International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Little is known of the birth and death of the revolutionary writer and journalist Anselme Bellegarrigue, but his brief appearance (1848–51) during and immediately after the 1848 revolution in France left us one of the earliest anarchist manifestos. He was probably born between 1820 and 1825 in or near Toulouse, France, maybe of Basque origin. After attending the lyceum of Auch, and probably a little before 1847, still a monarchist, he traveled to the United States of America. His meeting with President Polk on a Mississippi steamboat made him appreciate the idea of minimal government republicanism. On his arrival in Paris in February 1848, however, his ideas were significantly radicalized. According to his friend Ulysse Pic, a.k.a. Jean des Spélugues or Pic Dugers, in a discussion with a young worker after the start of the 1848 revolt, the following exchange took place: “Ah, my friend, the savage from the new world said, victory is already stolen. – How then? – Well, didn't you appoint a government?” ( Nettlau: 1925 ). His name was also found on a subscriber list to the “Central Republican Society” of Louis Auguste Blanqui , but his ideas were clearly too anti-statist and anti-authoritarian: he called political parties the vermin of the nations, and advocated not the abolition of the government but the abolition of all government. Convinced of the failure of the revolution, Bellegarrigue ... log in or subscribe to read full text