Bakunin Library Archives - Page 9 of 13 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Bakunin, “Mémoire justificatif” (1874)

February 21, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

“Mémoire justificatif” (July 28-29, 1874, Splügen, Switzerland) Supporting documents that I write principally for my poor Antonia. I beg Emilio to read it first, then to give it to Cafiero to read, who could give it to his wife to read, if he thinks it is a good idea, and only after he has read it and added his observations it he finds it necessary, to give it to Antonia, but to destroy it by common agreement, since it contains political facts that should never leave the circle of our most intimate friends. Emilio knows the beginning of the Baronata. […]

The Policy of the International (III & IV) (1869)

February 20, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Policy of the International III L’Égalité, August 21, 1869; If the International at first showed itself indulgent toward the subversive and reactionary ideas, whether in politics and religion, that the workers might have when joining it, it was not through indifference toward these ideas. We cannot tax it with indifference since it detests them and rejects them with all the strength of its being, every reactionary idea being the overturning of the very principle of the Revolution, as we have already demonstrated in our preceding articles. That indulgence, we repeat again, is inspired by a high wisdom. Knowing perfectly […]

The Policy of the International (I & II) (1869)

February 19, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Policy of the International I L’Égalité, August 7, 1869; “We have believed until now, said La Montagne, that political and religious opinions were independent of the profession of member of the International; and, as for us, that is the terrain on which we place ourselves.” We could believe, at first glance, that Mr. Coullery was right. For, in fact, in accepting a new member the International does not ask him whether he is religious or an atheist, whether or not he belongs to any political party. It simply asks him: Are you a worker, or if you are not, […]

Bakunin, Letter to Proudhon (1848)

February 19, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

Letter to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon ___ Köthen, December 12, 1848 Citizen, I do not know if you will remember me; as for me, in my long peregrinations across Germany and in the Slavic countries, I have often thought of you. You are not one of those that one forgets. I don’t know how to express to you the feeling of joy that I felt when I saw you, after the fatal days of June, mount to the podium to defend the interests and rights of those noble and unfortunate workers of Paris, whom all, all except you, had abandoned. The address […]

“I believe neither in constitutions, nor in laws” (1848)

February 18, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Max Nettlau pointed to this letter as the first evidence of anarchist leanings in Bakunin’s writings.] [Early August, 1848] To Citizen George Herwegh. Paris. [Rue St. Augustins] 40 9 [r. sur Cirque]# To George My dear friend, since the letter that I have written from Cologne, which I do not know if you have received, I have no longer written a single word. Many things have changed since then, but not our friendship, not the confidence that we have in one another. The thoughts that are essential to us, the aspirations that are essential to us non plus. I am […]

Bakunin, Second Address to the Second Congress of Peace and Freedom (1868)

February 16, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

Addresses to the Second Congress of Peace and Freedom Second Address (2ndsession)September 23, 1868 Gentlemen, I do not want to respond to all the pleasantries that have been hurled at me from the height of this rostrum. I would have too much to do if I wanted to unravel the truth through the mass of confused ideas and contradictory sentiments that have been raised against me. Several orators have employed, in order to combat me, some arguments so far from serious I would well have the right to put their good faith in doubt.–I would not do it, Gentlemen. I […]

César De Paepe, “To the Anti-Collectivists” (1868)

February 13, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

COLLECTIVIST POLEMIC [1] I. — TO THE ANTI-COLLECTIVISTS. [aka THE LEGITIMACY OF THE SOCIALIZATION OF PROPERTY] Thanks to a dialectics put in the service of a method more often metaphysical than scientific (which it is necessary to avoid confusing with the historical and objective method of Karl Marx), Proudhon has discovered in the social world some laws that observation confirms more from day to day; it is, however, incontestable that hypothesis still plays an infinitely more considerable role in the works of that thinker and that often he has concluded a priori or from insufficient observations: witness the conclusions […]

Adhémar Schwitzguébel, “Collectivism” (First Letter) (1872)

February 12, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] COLLECTIVISM[1] Adhémar Schwitzguébel First article. Socialism first presented itself to the laboring classes in the form of different systems, each having its more or less numerous adepts, and each presenting itself as the infallible Gospel which must save society. These different socialist systems, hatched in the offices of speculative thinkers, have been succeeded by a much more popular socialism, which has been embodied in the International Workingmen’s Association. When we study the different socialist authors, we perceive straightaway that fantasy plays a considerable role in their writings; while the […]

Letter from Bakunin to Albert Richard, March 12, 1870

February 2, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Parts of this letter have appeared in a variety of places, including James Guillaume’s history of the International, and a comrade was curious to see the rest of the text. Bakunin’s use of the term “anarchy” towards the end is very interesting.] Letter from Bakunin to Albert Richard, March 12, 1870 March 12, 1870, Geneva Dear friend and brother, Circumstances beyond my control prevent me from coming to take part in your great Assembly of March 13. But I would not want to let it pass without expressing my thoughts and wishes to my brothers in France. If I could […]

Progress Report: January 2014

January 25, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

While I’ve been posting plenty of draft translations to the blog, it’s been some time since I’ve been able to say much about the progress of the Bakunin Library project. The publisher and I spent quite a bit of last year negotiating the shape of the Bakunin Reader and the subsequent volumes, and there has been a lot of mostly useful back and forth in the process. But progress has not always been without a hitch, and as we entered December of last year I found myself at the beginning of another look through Bakunin’s works, trying to outline a […]