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'{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}} {{about|the 1890 book|the concept|might makes right}} {{Infobox book |image = Might is right.jpg |caption = 2005 Dil Pickle Press cover |author = Unknown, see authorship<br>Ragnar Redbeard (pseudonym) |name = ''Might Is Right'' |country = [[United States]] |language = English |subject = [[Social Darwinism]] |genre = |publisher = |release_date = 1890 |media_type = Print (hardback and paperback) |isbn = 9781682040232 |pages = 96 (paperback) }} {{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> [[Individualist anarchism|Individualist Anarchist]] 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 is the property of the man and proclaiming the innate superiority of the [[English people|Anglo-Saxon]] race. The book also contains many strong [[anti-Semitic]] statements. Some have suspected that the work is at least partly intended to be a satire of Social Darwinism. It has also been characterised as "proto-fascist white power manifesto".<ref>Mathews 2009, p. 65</ref> == Authorship == [[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">[[S. E. Parker]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120143427/http://www.churchofsatan.org/might.pdf Introduction to ''Might is Right'']</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 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 written the book in his early teens by the time it was first published in 1890. ==Response== [[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. 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>}} [[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. 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"/> ==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> 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> ==Editions== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Publisher !! Notes |- | 1890 || Auditorium Press<ref>{{cite web|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}}</ref> || |- | 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 || [[Wotansvolk|14 Word Press]] || [[St. Maries, Idaho]] |- | 2003 || Bugbee Books || |- | 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 || 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}} |} ==References== <references/> ==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[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'' *[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmmPXA89ofsWkM9LCN262dcTiWxsUO41r Might Is Right Audiobook] Audiobook from Zem Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Might Is Right}} [[Category:1890 books]] [[Category:Antisemitic publications]] [[Category:Imperialist works]] [[Category:Philosophy books]] [[Category:Books involved in plagiarism controversies]] [[Category:Works of unknown authorship]] [[Category:Works published under a pseudonym]]'