ABSTRACT
Anarchism will laugh, but its energy will come out of an encounter with death, from the horror of the void. Violence will be the source of true life and the foundation of a new, non-hierarchical authority a laughing authority that will replace the traditional authority of church and state. Both Ravachol and Christ wanted to destroy wealth and power, not to seize them. On violence, laughter and affect, see also Maria Hynes, Scott Sharpe and Bob Fagan, Laughing with the Yes Men: The Politics of Affirmation, Continuum. Research on fin-de-sicle anarchism has paid curiously little attention to this very striking aspect of anarchisms history. During the 1880s Montmartre, known for its anti-establishment values and famous as the symbol of the Paris Commune, started to become the home of a number of anarchist cafes and cabarets. One bizarre example of this cross-fertilization of political anarchism and bohemian humour was a cabaret known as the Taverne du Bagne.
