Contr'un Archives - Page 21 of 56 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Notes on the Notes: Three (+1) Proudhon Periods?

January 25, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur

There’s a lot to unpack and clarify in the “Notes on Proudhon’s changing notion of the state,” but one of the simplest elements to clarify may be the notion that Proudhon’s development can be roughly broken into three periods: 1839-1846: an early exploratory period, marked by early insights and some provocative statements, but also by inconsistent or non-existent definitions of key terms (“possession,” for example;) 1848-1852: a period when much of Proudhon’s focus was on the 1848 Revolution and its aftermath in the Second Republic, marked by more occasional writings, many of them related to political events and rivals, and […]

Proudhon’s Theory of the State

January 20, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted some notes on Proudhon’s theory of “the state” at the Two-Gun Mutualism blog [Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3]. Like his analysis of “property,” his treatment of “the state” and “the governmental principle” developed in ways that might look like he engaged in a fairly complete reversal. But as was the case with “property,” the changes are mostly terminological—and I’m arguing that they were probably a very good thing, from the perspective of the overall development of Proudhon’s social theory, however much our present sensibilities might be offended by the vocabulary of the argument. Whether or […]

Notes on Proudhon’s changing notion of the state (3 of 3)

January 20, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur

[part 1][part2] The Republic is the organization by which, all opinions and all activities remaining free, the People, by the very divergence of opinions and will, think and act as a single man. In the Republic, every citizen, by doing what they want and nothing but what they want, participates directly in the legislation and in the government, as they participate in the production and circulation of wealth. There, every citizen is king; for he has the fullness of power; he reigns and governs. The Republic is a positive anarchy. It is neither liberty subjected to order, as in the […]

Notes on Proudhon’s changing notion of the state (2 of 3)

January 19, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur

[These notes are connected to a book chapter I am writing on Proudhon’s theory of the state, some parts of which will undoubtedly end up in TGM: Rearmed. They wander somewhat far afield from that specific question, as I trace out some similarities between various aspects of Proudhon’s thought. And because that wandering became a little more extensive than I had anticipated, I am stretching the series out to three posts.—Shawn.] [part 1][part 3] ___________ I’m aware that readers who have followed the argument this far are likely to be resistant to the interpretation I’m presenting, and for a number […]

Notes on Proudhon’s changing notion of the state

January 18, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Contr’un Revisited: [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] I. The most incredible confusion is that between the government and the State. I am an anarchist, as Proudhon was, for like him I want to abolish government, the principle of authority in the State, in order to replace it by an responsible and controllable administration of the public interests; but I do not want, with Bakunin, to abolish the State. The word State comes from stare, to hold, to persist; the State is thus the organized collectivity. Just as the commune is the local collectivity, the State […]

Jean Grave, The Adventures of Nono — Chapter XI

December 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE ADVENTURES OF NONO by JEAN GRAVE [continued from Chapter X] –> XI THE AFTERMATH OF A FIRST MISTAKE On returning to Autonomie, took little part in the conversation. He pondered what he had just seen. A gamin of Paris, a child of workers for whom the greatest journey they could permit themselves was a walk in the woods of Clamart or Meudon, — it was an event when they could go as far as those of Verrières — he knew the sea only from the enthusiastic descriptions that he had found in books. Indeed, of mountains he only know […]

Charles Malato, “Some Anarchist Portraits” (1894)

December 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

–> FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. No. CCCXXXIII. New Series.—September 1, 1894. SOME ANARCHIST PORTRAITS. I am an anarchist. I have known intimately most of those who have carried on the propaganda by word of mouth and by writing, and also by deed: and if I disallow the epithet of “anarchist,” as applied to certain acts of equivocal individuals, I am not the less convinced that social problems need, at certain moments, to be solved by force, when other means are ineffective. I love and admire Vaillant, for instance, just as some English republicans love and admire Cromwell, who also was a regicide. […]

The Paris Explosion

December 11, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE PARIS EXPLOSION. Paris, April 26.—To state that the explosion last night at the cafe of M. Very, at the corner of the Boulevard Magenta and Rue Sencey has caused a feeling of consternation in this city is to put it very mildly. The truth is that the people of Paris are panic stricken at the audacity of the Anarchists. The feeling of fear is heightened by the apparent impotency of the police to prevent the Anarchists from committing outrages when and where they please. There was a reason for last night’s outrage. It was in M. Very’s cafe that […]

Two-Gun Mutualism Rearmed extended outline

December 10, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[I’ve sent this extended outline for the Two-Gun Mutualism book to a number of friends and colleagues for comment, and have been debating whether or not it made sense to post it here at this point. I certainly welcome any feedback on the project, but I’m also inclined to think that the extended outline amounts to as good a summary of my overall project as I am likely to be able to produce, so here it is, offered with the hope that it may serve as a help in navigating the rest of the material on the blog. The section […]

Looking forward to 2013

December 8, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I spent last weekend in La Jolla, CA, at a Liberty Fund gathering devoted to the work of Gustave de Molinari, discussing a range of his writings with a small group including Roderick Long, Charles Johnson, Gary Chartier, Sheldon Richman, Matt Zwolinski, David Hart and David Friedman. It was an excellent event, and I’ll undoubtedly be coming back to Molinari’s writings in the near future. But it was also a very welcome break in my otherwise relentless, but not always well focused research into anarchist history and theory, with the train trip to and from making the break about a […]