Down With the Law: Anarchist Individualist Writings From Early Twentieth-Century France

Primarily known for its inspiring history of mass uprisings and revolutions, France was also, in the first years of the twentieth century, the home of a vibrant, varied, and active anarchist individualist movement, which included figures like Albert Libertad, Emile Armand, André Lorulot, and the young Victor Serge. Skeptical about the possibility of the victory of a working-class revolution, they believed that rather than wait for that hypothetical event it was up to each individual to make his or her own revolution in their daily life in the here and now, refusing to accept any of society’s rules and constraints and insisting on the need to live in accordance with one’s values. While these writings have been given short shrift by English-language historians of French anarchism and radicalism, Down with the Law provides a wide range of voices from within this neglected movement, including a first-hand account of life among the members of the Bonnot Gang. INTRODUCTION BY MITCHELL ABIDOR 1. ALBERT LIBERTAD The Carrion Cult To the Resigned Down with the Law! Fear Spineless Meat 2. ÉMILE ARMAND Is the Anarchist Ideal Realizable? Principal Tendencies and Theses of the “Unique” Center On Sexual Freedom What Is an Anarchist? Is the Illegalist Anarchist Our Comrade? 3. MARIUS JACOB Why I Stole 4. ANDRÉ LORULOT Who Are We? What Do We Want? Men Disgust Me 5. HAN RYNER Antipatriotism Mini-Manual of Individualism Chapter I: On Individualism and a Few Individualists Chapter II: Preparation for Practical Individualism Chapter III: On the Mutual Relations between Individuals Chapter IV: On Society Chapter V: On Social Relations Chapter VI: On Sacrifices to Idols Chapter VII: On the Relations between Morality and Metaphysics 6. GEORGES PALANTE Individualism The Relationship between Pessimism and Individualism The Future of Pessimism and Individualism 7. VICTOR SERGE The Communards A Head Will Fall 8. RIRETTE MAÎTREJEAN Memories of Anarchy