1850s

Proudhon Library

Proudhon, “LVIII. — System of public reason, or social system” (Justice)

November 28, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
LVIII. — Système de la raison publique, ou système social. Que de fois ne me suis-je pas entendu adresser ce compliment que la critique jalouse se hâterait, pour l’honneur du siècle, de retirer, si elle en comprenait la portée : Vous êtes un admirable destructeur; mais vous ne construisez rien. Vous jetez les gens à la rue, et vous ne leur offrez pas le moindre abri. Que mettez-vous à la place de la religion? Que mettez-vous à la place du gouvernement? Que mettez-vous à la place de la propriété? On me dit à présent: Que mettez-vous à la place de […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Benjamin Colin, “To France” (1852)

October 20, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_1half] TO FRANCE. You sleep, France, and you are in irons! You, the advance guard of progress and the future, how long will you tolerate the ignominious régime that oppresses you, and remain sunk in torpor? Does the blood of the victors of the Bastille and of the 10 August no longer flow in your veins? Are 1830 and 1848 dead dates in your history? Would you drink the cup of shame to the lees, without spewing it in the face of the eunuchs who present it to you? If this were the case, nearly all hope would be lost […]
Proudhon Library

DILEMMA: Red or White (from “Economy”)

July 7, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur
Ms. 2863 (Economy) Paris, March 16 DILEMMA: Red or White A captain of the line assures me—the papers friendly to the government will say tomorrow if the information is exact—that on the occasion of the next elections, the order has been given to prevent, by all possible means, the gentlemen of the military from attending the electoral gatherings. Any disobedience in this regard will be punished by eight days in jail. The government is right. It is consistent with itself. It follows, imperturbably, like Mr. Cabet, its straight line. For sixty years, the French people, leading the rest of the […]