translations

Contr'un

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 […]
Contr'un

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 […]
Contr'un

Paul Adam’s “Eulogy for Ravachol”

February 22, 2010 Shawn P. Wilbur
EULOGY FOR RAVACHOL Paul Adam In these times, miracles and saints seem set to disappear. We can easily believe that the souls of contemporaries lack the spirit of sacrifice. The martyrs of this century have always been obscure citizens, maddened by the din of political words, and then gunned down without mercy, in 1830, 1848, and 1871, for the benefit of certain parliamentary situations arranged by a few violent and shifty advocates. And it would even be imprudent to claim that no wish of individual interest committed these unfortunate combatants themselves to seek some electoral profit, arms in hand. The […]
translations

Second things first

December 17, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
The “Second Letter” of Proudhon’s The Philosophy of Progress is now available in English translation in the Libertarian Labyrinth archive. For those interested in the elements of Proudhon’s philosophy involving collective persons, or those relating to the combination of conservative and progressive elements in “the Revolution,” there will be some additional material here. There’s also a great deal more. In the two letters that make up The Philosophy of Progress, Proudhon attempted to make his general “profession of faith,” with “faith” being just one of the terms he was in the midst of transforming in his works. The result was […]
translations

More Proudhon on the origin of property

October 27, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third][/one_third][two_third_last] Here’s another little bit from “Justice,” which immediately follows the last passages linked. In it, Proudhon explains how, in the very early phases of the “shock of ideas,” property emerged as a social convention precisely because human beings had not yet learned to question their own absolutism. Elsewhere, however, he makes it clear that our “absolutism” is not simply something we need to “get over” or grow out of, but an important enabling component in ethical evolution. This is part of the revision of the material Rafael posted, once Proudhon had decided that the antinomies did not resolve themselves. […]
translations

Proudhon’s 1848 “Toast to the Revolution”

July 18, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
It is with more than a bit of fear and trepidation that I embark on a new phase of my mutualist researches, with a working translation of Proudhon’s “Toast to the Revolution.” I neglected my French studies for a good couple of decades, before returning a year or so back to tackle the untranslated portions of Proudhon and the writings of a few of his contemporaries. It has been an interesting year, bringing myself back up to speed, and learning to read at a level I had never really attempted as a student. There are undoubtedly some mistakes in the […]