E. Armand

Working Translations

E. Armand, “Epistle to MM. the Intellectuals” (1919)

February 26, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

That we have learned much from this small number of men whom we call Intellectuals because — belonging to the so-called liberal classes — they have made that which relates to the things of Intelligence the great, the principal, the essential business of their life; that we have learned much from them, this is something we cannot deny without missing the most elementary of established facts. And not only have they taught us much, but, whatever the branch of human knowledge to which they were devoted, their example — their example above all — has contributed not a little to forming us. The history of their existence, at once fertile and eventful, has awakened, aroused, created in us the desire to resemble them. […]

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E. Armand, “Noel! Noel! Noel!” (1900-1935)

December 25, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

The anarchist Christmas story is, perhaps, a somewhat unexpected genre, although the opportunities for propaganda are not hard to see. Certainly, it has made sense for anarchist newspapers to mark the holiday season in their own particular way. The result has been tales with names like “Jesus and Bonnot” (linked at the end of this post) — and, come to think of it, perhaps the real surprise is that there doesn’t seem to be a Ravachol Christmas story out there… […]

Working Translations

E. Armand, “Scènes de Noel / Christmas Scenes” (1901)

December 24, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur

A church or a temple. Light, many lights. Candles that illuminate vast crucifixes, or a Christmas tree laden with toys, a fir tree whose evergreen branches evoke the image of eternity. Organs whose sonic flights seem an echo of celestial hymns. Carols that remind us of those with which our mothers rocked us to sleep… Handsome gentlemen in frock coats, tight at the waist, with eight shining gleams; polished, pomaded, combed, varnished, tied. Beautiful, elegant, fragrant ladies, studded with jewels, real or fake, whose slightly raised skirts reveal an expensively shod foot at the end of a finely arched ankle… Good, honest families in their Sunday best, made respectable, troops of children whose happy faces the symbolic tree illuminates… Ease, comfort, joy!… all that is good. […]