Contr'un Archives - Page 26 of 56 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Possible & Impossible Worlds

July 6, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

For those who enjoy early science fiction, imaginary voyages, and utopian narratives, I’m sharing some of my favorites at Possible and Impossible Worlds. I’ve been playing around with some non-political translation, including the 1721 “Account of a Voyage from the Arctic to the Antarctic Pole by way of the Center of the Earth, with the description of that perilous Passage, and of the marvelous and astonishing things that were discovered beneath the Antarctic Pole” (which ought to be complete within the next week or so) and some work on a couple of incompletely translated Jules Verne novels. And I occasionally […]

The Mutualism.info Dilemma

July 6, 2012

I’ve hardly started, and there are already some criticisms and concerns about what is is and isn’t going to get covered here. My hope is to eventually cover a wide range of historical, theoretical and practical questions—and, where appropriate, to deal with elements of the traditions both historically (to get us on a firm footing) and critically. It’s useful, for example, to know how William B. Greene adapted Proudhon’s proposals, and the colonial land bank model, to the needs of his audience in 19th century New England. But most of my readers are probably, like me, not in a position […]

Mutualism.info blog

July 4, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

With the contemporary mutualist revival a complex, more or less divided work-in-progress, there are very few easy introductions to mutualism. And there are lots of folks asking to be introduced. It is certain that this blog has become very deep waters. So, with some fear and trepidation, I have begun condensing material from here into a substantially more manageable size and shape, and have begun to post them to a new blog: Mutualism.info.

The Golden Rule as a practical guide

July 4, 2012

I have been using the following paragraph on the Two-Gun Mutualism blog for some time now: Mutualism is not a specific social, political or economic system. Mutualism as such is simply the assertion that every meaningfully social relation will have the form, at base, of an anarchic encounter between unique individuals—free absolutes—no matter what layers of convention we pile on it. To the extent that our conventions, institutions and norms respect that basic premise, we can call them “mutualist.” To the extent that we commit ourselves to viewing our relations through this lens, and exert ourselves in the extension of […]

The Mutualist’s Dilemma

July 4, 2012 anarchisms_w4l2ii

Contr’un Revisited: This post originally appeared as the introduction to the Mutualism.info site. As the text suggests, that project was an attempt to focus on what could be said about mutualism in general, while other blogs pursued lines of inquiry that were different and generally more partisan. Two-Gun Mutualism and the Golden Rule, the blog that would become Contr’un, was the most important of those other blogs. There, I was in the midst of a very serious encounter with property theory and just beginning a more serious engagement with Proudhon’s work. The logic of spinning off an introductory blog, as […]

Contr'un

Angels and Fallen Angels Quarrel over Proudhon

July 4, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted working translations of a pair of pamphlets published in 1848/9: “The History of Mr. Proudhon and His Principles,” by “Satan,” and “Response to Satan on the Subject of Mr. Proudhon,” by “The Archangel Saint Michael.” The author of the first was Georges Dairnvaell, and the second was published by the “Society for the Mutual Education of Women,” the organization, founded by Jeanne Deroin and Désirée Gay, which published Politique des femmes. The author of the second pamphlet does not appear in any of the sources I have been able to find, but the sentiments are certainly in line […]

“Archangel Saint Michael,” “Response to Satan”

July 4, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[Note: In l’Opinion des Femmes, the author of this pamphlet is identified as Jeanne Deroin.) Society for the Mutual Education of Women. RESPONSE TO SATAN ON THE SUBJECT OF MR. PROUDHON BY THE ARCHANGEL SAINT-MICHEL How long, O Satan, do you hope to persecute with impunity the children of the true God? You have assumed every form in order to establish your empire on the earth; now you believe your power so solidly based that you dare to reveal yourself by your true name; for it is you who suggested, to a pamphleteer misled by your perfidious inspirations, the strange […]

Proudhon’s “Catechism of Marriage”

June 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted a working translation of Proudhon’s “Catechism of Marriage,” from the fourth volume of Justice in the Revolution and in the Church. It’s strange stuff, and unappealing in a variety of ways, but I think it is relatively clear what Proudhon is up to—and where he goes wrong.

P.-J. Proudhon, “Catechism of Marriage”

June 27, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

CATECHISM OF MARRIAGE [from Justice in the Revolution and in the Church, New Edition, Vol. IV] Question. — What is the conjugal couple? Answer. — Every power of nature, every faculty of life, every affection of the soul, every category of the intelligence, needs an organ, in order to manifest itself and act. The sentiment of Justice can be no exception to that law. But Justice, which rules all the other faculties and surpasses liberty itself, not being able to have its organ in the individual, would remain for man a notion without efficacy, and society would be impossible, if […]

Black and Red Feminist History

June 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve set up a separate blog to archive the Black and Red Feminist History project, and have begun to gather a mix of familiar and new material, including a working translation of Paule Mink’s 1891 essay on “The Right of Abortion.” I hope to have the third issue of the Black and Red Feminism zine available for the August shows, and it is tentatively a themed issue, focusing on “utopian socialism,” with contributions from the Saint-Simonian, Icarian and Fourierist movements.