William Batchelder Greene

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Orestes Brownson and Pierre Leroux

July 25, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur
Pierre Leroux was the other half, along with P.-J. Proudhon, of the mutualist mix, as formulated by William B. Greene. Greene was introduced to Leroux’s work by Orestes A. Brownson, and adopted a number of Brownson’s criticisms of Leroux’s works. Greene’s first major writings were, in fact, attempts to come to terms with the thought of Leroux and Brownson. From this perspective, Brownson’s most important works were a review of Leroux’s Humanity and “The Mediatorial Life of Jesus,” both from 1842 – and they’re both available now in Corvus Editions. If you want to understand Greene’s mutualism, or want another […]
Corvus Distribution

Corvine Call #1 Origins and Blazing Stars

July 2, 2009 Shawn P. Wilbur
“Waiting for a moment until another shellbark dropped, a blue-jay perched upon a bare twig and sang after its fashion. It was a short series of discordant notes; collectively, a harsh, rattling, corvine call, and yet it blended well with the gnarly branches and shaggy bark. Coarse, but honest to the core. There was nothing for mere appearance’s sake, such as gluts you in modern assemblages of men. The blue-jay is a bird murderer, but he does not care a whit who knows it. There is no stabbing in the back about him, and now that the spared nestlings of […]
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Proudhon’s “Kronos”

December 21, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
In the biographical introduction to Tucker’s edition of What is Property? is a brief mention that around 1851 Proudhon’s “entertained the idea of writing a universal history entitled “Chronos.” This project was never fulfilled.” There was probably no shortage of “universal history” in France by 1850, although an entry by Proudhon would no doubt have been novel and interesting. The Saint-Simonians and their allies, including P. J. B. Buchez, Auguste Ott, Pierre Leroux, had written volume after volume on the subject. In 1849, William B. Greene published his Remarks On The History Of Science; Followed By An Apriori Autobiography, which […]
Contr'un

Pierre Leroux “De l’égalité” (1838)

January 22, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Contr’un Revisited: [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Pierre Leroux’s book De l’égalité is one of those sources of the mutualist tradition seldom read by anyone these days, despite the fact that it was one of the primary inspirations and sources for William Batchelder Greene’s own Equality, as well as his Mutual Banking. The first three “Omega” articles in the Worcester Palladium took their title from Leroux’s work, and began with a fragmentary translation of part of it. One reason for its neglect has been its untranslated status, another, its scarcity. It will take some time […]
anarchist mutualism

Lessons from the Worcester Palladium

January 3, 2008 Shawn P. Wilbur
I finally sat down to collate some of the “Omega” articles (which William B. Greene wrote for the Worcester Palladium in 1949) against Equality and the 1850 Mutual Banking. In his scan through the paper Brady Campbell identified six articles under the “Omega” pen name. Equality – – No.1 by OMEGA. – Wednesday 18 July 1849 – Deals with Moses, and equality among Christian brotherhood Equality – – No.2 by OMEGA. – Wednesday 25 July 1849 – Deals with the banking system Equality – – No.3 by OMEGA. – Wednesday 1 August 1849 – Deals the repeal of usury laws […]
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Masonic Tribute to William B. Greene

November 14, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 10px”] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 10px 0 10px”]   COL. WILLIAM B. GREENE, 33°. This Supreme Council and the Council of Deliberation for the Order in Massachusetts are called upon to deplore the death of their Ill. Bro. WILLIAM BATCHELDER GREENE, Sov. Gr. Inspector-General Honorary of the Thirty-third Degree of the Scottish Rite of this Jurisdiction. Col. Greene was made a Mason in Paris when a resident there, and after resuming his citizenship in this State, was advanced through the various Bodies of the Scottish Rite, taking his Thirty-second Degree in the Massachusetts Consistory Nov. 17, 1871; and […]
Blazing Star Library

William B. Greene to Gen. B. F. Butler, March 1864

November 28, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] William Batchelder Greene served either three or four periods of military service. In his youth, he was a 2nd Lt. in the 7th US Infantry, and served under Gen. Bonneville in the Second Seminole War. When the American Civil War began, he returned from France to take command of the 14th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, later the 1st Mass. Heavy Artillery. He served through late 1862, at which point he resigned his commission. His 14-page resignation letter is an interesting document (and one which I hope to have available online soon), as his resignation came in […]
Contr'un

An embarassment of riches, or, Auguste Ott tips the scales

July 17, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur
It was probably about the third time I looked at the list of books donated by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody to the Boston Athenaeum that I noticed the third William B. Greene-related item. Ott, Auguste (1814-1903). Manuel d’Histoire Universelle … Tome Premier. Première Partie. Histoire Ancienne. Paris: Paulin, 1840. iii, 588 pages. Half leather, marbled paper boards. Inscribed in ink on front paste-down endpaper: “W.B. Greene / Brookfield.” Marginal markings and notes in pencil throughout. There’s a kind of obsessive visiting and revisiting of the minor details that’s a part of a work like the William B. Greene project, where nearly […]
Mutualism.info

William B. Greene’s 1870 “Mutual Banking”

July 6, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur
Since this post was written, most of Greene’s works on mutual credit have become available in various digital archives. Here are some links: Equality (1849) Mutual Banking (1850) The Radical Deficiency Of The Existing Circulating Medium, And The Advantages Of A Mutual Currency (1857) Mutual Banking, Showing The Radical Deficiencies Of The Existing Circulating Medium, And The Advantages Of A Free Currency (1870) I’ve been spending more time scanning and proofing than posting lately. The most important result of that is that William Batchelder Greene’s 1870 Mutual Banking, Showing The Radical Deficiencies Of The Existing Circulating Medium, And The Advantages […]
Contr'un

Radical Deficiency of the Existing Circulating Medium, 1857

December 5, 2005 Shawn P. Wilbur
William B. Greene’s 1857 Radical Deficiency of the Existing Circulating Medium, and the Advantages of a Mutual Currency is now online in the Libertarian Labyrinth. This is the text issued during the Panic of 1857—at a time when the Greenes were actually living in France, but visiting Boston from time to time—combining elements from the 1849 Equality and the 1850 Mutual Banking, both of which have recently been added to the online version of the Blazing Star Library. I’ve also posted a fairly rough beginning to the promised Combined Edition of Mutual Banking and Equality. So far, this incorporates all […]