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Speeches of Paschal Grousset and François Jourde on the Paris Commune (San Francisco, 1874)

April 12, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

SPEECHES OF THE CITIZENS PASCHAL GROUSSET AND FRANCOIS JOURDE EX-MEMBERS OF THE PARIS COMMUNE PRONOUNCED AT THE BANQUET OFFERED THEM BY SOME REPUBLICANS OF SAN FRANCISCO MAY 24, 1874 UNDER THE HONORARY PRESIDENCY OF CITIZEN BLANQUI INTRODUCTION Before the banquet offered to the ex-members of the Paris Commune was opened, citizen Mibielle first congratulated those present for the promptness that they had shown in responding to the appeal that had been made to them; he declared, besides, that he was very honored to direct the Banquet, but on the condition that the citizen Blanqui was declared honorary president. That […]

More on Proudhon’s “Theory of Property”

April 9, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

I needed a change of pace for a couple of days, and went back to work on the still-daunting task of taking Proudhon’s The Theory of Property from the current draft translation to something well-contextualized and publishable. There’s a lot of work to do, including revisiting Proudhon’s earlier works on property, finishing work on the Appendix, translating more contextual material and consulting Proudhon’s manuscripts. Fortunately, more of the relevant manuscript material has become available, and I’ve been able to take some time away from other tasks to finish translating the “Disagreement Regarding the Posthumous Publication of Unpublished Works by P.-J. […]

Pruning the Rhizome (review of “Disruptive Elements”)

April 8, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

Disruptive Elements: The Extremes of French Anarchism Ardent Press, 2014 available from Little Black Cart —— a review —— “Tant pis pour ceux qui souffrent et n’osent pas prêcher l’extermination et l’incendie!” Most history worth bothering with shakes things up. This is particularly true of radical history, and of that branch of radical history that involves rediscovering and re-presenting primary works from various radical currents. Sometimes, the shake-ups are comparatively pleasant, and we find, unexpectedly, that we have inherited marvelous gems, glimpses into the personalities and practices of those who came before us. Sometimes, they seem more like attacks, […]

More anarchist archives online

April 5, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

The International Institute of Social History has digitized several more of their important collections, as part of a large-scale digitization project. The collections include Max Nettlau’s papers, the Bakunin collection, the Louise Michel collection, the Alexander Berkman papers, the Fédération Jurassienne Archives, the Lucien Descaves papers, the Gustave Landauer papers, and several others. Many of the downloadable files are manuscript pages, varying dramatically in legibility, but there are also files of collected pamphlets, periodical issues, fliers, etc. So far, I’ve run across some issues of Josiah Warren’s Periodical Letter, a good scan of J. Wm. Lloyd’s “Anarchists’ March,” the published […]

Proudhon on the Criterion of Certainty (1841-1858)

April 2, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve pulled together some rough translations from Proudhon’s The Creation of Order in Humanity with existing translations from the Second Memoir on Property and Justice in the Revolution and in the Church. Together with The Philosophy of Progress, the collected texts cover some of the major stages in Proudhon’s treatment of the question of “the criterion of certainty.” I remember really being puzzled, the first time I read the book on Progress, about the extent to which this summary of Proudhon’s thought was focused on the question of certainty, and it has taken a long time, even after discovering his […]

Pauline Roland, “Have Women the Right to Labor?” (1851)

March 31, 2014 anarchisms_w4l2ii

A Letter from Pauline Roland We extract from the Espérance a letter of a courageous and intelligent woman, a martyr of modern times, a heroine of Socialism, dead fighting for Progress and for Humanity. Pauline Roland is no more—and yet she still fights among us, with the drops of her blood as with the pearls of her thought, she shakes the scourge at the heads of the reactionaries, revolution in the faces of the civilized? Have Women the Right to Labor? [1] A Simple Question Addressed by a captive to the citizen Emile de Girardin, editor of the Bien-Etre […]

James Guillaume, “Federalism” (1871)

March 31, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

In the second issue of Solidarité, dated April 1871, James Guillaume contributed this piece on the federative principle, in the context of the Paris Commune. Note the use of Proudhon’s concept of “collective force.” I’m working on translating a series of texts on nationality and the federative principle, to go with forthcoming issues of LeftLiberty. _____ Federalism. The true character of the revolution that was accomplished at Paris commence has been outlined in so marked a fashion that you, even the minds most unfamiliar with political theories, can now perceive it clearly. The revolution of Paris is federalist. The Parisian […]

The Bears of Berne and the Bear of Saint-Petersburg (1870)

March 31, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE BEARS OF BERNE AND THE BEAR OF SAINT-PETERSBURG ___________ Patriotic lament for a humiliated and hopeless Switzerland March, 1870 The Russian government has judged our Federal Council well, when it dared to demand the extradition of the Russian patriot Nechayev. Everyone knows that the order has been given to all the cantonal police to seek and arrest that revolutionary, as intrepid as tireless, who, after having escaped twice from the claws of the czar, that is from death preceded by the most dreadful tortures, would probably have believed, that once having taken refuge in the Swiss republic, he would […]

“My dear Grand Papa” (1824)

March 31, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

My dear Grand Papa. I congratulate you on your big day. I wish you great joy, and to pass this day very happily. I promised you to always do better and better, and I make my best efforts to keep my word, and another time I will do better still. This great party is so uncommon, but for that reason very diverting. My sisters and brothers are very contents with this party, and congratulate you on your big day, and wish you much joy. My sisters have made you some presents, but, me, I have nothing to give you at […]

Bakunin, Plan for a revolutionary association (fragment)

March 31, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

[From an undated manuscript, probably written in 1866.] Plan for a revolutionary association. ───────── 1) Those only can be international brothers who accept in their entirety and in their spirit these principles their bases for revolutionary politics. 2) An international brother must put the interests of the general revolution of Europe above the exclusive and narrow interests of his own country; he must at least understand that even by sacrificing to the general revolution the fleeting interests of his country, he assures that much better its permanent emancipation. 3) The international brothers must not be brothers in name, but in […]