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To the Point! To Action!! (2 of 4)

May 8, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Part 1] VII The representatives to the National Assembly were elected, let us not forget, to create a democratic constitution, to simplify the administration to allow a reduction in tax and respect for the individual; they were elected to set up the country. What have they done, however? Instead of setting up the country, they have been busy setting themselves up in government; they have deduced the consequence before establishing the principles; then, and without being able to escape the disastrous precedent they have just established, they have only been concerned, as they could only be concerned, with the health […]
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To the Point! To Action!! (1 of 4)

May 8, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
To the Point! To Action!! AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC IDEA[Part 2] – [Part 3] – [Part 4] Anselme Bellegarrigue I am told that that I am governed for my own good. Now, since I pay my money to be governed, it follows that it is for my own good that I pay that money. This is possible, but it nevertheless deserves verification. Moreover, it is a fact that no one could be more familiar than me with the means of making myself happy. I still find it strange, incomprehensible, anti-natural, and extra-human, to devote oneself to the happiness of […]
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Mutual aid updates

April 29, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
A new project, Books for Anarchists Outside the West, has just been launched, in order to help provide materials to comrades with less ready access to such things. And the project with Kate Sharpley Library has succeeded well enough that I now have a copy of Dyer Lum’s Utah and its People in mid-digitization. Thanks, folks! You can contribute towards the next acquisition at the Corvus Shop.
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Proudhon Seminar for 2010?

April 28, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
I’ve been thinking, off and on, about running the What is Property? seminar again this summer — and continuing it on past the First Memoir to some of the material that has been translated since the first seminar. The notion has become increasingly appealing in recent days, as I have found a number of places where it seems to me Tucker’s translations could be significantly improved upon. So I’m curious — is there interest in wading into — or back into — Proudhon’s property writings, in a semi-formal setting? with a “textbook” edition of the writings, highlighting some of the […]
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Individualities and Collectivities – Rights and Strengths

April 25, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] In War and Peace, Proudhon defined “rights” in this way: RIGHT, in general, is the recognition of human dignity in all its faculties, attributes and prerogatives. There are thus as many special rights as humans can raise different claims, owing to the diversity of their faculties and of their exercise. As a consequence, the genealogy of human rights will follow that of the human faculties and their manifestations. The right of force is the simplest of all and the most basic: it is the homage rendered to man for his strength. […]
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Proudhon on Property: Response

April 24, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
Iain McKay has posted another update on What is Property?, the forthcoming Proudhon anthology.You’ll find links to excerpts from the Second Memoir on Property and from my translation of the concluding chapter of The Theory of Property, along with commentary by Iain. The commentary is valuable, whether or not you agree with the approach and conclusions. There is a lot to tackle, if we want to make sense of Proudhon’s lifetime of work, and the more serious attempts, from different perspectives, the better, from my point of view. Iain’s comments, and his nice plug for The Mutualist, suggest he shares […]
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Amant ou mari?

April 24, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Proudhon (in)famously wrote, in What is Property?: On distingue dans la propriété : 1° la propriété pure et simple, le droit dominal, seigneurial sur la chose, ou, comme l’on dit, la nue propriété ; 2° la possession. « La possession, dit Duranton, est une chose de fait, et non de droit. » Toullier : « La propriété est un droit, une faculté légale; la possession est un fait. » Le locataire, le fermier, le commandité, l’usufruitier, sont possesseurs ; le maître qui loue, qui prète à usage; l’héritier qui n’attend pour […]
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DIY Paper: Blending blue jeans, and other thorny details

April 17, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
There’s been quite a bit of interest in this project, so here’s an update: So far, so good. After just a couple of tries I’m getting sheets of paper attractive enough to start thinking about doing some binding with them. I’m doing simple “blender paper,” starting with fiber I know is acid- and lignin-free. Having built the mold by stretching window-screen over a cheap wooden frame, with a matching frame for a deckle, it’s really just a matter of blending bits of fiber-source down to the constituent fibers, mixing the mash with water in a tub, dipping out a sheet, […]
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Militant and Industrial Societies, according to Dyer Lum

April 16, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
A notion that I’ll be making use of in the next installment of “Two-Gun Mutualism and the Golden Rule” is Herbert Spencer’s division of societies into “militant” and “industrial” types, introduced into the literature of mutualism (as far as I can see so far, at least) in Dyer D. Lum’s The Economics of Anarchy. Lum’s work is a very interesting attempt at an overview of anarchist economics, well worth the time it takes to read the whole thing. Roderick Long has a nicely annotated version of the text online, and I’m proofing a pamphlet edition for Corvus. I suspect that […]
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Echoes and Fragments: Collective Egoism

April 14, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
One of the elements of Proudhon’s social theory which sometimes strikes people as odd or objectionable is his emphasis on “collective force” and his insistence on the existence of collective beings or individuals. I’ve had some understandably skeptical responses to my claim that Proudhon’s philosophy is essentially a philosophy of individualism—but encompassing individuals at every conceivable scale. That is, of course, a bit of a simplification—even a simplism—if we neglect to mention that, for Proudhon, individualism had a tendency to lead into socialism, and vice versa. Recall, for instance, that he expected an absolutely free and individualistic society, based on […]