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“The term ‘Philosophic Anarchist,’ as Fred Schulder justly said, is merely a cloak for a great many who hate to be considered fools, and yet haven’t the courage to admit that they are opposed to present society.”

July 30, 2012 By: John Kindley Category: Uncategorized

I came across the quote in the title of this post when I took it in to my head to Google “Single Tax Anarchist.” My idol Albert Jay Nock was one, as was Leo Tolstoy. So were Ralph Borsodi, lawyer Bolton Hall, and Fred Schulder. (Hall and Borsodi were originators of the back-to-the-land movement.) The quote in the title of this post is from a letter from Emma Goldman to Bolton Hall (in an exchange in which in my opinion Goldman gets the better of Hall). Schulder expressed [CORRECTION: Actually, he didn’t. See the first comment below.] a similar sentiment here:

But prudence is understood to be a virtue, and since the publication of Stirner’s book we are not supposed to care much for virtues. Jesus Christ, whose words I have been quoting, was not prudent. He cared no more whether intelligent public opinion respected him than he did whether it spared his life. He would sooner utter a word that would receive the contempt of thousands, and the indifference of other thousands more, and enlighten a few, than a word which would receive the respectful attention of all the wise owls and open-mouthed sparrows in Palestine and enlighten nobody at all. Hence his ultimate influence on the course of human life and thought was greater than Gamaliel’s. Those who care more for conveying an idea than for getting a respectful hearing may let his example encourage them to see if anything can be said for the more sweeping use of words.

3 Comments to ““The term ‘Philosophic Anarchist,’ as Fred Schulder justly said, is merely a cloak for a great many who hate to be considered fools, and yet haven’t the courage to admit that they are opposed to present society.””


  1. John,

    The quotation you’ve pulled from Liberty here (“But prudence is understood to be a virtue . . .”) may well be representative of Schulder’s views, but the words you quote are not by Fred Schulder. The article you’re quoting from (“Who Is A Rascal?”) is by Steven T. Byington; Fred Schulder wrote the article immediately above it, “A Healthy Sign.”

    The formatting that Anarchy Archives did on the issue unfortunately makes this less than clear, but Tucker more or less always put author’s signatures at the end of the articles, not above the headlines, as you can see in the original page layout.

    Hope this helps.

    1
    • John Kindley says:

      Sorry it took me so long to approve your comment. I’ve been getting deluged with spam comments lately, and didn’t notice until just now the real comment amidst all the spam. Thanks very much for that important clarification. I actually did note that the formatting of who wrote what was less than clear, and tried to double-check it, but it looks like I still missed it. Hopefully I’ll find as good of a quote in the article that Schulder actually did write!

      2
      • John Kindley says:

        Or maybe not. It’s only 3 paragraphs long 🙁 That quote so matched the statement Goldman attributed to him too.

        3


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