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L'Anarchie
De nos jours, le mot anarchie est connoté négativement : il signifierait les pires chaos, désordres et turpitudes de la collectivité humaine. Les hommes politiques l'utilisent à la manière d'un épouvantail. Mais qui se souvient, que les premiers anarchistes, comme Elisée Reclus, ou Kropotkine, étaient des hommes d'une grande rigueur morale et pleins d'optimisme. Sans doute idéalisaient-ils la nature humaine. Le vingtième siècle avec son cortège d'horreurs n'était pas advenu. Ce texte bref et intense issu d'une conférence prononcée en 1894 décrit ce qu'est l'anarchie à une époque où l'État était perçu comme garant des acquis de la classe des propriétaires bourgeois, et répressif pour les autres. Il conserve une actualité étonnante.
- GenresPolitics
62 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
4 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Élisée Reclus
910 books55 followersÉlisée Reclus, also known as Jacques Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes ("Universal Geography"), over a period of nearly 20 years (1875 - 1894). In 1892 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work, despite his having been banished from France because of his political activism.
Reclus was the second son of a Protestant pastor and his wife. From the family of fourteen children, several, including his brother and fellow geographer Onésime Reclus, went on to achieve renown either as men of letters, politicians or members of the learned professions.
Reclus began his education in Rhenish Prussia, and continued higher studies at the Protestant college of Montauban. He completed his studies at University of Berlin, where he followed a long course of geography under Carl Ritter.
Withdrawing from France because of political events of December 1851, he spent the next six years (1852 - 1857) traveling and working in Great Britain, the United States, Central America, and Colombia. Arriving in Louisiana in 1853, Reclus worked for about two and a half years as a tutor to the children of Septime and Félicité Fortier at their plantation Félicité, located about 50 miles upriver from New Orleans. He recounted his passage through the Mississippi river delta and impressions of antebellum New Orleans and the state in Fragment d'un voyage á Louisiane, published in 1855.
On his return to Paris, Reclus contributed to the Revue des deux mondes, the Tour du monde and other periodicals, a large number of articles embodying the results of his geographical work. Among other works of this period was the short book Histoire d’un ruisseau, in which he traced the development of a great river from source to mouth. From 1867 - 1868 he published La Terre; description des phénomènes de la vie du globe in two volumes.
During the 1870 siege of Paris, Reclus shared in the aerostatic operations conducted by Félix Nadar, and also served in the National Guard. As a member of the Association Nationale des Travailleurs, he published a hostile manifesto against the government of Versailles in support of the Paris Commune of 1871 in the Cri du Peuple.
Continuing to serve in the National Guard, now in open revolt, Reclus was taken prisoner on April 5, and on November 16 was sentenced to deportation for life. Because of intervention by supporters from England, the sentence was commuted in January 1872 to perpetual banishment from France.
After a short visit to Italy, Reclus settled at Clarens, Switzerland, where he resumed his literary labours and produced Histoire d’une montagne, a companion to Histoire d’un ruisseau. There he wrote nearly the whole of his work, La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, "an examination of every continent and country in terms of the effects that geographic features like rivers and mountains had on human populations—and vice versa," This compilation was profusely illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings. It was awarded the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892. An English edition appeared simultaneously, also in 19 volumes, the first four by E. G. Ravenstein, the rest by A.H. Keane. Reclus's writings were characterized by extreme accuracy and brilliant exposition, which gave them permanent literary and scientific value.
Reclus was the second son of a Protestant pastor and his wife. From the family of fourteen children, several, including his brother and fellow geographer Onésime Reclus, went on to achieve renown either as men of letters, politicians or members of the learned professions.
Reclus began his education in Rhenish Prussia, and continued higher studies at the Protestant college of Montauban. He completed his studies at University of Berlin, where he followed a long course of geography under Carl Ritter.
Withdrawing from France because of political events of December 1851, he spent the next six years (1852 - 1857) traveling and working in Great Britain, the United States, Central America, and Colombia. Arriving in Louisiana in 1853, Reclus worked for about two and a half years as a tutor to the children of Septime and Félicité Fortier at their plantation Félicité, located about 50 miles upriver from New Orleans. He recounted his passage through the Mississippi river delta and impressions of antebellum New Orleans and the state in Fragment d'un voyage á Louisiane, published in 1855.
On his return to Paris, Reclus contributed to the Revue des deux mondes, the Tour du monde and other periodicals, a large number of articles embodying the results of his geographical work. Among other works of this period was the short book Histoire d’un ruisseau, in which he traced the development of a great river from source to mouth. From 1867 - 1868 he published La Terre; description des phénomènes de la vie du globe in two volumes.
During the 1870 siege of Paris, Reclus shared in the aerostatic operations conducted by Félix Nadar, and also served in the National Guard. As a member of the Association Nationale des Travailleurs, he published a hostile manifesto against the government of Versailles in support of the Paris Commune of 1871 in the Cri du Peuple.
Continuing to serve in the National Guard, now in open revolt, Reclus was taken prisoner on April 5, and on November 16 was sentenced to deportation for life. Because of intervention by supporters from England, the sentence was commuted in January 1872 to perpetual banishment from France.
After a short visit to Italy, Reclus settled at Clarens, Switzerland, where he resumed his literary labours and produced Histoire d’une montagne, a companion to Histoire d’un ruisseau. There he wrote nearly the whole of his work, La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, "an examination of every continent and country in terms of the effects that geographic features like rivers and mountains had on human populations—and vice versa," This compilation was profusely illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings. It was awarded the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892. An English edition appeared simultaneously, also in 19 volumes, the first four by E. G. Ravenstein, the rest by A.H. Keane. Reclus's writings were characterized by extreme accuracy and brilliant exposition, which gave them permanent literary and scientific value.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 31, 2022
Une lecture basique et rapide et qui permet d'avoir une bonne idée de ce que Reclus imagine quand il parle d'anarchie, de pensée anarchiste, de futur anarchisant. Ça reste cependant très simpliste et il vaut mieux se diriger vers d'autres lectures quand on ne connait pas trop le sujet et qu'on cherche a se renseigner plus profondément.
February 29, 2024
Attention, il y a plusieurs livres qui sont sous ce nom je parle ici du livre de la collection 1001 nuit !
Elisée Reclus qui est un homme, moi je voyais un prénom féminin et je pensais vraiment que c'était une femme. Bref....
Faisais partie d'un ordre maçonnique dont celui de Bruxelles.
Cet ordre à permis l'émergence de l'ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles).
Elisée Reclus parle clairement de tout les types de structures systémiques (peut-être précurseurs pour son temps) des dominations qui touchent les différentes classes.
Son discours est donné lors d'une rencontre maçonnique et invite les membres et les lecteurs à prendre part à une réorganisation
Deuxième lecture avec la collection Nada
Ce livre rapporte avec finesse ce que j'ai lu précédemment
Le premier livre offre un récapitulatif par date et le deuxième des explications plus approfondies
Les deux se complètent agréablement.
Dans cette collection, j'ai pu lire deux textes poignant de l'auteur en rapport avec l'anarchie et son positionnement mais aussi l'évolution de l'anarchie au 19e siècle
Je conseille vivement
Elisée Reclus qui est un homme, moi je voyais un prénom féminin et je pensais vraiment que c'était une femme. Bref....
Faisais partie d'un ordre maçonnique dont celui de Bruxelles.
Cet ordre à permis l'émergence de l'ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles).
Elisée Reclus parle clairement de tout les types de structures systémiques (peut-être précurseurs pour son temps) des dominations qui touchent les différentes classes.
Son discours est donné lors d'une rencontre maçonnique et invite les membres et les lecteurs à prendre part à une réorganisation
Deuxième lecture avec la collection Nada
Ce livre rapporte avec finesse ce que j'ai lu précédemment
Le premier livre offre un récapitulatif par date et le deuxième des explications plus approfondies
Les deux se complètent agréablement.
Dans cette collection, j'ai pu lire deux textes poignant de l'auteur en rapport avec l'anarchie et son positionnement mais aussi l'évolution de l'anarchie au 19e siècle
Je conseille vivement
November 30, 2023
"sans doute, cet idéal semble chimérique à plusieurs d'entre vous, mais je suis sûr aussi qu'il paraît désirable à la plupart et que vous apercevez au loin l'image éthérée d'une société pacifique où les hommes désormais réconciliés laisseront rouiller leurs épées, refondront leurs canons et désarmeront leurs vaisseaux."
October 23, 2024
Ça fais penser à réfléchir
July 24, 2011
Très bien, ce discours.
July 25, 2025
Too many mistranslations for five stars
I have the original French publication in a paperback. There are too many mistranslations in this 'edition'. However, Reclus' ideas are true anarchism.
I have the original French publication in a paperback. There are too many mistranslations in this 'edition'. However, Reclus' ideas are true anarchism.
March 10, 2023
Little book who really made me want to learn more about the author.
November 1, 2023
Read Politics 2 (1894)
September 15, 2025
En bien la post-face Solal 💪(la préface de begaudeau est mieux mais bien vu)
March 27, 2016
Plutôt clair. De bons arguments.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews