Anarchism

Anarchism

One mystery of mutualism solved—probably…

March 11, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Originally posted in discussion on Wikipedia.] Swartz’ reference to John Gray in What Is Mutualism? is puzzling. He says mutualism “seems to have been first used by John Gray, an English writer, in 1832,” but does not name the work. The only book or pamphlet from 1832 is Production the cause of demand being a brief analysis of a work entitled “The social system, a treatise on the principle of exchange, by John Gray : with a short illustration of the principles of equitable labour exchange,” which probably isn’t by Gray at all, although it relies on long passages from […]
Anarchism

Joshua King Ingalls, Grave of the Landless

March 8, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Here’s another item from The Spirit of the Age, a poem by J. K. Ingalls. THE GRAVE OF THE LANDLESS On a lovely “green isle,” where the billows of oceanRoll on in their might, where the loud tempests rave,The victim lies still, for not toll or devotionCould in life rear a home or in death buy a grave.The flowers may bloom, and the harvests mature,He heeds them no more as they taunt the oppressed;He has suffered the last which the wronged may endure;He sleeps, and no landlord disturbs his last rest. Oh England, say where are the sons of the […]
Anarchism

Joshua King Ingalls’ 1849 “Creed”

March 8, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
I’m working my way through the radical transcendentalist / associationist / spiritualist journal The Spirit of the Age, which lasted for two volumes in 1849-50, edited by William Henry Channing. Joshua King Ingalls, the libertarian land reformer who is occupying much of my scholarly time right now, contributed ten articles and a poem to the periodical. I’ve already posted “Books—Their Sphere and Influence,” which is in many ways a very nice companion piece to the “Creed” I’m posting today. Ingalls was no doubt still dealing with his break with the Unitarians, which occured early in 1848. In the Evangelical Magazine […]
Anarchism

J. K. Ingalls—What Is Economic Rent?

March 6, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[J. K. Ingalls, “What Is Economic Rent?” Twentieth Century, December 29, 1892, 6-8.—The Twentieth Century was host to several overlapping debates on the questions of rent and interest, with mutualists, single-taxers, advocates of the Topolobampo community, and others mixing it up. There are plenty of names likely to be familiar to readers of Benjamin Tucker’s Liberty, or of this blog: Hugo Bilgram, C. L. James, Victor Yarros, Joshua King Ingalls, Michael Flurscheim, W. H. Van Ornum, and Wm. Bradford DuBois all contributed. Ingalls’ part in the debate complements his contributions to Liberty, where he was one of the most interesting […]
Anarchism

Co-operation – Alfred B. Westrup

March 6, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Alfred B. Westrup, “Co-operation,” Twentieth Century, November 3, 1892, 8-9.—This is a very interesting short piece by Westrup, showing a slightly different side of his individualist anarchism than in many of his writings, where the Mutual Bank Propaganda was his primary concern.] CO-OPERATION. BY ALFRED B. WESTRUP. Much has been written on this subject, and many are the efforts put forward to establish “cooperation” of one kind or another, but so far as there is any hope of settling the economic question, none of the experiments now being carried on can possibly accomplish it. The one essential principle upon which […]
Anarchism

J. K. Ingalls, Books—Their Sphere and Influence

March 3, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Here’s another nice piece by J. K. Ingalls. It originally appeared in the Spirit of the Age, probably in 1850, and was reprinted in the Liberator, April 16, 1852. BOOKS—THEIR SPHERE AND INFLUENCE Joshua King Ingalls In the history of human development, books maintain an important position. We are indebted to them, in a material sense, for all our acquaintance with the past, and for that wide diffusion of knowledge which distinguishes our age. And yet, in a higher sense, there is no single thing which has stood so much in the way of man’s advancement as his idol worship […]
Anarchism

Architectural glass patents of Ingalls and Hyatt

February 28, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
Among the records of the Architectural Glass Patent Index, you’ll find several patents by Joshua King Ingalls, as well as a much greater number by his friend, associate, and fellow reformer, Thaddeus Hyatt. The illustration (taken from the site) is of a design by Ingalls, Patent 146,074, Dec. 30, 1873, for “Improvement in Illuminating Vault-Covers.”
Anarchism

Joshua King Ingalls, The Exodus of Labor (1852)

February 28, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
This essay originally appeared in The Shekinah, Vol. 1 (1852), p. 363-369. The Shekinah was one of several periodicals edited by S. B. Brittan, a spiritualist, reformer, and friend of J. K. Ingalls. Ingalls seems to have contributed something to nearly all of Brittan’s projects. I’ll be posting other material by and about Ingalls in the near future, as I start to finalize the forthcoming print collection. THE EXODUS OF LABORBY J. K. INGALLS Through long, long ages has labor sighed and toiled under a worse than Egyptian bondage. Its utmost stretch of memory can scarce recall its pastoral days, […]
Anarchism

Voltairine de Cleyre: two articles on communism

February 7, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
My work in the files of the Twentieth Century keeps dredging up gems, including a handful of pieces by Voltairine de Cleyre. Here are two connected items. I’ll post the sequel before the original, in part because it gives some context and clarification. From the February 9, 1893 issue: A GLANCE AT COMMUNISM.BY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE “Cast thy bread upon the waters,Find it after many days.” Two years ago, in a little uptown parlor, the home of a Philadelphia weaver, a group of inquirers after truth were wont to assemble bi-weekly for the discussion of “Communism vs. Individualism.” There were […]