Clarence Lee Swartz

Clarence Lee Swartz (1868–1936) was an American individualist anarchist.

Clarence Lee Swartz' most famous writing is a book entitled What is Mutualism? published in 1927 where he explains the economic system of mutualism. He edited an anarchist journal called Voice of the People and was an assistant editor for Moses Harman's journal entitled Lucifer, the Light-Bearer. He was arrested in Kansas City, MO for distributing a newspaper called Sunday Sun in 1891. The charges were dropped when the prosecutor failed to show in court.

Swartz was a strong proponent of private property, in the individualist anarchism sense of the word, and critical of communist anarchism. In his 1927 What is Mutualism Clarence Lee Swartz writes: "One of the tests of any reform movement with regard to personal liberty is this: Will the movement prohibit or abolish private property? If it does, it is an enemy of liberty. For one of the most important criteria of freedom is the right to private property in the products of ones labor. State Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Communist-Anarchists deny private property."

External links

• What is Mutualism? by Clarence Lee Swartz (1927) - A classic text on Mutualism

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Name	Swartz, Clarence Lee
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Date of birth	1868
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