I’m not sure why, but there seems to be a tendency by academics to discuss anarchism without actually bothering to find out much, if anything, about. George Monbiot does this quite regularly, with equally regular amusement for those who have even a basic understanding of libertarian theory. The latest is Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at UCL, in his new book “Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise”.
The anarchist in question is Kropotkin, specifically his ideas on “mutual aid.” However, it is clear that Jones is hardly knowledgeable on the subject. The basic mistakes are staggering. The Jura Federation was not founded in 1871. Kropotkin did not battle Marx in the First International (that was another bearded... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) A vision of a cooperative commonwealth has always been at the heart of socialism. The earliest socialists suggested cooperative villages, workplaces and consumer societies. This was echoed by libertarian socialists.
Bakunin was “convinced that the cooperative will be the preponderant form of social organization in the future” and could “hardly oppose” their creation under capitalism. Proudhon called his vision of a cooperative economy mutualism, arguing workers’ associations were “a new principle and model of production that must replace present-day corporations.” This was seen as part of the transcendence of capitalism:
“the abolition of the State… consists of an incessan... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Mutualism is a libertarian form of market socialism. It is most associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first person to call himself an anarchist. However, he did not invent the term but rather picked it up from workers in Lyons when he stayed there in the 1840s. Mutualism reached the peak of its influence when the Paris Commune of 1871 applied Proudhon’s ideas on federalism and workers’ co-operatives before being bloodily crushed.
Mutualism aims to create a system of self-employed workers and co-operatives honestly exchanging goods and services in a market without interest, rent, profit, landlords or capitalists. Rejecting social revolution, it aims to destroy capitalism and the state by means of reform – a com... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) With the current crisis, many on the right are proclaiming their usual mantras on the need to attack working class pay and conditions to solve the economic problems. The idea is that by cutting wages and breaking unions the crisis will be ended and the conditions made favorable for economic growth to return. With increasing growth, so wealth will trickle down and everyone will benefit. The worse thing that we could do is to organize, struggle and resist those seeking to solve the problems we face, problems caused by the elite, by reducing our living standards and rights.
The idea that social struggle and working class organization are harmful was expressed constantly in the 1970s and 80s. With the postwar Keynesian consensus crumblin... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) After the shootings at the anti-EU demonstrations in Gothenburg, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) decided to give its two pence’s worth of “advice” to the anti-globalization movement (“After Gothenburg: Where now for anti-capitalism?” by Mark Fischer, Weekly Worker, no. 389, Thursday June 21 2001). This advice can be summarized up as follows:
“you will be stuck physically and politically if these groups and the anti-democratic anarcho-prejudices they embody are not vigorously challenged... Against anarchist provocations and hopeless confrontations with state forces.”
In other words, the globalization movement must police itself and “challenge” the anarchi... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Conservative politician Nicolas Sarkozy has won the French Presidential election. He managed to convince 53% of the population that he represents change and this message has dutifully been repeated in the media over here. Yet he is basically the chosen successor to the incumbent party so, surely, it makes far more sense to say the French were looking for “more of the same” rather than the Royal victory would have been the mandate for “change.”
Failing to note that he had been a politician for 20 years, he played the right-wing populist card of portraying himself as an outsider and attacking politicians (and trade unions, immigrants and other usual suspects) for stealing the wealth of hard working French people... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The world’s first explicitly anarchist-feminist group was created as part of the thriving nineteenth-century Anarchist movement in Argentina. It produced the first anarcha-feminist newspaper, La Voz de la Mujer. Sadly, the history of anarchist-feminism in Argentina has rarely been acknowledged, at best mentioned in passing, at worse ignored or forgotten.
La Voz de la Mujer was published in Buenos Aires only nine times, beginning on January 8, 1896 and ending almost exactly one year later on New Year’s Day. Its donors included “Women Avengers Group,” “One Who Wants to Fill a Cannon with the Heads of the Bourgeois,” “Long Live Dynamite,” “Long Live Free Love,” “A Feminis... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Anarchism is generally not associated with economics. There is no “anarchist” school of economics as there are “Marxist,” “Keynesian” and so on ones. This does not mean there are no anarchist texts on economics. Proudhon springs to mind here, with his numerous works on the subject – the three volumes on property (most famous being the first, What is Property?) and the two volumes of System of Economic Contradictions (of which, only the first has been translated) – as does Kropotkin, with his Fields, Factories and Workshops. However, in spite of various important works, there is no well-established body of work which can be called anarchist economics.
There are various reasons for this. ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) It is hard not to be moved by the sight of a black man becoming President of the United States. Nor is it possible not to feel hope at the sight of so many people taking a keen interest in their society, expressing joy at the prospect of change. Nor is seeing the Bush Junta finally get a (limited) comeuppance without some pleasure. Equally, it is hard not to be optimistic about an American election result in which someone labeled by his opponents as a “Marxist” and “socialist” gets the majority. Sure, most people (correctly) would have dismissed this as the nonsense it was, but it suggests that after decades of “socialism for the rich” (neo-liberalism) the prospect of social democratic reforms have lost m... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) As should be well known by now, Paul Krugman won this year’s (non-)Nobel prize in economics for his work on trade theory.
Krugman is pretty much your standard neo-classical Keynesian, but he is left-of-center and since the 2000 election campaign has spent much time exposing struggle the Bush Administration and its enablers. For example, while in the 1990s he refuted right-wing attempts to show that inequality was not rising in America while thinking that nothing could really be done about it, in the 2000s he has raised addressing this issue to forefront.
Unsurprisingly, given this, the awarding of the prize has proved some right-winger to proclaim him as a “left-wing hack” and an “anti-capitalist”... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) I always have mixed feelings when I see Leninists attack anarchism in their press. On the one hand, I despair as I know they will waste a lot of space getting it wrong. And that a lot of time will be required to correct the errors, distortions and stupidities they inflict on the world (as I have already done in “An Anarchist FAQ”). I also feel hope as it shows that anarchism is growing so much that they feel they have to spend time attacking us. We have three classic examples of this in International Socialist Review issue no. 53.
For some reason, while attacking anarchists and anarchism Marxists feel they have to take our best ideas, experiments and activists. Often they discuss anarchist activists and strangely fail to ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) There are a few sure things about reading history books. Firstly, and most obviously, you generally know how it ends (badly, in the case of the Paris Commune). What is important is what you learn from the events discussed. Secondly, when it is a Marxist account you are guaranteed that it will (at best) ignore or (at worse) distort the anarchist involvement and analysis of events.
In this, Leninist Donny Gluckstein’s account of the Paris Commune[1] does not disappoint – he both ignores key aspects of the anarchist critique and distorts what parts he does cover. Perhaps this is unsurprising, given that he is associated with the British SWP and its caricatures of anarchism are infamous.
The Paris Commune should be wel... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) For lovers of freedom, 2006 has been a good year with P.W. Botha, Milton Friedman and now General Pinochet shuffling off this mortal coil. Pinochet was the head of the military dictatorship which overthrew (with the aid and backing of the CIA) the democratically elected Chilean government of Marxist Salvador Allende on September 11th, 1973. Officially,his troops killed or disappeared over 3,000 people (according to Human Rights and Church groups, it is over 10,000). Thousands were tortured and tens of thousands went into exile.
The standard defense of the regime was that it stopped Chili becoming a socialist state. Did Pinochet stop Chili sliding into “Communist dictatorship”? No, but he did stop the Chilean working class... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The firefighters strike has provoked a rash of media and New Labor politician hysteria and venom. Terms like “modernization,” “union dinosaurs” and such like have been bandied about like people knew what they meant. Here is a modest attempt to help everyone to understand the media and New Laborite Newspeak.
“40% pay rise” — A totally unacceptable figure, unless it’s for politicians and bosses
“placing lives in danger” — A totally unacceptable thing to do, unless politicians and bosses do it (see “modernization”).
“modernization” — a return to the workplace feudalism of the 19th century.
“flexibility” &mdash... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Elizabeth Anderson, Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about it. Princeton University Press, 2017, $27.95 hardcover.
This is both an important book which raises a key issue and one which simply states the obvious. It is both a well-researched work and one which ignores a school of thinkers who were pioneers on the subject. It is one which both challenges assumptions and takes them for granted. In short, it is both perceptive and frustrating.
Elizabeth Anderson is a professor of philosophy and women’s studies at the University of Michigan and her book seeks to raise the issue of workplace hierarchy and its negative effects. Her book comprises a preface, two essays (“When th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) May 1st is a day of special significance for the labor movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labor movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
The history of Mayday is closely linked with the anarchist movement and the struggles of working people for a better world. Indeed, it originated with the execution of four anarchists in Chicago in 1886 for organizing workers in the fight for the eight-hour day. Thus May Day is a product of “anarchy in action” — of the struggle of working p... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Given that anarchist ideas are on the rise (particularly in the “anti-capitalist” movement), it comes as no surprise that the guardians of Leninist dogma seek to discredit anarchism. To do so, they rarely ever attack anarchist ideas as such. Instead, they concentrate on individuals and their personal failings. When that does not suffice, they stoop to distortion, half-truths and even inventions to combat the anarchist menace. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve fact checked Leninist articles and discovered the references provided rarely support the claims made (and, on numerous occasions, say the exact opposite). [1] Which, of course, seems strange: after all, if anarchism was so bad, they would not need to d... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) As discussed in “The Symbols of Anarchy” in An Anarchist FAQ [AK Press, 2008] anarchists at first used the red flag as their symbol of choice, with the Black Flag slowly replacing it over a period of many decades from the 1880s. Both flags, however, had their roots in working class struggle and protest, both were anti-capitalist symbols raised by working class people in revolt against exploitation and oppression. As the person who first raised the Black Flag as an explicitly anarchist symbol in Paris on March 9th 1883, Louise Michel, put it the “black flag is the flag of strikes and the flag of those who are hungry.” (The Red Virgin: Memoirs of Louise Michel [The University of Alabama Press, 1981], p. 168)
Giv... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) It goes without saying that the SWP are cock-a-hoop over Galloway being elected to Parliament on the Respect ticket. That he did so only by being parachuted into an East London consistency with a large Muslim community is commented upon less. Sadly, Galloway’s previous constituent’s in Glasgow did not have the chance to pass judgment on their “representative” — for the obvious reason that he would not have won there. As such, any claim that Respect has broken the mold of British left-wing politics are still moot in the extreme.
SWP leader Alex Callinicos analysis of the general election betrays the limitations of any victory celebrations. (“The general election was a bitter blow for Blairism”... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Jeremy Sapienza, an “anarcho”-capitalist, wrote an essay on anarcho-syndicalism. This is a reply to it and a critique of his main assumptions and arguments.
Sapienza states:
“I have been studying left-anarchism for quite a while now, and I’ve been impressed with the strong anti-statism of many of the factions. I have a lot of respect for the voluntary anarcho-socialists, who truly would let everyone do their own thing, form their own communities, as long as they were allowed to create their own and not be disturbed. Their true goal is to destroy the State, and I could hardly condemn them for that.”
In other words, he is impressed with actual anarchists! Given that anarchism (what he... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) As in any social movement which is just beginning, the current “anti-globalization” movement is a mixed bag with contradictory ideas. This is to be expected. Only by discussion and activity can those involved clarify and develop their political ideas. Part of this process is, by necessity, a critical evaluation of past social movements and revolutionary ideals. This, again, is natural and positive. Without discussion, without honest and principled debate, any movement with stagnant.
Sadly, Louis Proyect’s “A Marxist Critique of Bakunin” is not honest nor principled. Rather, it is little more than a confused (and somewhat hysterical) cobbling together of Marxist prejudices and fallacies. His essay proves ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction
Colin Ward
Oxford University Press
ISBN 0-19-280477-4
£6.99
Colin Ward’s new book is an introduction to anarchism, produced as part of the “very short introduction” series of the Oxford University Press. Ward, for anyone who does not know, is one of Britain’s most famous anarchists writers. His work, on numerous subjects, is uniformly excellent and, unsurprisingly, this new book is as good as you would expect.
He paints a compelling picture of anarchism as a people’s movement, opposed to both the state and capitalism. He covers the major moments of anarchism’s revolutionary achievement as well as providing a good summary of its major... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis, Albert R. Parsons, University Press of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, ISBN: 1-4102-0496-5
“Hurrah for anarchy!” These were the last words of two of the five anarchists murdered by the state in 1887. They were murdered by the state because of their revolutionary politics, union organizing and their role at the head of the strike movement for the eight hour day which started on May 1st, 1886. The nominal reason for their trial and murder was the bomb explosion which killed one of the policemen sent to break up an anarchist meeting on May 4th. The meeting was protesting the killing of a picket the day before by the police.
The real reason for their deaths was their anarc... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Statism and Anarchy is the first complete English translation of the last work by the Russian anarchist Michael Bakunin. Given his influence, it is surprising that this 1873 work was his only book and even this is technically incomplete (referring as it does to a second part which was never written). It aimed to influence Russian populism and the “to the people” movement although most of it is an account of European history in the 19th century.
If that were all, there would be little interest in it but Bakunin also prophetically critiques Marx’s “dictatorship of the proletariat” as nothing more that a dictatorship over the proletariat. Coming after his battles with Marx in the International Working Men&r... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism
Lucien Van der Walt and Michael Schmidt
AK Press (2009)
This is an excellent work. Wide ranging, both in terms of subjects covered and geography. The latter makes a welcome break from most accounts of anarchism which are sadly all-too Eurocentric. The former sees anarchist analysis expanded from the usual subjects of political authority and economic class into gender and imperialism (and national liberation struggles). It covers such perennial issues as anarchist organization (including Platformism), the Spanish Revolution and a host of others.
Black Flame gets almost everything right. It concentrates on the mainstream of anarchism, class strugg... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Carlo Tresca is one of those rebel workers whose memory deserves to be honored and Pernicone’s excellent biography does just that. Pernicone’s has previously produced an excellent history of the Italian anarchist movement (“Italian Anarchism: 1864–1892”, Princeton University Press, 1993) and this work is of equal quality and of interest to anarchists. He obviously understands anarchism and writes with sympathy and knowledge about it. Such historians are rare.
Tresca was born to a middle-class family in Italy in the 1879. He soon became a socialist and became active in the Italian Railroad Workers’ Federation before emigrating to America at the age of 25. Once there he was elected secretary of the I... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Originally published in 1988 a few years before the crisis in Stalinism, Pat Devine’s model of a planned economy has been republished with a new preface during the crisis in neo-liberalism. He comprehensively discusses capitalist planning, central planning and market socialism before sketching his own economic vision.
Obviously inspired by Marx, Devine’s system is at odds with Marx’s comments on social planning – it retains money and so the wages-system (if not wage-labor) with “an incomes policy to render effective the planned allocation of resources according to socially agreed priorities.” (199) Despite his critique of market socialism, it retains markets with Devine squaring that particular cir... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) System of Economic Contradictionsor, The Philosophy of Poverty
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon made his name with his first Memoir on property, 1840’s “What is Property?” After two more Memoirs in 1841 and 1842, his next major work was 1846’s “System of Economic Contradictions” in which he first used “mutualism” to describe his libertarian socialism (inspired by the workers in Lyons where he stayed in 1843).
Only the first volume has been translated into English, although here I cover both. As with later anarchists, Proudhon critiques and rejects the twin evils of capitalism (“monopoly and what follows”) and nationalization (“exploitation by... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice, Rudolf Rocker, AK Press, ISBN: 1902593928
I once gave a copy of this book to a friend to read on his journey home. He was so engrossed by it he missed his stop and had to spend an hour in a small station waiting for the next train to North Wales. Fortunately, he had a good book to read!
And what a book it is. This little classic is essential reading for any anarchist or someone interesting in anarchism or anarcho-syndicalism. Written in 1937, at the behest of Emma Goldman, it was an attempt to explain the ideas inspiring the Spanish social revolution and resistance to Franco. In this he succeeded — and little wonder. Rocker was no academic. He was a long standing anarchist milita... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) This collection of four essays contains the last works of Murray Bookchin. As such, it is of interest to all greens and radicals. Eirik Eiglad, the editor of the journal “Communalism”, provides an introduction and end piece to the book. Of the four essays, the first three were written when Bookchin was still considered himself an anarchist.
The first, “What is Social Ecology?” is a good introduction to Bookchin’s ideas and is useful for those unaware of his important contribution to libertarian ideas and ecological politics. The second and third are okay, although the third does present (I think) a psychological clue of why he broke with anarchism.
The second essay (“Radical Politics in an E... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)