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PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
For more than twenty years I have entertained the design of publishing an English translation of " Der Einzige und sein Eigentum ." When I formed this design, the number of English-speaking persons who had ever heard of the book was very limited. The memory of Max Stirner had been virtually extinct for an entire generation. But in the last two decades there has been a remarkable revival of interest both in the book and in its author. It began in this country with a discussion in the pages of the
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Fifty years sooner or later can make little difference in the case of a book so revolutionary as this. It saw the light when a so-called revolutionary movement was preparing in men's minds, which agitation was, however, only a disturbance due to desires to participate in government, and to govern and to be governed, in a manner different to that which prevails. The "revolutionists" of 1848 were bewitched with an idea. They were not at all the masters of ideas. Most of those who since that time h
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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
If the style of this book is found unattractive, it will show that I have done my work ill and not represented the author truly; but, if it is found odd, I beg that I may not bear all the blame. I have simply tried to reproduce the author's own mixture of colloquialisms and technicalities, and his preference for the precise expression of his thought rather than the word conventionally expected. One especial feature of the style, however, gives the reason why this preface should exist. It is char
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All Things are Nothing to Me[1]
All Things are Nothing to Me[1]
What is not supposed, to be my concern [2] ! First and foremost, the Good Cause, [3] then God's cause, the cause of mankind, of truth, of freedom, of humanity, of justice; further, the cause of my people, my prince, my fatherland; finally, even the cause of Mind, and a thousand other causes. Only my cause is never to be my concern. "Shame on the egoist who thinks only of himself!" Let us look and see, then, how they manage their concerns—they for whose cause we are to labor, devote ourselves, an
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Part First
Part First
Man is to man the supreme being , says Feuerbach. Man has just been discovered , says Burno Bauer. Then let us take a more careful look at this supreme being and this new discovery....
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I A HUMAN LIFE
I A HUMAN LIFE
From the moment when he catches sight of the light of the world a man seeks to find out himself and get hold of himself out of its confusion, in which he, with everything else, is tossed about in motley mixture. But everything that comes in contact with the child defends itself in turn against his attacks, and asserts its own persistence. Accordingly, because each thing cares for itself and at the same time comes into constant collision with other things, the combat of self-assertion is unavoida
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II. MEN OF THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW
II. MEN OF THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW
How each of us developed himself, what he strove for, attained, or missed, what objects he formerly pursued and what plans and wishes his heart is now set on, what transformations his views have experienced, what perturbations his principles,—in short, how he has to-day become what yesterday or years ago he was not,—this he brings out again from his memory with more or less ease, and he feels with especial vividness what changes have taken place in himself when he has before his eyes the unrolli
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Part Second
Part Second
At the entrance of the modern time stands the "God-man." At its exit will only the God in the God-man evaporate? and can the God-man really die if only the God in him dies? They did not think of this question, and thought they were through when in our days they brought to a victorious end the work of the Illumination, the vanquishing of God; they did not notice that Man has killed God in order to become now—"sole God on high." The other world outside us is indeed brushed away, and the great unde
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I OWNNESS[104]
I OWNNESS[104]
"Does not the spirit thirst for freedom?"—Alas, not my spirit alone, my body too thirsts for it hourly! When before the odorous castle-kitchen my nose tells my palate of the savory dishes that are being prepared therein, it feels a fearful pining at its dry bread; when my eyes tell the hardened back about soft down on which one may lie more delightfully than on its compressed straw, a suppressed rage seizes it; when—but let us not follow the pains further.—And you call that a longing for freedom
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II THE OWNER
II THE OWNER
I—do I come to myself and mine through liberalism? Whom does the liberal look upon as his equal? Man! Be only man, and that you are anyway,—and the liberal calls you his brother. He asks very little about your private opinions and private follies, if only he can espy "Man" in you. But, as he takes little heed of what you are privatim ,—nay, in a strict following out of his principle sets no value at all on it,—he sees in you only what you are generatim . In other words, he sees in you, not you ,
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III THE UNIQUE ONE
III THE UNIQUE ONE
Pre-Christian and Christian times pursue opposite goals; the former wants to idealize the real, the latter to realize the ideal; the former seeks the "holy spirit," the latter the "glorified body." Hence the former closes with insensitiveness to the real, with "contempt for the world"; the latter will end with the casting off of the ideal, with "contempt for the spirit." The opposition of the real and the ideal is an irreconcilable one, and the one can never become the other: if the ideal became
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LIBERTY
LIBERTY
BENJ. R. TUCKER, Editor An Anarchistic journal, expounding the doctrine that in Equal Liberty is to be found the most satisfactory solution of social questions, and that majority rule, or democracy, equally with monarchical rule, is a denial of Equal Liberty. G. BERNARD SHAW, author of " Man and Superman ": "Liberty is a lively paper, in which the usual proportions of a half-pennyworth of discussion to an intolerable deal of balderdash are reversed." ERNEST H. CROSBY, author of " Captain Jinks,
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MODERN MARRIAGE
MODERN MARRIAGE
BY Emile Zola TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY BENJ. R. TUCKER In this story Zola takes four typical marriages,—one from the nobility, one from the bourgeoisie , one from the petite bourgeoisie , and one from the working people,—and describes, with all the power of his wondrous art, how each originates, by what motive each is inspired, how each is consummated, and how each results. A new edition from new plates, and at a reduced price. Price, 10 cents...
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CARLOTTA CORTINA
CARLOTTA CORTINA
BY FRANCIS DU BOSQUE A very remarkable story of New York's Italian quarter,—in fact, one of the best short stories ever written in America....
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Here's Luck to Lora AND OTHER POEMS
Here's Luck to Lora AND OTHER POEMS
BY WILLIAM WALSTEIN GORDAK Mr. Gordak comes entirely unannounced, but his verse speaks well for him. He is a natural poet who writes evenly and melodiously of the beauties of nature and the daintier side of love. Nothing in his little book is cheap. His muse has a lofty flight, and his teachings uplift.— Oregonian , Portland, Ore. PRICE, ONE DOLLAR...
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The Anarchists
The Anarchists
A Picture of Civilization at the Close of the Nineteenth Century BY JOHN HENRY MACKAY Translated from the German by GEORGE SCHUMM New York Morning Journal. —"'The Anarchists' is one of the very few books that have a right to live. For insight into life and manners, for dramatic strength, for incisiveness of phrase, and for cold, pitiless logic, no book of this generation equals it." St. Louis Republic. —"The book is a prose poem." Cloth, One Dollar; Paper, Fifty cents...
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JOSIAH WARREN
JOSIAH WARREN
A Biography, with portrait BY WILLIAM BAILIE The biography is preceded by an essay on "The Anarchist Spirit," in which Mr. Bailie defines Anarchist belief in relation to other social forces. Price, One Dollar...
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The Philosophy of Egoism
The Philosophy of Egoism
BY JAMES L. WALKER (Tak Kak) My nose I've used for smelling, and I've blown it: But how to prove the RIGHT by which I own it? Schiller , freely translated "No more concise exposition of the philosophy of Egoism has ever been given to the world. In this book Duty, Conscience, Moralism, Right, and all the fetiches and superstitions which have infested the human intellect since man ceased to walk on four feet, are annihilated, swept away, relegated to the rubbish heap of the waste of human intellig
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Slaves to Duty
Slaves to Duty
BY JOHN BADCOCK, JR. Assailing the morality superstition as the foundation of the various schemes for the exploitation of mankind. Max Stirner himself does not expound the doctrine of Egoism in bolder fashion. Price, 5 cents...
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State Socialism AND Anarchism
State Socialism AND Anarchism
How Far They Agree and Wherein They Differ BY BENJ. R. TUCKER The opening chapter of "Instead of a Book," reprinted separately. The best pamphlet with which to meet the demand for a compact exposition of Anarchism....
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The Attitude of Anarchism TOWARD Industrial Combinations
The Attitude of Anarchism TOWARD Industrial Combinations
An address delivered in Central Music Hall, Chicago, on September 14, 1899, before the Conference on Trusts held under the auspices of the Civic Federation. Chicago Chronicle. —"The speech which roused the most intense degree of enthusiasm and called forth the greatest applause at yesterday's sessions of the trust conference fell in rounded periods and with polished utterance from the lips of a professed Anarchist." Prof. Edward W. Bemis in the New York Journal. —"Benj. R. Tucker, the famous Ana
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MUTUAL BANKING
MUTUAL BANKING
BY WILLIAM B. GREENE Showing the radical deficiency of the existing circulating medium, and the advantages of a free currency; a plan whereby to abolish interest, not by State intervention, but by first abolishing State intervention itself. A new edition, from new plates , of one of the most important works on finance in the English language, and presenting, for the first time, a portrait of the author. Price, 10 cents...
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CHARLES A. DANA'S PLEA FOR ANARCHY
CHARLES A. DANA'S PLEA FOR ANARCHY
Proudhon and His "Bank of the People" BY CHARLES A. DANA A defence of the great French Anarchist; showing the evils of a specie currency, and that interest on capital can and ought to be abolished by a system of free and mutual banking. The series of newspaper articles composing this pamphlet appeared originally in the New York "Tribune," of which Mr. Dana was then managing editor, and a little later in "The Spirit of the Age," a weekly paper published in New York in 1849 by Fowlers & We
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
By C. 3. 3 [OSCAR WILDE] A poem of more than 600 lines, dedicated to the memory of a trooper of the Horse Guards who was hanged in Reading Gaol during the poet's confinement there. An English classic. Cloth, One Dollar; Paper, Ten Cents The cloth edition has covers of blue and vellum, and is beautifully printed from large type on hand-made antique deckle-edge paper. It is a sumptuous book of 96 pages, and should be in every library. Albany Press. —"Strong writing, almost too strong; it is horrib
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God and the State
God and the State
BY MICHAEL BAKOUNINE TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY BENJ. R. TUCKER "One of the most eloquent pleas for liberty ever written. Paine's 'Age of Reason' and 'Rights of Man' consolidated and improved. It stirs the pulse like a trumpet-call."— The Truth Seeker. Price, 15 Cents...
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Free Political Institutions
Free Political Institutions
Their Nature, Essence, and Maintenance AN ABRIDGMENT AND REARRANGEMENT OF LYSANDER SPOONER'S "TRIAL BY JURY" EDITED BY VICTOR YARROS One of the most important works in the propaganda of Anarchism I.—Legitimate Government and Majority Rule. II.—Trial by Jury as a Palladium of Liberty. III.—Trial by Jury as Defined by Magna Carta. IV.—Objections Answered. V.—The Criminal Intent. VI.—Moral Considerations for Jurors. VII.—Free Administration of Justice. VIII.—Juries of the Present Day Illegal. Price
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A Blow at Trial by Jury
A Blow at Trial by Jury
BY BENJ. R. TUCKER An examination of the special jury law passed by the New York legislature in 1896. A speech delivered by the editor of Liberty at a mass meeting held in Cooper Union, New York, June 25, 1897, under the auspices of the Central Labor Union, Typographical Union No. 6, and other labor organizations. Distribution of this pamphlet among lawyers and legislators will tend indirectly to interest them in Anarchism. Price, 5 cents...
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Instead of a Book
Instead of a Book
BY A MAN TOO BUSY TO WRITE ONE A FRAGMENTARY EXPOSITION OF PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHISM Culled from the writings of BENJ. R. TUCKER EDITOR OF LIBERTY With a Full-Page Half-Tone Portrait of the Author A large, well-printed, and excessively cheap volume of 524 pages, consisting of articles selected from Liberty and classified under the following headings: (1) State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree, and Wherein They Differ; (2) The Individual, Society, and the State; (3) Money and Interest; (
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