#landauer

[meatthawsmoth]

There is nothing wrong with building cooperatives or collective villages. But this is not a strategy for overthrowing capitalism and its state. Its most 'successful' implementation were the Israeli kibbutzim, which were ideologically inspired partially by Landauer’s friend, the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber. Whatever their virtues, these served as agents of a capitalist, colonial-settler, new state, not socialist anarchism [sic].

Wayne Price, “Landauer’s Fallacy”

Price doesn’t like Landauer very much, and he’s outright unfair to him in places, but this is spot on.

[unserspeedy]

1987 Frühjahrstraining in Mugello/ Italien. 2 Landauer Rennfahrer bereiten sich auf die deutsche Motorradmeisterschaft vor: Uwe Gassmann und Torsten Weick, beide auf Honda RS 250 Production Racer - die Ankunft in Italien im März war nicht gerade ideal #hondars250 #productionracer #racing #germanchampionship #deutschemotorradmeisterschaft #Mugello #racetrack #rennstrecke #1987 #landauinderpfalz #landauer #südpfalz #rennfahrer #langistsher (hier: Mugello Circuit) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMQMUX0hzDB/?igshid=8h5o6onvj0bx

[uralicpolygon-blog]

five headed chaos dragon of cosmic revolutionary praxis

[nyhistory]

Until the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, New York was a major hub of the international feather trade. Importers, manufacturers, and retailers brought plumes from as far away as Africa and South America to meet the demands of fashion. Hats and clothes decorated with feathers were so popular that many American bird species were hunted almost to the point of extinction. The trade card from H. O’Neill & Co. was typical of the fashion world’s interest in avian beauty.

This story of this trend and the subsequent movement to protect birds is told in our new exhibition Feathers: Fashion and the Fight for Wildlife, on view through July 15.

H. O’Neill & Co. Die-cut brochure in shape of birds. circa 1880-1900. Bella C. Landauer Collection of Business and Advertising Ephemera. New-York Historical Society.

[howieabel]

"Anarchists do not even claim, however, that the majority of oppressed people today even consider themselves victims. It may also be the case that among our own ranks, compassion and love are not necessarily the right words to describe our deepest motives. As for my animating force, it lies in the repugnance at the humanity that encircles us, a rage at the indolence of the rich who blithely build their happiness on the ruins of the joyless existence of the dehumanized multitude. My rage dissipates not one iota when I consider the extent of the squalor to which the oppressed are subjected. As they emerged from the mother’s womb, the haves and the have-nots are as distinguishable as one egg is from another. And then, at the end of their miserable lives, spent as it is among the outcasts of society: slogging, these skeletons — the shadow remaining from an exhausting struggle for life — have scarcely enough money to bury their kin with dignity." - Gustav Landauer, Anarchism in Germany, 1895

[meatthawsmoth]

Long enough the exalted mission of the working class has been proclaimed with all the bells; long enough it has been sung in the most delicate tones and adored in consecrated words; the fragrance of incense seems to have penetrated its nostrils and caused a gentle anaesthetic.

Gustav Landauer. Thanks to @class-struggle-anarchism for sending this quote my way.

[meatthawsmoth]

The more I think about it, the more Blumenfeld misses the mark when talking about Landauer. The stuff that he treats as a result of Stirner's influence on Landauer arguably owes much more to Nietzsche. It's a shame, because apart from the misrepresentations of Landauer's anarchism as a fusion of Stirner and Kabbalah and (possibly) mislabeling him a communist it's pretty strong stuff. But the idea that Landauer, who was so influenced by Tolstoy and Meister Eckhart, would reject something for being "too Christian" is a little absurd. Especially when he wrote stuff like this about Jesus:

“Jesus was a truly inexhaustible figure — so rich, so bountiful and generous, that quite apart from the significance He has for men’s spirit and life He was also a tremendous socialist. But take a Philistine and place him on the one hand before the living Jesus on the Cross, and on the other hand before some new machine designed to transport persons or goods: if he is honest and free of any cultural pretensions he will regard this crucified human being as totally useless and superfluous and will run after that machine. And yet, how immeasurably more have men been really moved by Jesus’ calm, tranquil, suffering greatness of heart and mind than by all the machines we have for the purpose of moving people! And yet, where would our whole transport machinery be without this calm, tranquil, suffering great One on the Cross of mankind.”

[meatthawsmoth]

[Gustav] Landauer underscored how he was in full accord with Kropotkin's observations on the existence of a natural sociability among animals and humans. However, Landauer never elevated this tenet into an ontological premise, which would explain, let alone prescribe, all human behavior. On the contrary, he even defended the Russian scientist against the accusation of committing to an essentialist position in the sense of a simplistic mirror image of Social Darwinian arguments, since there is 'no explanation of what nature allegedly wants or must do [...], but merely a description of what is unmistakable found in nature.'

Dominique Miething, “Overcoming the Preachers of Death: Gustav Landauer’s Reading of Nietzsche”