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{{Short description|1896 book advocating Social Darwinism}}
{{about|the 1896 book|the concept|might makes right}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{about|the 1890 book|the concept|might makes right}}
{{Infobox book
{{Infobox book
|image = Might is right.jpg
| image = Might is Right cover.webp
|caption = 2005 Dil Pickle Press cover
| caption = Cover page of the original version
|author = Unknown, see authorship<br>Ragnar Redbeard (pseudonym)
| author = Ragnar Redbeard (pseudonym)
|name = ''Might Is Right''
| name = ''Might Is Right''
|country = [[United States]]
| country = United States
|language = English
| language = English
|subject = [[Social Darwinism]]
| subject = [[Social Darwinism]]
|genre =
| genre =
|publisher =
| publisher =
|release_date = 1890
| release_date = 1896
|media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
| media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
|isbn = 9781682040232
| isbn = 9781943687251
|pages = 96 (paperback)
| pages = 182 (paperback)
}}{{Eugenics sidebar|works}}
}}
{{Italic title}}
'''''Might Is Right''''' '''''or''' '''The Survival of the Fittest''''', is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard. First published in 1890, it heavily advocates [[egoist anarchism]], [[amorality]], [[consequentialism]] and [[psychological hedonism]]. In ''Might Is Right'', Redbeard rejects conventional ideas of [[human rights|human]] and [[natural rights]] and argues that only strength or physical might can establish moral right (à la [[Callicles]] or [[Thrasymachus]]). The book also attacks [[Christianity]] and [[Democracy]]. [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s theories of [[master–slave morality]] and [[herd mentality]] serve as a clear inspiration for Redbeard's book written contemporaneously.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chris Mathews|title=Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQrbsOWaOyUC&pg=PA94|accessdate=May 16, 2017|year=2009|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-36639-0|page=64}}</ref>


'''''Might Is Right''''' '''''or''' '''The Survival of the Fittest''''' is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard, generally believed to be a pen name of [[Arthur Desmond]]. First published in 1896,<ref name="Gilmore, Peter H. 2019">Gilmore, Peter H.; Introduction, Might is Right: The Authoritative Edition, Underworld Amusements, April 23, 2019, 406 pages. {{ISBN|9781943687039}}.</ref> it advocates [[amorality]], [[consequentialism]], and [[psychological hedonism]].{{cn|date=October 2024}}
Noted indivualist anarchist, revisionist historian [[James J. Martin]] called it "surely one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere."<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818145227/http://www.nonserviam.com/egoistarchive/SidParker/Parker_Ego_06.htm |date=August 18, 2010 |title=EGO No 6 1985 Twenty Five Pence, }} archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20020812061611/http://www.nonserviam.com:80/egoistarchive/SidParker/Parker_Ego_06.htm the original]</ref> This refers to the controversial content such as the viewpoint that weakness should be regarded with hatred and the strong and forceful presence of [[Social Darwinism]] in the text. There are also controversial parts of the book that deal with race and male–female relations, claiming that the woman and the family as a whole are the property of the man and proclaiming the innate superiority of the [[English people|Anglo-Saxon]] race. <ref name="parker">[[S. E. Parker]], [http://www.sidparker.com/essays/ragnar-redbeard-and-the-right-of-might/ Introduction to ''Might is Right'']</ref> The book also contains many strong [[anti-Semitic]] statements.<ref name="parker" />


== Authorship ==
== Content ==
The author sums up his work as follows:
[[S. E. Parker]] writes in his introduction to the text: "The most likely candidate is a man named [[Arthur Desmond]] who was red-bearded, red-haired and whose poetry was very similar to that written by Redbeard."<ref name="parker" />
{{blockquote|This book is a reasoned negation of the [[Ten Commandments]]—the [[Golden Rule]]–the [[Sermon on the Mount]]—Republican Principles—[[Christian ethics|Christian Principles]]—and "Principles" in general. It proclaims upon [[Theory of evolution|scientific evolutionary]] grounds, the unlimited absolutism of Might, and asserts that cut-and-dried moral codes are crude and immoral inventions, promotive of vice and vassalage.<ref name=Monist />}}
In ''Might Is Right'', Redbeard rejects conventional ideas such as advocacy of [[human rights|human]] and [[natural rights]] and argues in addition that only strength or physical might can establish moral right (à la [[Callicles]] or [[Thrasymachus]]). The book also attacks [[Christianity]] and [[democracy]]. [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s theories of [[master–slave morality]] and [[herd mentality]] served as inspirations for Redbeard's book which was written contemporaneously.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chris Mathews|title=Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQrbsOWaOyUC&pg=PA96|accessdate=May 16, 2017|year=2009|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-36639-0|page=64}}</ref><ref name="Monist">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oz1DAQAAMAAJ&q=ragnar+redbeard&pg=PA608|title=Immorality as a Philosophic Principle - Nietzesche's Emotionalism|date=1899|publisher=[[The Monist]], Volume 9|pages=608}}</ref>


[[James J. Martin (historian)|James J. Martin]], the [[Individualist anarchism|individualist anarchist]] historian, called it "surely one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere."<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818145227/http://www.nonserviam.com/egoistarchive/SidParker/Parker_Ego_06.htm |date=August 18, 2010 |title=EGO No 6 1985 Twenty Five Pence,}} archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20020812061611/http://www.nonserviam.com:80/egoistarchive/SidParker/Parker_Ego_06.htm the original]</ref> This refers to the book's assertions that weakness should be regarded with hatred and the strong and forceful presence of [[Social Darwinism]]. Other parts of the book deal with the topics of [[Race (human categorization)|race]] and male–female relations. The book claims that the woman and the family as a whole are the property of the man, and it proclaims that the [[English people|Anglo-Saxon]] race is innately superior to all other races.<ref name="parker">[[S. E. Parker]], [http://www.sidparker.com/essays/ragnar-redbeard-and-the-right-of-might/ Introduction to ''Might is Right'']</ref> The book also contains anti-Christian and [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] statements.<ref name="parker" />
The [[Church of Satan]] founder [[Anton LaVey]] and white supremacist publisher Katja Lane (wife of [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]] member [[David Lane (white supremacist)|David Lane]]) both believed noted novelist [[Jack London]] was substantially involved, if not the author of the entire book; the latter based her judgment on London's distinctive grammar and punctuation.<ref name=jacobs>[http://london.sonoma.edu/Bibliographies/redbeard.html RUNNING WITH THE WOLVES: JACK LONDON, THE CULT OF MASCULINITY, AND "MIGHT IS RIGHT"], Rodger Jacobs, Jack London Online Collection, Sonoma U</ref><ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HioKA46blE8C&lpg=PA7&ots=UvgQ6nsieW&dq=%22might%20is%20right%22%20author%20jack%20london&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=%22might%20is%20right%22%20author%20jack%20london&f=false "Foreward" (sic)] by Anton LaVey, to ''Might is Right'', pub. Shane Bugbee (2003)</ref> However, Jack London scholar Rodger Jacobs said, "the notion is as ludicrous as suggesting that the author of 'White Fang' was a cross-dressing hermaphrodite who buried his sexual shame in manly exploits".<ref name=jacobs/> London was born in 1876, so he would have to have written the book in his early teens in order for it to be first published in 1890.


== Authorship ==
''[[The Monist]]'' journal states that "Ragnar Redbeard is a most ardent admirer of [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]]."<ref name=Monist>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oz1DAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA608&lpg=PA608&dq=ragnar+redbeard&source=bl&ots=-MbasHfnHr&sig=ACfU3U0d4JlPfRfjX_cOXeRtXvZVgfZPAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjBxtj9t9rjAhUGQ80KHbWmDzY4bhDoATADegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=ragnar%20redbeard&f=false|first=|last=|authorlink=|title=Immorality as a Philosophic Principle - Nietzesche's Emotionalism|pages= 608|publisher=[[The Monist]], Volume 9|date=1899|ISBN=}}</ref>
[[S. E. Parker]] writes in his introduction to the text: "The most likely candidate is a man named [[Arthur Desmond]] who was red-bearded, red-haired and whose poetry was very similar to that written by Redbeard."<ref name="parker" /> ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'', a journal associated with the [[Australian labour movement]], reported in July 1900 that Desmond (a former contributor to the publication) was Ragnar Redbeard.<ref>{{cite news|quote=How singular that the author of the most extreme and brutal presentation of the 'Might is Right' doctrine ever written in English [...] should turn out to be Arthur Desmond, author of such stirringly democratic verses as 'The Leader of the Future' and other ''Bulletin'' contributions.|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-662022599/view?sectionId=nla.obj-676020443|title=Personal items|newspaper=[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]|date=28 July 1900|page=14|volume=21|number=1067}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145899100|title=Parley concerning politics|newspaper=[[The Australian Worker|The Worker]]|location=Wagga Wagga|date=4 August 1900}}</ref>


The [[Church of Satan]] founder [[Anton LaVey]] and white supremacist publisher Katja Lane (wife of [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]] member [[David Lane (white supremacist)|David Lane]]) both believed novelist [[Jack London]] was substantially involved, if not the author of the entire book; the latter based her judgment on London's distinctive grammar and punctuation.<ref name=jacobs>[http://london.sonoma.edu/Bibliographies/redbeard.html RUNNING WITH THE WOLVES: JACK LONDON, THE CULT OF MASCULINITY, AND "MIGHT IS RIGHT"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816012844/http://london.sonoma.edu/Bibliographies/redbeard.html |date=August 16, 2014 }}, Rodger Jacobs, Jack London Online Collection, Sonoma U</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HioKA46blE8C&dq=%22might+is+right%22+author+jack+london&pg=PA1 "Foreward" (sic)] by Anton LaVey, to ''Might is Right'', pub. Shane Bugbee (2003)</ref> However, this idea was rejected by Rodger Jacobs, a biographer of London, since London was only 20 years old at the time and had not yet developed that writing style, nor had he read anything by Nietzsche.<ref name=jacobs/>
The author sums up his work as follows:<ref name=Monist />
<blockquote>
"This book is a reasoned negation of the [[Ten Commandments]]–the [[Golden Rule]]–the [[Sermon on the Mount]]–Republican Principles–[[Christian ethics|Christian Principles]]–and "Principles" in general. It proclaims upon [[Theory of evolution|scientific evolutionary]] grounds, the unlimited absolutism of Might, and asserts that cut-and-dried moral codes are crude and immoral inventions, promotive of vice and vassalage."
</blockquote>


==Response==
==Response==
[[Leo Tolstoy]], whom ''Might Is Right'' described as "the ablest modern expounder of primitive Christliness", responded in his 1897 essay ''[[What Is Art?]]'':
[[Leo Tolstoy]], whom ''Might Is Right'' described as "the ablest modern expounder of primitive Christliness", responded in his 1897 essay ''[[What Is Art?]]'':


{{quote|The substance of this book, as it is expressed in the editor's preface, is that to measure "right" by the false philosophy of the [[Nevi'im|Hebrew prophets]] and "weepful" [[Messiah]]s is madness. Right is not the offspring of doctrine, but of power. All laws, commandments, or doctrines as to not doing to another what you do not wish done to you, have no inherent authority whatever, but receive it only from the [[Club (weapon)|club]], the [[gallows]], and the [[sword]]. A man truly free is under no obligation to obey any injunction, human or divine. Obedience is the sign of the [[wikt:degenerate|degenerate]]. Disobedience is the stamp of the hero.
{{blockquote|The substance of this book, as it is expressed in the editor's preface, is that to measure "right" by the false philosophy of the [[Nevi'im|Hebrew prophets]] and "weepful" [[Messiah]]s is madness. Right is not the offspring of doctrine, but of power. All laws, commandments, or doctrines as to not doing to another what you do not wish done to you, have no inherent authority whatever, but receive it only from the [[Club (weapon)|club]], the [[gallows]], and the [[sword]]. A man truly free is under no obligation to obey any injunction, human or divine. Obedience is the sign of the [[wikt:degenerate|degenerate]]. Disobedience is the stamp of the hero. Men should not be bound by moral rules invented by their foes. The whole world is a slippery battlefield. Ideal justice demands that the vanquished should be exploited, emasculated, and scorned. The free and brave may seize the world. And, therefore, there should be eternal war for life, for land, for love, for women, for power, and for gold. (Something similar was said a few years ago by the celebrated and refined academician, Vogüé.) The earth and its treasures is "booty for the bold."


The author has evidently by himself, independently of Nietzsche, come to the same conclusions which are professed by the new artists.
Expressed in the form of a doctrine these positions startle us. In reality they are implied in the ideal of art serving beauty. The art of our upper classes has educated people in this ideal of the over-man, --- which is in reality the old ideal of [[Nero]], [[Stenka Razin]], [[Genghis Khan]], [[Robert Macaire]] or [[Napoleon]] and all their accomplices, assistants, and adulators --- and it supports this ideal with all its might.


Expressed in the form of a doctrine, these positions startle us. In reality, they are implied in the ideal of art serving beauty. The art of our upper classes has educated people in this ideal of the over-man which is in reality the old ideal of [[Nero]], [[Stenka Razin]], [[Genghis Khan]], [[Robert Macaire]] or [[Napoleon]] and all their accomplices, assistants, and adulators and it supports this ideal with all its might.
It is this supplanting of the ideal of what is right by the ideal of what is beautiful, i.e. of what is pleasant, that is the fourth consequence, and a terrible one, of the perversion of art in our society. It is fearful to think of what would befall humanity were such art to spread among the masses of the people. And it already begins to spread.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0SYVAAAAYAAJ&dq=tolstoy%20redbeard&pg=PA159#v=onepage&q=fittest&f=false What is art?] Leo Tolstoy</ref>}}


It is this supplanting of the ideal of what is right by the ideal of what is beautiful, i.e. of what is pleasant, that is the fourth consequence, and a terrible one, of the perversion of art in our society. It is fearful to think of what would befall humanity were such art to spread among the masses of the people. And it already begins to spread.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/whatisart00maudgoog/page/n175 <!-- pg=159 quote=fittest. --> What is art?] Leo Tolstoy</ref>}}
[[S. E. Parker]] wrote: "''Might Is Right'' is a work flawed by major contradictions." He particularly criticised the inconsistency of the book's central dogma of [[individualism]] with its open sexism and racism (both requiring a membership in a collective). However, he concluded that "it is sustained by a crude vigor that at its most coherent can help to clear away not a few of the religious, moral and political superstitions bequeathed to us by our ancestors."<ref name="parker"/>


[[S. E. Parker]] wrote: "''Might Is Right'' is a work flawed by major contradictions." In particular, he criticized the inconsistency of the book's central dogma of [[individualism]] with its open sexism and racism (both requiring a membership in a collective). However, he concluded that "it is sustained by a crude vigor that at its most coherent can help to clear away not a few of the religious, moral and political superstitions bequeathed to us by our ancestors."<ref name="parker"/>
Author Chris Mathews suspected that the work is at least partly intended to be a satire of Social Darwinism and characterizes the work as a "proto-fascist white power manifesto".<ref>Mathews 2009, p. 65</ref>


==Influence==
==Influence==
Portions of ''Might Is Right'' comprise the vast majority of ''The Book of Satan'' in [[Anton LaVey]]'s ''[[The Satanic Bible]]'', the founding document of the [[Church of Satan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Eugene V.|authorlink=Eugene V. Gallagher|title=The Devil's Party-Satanism in Modernity|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=103–122|editor=Per Faxneld and Jesper Aa. Petersen|chapter=Sources, Sects, and Scripture: The Book of Satan in The Satanic Bible}}</ref>
Portions of ''Might Is Right'' comprise the vast majority of ''The Book of Satan'' in [[Anton LaVey]]'s 1969 ''[[The Satanic Bible]]'', the founding document of the [[Church of Satan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Eugene V.|author-link=Eugene V. Gallagher|title=The Devil's Party-Satanism in Modernity|year=2013|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=103–122|editor=Per Faxneld and Jesper Aa. Petersen|chapter=Sources, Sects, and Scripture: The Book of Satan in The Satanic Bible}}</ref> Though it is no longer included in current printings of ''The Satanic Bible'', early printings included an extensive dedication to various people whom LaVey recognized as influences, including Ragnar Redbeard.<ref>LaVey, Anton Szandor (1969). The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon Books. {{ISBN|978-0-380-01539-9}}.</ref>


Santino William Legan, the perpetrator of the 2019 [[Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting]] in [[Gilroy, California]], mentioned ''Might is Right'' in an Instagram post. NBC journalists have claimed it is a 'staple' of [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] groups online.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ingram|first1=David|last2=Zadrozny|first2=Brandy|author-link2=Brandy Zadrozny|last3=Siemaszko|first3=Corky|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gilroy-garlic-festival-gunman-referenced-might-right-manifesto-shortly-shooting-n1035781|title=Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman referred to ''Might is Right'' manifesto before shooting|work=NBC News|date=July 29, 2019|access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref>
Though it is no longer included in current printings of ''The Satanic Bible'', early printings included an extensive dedication to various people whom LaVey recognized as influences, including Ragnar Redbeard.<ref>LaVey, Anton Szandor (1969). The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon Books. {{ISBN|978-0-380-01539-9}}.</ref>

The suspected perpetrator of the [[Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting]] in [[Gilroy, California]] that killed two children and one young man and injured 15 more, was influenced by the book. On his [[Instagram]] account, he mentioned it by name when making racist remarks about congesting the countryside for "hordes" of [[Mestizos|mestizos]] and [[Silicon Valley]] [[White Americans|white]] "twats."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/gilroy-garlic-festival-shooting-suspect-santiago-legan-posted-about-far-right-book-moments-before-shooting|title=Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting Suspect Santiago Posted Far-Right Book Moments Before Shooting|last1=Weill|first1=Kelly|last2=McNamara|first2=Andrew|access-date=July 29, 2019|date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>


==Editions==
==Editions==
Line 58: Line 55:
! Year !! Publisher !! Notes
! Year !! Publisher !! Notes
|-
|-
| 1890 || Auditorium Press<ref>{{cite book|title=Might Is Right (The Logic of To-day) / by Ragnar Redbeard|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2711655|work=National Library of Australia Catalogue|publisher=[[National Library of Australia]]|accessdate=August 10, 2012|year=1896}}</ref> ||
| 1896 || Auditorium Press<ref>{{cite book|title=Might Is Right (The Logic of To-day) / by Ragnar Redbeard|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2711655|work=National Library of Australia Catalogue|publisher=[[National Library of Australia]]|accessdate=August 10, 2012|year=1896}}</ref><ref name="Gilmore, Peter H. 2019"/> ||
|-
|-
| 1896 || A. Uing Publisher ||
| 1896 || A. Uing Publisher ||
Line 68: Line 65:
| 1921|| Ross’ Book Service ||
| 1921|| Ross’ Book Service ||
|-
|-
| 1927 || Dil Pickle Press ||
| 1927 || [[Dill_Pickle_Club|Dil Pickle Press]] ||
|-
|-
| 1962 || unknown publisher || 18-page abridged edition
| 1962 || Unknown publisher || 18-page abridged edition.
|-
|-
| 1969 || same unknown publisher || Expanded 32-page edition
| 1969 || Same unknown publisher || Expanded 32-page edition.
|-
|-
| 1972 || Revisionist Press || Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. {{ISBN|978-1478225171}}
| 1972 || Revisionist Press || Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. {{ISBN|978-1478225171}}
Line 80: Line 77:
| 1996 || M. H. P & Co. Ltd. || Centennial edition, with intro by [[Anton LaVey]].
| 1996 || M. H. P & Co. Ltd. || Centennial edition, with intro by [[Anton LaVey]].
|-
|-
| 1999 || [[Wotansvolk|14 Word Press]] || [[St. Maries, Idaho]]
| 1999 || [[Wotansvolk|14 Word Press]] || [[St. Maries, Idaho]].
|-
|-
| 2003 || Bugbee Books ||
| 2003 || [[Shane Bugbee|Bugbee]] Books ||
|-
|-
| 2005 || Revolva || Russian edition with commentary. {{ISBN|5-94089-036-5|invalid1=yes}}, [http://nork.ru/revolva/might_is_right.html released online] <!-- see https://web.archive.org/web/diff/20091218095825/20100207094602/http://nork.ru:80/main/might_is_right.html for when it was released; "Распространение издания прекращено" appears to mean "out of print" basically -->
| 2005 || Revolva || Russian edition with commentary. {{ISBN|5-94089-036-5}}
|-
|-
| 2005 || 29 Books || Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. {{ISBN|0-9748567-2-X}}
| 2005 || 29 Books || Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. {{ISBN|0-9748567-2-X}}
Line 98: Line 95:
| 2014 || Camion Noir || French edition. {{ISBN|978-235779-620-1}}
| 2014 || Camion Noir || French edition. {{ISBN|978-235779-620-1}}
|-
|-
| 2014 || Aristeus Books, ed. Dragan Nikolic || Second ed., Eng. edn. {{ISBN|978-1682040232}}
| 2014 || Aristeus Books, ed. Dragan Nikolic || Second ed., eng. edn. {{ISBN|978-1682040232}}
|-
|-
| 2018 || Zem Books || Hardcover ed. {{ISBN|978-1-387-51811-1}}
| 2018 || Zem Books || Hardcover ed. {{ISBN|978-1-387-51811-1}}
|-
|-
| 2018 || Noir Anthologie || Spanish edition {{ASIN|B07DH2QWS8}}
| 2018 || Noir Anthologie || Spanish edition. {{ASIN|B07DH2QWS8}}
|-
| 2019 || Underworld Amusements || The Authoritative Edition, with intro by [[Peter H. Gilmore]]. {{ISBN|978-1943687251}}
|-
| 2020 || Pentabol N. E. || Spanish Extended Edition. {{ISBN|978-0244274757}}
|-
| 2021 || Underworld Amusements || 1927 Facsimile Edition. {{ISBN|978-1-943687-26-8}}
|-
|-
| 2019 || Underworld Amusements || The Authoritative Edition. {{ISBN|978-1943687039}}
|}
|}

==See also==
*[[Bronze Age Pervert]]
*[[Critias]]


==References==
==References==
Line 112: Line 118:
==External links==
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://archive.org/details/the-philosophy-of-power ''Might Is Right'' text]

*[https://archive.org/details/MightIsRight_966 ''Might Is Right'' text]
*[http://www.dpjs.co.uk/criticism/smith.html "Hypocrisy, Plagiarism and LaVey,"] by John Smith, contains comparisons of quotations from ''Might Is Right'' with similar quotations from ''The Satanic Bible''
*[http://www.dpjs.co.uk/criticism/smith.html "Hypocrisy, Plagiarism and LaVey,"] by John Smith, contains comparisons of quotations from ''Might Is Right'' with similar quotations from ''The Satanic Bible''
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmmPXA89ofsWkM9LCN262dcTiWxsUO41r Might Is Right Audiobook] Audiobook from Zem Books
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmmPXA89ofsWkM9LCN262dcTiWxsUO41r Might Is Right Audiobook] Audiobook from Zem Books


{{DEFAULTSORT:Might Is Right}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Might Is Right}}
[[Category:1890 books]]
[[Category:1896 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Antisemitic publications]]
[[Category:Antisemitic publications]]
[[Category:Imperialist works]]
[[Category:Books critical of Christianity]]
[[Category:Philosophy books]]
[[Category:Ethics books]]
[[Category:Books involved in plagiarism controversies]]
[[Category:Books involved in plagiarism controversies]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]

Latest revision as of 10:28, 17 November 2024

Might Is Right
Cover page of the original version
AuthorRagnar Redbeard (pseudonym)
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSocial Darwinism
Publication date
1896
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages182 (paperback)
ISBN9781943687251

Might Is Right or The Survival of the Fittest is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard, generally believed to be a pen name of Arthur Desmond. First published in 1896,[1] it advocates amorality, consequentialism, and psychological hedonism.[citation needed]

Content

[edit]

The author sums up his work as follows:

This book is a reasoned negation of the Ten Commandments—the Golden Rule–the Sermon on the Mount—Republican Principles—Christian Principles—and "Principles" in general. It proclaims upon scientific evolutionary grounds, the unlimited absolutism of Might, and asserts that cut-and-dried moral codes are crude and immoral inventions, promotive of vice and vassalage.[2]

In Might Is Right, Redbeard rejects conventional ideas such as advocacy of human and natural rights and argues in addition that only strength or physical might can establish moral right (à la Callicles or Thrasymachus). The book also attacks Christianity and democracy. Friedrich Nietzsche's theories of master–slave morality and herd mentality served as inspirations for Redbeard's book which was written contemporaneously.[3][2]

James J. Martin, the individualist anarchist historian, called it "surely one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere."[4] This refers to the book's assertions that weakness should be regarded with hatred and the strong and forceful presence of Social Darwinism. Other parts of the book deal with the topics of race and male–female relations. The book claims that the woman and the family as a whole are the property of the man, and it proclaims that the Anglo-Saxon race is innately superior to all other races.[5] The book also contains anti-Christian and anti-Semitic statements.[5]

Authorship

[edit]

S. E. Parker writes in his introduction to the text: "The most likely candidate is a man named Arthur Desmond who was red-bearded, red-haired and whose poetry was very similar to that written by Redbeard."[5] The Bulletin, a journal associated with the Australian labour movement, reported in July 1900 that Desmond (a former contributor to the publication) was Ragnar Redbeard.[6][7]

The Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and white supremacist publisher Katja Lane (wife of The Order member David Lane) both believed novelist Jack London was substantially involved, if not the author of the entire book; the latter based her judgment on London's distinctive grammar and punctuation.[8][9] However, this idea was rejected by Rodger Jacobs, a biographer of London, since London was only 20 years old at the time and had not yet developed that writing style, nor had he read anything by Nietzsche.[8]

Response

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Leo Tolstoy, whom Might Is Right described as "the ablest modern expounder of primitive Christliness", responded in his 1897 essay What Is Art?:

The substance of this book, as it is expressed in the editor's preface, is that to measure "right" by the false philosophy of the Hebrew prophets and "weepful" Messiahs is madness. Right is not the offspring of doctrine, but of power. All laws, commandments, or doctrines as to not doing to another what you do not wish done to you, have no inherent authority whatever, but receive it only from the club, the gallows, and the sword. A man truly free is under no obligation to obey any injunction, human or divine. Obedience is the sign of the degenerate. Disobedience is the stamp of the hero. Men should not be bound by moral rules invented by their foes. The whole world is a slippery battlefield. Ideal justice demands that the vanquished should be exploited, emasculated, and scorned. The free and brave may seize the world. And, therefore, there should be eternal war for life, for land, for love, for women, for power, and for gold. (Something similar was said a few years ago by the celebrated and refined academician, Vogüé.) The earth and its treasures is "booty for the bold."

The author has evidently by himself, independently of Nietzsche, come to the same conclusions which are professed by the new artists.

Expressed in the form of a doctrine, these positions startle us. In reality, they are implied in the ideal of art serving beauty. The art of our upper classes has educated people in this ideal of the over-man — which is in reality the old ideal of Nero, Stenka Razin, Genghis Khan, Robert Macaire or Napoleon and all their accomplices, assistants, and adulators — and it supports this ideal with all its might.

It is this supplanting of the ideal of what is right by the ideal of what is beautiful, i.e. of what is pleasant, that is the fourth consequence, and a terrible one, of the perversion of art in our society. It is fearful to think of what would befall humanity were such art to spread among the masses of the people. And it already begins to spread.[10]

S. E. Parker wrote: "Might Is Right is a work flawed by major contradictions." In particular, he criticized the inconsistency of the book's central dogma of individualism with its open sexism and racism (both requiring a membership in a collective). However, he concluded that "it is sustained by a crude vigor that at its most coherent can help to clear away not a few of the religious, moral and political superstitions bequeathed to us by our ancestors."[5]

Influence

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Portions of Might Is Right comprise the vast majority of The Book of Satan in Anton LaVey's 1969 The Satanic Bible, the founding document of the Church of Satan.[11] Though it is no longer included in current printings of The Satanic Bible, early printings included an extensive dedication to various people whom LaVey recognized as influences, including Ragnar Redbeard.[12]

Santino William Legan, the perpetrator of the 2019 Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in Gilroy, California, mentioned Might is Right in an Instagram post. NBC journalists have claimed it is a 'staple' of white supremacist groups online.[13]

Editions

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Year Publisher Notes
1896 Auditorium Press[14][1]
1896 A. Uing Publisher
1903 A. Mueller Publishers
1910 W.J. Robbins Co. Ltd
1921 Ross’ Book Service
1927 Dil Pickle Press
1962 Unknown publisher 18-page abridged edition.
1969 Same unknown publisher Expanded 32-page edition.
1972 Revisionist Press Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. ISBN 978-1478225171
1984 Loompanics Unlimited ISBN 0-915179-12-1
1996 M. H. P & Co. Ltd. Centennial edition, with intro by Anton LaVey.
1999 14 Word Press St. Maries, Idaho.
2003 Bugbee Books
2005 Revolva Russian edition with commentary. ISBN 5-94089-036-5, released online
2005 29 Books Reprint of 1927 Dil Pickle edition. ISBN 0-9748567-2-X
2005 Dil Pickle Press Edited and annotated by Darrell W. Conder. ISBN 0-9728233-0-1
2008 Zem Books ISBN 978-1-329-41381-8
2009 Edition Esoterick German hardcover edition. ISBN 978-3-936830-31-6
2012 Kustantamo Vuohi Julkaisut Finnish edition. ISBN 978-952-92-9531-9
2014 Camion Noir French edition. ISBN 978-235779-620-1
2014 Aristeus Books, ed. Dragan Nikolic Second ed., eng. edn. ISBN 978-1682040232
2018 Zem Books Hardcover ed. ISBN 978-1-387-51811-1
2018 Noir Anthologie Spanish edition. ASIN B07DH2QWS8
2019 Underworld Amusements The Authoritative Edition, with intro by Peter H. Gilmore. ISBN 978-1943687251
2020 Pentabol N. E. Spanish Extended Edition. ISBN 978-0244274757
2021 Underworld Amusements 1927 Facsimile Edition. ISBN 978-1-943687-26-8

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Gilmore, Peter H.; Introduction, Might is Right: The Authoritative Edition, Underworld Amusements, April 23, 2019, 406 pages. ISBN 9781943687039.
  2. ^ a b Immorality as a Philosophic Principle - Nietzesche's Emotionalism. The Monist, Volume 9. 1899. p. 608.
  3. ^ Chris Mathews (2009). Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-313-36639-0. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  4. ^ EGO No 6 1985 Twenty Five Pence, at the Wayback Machine (archived August 18, 2010) archived from the original
  5. ^ a b c d S. E. Parker, Introduction to Might is Right
  6. ^ "Personal items". The Bulletin. Vol. 21, no. 1067. July 28, 1900. p. 14. How singular that the author of the most extreme and brutal presentation of the 'Might is Right' doctrine ever written in English [...] should turn out to be Arthur Desmond, author of such stirringly democratic verses as 'The Leader of the Future' and other Bulletin contributions.
  7. ^ "Parley concerning politics". The Worker. Wagga Wagga. August 4, 1900.
  8. ^ a b RUNNING WITH THE WOLVES: JACK LONDON, THE CULT OF MASCULINITY, AND "MIGHT IS RIGHT" Archived August 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Rodger Jacobs, Jack London Online Collection, Sonoma U
  9. ^ "Foreward" (sic) by Anton LaVey, to Might is Right, pub. Shane Bugbee (2003)
  10. ^ What is art? Leo Tolstoy
  11. ^ Gallagher, Eugene V. (2013). "Sources, Sects, and Scripture: The Book of Satan in The Satanic Bible". In Per Faxneld and Jesper Aa. Petersen (ed.). The Devil's Party-Satanism in Modernity. Oxford University Press. pp. 103–122.
  12. ^ LaVey, Anton Szandor (1969). The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 978-0-380-01539-9.
  13. ^ Ingram, David; Zadrozny, Brandy; Siemaszko, Corky (July 29, 2019). "Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman referred to Might is Right manifesto before shooting". NBC News. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  14. ^ Might Is Right (The Logic of To-day) / by Ragnar Redbeard. National Library of Australia. 1896. Retrieved August 10, 2012. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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