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Tentative outline for the Bakunin Project

May 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

From this point on, I’ll be directing most of the Bakunin-related material to the Bakunin Library blog, but I wanted to let my readers here, and on the aggregators where this blog appears, know that I have posted a tentative outline for the Collected Works of Bakunin and would welcome feedback.

Strategizing a bit

May 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

There are inevitably choices to be made about any “collected works” project. Even a “complete works” collection generally has to draw some specific lines around what will count as “complete,” generally by limiting what will count as “works.” In the case of Bakunin, the most complete writings are his letters, addresses, and a body of shorter articles, generally addressing fairly specific occasions. His longest and most ambitious published works were nearly all extracted from larger, unfinished manuscripts. It’s not an uncommon problem, but it does pose a particular set of problems, not the least of which is that it takes […]

Introducing the Bakunin Library blog

May 18, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve launched the Bakunin Library blog, as part of our effort to translate Bakunin’s works into English, and posted a first new translation, from a manuscript essay on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, from 1837, by a young Bakunin.

More on the Bakunin project

May 16, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Thanks to those who have responded. Here’s a few more details about the project: Bakunin’s works were published in nine languages, with the majority in French, and then most of the works in other languages were translated into French for the CD-ROM that was issued in 2000. Ideally, we’ll be able to have everything carefully checked against the original language, but, given the translators available and the grassroots nature of the project, we may well take advantage of the French translations to develop working drafts in English. It looks to me like the division of labor is likely to involve: […]

Victor Serge, Sports

May 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

SPORTS By “Le Retif” From “Le Rèvoltè” # 18, September 1908 Sports are booming an obsession. The kiosks are inundated with sports journals” “L’ Auto”, “Le Velo”, “Le Sportsman”, “Paris Sport”. Sports-Elevage”. “Tous Les Sports” etc., etc. Each day a new journal is born – and the old ones don’t die! Sports literature is almost becoming . . . a sport! And not only literature. I defy you to take a walk in the street without encountering a young man in helmet, white tunic, the cyclist’s uniform – or of a worker or gentleman caught up in reading a sports […]

Works of Bakunin in English – call for translators and readers

May 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

As I announced here a month or so back, PM Press has decided to move ahead with the oft-mentioned Collected Works of Bakunin project, and I’ve been asked to coordinate and edit the thing. The prospect is equally exciting and daunting. I’m in the early stages of planning the introductory sampler volume and getting a general sense of what could, and what should, be included in the subsequent volumes. My inclination is to be as inclusive as possible, but the “possible” will depend a good deal on how much participation there is in the translation and editing process. I’ve volunteered […]

Andre Lorulot, Individualism And The Social Question

May 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Individualism And The Social Question By Andre Lorulot (From the “L’Anarchie” pamphlet, “L’ Individualisme; Doctrine de révolte et de solidarité”. No date, probably circa 1912) Are individualists revolutionaries or can they be disinterested in the Social Problem? Do they enter into struggle with the milieu, go forth attempting to modify institutions and turning principles upside down? Or do they seek to adapt as best as possible to conditions of capitalist life? We have said that the individualist is the individual who wants to live at any price, who wants to realize their happiness and not be bruised, a person who […]

Labor and subjective value

May 14, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Debates about anarchist economics would probably be frustrating and difficult under the best of circumstances, but the truth is that we steer well clear of even relatively good circumstances much of the time, returning again and again to a few debates which, in practice, can’t be resolved because they are merely symptoms of hardened, irreconcilable presuppositions, but which, under those elusive “best of circumstances” might well turn out to be no big deal—and may be at least a very different deal than our disagreements seem to suppose. Take the standard attack on mutualists for their adherence to the labor theory […]

Note on slavery and the origins of property

May 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Several people, knowing my interest in the question of property, have sent me links to a blog post by Stephen Keating, “Are Freedom and Violence Linked?,” which discusses some of what David Graeber has to say about slavery and the origins of property in his book, Debt: The First 5000 Years. There are parts of Keating’s argument to which I’m sympathetic, such as his concern that the notion of individual property rights may mask the essentially social nature of property. But his key point seems to be this: “The dirty secret is that this conception of property emerged out of […]

The Gift Economy of Property: Gifting Property

May 1, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Gift Economy of Property Previous posts Thesis From the Self to Property From Property to Gifts 4. For the basic details of the mechanism by which property might be gifted, let me just insert the argument from “What could justify property?”