Voline

progress reports

Alexander Berkman, “To Our Comrades Everywhere” (1928)

June 3, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0″][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] TO OUR COMRADES EVERYWHERE The anarchist movement is now living through a very difficult time. Reaction is dominant, and as usual it is our comrades who suffer the worst persecution. Moreover, the Russian Revolution and post-war developments have created much confusion in our ranks: there are many vital problems which urgently press for solution. This situation calls for most earnest thought and the closest cooperation of our comrades everywhere in solving the important matters at issue and bringing greater clarity and activity into the movement. But instead of the serious application […]
encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Nihilism (Voline)

January 30, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
Entries from the Anarchist Encyclopedia [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] NIHILISME n. m. (du latin nihil, rien). Un malentendu profondément enraciné et fort répandu est étroitement lié à ce mot né, il y a 75 ans, dans la littérature russe et passé sans être traduit (grâce à son origine latine), dans d’autres langues. En France, en Allemagne, en Angleterre et ailleurs, on comprend généralement par nihilisme un courant d’idées — ou même un système — révolutionnaire politique et social, inventé en Russie, y ayant (ou y ayant eu) de nombreux partisans organisés. On parle couramment d’un « parti nihiliste » […]
anarchist synthesis

Voline, “On Synthesis” (1924)

October 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
  On Synthesis I. Legend maintains that Jesus Christ gave no response to the question of Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?” And it is very likely that in these tragic moments he hardly had the heart to concern himself with philosophical arguments. But even if he had had the time and the desire to engage in a controversy concerning the essence of truth, it would not have been easy for him to respond in a definitive manner. Many centuries have passed since then. Humanity has made more than one step toward knowledge of the world. The question of Pontius Pilate […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Voline, “Synthesis (Anarchist)”

September 28, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
SYNTHESIS (ANARCHIST) We designate by the term “anarchist synthesis” a tendency existing presently in the heart of the libertarian movement, seeking to reconcile and then to “synthesize” the different currents of ideas that divide this movement into several fractions, more or less hostile to one another. It is a question, at base, of unifying, to a certain degree, anarchist theory and also the anarchist movement in a harmonious, organized, finished whole. I say “to a certain degree,” since, naturally, the anarchist idea could never, should never become rigid, immutable, stagnant. It must remain flexible, living, rich in varied ideas and […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Voline to Max Nettlau (1923)

September 27, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
VII. 1923 Dear Comrade, I will write to you in French, for I write that language easily enough. So, you ask me for some explanations. Here they are. If, in my letter, I have alluded to certain [   ] and [   ], it was precisely because I supposed you in possession of No. 2-3 of the “Rab. Put” [Rabochii Put‘] where our group and I are attacked by the comrades A. Chapiro [Alexander M. Schapiro] and E[fim]. Yartschouk on the subject of the “affaire Rostchine [Rostchin, mentioned by Berkman as in “old anarchist” in The Bolshevik Myth].” (I do not […]