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Rereading Bakunin

September 11, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

The work that delayed the new edition of “God and the State” has had a very large silver lining. Not only has that book turned into something I’m finding really exciting to work on, but the improvements are going to allow some changes to the overall structure of the series, which I think will make the various volumes more accessible and useful to both beginners and those with some more thorough exposure to existing translations of Bakunin. I’m still working out the precise formatting of the critical portions of the volumes, but the general plan is fairly clear. Each volume […]

The Program of “La Démocratie” (1868)

September 11, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

La Voix de l’Avenir, May 24, 1868, Chaux-de-Fonds Need I say that as far as a foreigner my be allowed to meddle in your affairs, I sympathize with all my heart with your courageous enterprise and that I subscribe completely to your program? You have the noble ambition of restoring the press in your country to the heights from which it should never have descended, whatever the storms that have assailed it, and of once again accustoming is to seek our inspirations there, a habit that we have lost for nearly 19 years. Be sure that, in all countries, all […]

To the Compagnons of the International Workingmen’s Association of Locle and La Chaux de fond, Article 1 (1869)

September 10, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

(Progrès, no 6, Geneva, February 23, 1869 – March 1, 1869) To the Compagnons of the International Workingmen’s Association of Locle and La Chaux de fond. Friends and brothers, Before leaving your mountains, I felt the need to express to you one more time, in writing, my profound gratitude for the fraternal reception that you have given me. Isn’t it a marvelous thing that a man, a Russian, a former noble, who until now was perfectly unknown to you and who has for the first time set foot in your country, hardly arrived, finds himself surrounded by several hundred brothers! […]

Mikhail Bakunin, “What is Authority” (1870)

September 10, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

NOTE: This passage is generally known as part of “God and the State” (Dieu et l’État, first published in 1882), but it appears in Bakunin’s manuscript as part of “Sophismes historiques de l’école doctrinaire des communistes allemands,” the second section of the unfinished book L’Empire Knouto-Germanique et la Révolution Sociale (The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution.) This new translation seeks to clarify some passages that may appear contradictory in existing translations. In particularly the verb repousser, which previous translators have tended to simply render as “reject,” has been brought closer to its literal sense of “push back” and some […]

God and the State: The Lost Paragraphs

September 10, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

It’s generally known that “God and the State” is a fragment drawn from “Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of the German Communists,” the second installment of The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution, Bakunin’s great, unfinished work. But as that work is still unpublished in English, the fact is simply one more mystery regarding the famous text. There are parts of the context that are not so easy to provide: the first section is over 40,000 words in length and “Historical Sophisms” contains at least another 40,000 words, of which less than 30,000 appear in “God and the State.” […]

H. W., “Anarchism” (1904)

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchism aims to establish an ideal state of society based on the “golden rule,” in which all distinctions of castes and privileges are abolished, and in which each individual is expected to labor spontaneously for the welfare of himself and the community. Mutual interests and due respect for each other are the only forces deemed necessary in their social relationship, i. e., each will be a law unto himself. Admitting that such a society could not be inaugurated under the present state of affairs, its advocates are endeavoring to awaken the people to the fact that government creates disorder, and […]

C. L. James, “Anarchism Defined by an Anarchist” (1886)

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

ANARCHISM DEFINED BY AN ANARCHIST. The very impartial article by Professor Ely on “Socialism in America,” which appeared in your June issue, suggests to me that a somewhat less external view of that movement known as anarchism might possibly be interesting. Anarchism, like Protestantism, has no particular author, but the founder of the I. W. P. A. is Karl Marx, and Marx’s work, “Capital,” is fairly entitled to be considered the great text-book of anarchistic socialism. According to anarchists, possession must be carefully distinguished from property. Possession is the power, right, or privilege of using anything which is inseparable from […]

George Barrett, “The Anarchist Revolution” (1915)

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

Introduction An Anarchist is a man who does not believe that government is a good thing for the people. He is, in fact, a man who believes in and strives for liberty. Liberty is to him not a superstition, or a god of which to make images, but a practical theory or plan of action. The first step necessary in establishing liberty will be, clearly, the abolition of government, and this will mean the organisation of industry by the workers themselves, not by any outside power — in other words, the Anarchist Revolution. For the moment this may seem wildly […]

Peter Kropotkin, “Anarchy: Its Philosophy and Ideal” (1896)

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

ANARCHY. ______ (Translated from the German by Harry Lyman Koopman.) ______ Ever reviled, accursed,-n’er understood, Thou art the grisly terror of our age. “Wreck of all order,” cry the multitude, “Art thou, and war and murder’s endless rage.” O, let them cry. To them that ne’er have striven, The truth that lies behind a word to find, To them the word’s right meaning was not given. They shall continue blind among the blind. But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure, That sayest all which I for goal have taken. I give thee to the future! -Thine secure […]

Nestor Makhno, “The Anarchist Revolution”

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

1. ANARCHISM – a life of freedom and creative independence for humanity. Anarchism does not depend on theory or programs, which try to grasp man’s life in its entirety. It is a teaching, which is based on real life, which outgrows all artificial limitations, which cannot be constricted by any system. Anarchism’s outward form is a free, non-governed society, which offers freedom, equality and solidarity for its members. Its foundations are to be found in man’s sense of mutual responsibility, which has remained unchanged in all places and times. This sense of responsibility is capable of securing freedom and social […]