Blog - Page 63 of 286 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Sylvain Maréchal anticipates the “general strike”?

April 11, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

In an article on “Precursors of Anarchism” in the Encyclopédie Anarchiste, E. Armand gave an account of the career of Maréchal, including the following remarks: [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] En 1788, ses Apologues modernes à l’usage du dauphin. C’est là que se trouve l’histoire du roi qui, à la suite d’un cataclysme, renvoie chacun de ses sujets chez lui, en prescrivant que, désormais, chaque père de famille sera roi dans son foyer. C’est là que se trouve énoncé le principe de la Grève générale, comme moyen d’instaurer une société où la Terre est propriété commune de tous ses habitants, […]

Sylvain Maréchal, “The Last Judgment of Kings” (1793)

April 5, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

No, no, no! we want no more prayers from a priest: the God of the sans-culottes is liberty, it is equality, it is fraternity! You do not know and you have never known those gods. Go instead and exorcise the volcano which must soon punish you and avenge us. Crowned monsters! You should each have died a thousand deaths on the scaffold: but where could we have found the executions who would consent to soil their hands with your vile, corrupted blood? We abandon you to your remorse, or rather to your helpless rage.

[…]

A Counsellor (Josiah Warren), “Modern Government and its True Mission” (1862)

April 4, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

The “United States” are no longer united —“The union” is broken — The great “American experiment” is checked and we have silently drifted under military despotism! and, instead of being a “self governing” people, every one’s person and property are at the mercy or discretion of five or six military commanders—no two of whom can reasonably be expected to have the same settled policy or any policy founded on any principle or generally understood and accepted basis; and “security of person and property” (the professed object of all governments) is annihilated, and confusion and violence already reign supreme in the land proclaimed to be the lead of the political world!

[…]

Minor site maintenance

April 4, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Approximately 100 posts, including some of the most actively used texts on the site, were removed as a result of some kind of glitch recently. I am in the process of restoring them. Unfortunately, that means that WordPress.com subscribers can expect a flood of notifications over the next day or two. My apologies.

Roads to Anarchism: Introduction

March 30, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Max Nettlau’s work as a theorist of anarchist development, based in his extensive work as a historian of the movement, found expression in a long series of short articles (some of which are being assembled in a collection called New Fields, forthcoming from PM Press.) But he also produced three longer works addressing the question of anarchism’s progress, or lack thereof, and future prospects:

[…]

William B. Greene in the Second Seminole War

March 26, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] “From Florida.—Captain Beall, of the second regiment of dragoons, captured four Indians on the 4th instant, one of them said to be Holatoochee, a sub-chief of the Micasookies. The captain had about a dozen of his men with him, and the capture was made after some hours of chase, from among a party of thirty Indians. The four were taken to Fort Poinsett, and were to be employed by Captain Beall as guides. “On the 7th, the house of Mr. Dorsey, two miles and a half from Chattachoochie, was plundered and […]

William Henry Van Ornum, “Why Government at All?” (1892)

March 23, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Why Government at All? William Henry Van Ornum —– Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1892 issued without copyright TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface PART I. REVIEWS. Introduction Henry George: his Economic Absurdities and Contradictions The Single Tax: Inadequate, Illogical, Cumbersome, and Unjust State Socialism: its Origin, Objects, and Methods State Socialism: its Foundation and Necessary Development The Fallacies of Karl Marx The Fallacies of Edward Bellamy The Fallacies of P. J. Proudhon and his School Social Palliatives Reform by Political Methods PART II. PRINCIPLES The Motive of Human Action The Object of […]

“King Killing” (1795)

March 22, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] KING KILLING. —– Shall Kings alone claim an exemption from Law, an impunity of Wickedness? Shall our idolatrous and servile spirit set up for worship a golden Image, like that of Nebuchadnezzar—a piece of metal, which neither hopes for Reward, nor fears Punishment? Shall Vice and Villainy, whom accident may have encircled with the diadem, be deified and worshipped by uncomplaining impotence and servile fear? What reader, of whatever party or principle, is shocked, when he reads in ancient history, that the Roman Senate voted Nero Their Sovereign to be a […]

Mathieu Briancourt, “The Organization of Labor & Association” (1846)

March 22, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Many good minds have long been persuaded that on the present generation must devolve the task of solving the formidable problem of the organization of labor, under penalty of being visited by a social revolution, the terrible consequences of which are incalculable. This belief gains ground every moment, and already this question of life and death for civilization is placed among the orders of the day by the most valuable organs of publication.

[…]

Works by Sophie Kropotkin (La Frondeuse #6)

March 19, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] LA FRONDEUSE unruly writing by radical women No. 6 FEATURING WORKS BY SOPHIE KROPOTKIN CORVUS EDITIONS MARCH 2013 It is an unfortunately common experience to find, while researching some one of the more-or-less well-known male figures in anarchist history, some glimpses of wives, daughters, sisters, lovers or female comrades who have barely left a mark in the historical record. In the case of Sophie Ananiev, the wife of Peter Kropotkin, we are fortunate to have a small, but diverse selection of works which have been translated into English. SOPHIE KROPOTKIN THE […]