From: "List Moderator" <anarchism-AT-sympatico.ca>
Date: 26 Aug 2010 14:05:18 UTC   (05:05:18 PM in author's locale)
To: <ra-l-AT-univ-montp3.fr>

From: "Jesse Cohn" <jcohn-AT-pnc.edu>

Hello everyone--

I have come across a most interesting reference, in an essay on Spanish
anarchist history, to what appears to have been a half-parodic and
half-serious Jewish anarchist credo, a list of 13 articles of faith
(parallel to Maimonides' list of 13 tenets of the Jewish faith) that was
purportedly written by some comrades in London's East End, published in
Spanish translation as "Un credo judío. Los trece articulos de la fe", en
_El Socialismo_, Cádiz, 1.VIII.1887, p. 8. I'll append the list below.
What I would like to know is where I might find the original article (in
English? in Yiddish, perhaps? In some other language?) that was so
translated. Any clues?

--Jesse.

1. Creo firmemente que todos los hombres nacen libres y que tienen derecho
de gozar de libertad toda la vida.
2. Creo firmemente que el hombre que se enriquece con el trabajo ajeno es
ladrón.
3. Creo firmemente que la miseria no desaparecerá de la tierra hasta que no
se haya organizado el trabajo en común, hasta que no se obligue a cada uno a
trabajar según su fuerza y a consumir según sus necesidades.
4. Creo firmemente que el hombre seguirá siendo esclavo mientras permita que
uno gobierne a muchos y que unos pocos legislen y hagan leyes para los más.
5. Creo firmemente que la ignorancia prevalecerá sobre el conocimiento, y la
oscuridad sobre la luz, mientras que los hombres no se instruyan y eduquen
con arreglo a sus capacidades.
6. Creo firmemente que los hombres de una religión perseguirán tu los de
otras, mientras existan la miseria y la desgracia, y mientras este la
mayoría del género humano, como hoy sucede, afecta de ceguera.
7. Creo firmemente que existirá la guerra y los hombres morirán a millares
en el campo de batalla en tanto que prevalezca la fuerza y un país se
utilice de la ruina de otro.
8. Creo firmemente que las mujeres no serán más que las esclavas y juguetes
de los hombres, mientras que dependan de ellos y no disfruten el producto de
su propio trabajo.
9. Creo firmemente que el trabajo, que es el que suministra lo necesario
para satisfacer todas las necesidades del hombre, será por todos despreciado
mientras que los obreros trabajen para llenar la bolsa de los que no hacen
nada.
10. Creo firmemente que los asesinos, ladrones y criminales de todas clases
no desaparecerán en tanto los siga engendrando la miseria.
11. Creo firmemente que los hombres se devorarán unos a otros hasta que
llegue el día, ya cercano, en que una nueva luz ilumine a la humanidad y los
trabajadores se levanten como un solo hombre para arrojar el yugo del
capital y confundir a los que los oprimen.
12. Creo firmemente que las inteligencias honradas pueden hacerlo todo; y
que el reinado de la razón se halla próximo, haciendo que los hombres vivan
como hermanos, y todas las naciones formando una familia.
13. Creo firmemente que el fin de lo presente vendrá pronto y en nuestros
dias.

Rough translation:

1. I firmly believe that all men are born free and have the right to enjoy
freedom for their entire lives.
2. I firmly believe that the man who is enriched by the work of others is a
thief.
3. I firmly believe that poverty shall not disappear from the earth until
labor is organized in common, until each is obliged to work according to his
strength and to consume according to his necessities.
4. I firmly believe that man remains a slave as long as he allows one to
rule many and a few to legislate and make laws for the many.
5. I firmly believe that ignorance will prevail over knowledge, and darkness
over light, for as long as men are not instructed and educated according to
their capabilities.
6. I firmly believe that men one one religion shall persecute those of
others for as long as there is misery and misfortune, and for as long as the
majority of mankind, as it is today, is stricken with blindness.
7. I firmly believe that there shall be war and that thousands of men shall
die on the battlefields for as long as force prevails and one nation profits
from the ruin of another.
8. I firmly believe that women are nothing but slaves and playthings of men,
as long as they are dependent on them and do not enjoy the products of their
own labor.
9. I firmly believe that labor, which supplies all that is necessary to meet
all human needs, will be despised by all workers as long as they labor to
fill the purses of those who do nothing.
10. I firmly believe that the murderers, thieves and criminals of all kinds
will not disappear while still generating the misery.
11. I firmly believe that men shall devour one another until the day comes,
and soon, when a new light shall shine on humanity and the workers shall
rise up as one man to throw off the yoke of capital and confound the
oppressors.
12. I firmly believe that honest minds can do everything, and that the reign
of reason is at hand, making men live as brothers, and all nations forming a
family.
13. I firmly believe that the end of this will come soon and in our day.

And then I thought that, one day,
maybe, there'ld be a human society
in a world which is beautiful, a society
which wasn't just disgust.

--Kathy Acker, _Empire of the Senseless_

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