I’ve transcribed the two chapters translated from Charles-François Chevé’s Le Dernier Mot du Socialisme, par un catholique (1848), and published in The Spirit of the Age. They are “Capital and Interest” and “The Landlord and His Tenants: A Dialogue.” Chevé was an associate of Proudhon, and the author of the “Socialist Catechism” that I recently translated.
Contr'un
Fundamental Principles of Socialism (1849)
Here’s another translation from the work of Proudhon’s associate, C.-F Chevé, the statement of principles from Le Socialiste : journal de l’égal-échange [The Socialist: Journal of Equal-Exchange], which he co-edited. This is taken from the first issue, July 1849. Some differences with Proudhon’s position will be immediately obvious, not the least of which is his tendency to use “anarchy” in the sense of disorder (although, to be fair, Proudhon and nearly all the anarchists of his generation also did this from time to time.) This “general account” is actually fairly lengthy, and was serialized over multiple issues. I’ve provided this […]
Working Translations
Charles-François Chevé, “Socialist Catechism” (1849)
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 […]
Contr'un
Two Socialist Catechisms
[ezcol_2third] I’ve been reading around Proudhon quite a bit lately, trying to establish contexts as a step towards further clarifying his ideas. And I have been in search of 19th century English translations of the French socialists, as a step towards establishing the contexts for people like William B. Greene and William Henry Channing. There are large chunks of the writings of Charles Fourier, Victor Considerant, and a number of the important French socialist-feminists tucked away in the pages of American papers. The translations are often partial, and occasionally untrustworthy, but I’ve been setting aside time each week for searching, […]