This April 1962 letter, from E. Armand’s wife Denise Juin from their home in Rouen, France, to Sidney E. Parker in Bristol, England. The letter details the preparation of his estate after his death, and detailing some items they were sending to Sid. Sidney E. Parker had struck up a friendship with Armand, having some of his work translated into English and printed in pamphlets. What follows is a translation and scans of the original letters and envelope. Of note is that many English language sources cite Mr. Armand’s name as “Émile Armand,” INCLUDING the Union of Egoists. Shawn P. Wilbur has given us evidence that that is not the case, that the proper nom-de-plum is “E. Armand”. We are looking into how and when this happened, and will do our best to correct the record on existing pages on our website.
French Wikipedia says of Armand: “Arrested on August 6, 1907, he was sentenced to five years in prison on May 9, 1908, for complicity in issuing counterfeit money. In 1911, he signed the Petit Manuel anarchiste individualist and he married Denise Rougeault, who financially helped him.”
Denise Rougeault married Lucien-Ernest Juin and became “D. Juin”.
Madame Juin details their gift of papers to the Institute of Social History, when they had a branch in Paris (interesting aside: this branch was broken into in November 1936, where documents of Trotsky were stolen, most probably by agents of Stalin’s secret service). The International Institute of Social History (IISH) was officially established on November 25, 1935 and serves as one of the world’s leading research institutes on social history.
Also of interest is the mention of the journal Balanced Living. This was the magazine from Ralph Borsodi’s School of Living. Edited by Mildred Loomis, it was in also in 1962, shortly after Robert Anton Wilson begins co-editing it, that the title was changed to A Way Out, a phrase from the introduction to his book Flight from the City. His previous book, This Ugly Civlilization, recently republished by Underworld Amusements).
This letter was among the papers in the Sidney E. Parker Archives. The SEP Archives contain the papers, publications and ephemera from Sidney E. Parker, British archivist and author.
The letter below was translated by historian Shawn P. Wilbur (who operates Libertarian Labyrinth), after we posted it in his “Anarchist French-Translation Workshop” group. Wilbur is a tireless archivist and historian and we would enjoy it if our work helps his cause as much as his helps ours.
D. Juin
April 15, 1962
Dear Comrade,
Please excuse my delay in replying to you: I have been very busy preparing everything that E. Armand promised to hand over to the Institute of Social History in Paris several years ago. Last Friday they took delivery of the books, pamphlets, magazines, etc. I must now carefully check all that remains and I certainly have enough of it for several weeks.
Several days ago, I prepared for you a package of publications. I add two copies of:
Les individualistes et le fait économique [E. Armand, editions de l’en dehors] La Liberté. Nous allons. [Albert Libertad, editions de l’en dehors] Pierre Chardon. [Pierre Chardon, sa vie, son action, sa pensée, editions de l’en dehors?]
As for the « Bandits tragiques » [possibly the pamphlet “Illégalisme anarchiste”] I no longer have even a single copy. As for the other pamphlets that you desire: Le Culte de la Charogne [Albert Libertad] — Le travail antisociale et les mouvements utiles [Albert Libertad] — Le refus de service militaire et sa véritable signification [E. Armand, Éditions de L’Ère nouvelle], it is impossible for me to satisfy your request; they have sold out long ago. If, by chance, in the course of my tidying up, I discover one of these pamphlets, or several, I will hasten to see that they reach you, (but I would not count too much on it.)
Armand exchanged “L’Unique” with “Balanced Living,” but we no longer receive it.
Naturally, you owe me nothing for the publications that I am sending you. It is much too small a matter.
I wish you great success in your propaganda work and beg you to believe in my very cordial feelings.
D. Juin.
