After the Underworld Amusements edition of The Unique and Its Property was attacked and the translator and publisher receiving death threats and much lighter threats from that same anarchist milieu, the book was taken out of circulation, with copies fetching high-dollars on the secondary market. The book was later released in a new, and much pinker, edition by Little Black Cart. While LBC does most of their printing and binding in-house, they went big with a proper professional print run and have been selling it down since its 2018 release.

Leading up to and past the public announcement, Underworld Amusements, a long time supporter of LBC, arranged to make one last big order of books, including nearly EVERY REMAINING COPY of The Unique and Its Property, about a thousand total. After many many months we have just now taken possession of many dozens of boxes of books and pamphlets, and will be inventorying them and adding them to the website.

Further, Underworld Amusements and the Union of Egoists project will be working on NEW EDITIONS of OUR favorite LBC/ARDENT PRESS titles, to be released as we sell out of the on-hand LBC editions.

We’ve got a LOT of books and a LOT of WORK ahead. Restocked books will be on the website over the coming days and we will send out a newsletter focusing on restocked and some new titles. Please BUY BOOKS!

Discover rare photographic glimpses of pioneering egoists such as Dora Marsden and Benjamin R. Tucker, and delve into the visionary project to produce a Braille edition of Max Stirner’s magnum opus for the indomitable Helen Keller. Unearth a plethora of fascinating artifacts pertaining to Malfew Seklew, and be riveted by the astonishing revelation of Ragnar Redbeard’s brief yet impactful foray as a Canadian Socialist Provocateur.

This sixth issue of Der Geist is sure to delight and offend, but most of all, serve as an essential philosophical reference work for centuries to come.

DER GEIST: The Journal of Egoism from 1845 – 1945 | ISSUE 6 | Winter 2023
Paperback, 212 pages, $15
ISBN 978-1-944651-29-9, ISSN 2639-5339

Der Geist, (Trevor Blake, editor; Kevin I. Slaughter, co-editor) is an English-language journal for an international audience, publishing original scholarship on the philosophy of egoism. The journal is descriptive of the first century of egoism in print (from the 1845 publication of Der Einzige und sein Eigentum by Max Stirner to the end of 1945), not prescriptive in advocacy of egoism.

CONTENTS

Introduction by the Editor  2

1. Max Stirner   7

Max Stirner’s Anarchist Gospel | A Dutch Review of Stirner’s Work | Anarchist Black Dragon | Max Stirner vs. Wahrheit-Sucher | “Celine Adele Marillier” | Pity and the Future | Max Stirner and the Grisette | Steven T. Byington’s Triple Score

2. Malfew Seklew  29

On “Bérnard’s Tour” | Minister Mocks Malfew  | Stern Critique of Christian Socialist  | Seklew Asks: Nietzsche to Blame?  | Social Aristocrat Socialist Secretary | A Freak Among Reformers  | No Guide for Anybody | Proletarians in Purgatory | No Justice for Malfew Seklew  | “We’re All More or Less Nutty” | Not Seeking Work  | Seklew Scolds Simpoleons, Supplies Sample Shilling Sericine Silk Set | No Detail Too Small!

3. Ragnar Redbeard   51

Redbeard in Canada | Desmond Selling George  | Give the New Hand a Show! | A.D. in the O.E.D.  | A Bogus Book | Australian Socialist Drinking Club | Redbeard’s Rough Stuff |“We Understand the Redbeard Philosophy” | Voima On Oikeus | Etc.

4. Dora Marsden  95

Dora Marsden for the Prosecution | The Freewomen of New York | Dora Marsden, unser aller Mutter  | Dora Marsden Ephemera | Rare Portraits

5. Benjamin DeCasseres   107

Emmeline Pankhurst | Pyrrhonism and Acatalepsy | Balzac | The Borrowed Mirror

6. Friedrich Nietzsche   117

Nietzsche and a Braille Stirner for Hellen Keller | “Will Nietzsche Come Into Vogue…” | The Works of Friedrich Nietzsche | Alexander Tille Reads Egoism

7. Enzo Martucci   135

A Sketch of Martucci | An Excerpt from The Red Sect | Martucci on Stirner

8. Free Spirits  159

Peter Lamborn Wilson Has Passed  | Hakim Bey: Real and Unreal | Vox Populi Vox Dei | Thompson at Rudolf Steiner Hall | Speakers’ Corner Anthology | Among the Anarchists | The True Comarade | Is This What You Call “Living?” | The Thirteenth Paragraph | Greeves Fisher, A Sketch | Dominance vs. Egoism | More Individualism | Individualism and Property | Why I am a Right-Wing Anarchist | Opening and Closing the Dil Pickle | Christmas a Joke! | “I” a poem  | “I GO” a poem| A Letter to the Editors of Freedom | Enrico Arrigoni Bibliography | Photo of Benjamin R. Tucker | About the Editors

This is a republication (with a new, additional Foreword) of an anthology first published in 1977. It is a collection of excerpts and other written material connected to Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner and there are several references to the SPGB scattered throughout. Jim Huggon is an anarchist who spoke regularly there from 1965 to 1983. […] There are excerpts too from famous Speakers’ Corner regular Bonar Thompson’s book, Hyde Park Orator, which has also recently been republished with added illustrations. […] This anthology helps capture the spirit of an earlier age.

Please read the entire review here. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the oldest extant political party of any kind in the United Kingdom. They were founded in in 1904, preceding the Russian Revolution by a good decade. They know their socialism, and are not adverse to praising those who know their egoism.

Available from Underworld Amusements , and Nine-Banded Books.

Stand Alone is a mixed medium and format journal produced at irregular intervals. The focus is Egoism and the individuals associated with it. Produced by the Union Of Egoists with individual issues published by different sources.

Paperback | 5.5 x 8.5”, 128 pages | Price: $16.95 | ISBN: 978-1-943687-28-2
Hardback | 5.75 x 8.75”, 128 pages | Price: $66 | ISBN: 978-1-943687-29-9

Buy the Paperback: Amazon.com or Underworld Amusements

Buy the Hardback: Underworld Amusements

Step into the history of The Radical Book Shop of Chicago, a forgotten hub of anarchist, unionist, socialist, and communist literature. From its humble beginnings in 1914, this bookstore inspired revolutionaries and welcomed poets, novelists, roughnecks, and even would-be assassins around its iron stove. Despite police and political harassment, for over a decade the Radical Book Shop remained a beloved destination for rebels and intellectuals alike.

Howard and Lillian H. Udell founded this “shoebox-sized” bookstore out of desperation using their personal library. The curious and precocious Udell daughters helped them run the tiny outlet, where they grew up with habitués such as union tough guy Big Bill Haywood and his Wobblies; literary luminaries Kenneth Rexroth, Sherwood Anderson, Ralph Chaplin, and Carl Sandburg; the wild hobohemians of the Dil Pickle Club and Bughouse Square; artist Stanisław Szukalski;  and notorious outsiders like Arthur “Ragnar Redbeard” Desmond (author of Might is Right) and Nestor “Jean Crones” Dondoglio (mastermind behind the infamous 1916 “soup-poison plot”).

The Radical Book Shop of Chicago by Kevin I. Slaughter is a thoroughly researched and prolifically illustrated history of this incredible hub of political and artistic dynamite. With an appendix of all known writings by Lillian H. Udell, including a biographical sketch of Voltairine De Cleyre, and reviews of several books published by Charles H. Kerr. Whether you’re interested in the hidden history of radical politics and literature, or simply curious about the influential figures who frequented the store, this book is a must-read.

More information available at the website TheRadicalBookShop.com

Peace News once organised an activist training in which the participants had to stand on a stepladder in Tavistock Square and deliver a speech to the passers-by.

It is a skill that people with a political opinion should have. But these days, few do.

Many quail at the simple political tool of door-knocking.

The Speakers’ Corner Anthology is a collection of writings about the famous Tyburn corner of London’s Hyde Park, by Marble Arch. There, since the mid-nineteenth century, speech-making has been tolerated by the park authorities (as long as no racing tips are shared). The park regulations are included in the book so one can see all the other categories of forbidden utterances.

The editor, Jim Huggon, was a speaker on the anarchist platform at Speakers’ Corner for 18 years, after being invited up to ‘have a go’ by my father, John Rety.

Reading this book, I came to understand how standing on a ladder develops a speaker’s quick wit and fearlessness, a closeness and connection with people, and a tolerance of diversity of opinion.

What an art! The writers in this anthology – the socialists, Christians, anarchists and communists – reveal that putting forward your ideas in public is not just about ‘the gift of the gab’, it is a studied and developed skill.

The anthology includes a fantastic piece of reportage by Karl Marx describing the energy and feistiness of the 1855 Sunday Trading Bill demonstrations, where participants harangued the toffs in Rotten Row for three hours (‘Only English lungs are capable of such a feat’). Marx also analyses police strategy towards public demonstrations.

There are also humorous pieces by Bonar Thompson who, like others, made his living as an entertaining speaker – until 1926, when the park authorities banned passing the hat round. So many of the speakers had to have wit to counter hecklers – and humour to keep their crowd from drifting off to hear rival orators.

There is a beautiful piece by Methodist minister Donald Soper who spoke at the other public speaking pitch on Tower Hill (site of the other gallows in London). Soper writes on the personalities, eccentricities and friendships.

In all these writings, it is apparent that discourse, debate, heckling and profound disagreement over politics and religion did not lead to hatred. Which is very interesting when you compare this to the emotions generated by social media.

George Orwell writes about sellers of Freedom and Peace News being arrested in 1945 at Hyde Park and how the belief that the press is free was an overrated one, even though you could say anything you liked at Speakers’ Corner.

On the other hand, Philip Sansom, an anarchist speaker from 1947 to 1960, is critical of the idea that free speech on this corner has any power at all. Rather, he argues, it is a form of kettling of expression into a safely-contained area.

Sansom points out that, during the postwar government, not a single Labour politician addressed the public at Speakers’ Corner. They removed themselves safely from popular debate.

Despite his critique, I finished this engaging book with the understanding that public speaking helps you to think and that we should all be taking that risk and standing on the ladder in Tavistock Square.

Available from Underworld Amusements, Amazon, B&N, Bookshop

Originally issued in 1977 by Jim Huggon’s Hyde Park Speakers’ Union and Kropotkin’s Lighthouse Publications. Huggon was a regular speaker himself, and wrote and published numerous titles relating to Anarchism and London Radicals.

“I spoke on the Hyde Park Anarchist Platform for eighteen years from 1965 to 1983. At one time, briefly, we had three anarchist platforms at Speakers’ Comer because our views on anarchism were so different. Which is – of course – as it should be. In 1977 I edited and published Speakers’ Corner Anthology, writings by speakers and about speakers plus photos and illustrations, until now out of print and quite rare. It included substantial extracts from Bonar Thompsons’ autobiography plus a photo of Bonar in his famous black hat, plus a reproduction in full of his famous but now very rare journal The Black Hat.” – Jim Huggon, editor.

Max Stirner wrote in Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (1845):

Wie bei den Griechen möchte man den Menschen jetzt zu einem zoon politikon machen, einem Staatsbürger oder politischen Menschen. So galt er lange Zeit als »Himmelsbürger«. Der Grieche wurde aber mit seinem Staate-zugleich entwürdigt, der Himmelsbürger wird es mit dem Himmel; Wir hingegen wollen nicht mit dem Volke, der Nation und Nationalität zugleich untergehen, wollen nicht bloss politische Menschen oder Politiker sein. »Volksbeglückung« strebt man seit der Revolution an, und indem man das Volk glücklich, gross u. dergl. macht, macht man Uns unglücklich: Volksglück ist — mein Unglück.

Steven T. Byington translated and interpreted this passage in The Ego and His Own (1907):

As with the Greeks, there is now a wish to make man a zoon politicon, a citizen of the State or political man. So he ranked for a long time as a “citizen of heaven.” But the Greek fell into ignominy along with his State, the citizen of heaven likewise falls with heaven; we, on the other hand, are not willing to go down along with the people, the nation and nationality, not willing to be merely political men or politicians. Since the Revolution they have striven to “make the people happy,” and in making the people happy, great, etc., they make Us unhappy: the people’s good hap is — my mishap.

Byington was able to convey the double-meaning of Stirner in “… the Greek fell into ignominy along with his State… ” because in English, State can refer both to “nation” and “nature.” Byington also conveyed the deliberate ambiguity of the capitalized “Us” in the final sentence: it is “us” the people they strive to make happy, and “Us” the Royal singular who are not made happy, both at the same time as a deliberate contradiction. But Byington scores a triple goal with closing alliteration. See the poetry of happy / unhappy (favorable / unfavorable mood), hap (circumstance) and mishap (accident).

You can learn more of Byington’s life and work in the most recent issue of Der Geist (2017), issue five.

Enrico Arrigoni Bibliography

Adventures in the Country of the Monoliths: or, The Country Where Liberty Has Been Buried
Arrigoni, Enrico
New York: Libertarian Book Club, 1981
Paperback. 269p., wraps, 5.5×8.25 inches

Canary yellow wraps, interior professionally typeset.
Libertarian Book Club on cover and title page. Address given for LBC as “Box 842, General Post Office”. No copyright statement or other information on verso of title page.
Back cover is blank.

Freedom: My Dream
Arrigoni, Enrico
New York: Libertarian Book Club, [198-?].
Paperback. 440p., wraps, 5.5×8.25 inches

Light green wraps, text typeset by typewriter ragged right. Very small margins, inconsistent text block height
Libertarian Book Club on spine and copyright page, though it lacks copyright statement.
Address for LBC given as “Now 339 Lafayette Street, Room 212”, implying a recent move.
Back cover is blank.

The Lunacy of the Superman and Other Plays
Arrigoni, Enrico
[No publisher information given], 1977
Paperback. [~600]p., wraps, 5.5×8.25 inches

Red lettering on pink wrap, “superman” in all caps.
Text on spine is bottom-up, in reverse of normal orientation.
Title page has an explicit statement that the book and contents are not copyrighted and “can be performed without permission or royalty payments.” It further states that the book was “distributed free”.
Below the table of contents is a statement that the book is printed on light yellow paper to prevent “bleed-through” on photocopies made for cast of a play.
10 plays printed, folio resets for each play. Interior typeset by typewriter.
Back cover is blank.

That Character Called God
Arrigoni, Enrico
[No publisher information given, no date of publication] Paperback. 180p., wraps, 5.5×8.25 inches

Red lettering on canary yellow wrap. No publisher information or publication date is given.
Title page states “No Copyright”. No content of verso of title page. No table of contents.
Professionally typeset in small point.
Back cover is blank.

The Totalitarian Nightmare
Arrigoni, Enrico
Foreword by Paul Avrich
Culver City: Western World Press
Paperback. 285p., wraps, 5.5×8.25 inches

White wraps. Inside front cover gives notices of corrections on last two pages. Table of contents.
Copyright page, found after Foreword, states “First Printing November 1975”. Further states “published without copyright.”

In Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (1845), Max Stirner quotes Galatians 4 verse 26 in saying: “Das Jerusalem, das droben ist, das ist die Freie, die ist unser aller Mutter.” Stephen T. Byington translates the passage in his 1907 translation of Stirner, The Ego and His Own, as “The Jerusalem that is above is the freewoman; she is the mother of us all.”

Dora references the passage again in the dedication to her book The Definition of the Godhead (1928): To / THE GREAT NAME, / HUSHED AMONG US FOR SO LONG / of / HER, / HEAVEN, / THE MIGHTY MOTHER / of / ALL.