Voltairine de Cleyre
Anarchism without adjectives
Free exchange, free people, no state.
Reformist Anarcho-MutualistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Anarcho-Mutualist hall →- Role
- Theorist & poet
- Era
- 1866–1912
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- −22 · −90 · +60
§ Where Voltairine de Cleyre stands
3 axesDe Cleyre's economics sit just left of centre. In her early anarchist years she leaned towards the individualists' free exchange and occupancy-and-use property, but in her 1901 essay Anarchism she declined any economic label, arguing that free communities could experiment with mutualist, collectivist or communist arrangements once state-backed privilege over land and money was gone.
She rejected the state completely. Anarchism and American Traditions (1908) argued that the revolutionary generation's distrust of government pointed logically to anarchism, and Direct Action (1912) defended people acting for themselves, from strikes to cooperatives, rather than relying on legislators. She practised her principles in 1902 by refusing to help the state prosecute the man who shot her.
De Cleyre was a radical feminist and free-thinker. In Sex Slavery (1890), written in defence of the jailed editor Moses Harman, she attacked marriage law as a form of bondage for women, and she championed free thought against organised religion throughout her life, teaching and organising alongside immigrant workers whom respectable America shunned.
How close are you to Voltairine de Cleyre?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalVoltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) was born in Leslie, Michigan, and named after Voltaire by her free-thinking father. Educated partly at a Catholic convent school in Sarnia, Ontario, she emerged a convinced atheist and in the 1880s became a lecturer and writer in the free-thought movement. The execution of the Haymarket anarchists in Chicago in 1887 turned her to anarchism, and she spent most of her adult life in Philadelphia, teaching English to Jewish immigrants, writing poetry and essays, and lecturing in the United States and Britain.
De Cleyre became one of American anarchism's most admired writers, and Emma Goldman later called her the most gifted anarchist woman America had produced. Beginning close to the individualists around Benjamin Tucker's Liberty, she came to reject fixed economic labels in favour of anarchism without adjectives. In 1902 a former pupil shot her in Philadelphia; she survived and refused to help prosecute him. She died of meningitis in Chicago in 1912 and was buried near the Haymarket martyrs at Waldheim Cemetery. Paul Avrich's 1978 biography revived her reputation.
Notable for
- 01'Anarchism Without Adjectives'
- 02Free-thought feminism
- 03Renowned anarchist orator
Key works & moments
- 1887The hanging of the Haymarket anarchists turns the free-thought lecturer to anarchism.
- 1890Delivers Sex Slavery, defending the jailed editor Moses Harman and attacking marriage law.
- 1901In her essay Anarchism, rejects economic labels in favour of anarchism without adjectives.
- 1902Shot by a former pupil in Philadelphia; she survives and refuses to help prosecute him.
- 1908Publishes Anarchism and American Traditions in Emma Goldman's Mother Earth.
- 1912Publishes Direct Action; dies in Chicago and is buried near the Haymarket martyrs.
In their own words
“Every person who ever thought he had a right to assert, and went boldly and asserted it, himself, or jointly with others that shared his convictions, was a direct actionist.”
§ Minds closest to Voltairine de Cleyre
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§ Also in the Anarcho-Mutualist hall
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Voltairine de Cleyre's political ideology?
Voltairine de Cleyre was an anarchist who refused to tie anarchism to one economic system: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Anarcho-Mutualist. Economically she sat just left of centre (−22), sympathetic to free exchange without capitalist privilege while open to communal experiments. On governance she was strongly libertarian (−90), rejecting the state entirely, and socially she was clearly progressive (+60), a feminist and free-thinker who attacked marriage law and organised religion.
Was Voltairine de Cleyre left-wing or right-wing?
Left-wing, in the anarchist tradition. De Cleyre opposed capitalism's privileges over land, money and labour, defended strikers and the Haymarket anarchists, and championed women's emancipation and free thought. Her economic views were milder than those of anarchist communists, since she admired voluntary exchange and individual initiative, which is why some right-libertarians also cite her. But her hostility to capitalist exploitation and her ties to the labour movement place her firmly on the libertarian left.
What is anarchism without adjectives?
It is the view that anarchists should not insist on one economic model, whether mutualist, collectivist or communist, as a condition of anarchism. The phrase was coined by the Cuban-born Fernando Tarrida del Mármol in 1889 amid quarrels between Spanish collectivists and communists, and Ricardo Mella took it up. In the United States Voltairine de Cleyre became its best-known voice: her 1901 essay Anarchism argued that free communities should be left to experiment and that tolerance between the schools mattered more than doctrine.
Which minds are closest to Voltairine de Cleyre?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Voltairine de Cleyre are Stephen Pearl Andrews (98% alike), The Cost-Price Market (archetype) (98% alike) and Dyer Lum (95% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (0% alike).