Uncategorized Archives - Page 8 of 39 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

James Guillaume on Federation

September 20, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

In the second issue of Solidarité, dated April 1871, James Guillaume contributed this piece on the federative principle, in the context of the Paris Commune. Note the use of Proudhon’s concept of “collective force.” I’m working on translating a series of texts on nationality and the federative principle, to go with forthcoming issues of LeftLiberty. _____ Federalism. The true character of the revolution that was accomplished at Paris commence has been outlined in so marked a fashion that you, even the minds most unfamiliar with political theories, can now perceive it clearly. The revolution of Paris is federalist. The Parisian […]

Instead of a Translation – Proudhon on the clubs

September 13, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

Some 19th century “translations” end up being little more than summaries, and some summaries end up being haphazard translations of bits and pieces. A number of the pieces that introduced Americans to Proudhon and Leroux fit one of these two categories. A series of summaries of chapters from Proudhon’s Confessions appeared in The Spirit of the Age in 1849-50. This is certainly a work that needs full translation, but the summaries are interesting, both for the information they contain and as an example of how many Americans first encountered Proudhon. THE CONFESSIONS OF A REVOLUTIONIST. BY P. J. PROUDHON. CHAPTER […]

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LeftLiberty 2 – The Gift Economy of Property

August 17, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

The second issue of LeftLiberty, “The Gift Economy of Property,” is now available. It’s 100 pages of mutualism, new and old, fiction and non-fiction. It feels to me like a considerable step forward from the first issue. I hope others will find it useful, or at least provocative. download pdf booklet download 2-up pdf purchase pamphlet

August 6, 1945

August 6, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

Guinea-Pig Fleet: Hiroshima Tattoo Originally posted Sunday, January 07, 2007.

LeftLiberty – Best-laid plans, hopefully improved

August 3, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

Just a heads-up for those waiting for LeftLiberty 2. With the launch of Corvus, some unexpected breakthroughs in the “new approximation” writing, and the little shifts in my emphases and affiliations, the issue started to balloon well beyond the capacity of my zine stapler, so it has now officially split into two issues: 2 – “The Gift Economy of Property,” which will pull together and revise the blog and forum posts that have been the basis for the “new approximation,” and 3 – “A Doctrine of Life and Humanity,” which can expand a little to address some new material from […]

A little practical application

August 3, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

I spent the last three days, reunited with my friends at Laughing Horse Books, tabling the Western States Center’s “Community Strategic Training Initiative” conference, an event that brings together broadly “progressive” community organizers from all over the western US for workshops and networking. It’s always an odd weekend for me. It takes place at Reed College, site of my first, disastrous year of college (but a really beautiful site for that sort of thing), and the crowd is generally involved in a different set of struggles than I am. But it’s a wonderfully diverse, and genuinely nice crowd, with lots […]

Orestes Brownson and Pierre Leroux

July 25, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

Pierre Leroux was the other half, along with P.-J. Proudhon, of the mutualist mix, as formulated by William B. Greene. Greene was introduced to Leroux’s work by Orestes A. Brownson, and adopted a number of Brownson’s criticisms of Leroux’s works. Greene’s first major writings were, in fact, attempts to come to terms with the thought of Leroux and Brownson. From this perspective, Brownson’s most important works were a review of Leroux’s Humanity and “The Mediatorial Life of Jesus,” both from 1842 – and they’re both available now in Corvus Editions. If you want to understand Greene’s mutualism, or want another […]

on alliance

July 17, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

After weeks of increasingly bellicose agreement on the importance of truth, reason and LGBT rights to the left-libertarian movement, I’ve decided to withdraw my formal affiliations with the Alliance of the Libertarian Left. The ALL was launched initially despite considerable diversity of basic assumptions about theory, strategy and tactics–a dangerous strategy, in many ways, but one which grew naturally, it seems to me, out of the network of friendships, political flirtations, and relations of philosophical hospitality that preceded the ALL, on SEK3 original left-libertarian list and in Tom Knapp’s Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left. The growth and success of the […]

Add it up

July 15, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

I was listening to a local, very mainstream news broadcast last night, and the report was that, while Oregon’s unemployment rate was 12.2%, well above the national average, the underemployment rate was something like 23%. Now, as far as I can ascertain, the actual jobless rate seems to run at least twice as high as the rate of those collecting benefits (a rate which, depending on who is citing it, may or may not include those on the “extended benefits” currently available.) And those total jobless estimates, which frequently run closer to three times the “unemployment rate,” don’t count those […]

Lose this skin…

July 14, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur

As of this afternoon, I’ve struck the ALL flag, seceded and moved my yurt to more open left-libertarian territory. It won’t make a lick of difference to my friends and those with whom I am engaged in actual projects, but it feels necessary to me. My “document for discussion” on hospitality and the ALLiance can be taken as my thoughts on how small-a alliance might be conducted. I’ve actually been contemplating the change for some time, as a means of avoiding any sort of mis/representation issues, as my own theoretical work is likely to be increasingly controversial in some ALLiance […]