Blog - Page 2 of 287 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

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…

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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 […]

The Anarchism of the Encounter: The Texts (pénétration mutuelle)

September 16, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

But, just as life supposes contradiction, contradiction in its turn calls for justice: from this the second law of creation and humanity, the mutual penetration of antagonistic elements, RECIPROCITY.

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The Anarchism of the Encounter: A Distillation

July 28, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

Ultimately, the most robust forms of anarchist thought are likely to result from the connection — encounter, conjugation, etc. — of more detail-oriented sorts of synthesis with this kind of distillation in the context of ongoing practical application. In a book, the scope of application is obviously limited, but hopefully that can be one kind of strength.

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The Anarchism of the Encounter: The Texts

July 18, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let us recall the principle. The reason for the institution of government, as we have said, is the economic anarchy. When the Revolution has regulated this anarchy, and organized the industrial forces, there is no further pretext for political centralization; it is absorbed in industrial solidarity, a solidarity which is based upon general reason, and of which we may say, as Pascal said of the universe, that its center is everywhere, its circumference nowhere.

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Revenge of the Return of Anarchy and Democracy (Revisited)

June 27, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

The most recent issue of Anarcho-Syndicalist Review includes an article by Wayne Price, “Do Anarchists Support Democracy? The Opinions of Errico Malatesta,” in which he once again takes up the defense of “democracy” as at least consistent with anarchist principles. A brief discussion of the article on the North American Anarchist Studies Association list picked up threads from the 2017 C4SS “Mutual Exchange” on anarchy and democracy.

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E. Armand, “A vous, les humbles” / “To you, the humble ones” (1917) (FR/EN)

June 23, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

O humble ones, we know your jealousies and your grudges. We know that in your morals, you ape the social exalted, when you do not surpass them in ridicule or narrowness. We are fully aware of your prejudices, your fear of what others will say, your servility, your flattening before anyone who exercises authority, wears fine clothes or clinks a purse full of coins.

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