1895 Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Why I Am an Anarchist (Four Statements, 1885-1951)

October 22, 2021 Shawn P. Wilbur

I am an anarchist because I think with despair of all the poor kids who, every year, enter the great stupefying machine, who will never know the intoxication of a free and fraternal life, who will always tremble with the fear of ghosts.

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Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros in “Liberty” (1895)

December 24, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros was the co-author, with Voltairine de Cleyre, of the dialogue “The Individualist and the Communist,” which appeared in the journal Twentieth Century in 1891. She also produced two dialogues for Liberty, where her husband, Victor Yarros, was a regular contributor. The second dialogue—and the continuation by Benjamin R. Tucker—are imagined responses to the events in Grant Allen’s 1895 novel, The Woman Who Did. [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Another Case of Doubting Politician. To the Editor of Liberty: Mr. Labadie’s letter in Liberty a few months ago, in answer to a doubting […]

W. C. Owen, “Anarchism” (1895)

March 13, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] ANARCHISM. 1.—Do Anarchist-Communists believe in the common ownership of land and capital? I myself do not; that is to say, I certainly do not believe in making such ownership compulsory. Whether common, or private ownership shall prevail under Anarchism, is merely a question of detail. The principle is individual freedom; equal liberty to every man, woman, and child to develop all that is in him or her, and to have access to the life-opportunities necessary for such development; i. e. freedom of production, and of distribution or exchange, which is, of course, only the final process of production. This—freedom […]

J. Wm. Lloyd, “A Free Socialist” (1895)

August 10, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

My statement that henceforth I was no Anarchist, but a Free Socialist, was intended to refer to my public profession. Having stated that my view of Anarchism was that it was the doctrine “that the invasion of one human being by another was in the highest degree wrong, foolish, dangerous, and inexpedient—that this was Anarchism and this only,” and having, in conclusion, stated that my renunciation of the name Anarchist did “not mean any change of views,” it, of course, follows that, although I reject the name Anarchist, I, in my heart, still regard myself as one.

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Voltairine de Cleyre, “Owing to a misunderstanding…” (1895)

July 28, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Owning to a misunderstanding of the publishers my name has been prematurely announced as Editor of The Rebel. Circumstances do not at present permit me to assume the responsibilities of that position, and the credit of the literary part of the undertaking is due solely to comrade Mowbray. If at some future time the duties fall to me, announcement will be made to that effect. Voltairine de Cleyre. Voltairine de Cleyre, “[Note: “Owing to a misunderstanding…”], The Rebel 1, no. 1 (September 20, 1895): 7.

Voltairine de Cleyre, “The Past and Future of the Ladies’ Liberal League” (1895-96)

July 28, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE PAST AND FUTURE of the LADIES’ LIBERAL LEAGUE. By Voltairine de Cleyre I have assumed a serious and severe office that of historian and prophet. But, pardon me, I intend to be neither serious nor severe; for this is an occasion rather for exchanging greetings and putting ourselves in good humor than being serious, and my talk will be somewhat governed thereby. Our history is short, but, to borrow a ponderous phrase of Renan’s “of interest to the philosophic mind.” At last it ought to be; if it is not so much the worse for the philosophic mind. We […]

Voltairine de Cleyre, “She Died for Me” (1895)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE Doctor was a lean dark man, with sad eyes. They looked up, wide and singularly deep, as his visitor said: “I don’t understand you half-way freethinkers in the least. I am out and out. I have no patience with wishy-washiness. I just tell them straight that I haven’t any use for their musty old frauds, nor their whole outfit of priests, that live by them. But you-you know religion is all superstition, yet you go on talking to those people as if you accepted their belief in God and immortality and the vicarious atonement and the whole programme! “ […]

May Huntley (Lizzie M. Holmes), “A Common Story Seldom Told” (1895)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

A COMMON STORY SELDOM TOLD. Two women sat in the dusk of a summer evening, where the glow from a western window fell on their faces, and the one star showing in the purplish radiance, looked in upon them sympathetically. Their voices were low and even—as voices grow in the hush of twilight when one revels in the “sweetness of doing nothing and confidences are so easy.” “There is something incongruous in hearing such words from your lips,” said the younger, a dark-eyed, stately woman whom others called haughty, but who was sweetness itself to the quiet, gentle lady at […]

Charles Clark Rodolf, “The Unrighteousness of Government” (1895)

July 20, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOVERNMENT, AS VIEWED BY A PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHIST. BY CHARLES CLARK RODOLF, M. D. Whoever applies to himself the term anarchist should add a definition, if he does not wish to be misjudged, for no word in the English language is more misused and misunderstood. Some of this misuse is viciously intentional, but most of it is the result of pure ignorance. It is less than half a dozen years since the public began to learn that anarchist, nihilist, and socialist are not synonymous; and even now the three words are more or less confounded in popular usage, […]

London Anarchist Communist Alliance, “An Anarchist Manifesto” (1895)

August 30, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

FELLOW WORKERS, WE come before you as Anarchist Communists to explain our principles. We are aware that the minds of many of you have been poisoned by the lies which all parties have diligently spread about us. But surely the persecutions to which we have been and are subjected by the governing classes of all countries should open the eyes of those who love fair play. Thousands of our comrades are suffering in prison or are driven homeless from one country to the other. Free speech—almost the only part of British liberty that can be of any use to the […]