ABDICATION (FR/EN)
ABDICATION n. Abdication is the act of someone who renounces, voluntarily or through force, something et, in general, high office; the word abdication is also used to designate the act of someone who, yielding to considerations of interest, abandons their opinions or neglects their moral qualities. Example: abdication of all dignity. The politicians are the professionals of this sort of abdication (see apostasy). Here is the list of the principal historical abdications: abdications of Cincinnatus, who returned twice to his plow (458 and 438 B. C.); of Sulla (10 B. C.), who retired to Pozzuoli; of Diocletian (305 A. D.) who retired to Salona; of Pope Benedict IX (1045 and 1048), of Pope Felix V (1449), of Charles V (1555) who went to finish his days in the monastery of Yuste; of Christina, queen of Sweden (1654) who retired to Rome, of Casimir V, king of Poland (1667), of Stanislaw II, king of Poland (1795) ; of the king of Spain Charles IV (1808); those of Napoleon, the first to Fontainebleau, the second to Paris (1814 and 1815); of Bolivar, of Spanish America (1825); of Charles X (1830) who died at Goritz, en Italy; of Pedro IV, king of Portugal (1831); of Louis-Philippe (1848) who went to end his days in England; of William I, king of Holland (1840); of Charles-Albert, king of Sardinia; of Otto, king of Greece (1862) ; of Isabella II, queen (1870); of Amadeo I, king of Spain (1873) ; Alexander of Bulgaria (1886); of Milan I, (1889); of Nicholas II, czar of Russia (1917); Constantine, king of Greece (1917); of Wilhelm II, emperor of Germany (1918); of Ferdinand, czar of Bulgaria (1918). As you can see by reading this list, royal puppets are very rare who have abdicated without being constrained and forced to it. Tyrants are those people who say with great ceremony that they are leaving when they have been sent packing.
ABNEGATION (FR/EN)
ABNEGATION n. Renunciation, sacrifice… Example: For the advent of a better humanity, the anarchists are prepared for every sort of abnegation. Indeed, the life of the revolutionary militant is made of continual sacrifices and cruel renunciations. The militant and their loved ones are exposed to poverty. Persecutions of every sort fall on their shoulders. Their liberty is always compromise and their life itself is often threatened. But their will to self-sacrifice triumphs over the obstacles that are raised in their path. Despondency is unknown to them. To make known and to love the ideas that are dear to them, they stop at nothing. Their life, their liberty, their labor, their intelligence no longer belong to them; they have dedicated them forever to the service of the cause that appears to them the most beautiful and noble of all. They have sacrificed themselves absolutely. Meanwhile, on the contrary, politicians, under the cover of false ideas, seek only the satisfaction of their personal ambitions. Social climbers with many appetites, the good of others is of no interest to them. They have allied themselves with the men-of-prey who prefer the death of a crowd to the loss of a bit of their riches. Alas! the people too often let themselves be hoodwinked by these unscrupulous acrobats, whose lying mouths promise the world. Each time, however, the awakening is cruel, but it only takes a new intrigue for the people, too confident, to let themselves be manipulated once more. — The anarchists, tirelessly, strive to denounce the brazen commerce of the politicians and their acolytes. Let us hope that the people will end by choosing between the abnegation of one and the criminal ambition of the others.
ABSOLUTISME (FR/EN)
ABSOLUTISM n. Theory or practice of an absolute authority. System of government where the authority of the monarch is absolute. Example: absolute monarchy. Under an absolute monarchy, it is the reign of good pleasure, of arbitrariness, and the citizens are turned over, without defense, to the tyrannical authority of a caste. In our times, however, there are hardly any more governments practicing the absolute power of one alone. The last kings have no more power than the president of a republic. But we must not rely on appearances. Authority, though less openly absolute, nevertheless exists, hypocritical and insidious, under the mask of the democracies. An avowed absolutism would encourage the people to rise up. The rulers have understood this and have substituted for that absolutism a parliamentarianism under the cover of which they can act at their ease. (See Parliament.)
For some years now we have witnessed a sort of resurrection of Absolutism in new forms, born of circumstances. Absolute Power, in the hands of a Mussolini, in Italy, is called Fascism; in Spain, in the person of a Primo de Rivera, it is called the Directorate; in Russia, exercised by a political party, or, more precisely, the few men who make up the managing committee of the Communist Party, absolute power is practiced under the name of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. (See Fascism, Directorate, Dictatorship, Communist Party, Bolshevism.)
ABSTENTIONNISME
Luigi Bertoni
ABSTRACTION (FR/EN)
ABSTRACTION n. Abstraction is an operation of the mind by which we consider qualities independently from the substances in which they can be found. Ex.: when we consider goodness, in general, without applying it to an individual, we perform an abstraction.
In philosophy, abstraction consists of separating one thing from another of which it is a part: abstract ideas are partial ideas separated from their context and abstraction is the faculty of the mind that produces these ideas. Abstraction is spontaneous when it comes from the senses, from involuntary attention, etc…; reflective when we deliberately fix our attention on a certain property, neglecting the others. As long as the ideas represent a particular quality of an object, they are abstract; they become general when, from a new point of view, they represent a quality common to several objects. Abstraction is the condition of science, because it allows us to isolated each of the qualities whose sum forms an object. We can say that each science is a system of abstractions: arithmetic abstracts number; geometry extent; mechanics movement, etc.
[In French] it is common to use the expressions faire abstraction de or abstraction faite de, leaving aside, taking no account of. Ex.: the anarchist must strive to judge soundly, by setting aside hatred and love. In the plural the word abstraction often serves to designate vague and confused ideas, fanciful preoccupations. Ex.: at the moment of action, anarchists must beware of losing themselves in abstractions.
ABUS (FR/EN)
ABUSE n. (from Latin, prefix ab and usus, usage). Bad, excessive or unfair use. Example: Every government is forced, by its very function, to commit criminal abuses. In all countries and in all times, authority has always been a source of abuse. The ruling classes have used — and still use, for that matter — their force to despoil the weak and violate the rights of the individual. On the other hand, the religious charlatans have abused the credulity of the crowd and have striven to stifle the critical spirit and the need for understanding in men. While the former enslaved the body, the others enslaved the mind. It is against these countless abuses that the anarchists never cease to rise up. And they will not cease to struggle as long as the peoples are each day the victims of the arbitrary will of the powerful or the venality of the stupifiers.
ACCAPAREMENT
Pierre Besnard
ACCAPAREMENT (EN/FR)
MONOPOLIZATION n. Act of monopolizing, of taking everything for oneself. Monopolization, in matters of commerce and industry, has always been a very commonplace thing and it is only one of the sad consequences of the society we endure. Monopolization consists, for a trade or a consortium, of withdrawing from circulation a large quantity of foodstuffs or goods of the same sort, in order to have the monopoly and to be able, by removing all competition, to resell them at the highest price. The measures against monopolization, so severe under the old monarchy, abolished by the Constituent Assembly, reappeared under the Convention, which declared monopolization a capital crime. Today, in principle, the law punishes with fines and prison the monopolization of actual merchandise and also of everything that is an object of commerce or competition, for example, monopolization of the means of transport. The punishment should be more severe in the speculation has involved grain, flour, bread and beverages. In reality, the wolves do not eat each other and the monopolists need not fear these severe laws much. In all eras some traders have attempted to starve the country in order to increase their profits; each time that they were denounced, there were not any the worse for it and continued to enjoy the fruits of their crimes in peace. For the evil of monopolization there is only a single remedy, that recommended by the anarchists: the organized pooling of foodstuffs and goods in common. All the other measures are just trickery intended to conceal a shameless trafficking under a shallow semblance of “justice.”
ACCLIMATATION (FR/EN)
ACCLIMATION n. Action of acclimating artificially. Human beings acclimate rather easily in cold countries or regions of high altitude, but it is very difficult for them to become accustomed to warm countries. It is around the age of 35 years that acclimation is the easiest and around the age of 12 years that it is most painful. Europeans established in tropical countries must send their children to their country of origin from the ages of 2 to 20. The acclimation of animals is prepared by making them pass gradually from their country of origin to the country where one wishes them to acclimate, ans when one has obtained their multiplication. The acclimation is accomplished after several generations. The Greeks have acclimated the peacock and pheasant in Europe; the Romans the guinea fowl; in the 16th century, the Spanish would acclimate the turkey and the guinea pig. The most remarkable acquisitions of our era have been made in matter of pisciculture. Likewise, certain vegetable species—the plantain, the lilac, the tulip, tobacco, the potato—are the products of a relatively recent acclimation. In 1854, Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire founded the Société nationale d’acclimatation with the aim of multiplying useful species. — The word acclimation is also used in a figurative sense. Example: the acclimation of an individual within a social class other than their own.
ACCOUTUMANCE (FR/EN)
HABITUATION n. Habit; the act of becoming familiar with a thing, often followed by the passive acceptance of that thing. It is necessary to beware of habituation, as it is a formidable auxiliary of slavery. Just as the lack of initiative reinforces routine, just so habituation breaks the urges for and liberation. The individual who is accustomed, little by little, to support sans mot dire the exploitation of a caste, will gradually acquire a slave mentality. Instead of supporting the rebelling workers, they will become the guard dog of their boss. Habituation is thus a dangerous thing. It kills the need for liberty in the individual; it makes the most artificial conditions of life seem natural. Let us not be lulled to sleep by habit.
Habituation is the slippery slope on which we let ourselves slide, slide, slide so easily along that we cease to be conscious of our fall, so much that, when we are led by serious circumstances to not it, we no longer have the strength (habit is a second nature) to react.
Habituation has effects that can be compared with those of the paralysis, more or less slow, that gradually extends to the whole of the individual and totally deprives them of the faculty of movement.
ACCUMULATION (des richesses)
Sébastien Faure
ACHEMINEMENT (FR/EN)
ACHEMINEMENT n. Acheminement is a march forward, by degrees, toward a goal. It is an advance, by stages, towards progress. Example: the slow acheminement of humanity toward the anarchist idea. Society, despite the conservatives, is subject to a continuous acheminement toward an ideal of kindness and fraternity. That advance is sometimes imperceptible, but it is guaranteed. Certainly, there is a lot of road to traverse, many stages to cross before arriving at the wished-for end. But it is enough to glance behind us, to consider the déroulement of the centuries that have preceded us, to note the undeniable progress, moral as well as material, of humanity. Nothing could hinder or delay that forward march. The forces of reaction will unite in vain to prevent the dawning of a better society. Their efforts will be powerless. A day will come, soon perhaps, when the new society will blossom freely, a society of love, of healthy labor and universal peace.
Applied to history, the expression « acheminement » characterizes the mechanism of the process of human societies toward the ensemble of the improvements and developments toward which their constant effort is directed.
Most often, that acheminement is achieved slowly and in a concealed manner; it escapes observation and the most clairvoyants suspect it more than they truly distinguish it. It happens sometimes that the advance becomes hurried and crosses immense spaces in a short period of time.
In the first case, it is evolution; in the second, it is Revolution.
ACTION (FR/EN)
ACTION n. “In the beginning was the action,” said Gœthe. What distinguishes the living from the dead. Not to act is not to live, it is to commit suicide. To act is to think, it is to create, it is to translate into positive reality the needs, the aspirations, the desires, the wills that move us. Action is to writing and speech what the fruit is to the tree. The spoken word and writing would be in vain if they did not give rise to Action. Action cause an impact, constitutes an example, possesses an incomparable power of momentum. Real action is profound and disdains the artificial. It is not a simple semblance, but a sensible, real, concrete fact. It can be silent and develop in mystery and shadow; it is not always necessarily perceived; but it always creates and it is to the degree that it gives birth that it is affirmed: noble, strong and beautiful. The most humble actions are often the most admirable; they do not concern themselves with noise, nor with glare; they often work more and better in the darkness than in the bright light. They do not require the theatrical apparatus that frequently diminishes the the sincerity and disinterestedness of its authors. We say “he is a man of action” to designate an energetic man, loving truth, committed to justice and determined to struggle fiercely for them and make them triumph. Men of action are rare, much rarer than the talkers and the ranters. Many pass for “men of action” who are not even men, but inert posts along the road of life. Action is Life; Inaction is Death.
— Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers
ACTION D’ART (FR/EN)
ART-ACTION. Disinterested and living action, expressed not only by the creation of actual works of art, but by the manifestation of beauty in all the acts of life for the independence of the individual in the heart of every environment; action of protest, of rebellion — useful, not utilitarian, human, not humanitarian. Every honest action is an action of art. (Contrast: political action, warlike action, religious action, etc.: forms of inaction).
ACTION DIRECTE
Pierre Besnard
ACTION DIRECTE (FR/EN)
DIRECT ACTION. It is not only the action by which Syndicalism and certain revolutionary schools think to successfully achieve their demands that we can consider direct action. There is also — and parallel to that collective form of Direct Action — its individual form. That form has the individuals themselves for terrain. It consists of the internal evolution of individuals, of the violence that they exert upon themselves, of their efforts to master, embellish and better themselves, of the war that they make on their passions, of the victories that they achieve each day over ugliness. The results of that Direct Action are positive. Art, thought and books help individuals to discover themselves; they reveal them to theemselves. They act directly on their consciousness, to reform, enlarge and strengthen it.
— Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers
ADAPTATION (FR/EN)
ADAPTATION. n. f. Action of applying, of suiting one thing to another. — In biology, we mean by adaptation the modification that makes an organ more capable of its function. A particular organ is adapted when, among the various possible ways of being, it produces the maximum effects; a being is adapted when its organs are adapted. Adaptation dominates all the evolutionist theories.
Darwin has clearly shown that among the variations, only those that can adapt are preserved. In the natural classifications, it is necessary to eliminate all the adaptive resemblances. Thus, among the vertebrates that fly, and, as a result, resemble one another through adaptation to that function, some will be ranked among the mammals, others among the reptiles and the largest number among the birds.
The word adaptation is also used in a figurative sense. Example: an individual can adapt to a milieu other than their own. The nationalists maintain that man cannot adapt in a nation other than their own or at least that this adaptation will always be artificial and shallow. Their reasoning is too self-serving for it to be accepted as they wish. If, thus far, men experience great difficulties in adapting in a country that is foreign to them, if men still fraternize with difficulty across border, the fault is precisely in the nationalists, who are happy to kindle false quarrels between the nations and who like to raise boundaries of hatred and incomprehension between them. However, the conquering nationalists do not hesitate, on occasion, to annex regions to their countries with different languages and customs. And that scarcely makes they case they have made themselves with their arguments about the impossible fusion of races and nations. When the workers decide to be the victims of the diplomats no longer, they will realize that nothing is truly opposed to a broad fraternity among the nations. And they could mutually adapt to the customs and ways of thinking of their neighbors. The only obstacle to a complete understanding, language, would disappear quickly through the use of an international language.
ADMINISTRATION
ADMIRATION (FR/EN)
ADMIRATION. n. (pref. ad, towards and Lat. mirari, to look at). Quasi-instinctive attraction towards all that is beautiful and deep sympathy for everything that is useful and alive. It is befitting to admire the beautiful gestures, the great and lofty thoughts. Let us admire courage, sincerity and true independence. Let us admire, in short, all that is worthy of being admired and let us not peddle, then, our admiration: let us grant it widely and without restrictions. Let us leave the ifs and the buts, the distinctions, the quibbles and all the cheap considerations to the stiff, to the pedants, to the pygmies. Let us not deprive those who deserve it of our admiration. But let us not tarnish it, not squander it on that which is nonexistent; let us not dispense it without sufficient motives. Let us refuse it to the cowards, the renegades and the rulers. Let us make a choice in our admiring sentiments. Let us beware of imitating, in that order of ideas, the ignorant mob, the multitude fooled by appearances. No admiration for the stripes won in the blood of the battlefield; no admiration for the “chasubled prelates” who only owe the veneration that surrounds them to the sum of the impostures embody; no admiration for the millionaires whose opulence is measured in the privations and humiliations that they have savagely imposed on those they exploit; no admiration for the men of State whose every step towards Power marks a retraction, a reversal or a treason; no admiration for the false savants and false artists; no admiration for the “Great Men” fabricated with beats of the bass drum and noisy publicity. Let us admire all the true artists, all the prestigious poets, all the superior minds, all the savants without charlatanism and the whole host of torches who pierce and dissipate the shadows of ignorance, servitude poverty. To admire is to participate the work admired; it is almost to create ourselves the work that we admire; it is almost to raise ourselves to the level of the one we admire. The one who admires the work of genius equals its author and when we applaud a fine gesture, it is — morally — as if we had accomplished it ourselves.
ADULTERE
Jean Marestan
ADULTÈRE
ADULTERY adj. and n. (from the Latin prefix ad and alter, another). A person is said to be adulterous when they violate the marital faith. Used as a noun, adultery designates the violation of the marital faith. Let us first look at the opinion of bourgeois law on adultery: adultery can serve as a basis for a request for divorce, legal separation, or disavowal of paternity. Only the husband can file a complaint against his wife and vice versa. This faculty is withdrawn from the husband if he is convicted of having maintained a concubine in the marital home. The law excuses the murder of the adulterous woman and her “accomplice” by the husband, if he catches them in flagrante delicto in the marital home! The adulterous woman who is prosecuted can be sentenced to imprisonment for three months to two years, if the husband does not agree to take her back; the “accomplice” is liable to the same penalty and a fine of 100 to 200 francs. A spouse divorced for adultery may marry their “accomplice.” We see from the above that today’s bourgeois law is hardly less barbaric than that of the Middle Ages, or even that of Russia before the Revolution of 1917, where the adulterous woman, completely naked, was chased out of the village by her husband with a whip. It is a shame, in our time, to see adultery considered a crime. The law still considers women as the personal property of the husband. This is one of those intolerable situations against which anarchists will never cease to protest. Everyone must have the right to dispose of their body as they please and is not accountable to anyone. This is why anarchists reject legal marriage as they reject religious marriage and advocate free union. (See free love, free union ).
AEROSTATION
AEROSTATION n. Aerostation is the art of building and directing aerostats [balloons and airships]. Aerostats were invented by the Montgolfier brothers of Annonay, who attempted their first experiment on June 5, 1781. Here are the conditions: an envelope made of a paper-lined wrapping cloth, roughly spherical in shape, with a capacity of about 860 cubic meters, open at the bottom and carrying a stove suspended from its lower part, was solemnly launched onto the public square of Annonay. The physicist Charles repeated the experiment by substituting hydrogen for hot air. The first balloon that Paris saw was thus launched from the Champ de Mars. Montgolfier repeated his experiment at Versailles, in front of the court, and the balloon, this time, carried a sheep, a duck and a rooster, which landed safely. A first ascent in a captive balloon by Montgolfier and his collaborator Pilâtre de Rozier encouraged him to attempt a free ascent, which he attempted with the Marquis d’Arlande on 20 November 1783. In 1785, Blanchard and Jefferies completed the Channel crossing from Dover to Calais. On 15 June of the same year, the adventurous Pilâtre de Rozier died while attempting a similar experiment. However, the era of ascents carried out for a purpose of utility or for a scientific purpose or for a criminal purpose began, since already in 1794, the aerostat was seized by the army, notably at the battle of Fleurus. But Gay-Lussac and Biot used the aerostat to study the atmosphere and meteorology. The study of the upper regions of the atmosphere, dangerous for aeronauts (climbs of Crocé-Spinelli and Sivel, Gaston Tissandier, Benson), was attempted by sounding balloons carrying devices recording meteorological phenomena; while the aeronauts had, at the risk of their lives, reached 10,000 meters, the sounding balloons were able to rise up to 28 kilometers. In the meantime, the army did not lose its rights and used aerostats in the war of 1870–1871. We know that it was in a balloon that Gambetta left Paris after being besieged. However, research continued. The invention of aerostats had provided a vehicle for aerial navigation: it was still necessary to find a way to steer it. Many scientists took on this arduous task: Giffard, Dupuy-de-Lôme, Tissandier, Krebs, Renard, then de la Vaulx, Santos-Dumont, Deutsch de la Meurthe, Lebaudy. It was thanks to high-power, light-weight engines that the problem was solved. In 1899, the Lebaudy brothers, with the engineer Julliot, undertook tests that resulted in 1902 in a new type of dirigible aerostat that, abandoning the spherical shape for the streamlined shape, was to mark a memorable date in the history of aerostation. Abroad, the English, Americans, and Italians also built dirigibles. The Germans, after the Gross and Parceval types, not differing much from the types already in existence, built the Zeppelins, huge rigid airships (130 meters long). When the World War of 1914–18 broke out, all states rushed to put ballooning at the service of the army. In particular, a large number of small captive observation balloons of a new model, elongated in shape, nicknamed “sausages” because of their appearance, were used. However, the airplane was used much more lethal, as it proved to be a formidable weapon. (We will therefore dwell more particularly on the social scope of air navigation in the chapter devoted to aviation.) Ballooning, which put into practice the principle of “lighter than air,” developed less than aviation, which solved the problem of “heavier than air” in terms of air navigation. However, it is making undeniable progress, and we can hope that in a certain time aerostation will be able to provide many services in the economic life of peoples. (See the word: Aviation, where remarks are recorded applying to the role of aerostation as well as to the role of aviation.)
AFFAIRISME
AFFAIRISME. [Commercialism, wheeling and dealing.] Doing business is the only ideal of the modern agitators. It is the constant, perpetual preoccupation of financiers, statesmen, philanthropists, etc. Apart from this tirelessly pursued goal: to amass and hoard, nothing exists for certain individuals. Everything is reduced to a question of big money. They sacrifice the freedom of others to their appetites. They weigh heavily on the less “favored” with their domination as schemers. A little energy would suffice to eliminate them. But the slave-crowd prefers to suffer them, as long as money allows them — like their masters — to satisfy their intellectual preferences (bistro, cinema, caf’ conc’ and the rest). Commercialism above, commercialism below, — such is today’s society, which is far from being a “work of art.” — Affairisme is responsible for this hellish life of trepidation, of stamping one’s feet on the spot that snobs admire, confusing machinery with dynamism. One only meets people in a hurry, debating interests, trying to “roll” each other, discussing shady combinations and living by expedients. These people are united by cannibalistic morals, wanting society to remain mediocre, sowing ambiguity in all areas. They hate each other to death, and yet support each other. Deep down, they have the same interests. — Exaggerated industrialism, a life in reverse, mutilation, incomprehension of nature makes life a little more ugly every day, and populates the world with convicts; merchants have venal souls, incapable of leaving their “specialty” and taking their noses out of their “entries.” It is important, above all other considerations, to have a well-stocked pocket. The word “cashbox” is ostentatiously displayed in all administrations. Theft is the soul of the modern city (nothing of that of Jean Izoulet.)
Be poor, with genius, no one will be interested in you. But have money, lots of money, and, if you are only an imbecile, they will extend a hand to you. Capital is found for all sorts of enterprises: none is found for works useful to the progress of men. Thought struggles all alone, in general indifference, grappling with the difficulties of existence, with this absurd “struggle for life,” which, in our selfish society, is a struggle for death.
Business recovery. — This recovery has been an opportunity for our modern pleasure-seekers to fill their pockets, or to “lie in wait” somewhere. War profits have been the clearest part of this business recovery, so highly praised in every way by those who had an interest in it. A pretext that has allowed industrialists to increase their income, merchants to speculate on the rise in the price of goods, the “nouveaux riches” to display their imbecile luxury, and a whole clique of parasites to make the war “last.”
Business is business. — Expression immortalized by Octave Mirbeau in a masterpiece. It means that, in the world of interest, feeling is a negligible thing. The businessman admits feeling… for others, whose scruples or inexperience prevent them from applying his own method to him, which makes them his prey. The businessman has no homeland, he who constantly reminds others that they must leave everything for their homeland (he only remembers that he has one in order to exploit it.) There is a special patriotism among the men of finance that does not prevent them from reaching out to each other across borders: they all speak the same language — that of interest — and practice internationalism in their own way. The man who pursues only one goal, to make money, is incapable of feeling any other emotion than that of ruining his neighbor. If he loses a loved one (?) he immediately dries his tears and quickly starts calculating again. Isidore Lechat embodies the type of man chained to matter in its lowest form. The religion of the golden calf requires dry hearts, incapable of the slightest movement of generosity. Business is business, that is to say that nothing counts outside of this unhealthy passion, which consists of seeking night and day combinations to earn more, that all the rest is nothing, that “business” comes before justice, before truth, before beauty. This monomania affects the great and the small. Business is business: before this categorical affirmation everything vanishes and fades away… All that remains is a brute who piles up ingots in a chest. Business is business for metallurgists, manufacturers of cannons, shells, and preserves, suppliers to the army, and other knights of industry (in the world of thought, these abound as in the world of guts) who fatten themselves at the expense of their victims. The word “business” has another meaning, in harmony with all the rest. We say: current affairs, to designate scandals caused by slander, for an interested purpose. There are “affairs” that result from what some have wanted to gain too much; in this case, let them sort it out with their justice. We currently have about fifty current affairs (there are as many under the rock) which excite what is agreed to call public opinion. — Affairiste: someone who does business, instead of making art (not everyone, it is true, can make art, if everyone, to use the delicate expression of brutes, can make bacon! — and even then, this has not been proven). Slacks with a more or less clear conscience, bankers with resounding crashes, gamblers of “spa towns,” owners of “racing stables,” shareholders of large and small companies, and other “wet feet.” — We can also say in a more restricted sense: saver, low-brow. — In short, the businessman is a man with petty ideas, mediocre intelligence, or poorly used intelligence (he possesses “business intelligence.”) A narrow-minded bourgeois with aesthetic pretensions, stubbornly cultivating amateurism, splashing his neighbors with his garish luxury. Having reached narrow conceptions, hindering all progress, and calling himself a man of progress, substituting oddity and extravagance for originality. — We say: a business tycoon, to designate a corrupt, shady, lying, forger, crook character. Business has its good sides: it can lead to hard labor. In that world, the end justifies the means. Business is fertile in scandals, slander, blackmail, snitching, palinodes, — Busy (affairé): the imbecile who acts important, seeks to make himself useful in order to obtain an advantage (remuneration in the form of money or honorary), — the failure of the “Arts” and “Letters” who constantly promises a work that never comes. — There is a business politics, a business journalism, etc. (See the words capitalism, materialism, mercantilism, plutocrat, utilitarianism.)
Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers
AFFINITÉ
Sébastien Faure
AGITATEUR
Georges Vidal
AGRAIRE (La question)
Georges Bastien
AGRICOLE (Le travail)
Georges Bastien
AGRICULTURE
P. Maugé, aîné (Petit Agriculteur)
AGRICULTURE
Georges Bastien
ALCOOLISME
Docteur F. Elosu
ALLOCATIONS FAMILIALES
ALTRUISME
ALTRUISM (lat. alter, other.) It is wrong to make this word the antonym of egoism: they are two heads under the same hat. Altruism is the name that egoism takes to avoid being recognized, it is the clothing it adopts when it fears being discovered. All varieties of altruism or so-called love of one’s neighbor can be reduced to egoism. It is the courtier La Rochefoucauld who is right against the pedants, the romantic idealists, the hotheads, the advice givers and other professors of energy, animated by excellent intentions and rotten with optimism. They want to make others happy in spite of themselves. It is fashionable, in certain circles, to “refute” — with such arguments! — the author of Maxims. Grumpy old examiners systematically refuse to pass in the “baccalaureate” young people who dare to share La Rochefoucauld’s opinion. It is forbidden to have a personal opinion on this, as on many other things. It is understood that altruism is the highest of virtues and distinguishes man from the animal. Altruism, as it is practiced, is profoundly immoral; it is a lie. The altruism of the weak, of slaves, of the infirm (intellectually and physically) is the source of an infinity of evils: altruism of submission, obedience and passivity. It is this that engenders the international conflicts which it pretends to deplore. Under the cover of altruism, crime and ignorance, resignation, servitude and flattening are perpetuated. What altruists grant most easily are promises. The rule, to give and to withhold are not equal, should have the same value in morality as in law. However, altruism gives nothing in exchange for the abdication of personality that it demands of the beneficiaries. Almsgiving is a diminution. Altruism benefits above all those who practice it. It is a pretext for banquets, decorations, and entertainments in bad taste. The chimera of altruism is a reality by the ravages it causes. Mutualism, solidarity, pacifism, etc., do not leave the domain of abstraction, are expressed in empty phrases that onlookers take for realities. Altruism is opposed to love, which is sincerity.
Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers
AMBITION
Sébastien Faure
AME
Sébastien Faure
AME
SOUL n. (Fr. âme, from Latin anima, breath, life) The word soul has always had many meanings. It is generally used to designate the whole of the moral and intellectual faculties, sensitivity, conscience, intimate thought, feeling and, in short, everything that, in the human being, is not directly related to the fleshly envelope. We feel, we think, we want. The name soul refers to that which in us feels, thinks and wants. Variously named, denied by certain philosophical schools, spiritual activity remains irreducible until now to any mechanical or physiological explanation. The spiritualist school sees the soul in all of thought; for the materialist school, thought is a product of the brain. Religions have come to complicate in their turn this problem, already quite complex in itself. The belief in the immortality of the soul is one of the fundamental dogmas of Christianity. Despite all the efforts of philosophers the question seems likely to remain insoluble for a long time to come. (See Materialism, Spiritualism, etc…)
AMELIORATION
AMELIORATION n. Slight improvement in the state of something. When the ruling class realizes that its intransigent oppression is going to cause a revolution to break out, it decides to make some improvements in the state of things in order to calm tempers. For the bourgeoisie, amelioration constitutes a kind of sacrifice intended to make overheated brains believe that the bosses are human and desire the well-being of the workers. But the owners always wait to grant these improvements until the hour is serious. As long as the people do not show their teeth, they continue to exploit them shamelessly. Some are largely satisfied with these alms that are improvements. These are the reformists. They reject the idea of a revolution and prefer to beg from the oppressors of the working class the hundredth part of their rights. This is a method that anarchists cannot accept. One does not beg for what should be rightfully ours. We do not ask for charity for the goods that we have been deprived of. Improvements and reforms cannot satisfy us. Only the Social Revolution can put things back in their place and compensate for injustices.
AMELIORATION
Pierre Besnard
AMITIÉ
FRIENDSHIP (AMITY) n. Friendship is the pure, disinterested affection, mixed with esteem, which unites two people. Friendship is one of the noblest human feelings. But it is rare. The word friendship is often used to hide interests of all kinds and connections as insincere as they are solid. Countless writers have written pages on friendship that are too well known for us to dwell on here. Many historical examples of sacrifices for friendship have become famous and have inspired touching works by poets and novelists. Just like camaraderie — a less individual feeling — friendship will serve to bind individuals together more and more and will help in the advent of a universal fraternity.
AMNISTIE
Sébastien Faure
AMOUR
Han Ryner
AMOUR
Jean Marestan
AMOUR, AMOUR EN LIBERTÉ, CAMARADERIE AMOUREUSE
E. Armand
AMOUR
Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers
ANABAPTISTES
ANACHRONISME
ANALOGIE
ANALYSE
ANARCHIE
ANARCHY n. (from the Greek: a privative and archè, command, power, authority)
Preliminary observation. The object of this Anarchist Encyclopedia being to make known the full range of conceptions—political, economic, philosophical, moral, etc.—that arise from the anarchist idea or lead there, it is in the course of this work and in the very place that each of them must occupy within it, that the multiples theses contained in the exact and complete study of this subject will be explained. So it is only by drawing and joining together, methodically and with continuity, the various parts of this Encyclopedia that it will be possible for the reader to achieve the complete understanding of Anarchy, Anarchism and the Anarchists.
Consequently, I will show here only in its outlines, in a narrow and synthetic fashion, what constitutes the very essence of Anarchy and Anarchism. For the details—and it is appropriate to note that none have a great importance—the reader should consult the various words to which this text will ask them to refer.
Etymologically, the word “Anarchy” (which should be spelled An-Archy) signifies: the state of a people and, more precisely still, of a social milieu without government.
As a social ideal and in its actual fulfillment, Anarchy answers to a modus vivendi in which, stripped of all legal and collective restraint having the public force at its service, the individual would have no obligations but those imposed on them by their own conscience. They would possess the ability to give themselves up to rational inspirations of their individual initiative; they would enjoy the right to attempt all the experiments that appear desirable or fruitful to them; they would freely commit themselves to contracts of all sorts—always temporary, and revocable or revisable—that would link them to their fellows and, not wishing to subject anyone to their authority, they would refuse to submit to the authority of anyone. Thus, sovereign master of themselves, of the direction that it pleases them to give their life, of the use that they will make of their faculties, of their knowledge, of their productive activity, of their relations of sympathy, friendship and love, the individual will organize their existence as it seems good to them: radiating in every sense, blossoming as they please, enjoying, in all things, a full and complete liberty, without any limits but those that would be allocated to them by the liberty—also full and complete—of other individuals.
This modus vivendi implies a social regime from which would be banished, in right and in fact, any idea of employer and employed, of capitalist and proletarian, of master and servant, of governor and governed.
You will see that, thus defined, the world “Anarchy” has been insidiously and over time distorted from its precise meaning, that it has been taken, little by little, in the sense of “disorder” and that, in the majority of dictionaries and encyclopedias, it is only mentioned in that sense: chaos, upheaval, confusion, waste, disarray, disorder.
Apart from the Anarchists, all the philosophers, all the moralists, all the sociologists—including the democratic theorists and the doctrinaire socialists—maintain that, in the absence of a Government, of a legislation and a repression that assures respect for the law and cracks down on every infraction of it, there is and can only be disorder and criminality.
And yet!… Don’t the moralists and philosophers, men of State and sociologists perceive the frightful disorder that reigns, despite the Authority that governs and the Law that represses, in all domains? Are they so deprived of critical sense and the spirit of observation, that they are unaware that the more regulation increases, the more the more the web of legislation tightens, the more the field of repression extends, and the more immorality, disgrace, offenses and crimes increase?
It is impossible that these theorists of “Order” and these professors of “Morals” think, seriously and honestly, of confounding with what they call “Order” the atrocities, horrors, and monstrosities, the revolting spectacle of which observation places before our eyes.
And—if there are degrees of impossibility—it is still more impossible that, in order to diminish and a fortiori to make these infamies disappear, these learned doctors count on the virtue of Authority and the force of Law.
That pretension would be pure insanity.
The law has only a single aim: to first justify and then sanction all the usurpations and iniquities on which rest what the profiteers of these iniquities and usurpations call “the Social Order.” The holders of wealth have crystallized in the Law the original legitimacy of their fortune; the holders of Power have raised to the level of an immutable and sacred principle the respect owed by the crowds to the privileged, the to power and majesty with which they are invested. We can search, to the bottom or even deeper, all of the monuments to hypocrisy and violence that are the Codes, all the Codes, but we will never find a disposition that is not in favor of these two facts—facts of a historical and circumstantial order, which we tend to convert into facts of a natural and inevitable order—Property and Authority. I abandon to the official tartuffes and to the professionals of bourgeois charlatanism all that which, in the Legislation, deals with “Morals,” as that is, and can only be, in a social state based on Authority and Property, only the humble servant and brazen accomplice of those things.
…
[translation in progress]
Sebastien Faure
ANARCHIE, ANARCHISME, INDIVIDUALISME ANARCHISTE
x
ANARCHISME
ANARCHISME CHRETIEN, CHRISTIANISME LIBERTAIRE
ANARCHISTE
ANASTASIE
ANATHEME
ANATOMIE
ANCETRES
ANIMISME
ANONYMAT
ANTAGONISME
ANTHROPOLOGIE
ANTHROPOMETRIE
ANTHROPOMORPHISME
ANTHROPOPHAGIE
ANTICLERICALISME
ANTIÉTATISME
ANTIMILITARISME
ANTINOMIE
ANTINOMY (Etym.: gr. anti, and Nomos, laws). — The impossibility of reconciling the pros and cons, the yes and the no. The opposition of two feelings, of two irreconcilable phenomena. Thus, the individual will not get along well with authority, genius will not tolerate mediocrity (and mediocrity will tolerate genius even less), and beauty and ugliness will never be compatible. It is impossible to love nothingness and life at the same time. One must be for or against. No equivocal attitude, no compromise. The rupture is inevitable between the past and the future, and there is no possible rapprochement between the intelligent and the brutes. On the other hand, harmony can and must exist between thought and action, feeling and logic. Art unites and reconciles what mediocrity separates. On the other hand, in the uncertain domain of politics, some things that seem irreconcilable seem to reconcile. Renegades (see this word) extend their hand to their worst adversaries, when they expect to get something from them. Where it was believed that there was opposition, there was tacit agreement: the opposition existed only for the form, only to give change! This is an example of artificial antinomy. Another example of antinomy: the sacred union. We can also call antinomy the inability of the administration to resolve certain problems, of the law to satisfy everyone, the incoherence of authority and the struggle between authorities. Antinomy, these baroque, astonishing judgments of our civil and military judges; antinomy, this immoral morality, these prescriptions violated by those who issue them… Antinomy, this charity that claims to alleviate the evils that it should have begun by seeking to make disappear, accepting and deploring war at the same time; antinomies, these articles by pseudo-journalists affirming at the end what they deny at the beginning, or denying at the end what they affirm from the first words, etc… Society as a whole is a vast antinomy, a tissue of contradictions and incoherences (like human nature). Some claim to resolve this antinomy, to accommodate both sides, to be of the same opinion as everyone, to serve both lies and truth, and to live on an ambiguity!
ANTIPARLEMENTARISME
ANTIPATHIE
ANTIPATRIOTISME
ANTIRELIGIEUX
ANTISEMITISME
ANTITHESE
APOLOGIE
APOLOGUE
APOSTASIE (EN/FR)
APOSTASY n. (from the Greek apostasia, abandonment) Formerly, the word apostasy was hardly ever used except to designate the abandonment of one religion in favor of another: Ex.: The apostasy of the Emperor Julian. But the word has not taken long to take on a wider meaning and to also designate the abandonment of a party or a social doctrine. Ex.: The apostasy of the politician Alexandre Millerand, in France; The apostasy of the politician Mussolini, in Italy; The apostasy of the politician Vandervelde, in Belgium; of the politician Branting, in Sweden, of the base, the revolting Gustave Hervé, in France, etc… Apostasy, in matters of politics, can sometimes be caused by motives of the intellectual or sentimental order. But these cases are very rare. Partisans of absolute liberty of thought and action for each, we can only deplore the lack of consistency and perseverance of the comrades who withdraw from the struggle after having openly campaigned. But we cannot condemn them, if they have the modesty to disappear from the social scene and not exacerbate their desertion with a betrayal. For that matter, it can be that the struggle has exhausted the energy of the intellectual strength of a man: in this case, their withdrawal inspires our regret, but calls for all our indulgence. However, as we have said, cases of literal apostasy are very rare. Generally the apostate is a politician who reckon that by joining another camp, they will profit more than by remaining in the camp where they find themselves. As the basis of an apostasy, we almost uniformly find these two motives: money and reputation. It is for this reason that when a party or social group is poor, we can count its militants. But as soon as the party becomes rich, politicians present themselves from all sides, desiring to offer their services. The parties that are richest in money are often richest in politicians, as politicians come from other parties or other sects where the coffers have an empty ring. On the other hand, newborn political parties are generally poor in money, but they are rich in hopes of growth. So they easily recruit ambitious types who calculate that by having a little patience, it could be made the coveted place. These ambitious types know, in fact, that in the parties that are already old, the ranks are already full and they would have to surmount countless difficulties in order to carve out a sufficient piece of the pie. And it is because of all these considerations that the anarchists can have full confidence in their militants. The politicians do not venture among them, since they could only reap poverty and persecutions. It is useless, naturally, to multiply the examples of apostasy: the thing has become so commonplace in politics that we need only look around us to regard renegades of every sort. — Georges Vidal
APOTRE (FR/EN)
APOSTLE n. (from the Greek apostolos; from apo, far and stellein, to send) The word apostle has served first of all the designate each of the twelve disciples that Jesus Christ appointed, according to the legend, to go preach the gospel. But the sense of the word has since broadened. Today the world apostle serves to designate one who devotes themselves to the propagation and defense of a doctrine. Ex.: Kropotkin and Bakunin are apostles of anarchism. But here, as in many instances, it is right to pay attention to the false apostles, to the individuals who seek to pass themselves off as martyrs to a cause, for the sole purpose of being able to more easily dupe the crowd. The distinctive trait of every true apostle is selflessness, the true apostle thumbs their nose at everything: money and popularity. To the sincere apostle, money and glory have little importance. They would propagate the ideas they consider just even — and especially — if the propaganda is arduous and attracts only persecution. Their attachment to the doctrines that they serve is so vivace that they are ready to sacrifice all — their liberty, their friendships, even their life if necessary — to the triumph of their convictions. Nothing will stop them. They have given their person to their ideal and their devotion is absolute. The false apostle, on the contrary, under an appearance of devotion, seeks only to satisfy their appetites and their own interests. He is an actor who sometimes knows to play the persecuted. All the politicians of the so-called popular parties manage to pass, to some extent, for good apostles concerned to the point of abnegation for the the mass of workers. They are unscrupulous cheats, who must be constantly unmasked. Indeed, let the least danger to them arrive and these sham apostles know to disappear or to maneuver skillfully. It is up to the anarchist to denounce to the people the parasites who gain a flashy reputation at their expense. And it is equally up to the anarchists to be able to surround the true apostles with an unwavering affection and companionship. — Georges Vidal
APPARENCE
APPEL (Cour d’)
ARBITRAGE
ARBITRAIRE
ARBITRE
ARCHIES (FR/EN)
ARCHIES (from Greek arché.) This ending designates the different powers that exercise authority and command in society, powers that are harmful from every point of view, incapable of insuring true order, whether it is a question of monarchy (monos, one alone), power left to the arbitrary will of one individual, or of oligarchy (oligos, few in number), the power of a clique (an olig-archy of businessmen, politicians, soldiers, etc…, enslaving the world to its whims, — one hundred tyrants instead of one), or of all the archies past, present and future. Whether it is the expression of the will of one alone or several, archy suppose the division of humanity into masters and slaves, all incapable of governing themselves. — Hier-archy (Gr. hieros, sacred). Society cannot do without a hierarchy. This follows from authority itself. Individuals are subordinated to one another. Some command and others obey. Some occupy the highest reaches of the social edifice and some the lowest degrees, the rich and powerful not being able to do without the poor and lowly any more than the latter can do without them. Everywhere there are classes, castes, barriers, divisions, distinctions… Individuals do not differ among themselves in originality (they are all alike, equally corrupted), but by title, costume, function, grade… The principle of every hierarchy is the subordination of inferiors to superiors (which is arbitrary, nothing proving the superiority of those who, charged with directing the slaves, are equally enslaved, from those who, masters of society, are not masters of themselves.) A hierarchy is necessary, it is said, to insure the proper functioning of the State. What would become of a society in which each did what they wished? It would be arbitrary. But what do we see in a hierarchized society, if not the triumph of disorder? No one is in their place, no one fulfills their role, each things to do what they wish, but only makes themselves insufferably to their neighbor: it is the good pleasure of the rulers that dominates, offering the spectacle of an unimaginable incoherence, served and maintained by the spinelessness of the ruled. Hierarchy is only a subordination of the intelligent to the imbeciles. It is a hier-archy overturned, a mystification. — Synarchy (Gr. sun, with). Union, solidarity of archies. Synthesis of government, law of social organization. According to St-Yves d’Alvevdre, Barlet, Lelay and Papus, there exists an analogy between the law that directs human beings and the law that directs society. The divisions of the human organism (stomach, chest, head) are also found in society (economy, power, authority.) Syn-archy establishes once and for all (?) the law for the rulers and the ruled. A questionable theory. — Ant-archie. The prefix ant designates the struggle against archy. It is emplyed here as in anti-clericalism, anti-alcoholism, anti-social, anti-slavery, anti-revolutionary, anti-militarism, anti-patriotism, etc… while the term anarchy signifies the very absence of all archy, the elimination of all authority, designates an attitude above and outside, as in a-legal, a-patriotic, a-social, a-religious, a-clerical, a-moral, a-political, a-nomie (absence of law imposed from outside on the individual, their own law), etc… The ant-archist lacks the selflessness and nobility of the an-archist (the anti designating a polical, utilitarian, non-aesthetic attitude.) However, an-archy does not imply an absolute indifference with regard to the social world: to place oneself outside of authority is to enter into conflict with it. Nevertheless, we can escape the fixed idea of combating it, an idea that ends by engendering slavery, by subordinating us to what we combat, and makes us use the same weapons as the enemy. An-archy is preferable in all respects to ant-archy. — Aut-archy (not to be confused with the previous term) government of oneself (autos), the “self-government” of the English, a system of moral autonomy recommended by [Louis Marie de] La Réveillère-Lepault. Anarchy for the use of the fashionable and old military figures. Suitable for retired civil servants, the correpondents of scientific societies, energetic professors… The autarchist accepts the State, authority, property, law and hierarchy. He is proud to have a traditional conception. He is, it is true, the enemy of certain prejudices and of administrative routine. He does not play politics (?). He is a reformist. The autarchist attends religious services or is content to believe in the Supreme Being: M. Homais [in Madame Bovary] is an autarchist. Autarchy, which claims to have its foundation in individual autonomy and liberty of thought, like an-archy, pursues a different end. While an-archy makes a tabula rasa of the social (to the extent that it is possible), aut-archy takes the social into account. While the an-archist strives to break every link with the so-called civilized world, profound attachments tie the autarchist to the past. He is not liberatred. He is altruistic and does not reject association (La Réveillère even recognized a communal autarchy), accepts the organization of society with reshufflings, modifications, and remains in the realm of legality. Autarchy is a compromise.
Other words constructed with archy: idiarchy (government by the idea); logo-archy (a theory recommending the link between rational socialists and logo-archists (logos, link)); poly-archy (polus, several): the republican regime is a poly-archy; pan-archy (pan, all): we can say that all of society is a vast pan-archy: authority exercises its tyranny there in all forms and spreads its limitless incoherence. This system reduces the entire world to authority; archist (partisan of archy.)
Gérard de LACAZE-DUTHIERS.
ARCHITECTURE
ARGENT
ARGUMENT
ARLEQUIN
ARMÉE
ARMÉE (Le rôle véritable de l’)
ARRIÈRE-PENSÉE (FR/EN)
ULTERIOR MOTIVE n. By ulterior motive we mean the hidden intention that guides an individual. For example, the ulterior motive of the candidate in the legislative elections is that he absolutely could not care less about his voters and wishes to be sent to Parliament to satisfy his ambition or to gain a privileged position. With him there is the facade: the beautiful promises, the professions of faith, etc…, then the ulterior motive: the honors, the money, etc… With the priest there is also the facade: the man who represents God, who blesses, who confesses, who absolves, who excommunicates, etc…, then the ulterior motive: he knows very well that his job is to tell nonsense, but he also knows very well that it is by preaching such nonsense with the greatest seriousness that he will be able to preserve his power and his authority. And one could choose a hundred other examples… The desire of the anarchists is precisely to rise up against this multiple deceit, of which the people are always the victim. It is the sly immorality of the bourgeoisie that thus encourages lies and makes them a weapon in the hands of its lackeys.
ART
ART
ART
ART
ART
ARTISAN
ARTISANAT
ARTISTE
ARTISTOCRATE
ARTISTOCRATIE
ASSISES (Cour d’)
ASSISTANCE
ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE
ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE A PARIS (Administration générale de l’)
ASSOCIATION
ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DES TRAVAILLEURS
ASSURANCES SOCIALES
ASSURANCES SOCIALES
ASTROLOGIE
ASTRONOMIE
ATAVISME
ATELIER
Pierre Besnard
ATELIER
WORKSHOP n. The workshop is the place where workers, artists, etc. labor. In our time, when the artisan class has almost totally disappeared, there are immense workshops that generally supply industry. These workshops, where the workers remain confined for long workdays, are nearly always unhealthy and uncomfortable. The boss, not fretting about the health of his employees, cuts costs as much as possible. So he does not hesitate to make his personnel work in pitiful premises. Many legislative measures exist regulating the hygiene and security of the workers in the workshops, but they always forget to apply these wise measures: the wolves do not eat each other, the wolves of politics are careful not to disturb the wolves of the industry. However, the workshop being a place where men furnish a useful labor and do so for long hours, it is intolerable that those who labor there cannot find all the conveniences and wholesome conditions desirable. The workshops should be large, with high ceilings, always kept very clear, well ventilated and well lighted. In cases where asphyxiating or toxic gases (phosphorous, carbon monoxide) are released, it would be necessary, either by means of smoke vents, or by means of closed, airtight machines, to prevent the diffusion of these gases. It would be necessary, besides, to eliminate the dust emitted by certain industries and prevent their penetration into the respiratory paths. It would also be necessary to take many other measures. But that will only be possible on the day with the workshops no longer belong to rapacious industrialists who prefer to sacrifice the life and health of their workers to the increase of their dividends. It is this task — among a thousand others — that the anarchists have their hearts set on accomplishing in the days following the Social Revolution.
ATHÉISME
ATMOSPHERE
ATOME
ATTENTAT
ATTENTAT.
ATTENTAT
ATTRACTION
AUTODIDACTE
AUTOMATE
AUTOMOBILISME
AUTONOMIE
AUTORITE
AVATAR (FR/EN)
AVATAR n. (Sanskrit avatâra). Avatar is the name given, in India, to the incantations of a god, especially to those of Vishnu. By analogy, the word avatar has come to designate a transformation, a metamorphosis. Ex: The avatars of a political man. Like apostasy, the avatar is a very common thing in politics; what politician has not had his avatars? In general, a lack of money, the fall of a ministry or the chance of obtaining a profitable post is enough to bring them into being. These are, indeed, contingencies that could not leave a politician indifferent, and regularly add another avatar to his credit. The anarchists do not tolerated avatars in political matters, and know to chastise them when they arise. (Compare with apostasy.)
AVORTEMENT
AVIATION
AXIOME
AXIOME PHILOSOPHIQUE.
AXIOME ARITHMÉTIQUE.
AXIOME GÉOMÉTRIQUE
AXIOMES MORAUX. ― AXIOMES SOCIAUX.
