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Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas weblog

May 19, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

On the Research on Anarchism list, Robert Graham writes: I’ve recently set up a weblog to provide additional commentary and selections to complement the published edition(s) of my anthology of anarchist writings, Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Recent posts include the first English translation of anything by Ernest Coeurderoy, an excerpt from his Jours d’exil (Days of Exile), and a CNT-FAI pamphlet from December 1936, encouraging Spanish peasants to embrace libertarian communism and assuring them that such a thing could never be imposed upon them. I’ve also posted the Prefaceand Table of Contents to Volume 1, From Anarchy […]

William Potter’s “Key of Wealth”

May 5, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

One of the very earliest land bank/mutual bank documents is available online: The Key of Wealth: Or, A New Way for Improving of Trade, by William Potter (1650).

A new rogue for the gallery

May 2, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

The search for material for LeftLiberty has taken me in some interesting directions. Every time I think I have a pretty good idea of the range of “socialist” positions out there, I run across some new figure who turns out to be significant, even if largely forgotten. In the mid-19th century, of course, there are a lot fewer socialists out there than there were at the end of that century, and it has been in the course of exploring the late 19th and early 20th centuries that I have found some of the greatest surprises, along with some difficult problems […]

Around the blogosphere

April 28, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

Check out Exploring American Anarchism and Herzschlag, for good anarchist material from some folks I know “in real life.” And shout-outs as well to agorists Royce Christian, of The Guerrilla Capitalist, and Niccolo Adami, of The Kingdom of God is Within You. Last but certainly not least, “Anarcho” finally has a blog.

Unfinished business of Liberty

April 24, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

Benjamin Tucker, like a lot of us, took on a lot of projects, not all of which came to fruition. His “Proudhon Library” and the pamphlet version of Bellegarrigue’s “Anarchy: Journal of Order” are among those announced, but never completed. In some other cases, what Tucker translated from his wide reading of libertarian literature was just the tip of the iceberg, where fascinating material was concerned. It will take some time before anything like the “Proudhon Library” is possible, but one of the reasons for pursuing the updated Libertarian Labyrinth is precisely to pursue those kinds of projects. And some […]

“Les Révolutions du XIXe siècle”

April 15, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

A lot of my work right now is sifting through archives, trying to gather together links to the works of various key socialist writers: Proudhon, Leroux, Colins, Considerant, Fourier, Briancourt, Ott, etc., etc. Some of the sifting is easy: all 47(!) volumes of the Oeuvres de Saint-Simon et d’Enfantin are available at Gallica. In other cases, it’s a matter of sorting through the rubble at Google Books. Of course, the difficulties involved mean that my searches have been a bit more inclusive than they might otherwise be, and that has paid some handsome dividends. For example: Les Révolutions du XIXe […]

LeftLiberty: Proudhon on individualism and socialism

April 9, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

Bits of progress on LeftLiberty, including tweaks to the logo, the beginnings of a website and some responses to my call for contributions. I’ve been working to get the wiki archive working smoothly, with prettier urls and interwiki linking with the Distributive Passions site. The material for the “classics” section looks like it will include works by Proudhon, Leroux, Bastiat, Molinari, Tucker, and several others. In the early works, there is a lot of belligerent agreement that a simple opposition between “individualism” and “socialism” doesn’t quite get the work done. Here’s a bit of a letter from Proudhon: Paris, January […]

LeftLiberty 1-2: Individualism, Socialism, and Solidarity

April 4, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

Starting in July, I’ll be producing a new journal/zine, called “LeftLiberty,” and dedicated to “the left-libertarian conversation in all its phases and ages.” It’s connected to the project of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left, and focuses on clarifying what is really at stake in some of the messier debates in the broad anarchist movement. Issues will be arranged around key concepts with the first two issues addressing “Individualism, Socialism, and Solidarity.” I’m finishing up a translation of Pierre Leroux’s 1834 “Individualism and Socialism” for the first issue, which will also include a “miscellany” of early anarchist texts on individualism […]

Announcing “LeftLiberty”

April 4, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

OK, folks. It’s time for me to start really working on the first issue of “LeftLiberty,” which I’m announcing for July 4 (about 5 weeks after I move). I’ve roughed out a logo and regular columns. You can check them out. This is the project that has grown out of the somewhat stillborn earlier discussion of an ALL zine. The plan is to “shake the debate from both ends,” by presenting original material from early 19th-century sources, much of it newly translated, along with contemporary responses to the same issues, from a range of anarchist and libertarian positions. I’ll be […]

“I’ve been down to Washington, That cit-y of renown…”

February 24, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur

“. . . I was there the morning that Cox-ey struck the town. It was fun to see the plu-to-crats and hear the gold-bugs squeal, As they march’d along three hundred strong the Coxey Commonweal.” I’ve posted an 1898 pamphlet from the Coxey Good Roads and Non-Interest Bond Library. The “library,” despite appearances, may not have had more than an issue or two, or perhaps Coxey’s publications, of which there seem to have been many, have been particularly ephemeral. This appears to be the most common issue, and it is a nice introduction to Coxey’s economic proposals.