Contr'un Archives - Page 29 of 56 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

The Gift Economy of Property: From the Self to Property

April 29, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Gift Economy of Property Thesis From the Self to Property From Property to Gifts Gifting Property 2. Having laid out a little more clearly the philosophical moves I’m making with the “gift economy of property,” I probably need to clarify again the rationale for such a idiosyncratic approach to the question of property. Because it is explicitly a mutualist anarchist approach, and specifically a neo-Proudhonian approach, there’s a whole lot of critique of property at the foundations, a strong sense that, as desirable as the aims of property might be, the available means of founding it appear to be […]

The Larger Antinomy

April 22, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Contr’un Revisted: [commentary coming soon] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] I. “When Jesus Christ, explaining to the people the different articles of the Decalogue, taught them that polygamy had been permitted to the ancients because of the rudeness of their intelligence, but that it had not been thus in the beginning; that a bad desire is equal to a fornication consummated; that insult and affront are as reprehensible as murder and blows; that he is a parricide who says to his poor father: “This morning I have prayed to God for you; that will benefit […]

The Gift Economy of Property (2.0)

April 22, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Contr’un Revisited: Related: The Gift Economy of Property Trajectories: Proudhon and Property The Larger Antinomy The Gift Economy of Property I. Thesis An adequate, non-simplist, mutualist theory of what is proper to individual human beings, seeking to do justice to the range of things we denominate by the word “property,” will have to account for the nearly unbridgeable separateness that we experience in consciousness, as well as the inextricable interconnection which is our material reality. It will have to, in essence, respond to Max Stirner and Pierre Leroux (or any number of other advocates of a roughly ecological universal circulus.) […]

Picking up dropped threads

April 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Lots of things have intervened in the discussion of mutualist property theory over the last two years, not the least of which has been a whole lot of additional research and translation. It has, for one reason or another, been a little more than I could manage to pick up where I left the fairly straightforward exploration of the question which was interrupted in the midst of the “property is impossible” series, way back in June 2010. But there’s no getting on to the next phase of things without wrapping up this particular discussion, so I’m working on finally pulling […]

Emile Digeon, Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy (1882)

April 18, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let’s be honest. I initially took a look at Emile Digeon’s Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy because of its weird title. But it turns out that he was a fascinating individual, who played a key role in one of the other communes that rose with the Paris Commune. So I’ve already translated a couple of minor texts, and now I can add his most famous work to the file. There remains one major pamphlet to translate, Revolutionary Remarks, and then I’ll probably bind an edition of “Selected Works.” Rights and Duties displays an interesting mix of tendencies. Digeon wants […]

Felix P….., “The Philosophy of Defiance” (New York, 1854)

April 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve just posted a translation of selections from The Philosophy of Defiance, an 1854 anarchist pamphlet published in New York and written by a French exile who signed the work “Felix P…..” Max Nettlau discovered the text, and published portions of it in La Revue Anarchiste for July, 1922. That’s fortunate, because the original text seems to be rare to the point of nonexistence, and because it’s a very interesting example of early anarchist thought.

Felix P….., “The Philosophy of Defiance” (New York, 1854)

April 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DEFIANCE, or, A Pardon for Cain 1854 FELIX P….. Edited by Max Nettlau … Give me any epithets you wish; I accept them all in advance. I have only one thought, and envision only one glory: it is to strike everywhere and always, as much as I can, at the principle of domination. Satan, in his revolt, is my father, and, in his courage, Cain is my brother! … We do not take a single step in society without hearing that human beings must believe in a God, in a sovereign being, master of all things, according […]

The New Adventure: Bakunin in English

April 5, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’m just back from the 2012 Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, which was, as usual, a lot of fun—and more than a bit exhausting. I took a much narrower slice of the Corvus Editions catalog than usual, focusing on translations and the Eliphalet Kimball collection, and was pleased with the response. Translation was also the focus of a lot of the networking this year, and several great projects should be rolling out over the next couple of months. The big project that is mine to announce is the Collected Works of Bakunin in English, which PM Press is finally ready […]

Contr'un

Two texts by Emile Digeon

March 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchist history is just full to overflowing with characters who seldom receive more than a footnote in the histories, but were major players in some aspect of the history of anarchist struggle. And it’s no secret that I am very fond of these lesser-known figures. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to justify taking the time to translate texts which do not have some fairly general application to contemporary issues. Even when dealing with the “big names” of the movement there are frequently lots of writings, or parts of writings, which are hard to make much sense of without delving fairly deeply […]

God, Women and Proudhon — Eugène Stourm

March 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Slowly, but surely, I’m assembling the various feminist responses to Proudhon. The pages of L’Opinion des Femmes is rich with that sort of thing, since it was Jeanne Deroin’s primary forum at the time she proposed herself for political office, and drew fire from Proudhon and others. In the May, 1849 issue, the following essay, by Eugène Stourm, appeared. I think it’s an interesting mix of fairly accurate critique and misunderstanding. Certainly, the more details emerge, the more interesting the conflict looks. I think this project is going to be a lot of fun. God, Women, and Proudhon. The enemies […]