Blog

Working Translations

E. Armand, “The Anarchist Entente—A Concrete Proposal” (1928)

November 5, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

Let us recognize it frankly and make our mea culpa. The rivalries between tendencies, circles and organizers have poisoned anarchism. There is a means of putting an end to that lamentable state of things, and it is the conclusion of a pact between the newspapers favorable to the reconciliation of the different tendencies of anarchism, by the terms of which they will promise to insert no polemic that is hurtful, abusive or malign, tending to undervalue, harm, prejudice or hinder the development and action of every group, social circle, organizer and publication adhering to the pact. I am convinced that the day when this contract is finalized and held in earnest, something will have changed in the anarchist world. […]

Featured articles

Hector Morel, “Nationalities Considered from the Point of View of Liberty” (1862)

November 4, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

If there are words that we have used and abused, which we use and abuse every day, they are unquestionably the words nation and homeland. Everything in society which aims to muzzle and exploit the people, to paralyze and hold back the development of human intelligence, is always and invariably advanced in the name of the homeland: Laws and regulations, ordinances and decrees, scaffolds and prisons, police and gendarmes, etc., etc., all this hideous paraphernalia of chains and slavery, of plunder and misery, of exploitation and servitude, has only been invented, only exists, in the interest of the good order and internal security of nations. […]

From the Archives

C. L. James & Henry Cohen, “Anarchy’s Apostles” (1891–92)

October 14, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

An archive of this sort is necessarily full of marginal views and unusual perspectives on anarchism, so I assume that most readers will treat the accounts with appropriate caution. Under most circumstance, no specific disclaimer seems to be required. But C. L. James essays on “Anarchy’s Apostles” strike me as something of a special case, given James’ reputation within the movement during his lifetime as a serious scholar and given the number of truly idiosyncratic views expressed in them. I provide them here as fodder for historical research, but with the explicit caveat that there seems to be more that is wrong about James’ account than is right. […]

Contr'un

Escheat and Anarchy

October 8, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

One of the difficulties in explaining the anarchist critique—and of distinguishing anarchist tendencies from those that propose only partial breaks with authority—has been the fact that the two fundamental critiques associated with anarchist thought—anti-capitalism and anti-governmentalism—have been difficult to unite, despite indications that they emerged together as part of a single critique in the work of Proudhon. […]