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fiction

Jean Grave, The Adventures of Nono — Chapter IV

September 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ADVENTURES OF NONO by JEAN GRAVE [continued from Chapter III]   IV IN THE COUNTRY OF AUTONOMY The sun continued its course. If he did not want to let himself by caught by nightfall in his solitude, it was necessary that our wanderer not let himself be beaten down by sadness. He must, on the contrary, summon all his energy and get on his way again. So, shaking his head, as a sign of his resolution and to chase away unwelcome ideas, he got up to resume his journey, but not before tying up two of the baskets of […]
fiction

Jean Grave, The Adventures of Nono — Chapter III

September 7, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ADVENTURES OF NONO by JEAN GRAVE [continued from Chapter II]   III WE LEARN BY TRAVELING The reflections of our little friend were not cheerful: In what country was he? Would he find something to eat? Was he doomed to die of hunger, or, like a new Robinson Crusoe, would he be forced to make the best of his life, far from every companion? Robinson, in his shipwreck, had been able to save weapons, tools, and provisions. He had landed on an island stocked with game and edible fruits. In his walk Nono had seen nothing edible, apart from […]
Proudhon Library

Henriette, artiste, “Letter to Proudhon” (1849)

September 3, 2012
[“En amour, la propriété c’est le viol.” One of the major voices in French feminist circles around the time of the 1848 Revolution signed her name as “Henriette, artiste,” and was probably Henriette Wild. She argued with Jenny d’Hericourt on the subject of celibacy in the pages of the Voix de Femmes, and she wrote a strange and interesting open letter to Proudhon in the pages of La Démocratie pacifique (January 5, 1849). The heart of the letter comes when Henriette hijacks Proudhon’s famous phrase, “Property is theft”—”la propriété c’est le vol” in French—and changes it to say that “in […]
fiction

Jean Grave, The Adventures of Nono — Chapter II

September 3, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[I ended up neglecting The Adventures of Nono for longer than I had intended, while some other projects came together, but it’s time to return to our anarchist children’s novel.] THE ADVENTURES OF NONO by JEAN GRAVE [continued from Chapter I]   II.  FIRST ADVENTURES When Nono awoke, it was broad daylight. But, surprisingly, instead of being in his bed he was lying on a lawn thick, filled with flowers raising their petalsover the green grass. The sun lit up that place, making the floral colors gleam, shimmering off the variegated wings of the countless insects that fluttering in its […]
Contr'un

1838: Property is theft (Jules Leroux)

August 30, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
EPISODES in another history of anarchism: In volume 4 of the Encyclopédie nouvelle, which appeared in 1838, Jules Leroux contributed a lengthy entry on Political Economy. There is a lot there that is of interest, but perhaps nothing that touches this passage for topical interest here in the mutualist blogosphere: Et la propriété se trouve être nécessairement définie en ces termes: La possession et l’usage d’un objet propre à satisfaire un besoin. Supprimez le mot possession, et la propriété disparaît. Supprimez le mot usage, et la propriété devient une chose immorale, anti-humaine : c’est l’accaparement, c’est le vol. That is: […]
Contr'un

A Tale of Three Provisos

August 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related: Some thoughts on Locke’s proviso Responses on Locke’s proviso “Must we say, with some who pretend to metaphysics, that property is the expression of individuality, of the personality, of the self? But possession largely suffices for that expression…” — P.-J. Proudhon, The Theory of Property “I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe …. and am not contained between my hat and boots…” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” It’s funny, in some ways at least, how Proudhon has earned a rather scandalous reputation for his work on property, while Locke remains the name to […]
The Sex Question

Stories by Voltairine de Cleyre and Lizzie Holmes

August 20, 2012
The anarchist tradition has always had a literary side. Even Proudhon was fond of inserting the occasional illustrative tale in his works. And the French tales of proletarian life which have been featured here had their counterparts in the English-language traditions. For instance, Lizzie M. Holmes wrote dozens of short stories for the anarchist and labor press, and Voltairine de Cleyre wrote a number as well. I’ve assembled a collection of Voltairine de Cleyre’s “Sketches and Stories,” combining the material from the Collected Works volume with a few sketches which were not included there. And I’ve also collected a few […]
The Sex Question

“La Frondeuse” zine, Issues 3 & 4

August 20, 2012
The Black and Red Feminism zine has been reborn as La Frondeuse [The Troublemaker, or The Anti-Authoritarian.] The name is borrowed from one of Séverine’s collections. Issue 3 features works by Louise Michel, Paule Mink and Séverine. Issue 4 contains works by Jenny d’Héricourt under various pen-names. The name-change comes with a bit of fancy repackaging, and will be retroactive. I’ll be revising and repackaging the material from the two issues of Black and Red Feminism as issues of La Frondeuse, and a number of titles from the old Corvus catalog will be expanded and revised in uniform editions. With […]
poetry

Jeanne Marie, “Revelation” (1849)

August 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[“Jeanne Marie” (probably Jeanne-Marie Monniot) also contributed this poem to l’Opinion des Femmes. A literal translation follows.] Révelation. Mère, comme il fait froid! la terre est toute blanche; Le mont, déjà trois fois, a roulé l’avalanche; Un instant a suffi pour chasser les beaux jours Et dépouiller le val de verdure et d amours. Les oiseaux frissonnants désertent le bocage, La plaine est comme un lac immense et sans rivage, Les pauvres voyageurs errants sur les chemins. Qu’ils sont infortunés, mère, et que je les plains, Alors qu’auprès de l’âtre où la flamme pétille, Lisant à la lueur de la […]