Anarchist Beginnings

Anarchist Beginnings

George Schumm, “Benj. R. Tucker—A Brief Sketch Of His Life And Work” (1893)

August 8, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
BENJ. R. TUCKER—A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORK. ‘ By GEORGE SCHUMM. BENJ. R. TUCKER, whose portrait is the frontispiece of this issue of the Magazine, was born in South Dartmouth, near New Bedford, in Massachusetts, April I7, 1854. His parents were in comfortable circumstances, and belonged to the enlightened portion of the community. In politics, his father was a Jeffersonian Democrat; in religion, both his father and his mother were radical Unitarians and as such members of W. J. Potter’s church. Mr. Tucker’s maternal grandfather was a great admirer of Thomas Paine. Thus it will be seen […]
anarchism without adjectives

Sébastien Faure, “The Anarchist Synthesis” (1928)

August 3, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ANARCHIST SYNTHESIS by Sébastien FAURE The Three Great Anarchist Currents In France, as in the majority of other countries, we distinguish three great anarchist currents, which can be designated in this way: Anarcho-syndicalism; Libertarian communism; Anarchist individualism. It was natural and inevitable that, having reached a certain development, an idea as vast as anarchism would result in this triple manifestation of life. A philosophical and social movement, a movement of ideas and action, intending to make a clean break with all authoritarian institutions, must inevitably give rise to these distinctions necessarily determined by the variety of the situations, milieus […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Josiah Warren, “Reduction in the Cost of Printing Apparatus” (1830)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
COMMUNICATIONS. PRINTING IN PRIVATE FAMILIES. (I have received the following from my friend, Mr. Warren, for insertion in the Free Enquirer. The sheet from which it is copied, and which affords a specimen of the results obtained, is very tolerably printed, and seems go confirm the anticipation of the writer.) REDUCTION IN THE COST OF PRINTING APPARATUS. It is well known, by those who have considered the subject, that printing is a power that governs the destinies of mankind: and therefore, those who can control the Printing Press can control their fellow creatures. While men continue the practice of interfering […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Josiah Warren, “From ‘The March of Mind'” (1828)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The acquisition of any new fact, always produces in my mind a feeling of pleasure, especially when I perceive that it will in any manner promote my future happiness; and the more does it increase my happiness if I can make it subservient to the happiness of others. This will be sufficient apology to the reader for my observations, when it is considered that they are not obtruded upon him as rules for his own conduct, but that they are here placed for his consideration, to be accepted or rejected as his own judgment shall determine. It is now about […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Josiah Warren and Cosmopolite, “To the Public” (1828)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Cincinnati, April 20, 1828. Dear S— The perusal of your letter which I received about three weeks since, gave me great satisfaction. It affords me pleasure to find that you still feel such interest in the subject to which I am devoted. You inquire what progress has been made since you left here; to this I could reply more than the limits of a letter will permit, but I will endeavour to enable you to form some idea. I think you left before the cold weather commenced, and therefore have not witnessed the most important of our operations. As soon […]
Anarchist Beginnings

A Josiah Warren miscellany

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Josiah Warren, of Cincinnati, is the patentee of a lamp on a new plan, which is said, to a single family, will produce an annual saving of 20 dollars. Its light is clear and pleasant, and the volume of flame equal to that of two common candles. “Weekly Summary,” The Plough Boy, and Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 2, 52 (May 26, 1821), 415.  
Anarchist Beginnings

Francis W. L. Adams, “Anarchism” (1894)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
“Anarchism.” ‘Tis not when I am here, In these homeless homes, Where sin and shame and disease And foul death comes; ‘Tis not when heart and brain Would be still and forget Men and women and children Dragged down to the pit. But when I hear them declaiming Of “liberty,” “order” and “law,” The husk-hearted gentleman And the mud-hearted bourgeois, That a sombre, hateful desire Burns up slow in my breast, To wreck the great, guilty temple. And give us rest! — Francis W. L. Adams. Francis William Lauderdale Adams, “Anarchism,” Songs of the Army of the Night (London: William […]
Anarchist Beginnings

J. William Lloyd, “A Grandeur and a Dreaming” (1901)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
HUMAN Life seems but a seeming, A phantasm & a dreaming, Of a grandeur & a gleaming That no one life may possess. ‘Tis a downward, dark ward groping, Upward soaring, high and hoping Search for pathways, easy-sloping, That no human feet yet press. Yet it may be that the glory, Dreamed of now since ages hoary, Kindling still in song and story, Each man somewhat, all men know. All the downward, dark ward groping, All the sky-ward, sunward hoping, Finds at last the roadway sloping, Where all feet together go. J Wm. Lloyd. J. William Lloyd, “A Grandeur and […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Marjorie Peacock, “The Day after Tomorrow” (1915)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE DAY AFTER TO-MORROW. FREEDOM = NO GOVERNMENT. We are now travelling towards Socialism: a system of the most tortuously interlocked Government control. But surging its way to the surface is a powerful wave—a wave which, when it breaks, will wash away all before it, will explode into a thousand pieces the counter-forces which now surround it,—a wave which, by its very compression, is gathering in intensity and energy; this wave is called the Desire for Freedom. It is to the Socialists of to-day that we believers in Freedom look for a great many of to-morrow’s recruits, and we know […]
Anarchist Beginnings

L. A. M., “The New Anarchism” (1919)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE NEW ANARCHISM. This is not the beginning of a new cult. It is a restatement of what we want and what we intend to do towards realising it. The New Anarchism is the old Anarchism in new clothes. It is set out in a way that he who runs may read. What Anarchists Want. We want to place certain ideas before the people. These ideas we believe will contribute towards the making of a better people and a better world. Anarchists are not alone in holding such ideas. But the ideas of Anarchists differ essentially from others in some […]