Blog - Page 267 of 286 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

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 […]

Two texts by Blatchly

November 15, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted pdf image-scans of two of Cornelius Blatchly’s essays to the Labyrinth: Some Causes of Popular Poverty and An Essay on Fasting, and on Abstinence, and updated the links in the partial bibliography I posted earlier this week.

Paul Brown, “12 Months in New Harmony” (1827)

November 9, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Paul Brown’s 12 Months in New Harmony is the classic exposé of Robert Owen’s American experiment, from the ruins of which a large number of the strains of American socialism and anarchism developed. Josiah Warren broke away from Owen’s socialism, as did the “Mutualist of 1826.” Paul Brown broke away in a different direction. He was, from all indications, a sincere and serious communist. He was also the author of several more radical works, which I hope to collect for the Libertarian Labyrinth soon. Stay tuned.

A Cornelius C. Blatchly miscellany

November 7, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Notes toward a bibliography of Dr. Cornelius Camden Blatchly, with links and a letter from Thomas Jefferson: C. C. Blatchly to James Madison, May 6, 1815. Some causes of popular poverty, in The pleasures of contemplation: being a desultory investigation of the harmonies, beauties, and benefits of nature. Philadelphia : Eastwick & Stacy, 1817. —. in The Beauties of Philanthropy. New York, 1839. An essay on fasting, and on abstinence. New-York : Printed by C.S. Van Winkle, 1818. [1819 request to Common Council of the City of New York regarding taxes assessed in lieu of military service. (1)(2)] Minutes of […]

Golden Rule Jones on “Trusts”

October 27, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Kevin Carson has posted a first draft chapter from his new work on “an anarchist theory of organizational development.” In it, he’s concerned with the question of “economies of scale” and the limits beyond which bigger is perhaps not better. His examples of the defense of the alternative, bigger is always better, approach are drawn mostly from state socialist and capitalist sources, but there are also examples that might be taken out of histories much closer to mutualism. In the period around 1900, it was fairly common to see the large corporation, or even the monopolitistic trust as a “labor-saving […]

Alfred W. Lawson

October 24, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

My research travels, partially in support of the Distributive Passions project, have taken me back into the 20th century–or rather forward from the centuries that usually occupying my time. I’m working on a quick survey of utopian novels and proposals from the early decades of last century. (Don’t worry. I’m also reading the 2-volume Library of America Debate on the Constitution set, which is marvelous relief from sappy romantic sub-plots.) These are waters I’ve travelled quite a bit before, but not in any systematic way. A novel that I have owned for years, but had not read until this week, […]