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Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction
by Colin WardWhat do anarchists want? It seems easier to classify them by what they don't want, namely, the organizations of the State, and to identify them with rioting and protest rather than with any coherent ideology. But with demonstrations like those against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund being blamed on anarchists, it is clear that an explanation of what they do stand for is long overdue. Colin Ward provides answers to these questions by considering anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers, from Kropotkin to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of "no compromise" with the apparatus of political decision-making. Can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more "organized" and "reasonable" than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after reading this book.
Anarchism: An Art of Living Without Law
by Elena LoizidouThe term anarchism derives from the Greek word ἀναρχία meaning ‘without ruler or leader, and without law’. Although the roots of the word can be traced back to Ancient Greece, anarchism as a political ideology is relatively new. Anarchism developed as a political ideology at the end of the eighteenth century at the time of the emergence of the modern State. And, as is well known, anarchism developed both a politics and a way of life that did not include the State as its compass, support and structure. In contrast to the extensive contemporary literature about anarchist politics and ideas, this book focuses on the practices and attitudes that constitute what the author refers to as an anarchist ‘art of life’. The book draws on archival material that records the life and actions of the anarchist Emma Goldman and her associates, legal documents and writings by classical (Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Peter Krotopkin) and contemporary anarchists (David Graeber, Saul Newman, Ciarra Bottici), as well as contemporary groups such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army and Occupy Wall Street. By studying the idiosyncrasies of this art of life, it argues, we are better able to appreciate how anarchism is not some future utopian oriented project, waiting to come into existence after a revolution, but rather exists in parallel to the life and politics offered by the State. Anarchism: An Art of Living Without Law will be of interest to graduate students and academics working on critical legal theory, political theory, sociology and cultural studies.
Anarchist Accounting: Accounting Principles for a Democratic Economy
by Anders SandströmThis book is about accounting in an alternative libertarian socialist economic system. It explores what information and transactions we need to enable democratic and effective financial decisions by those affected by the decisions. Based on the economic model, participatory economics, the author proposes a set of accounting principles for an economy comprised of common ownership of productive resources, worker and consumer councils, and democratic planning, promoting the model’s core values. The author tackles questions such as how accounting could be organised in an economy with no private equity owners or private lenders and creditors that is not based on greed and competition but instead on cooperation and solidarity. A large part of the book is focused on issues regarding investments; thus, he asks how and on what basis decisions are made about the allocation of an economy’s production between consumption today and investments that enable more consumption in the future, and how investments are accounted for. He also considers how investments in capital assets and production facilities would be decided, financed, and valued if they are not owned by private capital owners and if allocation does not take place through markets but through a form of democratic planning. In answering these questions and more, the author demonstrates that alternative economic systems are indeed possible, and not merely lofty utopias that cannot be put into practice, and inspires further discussion about economic vision. By applying accounting to a new economic setting and offering both technical information and the author’s bold vision, this book is a comprehensive and valuable supplementary text for courses touching on critical accounting theory. It will also appeal to readers interested in alternative kinds of economies.
Anarchist Communism: Three Essays (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Peter Kropotkin'Everywhere you will find that the wealth of the wealthy springs from the poverty of the poor'Fuelled by anger at injustice and optimism about humankind's ability to make a better, truly communal society, the anarchist writings of Peter Kropotkin have influenced radicals the world over, from nineteenth-century workers to today's activists.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
Anarchist Critique of Radical Democracy: The Impossible Argument (The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy)
by Markus LundströmThis book addresses the conflictual nature of radical democracy. By analyzing democratic conflict in Husby, a marginalized Stockholm city district, it exposes democracy’s core division – between governors and governed – as theorized by Jacques Rancière. Tracing the genealogy of that critique, the book interrogates a historical tradition generically adverse to every form of governance, namely anarchism. By outlining the divergent and discontinuous relationship between democracy and anarchy – within the history of anarchist thought – the author adds to democratic theory ‘The Impossible Argument’: a compound anarchist critique of radical democracy.
Anarchist Cuba: Countercultural Politics in the Early Twentieth Century
by Kirwin ShafferIn this volume, Kirwin Shaffer shows that anarchists played a significant—until now little-known—role among Cuban leftists in shaping issues of health, education, immigration, the environment, and working-class internationalism. They also criticized the state of racial politics, cultural practices, and the conditions of children and women on the island. In the chaotic new country, members of the anarchist movement interpreted the War for Independence and the revolutionary ideas of patriot José Martí from a Far-Left perspective, embarking on a nationwide debate with the larger Cuban establishment about what it meant to be Cuban. To counter the dominant culture, the anarchists created their own initiatives to help people—schools, health institutes, vegetarian restaurants, theater and fiction writing groups, and occasional calls for nudism—and as a result they challenged both the existing elite and the occcupying U.S. military forces. While many of their ideals flowed from Europe, their programs, criticisms, and literature reflected the specifics of Cuban reality and appealed to Cuba's popular classes. Using theories of working-class internationalism, countercultures, popular culture, and social movements, Shaffer analyzes archival records, pamphlets, newspapers, and novels, showing how the anarchist movement in republican Cuba helped shape the country's early leftist revolutionary agenda until the rise of the Gerardo Machado dictatorship in the 1920s. This important book places anarchism in its rightful historical place as a vital current within Cuban radical political culture.
Anarchist Cybernetics: Control and Communication in Radical Politics (Organizations and Activism)
by Thomas SwannFrom Occupy, to the Indignados and the Arab Spring, the uprisings that marked the last decade ignited a re-emergence of participatory democracy as a political ideal within organizations. This pioneering book introduces cybernetic thinking to politics and organizational studies to explore the continuing development of this radical idea. With a focus on communication and how alternative social media platforms present new challenges and opportunities for radical organising, it sheds new light on the concepts of self-organization, consensus decision making, individual autonomy and collective identity. Revolutionising the way in which anarchist activists and theorists think about organizations, this unprecedented investigation makes a major contribution to the larger discussion of direct democracy.
Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader
by Mark Bray Francisco Ferrer Robert H. HaworthFrancisco Ferrer navigated a tempestuous world of anarchist assassins, radical republican conspirators, anticlerical rioters, and freethinking educators to establish the legendary Escuela Moderna and the Modern School movement. Compiling many pieces translated into English for the first time, this collection presents Ferrer’s work in conversation with that of his comrades, collaborators, and critics to show the complex truth about the movement’s founder and martyr.
Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina
by James A BaerFrom 1868 through 1939, anarchists' migrations from Spain to Argentina and back again created a transnational ideology and influenced the movement's growth in each country. James A. Baer follows the lives, careers, and travels of Diego Abad de Santillán, Manuel Villar, and other migrating anarchists to highlight the ideological and interpersonal relationships that defined a vital era in anarchist history. Drawing on extensive interviews with Abad de Santillán, José Grunfeld, and Jacobo Maguid, along withunusual access to anarchist records and networks, Baer uncovers the ways anarchist migrants in pursuit of jobs and political goals formed a critical nucleus of militants, binding the two countries in an ideological relationship that profoundly affected the history of both. He also considers the impact of reverse migration and discusses political decisions that had a hitherto unknown influence on the course of the Spanish Civil War. Personal in perspective and transnational in scope, Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina offers an enlightening history of a movement and an era.
Anarchist Pedagogies: Collective Actions, Theories, and Critical Reflections on Education
by Allan AntliffImportant and challenging issues in the area of anarchism and education are presented in this history of egalitarian and free-school practices. From Francisco Ferrer's modern schools in Spain and the Work People's College in the United States, to contemporary actions in developing "free skools" in the United Kingdom and Canada, the contributors illustrate the importance of developing complex connections between educational theories and collective actions. Major themes in the volume include learning from historical anarchist experiments in education, ways that contemporary anarchists create dynamic and situated learning spaces, and critical reflections on theoretical frameworks and educational practices. Many trailblazing thinkers and practitioners contributed to this volume, such as Jeffery Shantz, John Jordon, Abraham de Leon, Richard Kahn, Matthew Weinstein, and Alex Khasnabish. This thoughtful and provocative collection proves that egalitarian education is possible at all ages and levels.
Anarchist Portraits
by Paul AvrichFrom the celebrated Russian intellectuals Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin to the little-known Australian bootmaker and radical speaker J. W. Fleming, this book probes the lives and personalities of representative anarchists.
Anarchist Prophets: Disappointing Vision and the Power of Collective Sight
by James R. MartelIn Anarchist Prophets James R. Martel juxtaposes anarchism with what he calls archism in order to theorize the potential for a radical democratic politics. He shows how archism—a centralized and hierarchical political form that is a secularization of ancient Greek and Hebrew prophetic traditions—dominates contemporary politics through a prophet’s promises of peace and prosperity or the threat of violence. Archism is met by anarchism, in which a community shares a collective form of judgment and vision. Martel focuses on the figure of the anarchist prophet, who leads efforts to regain the authority for the community that archism has stolen. The goal of anarchist prophets is to render themselves obsolete and to cede power back to the collective so as to not become archist themselves. Martel locates anarchist prophets in a range of philosophical, literary, and historical examples, from Hobbes and Nietzsche to Mary Shelley and Octavia Butler to Kurdish resistance in Syria and the Spanish Revolution. In so doing, Martel highlights how anarchist forms of collective vision and action can provide the means to overthrow archist authority.
Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward (Liverpool University Press Ser.)
by David GoodwayFrom William Morris to Oscar Wilde and George Orwell, left-libertarian thought has long been an important but neglected part of British cultural and political history. In this detailed study, David Goodway seeks to recover and revitalize that indigenous anarchist tradition. This book succeeds as both a cultural history of left-libertarian thought in Britain and an application of that history to current politics. The author argues that a recovered anarchist tradition could—and should—be a touchstone for contemporary political radicals. Moving seamlessly from Aldous Huxley and Colin Ward to the war in Iraq, this challenging volume will energize leftist movements throughout the world.
Anarchist Socialism in Early Twentieth-Century Spain: A Ricardo Mella Anthology (Hispanic Urban Studies)
by Stephen Luis VilasecaAnarchist Socialism in Early 20th Century Spain is the first English translation of and critical introduction to Ideario, a collection of newspaper and journal articles written by Spanish anarchist Ricardo Mella. Given that Mella is virtually unknown to the English-speaking world, this book provides readers access to his extensive body of work about Spain, human nature, and a world increasingly dominated by capitalism. Suitable for both the general public interested in learning more about anarchist ideas and for scholars studying twentieth-century Spain, the three introductory essays help to introduce Mella, ground his work in the context of Spanish anarchism, and draw connections between Mella and the urban in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spain. Stephen Luis Vilaseca’s translation is accessible and engaging.
Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America - Abridged paperback Edition
by Paul AvrichThrough his many books on the history of anarchism, Paul Avrich has done much to dispel the public's conception of the anarchists as mere terrorists. In Anarchist Voices, Avrich lets American anarchists speak for themselves. This abridged edition contains fifty-three interviews conducted by Avrich over a period of thirty years, interviews that portray the human dimensions of a movement much maligned by the authorities and contemporary journalists. Most of the interviewees (anarchists as well as their friends and relatives) were active during the heyday of the movement, between the 1880s and the 1930s. They represent all schools of anarchism and include both famous figures and minor ones, previously overlooked by most historians. Their stories provide a wealth of personal detail about such anarchist luminaries as Emma Goldman and Sacco and Vanzetti.
Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums
by Franklin D Vagnone Deborah E RyanIn these days of an aging traditional audience, shrinking attendance, tightened budgets, increased competition, and exponential growth in new types of communication methods, America’s house museums need to take bold steps and expand their overall purpose beyond those of the traditional museum. They need not only to engage the communities surrounding them, but also to collaborate with visitors on the type and quality of experience they provide. This book is a groundbreaking manifesto that calls for the establishment of a more inclusive, visitor-centered paradigm based on the shared experience of human habitation. It draws inspiration from film, theater, public art, and urban design to transform historic house museums while providing a how-to guide for making historic house museums sustainable, through five primary themes: communicating with the surrounding community, engaging the community, re-imagining the visitor experience, celebrating the detritus of human habitation, and acknowledging the illusion of the shelter’s authenticity. Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums offers a wry, but informed, rule-breaking perspective from authors with years of experience and gives numerous vivid examples of both good and not-so-good practices from house museums in the U.S.
Anarchists Against the Wall
by Uri Gordon Ohal GrietzerPart of a small but growing phenomenon in Israel since 2003, Anarchists Against the Wall have been boldly challenging the Segregation Barrier and generalised violence against occupied Palestine. The reflections herein offer a window into some of the most dynamic direct action activism today. Includes contributions from several well-respected journalists and political commentators, including: Bill Templer, Adar Grayevsky, Yanai Israeli, Kobi Snitz, Anat Guthmann, Anat Matar, Neve Gordon, Yossi Bartal, Sarah Assouline, Basel Mansour and the editors themselves.
Anarchists of the Caribbean: Countercultural Politics and Transnational Networks in the Age of US Expansion (Global and International History)
by Kirwin R. ShafferAnarchists who supported the Cuban War for Independence in the 1890s launched a transnational network linking radical leftists from their revolutionary hub in Havana, Cuba to South Florida, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Panama Canal Zone, and beyond. Over three decades, anarchists migrated around the Caribbean and back and forth to the US, printed fiction and poetry promoting their projects, transferred money and information across political borders for a variety of causes, and attacked (verbally and physically) the expansion of US imperialism in the “American Mediterranean.” In response, US security officials forged their own transnational anti-anarchist campaigns with officials across the Caribbean. In this sweeping new history, Kirwin R. Shaffer brings together research in anarchist politics, transnational networks, radical journalism and migration studies to illustrate how men and women throughout the Caribbean basin and beyond sought to shape a counter-globalization initiative to challenge the emergence of modern capitalism and US foreign policy whilst rejecting nationalist projects and Marxist state socialism.
Anarcho-Modernism
by Ian AngusThis volume is a collection of 38 pieces - essays, poems, extracts - unified by a combination of the playful, primitive aesthetic of literary modernism with the anti-authoritarian, anarchist praxis of radical democratic politics. This bi-polar sensibility permeates the work of Jerry Zaslove, to whom the book is dedicated.
Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God
by Greg Graffin Steve OlsonFrompunk rock bandBad Religion’s Greg Graffin and Steve Olson, Anarchy Evolution is a provocative look at the collision between religion and science.“Take one man who rejects authority and religion, and leads a punk band. Take another man who wonders whether vertebrates arose in rivers or in the ocean. . . . Put them together, what do you get? Greg Graffin, and this uniquely fascinating book.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Jared DiamondFrom an author with unique authority: UCLA lecturer in Paleontology, and founding member of Bad Religion, Greg Graffin and award-winning science writer Steve Olson, Anarchy Evolution delivers a powerful discussion sure to strike a chord with readers of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion or Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great. “Anarchy Evolution sets out to draw connections between evolution, naturalist thought, and punk, an undertaking that may sound rife with the potential to be reachy—or preachy. But Graffin and Olson manage to weave the seemingly disparate concepts together into a satisfying narrative.” —LA Weekly“Graffin is one of those rare people who seem to have combined two lives into one. He’s one of a small but growing number of atheists in the United States willing to talk about the damage they believe religion can do.” —Paste
Anarchy Unbound
by Peter T. LeesonIn Anarchy Unbound, Peter T. Leeson uses rational choice theory to explore the benefits of self-governance. Relying on experience from the past and present, Professor Leeson provides evidence of anarchy "working" where it is least expected to do so and explains how this is possible. Provocatively, Leeson argues that in some cases anarchy may even outperform government as a system of social organization, and demonstrates where this may occur. Anarchy Unbound challenges the conventional self-governance wisdom. It showcases the incredible ingenuity of private individuals to secure social cooperation without government and how their surprising means of doing so can be superior to reliance on the state.
Anarchy and Art
by Allan AntliffOne of the powers of art is its ability to convey the human aspects of political events. In this fascinating survey on art, artists, and anarchism, Allan Antliff interrogates critical moments when anarchist artists have confronted pivotal events over the past 140 years. The survey begins with Gustave Courbet's activism during the 1871 Paris Commune (which established the French republic) and ends with anarchist art during the fall of the Soviet empire. Other subjects include the French neoimpressionists, the Dada movement in New York, anarchist art during the Russian Revolution, political art of the 1960s, and gay art and politics post-World War II. Throughout, Antliff vividly explores art's potential as a vehicle for social change and how it can also shape the course of political events, both historic and present-day; it is a book for the politically engaged and art aficionados alike. Allan Antliff is the author of Anarchist Modernism.
Anarchy and Culture: The Problem of the Contemporary University (Routledge Library Editions: Higher Education #18)
by David MartinOriginally published in 1969, Anarchy and Culture both documents and describes the influence of the student and academic in the case of revolution and protest within the university. The book looks at the theory behind the culture of revolution within the contemporary university and comments upon the affect this has upon teaching, as well as the student experience. This edited collection contains a wide range of essays from a broad range of contributors in the fields of Sociology, English, and Education. Focusing predominately on study of the university in the UK, the book covers a spread of political comment, and personal attitude in analysing culture and anarchy in relation to the contemporary university.
Anarchy and Elegance: Confessions of a Journalist at Yale Law School
by Chris GoodrichIn Anarchy and Elegance Chris Goodrich deconstructs the inner workings of legal education at the nation's most prestigious law school. A former legal reporter, Goodrich - a Yale graduate - attended the law school on a year-long fellowship for journalists, and soon found himself in a mare's nest of conflicting ideas, emotions, and social visions. His class-by-class account, which showed exactly how law students learn to "think like lawyers," highlights the tension between the often-elegant abstractions of law and the messy, anarchic specifics of "real life." (Edmund Burke's alleged view: "Law sharpens the mind by narrowing it.") His initial skepticism about the law's tendency to operate in a self-referential, we-know-best manner is slowly tempered by admiration for its rigorous methods and theoretical good-faith, and results in a book that proves as entertaining as it is informative.Anarchy and Elegance has been called:"[T]he most creative book on law school in recent memory" (John Jay Osborne, author of The Paper Chase) "A perceptive and insightful inside look at one of America's most influential institutions" (Charles A. Reich, former Yale Law professor and author of The Greening of America) "[A] vivid, amusing and thought-provoking description of what it feels like on the [legal] battlefield" (Robert Heilbroner, author of The Wordly Philosophers)"[Essential, cautionary reading for budding lawyers" (Publishers Weekly)."[A] masterful contribution of the literature of reportage" (Magill Book Review)"[A] bull's eye" (The Jerusalem Post).
Anarchy and Geography: Reclus and Kropotkin in the UK (Routledge Research in Historical Geography)
by Federico FerrettiThis book provides a historical account of anarchist geographies in the UK and the implications for current practice. It looks at the works of Frenchman Élisée Reclus (1830–1905) and Russian Pyotr Kropotkin (1842–1921) which were cultivated during their exile in Britain and Ireland. Anarchist geographies have recently gained considerable interest across scholarly disciplines. Many aspects of the international anarchist tradition remain little-known and English-speaking scholarship remains mostly impenetrable to authors. Inspired by approaches in historiography and mobilities, this book links print culture and Reclus and Kropotkin’s spheres in Britain and Ireland. The author draws on primary sources, biographical links and political circles to establish the early networks of anarchist geographies. Their social, cultural and geographical context played a decisive role in the formation and dissemination of anarchist ideas on geographies of social inequalities, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, feminism, civil liberties, animal rights and ‘humane’ or humanistic approaches to socialism. This book will be relevant to anarchist geographers and is recommended supplementary reading for individuals studying historical geography, history, geopolitics and anti-colonialism.