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Milo Hastings, housing reformer

December 4, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] In 1920, a book appeared with the title The Joke About Housing. It was a work of housing reform, including some fairly radical elements. Appended to it were a number of appendixes, including “A Solution of the Housing Problem in the United States,” a prize-winning essay by Milo Milton Hastings. Hastings was a prolific writer of science fiction, works on poultry farming, nutrition, and urban reform. He was a promoter of Edgar Chambless’ linear city, Roadtown. Hastings and Chambless are important figures from the “grand domestic revolution” of the early 20th century. I’ve done a little work to update […]

Greene and the “galvanized yankees,” II

December 4, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

from Thomas L. Livermore, Days and Events (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920). [327] Captain H. G. O. Weymouth, lately a captain in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteers, was sent up by General Butler, who now assumed command of our district in his “Department of Virginia and North Carolina,” to join this regiment which I was forming. He came on a promise of higher rank than he formerly held, I think, but was to take a company at first. Captain Weymouth had lost one leg at Fredericksburg, and of course could not do duty as a company officer, which […]

William B. Greene to Gen. B. F. Butler, March 1864

November 28, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] William Batchelder Greene served either three or four periods of military service. In his youth, he was a 2nd Lt. in the 7th US Infantry, and served under Gen. Bonneville in the Second Seminole War. When the American Civil War began, he returned from France to take command of the 14th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, later the 1st Mass. Heavy Artillery. He served through late 1862, at which point he resigned his commission. His 14-page resignation letter is an interesting document (and one which I hope to have available online soon), as his resignation came in […]

Paul Brown, The Radical, I (1834)

November 28, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

When I added Paul Brown’s Twelve Months in New Harmony to the Labyrinth, I promised to follow up with some of Brown’s other work. Here’s a start, the first in a series of thirty-two essays that he wrote under the title The Radical and Advocate of Equality and published in 1834. Subtitled “a series of expostulatory animadversions on the present state of practical politics and morals, with a view to an access of improvement,” the essays cover everything from class theory to education, and include Brown’s opinions on such topics as fashion and plagiarism. It is clear that Brown had […]

Great Movements in Limestone

November 27, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

It’s really too nice a title to tamper with, even if it doesn’t really give a sense of what the piece is about. This is an account from The Present, probably edited by William Henry Channing, of Andreas Bernardus Smolnikar’s “Peace Union,” from the hand of its originator and prophet. Smolnikar, who was also known as “Andrew Bernard” while in America, was a Catholic heretic who came to think of himself as the prophet of a religion of humanity. He had connections to Owenite socialism and, as this account shows, he was one of the more enthusiastic proponents of J. […]

Josiah Warren, To The Friends Of The Equal Exchange Of Labor In The West

November 22, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’m in the process of compiling some communications of Josiah Warren with The Free Enquirer, the continuation of The New-Harmony Gazette which Robert Dale Owen and Francis Wright published in New York. Despite his disillusionment with the elder Owen’s experiment at New Harmony, Warren remained friends with Robert Dale. (See George W. Warren’s account of his father’s life for details of the connections between the Owen and Warren clans. Clark Kimberling’s notes are excellent, as are the rest of his pages on New Harmony.) This first letter is interesting for the criticisms Warren makes of cooperation on the Rochdale model, […]

Redecorating and such

November 16, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Chatter for a change, while I’m redecorating. There are a few bugs to work out, but the new look for the blog is well on its way to realization. Please let me know if anything has been badly broken in the process. While I was working up some new graphics, I came up with these alternate images for the Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left more in line with my usual style, all retro tributes to Knappster‘s original design: Use any that look good to you. Finally, a shout-out to a new friend in left-libertarian territory, Mupetblast at Dry Hyphen Olympics. […]

George Jacob Holyoake bibliography

November 16, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

A Descriptive Bibliography of the Writings of George Jacob Holyoake, with a Brief Sketch of His Life, by Charles William Frederick Goss (at Google Books) Holyoake was one of those amazingly prolific radicals, writing on co-operation, free thought, labor issues, etc. This 1908 limited edition bibliography is not exhaustive, but covers his separate publications nicely and summarizes where his contributions to periodicals took place. The Google Books print seems to be good, so grab a copy for your reference library.

William Van Ornum on mutual banking

November 16, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve got a working copy of William Henry Van Ornum’s Money, Co-operative Banking and Exchange (1892) available now online. Van Ornum wrote Why Government at All?, one of the few comprehensive attempts at a work of political economy by an anarchist in the U. S, as well as Mating or Marrying, Which? He was a contributer to various periodicals, including The Arena and The Open Court. He was at one time a single-tax enthusiast. Stay tuned for some additional currency reform articles, land reform debate, etc.

Jenny d’Héricourt contra Proudhon

November 15, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Jenny P. d’Hericourt on Proudhon Proudhon’s anti-feminism is one of those issues that is generally brought up without much understanding of his actual positions. Most of his writings on women and marriage remain untranslated. We are fortunate, however, to have an extensive reply to his works, from the pen of Jenny P. d’Hericourt (1809-1875), much of which takes the form of a “dialogue” with Proudhon and includes extensive selections from his work. That work, A Woman’s Philosophy of Woman; or Woman Affranchised. an Answer to Michelet, Proudhon, Girardin, Legouve, Comte, and Other Modern Innovators (1864), first published in 1860 as […]