1890 Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Dyer D. Lum, “The Science of Social Relations” (1890)

February 25, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur

By the law of the Three Stages, so elaborately set forth by Auguste Comte, we are told that every science, each branch of knowledge, passes through three different theoretical conditions; the theological, or mythical; the metaphysical, or speculative; and the positive or scientific. “Hence,” said Comte, “arises three philosophies, or general systems of conceptions on the aggregate of phenomena, each of which excludes the other. The first is the necessary point of departure of the human understanding; and the third is its fixed, or definite, state; the second is merely a state of transition.”

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Lucien Weil, “Propaganda by Deed” (1890)

April 9, 2020 Shawn P. Wilbur

Propaganda by Deed One fact, — or more precisely one series of facts — dominates all the histories of the peoples. It is the incessant war of the oppressed against the oppressors, of the slaves against the masters; it is the eternal struggle of humanity to win its emancipation, to make itself free. In the name of liberty the ancient slaves rose up; it was in the name of liberty that the serfs of the middle ages revolted and the bourgeoisie emancipated itself in 1789: “liberty,” such is also the rallying cry of the modern proletariat. Whether economic, political, […]

Dyer D. Lum, “The Two Paths” (1890)

September 24, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] THE TWO PATHS. BY DYER D. LUM. Progress has no meaning outside of social relations. Nature records but changes in terms of evolution or devolution; man’s adaptation to environments is physical. Progress is the record of change in social relations — a province wrested from nature, transforming brute into human. The veneering may be thin on some, but the thickness of the human laying over the brute is the expression of progress. Our ancestors were retrospective; our golden age lies before us. When the ancient Hebrew asked the angel why the […]

Rev. W. D. P. Bliss, “Why Am I a Christian Socialist?” (1890)

June 15, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0″][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] WHY AM I A CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST? BY W. D. P. BLISS. Because I was made a Christian by Karl Marx and a Socialist by Jesus Christ. I do not strive to be paradoxical; to me this is a life-fact. I had supposed myself a Christian long before I read Karl Marx. I called myself one; I believed in Christ; I worshipped Him; I prayed to Him; I preached Him; I did everything except follow Him—in other words I was anything except a Christian. But one day I became interested in Socialism, […]

Frank Q. Stuart, “Why I Am an Individualist” (1890)

June 11, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] WHY I AM AN INDIVIDUALIST. BY F. Q. STUART. Some months ago the editor requested me to write an article on this subject, but not until now have I found myself so situated that I could conveniently do so. This is a question that may be answered in various ways, but at best it can only be partially answered in a short article. I am an Individualist first, because Individualism is the only philosophy that furnishes a rational, or if you please, scientific, solution of the great social and political questions […]

Dyer D. Lum, “Why I Am a Social Revolutionist” (1890)

June 8, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A SOCIAL REVOLUTIONIST. BY DYER D. LUM Before answering the inquiry propounded to me, it were well to first define terms. In one sense whoever desires a radical change in our social conditions, who advocates principles at utter variance with those now maintaining, may be said to be a Social Revolutionist; in this sense the Quakers were religious revolutionists. But the accepted meaning of the term does not embrace revolution and evolution as identical words, but ascribes to the former active resistance by overt acts to the powers that be. It is […]

Burnette G. Haskell, “Why I Am a Nationalist” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A NATIONALIST. BY BURNETTE G. HASKELL. Five hundred thousand years ago the man-monkey skulked through the primeval forests, hungry and cold, starting at every breaking twig, chattering with fear when he heard in the thickets the crash of the mammoth and the cave-bear, surrounded by pit-falls, swamps, noxious vapors, dangerous reptiles. The sex instinct made him take a wife. He was just beginning to walk on his hind legs, having got up from all fours under the goad of necessity. Offspring came. They were weak and unfitted to cope well with their […]

Laurence Gronlund, “Why I Am a Socialist” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A SOCIALIST. BY LAURENCE GRONLUND. I have three reasons to give, but the all-sufficient one, indeed, is my first: that I could not help myself. I do not know whether books convert many, but my experience is that they perform another very important function rather than that. Talking some years ago with the well-known French “Marxist” Jules Guesde, he told me that his own reflections had made him a Socialist long before he had seen a Socialist book; precisely thus it was with me, though I admit that my Socialism was at […]

Anarchism defined (“Twentieth Century,” 1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Anarchism does not mean no government. It means no government by physical force. It does not mean each for himself independently of all. It means voluntary cooperation. Anarchism is Socialism without physical compulsion. It does not mean the destruction of our present forms of government by physical violence. It means the harmonizing of society by education in sociologic science. It does not contemplate sudden changes. It recognizes that slowness is a necessary characteristic of evolution. Anarchism is the synonym for sociologic evolution. It means that we should proceed in the direction of less government by […]

William Lloyd Garrison, “Why I Am a Single-Taxer” (1890)

June 6, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] WHY I AM A SINGLE-TAXER. BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. I am an advocate of the Single-tax because it stands for a fundamental reform based on a moral principle. The name is intended to indicate a practical method of reaching and curing much of the misery that afflicts society. It seems shameful that in a world of plenty, with more than enough for all to live upon in comfort, there should exist, side by side, congested wealth and abject poverty, evidently arising from a derangement of forces. What is the primal cause? Is it a decree […]