Anarchist Encyclopedia

encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Archies (Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers)

January 20, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur

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. […]

Working Translations

Proposal for an Anarchist Encyclopedia in 1895

July 22, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

The work of an Anarchist Encyclopedia appearing indispensable to some comrades, who think that such a document would serve a useful purpose, for every person could consult there the expressions, terms and subjects that constantly figure in the texts of all the writers, which escape for the moment those who know, and would instruct those who do not yet and and who desire to learn. […]

encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Logomachy

May 29, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Logomachy is a quarrel, a dispute of words, that is to say over words. It is, in equivocation, a pointless exchange of misleading statements that do not illuminate the questions debated or enrich the mind. This style of psittacism is much more frequent than is generally thought, and Proudhon rightly accused philosophy of being “often only a logomachy”. […]

encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Imputation

May 28, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Indictment, well-founded or not. Attribution of blameworthy acts. Quite often the imputation is only a calumny (see that word). How many people, through envy, resentment or hatred, have sent their fellows to prison, even to the penal colony, through imputations entirely animated by the aim of vengeance or harmfulness. How many persons are still commonly given to imputations against those who surround them, sometimes bringing about tragic outcomes… […]

encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Impunity

May 28, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Entries from the Anarchist Encyclopedia IMPUNITÉ n. f. Absence de punition. Un fait à remarquer dans notre Société codifiée de toutes manières, c’est qu’alors que les révolutionnaires sont impitoyablement traqués par tous les gouvernements, les […]

encyclopedia entries

Anarchist Encyclopedia: Impulsive

May 28, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

IMPULSIVE adj. Giving or producing impetus (for example: the impulsive force of gunpowder.) Acting without reflection, yielding to the impressions of the moment. In general, we call impulsive those who are quick-tempered, who get worked up over trifles, who see red as soon as something impedes them, who, in discussion, will use violence in place of arguments. The opposite of the impulsive being is the level-headed being, the one who knows how, in every circumstance, to maintain their composure. […]