anarchy

Featured articles

Constructing an Anarchism: Approaching An-Archy

December 15, 2020 Shawn P. Wilbur
It’s time to build. But we never really get to build from scratch. To make these concepts « our own » is inevitably to enter into some kind of relationship with existing bodies of thought and those who share an interest in them. And perhaps that relationship is ultimately one of sharing—but it is very difficult to start there.

[…]

Contr'un

Anarchy: Historical, Abstract and Resultant

February 9, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
  What follows is a look at three possible senses of anarchy related to Proudhon’s work, together with a sketch of their possible relations as developments from one another. The intention here is to simply present some basic definitions as a kind of hypothetical framework, which can then be tested against close readings of the relevant texts. Historical anarchy: In a society organized around the principle of authority, resistance appears as anarchy, whether it is the active resistance of those oppressed or simply the friction generated by the contradictions of an authority-based society. This is the sense that Proudhon most […]
Contr'un

Anarchy as a Beacon and as a Focus for Synthesis

January 8, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
Posts in the EXTRICATIONS series: A synthetic anarchism is bound to pose some problems, whether we think of anarchism as an ideology or as a set of experimental practices. Most of the difficulties surround the notion of anarchy. Whether we imagine that anarchy is the ideal or principle upon which an evolving ideology should focus with increasing clarity or whether we consider it a placeholder, the name for a discovery or experimental result that we have not yet encountered in any full sense, it remains a largely negative element. As such, anarchy certainly does not provide all the practical direction […]
Proudhon Library

Proudhon, “Political Contradictions,” pages 105-109 (1863-64)

July 13, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[ezcol_1half] CHAPITRE V CRITIQUE GÉNÉRALE DES CONSTITUTIONS De l’unité et de l’indivisibilité organique : formule, conditions et limites de cette loi. Application à l’ordre politique. Grave erreur des publicistes, hommes d’État et auteurs de constitutions à ce sujet : exagération unitaire. Maintenant, lecteur, nous avons passé le plus difficile. Ce qui me reste à vous dire ne sera plus que pour votre curiosité et amusement : je suppose, bien entendu, que la destinée des nations vous intéresse, et que les mystifications des hommes d’État vous amusent. Lisez donc, et quand vous serez à la fin, vous en saurez plus en […]
Proudhon Library

Notes on An-archy (Carnet No. 9)

December 21, 2015 Shawn P. Wilbur
[from Carnet No. 9] [19] Revolutionary practice. — The great principles of society are principles of DIRECTION, rather than of application. So obviously we must act in politics as if we were pursuing the complete destruction of all government, not as if, presently, every governmental force must cease. Similarly [in the case of], property is theft… Similarly [in the case of], God is the Devil… Similarly [in the case of], Association, the salariat, etc., etc. No authority either of government over man; it is the law of direction! — Thus, simplification, repeal of the laws, abrogation of authority, greater and […]
Proudhon Library

The Present Utility and Future Possibility of the State (Sixth article)

December 22, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur
(La Voix du Peuple, N 102. — 11 janvier 1850.)   Regarding Louis Blanc.—The Present Utility and Future Possibility of the State.    (Sixth article.)   The following objection has been addressed to me: Your theory is only a sophism. This so-called anarchic organization of credit and banks is only a delegation by the people renewed by the State, a little State alongside the State. So where, if you please, is the difference between the two systems? Why believe that the present state, which is already organized, should not add circulation and credit to its present responsibilities, and administer the […]