Might Is Right

{{Short description|1896 book advocating social Darwinism}} {{about|the 1896 book|the concept|might makes right}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox book | image = Might is Right cover.webp | caption = Title page of the original version | author = Ragnar Redbeard (pseudonym) | name = ''Might Is Right'' | country = United States | language = English | subject = Social Darwinism | genre = | publisher = | release_date = 1896 | media_type = Print (hardback and paperback) | isbn = 9781943687251 | pages = 182 (paperback) }}

'''''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. It was 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>

== Content == The author sums up his work as follows: {{blockquote|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.<ref name=Monist />}} In ''Might Is Right'', Redbeard rejects conventional ideas such as advocacy of 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 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|access-date=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, the 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 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.<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 anti-Semitic statements.<ref name="parker" />

== Authorship == Anarchist 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'', 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|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 Worker|location=Wagga Wagga|date=4 August 1900}}</ref>

Several observers have proposed Jack London may have written or contributed to ''Might is Right'', a claim made by both Anton LaVey and white supremacist publisher Katja Lane (wife of convicted racketeer David Lane). Lane's assessment was based on her judgment on London's writing style and punctuation.<ref name=jacobs>{{cite web|url=http://london.sonoma.edu/Bibliographies/redbeard.html|title=Running with the Wolves: Jack London, The Cult of Masculinity, and "Might is Right"|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816012844/http://london.sonoma.edu/Bibliographies/redbeard.html|date=2014|archivedate=August 16, 2014|authorlink=Rodger Jacobs|author=Jacobs, Rodger|publisher=Jack London Online Collection|location=Sonoma University}}</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> This idea was rejected by writer Rodger Jacobs, a biographer of London, since London was only 20 years old at the time, was busy with college, and had not yet developed a mature writing style, nor had he read anything by Nietzsche.<ref name=jacobs/>

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

{{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 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.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/whatisart00maudgoog/page/n175  What is art?] Leo Tolstoy</ref>}}

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"/>

==Influence== 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>

During the early 20th century, ''Might Is Right'' had an appreciable impact on the rhetoric of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The slogan "Might is Right" appeared in the union's official organ, the ''Industrial Worker'', from 1909 through the 1930s, often asserting that "MIGHT has always ruled the world" and that organized workers would eventually "have the MIGHT and be RIGHT."<ref>{{cite web |title=Ragnar Redbeard and the Industrial Workers of the World |url=https://unionofegoists.com/2019/05/30/ragnar-redbeard-and-the-industrial-workers-of-the-world/ |website=Union of Egoists |date=May 30, 2019 |access-date=February 24, 2026}}</ref> The book's verses and philosophy were featured in news reports, editorials, and cartoons, while its merits were debated in Wobbly-affiliated journals like ''Direct Action'' and ''Industrial Pioneer''.<ref>{{cite web |title=On Might Is Right |url=https://damnedbyamazon.com/on-might-is-right/ |website=Damned by Amazon |date=March 24, 2020 |access-date=February 24, 2026 |quote=The Industrial Worker repeatedly told readers that ‘MIGHT has always ruled the world and does today...'}}</ref> Some contemporary observers noted that the militant wing of the union effectively used the volume as a "bible" for class struggle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australian Sloganeers |url=https://www.ragnarredbeard.com/australian-sloganeers/ |website=RagnarRedbeard.com |date=October 19, 1933 |access-date=February 24, 2026 |quote=The I.W.W. seized upon this vitriolic volume as its bible.}}</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 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>

==Editions== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Publisher !! Notes |- | 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|access-date=August 10, 2012|year=1896}}</ref><ref name="Gilmore, Peter H. 2019"/> || |- | 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))}}, [http://nork.ru/revolva/might_is_right.html 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== *Bronze Age Pervert *Critias

==References== <references/>

==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[https://archive.org/details/the-philosophy-of-power ''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://churchofsatan.com/anton-lavey-and-the-right-of-might/ "Anton LaVey and the Right of Might,"] by Kevin I. Slaughter, rebuts most claims that Anton LaVey's use of text ''Might Is Right'' for ''The Satanic Bible'' was a form of plagiarism. *[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmmPXA89ofsWkM9LCN262dcTiWxsUO41r Might Is Right Audiobook] Audiobook from Zem Books

{{DEFAULTSORT:Might Is Right}} Category:1896 non-fiction books Category:Antisemitic books Category:Books critical of Christianity Category:Ethics books Category:Books involved in plagiarism controversies Category:Church of Satan Category:Works of unknown authorship Category:Works published under a pseudonym