Working Translations

Working Translations

V. Henri, “Why We Are Anarchists” (1901)

December 26, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_1half] POURQUOI NOUS SOMMES ANARCHISTES Camarade, tu as un cerveau, un cœur, des poumons, des yeux, des membres; ces organes sont nécessaires à ton existence ; il y a donc pour toi nécessité de t’en servir : à chacun de tes organes est lié un besoin correspondant. Ce besoin peut varier suivant que ton tempérament est plus ou moins nerveux, plus ou moins sanguin, suivant que le climat est plus ou moins chaud et humide. Mais, quelles que soient ces conditions, puisque le besoin existe, tu finis par éprouver un désir; et si, alors, la possibilité matérielle, morale ou sociale […]
poetry

Charles Keller, “Their Poor Reasons”

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] LEURS PAUVRES RAISONS A Madame André Léo. Ce n’est pas sans bonnes raisons Qu’ils trottinent tous vers l’église, Chaque dimanche, comme oisons Que le Bon Pasteur mobilise! * * * Leurs raisons? — Interrogez-les. Ils n’en ont point, ou n’en ont guère : — Leurs ancêtres y sont allés; C’est la coutume séculaire. — Il faut de la religion, Disent les bonnes paysannes; La messe et la communion Ne sont pas faites pour les ânes. — Et pourquoi, grondent les anciens, Les gens qui travaillent la terre Vivraient-ils comme des païens ? Ils ont déjà tant de […]
Working Translations

Emile Digeon, “Proposal for the Indictment of Gambetta & the Ministers” (1881)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_2third] PROPOSAL FOR THE INDICTMENT OF GAMBETTA & THE MINISTERS Whereas it is clear, That Gambetta has, for several months, pursued in his paper, La République Française, a campaign to depreciate Tunisian values; That, as a result of that campaign, these values have been cornered at the lowest prices: by a politico-financial gang, evidently accomplices of the author of the depreciation; That the expedition against Tunisia has allowed the monopolists of Tunisian values to resell them with an illegitimate profit of more than fifty millions; That Gambetta has exerted a corrupting action to assemble a docile majority, in order to […]
Working Translations

Emile Digeon, “The Voice of One of the Hoodwinked” (1869)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_2third] THE VOICE OF ONE OF THE HOODWINKED (1869) THE “JANUARY 19” OF MR. EMILE OLLIVIER [1] BY WAY OF A FORWARD ______ I. Page 13. “In 1848, being hardly 22 years of age, I was named commissioner general in the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, by Mr. Ledru-Rollin, who had goodwill for me and friendship for my father…” Page 103. “June 19, 1857. — Voters, it is not necessary for me to expound my faith to you: My name and my past have taught them to you…” Page 11. “Thursday, January 10, 1867, at five o’clock in the evening, […]
The Sex Question

Lucien Descaves, “A Friend of Varlin” (Nathalie Le Mel)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Nathalie Le Mel [tag feed]   A Friend of Varlin Last week there died, at the hospice of Ivry, at 95 years of age, an old revolutionary that I have known well and to whom I owe one of my greatest joys as a man of letters. One day when I was questioning Martelet, the former member of the Commune, about his colleague Varlin, the finest figure of a worker from those heroic times, Martelet said to me: “You have, practically next door, a woman who fought the good fight beside him in the last years of the Empire. She […]
Working Translations

Joseph Déjacque, “The Theory of Infinitesimal Humanities” (1859)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
La Théorie des Humanités Infinitésimales, OU SYSTEME DES QUATRE GRADATIONS Si mon ignorance de bien des sciences n’est pas un insurmontable obstacle à ce que je médite, j’essayerai quelque jour de développer plus complètement une théorie qui n’est qu’en germe dans l’article précédent (et qui n’est pas sans analogie avec la “Série” de Fourier et la “Triade” de Leroux, mais plus rationnelle, je le crois.) C’est la théorie des “Humanités infinitésimales” ou application, à tous les êtres dans l’universalité et à l’universalité de tous les êtres, du système des trois règnes (minéral, végétal, animal), couronné du quatrième, l’hominal, ou essence […]
Working Translations

Joseph Déjacque, “Discourse Pronounced July 26, 1853”

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Here is Joseph Dejacque’s speech from the funeral of radical poet Louise Julien. The wind-up at the end is particularly fascinating, being a mix of Fourierist passional science and fire-breathing revolutionary rhetoric. [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Discourse Pronounced July 26, 1853 at the tomb of Louise Julien, exile by Joseph Déjacque Again a grave is opened… And this time, it is not a man. It is a woman that exile… that the circus devours to the applause of Caesar and his praetorian rabble. A poor and valorous woman, a humble martyr for an idea, […]
Working Translations

Charles-François Chevé, “Socialist Catechism” (1849)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
SOCIALIST CATECHISM BY C. F. CHEVÉ Editor of the Voix du Peuple, and former editor of Le Peuple. I. Socialism. QUESTION. What is Socialism? ANSWER. It is the doctrine of universal conciliation. Q. What does it come to reconcile? A. All that rights and interests that are today in incessant war. Q. By what means will it reconcile all rights? A. By giving them the fullness of their exercise and of their complete satisfaction. Q. What is the first of these rights and the one that encloses all the others? A. It is the right to live. Q. What is […]
anarchist individualism

E. Armand, The Anarchist Individualist Initiation (1923) (in progress)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The translation of E. Armand’s Anarchist Individualist Initiation is ongoing. Completed sections are available here, in English, and on the dual-language pages in French and English. Sections on the first page here have gone through at least one round of correction, verification against the original text and annotation, while sections on subsequent pages may be uncorrected drafts. As the work progresses, links to earlier or later versions of the various sections will be added. Editorial notes have been added in blue text. Related links: E. ARMAND—MAIN PAGE The Anarchist Individualist Initiation (Parallel (FR/EN) text) Notes on “The Anarchist Individualist Initiation” […]
fiction

Albert Libertad, “The Legend of Christmas” (1899)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Once upon a time, a long time ago, around the year 1900, there was a big heap of rocks and mud that the natives at that time called Paris. It was the capital of a country favored with a temperate climate where cereals, vineyards, and the most beautiful fruits grew in abundance. Approaching these heaps of stone, overcoming the pestilential odors given off by them, one saw that it was crossed by roads of all sorts: some wide, packed with fine houses, and others narrow, with, on each side, houses with the look of mousetraps, arranged in tight rows.

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