Unsettled Questions in Socialism & Anarchism at the International School

It’s always interesting to read about surprising archival discoveries. Constance Bantman reported several in ‘Reencountering The French Anarchists in London, 1880-1914: Archival and Historiographic Reassessments.’ The one that caught my eye was this:

‘There have also been many small and often striking archival discoveries over the years, for instance a bundle of leaflets advertising a series of ‘Discussions on Unsettled Questions in Socialism & Anarchism’, held at the short-lived International School founded by Louise Michel on Fitzroy Square in the heart of the anarchist quarter, and about which so little remains known; the topics ranged from ‘Tendencies of the Present Social economy’ to ‘The Theory and Laws of Politics’ and ‘The Doctrine of Hedonism’. These leaflets had been used as scrap paper to write a translation of Edmund Burke from English into French on their back, and were archived in a file bearing no connection at all to the London French, so this was an entirely chance discovery which revealed the role of the School as a meeting place where debates were organised by the British anarchist Agnes Henry.’[1]

The photo shows that the other talk was ‘The Possibility of Establishing a Criterium of Remuneration (value) either according to Work or Needs.’ [2] Biographies of Henry can be found at https://libcom.org/article/henry-agnes-1850-1915 and https://irishanarchisthistory.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/agnes-henry-an-anarchist-from-tipperary-1850-1915/

Notes
1, BANTMAN, Constance. Reencountering The French Anarchists in London, 1880-1914: Archival and Historiographic Reassessments. Revista Mundos do Trabalho, Florianópolis, v. 14, p.2-3 https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-9222.2022.e89542
2, French Archives Nationales; Institut Francais d’Histoire Sociale (IFHS); Paul Delesalle collection; file 14AS20.