Disruptive Elements The Extremes of French Anarchism Disruptive Elements Ardent Press Disruptive Elements This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. https://creativecommons.org Ardent Press, 2014 Table of Contents Translator's Introduction — vincent stone i Bonjour — Le Voyeur ii The Philosophy of Defiance — Felix P. viii section 1 Ernest Coeurderoy (1825-1862) 1 Hurrah!!! or Revolution by the Cossacks (excerpts) 2 Citizen of the World 8 Hurrah!!! Or the Revolution by the Cossacks (excerpt) 11 section 2 Joseph Déjacque (1821-1864) 12 The Revolutionary Question 15 Le Libertaire 17 Scandal 19 The Servile War 21 section 3 Zo d’Axa (1864-1930) 25 Zo d’Axa, Pamphleteer and Libertarian Journalist — Charles Jacquier 28 Any Opportunity 31 On the Street 34 section 4 Georges Darien (1862 – 1921) 36 Le Voleur (excerpts) 40 Enemy of the People 44 Bon Mots 48 The Road to Individualism 49 section 5 Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) 50 Ravachol 54 Murder Foul and Murder Fair 56 Voters Strike! 57 Moribund Society and Anarchy 60 Octave Mirbeau Obituary 62 section 6 Émile Pouget (1869 - 1931) 64 Boss Assassin 66 In the Meantime, Let’s Castrate Those Frocks! 68 Revolutionary Bread 70 section 7 Albert Libertad (1875-1908) 72 Albert Libertad — anonymous 74 The Patriotic Herd 75 The Greater of Two Thieves 76 To Our Friends Who Stop 78 Individualism 79 To the Resigned 83 Albert Libertad — M.N. 85 section 8 illegalism 88 The “Illegalists” — Doug Imrie 89 An Anarchist on Devil’s Island — Paul Albert 92 Expropriation and the Right to Live — Clement Duval 97 Obituary: Clement Duval — Jules Scarceriaux 99 Why I Became a Burglar — Marius Jacob 101 The Paris Auto-Bandits (The “Bonnot Gang”) — anonymous 104 “Why I Took Part in a Burglary, Why I Committed Murder” — Raymond Callemin 105 Is the Anarchist Illegalist Our Comrade? — É. Armand 110 Conclusions 114 section 9 Stirner’s Influence in France 116 Stirner versus Proudhon — Maxime Leroy 117 The Theory of the Individual in Chinese Philosophy: Yang-Chou — Alexandra David-Néel 125 Le Stirnérisme — Émile Armand 130 section 10 Émile Armand (1872-1963) 136 É. Armand as I Knew Him — Mauricius 137 A Picture of the Situation 146 The Workers, The Unions, and the Anarchists 149 section 11 Pierre Chardon (1892-1920) 157 Pierre Chardon — Émile Armand 158 Intellectuals Such as They Are 162 The Democratic Illusion 163 Expansive Individualism 166 “Our” Subjectivism 168 Portrait 170 Two Attitudes 172 Letters to Armand 174 Pierre Chardon — M.P. 176 section 12 Critique of Collectivism 180 Individualism and the Social Question — André Lorulot 185 Reflections on Individualism — Manuel Devaldès 190 “A La Bastille!...” An Individualist Looks at the French Revolution — É. Bertran 207 The Absurdity of Politics — Paraf-Javal 209 Men Disgust Me — André Lorulot 215 Section 13 Free Sexuality and Naturism 226 The Naturists — Dominique Petit 227 A Polemic — Pierre Chardon 232 The Utopians and the Sexual Question — Émile Armand and Hugo Treni 234 Intro to the Real de Sade — Émile Armand 244 the Real de Sade 245 Proudhon's Repressed Sexuality — Daniel Guérin 254 Section 14 Tout Voila 265 If Pierre Chardon overflowed with ardor, enthusiasm, activity, he was intransigent. Verbosity inspired pity in him; the verbos- ity of rhetoricians as well as that of revolutionaries. He wanted to “practice” in the field without waiting for the day after the Big Night or a problematic and chimeric New Dawn. He was neither an eminent philosopher, nor a famous author, nor even an industrious playwright, nor a libertarian gen de lettre for snobs and snobettes. Pierre Chardon was quite simply an arti- san of action, an achiever who wanted to plough his furrow, and plow it well. Because he was not a “dear master” but a loyal propagandist believing in the efficacy of propaganda, does he deserve to be scratched so soon from the tablets of anarchists, of the “comrades” for whom he gave his life? – É. Armand Translator’s Introduction Disruptive Elements is a collection of previously hard to find or untranslated writings of French anar- chists from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Much of the material presented here was translated specifically for this book, and offers up a lost thread from the fabric of history, one we find particularly vibrant. The editors do not presume to provide a monolithic, complete, or definitive story about French anarchist individualism, nor do we propose answers, conclusions, or closure on any of the ideas present- ed. We sought out the writings of many of the major figures of the milieu, chose those that most com- pelled us, and collected them here. So, a few important people have been left out: Rirette Maîtrejean makes no appearance for example (she took over publication of L’Anarchie after Libertad’s death and merits our attention). We challenge those with the desire, knowledge, and capabilities to contribute to this work, to do so; if we have learned anything from editing this anthology (itself continuing the project begun by Enemies of Society), it is that archival work of this nature is endless. We have set out to do a number of things in publishing this material. First, to provide insight on the lives of forgotten anarchists through their own writings. Far too little is known about many of the authors herein, despite the strength of their ideas, their prolific publishing accomplishments, and the mutual interests they share with many anarchists today (i.e., a strong affinity to the ideas of Max Stirner, a deep disdain for the Left, constantly developing theories on anarchist association, and an unflinching critique of authority paired with the insistence that putting an end to an old one should never mean submission to a new one). Though they played an early and prominent role in developing and propagating anarchist thought and action, their lives and writings have gone unknown or under- acknowledged for too long. Many of them led vibrant and inspiring lives as illegalists, propagandists, deserters, travelers and staunch individualists. Second, to contribute to the current interest in individualist and non-ideological anarchism, shed- ding light on its origins and providing valuable insight and theoretical history. Many of the selections here focus specifically on what individualist anarchism is (anarchism that refuses parties, programs, or any other archisms offered by leftists), though others deal with broader questions from an individualist perspective. Given the recent interest in egoism, as well as the editors’ feeling that the basic tenets of individualist anarchism systematically attack compromised forms of anarchism (which are too preva- lent today), these selections are offered for comrades to consider—that a number of these thinkers (among the first self-proclaimed anarchists) developed critiques of the left, civilization, communism, and revolution as long ago as a hundred fifty years might bring greater understanding and awareness to our struggles for liberation today. The vociferousness of those like Georges Darien and André Lorulot put them at odds even with other individualists of their time, and it is also this spirit—the ever-fiery, the anti-social, the anti-political—that we would like to highlight here. Finally, it is my hope as a translator that others will be inspired to seek out more of this material and make it available to anarchists today. This anthology, like all anthologies, has omitted many wor- thy texts and thinkers, and there is much potential for future exploration. Many of the excerpts here are too short to do justice to the original authors (Pierre Chardon, Ernest Coeurderoy, and Alexandra David-Néel being notable examples), yet by way of introduction this book will bring them out of the shadows: provided the inspiration and the will, more will appear in the future. Above all, the voices herein have something to offer those who desire anti-authoritarian libera- tion. Something beautiful happened in France some time ago, a sustained, prolific, and committed project of such liberation. In renewing the texts of these times, we hope to rekindle the fires of resis- tance and to push anarchism beyond the limits it once reached. —vincent i Bonjour Le Voyeur So I hear that unbridled liberty is menacing. Who is she menacing? Who shall fear the untamed horse, but one who would tame it? Who shall fear an avalanche, but one who would stop it? Who trembles in front of liberty, but tyranny? —Anselme Bellegarrigue Out of consideration for my infinitely patient and long-suffering publisher (and out of fear for my life should I add any more pages to this already heavy tome!) I’m going to try to avoid rhe- torical overkill and keep my introductory comments brief. Around 2006, anarchists in North America (myself among them) began leaving our insular self-referential ghetto in droves, due largely to the uninspired funk anarchism seemed mired in and the odor of carrion that reigned over the anarchist press. A huge portion of the general malaise and discouragement can be attributed to the dearth of edginess or originality in most anarchist writing and the lackluster synthesis of influences that held sway over anarchist discourse at the time (NEFAC, identity politics, post-modernism, PC moralism).There was a certain élan vital and healthy iconoclasm absent from how Anarchy was being discussed and the scene itself seemed to be bleeding to death from self-inflicted wounds. Many of us saw ourselves as “enemies from within,” inter- ested in stirring up the stagnant pool of nebulous leftism that U.S. anarchism had settled into, but wondered if it was even worth the effort—especially given the central role of the AK Press publishing monopoly and the stranglehold they had on the anarchist imagination at the time, with their meaninglessly overdone Proudhon, Kropotkin, and Malatesta anthologies and se- date handbooks on “community organizing,” social justice, democratic decision making, feel- good activism, and other complacent cop-outs masquerading as anarchism (it’s astonishing that a small coterie of humorless, ideologically-determined leftoids can take a resplendent, limitless idea like Anarchy and render it so unbearably boring).