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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Newly-available Robert Anton Wilson interview on anarchism



Chad Nelson has transcribed the first part of an interview with Robert Anton Wilson, done in the late 1950s or early 1960s, on anarchism. The interview is posted at the Center for a Stateless Society website as part one; part two will be posted soon. Chad purchased the audio from Pacifica and transcribed it himself, with help from Nick Helweg-Larsen.


1 comment:

michael said...

What a gem of an interview and major kudos to Chad Nelson and Nick Helweg-Larsen for transcribing it.

If I had to guess the date I'd say late 1965 or early 1966, because RAW had written for the periodicals listed here (The Realist, Jaguar, Fact, and Liberation) before he got hired by Playboy in 1966.

Have you guys read RAW's article in The Realist #41, 1963, where he incisively criticizes Hugh Hefner? The irony! RAW's voice/tone there seems very revealing of his writerly identity at that time: E. Coast intellectual, more radical than the group of famous "New York Intellectuals."

RAW's narrative here in this old interview shows Marx in a way that seems under-appreciated or just plain unknown to most radicals I know. Marx's political moves with the International show, to me, ironically, that he was yet another great thinker who really sucked at politics. It's probably safe to say that this rift between the European anarchists and the Marxist-state socialists is a major reason RAW had Karl Popper's _The Open Society and Its Enemies_ on one of his "Brain Books" lists.

Always beware of certified intellectuals who want political power because they've read so much they know the One True Key to History. It's a fucking disaster, always. My gawd, look at the NeoCons and what we're still in 'cuz of them. (BTW: the WikiLeaks of Hillary Clinton's email, where she says you have to tell the public one thing while doing another? She plays it off like she's quoting Lincoln, but it's a NeoCon tune she knows really well. And of course that scares me...)