Blog - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Le Représentant du Peuple: Specimen issues (October-November 1847)

June 20, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

Links: A New Proudhon Library [project page] Le Représentant du Peuple: misc. writings Prospectus of Le Peuple — published after May 20, 1847 In 1789, a famous publicist wrote: “What is the Third Estate? — Nothing. — What ought it to be? — Everything.” What Sieyès said in 89 regarding the bourgeoisie, we now say regarding the people and on behalf of the people. The people are everything in civilization: defenders of the homeland, creators of public wealth, revealers of science, poetry and art, supreme check on government. There is no idea, no seed, no fruit, no marvel that does […]

Correspondence of P.-J. Proudhon (Lacroix)

April 17, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

Year-by-year word counts: 1832-1839 — 43,500 words 1840 — 21,000 1841 — 30,000 1842 — 16,500 1843 — 14,000 1844 — 16,500 1845 — 4,000 1846 — 11,500 1847 — 14,500 1848 — 24,500 1848 — 27,500 1850 — 72,500 1851 — 52,000 1852 — 71,000 1853 — 41,500 1854 — 40,000 1855 — 40,500 1856 — 36,500 1857 — 26,000 1858 — 82,000 1859 — 78,000 1860 — 74,500 1861 — 87,500 1862 — 74,500 1863 — 81,500 1864 — 55,000 1865 — 1,500 P.-J. Proudhon, Application for the Suard Pension (1837) P.-J. Proudhon, Letter to the Members of […]

Le Représentant du Peuple (February-August 1848)

February 23, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

No. 4 (April 4, 1848) Représentant du Peuple no. 4 ( April 4, 1848): 1-2. IDEAS AND FACTS. There are always, and at this moment more than ever, two politics standing face-to-face: the politics of interests and the politics of ideas. The former is just as entitled as the latter to the attention of influential figures; its mission is to reduce the suffering of all members of society to its barest minimum, to temper, as much as possible, the profound upheaval in which almost every life is currently immersed and, finally, to give life to all the principles that have […]

Ramón de la Sagra (1798-1871)

February 18, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

Working translations: “On the Imprecision of Economic Principles and the Teaching of Political Economy in Colleges” (1847) “Some Ideas on the Organization of Labor and Free Competition” (1847) “The Problem of the Organization of Labor, before the Congress of the Economists of Brussels” (1848) “The Problem of the Organization of Labor, before the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences” (1848) “The Problem of the Organization of Labor, before the Central Congress of Agriculture” (1848) “On Property” (1848) Social Aphorisms (1848) Bank of the People: Theory and Practice of that Institution (1849) Related links: A New Proudhon Library [project page] Solution […]

Manifesto of the Dynamiters (1893)

February 12, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

Manifesto of the Dynamiters (1893) A lot of the material that we have explaining the strategy of the attentateurs of the 1890s comes from trial statements, but there were some other documents written in support of the various attacks. In the sidebar, you’ll find a link to a brief “Manifesto of the Dynamiters,” originally published in French, in London, apparently early in 1893, since it refers to Ravachol’s bombing of “the buildings of the magistrates” as “yesterday.” In tone, this is very much in line with Emile Henry’s “there are no innocent bourgeois.” Whether or not this is good theory, […]

Daniel Saurin, “Order through Anarchy” (1893)

February 4, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

I have seen the title L’Ordre par l’Anarchie — published in the “Bibliothèque Anarchiste” of La Révolte — in the back pages of various anarchist communist papers from the 1890s, but had never tracked it down… it is a very interesting attempt to construct an anarchist ethics on a “natural rights” foundation…

[…]

A Schematic Anarchism: Anarchy and the Governmental Series

January 21, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

OUR LOST CONTINENT Related links: A New Proudhon Library [project page] Voline, “On Synthesis” (1924) Anarchy as a Beacon and as a Focus for Synthesis (2018) EXPLORATIONS: PHASE ONE: RELATED: “Our Lost Continent” (April 4, 2015) “The ‘Benthamite’ anarchism and the origins of anarchist history” (April 5, 1015) “New Uncertainties and Opportunities” (April 6, 2015) “Looking Forward—Mapping Our Lost Continent” (April, 2018) “What Mutualism Was: Coming to Terms with Our Anarchist Past” (January 4, 2019) “Our Lost Continent” [tag stream] “Extrications” [tag stream] — notes on synthesis, anarchist development, etc. SUMMARIES & RATIONALES: MAPPINGS: Notes for an Introduction GREAT DIVIDES: […]

Research and Translation Journal (December 28, 2025 – January 10, 2026)

January 11, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

Links: This the first in a series of posts documenting the kinds of work that tends to fill my days lately, wide-ranging research and on-the-fly translation that often goes undocumented on the site. It’s a lot of what I’m doing these days and, honestly, even I have trouble keeping track of all of the minor bits of progress on multiple fronts. The goal is to post something in the “journal” category every week or so. Some recent posts and page updates: Lewis & Ann Masquerier in the “Boston Investigator” (1834-1888) — Documentation of research on Ann Tabor, wife of Lewis […]

The Anarchists’ Noël: Christmas Tales from “Le Libertaire” (1899-1913)

December 26, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

Links: The Anarchists’ Noël (pdf) ‘Christmas’ [category feed] Posting anarchist Christmas stories has become something of a tradition here in recent years, with some of the best coming from the individualist press, such as the various pieces by E. Armand and Gigi Damiani’s “Jesus and Bonnot: A Christmas Tale.” So I had been intending right along to steal a bit of time before the holiday rolled around to seek out a few new tales to translate. And then a mix of other tasks — work on the “Encounters with Anarchist Individualism,” native seed stratification, etc. — just completely wiped it […]

Encounters with Anarchist Individualism: Bigger on the Inside

September 22, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

Links: E. Armand, What Is an Anarchist? (1908) E. Armand, The Anarchist Individualist Initiation (1923) Contr’un #3: The Anarchic Encounter (pdf) (2013) Anarchism, Plain and Simple / Propositions for Discussion (2015) Rambles in the Fields of Anarchist Individualism (2020) Constructing Anarchisms (2020) A Schematic Anarchism (2022) ENCOUNTERS: I am large, I contain multitudes. — Whitman, “Song of Myself” After a rather lengthy delay, I’m settling down to some projects that I had initially intended to begin back in January. As it happens, all three of the tasks at the top of the pile — work on Proudhon’s Justice, an edition […]