Voltairine de Cleyre

The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “The Economic Tendency of Freethought” (1890)

July 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ECONOMIC TENDENCY OF FREETHOUGHT BY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE FRIENDS,–On page 286, Belford-Clarke edition, of the “Rights of Man,” the words which I propose as a text for this discourse may be found. Alluding to the change in the condition of France brought about by the Revolution of ‘93, Thomas Paine says: “The mind of the nation had changed beforehand, and a new order of things had naturally followed a new order of thoughts.” Two hundred and eighty-nine years ago, a man, a student, a scholar, a thinker, a philosopher, was roasted alive for the love of God and the […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “The Economic Tendency of Freethought” (1890)

July 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE ECONOMIC TENDENCY OF FREETHOUGHT BY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE FRIENDS,–On page 286, Belford-Clarke edition, of the “Rights of Man,” the words which I propose as a text for this discourse may be found. Alluding to the change in the condition of France brought about by the Revolution of ‘93, Thomas Paine says: “The mind of the nation had changed beforehand, and a new order of things had naturally followed a new order of thoughts.” Two hundred and eighty-nine years ago, a man, a student, a scholar, a thinker, a philosopher, was roasted alive for the love of God and the […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre & Emma Goldman, “Tour Impressions” and “A Rejoinder” (1910-11)

July 25, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
TOUR IMPRESSIONS LEAVING Philadelphia on Friday, the 7th of October, I began my meeting with comrades and their work on that evening in New York, and from that day till the present writing (I date at Buffalo, the 18th of October) I have addressed nine meetings,—two in New York, one in Albany, one in Schenectady, one in Rochester, and four in Buffalo. In all these places I have to thank all comrades for kindly courtesy and fraternal service. But these, while most grateful to me personally, are of course not of public interest. What the readers of Mother Earth will […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Rosa Slobodinsky and Voltairine de Cleyre, “The Individualist and the Communist” (1891)

November 12, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE INDIVIDUALIST AND THE COMMUNIST. A DIALOGUE. INDIVIDUALIST: “Our host is engaged and requests that I introduce myself to—I beg your pardon, sir, but have I not the pleasure of meeting the Communist speaker who addressed the meeting on Blank street last evening?” COMMUNIST: “Your face seems familiar to me, too.” INDV.: “Doubtless you may have seen me there, or at some kindred place. I am glad at the opportunity to talk with you as your speech proved you to be somewhat of a thinker. Perhaps—” COM.: “Ah, indeed, I recognize you now. You are the apostle of capitalistic Anarchism!” […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Correction” (1907)

October 31, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
Owing to a perhaps natural misunderstanding, it was stated in the American report to the Amsterdam Congress that I am a worker in the cause of Anarchist Communism. The report should have said Anarchism, simply, as I am not now, and never have been at any time, a Communist. I was for several years an individualist, but becoming convinced that a number of the fundamental propositions of individualistic economy would result in the destruction of equal liberty, I relinquished those beliefs. In doing so, however, I did not accept the proposed economy of Communism, which in some respects would entail […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Anarchism” (1901)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
THERE are two spirits abroad in the world,—the spirit of Caution, the spirit of Dare, the spirit of Quiescence, the spirit of Unrest; the spirit of Immobility, the spirit of Change; the spirit of Hold-fast-to-that-which-you-have, the spirit of Let-go-and-fly-to-that-which-you-have-not; the spirit of the slow and steady builder, careful of its labors, loath to part with any of its achievements, wishful to keep, and unable to discriminate between what is worth keeping and what is better cast aside, and the spirit of the inspirational destroyer, fertile in creative fancies, volatile, careless in its luxuriance of effort, inclined to cast away the […]
Anarchist Beginnings

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Why I Am an Anarchist” (1897)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur
(A lecture delivered in Hammond, Ind.) IT was suggested to me by those who were the means of securing me this opportunity of addressing you, that probably the most easy and natural way for me to explain Anarchism would be for me to give the reasons why I myself am an Anarchist. I am not sure that they were altogether right in the matter, because in giving the reasons why I am an Anarchist, I may perhaps infuse too much of my own personality into the subject, giving reasons sufficient unto myself, but which cool reflection might convince me were […]
Saint Ravachol

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Some Nihilists I Have Met” (1893)

June 22, 2016 A Beautiful Nihilist
Some Nihilists I Have Met The word nihilist is so generally associated with darkness, secrecy, dynamite, assassination and blood, that had someone whispered five minutes before the encounter, “You are about to meet a Russian nihilist,” I should, no doubt, have hastily retreated to the shelter of law-abiding domiciles, far from the dirty, tortuous, downtown quarter, where, amidst a labyrinth of alleys and deceitful little streets that mockingly led against walls, and then turned back into one another, I found myself one snowy afternoon, picking my way somewhat disgustedly with no very clear idea concerning my exact whereabouts. One thing, […]
The Sex Question

Stories by Voltairine de Cleyre and Lizzie Holmes

August 20, 2012
The anarchist tradition has always had a literary side. Even Proudhon was fond of inserting the occasional illustrative tale in his works. And the French tales of proletarian life which have been featured here had their counterparts in the English-language traditions. For instance, Lizzie M. Holmes wrote dozens of short stories for the anarchist and labor press, and Voltairine de Cleyre wrote a number as well. I’ve assembled a collection of Voltairine de Cleyre’s “Sketches and Stories,” combining the material from the Collected Works volume with a few sketches which were not included there. And I’ve also collected a few […]
Contr'un

The Gilded Edge of Hell – a tale by Voltairine de Cleyre

October 23, 2011 Shawn P. Wilbur
THE GILDED EDGE OF HELL Mr. Editor:–The broad roll of the Delaware flashed back a white water-glisten at the full moon. Fifteen or twenty vessels spread their white wings to the slow breeze, or sent the black vomit from their whistling throats upward to the night sky. Splash, splash! fell the water from the sides of the “John A. Warner” as she cut the flowing current, that ran like long, waving hair, away from the white line in her wake. Upon her decks two thoughtful women gazed at the dark banks, lifted their eyes to the soft sky and occasionally […]