Working Translations

Black and Red Feminism

Jenny P. d’Héricourt in the Messager Franco-Americain (1865-1869)

February 14, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

Now, what makes war possible and produces the disastrous results I am pointing out? A lack of equilibrium in social forces. Woman is one of these forces, and she has neither her place nor her liberty of action. If, as I believe, the government of women alone should be bad, it does not seem surprising to me that the government of men alone has produced what we see. It takes the equal influence of both sexes to produce balance, because they are equal by “difference” as much as by philosophically defined law. […]

Black and Red Feminism

Jeanne Marie, “What the Socialists Want” (1848)

February 8, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

It is to this celestial banquet that, for a long time, the socialists have been inviting you! It is therefore no longer a question of fighting them, but of aiding them. The great human family is marching toward the goal to which God leads it. Forward then, you who aspire to the honor of leading it. Support our efforts, but do not hinder them: you will be crushed! […]

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Georges Duchêne, “Government” (1849-50)

January 31, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

Six thousand years of government have proven abundantly that power is, by its nature, spendthrift, prodigal, unproductive, invasive, despotic. Experience does not seem decisive for certain intelligences; and we are in the necessity, — if we do not want to attempt a new dictatorship, — of combatting the idea of authority, not by its historical antecedents, but in its very principle. […]

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Proudhon, “The Philosophy of Progress” (revised and expanded translation)

December 10, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur

Proudhon’s Philosophy of Progress is one of those books that has simply become part of my basic intellectual toolkit, but in ways that I often forget — at least until I read it again and re-encounter all the delightful ideas and turns of phrase it contains. Returning to it over the last week has been a pleasure, but I’ve also felt a bit pressured to wrap up the preliminaries and get on to the notes on Justice in the Revolution and in the Church. […]

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Proudhon, “The Celebration of Sunday” (revised and expanded translation)

December 3, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’m a few days behind schedule getting the first notes on Justice together. Among other things, I’ve been trying to make the most of a narrow fall window to get our yard a little bit better adapted to changing conditions. But work is progressing. I should have test prints of the “text” editions of the first two volumes within a week, at which point I’ll make ordering copies an option for others, and I’ve been trying to shoehorn in the time to put together a companion volume collecting some pre-1858 texts that provide useful context. […]