Emile Digeon Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Emile Digeon, “Proposal for the Indictment of Gambetta & the Ministers” (1881)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] PROPOSAL FOR THE INDICTMENT OF GAMBETTA & THE MINISTERS Whereas it is clear, That Gambetta has, for several months, pursued in his paper, La République Française, a campaign to depreciate Tunisian values; That, as a result of that campaign, these values have been cornered at the lowest prices: by a politico-financial gang, evidently accomplices of the author of the depreciation; That the expedition against Tunisia has allowed the monopolists of Tunisian values to resell them with an illegitimate profit of more than fifty millions; That Gambetta has exerted a corrupting action to assemble a docile majority, in order to […]

Emile Digeon, “The Voice of One of the Hoodwinked” (1869)

December 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] THE VOICE OF ONE OF THE HOODWINKED (1869) THE “JANUARY 19” OF MR. EMILE OLLIVIER [1] BY WAY OF A FORWARD ______ I. Page 13. “In 1848, being hardly 22 years of age, I was named commissioner general in the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, by Mr. Ledru-Rollin, who had goodwill for me and friendship for my father…” Page 103. “June 19, 1857. — Voters, it is not necessary for me to expound my faith to you: My name and my past have taught them to you…” Page 11. “Thursday, January 10, 1867, at five o’clock in the evening, […]

Emile Digeon, “Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy” (1882)

August 30, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

Rational anarchy consists of admitting no authority apart from the authority of the people, exercised directly in voting for the laws, and mediated by delegates who are always revocable in the execution of its decisions. (Rational Anarchy, by E. Digeon). I Certain libertarian socialists, seeking, with good reason, to react against the authoritarian tendencies of certain other socialists, have fallen into an excess of individualism which is dangerous to the liberty that they wish to defend. Reasoning as if nature could furnish spontaneously, without human labor, everything that is necessary or agreeable to everyone, several even go so far […]

Emile Digeon, Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy (1882)

April 18, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let’s be honest. I initially took a look at Emile Digeon’s Rights and Duties in Rational Anarchy because of its weird title. But it turns out that he was a fascinating individual, who played a key role in one of the other communes that rose with the Paris Commune. So I’ve already translated a couple of minor texts, and now I can add his most famous work to the file. There remains one major pamphlet to translate, Revolutionary Remarks, and then I’ll probably bind an edition of “Selected Works.” Rights and Duties displays an interesting mix of tendencies. Digeon wants […]

Contr'un

Two texts by Emile Digeon

March 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchist history is just full to overflowing with characters who seldom receive more than a footnote in the histories, but were major players in some aspect of the history of anarchist struggle. And it’s no secret that I am very fond of these lesser-known figures. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to justify taking the time to translate texts which do not have some fairly general application to contemporary issues. Even when dealing with the “big names” of the movement there are frequently lots of writings, or parts of writings, which are hard to make much sense of without delving fairly deeply […]

Two new translations from “l’Almanach de la Question Sociale” for 1895

December 26, 2011 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve been puttering away at translating some short items from one of the radical socialist almanacs available online. This evening, I’ve posted an article on “Worker Mortality,” by Paule Mink, and an obituary of Emile Digeon, the hero of the Narbonne Commune and theorist of “rational anarchism.” There are quite a number of other interesting items in the Almanach de la Question Sociale. I’m working on a letter about Louise Michel at the moment [now complete], and I’ll probably return to a couple of other items by Paule Mink and Louise Michel as time allows.

Obituary for Emile Digeon, hero of the Narbonne Commune

December 25, 2011 Shawn P. Wilbur

[ezcol_2third] Our Dead EMILE DIGEON Long ago, a young man, who had been a soldier under Digeon at Narbonne, spoke of him in the best possible terms, but I had never seen him, when some years ago—four or five years—I had the occasion to find myself in his company. It was the first and last time—alas!—that I would see him. It was at a meeting, at the Salle de Bretagne, organized, I believe, by the Egalité or the Socialist League founded by that journal. Odin, Zevaco and others were to speak. We were, some friends and I, sitting close to […]