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William B. Greene on women’s suffrage

September 19, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur
I maintain, first, that the people have a certain natural right, which, under special conditions of society, manifests itself in the form of a right to vote. I maintain, secondly, that the women of Massachusetts are people existing under those special conditions of society. I maintain, finally, and by necessary consequence, that the women of Massachusetts have a natural right to vote. I am but a recent convert to the doctrine of women’s rights, never having meditated upon the matter before the famous question was propounded by our good friend from Salem, (Mr. Lord,) “‘Who are the people?” I have been unable, therefore, to prepare myself with statistics. I know nothing of women’s wrongs, and, with the permission of the Committee, will argue the question solely upon abstract and general grounds.

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William Batchelder Greene pays a visit to P.-J. Proudhon

September 19, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur
We know surprisingly little about the details of the life of William Batchelder Greene. We know that he was an impressive character: handsome, intelligent, but eccentric, a bit tragic. People noticed him and there are scattered recollections all over the place, dating back to his youth, but it has always looked like a big job to try to gather enough of them to produce a biographical account. One of the facts that seems well-established, however, is that he met Proudhon during his stay in France, where he had taken his family after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. And we have some very general impressions, provided by Greene to The Word (2. no. 9, January, 1874):

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Featured articles

A New Proudhon Library: Next steps

July 8, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur
After the month-long interruption in April, I’m finally settling down to work on the chronological review of Proudhon’s work that I have mentioned recently — which is also the process that will produce some print-on-demand volumes for A New Proudhon Library. I’ve been working without my usual daily quotas and deadlines, for the first time in over three years, and spending a lot of time thinking — no doubt sometimes over-thinking — about the translation strategies I began to develop a decade ago, while puttering away at Proudhon’s journalism and correspondence.

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Proudhon Library

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 […]
Proudhon Library

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 […]
New Proudhon Library

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 […]
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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 […]
Anarchist Beginnings

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, […]