1887

fiction

L. M. S., “A Story of a Giant” (1887)

August 14, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A STORY OF A GIANT. A Parable Not Laid Down in the Gospels, but Which Will Bear Careful Reflection. Is a Straight-Jacket the Best Remedy for the Contortions and Writhings of the Blind Samson of Modern Industry? Once upon a tine there lived a great, strong, patient giant who faithfully served some young princes of the realm. The princes ordered him about, sent him out on all sorts of perilous errands, rode upon his shoulders, and loaded him with burdens to carry, as though he were a pack-horse. They knew he was so strong that he could have annihilated them […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Gustave Lefrançais, “Where Are the Anarchists Going?” (1887/8)

August 13, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_2third] Where Are the Anarchists Going? Gustave Lefrançais A Keen and Biting Criticism of the School of Communistic Anarchists as Represented by Kropotkin, Reclus, and Others. Translated for The Alarm, from the French of G. Lefrançais. BY JOHN F. KELLY. [In presenting this translation of Lefrançais’ pamphlet to the readers of The Alarm I am in part actuated by the desire to ascertain how much there is of common belief among those calling themselves anarchists, and consequently how much there is for united action looking toward a common end. To those who are not acquainted with the author I may […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Secular Education” (1887)

August 7, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
There are four instruments which, wielded by dominant minds, bend and mold the sentiments of the masses to meet the form and spirit of the times: The force of early influence, the school, the platform, and the press. These are the four grand educators, and education is the strong right arm of progress, that arm which bares its mighty muscles and strikes upon the hewn rock of time the chisel-blows which carve the tablets of an advancing era, there to remain until the surges of the incoming ages shall hav swept them away, leaving a smooth face whereon shall be […]
The Sex Question

Lizzie M. Swank, “What Are American Institutions?” (1887)

July 26, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
WHAT ARE “AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS”? I AM sending this across the ocean, to seek information I cannot gain in my own native land. I have enquired of leading journals and been quietly ignored; I have asked eminent literary people and received only looks that questioned my sanity and civilised citizenship; I have interrogated workingmen, and they simply become terrified. I have decided to enquire of a “blasted furriner.” I only want to know—“what are “American institutions”? Or rather, what are the characteristics of American institutions which distinguish them from English, Russian, German, or French institutions? So much seems to depend on […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Ricardo Mella, “La reacción en la Revolución” (1887-8)

December 18, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
LA REACCIÓN EN LA REVOLUCIÓN I Con frecuencia, no ya entre los ignorantes, sino entre los más ilustrados, suele ocurrir que la bondad de una idea se extravía y se pervierte por aquellos mismos que más la quieren y la estudian, de tal forma, que lo mismo que en la practica debiera dar un resultado satisfactorio lo da abiertamente contrario y negativo. Tal metamorfosis es por desgracia común á cuantos son más ó menos revolucionarios y nunca es inútil estudiar y determinar las causas que la originan. Así, por ejemplo, en la siempre citada revolución francesa, hubo un elemento, el […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Albert R. Parsons on Anarchy (1887)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
“In the effort of the prosecution to hold up our opinions to public execration they lost sight of the charge of murder. Disloyalty to their class, and their boasted civilization is in their eyes a far greater crime than murder. “Anarchy, in the language of Grinnell, is simply a compound of robbery, incendiarism and murder. This is the official statement of Mr. Grinnell, and against his definition of anarchy I would put that of Mr. Webster. I think that is pretty near as good authority as that gentleman’s. “What is anarchy? What is the nature of the dreadful thing-this anarchy, […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Lucy E. Parsons on Anarchy (1887)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
From Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis as Defined by Some of Its Apostles [We are frequently asked, ‘what is anarchy and what do the anarchists want?’ We are free to confess that in all we have read and heard from anarchists about how they expected to attain their ends, we never read or heard just what those ends were. In an interview with the New York World, Mrs. Lucy E. Parsons, the well-known lecturess in this new school of social economy, gave the most succinct account we have ever seen; and in answer to the question, ‘what is anarchy,’ […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Dyer D. Lum, “On Anarchy” (1887)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
I—WHAT IS ANARCHY. The statesman, intent on schemes to compromise principles and tide over clamorous demands for justice, says it is disorder and spoliation. New taxes are then levied to defend the state, to repress incendiary talk, and protect privileged prerogatives. Or false and surface issues are prepared to distract attention, to embroil citizens in partisan quarrels, and furnish new offices for the spoils-hunter. The people pay the bills and the statesman remains. The priest, intent on saving souls, and setting less value on temporal things—for others—says it is abolition of marriage, atheism, and draws a frightful picture of a […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Joseph Lane, “An Anti-Statist Communist Manifesto” (1887)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
“In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is good, but that I fall out only with its abuse. The thing – the thing itself is the abuse !” – Burke GENERAL PRINCIPLES Human society can only be organized upon the basis of one or the other of the two principles of authority or of liberty. From these two principles are derived two political systems, equally broad and far reaching, though diametrically opposite in their effects, that of the one being the happiness, and of the other the misery of mankind. Beyond these two there is no political system capable […]