Blog

Journal

Journal: June 7, 2018

June 7, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] “The anarchist rainbow is too broad, anarchism includes elements too disparate for anyone to unite them. There are not two anarchists worthy of the name — among those who think for themselves — who have exactly the same conception.” — Ferdinand Fortin, “Anarchist Unity or Linkage?” (1934) A THOUGHT ON THE “ANARCHISTIC COUNTERCURRENT”: Anarchism develops internally by constantly “anarchizing,” while many of the practical projects of anarchists are driven by entirely different concerns—or kinds of concern—which almost inevitably draw our attention aware from the “beautiful ideal” of anarchy. So anarchism survives […]
progress reports

Revue Anarchiste, “Is the Anarchist Ideal Achievable?” (1930)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
OUR SURVEYS [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] L’idéal anarchiste est-il réalisable ? Dans son premier numéro, la « Revue Anarchiste » avait annoncé l’ouverture d’une enquête sur le sujet suivant : L’idéal anarchiste est-il réalisable ? L’homme peut-il vivre sans autorité, à présent on dans l’avenir ? La suppression de toute contrainte ne sera-t-elle jamais que l’apanage d’infimes minorités ? Il fut fait appel à des individualités ayant des conceptions philosophiques ou des opinions politiques assez différentes. Aujourd’hui, nous reproduisons les réponses, dans l’ordre où elles nous sont parvenues, en nous gardant — comme convenu — de tout commentaire, nous permettant seulement d’en remercier les auteurs. La […]
nationalism (Bellamy)

Burnette G. Haskell, “Why I Am a Nationalist” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A NATIONALIST. BY BURNETTE G. HASKELL. Five hundred thousand years ago the man-monkey skulked through the primeval forests, hungry and cold, starting at every breaking twig, chattering with fear when he heard in the thickets the crash of the mammoth and the cave-bear, surrounded by pit-falls, swamps, noxious vapors, dangerous reptiles. The sex instinct made him take a wife. He was just beginning to walk on his hind legs, having got up from all fours under the goad of necessity. Offspring came. They were weak and unfitted to cope well with their […]
socialism

Laurence Gronlund, “Why I Am a Socialist” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. BY LAURENCE GRONLUND. I have three reasons to give, but the all-sufficient one, indeed, is my first: that I could not help myself. I do not know whether books convert many, but my experience is that they perform another very important function rather than that. Talking some years ago with the well-known French “Marxist” Jules Guesde, he told me that his own reflections had made him a Socialist long before he had seen a Socialist book; precisely thus it was with me, though I admit that my Socialism was at […]
From the Archives

Anarchism defined (“Twentieth Century,” 1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Anarchism does not mean no government. It means no government by physical force. It does not mean each for himself independently of all. It means voluntary cooperation. Anarchism is Socialism without physical compulsion. It does not mean the destruction of our present forms of government by physical violence. It means the harmonizing of society by education in sociologic science. It does not contemplate sudden changes. It recognizes that slowness is a necessary characteristic of evolution. Anarchism is the synonym for sociologic evolution. It means that we should proceed in the direction of less government by […]
From the Archives

William Lloyd Garrison, “Why I Am a Single-Taxer” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A SINGLE-TAXER. BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. I am an advocate of the Single-tax because it stands for a fundamental reform based on a moral principle. The name is intended to indicate a practical method of reaching and curing much of the misery that afflicts society. It seems shameful that in a world of plenty, with more than enough for all to live upon in comfort, there should exist, side by side, congested wealth and abject poverty, evidently arising from a derangement of forces. What is the primal cause? Is it a decree […]
From the Archives

William G. Sumner, “Why I Am a Free Trader” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A FREE TRADER. BY PROF. W. G. SUMNER. 1. As a student of political economy: By free trade I mean anti-protectionism. At the present time, in the United States, the policy of protection and the philosophy of protectionism are interlocked with each other. The protected interests make their struggle in the lobby and in Congress to get the privileges which they want, but as soon as they are forced to enter upon any justification of such special privileges, they have recourse to an economic philosophy by which they endeavor to show that […]
From the Archives

Van Buren Denslow, “Why I Am a Protectionist” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A PROTECTIONIST. BY VAN BUREN DENSLOW. I am asked to state: “Why I am a Protectionist.” It is a personal question. Whether any other person can be a Protectionist for the same reasons is aside from the form of the question. Its answer also must be purely egotistic, and need not therefore seek to be modest. The editor of the Twentieth Century has doubtless his reasons for putting the topic in this form. It is sufficient that I reply according to the fact. I. I am a Protectionist, because forty years of […]
Anarchist Beginnings

William Holmes, “Why I, an Anarchist, Work with Socialists” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
I believe Anarchism to be inevitable But while I believe in Anarchism as the highest truth yet evolved, and until I have more evidence of greater, shall disseminate its doctrines, I am not ready to say it contains no error. Perhaps, in the ever pregnant womb of nature there struggles a higher and grander truth which shall some day come to the world, uniting and harmonizing apparently conflicting theories making possible the quick realization of that noble dream of philosophers, prophets, and sages-the millennium on earth.

[…]