Over at the Anarchist FAQ blog, Iain has a post recognizing the sesquicentennial of the term libertaire, used in 1858 by Joseph Déjacque as the title of his journal, La Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social. Déjacque is generally credited with the first use of the term “libertarian” as a synonym for “anarchist.” We’ve learned, as the digital archives grow, to be skeptical of first-use claims, but I’m happy to take a moment to recognize the importance of Déjacque’s contribution. His fascinating mix of anarchism, communism, egoism, and feminism, drawing on the thought of Fourier, Proudhon, Pierre Leroux and others, is deserving of much more attention that it has generally received.
Working Translations
Joseph Déjacque, et al, to the machine-breakers (1848)
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] TO THE WORKERS. Brothers! We learn that in the midst of the joy and triumph, some of our own, misled by dangerous advice, want […]
Featured articles
Joseph Déjacque — clippings
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Déjacque came from Jersey to New York in the spring of 1854, so the help wanted listing would have been soon after he arrived. The conflict over “La question révolutionnaire” […]
Contr'un
Joseph Déjacque, “The Humanisphere” — Note on “The Extremes”
I’m working on completing Part I of The Humanisphere, but I decided to finish up this very interesting note before settling down to that task. There are tensions in the work which are pretty remarkable […]