his long hair unkempt, his beard parted at the chin.

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equitable commerce

George Warren, “Songs sung at the celebration of Paine’s birth day, in New Harmony Jan. 19, 1839”

November 2, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related Links: A Documentary History of the Movement for Equitable Commerce Digitized at Library of Commerce SONGS, sung at the celebration of Paine’s birth day, in New Harmony Jan. 19, 1839. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE TRUTH. ‘Mid fables and fallacies, baubles of youth Be it ever so simple there’s nothing like truth: A charm from the scene seems to hallow the mind, Which seeks through all nature its beauties to find. Truth, truth, simple truth, There’s nothing like truth—there’s nothing like truth A stranger to truth, fancies puzzle the brain, O give me contentment with nature again; The sure life’s enjoyments, […]
French texts

E. Armand, “L’idéal libertaire et sa réalisation” (1904)

November 1, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related links: E. Armand [main page] Feuillets de propagande émancipatrice, N° 4 L’idéal libertaire et sa réalisation par E. ARMAND de l’Ere Nouvelle L’autorité a fait son temps: sous quelle forme qu’elle se présente: dogmes, lois, conventions, morales, — que ce soit au point de vue educatif, économique, intellectuel, le système autoritaire perd de plus en plus du terrain. Représentant du passé, son éclat se ternit graduellement à mesure que se lève la brillante aurore de l’avenir; et même considéré à la lueur des idées courantes, l’i apparait décidément comme une conception digue des temps barbares, ou comme symbole par […]
W. H. Van Ornum

William Henry Van Ornum

October 30, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Chronological Bibliography – William Henry Van Ornum Works Co-Operation W. H. Van Ornum. Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Wednesday, September 08, 1875; pg. 2; Issue 143; Conservators’ League An Address to Business Men. The Daily Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Sunday, June 27, 1886; pg. 7; Issue 95 “Call a Halt,” The Daily Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Tuesday, April 03, 1888; pg. 4; Issue 10 William Henry Van Ornum, “Wheelbarrow and Land Values,” The Open Court 3, no. 80 (March 7, 1889): 1506. The Australian Ballot (Letter to the editor) W. H. Van Ornum. The Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL) Tuesday, May […]
From the Archives

William Henry Van Ornum, “Mating or Marrying, Which?” (1898)

October 30, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
The distinctions of sex seem to extend throughout all nature, certainly through all animate nature; and there is reason to believe that it does not stop at the limits of what is termed the inanimate. In fact, who can say that nature is anywhere inanimate? Every atom of the universe seems to possess the power of selection, by which it is able, under favorable conditions, to attract to itself certain other atoms widely diverse from itself in physical properties, which, together form new substances and manifest new attractions. Along with these attractions and their correlative repulsions goes the active interplay of natural forces, which, throughout every part of the universe, is working evolutionary changes not unlike a progressive growth. Even deep below the ocean’s bed, or far beneath the foundations of the everlasting hills, under pressures so great that they cannot be estimated, heat, electricity and magnetism, combined with chemical reactions are changing old forms into new ones in a manner strangely suggestive of vital action. Even there, the separate atoms are moving freely among each other and arranging themselves in definite order, building up crystals always according to certain patterns, each after its own kind.

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