I've spent a lot of time thinking of dropping the idea, because it will be a very lonely 6 weeks on my own, running up debt to no particular purpose.
But no, I'm gonna do it. When I get paid on thursday I'll buy one of the big tickets - today I've bought just the initial ones
newcastle to london on 25th July
london to paris on 27th July
friend of a friend to stay with in Lyons (trendy art scene)
possible family friend of a friend to stay with in Zurich (squat scene)
half-booked myself on an environmental camp 18-31st August in Siberia
paris to london 16th September
Reading up on places, read the 1848 revolutions book, got books on the decembrists in siberia and others to read next.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Monday, 11 January 2010
A couple of maps
This defunct map is nice for showing Harbin's location, which is a tempter. It isn't quite the same route in the west these days, though...
Here's one with the UK, but missing the northern loop thru finland/sweden via st.petrosgradburg.
And 3 because 3 is the magic number.
(alchemico-philosophically, 1 is everything, all, unity, which you have to divide/ demarcate/ separate in order to define/ determine/ talk about anything, but by creating 2 (subjectobject, lightdark, herethere etc..) you have inevitably created a 3, the most interesting bit, the relationship between the two.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Friday, 1 January 2010
No.3 Possible page one text
I am part of a loose collective who make a diary each year, called Wor Diary, which is dedicated to remembering rebellious men and women, protests and riots and fights done by the ordinary folk (folk like us), who don't usually feature on the official record. The people, in fact, whose names are forgotten, whose voices are silenced and whose ideas of a different, better future, are denied.
Each year about fifty people take part in drawing the pages and making Wor Diary, we print a few hundred copies and then sell it around Tyneside for cost price. It's a fundamentally amateur project, with no big marketing or famous names being splashed about. There's a reason for this, connected to the idea that real history is not handed down by a few famous characters - the story of the 'official' history books. Rather, history is created day-by-day in every nook & cranny of the world, in the most diverse way possible, and it is THIS world of struggle & sociability that we want to celebrate in Wor Diary. The neighbours helping each other out, the people saying 'no' to abuse, to control and to selling-out.
There are some other reasons why this project needs a few disclaimers.
Unlike Marxism, anarchism does not have an originator or a primary theorist, and unlike a movement such as Chartism, anarchism is still alive and still relevant to people's struggles today. The place to find it is amongst the people trying to live free, to increase theirs & others' freedom, to reduce oppression, remove injustice in their own way. So there's no point going searching for the person who 'invented' anarchism, and it is against anarchist principles to say that one person is more important than any other. We're all in it together.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
What Happened Where - Overview
Bit by bit I'll add the notable record next to the location. This will guide me when I come to write the actual notebooks.
London - Exiles settle.
Paris - Exiles meet, including Bakunin with Proudhon & Marx 1844; Commune 1871;
Lyon - 1870 Bakunin leads failed insurrection on principles of later Paris Commune
Switzerland - Gatherings & conferences (Geneva/Bern). Exiles, printing presses, smuggling and snatches by secret police. Bakunin retires (Lugano/Bern).
Neuchatel - Jura federation works out anarchist programme that Kropotkin takes up 1872.
Baden 1848 - Bakunin joins abortive attempt at insurrection.
Dresden 1849 - Bakunin organising barricades during insurrection.
Chemnitz 1849 - Bakunin captured for Russians.
Wroclaw - Marx circulates allegation that Bakunin's a state asset.
St.Petersburg -
Peter & Paul fortress - Kropotkin's notorious escape 1876. The rescue of the red balloon fails, but the rescue of the wild fiddler succeeds. His descriptions in the comments
Apraxin Dvor - fire story
Lake Baikal - 1866 Polish exiles revolt, and die. Kropotkin's account.
Irkutsk, administrative centre of Siberia & its exiles. 1857 plans for United States of Siberia. Bakunin escapes 1861.
Chita, Kropotkin's work-base 1862+. Watchtower parable.
The Amur River - 1863 Kropotkin's explorations and boat journeys.
Manchurian explorations - 1863 Kropotkin stories vs Chinese.
Ghirin - encounter with Chinese culture.
1865 Kropotkin exploring western Sayans etc..
Tom River crossing on ice, Kropotkin story 1863?
Finland - Kropotkin passes through in a northern loop.
Stockholm - Bakunin meets up with his wife.
Christiania - Kropotkin docks on his escape from Russia.
The Hague 1872 - Bakunin expelled by Marx from the IWMA
London - Exiles settle.
Paris - Exiles meet, including Bakunin with Proudhon & Marx 1844; Commune 1871;
Lyon - 1870 Bakunin leads failed insurrection on principles of later Paris Commune
Switzerland - Gatherings & conferences (Geneva/Bern). Exiles, printing presses, smuggling and snatches by secret police. Bakunin retires (Lugano/Bern).
Neuchatel - Jura federation works out anarchist programme that Kropotkin takes up 1872.
Baden 1848 - Bakunin joins abortive attempt at insurrection.
Dresden 1849 - Bakunin organising barricades during insurrection.
Chemnitz 1849 - Bakunin captured for Russians.
Wroclaw - Marx circulates allegation that Bakunin's a state asset.
St.Petersburg -
Peter & Paul fortress - Kropotkin's notorious escape 1876. The rescue of the red balloon fails, but the rescue of the wild fiddler succeeds. His descriptions in the comments
Apraxin Dvor - fire story
Lake Baikal - 1866 Polish exiles revolt, and die. Kropotkin's account.
Irkutsk, administrative centre of Siberia & its exiles. 1857 plans for United States of Siberia. Bakunin escapes 1861.
Chita, Kropotkin's work-base 1862+. Watchtower parable.
The Amur River - 1863 Kropotkin's explorations and boat journeys.
Manchurian explorations - 1863 Kropotkin stories vs Chinese.
Ghirin - encounter with Chinese culture.
1865 Kropotkin exploring western Sayans etc..
Tom River crossing on ice, Kropotkin story 1863?
Finland - Kropotkin passes through in a northern loop.
Stockholm - Bakunin meets up with his wife.
Christiania - Kropotkin docks on his escape from Russia.
The Hague 1872 - Bakunin expelled by Marx from the IWMA
Kropotkin talks about the Amur river
"After I had delivered my barges, I made about a thousand miles down the Amúr in one of the post boats which are used on the river. The stern of the boat was covered in, and in the bow was a box filled with earth upon which a fire was kept to cook the food. My crew consisted of three men. We had to make haste, and therefore used to row in turns all day long, while at night the boat was left to float with the current, and I kept the watch for three or four hours to maintain the boat in the middle of the river, and to prevent it from being drawn into some side channel. These watches - the full moon shining above and the dark hills reflectcd in the river - were beautiful beyond description.
My rowers were taken from the aforementioned sons; they were three tramps, who had the reputation of being incorrigible thieves and robbers, - and I carried with me a heavy sack full of banknotes, silver, and copper. In Western Europe such a journey, on a lonely river, would have been considered risky; not so in East Siberia. I made it without even having so much as an old pistol, and I found my three tramps excellent company. Only, as we approached Blagovéschensk, they became restless. "Khánshina" (the Chinese brandy) "is cheap there," they reasoned, with deep sighs. "We are sure to get into trouble! It's cheap, and it knocks you over in no time, from want of being used to it!" I offered to leave the money which was due to them with a friend who would see them off with the first steamer. "That would not help us," they replied mournfully. "Somebody will offer a glass, - it's cheap, and a glass knocks you over!" they persisted in saying. They were really perplexed, and when, a few months later, I returned through the town, I learned that one of "my sons," as people called them in town, had really got into trouble. When he had sold the last pair of boots to get the poisonous drink, he had committed some theft and had been locked up. My friend finally obtained his release and shipped him back."
& another time ...
"A few days later, a steamer slowly creeping up the river overtook me, and when I boarded her, the passengers told me that the captain had drunk himself into a delirium and jumped overboard. He was saved, however, and was now lying ill in his cabin. They asked me to take command of the steamer, and I had to consent; but soon I found to my great astonishment that everything went on by itself in such an excellent routine way that, though I paraded all day on the bridge, I had almost nothing to do. Apart from a few minutes of real responsibility, when the steamer had to be brought to the landing-places, where we took wood for fuel, and saying a word or two now and then to encourage the stokers to start as soon as the dawn permitted us faintly to distinguish the outlines of the shores, matters took care of themselves. "
In conclusion, about Siberia ...
"Having been brought up in a serf-owner's family, I entered active life, like all young men of my time, with a great deal of confidence in the necessity of commanding, ordering, scolding, punishing, and the like. But when, at an early stage, I had to manage serious enterprises and to deal with men, and when each mistake would lead at once to heavy consequences, I began to appreciate the difference between acting on the principle of command and discipline and acting on the principle of common understanding. The former works admirably in a military parade, but it is worth nothing where real life is concerned, and the aim can be achieved only through the severe effort of many converging wills. Although I did not then formulate my observations in terms borrowed from party struggles, I may say now that I lost in Siberia whatever faith in state discipline I had cherished before. I was prepared to become an anarchist. "
My rowers were taken from the aforementioned sons; they were three tramps, who had the reputation of being incorrigible thieves and robbers, - and I carried with me a heavy sack full of banknotes, silver, and copper. In Western Europe such a journey, on a lonely river, would have been considered risky; not so in East Siberia. I made it without even having so much as an old pistol, and I found my three tramps excellent company. Only, as we approached Blagovéschensk, they became restless. "Khánshina" (the Chinese brandy) "is cheap there," they reasoned, with deep sighs. "We are sure to get into trouble! It's cheap, and it knocks you over in no time, from want of being used to it!" I offered to leave the money which was due to them with a friend who would see them off with the first steamer. "That would not help us," they replied mournfully. "Somebody will offer a glass, - it's cheap, and a glass knocks you over!" they persisted in saying. They were really perplexed, and when, a few months later, I returned through the town, I learned that one of "my sons," as people called them in town, had really got into trouble. When he had sold the last pair of boots to get the poisonous drink, he had committed some theft and had been locked up. My friend finally obtained his release and shipped him back."
& another time ...
"A few days later, a steamer slowly creeping up the river overtook me, and when I boarded her, the passengers told me that the captain had drunk himself into a delirium and jumped overboard. He was saved, however, and was now lying ill in his cabin. They asked me to take command of the steamer, and I had to consent; but soon I found to my great astonishment that everything went on by itself in such an excellent routine way that, though I paraded all day on the bridge, I had almost nothing to do. Apart from a few minutes of real responsibility, when the steamer had to be brought to the landing-places, where we took wood for fuel, and saying a word or two now and then to encourage the stokers to start as soon as the dawn permitted us faintly to distinguish the outlines of the shores, matters took care of themselves. "
In conclusion, about Siberia ...
"Having been brought up in a serf-owner's family, I entered active life, like all young men of my time, with a great deal of confidence in the necessity of commanding, ordering, scolding, punishing, and the like. But when, at an early stage, I had to manage serious enterprises and to deal with men, and when each mistake would lead at once to heavy consequences, I began to appreciate the difference between acting on the principle of command and discipline and acting on the principle of common understanding. The former works admirably in a military parade, but it is worth nothing where real life is concerned, and the aim can be achieved only through the severe effort of many converging wills. Although I did not then formulate my observations in terms borrowed from party struggles, I may say now that I lost in Siberia whatever faith in state discipline I had cherished before. I was prepared to become an anarchist. "
No.2 - Itinerary
Dates & train times to be added, beds to be arranged, plans to be changed on a regular basis. But my thoughts to begin with, before I trim them down:
UK
Newcastle (Clousden Hill K 1896; Durham Miners' Gala K 1882)
TRAIN NO.1. NEWCASTLE TO LONDON *
London (K 1881 visit; K 1886-1914 lived in Harrow, Ealing & Bromley; Autonomy Club; Freedom Bookshop)
[Brighton] (1890s/1900s? lived) [SEPARATE TRIP?]
FRANCE
TRAIN NO.2 LONDON TO PARIS *
Paris (B 1844 meets Proudhon & Marx, likes one hates the other; K 1877 helps start socialist movement)
TRAIN NO.3 PARIS TO LYONS *
Lyons (B 1870 uprising; K 1882 sentenced to imprisonment)
TRAIN NO.4 LYONS TO LAKE GENEVA *, PLUS SMALL JOURNEYS
Thonon (K 1881 & 1882 where arrested) [LAKE GENEVA]
SWITZERLAND
Geneva (B 1843?; B 1867 conference; B 1868 First International; K 1872 International Workingmen's Association) [LAKE GENEVA]
[Vevey] (B 1863 passing through) [LAKE GENEVA]
TRAIN NO.5 GENEVA TO NEUCHATEL/BERNE = SMALL JOURNEYS
Neuchatel (K 1872 joined Jura federation, adopted anarchism; K 1873 again after escape; K 1878 editing 'La Revolte') [NEAR BERNE]
La Chaux de Fonds? K meets Malatesta etc..
Berne (B 1868 conference spit; B 1876 died)
TRAIN NO.6 BERNE TO BADEN/VIENNA VIA ZURICH (=optional. Alternative is direct to Dresden))
Zurich (B 1840?)
[Lugano] (B 1873 retirement) [NEAR ITALY]
[ITALY] (B 1864 developed anarchist ideas)
AUSTRIA
Baden (B 1848 attempted insurrection)
TRAIN NO.7 BADEN/VIENNA TO DRESDEN VIA PRAGUE (= optional, droppable)
(Prague) (B 1848 first pan slav congress)
GERMANY
Dresden (B 1840 study-awakening; B 1849 insurrection)
[Chemnitz] (B 1849 captured)
[Leipzig] (B passed through 1848)
TRAIN NO.8 DRESDEN TO WROCLAW (non-stop train)
POLAND
Breslau = Wroclau (B 1848 passed through; 1848or9? accused by Marx of being a state agent)
TRAIN NO.9 (change trains, don't stay over) WROCLAW VIA WARSAW TO MOSCOW OR ST.PETERSBURG
(Minsk)(Gardinas) (B 1834 military service)
RUSSIA
[Moscow] (B born 1814; K born; K 1921 died Dmitrov, buried Novodevichy cemetery)
[IF DO MOSCOW TO ST.PETERSBURG TRAIN, TSAR'S FINGER STORY & EXPLO LINKS, OR COULD START TRANS-SIBERIAN DIRECT FROM MOSCOW]
St.Petersburg (B study until 1834; B 1851-4 in Peter-Paul fortress; B 1854-1856 Shlisselburg; K 1857 joins corps of pages then army; K 1867 study after quit army; K 1871 joined revolutionary party; K 1873 in Peter-Paul fortress, escaped 1876)
Kronstadt
TRAIN NO.10 ST.PETERSBURG TO TOMSK
Tomsk (exile B 1857)
TRAIN NO.11 TOMSK TO IRKUTSK
Irkutsk (exile B 1857?-1861; K 1862? attache for cossack affairs)
TRAIN NO.12 IRKUTSK TO CHITA
Chita (K 1862 aide to governor)
[Nikolaevsk] (B 1861 trip he never made cos he escaped) [THE ONE IN VOLGOGRAD?]
TRAIN NO.13 TO VLADIVOSTOCK
Manchuria (K explorations 1864+)
[Vladivostock/sea of okhotsk]
TRAIN NO.14 VLADIVOSTOCK TO ST.PETERSBURG? [OR GO WHOLE WAY AND SPLIT THE RETURN]
FINLAND
tbc (K 1871 explorations; K 1876 escape route)
TRAIN NO.15 ST.PETERSBURG THROUGH FINLAND via HELSINKI, KEMI?, THIS , KROPOTKIN'S ROUTE, IS LONGWAY ROUND
SWEDEN
Stockholm (B joined wife 1863)
tbc (K 1871 explorations)
DENMARK
Christiana (K 1876 escape route)
TRAIN NO.16 STOCKHOLM? TO COPENHAGEN
Copenhagen (B 1863 attempt to join Polish insurrection)
FERRY OPTION ESBJERG TO HARWICH
TRAIN NO.17 OPTION COPENHAGEN TO THE HAGUE VIA BERLIN
GERMANY
Berlin (B 1840 study, 1848)
In 1848 Bakunin also passed through Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig
NETHERLANDS
Hague (B 1872 expelled from International by Marx)
FERRY OPTION AMSTERDAM TO NEWCASTLE
BELGIUM
Brussels (B 1843 to meet Polish nationalists; 1844+? voluntary exile; 1863 passing through)
TRAIN NO. 18 BRUSSELS (or Paris) TO LONDON [may be cheaper to go Brussels to Paris & then use Eurostar return]
UK
London (B 1863; Anarchist Bookfair)
TRAIN NO. 19 HOME TO BED.
Newcastle
UK
Newcastle (Clousden Hill K 1896; Durham Miners' Gala K 1882)
TRAIN NO.1. NEWCASTLE TO LONDON *
London (K 1881 visit; K 1886-1914 lived in Harrow, Ealing & Bromley; Autonomy Club; Freedom Bookshop)
[Brighton] (1890s/1900s? lived) [SEPARATE TRIP?]
FRANCE
TRAIN NO.2 LONDON TO PARIS *
Paris (B 1844 meets Proudhon & Marx, likes one hates the other; K 1877 helps start socialist movement)
TRAIN NO.3 PARIS TO LYONS *
Lyons (B 1870 uprising; K 1882 sentenced to imprisonment)
TRAIN NO.4 LYONS TO LAKE GENEVA *, PLUS SMALL JOURNEYS
Thonon (K 1881 & 1882 where arrested) [LAKE GENEVA]
SWITZERLAND
Geneva (B 1843?; B 1867 conference; B 1868 First International; K 1872 International Workingmen's Association) [LAKE GENEVA]
[Vevey] (B 1863 passing through) [LAKE GENEVA]
TRAIN NO.5 GENEVA TO NEUCHATEL/BERNE = SMALL JOURNEYS
Neuchatel (K 1872 joined Jura federation, adopted anarchism; K 1873 again after escape; K 1878 editing 'La Revolte') [NEAR BERNE]
La Chaux de Fonds? K meets Malatesta etc..
Berne (B 1868 conference spit; B 1876 died)
TRAIN NO.6 BERNE TO BADEN/VIENNA VIA ZURICH (=optional. Alternative is direct to Dresden))
Zurich (B 1840?)
[Lugano] (B 1873 retirement) [NEAR ITALY]
[ITALY] (B 1864 developed anarchist ideas)
AUSTRIA
Baden (B 1848 attempted insurrection)
TRAIN NO.7 BADEN/VIENNA TO DRESDEN VIA PRAGUE (= optional, droppable)
(Prague) (B 1848 first pan slav congress)
GERMANY
Dresden (B 1840 study-awakening; B 1849 insurrection)
[Chemnitz] (B 1849 captured)
[Leipzig] (B passed through 1848)
TRAIN NO.8 DRESDEN TO WROCLAW (non-stop train)
POLAND
Breslau = Wroclau (B 1848 passed through; 1848or9? accused by Marx of being a state agent)
TRAIN NO.9 (change trains, don't stay over) WROCLAW VIA WARSAW TO MOSCOW OR ST.PETERSBURG
(Minsk)(Gardinas) (B 1834 military service)
RUSSIA
[Moscow] (B born 1814; K born; K 1921 died Dmitrov, buried Novodevichy cemetery)
[IF DO MOSCOW TO ST.PETERSBURG TRAIN, TSAR'S FINGER STORY & EXPLO LINKS, OR COULD START TRANS-SIBERIAN DIRECT FROM MOSCOW]
St.Petersburg (B study until 1834; B 1851-4 in Peter-Paul fortress; B 1854-1856 Shlisselburg; K 1857 joins corps of pages then army; K 1867 study after quit army; K 1871 joined revolutionary party; K 1873 in Peter-Paul fortress, escaped 1876)
Kronstadt
TRAIN NO.10 ST.PETERSBURG TO TOMSK
Tomsk (exile B 1857)
TRAIN NO.11 TOMSK TO IRKUTSK
Irkutsk (exile B 1857?-1861; K 1862? attache for cossack affairs)
TRAIN NO.12 IRKUTSK TO CHITA
Chita (K 1862 aide to governor)
[Nikolaevsk] (B 1861 trip he never made cos he escaped) [THE ONE IN VOLGOGRAD?]
TRAIN NO.13 TO VLADIVOSTOCK
Manchuria (K explorations 1864+)
[Vladivostock/sea of okhotsk]
TRAIN NO.14 VLADIVOSTOCK TO ST.PETERSBURG? [OR GO WHOLE WAY AND SPLIT THE RETURN]
FINLAND
tbc (K 1871 explorations; K 1876 escape route)
TRAIN NO.15 ST.PETERSBURG THROUGH FINLAND via HELSINKI, KEMI?, THIS , KROPOTKIN'S ROUTE, IS LONGWAY ROUND
SWEDEN
Stockholm (B joined wife 1863)
tbc (K 1871 explorations)
DENMARK
Christiana (K 1876 escape route)
TRAIN NO.16 STOCKHOLM? TO COPENHAGEN
Copenhagen (B 1863 attempt to join Polish insurrection)
FERRY OPTION ESBJERG TO HARWICH
TRAIN NO.17 OPTION COPENHAGEN TO THE HAGUE VIA BERLIN
GERMANY
Berlin (B 1840 study, 1848)
In 1848 Bakunin also passed through Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig
NETHERLANDS
Hague (B 1872 expelled from International by Marx)
FERRY OPTION AMSTERDAM TO NEWCASTLE
BELGIUM
Brussels (B 1843 to meet Polish nationalists; 1844+? voluntary exile; 1863 passing through)
TRAIN NO. 18 BRUSSELS (or Paris) TO LONDON [may be cheaper to go Brussels to Paris & then use Eurostar return]
UK
London (B 1863; Anarchist Bookfair)
TRAIN NO. 19 HOME TO BED.
Newcastle
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