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Emile Digeon, Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy (1882)

April 18, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let’s be honest. I initially took a look at Emile Digeon’s Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy because of its weird title. But it turns out that he was a fascinating individual, who played a key role in one of the other communes that rose with the Paris Commune. So I’ve already translated a couple of minor texts, and now I can add his most famous work to the file. There remains one major pamphlet to translate, Revolutionary Remarks, and then I’ll probably bind an edition of “Selected Works.” Rights and Duties displays an interesting mix of tendencies. Digeon wants […]

Ernest Coeurderoy, Three Letters to the Journal l’Homme – I

April 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] THREE LETTERS TO THE JOURNAL L’HOMME, ORGAN OF FRENCH DEMAGOGY ABROAD, BY ERNEST CŒURDEROY. “No force can stop the movement of social decomposition. And Demagogy is not even a force.” (Ernest Cœurderoy. — Days of Exile.) LONDON; JOSEPH THOMAS, 2, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. ———– THREE LETTERS TO THE JOURNAL L’HOMME, Following a simple complaint that I addressed to it, the journal l’Homme having challenged me to a serious discussion which it later recognized itself incapable of defending against me, I publish the responses that the impartial editing of that […]

Corvus Editions: Spring releases

April 11, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

For this year’s Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, I decided to simplify my selection, and my tabling patter, and focus on the translation side of my project. A number of the pamphlets linked below are also first installments of larger projects. Anyway, here’s what you missed if you didn’t make the show: Working Translations #1 “An unsystematic selection of radical writings, translated from the French.”In hardcover, Working Translations will be a series of 200+ page omnibus volumes, collecting all of my translation work as it appears. For pamphlet release, I’ll be issuing many of the longer texts separately, and assembling […]

Felix P….., “The Philosophy of Defiance” (New York, 1854)

April 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve just posted a translation of selections from The Philosophy of Defiance, an 1854 anarchist pamphlet published in New York and written by a French exile who signed the work “Felix P…..” Max Nettlau discovered the text, and published portions of it in La Revue Anarchiste for July, 1922. That’s fortunate, because the original text seems to be rare to the point of nonexistence, and because it’s a very interesting example of early anarchist thought.

Felix P….., “The Philosophy of Defiance” (New York, 1854)

April 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DEFIANCE, or, A Pardon for Cain 1854 FELIX P….. Edited by Max Nettlau … Give me any epithets you wish; I accept them all in advance. I have only one thought, and envision only one glory: it is to strike everywhere and always, as much as I can, at the principle of domination. Satan, in his revolt, is my father, and, in his courage, Cain is my brother! … We do not take a single step in society without hearing that human beings must believe in a God, in a sovereign being, master of all things, according […]

The New Adventure: Bakunin in English

April 5, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’m just back from the 2012 Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, which was, as usual, a lot of fun—and more than a bit exhausting. I took a much narrower slice of the Corvus Editions catalog than usual, focusing on translations and the Eliphalet Kimball collection, and was pleased with the response. Translation was also the focus of a lot of the networking this year, and several great projects should be rolling out over the next couple of months. The big project that is mine to announce is the Collected Works of Bakunin in English, which PM Press is finally ready […]

Contr'un

Two texts by Emile Digeon

March 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchist history is just full to overflowing with characters who seldom receive more than a footnote in the histories, but were major players in some aspect of the history of anarchist struggle. And it’s no secret that I am very fond of these lesser-known figures. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to justify taking the time to translate texts which do not have some fairly general application to contemporary issues. Even when dealing with the “big names” of the movement there are frequently lots of writings, or parts of writings, which are hard to make much sense of without delving fairly deeply […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Electoral Law”

March 26, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] Along with the essay “The Revolution,” the second issue of Bellegarrigue’s Anarchy: A Journal of Order also contained this essay: THE ELECTORAL LAW In the first issue of this journal, we have clearly, even audaciously expressed our opinion regarding the present character of electoral rights. The attitude of the people in the face of the partial suppression of this right proposed by Parliament has proven to us that our doctrine was in conformity with the general sentiment. The electorate is not a principle. The popular instinct is more sure than the reasoning of the sophists, for that instinct bears […]

God, Women and Proudhon — Eugène Stourm

March 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Slowly, but surely, I’m assembling the various feminist responses to Proudhon. The pages of L’Opinion des Femmes is rich with that sort of thing, since it was Jeanne Deroin’s primary forum at the time she proposed herself for political office, and drew fire from Proudhon and others. In the May, 1849 issue, the following essay, by Eugène Stourm, appeared. I think it’s an interesting mix of fairly accurate critique and misunderstanding. Certainly, the more details emerge, the more interesting the conflict looks. I think this project is going to be a lot of fun. God, Women, and Proudhon. The enemies […]

Black and Red Feminism

Feminism in Lyon before 1848: Eugénie Niboyet and Flora Tristan

March 19, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted a working translation of both sections of Maximilien Buffenoir’s “Feminism in Lyon before 1848.” I had worked up the section on Eugénie Niboyet last June, and finally got a chance to finish up the section on Flora Tristan. Those inclined to chase footnotes in the original French may find some interesting material in the archive of L’Echo de la Fabrique. And those interested in Niboyet’s work can read one poem, “The War,” in French or English translation in the Libertarian Labyrinth archive.