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

Meanwhile the respectable young man, excited through the daily association and contact with his sweetheart, seeks an outlet for his nature in return for money. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, he will be infected, and when he is materially able to marry, he will infect his wife and possible offspring. And the young flower, with every fiber aglow with the fire of life, with all her being crying out for love and passion? She has no outlet. She develops headaches, insomnia, hysteria; grows embittered, quarrelsome, and soon becomes a faded, withered, joyless being, a nuisance to herself and everyone else. No wonder Stirner preferred the grisette to the maiden grown gray with virtue.

His article “Immorality as a Philosophic Principle” is reprinted here in facsimile from the July 1899 issue of The Monist. In it, Carus introduces the reader to Nietzsche’s ideas and this “aristocratic individualism”. “It is a consistent anarchism, a courageous immoralism, and a proud aristocratism, the ruthless shout of triumph of the victor who hails the doctrine of the survival of the strongest and craftiest as a ‘joyful science.'”

Available from Underworld Amusements

In a section titled “Nietzsche’s Disciples”, Carus covers some of the work of egoists of the time, including the journal The Eagle and The Serpent in England and Der Eigene in Germany. Strangely enough, he refers to Max Stirner as being an “expounder of Niteche’s philosophy even though he predated him by decades. Further, Ragnar Redbeard and his book Might is Right are touched upon, as well as Clarence L. Swartz and Elbert Hubbard. Readers of Der Geist and the Stand Alone series will be well familiar with all the names mentioned in this section.

They say – the practical, unsentimental folk – that this attitude of sympathy cannot last; that by our own showing the possession of power petrifies the heart; that it is the subjected position of women that makes them gentler by nature; and that once admitted to equal rights with man, they will inevitably become equally callous. It may be so; it may be that the world will one day become wholly populated by disciples of Nietzsche and Max Stirner, in which case my only consolation is that I shall be comfortably cremated before this age is reached. But I do not believe it: I think that the time IS at hand when society is ready for fellow ship, and that it only needs a big shake-up, the destruction of an age-old tyranny, to begin to usher in the new era. At least, woman’s freedom seems to me our last chance of remoulding the world nearer to the heart’s desire of myself and those who think with me. The battalions of the Parsifalites and the Also-sprach-Zarathustrans are already mustering for the encounter; and it is to the newly armed, pity-enlightened squadrons of my sisters that I look for the victor.

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.

On October 2, 2013, the Dallas Auction Gallery listed the following:

Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean, “Celine Adele Marillier” oil on canvas, 1885. Signed and inscribed in gold upper right “Anno – MDCCCLXXXV / Aman Jean pinxit / Imago Celine Adele Marillier / Aetatis Suae / XXV”. Canvas: 45.5”H x 35.5”W; Frame: 50”H x 40”W. Provenance: Christie’s London, June 25 1998, Lot 292. Note: Accompanied by a photocertificate signed by Robert Hellebranth, dated April 23, 1998, stating this work will be included in the artist’s catalogue raisonne. The book held by the sitter is L’unique et sa propriete by Max Stirner, originally published in German in 1845 as Der einzige und sein eigentum. An extract from the book is inscribed on the stretcher verso. Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean (French, 1860-1935) was known for his landscapes and female portraits.

The Union of Egoists is keen on contacting the current owner of this piece.

Leo Markun provides a strong introduction to the history, life, and philosophy of Johann Caspar Schmidt, known professionally as Max Stirner, the father of Egoism. This long essay was first released in 1925 as part of the Little Blue Book series by the prolific publisher Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (1889-1951).

Available from Underworld Amusements

This booklet was printed on a 1930s Linotype Letterpress by Michael E. Coughlin, editor and publisher of the anarchist journal the dandelion and co-editor of Benjamin R. Tucker and the Champions of Liberty (1987). Using 100 pound Starch Rain Speckletone by French Paper, and giving it a strong “bite” so that the reader can feel the impression of the printing plates on the paper, the cover design of this booklet pays homage to the Little Blue Book series it was originally a part of, while standing out as a unique and informative addition to any Egoist’s collection.

This striking booklet contains Markun’s analysis of Max Stirner’s philosophy of Egoism including “The Paradox in Stirner’s Message,” “The Possibility of Liberty,” “Owning the World,” and more. Max Stirner and the Philosophy of the Individual also features the only known biographical sketch of Leo Markun, written by Little Blue Book scholar Jason Ramsay-Brown, and a Preface by Kevin I. Slaughter.

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.

Terrorism
by John Bosch and Carl Harp
Anarchist Black Dragon
Washington State Penitentiary
Number 8 (February 14 1981) page 15

The idea that terrorism results from the Capitalistic sickness(es) of individualism is false. Individualism is neither a sickness nor is it a result of Capitalism. The Capitalists might talk big about the right of a person to be an individual, but in actual practice they deny this right to anyone but themselves. Even amoung themselves, there are strict rules of behaviour that dictate just how for one may go in practicing it.

The only ones who actively pursue Individualism are the Egoists and other types of anarchist. The fundamental concepts of Anarchism are Individualism and related ideas. Max Stirner presented the idea in The Ego and Its Own. All other Anarchist theories revolve around this basic concept, that the individual has the right to dictate his own life.

Misdirected acts are a danger and a symptom (sometimes) of irresponsibility, but we must recognize the right of all people to use whatever weapons are available to them. Survival is often a rationale for using terrorism. Terror, properly used, is one of the best psycological weapons in any arsenal. Let no one disarm the people…

“Freedom You Want… “
Max Stirner
Anarchist Black Dragon
Washington State Penitentiary
Volume 1 Number 11 (circa March 1983)

Freedom you want, you want freedom. Why then do you higgle over a more or less? Freedom can only be the whole of freedom; a piece of freedom is not freedom. You despair of the possibility of obtaining the whole of freedom, freedom from everything, yes, you consider it insanity even to wish this? Well, then leave off chasing after the phantom, and spend your pains on something better than the unattainable Therefore turn to yourselves rather than to your gods or idols, Bring out from yourselves what is in you, bring it to the light, bring yourselves to revelation. How one acts only from himself, and asks after nothing further, the Christians have realized in the notion “God. ” He acts “as it pleases him.” And foolish man, who could do just so, is to act as it “pleases God” instead. If it is said that even God proceeds according to eternal laws, that too fits me, since I too cannot get out of my skin, but have my law in my whole nature, i.e. in myself.

If your efforts are ever to make freedom the issue, then exhaust freedom’s demands, Who is it that is to be come free? You, I, we. Free from what? From everything that is not you, not I, not we. I, therefore, am the kernel that is to be delivered from all wrappings and freed from all cramping shells. What is left when I have been freed from everything that is not I? Only I; nothing but I. But freedom has nothing to offer this I himself. As to what is now to hap pen further after I have become free, freedom is silent, as our governments, when the prisoner’s time is up, merely let him go, thrusting him out into abandorment.

The State has nothing to be more afraid of than the value of me, and no thing must it more carefully guard against than every occasion that offers itself to me for realizing value from myself. What a slave will do as soon as he has broken his fetters, one must await…

Available from: Underworld Amusements | Amazon.com | Amazon.UK | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org

DER GEIST issue five features the first publication of original research, and archival materials thought lost. Steven T. Byington (first English translation of Der Einzige und sein Eigentum by Max Stirner); Thomas Common (first English translation of Friedrich Nietzsche); Georgia Replogle (first English-language journal on egoism); Malfew Seklew (the Laughing Philosopher); Arthur Desmond (author of a notorious book); Dora Marsden, S. E. Parker and more.

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.

DER GEIST, The Journal of Egoism from 1845 – 1945
ISSUE 5
Spring 2022
Paperback, 206 pages, fifteen dollars
ISBN 978-1944651244
ISSN 2639-5339

CONTENTS

Introduction by the Editor

1. Steven T. Byington

A Proofreader Looks Back | The Human Cutworm | Photo of Steven T. Byington | Biographical Note | Selected Bibliography

2. Thomas Common

Review of Survival of the Fittest | The Silent Isle: Finding the Gravesite of Thomas Common | A Memorial | Selected Bibliography

3. Ragnar Redbeard

Bertha McNamara’s Reflections on Arthur Desmond | Illustration from The Worker | John Ploughman and His Letter | The Brutalitarian: A Journal for the Sane and the Strong | Lion’s Paw Banned | Confessions of an Anarchist

4. Max Stirner / The Ego And His Own

Donald Rooum’s “Eigenheit” | An Early Literary Portrait of Max Stirner

5. Dora Marsden

Brainy Beauties | Private Places | Lover of Freedom

6. Malfew Seklew

Dan O’Brien, Social Supercrat | Victor Grayson, M.P.: A Rhapsody on a Reality | Spencella Wilkesbarre’s What Women Ought to Know | Stanley Simpoleon Says Seklew Stand-In | William Henry Powell and Malfew Seklew | Poetic Beer Drinker | A Remarkable Character | Two from Day Book

7. Free Spirits

Photo of Georgia Replogle | Photo of S. E. Parker | Letter from Denise Juin | Interview with S. E. Parker | Sophie Leppel’s “Pig Eaters Challenge” | Herbert Roseman on Laurance Labadie | Leedz Anarkyst: Greevz Fisher (1845-1931) | Holbrook Jackson on Nietzsche | Index of Der Geist | From the Library | Index to The Lumberjack / Voice of the People | A Thank-You to Patrons | Select Titles Available | About the Editors

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.