Terence Kissack, Free Comrades: Anarchism and Homosexuality in the United States 1895-1917

Terence Kissack, Free Comrades: Anarchism and Homosexuality in the United States 1895-1917

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By investigating public records, journals, and books published between 1895 and 1917, Terence Kissack expands the scope of the history of LGBT politics in the United States. The anarchists Kissack examines—such as Emma Goldman, Benjamin Tucker, and Alexander Berkman—defended the right of individuals to pursue same-sex relations, challenging both the sometimes conservative beliefs of their fellow anarchists as well as those outside the movement—police, clergy, and medical authorities—who condemned LGBT people.In his book, Kissack examines the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde, the life and work of Walt Whitman, periodicals such as Tucker's Liberty and Leonard Abbott's The Free Comrade, and the frank treatment of homosexual relations in Berkman's Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, By defending the right to enter into same sex partnerships, free from social and governmental restraints, the anarchists posed a challenge to society still not met today.Terence Kissack is a former Executive Director of San Francisco’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society; he currently serves on the board of the Society. His writings have appeared in Radical History Review and Journal of the History of Sexuality. 

Noam Chomsky, Chomsky on Anarchism

Noam Chomsky, Chomsky on Anarchism

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We all know what Noam Chomsky is against. His scathing analysis of everything that’s wrong with our society reaches more and more people every day. His brilliant critiques of—among other things—capitalism, imperialism, domestic repression and government propaganda have become mini-publishing industries unto themselves. But, in this flood of publishing and republishing, very little ever gets said about what exactly Chomsky stands for, his own personal politics, his vision of the future.Not, that is, until Chomsky on Anarchism, a groundbreaking new book that shows a different side of this best-selling author: the anarchist principles that have guided him since he was a teenager. This collection of Chomsky’s essays and inter-views includes numerous pieces that have never been published before, as well as rare material that first saw the light of day in hard-to-find pamphlets and anarchist periodicals. Taken together, they paint a fresh picture of Chomsky, showing his lifelong involvement with the anarchist community, his constant commitment to non-hierarchical models of political organization and his hopes for a future world without rulers.For anyone who’s been touched by Chomsky’s trenchant analysis of our current situation, as well as anyone looking for an intelligent and coherent discussion of anarchism itself, look no further than Chomsky on Anarchism. Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s leading intellectuals, the father of modern linguistics, an outspoken media and foreign policy critic and tireless activist. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nestor Makhno, The Struggle Against the State and Other Essays

Nestor Makhno, The Struggle Against the State and Other Essays

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A collection of essays and articles from the Ukranian revolutionary, Nestor Makhno, who fought against encroaching Bolshevik terror during the Russian Revolution. The Struggle Against the State and other Essays sheds valuable insight onto the man and the movement that bore his name.

Martha Ackelsberg, Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women

Martha Ackelsberg, Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women

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Cowards don’t make history; and the women of Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were no cowards. Courageous enough to create revolutionary change in their daily lives, Mujeres Libres mobilized over 20,000 women into an organized network to strive for community, education, and equality for women -during the Spanish Revolution. Martha Ackelsberg writes a comprehensive study of Mujeres Libres, intertwining interviews with the women themselves and analysis connecting them with modern feminist movements.Martha Ackelsberg is a professor of government and a member of the Women’s Studies Program Committee at Smith College, where she teaches courses in political theory, urban politics, political activism and feminist theory. She has contributed to a variety of anthologies on women’s political activism in the United States.

Lucien van der Walt, Michael Schmidt, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (Counter-Power vol 1)

Lucien van der Walt, Michael Schmidt, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (Counter-Power vol 1)

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Black Flame is the first of two volumes that reexamine anarchism’s democratic class politics, its vision of a decentralized planned economy, and its impact on popular struggles in five continents over the last 150 years. From the nineteenth century to today’s anticapitalist movements, it traces anarchism’s lineage and contemporary relevance. It outlines anarchism’s insights into questions of race, gender, class, and imperialism, significantly reframing the work of previous historians on the subject, and critiquing Marxist approaches to those same questions. Lucien van der Walt teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Michael Schmidt is a Johannesburg-based senior investigative journalist. Recent praise for Black Flame: “A book with a deeply impressive quality of research, analysis and writing, this very important and much-needed work is an unexpected delight and an excellent piece of work”. —Mark Leier, Simon Fraser University, author of Bakunin: the creative passion “An enjoyable read, from which I have learnt a great deal—fascinating, revealing and often startling. Thanks to both and each of you”. —Alan Lipman, anti-apartheid activist and exile, author of On the Outside Looking In: colliding with apartheid and other authorities “A useful and insightful treatment of one of the most fascinating alternatives to industrial capitalism and the modern nation state. At the heart of their scholarship is an effort to provide clarity to a much maligned and misunderstood movement and also to examine it as a social history of ideas that percolated from below as well as directed from above by intellectual giants. The authors are careful to present their analysis in a jargon-free language. Readers will be introduced to influential historical actors from across the globe. A grand work of synthesis. An excellent starting point”. —Greg Hall, Western Illinois University, author of Harvest Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World and Agricultural Laborers in the American West, 1905–1930, in WorkingUSA “Brilliant, a really wonderful book and an outstanding contribution to anarchist theory and history. What does Black Flame get right? Well, almost everything! It is comprehensive, discussing all important issues, people and movements, and the authors do a great job in discussing the ins and outs of our movement and theory, using history to illuminate the ideas and show how they were applied in practice. Do yourself a favour and buy it now! You won’t be disappointed”. —Iain McKay, author of The Anarchist FAQ, volume 1 “Black Flame is an outstanding contribution to a modern anarchist perspective. Its view is focused on the working class but also supportive of every struggle against oppression. Besides covering the major controversies within historical anarchism in a fair way, it is particularly unique in examining anarchism from a worldwide perspective instead of looking at it only from a west European angle. I learned a good deal from reading it, and think others will also”. —Wayne Price, author of The Abolition of the State: anarchist and Marxist perspectives “This book fulfills a daunting task. Covering anarchism in all parts of the world and emphatically tying it to class struggle, the authors present a highly original and challenging account of the movement, its actions and ideas. This work is a must for everybody interested in nonauthoritarian social movements”. —Bert Altena, Rotterdam University, author of Piet Honig, Herinneringen van een Rotterdamse revolutionair

Emma Goldman, David Porter, Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution

Emma Goldman, David Porter, Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution

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“Vision on Fire is a historical treasure.”—Howard Zinn

This carefully chosen collection features the most important writings from the turbulent last four years of Emma Goldman’s life. This incredible follow-up her popular autobiography, Living My Life, reveals her struggles with the contradictions of the Spanish Revolution and her efforts to maintain integrity and vision in the heat of political activism.

An influential and well-known anarchist, Emma Goldman was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, feminism, and workers’ rights.

David Porter received his PhD from Columbia University. He has taught for two decades at Empire State College.

Deric Shannon, J. Rogue, C.B. Daring, Abbey Volcano, Martha Ackelsberg, Queering anarchism: addressing and undressing power and desire

Deric Shannon, J. Rogue, C.B. Daring, Abbey Volcano, Martha Ackelsberg, Queering anarchism: addressing and undressing power and desire

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"Definitely a book worth reading, regardless of the labels of normalcy you've pasted up to yourself or grown accustomed to letting others do the nasty gluing for you."—Bookslut
"The divide is growing between the pro-military, pro-police, marriage-seeking gay and lesbian rights politics we see in the headlines every day and the grassroots racial and economic justice centered queer and trans resistance that fights to end prisons, borders, war and poverty. Queering Anarchism a vital contribution in this moment, providing analysis and strategies for building the queer and trans politics we want and need." —Dean Spade, Normal Life
“A much-needed collection that thinks through power, desire, and human liberation. These pieces are sure to raise the level of debate about sexuality, gender, and the ways that they tie in with struggles against our ruling institutions.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Outlaw Woman
“Against the austerity of straight politics, Queering Anarchism sketches the connections between gender mutiny, queer sexualities, and anti-authoritarian desires. Through embodied histories and incendiary critique, the contributors gathered here show how we must not stop at smashing the state; rather normativity itself is the enemy of all radical possibility.”—Eric A. Stanley, co-editor of Captive Genders

What does it mean to "queer" the world around us? How does the radical refusal of the mainstream codification of GLBT identity as a new gender norm come into focus in the context of anarchist theory and practice? How do our notions of orientation inform our politics?and vice versa? Queering Anarchism brings together a diverse set of writings ranging from the deeply theoretical to the playfully personal that explore the possibilities of the concept of "queering," turning the dominant, and largely heteronormative, structures of belief and identity entirely inside out. Ranging in topic from the economy to disability, politics, social structures, sexual practice, interpersonal relationships, and beyond, the authors here suggest that queering might be more than a set of personal preferences?pointing toward the possibility of an entirely new way of viewing the world.

Contributors include: Ryan Conrad, Sally Darity, Jamie Heckert, Farhang Rouhani, Jerimarie Liesegang, Benjamin Shepard, Gayge Operaista, CRAC Collective, Stephanie Grohmann, Sandra Jeppesen, Susan Song, Diana C. S. Becerra, Jason Lydon, Liat Ben-Moshe, Anthony J. Nocella, II, AJ Withers, Saffo Papantonopoulou, and Hexe.
Deric Shannon, C.B. Daring, J. Rogue, and Abbey Volcano are anarchists and activists who work in a wide variety of radical, feminist, and queer communities across the United States.

Alexandre Skirda, Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organisation from Proudhon to May 1968

Alexandre Skirda, Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organisation from Proudhon to May 1968

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Drawing on decades of research, Skirda traces anarchism as a major political movement and ideology across the 19th and 20th centuries. Critical and engaging, he offers biting and incisive portraits of the major thinkers, and more crucially, the organizations they inspired, influenced, came out of, and were spurned by. Bakuninist secret societies; the Internationals and the clash with Marx; the Illegalists, bombers and assassins; the mass trade unions; and of course, the Russian and Spanish Revolutions are all discussed through the prism of working people battling fiercely for a new world free of the shackles of Capital and the State. Alexandre Skirda is the foremost anarchist theorist and activist writing in Europe today.

Alexandre Skirda, Paul Sharkey, Nestor Makhno--Anarchy's Cossack: The Struggle for Free Soviets in the Ukraine 1917-1921

Alexandre Skirda, Paul Sharkey, Nestor Makhno--Anarchy's Cossack: The Struggle for Free Soviets in the Ukraine 1917-1921

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Available for the first time in English, here`s the gripping story of Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno. With his usual wit and engaging style, Skirda chronicles the life of a legend and the insurgent army that fought in his name. Always controversial, Makhno has been described as everything from a drunken bandit to an inspirational hero. From Makhno’s imprisonment, to battles with the Bolsheviks and the White Army, to the final exile in Paris, Skirda captures the life of Makhno and the history of the Makhnovist movement.

Alexandre Skirda is the foremost anarchist theorist and activist writing in Europe today.

AK Thompson, White Riot: Anti-globalization and the Genealogy of Dissent

AK Thompson, White Riot: Anti-globalization and the Genealogy of Dissent

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Are you taking over, or are you taking orders?Are you going backwards, or are you going forwards?White riot—I wanna riot.White riot—a riot of my own.—The Clash, "White Riot"Ten years after the battle in Seattle sparked an historic struggle against the forces of multinational conglomeration and American imperialism, the anti-globalization generation is ready to reflect on a decade of organizing that changed the face of mass action around the globe.Scholar and activist AK Thompson revisits the struggles against globalization in Canada and the United States at the turn of the century, and he explores the connection between political violence and the white middle class. Equal parts sociological study and activist handbook, Black Bloc, White Riot engages with the key debates that arose in the anti-globalization movement over the course of the past decade: direct or mass action? Summit-hopping or local organizing? Pacifism or diversity of tactics?Drawing on movement literature, contemporary and critical theory, and practical investigations, Thompson outlines the effect of the anti-globalization movement on the white, middle-class kids who were swept up in it, and he considers how and why violence must once again become a central category of activist politics.AK Thompson is a writer and activist living and working in Toronto, Canada. Currently completing his PhD in sociology at York University, Thompson teaches social theory and serves on the editorial committee of Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action. His publications include Sociology for Changing the World: Social Movements/Social Research (Fernwood Publishing, 2006).

Agustin Guillamon, The Friends of Durruti Group: 1937-1939

Agustin Guillamon, The Friends of Durruti Group: 1937-1939

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Revolutions without theory fail to make progress. We of the 'Friends Of Durruti' have outlined our thinking, which may be amended as appropriate in great social upheavals but which hinges upon two essential points which cannot be avoided. A program, and rifles.—El Amigo del Pueblo, No. 5, July 20, 1937.Spain 1936–1939: This is the story of a group of anarchists engaged in the most thoroughgoing social and economic revolution of all time. Essentially street fighters with a long pedigree of militant action, they used their own experiences to arrive at the finest contemporary analysis of the Spanish Revolution. In doing so, they laid down essential markers for all future revolutionaries. This study—drawing on interviews with participants and synthesizing archival information—is THE definitive text on these unsung activists.This volume is translated, edited, and introduced by Paul Sharkey, acknowledged internationally as the foremost expert on the Friends Of Durruti Group. 

Abel Paz, Durruti in the Spanish revolution

Abel Paz, Durruti in the Spanish revolution

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Durruti was the ultimate working-class hero: carrying the future in his heart and a gun in each pocket. Abel Paz's magnificent biography resurrects the very soul of Spanish anarchism.”—Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums AK Press has commissioned an elegant, new and unabridged translation of the definitive biography of Spanish revolutionary and military strategist, Buenaventura Durruti. But Abel Paz, who fought alongside Durruti in the Spanish Civil War, has given us much more than an account of a single man’s life. Durruti in the Spanish Revolution is as much a biography of a nation and of a tumultuous historical era. Paz seamlessly weaves intimate biographical details of Durruti’s life—his progression from factory worker and father to bank robber, political exile and, eventually, revolutionary leader—with extensive historical background, behind-the-scenes governmental intrigue, and blow-by-blow accounts of major battles and urban guerrilla warfare. An amazing and exhaustive study of an incredible man and his life-long fight against fascism in both its capitalist and Stalinist forms. Includes Jose Luis Gutierres Molina’s introduction about Abel Paz’s life and the historiography of the Spanish Civil War. Abel Paz was born in 1921. At 15, he joined the Durruti Column and fought in the Spanish Revolution. After the revolution's defeat, he was active as a guerilla fighter against the Franco regime and spent eleven years in prison. He lives in Barcelona, Spain. Chuck Morse founded the Institute for Anarchist Studies, co-edited Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, and founded and edited The New Formulation: An Anti-Authoritarian Review of Books. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Stuart Christie, We, the Anarchists!: A Study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937

Stuart Christie, We, the Anarchists!: A Study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937

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"Christie's polemic underscores a great truth about the struggle against fascism: There is no middle ground. You may either resist fascism with all your might, or fall into the same abyss yourself."--Rain Taxi A detailed, scholarly study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), a group of twentieth-century militants dedicated to keeping Spain’s largest labor union, the CNT, on a revolutionary, anarcho-syndicalist path. Stuart Christie’s analysis covers the history of Spanish anarchism and the Spanish Civil War, and provides lessons relevant to today’s largely neutered labor movement. A gripping and informative tale! Stuart Christie is the co-founder of Anarchist Black Cross and Cienfuegos Press, and the author of Granny Made Me an Anarchist. He was imprisoned in 1964 for attempting to assassinate Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Maia Ramnath, Decolonizing Anarchism: An Antiauthoritarian History of India's Liberation Struggle

Maia Ramnath, Decolonizing Anarchism: An Antiauthoritarian History of India's Liberation Struggle

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Decolonizing Anarchism looks at the history of South Asian struggles against colonialism and neocolonialism, highlighting lesser-known dissidents as well as iconic figures. This approach reveals an alternate narrative of decolonization, in which achieving a nation-state is not the objective. Maia Ramnath also studies the anarchist vision of alternate society, which closely echoes the concept of total decolonization on the political, economic, social, cultural, and psychological planes. This facilitates not only a reinterpretation of the history of anticolonialism, but insight into the meaning of anarchism itself. Maia Ramnath teaches at New York University and is a board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies.

Cindy Milstein, Anarchism and Its Aspirations

Cindy Milstein, Anarchism and Its Aspirations

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From nineteenth-century newspaper publishers to the protesters in the “Battle of Seattle” and the recent Greek uprising, anarchists have long been incited to action by the ideal of a “free society of free individuals”—a transformed world in which people and communities relate to each other intentionally and without hierarchy or domination. But what exactly would that look like, and how can we get there?Anarchism and Its Aspirations provides an accessible overview of the history and hopeful future of this vision for a better world. The book quickly brings even the uninitiated reader up to speed with a crash course on some of the most influential anarchists in history and their ideas about how we might achieve the transformation of society. From there, the book looks at how these principles have been put into practice by groups such as the Situationist International, social ecologists, Zapatistas, anti-globalization activists, and other directly democratic organizations and communities in their respective struggles against capitalism and state control.Laying out a clear introduction to some of the main ideas behind an often-misunderstood political philosophy, Anarchism and Its Aspirations helps us imagine the vast possibility of a truly free and democratic society.Cindy Milstein is an activist and educator from Vermont. She serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, co-organizes the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, and is a collective member at Black Sheep Books. Her essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Realizing the Impossible, Confronting Capitalism, and Globalize LiberationX.

David Porter, Eyes to the South: French Anarchists & Algeria

David Porter, Eyes to the South: French Anarchists & Algeria

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Porter’s sensitive, learned, and accessible account is highly recommended for anyone wishing to acquire a deeper knowledge of the history of modern Algeria, as well as of the range of anarchist approaches, in both France and Algeria, to the pathways of Algerian politics before and since independence.” —Mohammed Bamyeh, author of Anarchy as Order: The History and Future of Civic Humanity“Eyes to the South makes a significant and valuable contribution to a small but growing literature analyzing the complex and problematic engagement of anarchists with decolonization in general, and Algeria in particular.” ?David Berry, author of A History of the French Anarchist Movement, 1917 to 1945 makes a significant and valuable contribution to a small but growing literature analyzing the complex and problematic engagement of anarchists with decolonization in general, and Algeria in particular.” —David Berry, author of A History of the French Anarchist Movement, 1917 to 1945Eyes to the South explores important issues from the last six tumultuous decades of Algerian history, including French colonial rule, nationalist revolution, experiments in workers’ self-management, the rise of radical Islamist politics, an insurgent revival of traditional decentralist resistance and political structures, conflicts over cultural identity, women's emancipation, and major “blowback” on the ex-colonial power itself. David Porter's nuanced examination of these issues helps to clarify Algeria’s current political, economic, and social conditions, and resonates with continuing conflicts and change in Africa and the Middle East more generally. At the same time, Eyes to the South describes and analyzes the observers themselves—the various components of the French anarchist movement—and helps to clarify and enrich the discussion of issues such as national liberation, violence, revolution, the role of religion, liberal democracy, worker self-management, and collaboration with statists in the broader anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements.

Daniel Guerin, Paul Sharkey, No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism

Daniel Guerin, Paul Sharkey, No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism

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The first English translation of Guerin’s monumental anthology of anarchism, published here in one volume. It details a vast array of unpublished documents, letters, debates, manifestos, reports, impassioned calls-to-arms and reasoned analysis; the history, organization and practice of the movement—its theorists, advocates and activists; the great names and the obscure, towering legends and unsung heroes.This definitive anthology portrays anarchism as a sophisticated ideology whose nuances and complexities highlight the natural desire for freedom in all of us. The classical texts will re-establish anarchism as both an intellectual and practical force to be reckoned with. Includes writings by Emma Goldman, Kropotkin, Berkman, Bakunin, Proudhon, and Malatesta.Daniel Guerin was the author of Anarchism: From Theory to Practice.

Solidarity Federation: Fighting For Ourselves: Anarcho-Syndicalism and the Class Struggle

The Solidarity Federation’s book, Fighting for ourselves: anarcho-syndicalism and the class struggle, aims to recover some of the lost history of the workers’ movement, in order to set out a revolutionary strategy for the present conditions. In clear and accessible prose, the book sets out the anarcho-syndicalist criticisms of political parties and trade unions, engages with other radical traditions such as anarchism, syndicalism and dissident Marxisms, explains what anarcho-syndicalism was in the twentieth century, and how it’s relevant - indeed, vital - for workers today.

http://www.selfed.org.uk/read/ffo
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Anarcho-Syndicalism: History and Action

A pamplet by DAM about the organisation, the history of syndicalism in the UK and the rebirth of anarcho-syndicalism.

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