Blog - Page 73 of 286 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Félix Frenay, “The Law” (1864) (FR/EN)

November 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

It is truly interesting to observe that over the course of the centuries that history allows us to nous survey, the human mind, in its slow, but continual march, while undermining institutions, beliefs and prejudices, while attacking all the abominations, has always made one exception. Indeed, when all the religions have fallen or totter on their foundations, one alone will remain upright and solid… and that is the law.

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Short Statements on the Anarchist Entente (1928–1929)

November 5, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

Pas un sou, Pas une ligne, Pas un auditeur Pour les besognes de mésentente anarchiste. Not one penny, Not one line, Not one listener For the drudge-work of anarchist discord. L’en dehors 7 no. 140 (fin Juillet 1928): 4. La possibilité. dans le milieu anarchiste, entre individualistes ou communistes, de s’associer pour le but qui leur plait, selon le contrat qui leur agrée, sans s’immiscer dans le fonctionnement ou la nature des autres associations anarchistes, gt sans qu’on entrave la propagande en faveur de leurs associations, voilà ce qu’implique : L’ENTENTE ANARCHISTE. The possibility in the anarchist milieu, of association […]

E. Armand, “The Anarchist Entente—A Concrete Proposal” (1928)

November 5, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let us recognize it frankly and make our mea culpa. The rivalries between tendencies, circles and organizers have poisoned anarchism. There is a means of putting an end to that lamentable state of things, and it is the conclusion of a pact between the newspapers favorable to the reconciliation of the different tendencies of anarchism, by the terms of which they will promise to insert no polemic that is hurtful, abusive or malign, tending to undervalue, harm, prejudice or hinder the development and action of every group, social circle, organizer and publication adhering to the pact. I am convinced that the day when this contract is finalized and held in earnest, something will have changed in the anarchist world.

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Hector Morel, “Nationalities Considered from the Point of View of Liberty” (1862)

November 4, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

If there are words that we have used and abused, which we use and abuse every day, they are unquestionably the words nation and homeland. Everything in society which aims to muzzle and exploit the people, to paralyze and hold back the development of human intelligence, is always and invariably advanced in the name of the homeland: Laws and regulations, ordinances and decrees, scaffolds and prisons, police and gendarmes, etc., etc., all this hideous paraphernalia of chains and slavery, of plunder and misery, of exploitation and servitude, has only been invented, only exists, in the interest of the good order and internal security of nations.

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Juan Francisco Moncaleano, “Historia del Primer Anarquista” (1913) (ES/EN)

November 1, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Historia del Primer Anarquista La noche era negra, el viento azotaba furiosamente las puertas y ventanas de los soberbios palacios, las nubes vomitaban agua las explosiones del cielo en tempestad, alumbraban mi camino, las últimas tabernas cerraban su hediondas bocas, y los pordioseros buscaban un refugio seguro contra las inclemencias de la noche. Anheloso de llegar á mi casa apuraba el paso, cuando de un obscuro callejón salio un hombre á mi encuentro,—Salud camarada—dijo acercándose á mi. Salud, le respondí, un tanto inquieto por este inesperado encuentro. Dos explosiones del cielo alumbraron detalladamente al personaje, […]

Pierre Quiroule, “Sobre la Ruta de la Anarquía” (1912)

October 30, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Sobre la ruta de la anarquía, Buenos Aires, Fueyo, 1912 Pierre Quiroule, “Sobre la Ruta de la Anarquía,” Regeneración no. 99 (July 20, 1912): 3; no. 100 (July 27, 1912): 3; no. 101 (August 3, 1912): 3; no. 102 (August 10, 1912): 3; no. 103 (August 17, 1912): 3; no. 104 (August 24, 1912): 3; no. 113 (October 26, 1912): 3; no. 121 (December 21, 1912): 3, 4; no. 129 (February 22, 1913): 3; no. 130 (March 1, 1912): 3; no. 130 (March 13, 1912): 3. The text here is taken from the serialization in Regeneración. The copies available online had minor defects that […]

The Hollow Earth theories of John Cleves Symmes

October 20, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

John Cleves Symmes’ 1818 declaration that the earth is “hollow, and habitable within” was just the start of a long and fascinating episode in the annals of fringe science. But most accounts of Symmes’ work simply stop with the declaration, or perhaps note a few of the early memoirs or the novel Symmesonia, neglecting Symmes’ own decade-long development of the work. When I began to search for the texts of those initial memoirs, I was surprised to find that—just in the case of Emperor Norton’s declarations—not only was there a much more substantial literature to be explored, but there was […]

Joseph Déjacque — clippings

October 20, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Déjacque came from Jersey to New York in the spring of 1854, so the help wanted listing would have been soon after he arrived. The conflict over “La question révolutionnaire” was in 1854. The Association Internationale was formed in 1855, the same year that Claude Pelletier arrived in New York. And then Déjacque was in New Orleans for much of the period 1855–58. Le Libertaire was launched in June, 1858. [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] “BOY WANTED—WHO SPEAKS FRENCH AND English, and is between twelve and fifteen years of age. Good wages. Apply immediately, to […]

C. L. James & Henry Cohen, “Anarchy’s Apostles” (1891–92)

October 14, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

An archive of this sort is necessarily full of marginal views and unusual perspectives on anarchism, so I assume that most readers will treat the accounts with appropriate caution. Under most circumstance, no specific disclaimer seems to be required. But C. L. James essays on “Anarchy’s Apostles” strike me as something of a special case, given James’ reputation within the movement during his lifetime as a serious scholar and given the number of truly idiosyncratic views expressed in them. I provide them here as fodder for historical research, but with the explicit caveat that there seems to be more that is wrong about James’ account than is right.

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Escheat and Anarchy

October 8, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

One of the difficulties in explaining the anarchist critique—and of distinguishing anarchist tendencies from those that propose only partial breaks with authority—has been the fact that the two fundamental critiques associated with anarchist thought—anti-capitalism and anti-governmentalism—have been difficult to unite, despite indications that they emerged together as part of a single critique in the work of Proudhon.

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