Illegalism

Sketch by Friedrich Engels of Max Stirner, a respected philosopher among illegalists.

Illegalism is a tendency of anarchism that developed primarily in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland during the late 1890s and early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism.^[1]^[2] Illegalists embrace criminality either openly or secretly as a lifestyle. Illegalism does not specify the type of crime, though it is associated with theft and shoplifting.

Some anarchists, like Clément Duval and Marius Jacob, justified theft with theories of individual reclamation (la reprise individuelle) and propaganda of the deed and saw their crime as an educational and organizational tool to facilitate a broader resistance movement. Others, such as Jules Bonnot and the Bonnot Gang, saw their actions in terms of egoist anarchism and referred to the philosophy of Max Stirner.

Influenced by theorist Max Stirner's egoism,^[3] some illegalists in France broke from anarchists. They argued that their actions required no moral basis and illegal acts were taken not in the name of a higher ideal, but in pursuit of one's own desires. In Paris, this milieu was centered on the weekly papers L'Anarchie and the Causeries Populaires (regular discussion groups meeting in several different locations in and around the capital each week), both of which were founded by Albert Libertad and his associates.^[4]

^ Parry (1987), p. 5: "The illegalists in this study,...As anarchist individualists, they came from a milieu whose most important theoretical inspiration was undoubtedly Max Stirner—whose work The Ego and Its Own remains the most powerful negation of the State, and affirmation of the individual, to date."
^ Imrie (1994–95): "Parallel to the social, collectivist anarchist current there was an individualist one whose partisans emphasized their individual freedom and advised other individuals to do the same...Some individualists rebelled by withdrawing from the economy and forming voluntary associations to achieve self-sufficiency. Others took the route of illegalism, attacking the economy through the direct individual reappropriation of wealth. Thus theft, counterfeiting, swindling and robbery became a way of life for hundreds of individualists, as it was already for countless thousands of proletarians."
^ Parry (1987), p. 15: "A new generation of anarchists, spurred on by the individualist' ideas of Max Stirner, were to take as their point of departure exactly what Jean Grave objected to, that the rebel who secretly stole was no more than an ordinary thief. The developing theory of 'illegalism' had no moral basis recognizing only the reality of might in place of a theory of 'right'. Illegal acts were to be done simply to satisfy one's desires, not for the greater glory of some external 'ideal'. The illegalists were to make a theory of theft without the embarrassment of theoretical justifications."
^ Parry 1987, p. 5.

[1] Parry (1987), p. 5: "The illegalists in this study,...As anarchist individualists, they came from a milieu whose most important theoretical inspiration was undoubtedly Max Stirner—whose work The Ego and Its Own remains the most powerful negation of the State, and affirmation of the individual, to date."

[2] Imrie (1994–95): "Parallel to the social, collectivist anarchist current there was an individualist one whose partisans emphasized their individual freedom and advised other individuals to do the same...Some individualists rebelled by withdrawing from the economy and forming voluntary associations to achieve self-sufficiency. Others took the route of illegalism, attacking the economy through the direct individual reappropriation of wealth. Thus theft, counterfeiting, swindling and robbery became a way of life for hundreds of individualists, as it was already for countless thousands of proletarians."

[3] Parry (1987), p. 15: "A new generation of anarchists, spurred on by the individualist' ideas of Max Stirner, were to take as their point of departure exactly what Jean Grave objected to, that the rebel who secretly stole was no more than an ordinary thief. The developing theory of 'illegalism' had no moral basis recognizing only the reality of might in place of a theory of 'right'. Illegal acts were to be done simply to satisfy one's desires, not for the greater glory of some external 'ideal'. The illegalists were to make a theory of theft without the embarrassment of theoretical justifications."

[FOOTNOTEParry19875-4] Parry 1987, p. 5.

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