ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Science and Technology in the Anarchist Encyclopedia (1925–1934)

• In Event: Activist Epistemics and Artefacts 2

English Abstract

In the mid-1920s in France, activist Sébastien Faure initiated a project for an anarchist encyclopedia. Initially conceived as an international and multilingual undertaking, only a French version would be published. The result was nonetheless considerable: by 1935, the anarchist encyclopedia comprised nearly 3,000 pages and contained over 1,600 entries. The work was presented as a compilation of “all the knowledge that a revolutionary activist can and should possess.” While political, economic, and social issues were certainly prominent, science and technology were not neglected. A large number of entries addressed scientific topics (chemistry, astronomy, biology), technical subjects (electricity, machinery, aviation), and those related to hygiene and medicine (alcoholism, abortion, tuberculosis). The articles took the form of simple popularization, but others also drew on scientific concepts to support political arguments. Regardless of the form in which they appeared, this knowledge was considered useful for training revolutionary activists: why?

Although some contributors had formal education, with rare exceptions they were not professional scientists. The anarchist encyclopedia thus appears as both an educational work for transmitting and appropriating scientific and technical knowledge by revolutionary activists. The study of science and technology in this encyclopedia allow us to better understand, on the one hand, the importance of these fields of knowledge in a political project of emancipation, and on the other hand, the forms of circulation and appropriation of science and technology in an activist context. The paper will provide an opportunity to examine the material aspect of this production: before its final four-volume form, the anarchist encyclopedia was published and distributed as installments, financed by activist subscriptions. Beyond its content, it will therefore be necessary to study the object itself as an activist artefact.

Author

• Mathieu Florian, Sorbonne Université