I’ve posted a translation of a biographical account of Anselme Bellegarrigue, written in 1862 by Joseph Noulens, an old friend and collaborator of Bellegarrigue. It’s absolutely jam-packed with entertaining stories and useful details of Bellegarrigue’s life and career. But it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. It’s already led me to Bellegarrigue’s contributions to La Mosaïque du Midi and Le Palais de Cristal, which were not political, but are certainly interesting, and it’s given me enough clues to have substantially widened my search for texts and biographical material. Give it a read, and stay tuned for more information.
From the Archives
Mutualité immobilière et territoriale / Bellegarrigue et Compagnie
During August and September of 1856, Anselme Bellegarrigue published Le Commanditaire, a paper apparently dedicated to the project of turning a recent law on business associations to libertarian ends. On October 10, Bellegarrigue was in court, facing charges related to the publication, for which it appears he was sentenced to one year in prison (Journal des débats, 11 October 1856.) But by March of the following year, he was promoting a new enterprise, the “Mutualité immobilière et territoriale.” Details are, so far, elusive. Advertisements continued in major newspapers into the spring of 1858, although there seems to have been very […]
Contr'un
Anselme Bellegarrigue on “The Revolution”
Bellegarrigue’s Anarchy: A Journal of Order only lasted for two issues, although he had projected several more. The first issue contained his “Manifesto” — translated and published in part by Benjamin Tucker in Liberty, and in full by the Kate Sharpley Library — and the second was dedicated to “The Revolution.” Like Proudhon, Bellegarrigue was a strong critic of the direction that the 1848 revolution had taken: “In theory, the Revolution is the development of well-being. In practice, it has only been the extension of malaise.” And, like Proudhon, he pointed to certain essential contradictions which prevented that “development of […]
Working Translations
Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Electoral Law”
[ezcol_2third] Along with the essay “The Revolution,” the second issue of Bellegarrigue’s Anarchy: A Journal of Order also contained this essay: THE ELECTORAL LAW In the first issue of this journal, we have clearly, even audaciously expressed our opinion regarding the present character of electoral rights. The attitude of the people in the face of the partial suppression of this right proposed by Parliament has proven to us that our doctrine was in conformity with the general sentiment. The electorate is not a principle. The popular instinct is more sure than the reasoning of the sophists, for that instinct bears […]