Contr’un

Contr'un

Bolton Hall, “Separate From Sinners” (1899)

September 24, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
I said: “I will separate myself from the world, O Lord. My soul is white, and I am weary of the sins of men.”  God said: “Your hands are red. How came your soul so white?”  I answered: “Lord, it is a bloody world; and generations of men have suffered from their sins. I have profited by their errors. Have I not seen how evil spots the soul? I have kept mine white.”  “Are all your brethren’s souls now white? ” said God.  I hung my head.  “Go back to your work”; said God. “you have learned in their pains, […]
Contr'un

Varieties of Proprietors: Lovers, Husbands, and Mother Hens

September 24, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
SIDEBAR Le propriétaire qui épargne empêche les autres de jouir sans jouir lui-même ; pour lui, ni possession ni propriété. Comme l’avare, il couve son trésor il n’en use pas. Qu’il en repaisse ses yeux, qu’il le couche avec lui, qu’il s’endorme en l’embrassant : il aura beau faire, les écus n’engendrent pas les écus. Point de propriété entière sans jouissance, point de jouissance sans consommation, point de consommation sans perte de la propriété : telle est l’inflexible nécessité dans laquelle le jugement de Dieu a placé le propriétaire. Malédiction sur la propriété! Back in April 2010, in a post […]
Contr'un

From the neo-Proudhonian blogosphere

September 23, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Over at Mutualism and Solutions to the Social Problem, Derek has posted a new essay: “A Letter to Communists and Capitalists of the Libertarian Form.” And David at Blazing Truth has posted a “New Mutualist Manifesto.” Both are ambitious attempts to pull together diverse elements from the mutualist tradition and contemporary theory. Give them a look.
Contr'un

Jean Grave, The Adventures of Nono — Chapter V

September 23, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ADVENTURES OF NONO by JEAN GRAVE [continued from Chapter IV]   V GLUTTONY PUNISHED The castle that the children headed towards stood on a broad, well-sanded esplanade, cut through large lawns, some of which were planted with trees. Under these trees those not at work harvesting fruit, or milking cows, had set some large, square tables, which, this evening, in honor of the new arrival, on been arrange end to end, but were ordinary set up apart from one another, covered with fine tablecloths, bearing plates and dishes embellished with simple designs in raw tones. Chairs indicated the place […]
Contr'un

Proudhon, women, and the “organ of justice”

September 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
  Back in March, 2010, at the end of the essay “Two-Gun Mutualism and the Golden Rule,” I promised to delve deeper into the question of Proudhon’s writing on women and the family—a promise I’m in the midst of fulfilling in a series of essays destined for the second issue of The Mutualist—and in July of this year I posted a working translation of Proudhon’s “Catechism of Marriage”—a provocative act which apparently provoked nobody, judging from the resounding near-silence. (One friend did say “worse than I expected.”) There’s no question that, in many ways, the “Catechism” is pretty awful, in […]
Contr'un

1838: Property is theft (Jules Leroux)

August 30, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
EPISODES in another history of anarchism: In volume 4 of the Encyclopédie nouvelle, which appeared in 1838, Jules Leroux contributed a lengthy entry on Political Economy. There is a lot there that is of interest, but perhaps nothing that touches this passage for topical interest here in the mutualist blogosphere: Et la propriété se trouve être nécessairement définie en ces termes: La possession et l’usage d’un objet propre à satisfaire un besoin. Supprimez le mot possession, et la propriété disparaît. Supprimez le mot usage, et la propriété devient une chose immorale, anti-humaine : c’est l’accaparement, c’est le vol. That is: […]
Contr'un

A Tale of Three Provisos

August 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related: Some thoughts on Locke’s proviso Responses on Locke’s proviso “Must we say, with some who pretend to metaphysics, that property is the expression of individuality, of the personality, of the self? But possession largely suffices for that expression…” — P.-J. Proudhon, The Theory of Property “I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe …. and am not contained between my hat and boots…” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” It’s funny, in some ways at least, how Proudhon has earned a rather scandalous reputation for his work on property, while Locke remains the name to […]
Contr'un

“We are in one sense, a poverty-stricken people”

August 4, 2012
If you look at the sidebar of the blog, you will find that I have added a section for “Mutualist Classics.” Eventually, there should be a pretty good little library linked there—mutualists are not, as it turns out, an impoverished people when it comes to literature—but I want to start with a few texts that may be unfamiliar to many readers, but which strike me as particularly useful. The first two texts I’ve linked are short works of fiction by Sidney H. Morse. Morse is one of the figures who seems to appear everywhere in the story of mutualist and […]
Contr'un

The Importance of Proudhon

August 3, 2012 anarchisms_w4l2ii
Anarchists can be touchy about any sort of authority, so we are frequently at pains to say that we are not followers of any particular leader or historical figure. That’s good. Among other things, the historical figures we’re most likely to follow were almost all pretty clear about how undesirable that would be. And there’s something a little disconcerting about anarchists when they do invest perhaps a bit too much of their identity in an identification with some one of those anarchist figure, whether historical or current.

[…]

Contr'un

Mutualism and “Market Anarchism”

August 3, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
  Let’s tackle a controversial question: Is mutualism a form of “market anarchism”? It’s a useful sort of question, even though the correct answer is probably “that depends….” Since mutualism has its roots in a world where the distinctions that make a label like “market anarchism” useful simply didn’t exist, distinctions which may themselves run counter to the “classical” mutualist project, it’s tempting to say “no.” But since we’re in the process of rediscovering and reimaging mutualism in a world where the question of “markets” is of real importance, we have to resist the temptation. For those mutualists who have […]