l’en dehors (1931)

FREGOLI: You are not a living name, but a symbol. The symbol of those who, with regard to their comrades (and not vis-à-vis hostile society, as would be an absolutely normal thing) display — for what purpose? — a mask changing like the colors of a chameleon. You cannot pretend to be a person. You are a shadow, a cloud. When you denigrate, cogitate, slander, it is not known whether it is for your own benefit or for the account of others — and of which others? — that you work to injure, harm, discourage, dissociate. You are not a reality, but the emblem of the yellow-bellied coward — or of the suspect — whose main preoccupation is always, with regard to those of whom they claim to be “the friends,” to avoid the consequences. We do not put a name on your mask, repainted every day, because we do not know which face we will discover behind it and because anyone can claim to be this face. You do not exist: you are dust, a ghost ; so it is only to relieve myself “intellectually” that I write these “Three Words.” — E. A.

These ragged, haggard beings, are they robbers?… Look, robbers must possess … those who are devoid of everything are the robbed, it seems to me.

There is one category of arrivistes that is more foul than the rest: the arrivistes who don’t “arrive.” — L.-D.

Ah! If you ever got rich, you’d be as great a scoundrel as we are! — A simple admission on your part. — But if you became poor, you would be just as stupid as the “riffraff.” – Gabriel.

Idleness, the mother of all vices? I say that it is pretension. The pretentious becomes authoritarian, unscrupulous towards others — so small next to them, so stupid, so flawed! From there to becoming an Nero, a Kaiser or a Mussolini, there is only a step.

AN UNKNOWN, with one arm amputated, calling himself René Pourtier (and perhaps other names) is reported to us as posing as Ixigrec, E. Armand, etc. or pretending to be in constant contact with the latter, to write for l’en dehors and so on. He is accused of dishonesty at the expense of comrades or sympathizers of the Center, etc. Be on guard.

Our collaborator M. ACHARYA informs us that in… Japan they debate our theories on sexual matters intensely, which proves once again that one is not a prophet in their own country. — E. A.

Clément Perrière : Any letters from the arriviste of whom you speak will be returned to sender. — E. A.

Writing that there was nothing that we despise more “than the former sleepers in 3s or 4s who, the day after their nuptials, became convinced monogamists” has earned us ten letters from more or less anonymous correspondents claiming to be “targeted.” It’s enlightening!

Our collaborator E. BERTRAN will undertake a “tour” in Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, which will last for months. We are impatiently awaiting details of his journey and hope that he will find a site in these lands for the establishment of a colony. — E. A.

And Pétrini?

We have already spoken of Pétrini, that anti-fascist worker, a refugee in the U. S. S. R., of whom it is impossible to find any news. The Comité international de défense anarchiste have made it known that all letters addressed to the soviet authorities, in order to learn what has become of him, remain without response. Is Pétrini dead? Has he been murdered by the soviet security police? Is he in prison? Whatever its animosity against the anarchists, the attitude of the proletarian government remains inexcusable in this matter. — E. A.