Audible Anarchism

Her reflections can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... "This affair should not be labelled a conspiracy by the anarchists. Rather it should be called a conspiracy concocted by the public prosecutors." Kanno Sugako was a prominent Japanese Anarchist arrested and condemned to death for plotting to assassinate the Emperor. During the trial the government launched a crackdown on Japan's growing Anarchist movement trying many for the same crime regardless of alibi's. While on death row she wrote these reflections on the situation, the movement and her own emotional state.

Article can be read at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mikhail-bakunin-the-death-penalty-in-russia This article was written to expose state oppression in the Russian Empire. Bakunin had been sent to St Petersburg's infamous Peter and Paul Fortress before escaping imprisonment and Russian Imperial territory by crossing through Siberia to a ship heading for Japan.

Can be read at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/margaret-killjoy-take-what-you-need-and-compost-the-rest-an-introduction-to-post-civilized-theo Take What You Need And Compost The Rest: an introduction to post-civilized theory by Margaret Killjoy is a short introduction to Post-civilisational Anarchism, in a similar vein to Post Civ! by Strangers in a Tangled Wood.

Can be read at https://libcom.org/library/fighting-ourselves-anarcho-syndicalism-class-struggle-solidarity-federation In this final chapter, we set out our vision of anarcho-syndicalism today. We discuss how to move from being a simple political propaganda organisation to a revolutionary union capable of taking the initiative in organising and catalysing class struggles in the economic and social spheres. Central to this strategy is the potential for direct action to build confidence, capacity and self-organisation amongst the working class, and thus for struggle to serve as 'the school of socialism'. We argue that a revolutionary union is an essential component of a revolutionary workers’ movement. Not only for organising and catalysing struggles, but providing both a physical and organisational infrastructure for the working class, and a point of departure for numerous anti-oppression, self-education and cultural initiatives, both inside and beyond its ranks. We set out how this kind of political economic organisation can help the re-emergence of a militant and revolutionary workers’ movement, and the necessity for this to seek to unite all the revolutionary workers of the world. Finally, we will sketch what a social revolution might look like on a world scale, and the role that revolutionary unions should play in this process.

Can be read at https://libcom.org/library/fighting-ourselves-anarcho-syndicalism-class-struggle-solidarity-federation In this chapter, we will analyse some of the changes to capitalism and society since World War II, the point at which anarcho-syndicalism was all but wiped out by fascism, Stalinism, total war and social partnership. We will see how the post-World War II social democratic settlement limited the space for a re-emergence of radical currents in the workers’ movement by integrating trade unions, as the representatives of workers, into the capitalist system. We will then look at the upsurge of class struggles from 1968 which marked the crisis of the social democratic settlement, and how their eventual defeat paved the way for the rise of neoliberalism and the “offshoring” of the traditional centres of militancy in the mines and factories. In analysing neoliberalism, we bring the analysis up to date with the conditions for organising today, characterised by casualised service sector employment and a withering of the institutions of political and economic representation – political parties and trade unions – which were central to the post-war settlement.

Can be read at https://libcom.org/library/fighting-o... In this chapter we will introduce anarcho-syndicalism as a synthesis of the anarchist politics and syndicalist methods we encountered in the previous chapter. This will be explored through the theory of Émile Pouget, the Argentine FORA (Argentine Regional Workers’ Federation), the German FAUD (Free Workers’ Union of Germany) and the Spanish CNT (National Confederation of Labour). While the mainstream workers’ movement is separated into political (party) and economic (trade union) wings, anarcho-syndicalism's revolutionary unions are at the same time political and economic organisations. In countries where reformist trade unionism was not well established (such as Spain) this revolutionary current sometimes became the mainstream. Where trade unions were stronger (such as Germany), anarcho-syndicalism constituted a revolutionary alternative to the mainstream workers’ movement. This chapter will also show how this synthesis of anarchism and syndicalism has taken different forms in response to different conditions, but always rejected the division of the workers’ movement into economic and political wings, and rejected representation in favour of associations for direct action.

Can be read at https://libcom.org/library/fighting-ourselves-anarcho-syndicalism-class-struggle-solidarity-federation This excellent book by Solfed 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. This chapter will introduce three radical currents from the historical workers’ movement. First we will look at anarchism, the name given to the anti-state socialists in the European workers’ movement of the 19th and 20th centuries. Anarchism, as a political doctrine, opposed itself to all statist politics, whether parliamentary or ‘revolutionary’, instead placing its emphasis on human capacities for voluntary co-operation, mutual aid and working class direct action. Second, we will encounter syndicalism. Emerging in France, the syndicalist movement of rank and file controlled, radical unions spread to many countries taking new forms in different conditions. We will focus on the French CGT, the North American IWW and the syndicalist currents in the workers’ movement in Britain. In all cases, working class direct action was the watchword of the syndicalists who, often under anarchist influence, formed unions based on the shared economic interests of workers. Finally, we will look at council communism, a radical Marxist current which broke with orthodoxies such as the necessity of the Party and the capture of state power. The council communists drew some very similar conclusions to many anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists, but we will also explore some important differences

Can be read at https://libcom.org/library/fighting-o...​ This excellent book by Solfed 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. This chapter will introduce the mainstream currents in the workers’ movement, from their origins until today. This is done in three parts. First, we look at how trade unions began as a response by workers to the conditions of early capitalism. By forming associations, workers could get the strength in numbers to change the balance of power versus employers. But we will see how, alongside this, a representative function arose, where unions developed a life independent of their membership and began to operate over their heads, mediating and ultimately diminishing their power within the limits set down by capital and the state. We will also see how this led trade unions to see themselves as purely economic organisations, leaving ‘politics’ to separate party organisations. We will then look at the notionally ‘revolutionary workers’ parties’ originating in Marxism and Leninism, and set out a critique of their inherent statism. Finally, we will retrace the history of the British Labour Party, dispelling some of the rose tinted nostalgia for this ‘workers’ party’, which was always a party of the trade union bureaucrats and never of the workers themselves.

Full text http://libcom.org/library/fighting-ou... This excellent book by Solfed 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. You can buy hard copies of Fighting for ourselves for £6 (including p&p) from Freedom Press (UK - £5 in the shop), and for $10+p&p from Thoughtcrime Ink Books (North America). For other countries please contact Solidarity Federation. Book information Publisher: Solidarity Federation and Freedom Press (London, UK) Publication date: Oct 27, 2012 ISBN: 978-1904491200 Paperback: 124 pages. Dimensions: 210 x 148 x 8mm Taken from http://www.selfed.org.uk/read/ffo This text in: Español

Can be read at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-prisons-universities-of-crime Short piece by Kropotkin on the effects of the prison system. "Prisons are universities of crime, maintained by the state".

Zine can be read at https://archive.org/details/TowardsAL...​ Towards A Less Fucked Up World: Sobriety and Anarchist Struggle is a zine published in the early 2000s by Nick Riotfag that explores the role intoxication culture plays in anarchist communities. The zine provides a thorough exploration of the issues around intoxication and anarchism. Topics covered include "Masculinity, Rape, and Intoxication," "Youth Liberation and Sobriety," "Intoxication and Corporate Culture," "Intoxication and Social Life," "Intoxication in Oppressed Communities," and many more. There are also two stories detailing how intoxication often plays out in anarchist communities and reflections on how to develop an anarchist sobriety. Weâve been tabling with this zine for years and it always inspires good conversations! This edition includes a revised text that differs from what was in the first edition of the zine as well as an afterward that includes reflections on the zine and the conversations it spurred. The "Afterward" originally appeared in the book Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics.

Text can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Ericco Malatesta's comments and criticisms of political participation by the revolutionary movement.

The final chapter of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 16 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 15 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Check out http://thebreadbook.org/

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Check out http://thebreadbook.org/

You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Full text: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Check out http://thebreadbook.org/

Full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Check out http://thebreadbook.org/

Chapter 9 of Conquest of Bread Read the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 8 of Conquest of Bread The full text can be read here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 7 of the Conquest of Bread The full text can be read here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 6 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alexander-berkman-the-kronstadt-rebellion To mark the hundredth anniversary of these important events we present Alexander Berkman's the Kronstadt Rebellion. This text is an explanation of the events of the rebellion at the Kronstadt naval base and its attempt to restore free Soviets to the Russian revolution in spite of growing repression and corruption by Bolshevik ministers.

Chapter 5 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 4 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 3 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 2 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

Chapter 1 of "The Conquest of Bread" by Peter Kropotkin. You can find the full text here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...

The letter is part of the Method of Freedom Errico Malatesta reader and can be found here https://libcom.org/files/Errico_Malat... This is translated from “Cari Compagni dell’Ilota,” Ilota (Pistoia) 1, no. 9 (1 April 1883). The background to this letter was the defection from anarchism of Andrea Costa, one of the chief members of the Italian Federation, who in 1879 had started advocating the extension of socialist tactics to parliamentary ones. Costa had a significant following, especially in the Romagna region, and in November 1882 he had been elected to parliament. His tactics had sparked heated debates in part of the socialist press, and Ilota was one of the periodicals that considered those tactics legitimate.

Essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... David Graeber's essay attacking the institution of economics and its use and misuse by governments in the pursuit of maintaining and advancing capitalist development despite the overwhelming evidence of its futility and potentially devastating consequences.

Essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Hawzhin Azeez outlines and describes the attempts to replace the police in Rojava and its connections with the other aspects of the ongoing revolutionary process.

The essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Kim Kelly's short primer on the prison abolition movement.

The Essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Andrej Grubacic and David Graeber wrote this introductory essay to a new edition of Kropotkin's Mutual Aid. The essay summarises and explains the importance of the work the context of its original publication and the importance of Kropotkin in current times.

The essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... An essay on the relevance of Max Stirner to the Anarcho-communist movement. Recommended Reading The Ego and Its Own by Max Stirner. Stirner’s only book and magnum opus. Unfortunately, there is still only one English translation available, Stephen T. Byington’s. Wolfi Landstreicher is currently working on a new one, slated to appear in the near future. Stirner’s Critics by Max Stirner. In this essay, Stirner (speaking in the third person throughout) clarifies some misinterpretations of his philosophy. The False Principle of Our Education by Max Stirner. In this article, which predates the publication of The Ego and its Own, Stirner critiques both the humanism of the aristocratic style of education, which aimed to produce disinterested scholars, and the realism of the democratic school of thought, which aimed to produce useful citizens. Stirner, while tending to favor the latter, argues that the goal of education should instead be the cultivation of free, self-creating individuals. “The Individual, Society, and the State” by Emma Goldman. Goldman’s most “Stirnerian” essay. “Victims of Morality” by Emma Goldman. In this essay Goldman attacks the spook of morality as a lie “detrimental to growth, so enervating and paralyzing to the minds and hearts of the people.” The Right to be Greedy: Theses on the Practical Necessity of Demanding Absolutely Everything by For Ourselves. An inspired fusion of Stirner and Marx by this short-lived Situationist-influenced group. For Ourselves argue that “greed in its fullest sense is the only possible basis of communist society. The present forms of greed lose out, in the end, because they turn out to be not greedy enough.” The Minimum Definition of Intelligence by For Ourselves. A critique of ideology and fixed thought coupled with theses concerning the construction of one’s own critical self-theory. The Soul of Man [sic] Under Socialism by Oscar Wilde. This beautiful essay is one of the most eloquent egoist defenses of libertarian communism ever penned. It is not known for certain whether Wilde actually read Stirner; however, he could read German and similarities in style between this text and The Ego make it seem likely that he did. In any case, this anarcho-dandy’s writing is invaluable to the serious student of egoism. Max Stirner’s Dialectical Egoism: A New Interpretation by John F. Welsh. The most thorough and coherent exploration of Stirner’s thought available in English. An exploration of Stirner’s philosophy, his influence on the thinkers Benjamin Tucker, James L. Walker, and Dora Marsden, and an investigation of the relationship between Stirner and Nietzsche.

Article can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Short article written for Mother Earth by Max Baginski on how all rights in capitalist society are secondary at best, when compared to the right to property. Including the right to live.

The text can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Essay by Emma Goldman tackling sex and marriage in capitalist society, written in 1896.

The poem can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Kuwasi Balagoon was a New Afrikan anarchist and a member of the Black Liberation Army. After serving in the U.S. Army., his experiences of racism within the army led him to tenant organizing in New York City, where he joined the Black Panther Party as it formed, becoming a defendant in the Panther 21 case. Sentenced to a term of between 23 to 29 years, he escaped from Rahway State Prison in New Jersey and went underground with the BLA in 1978. In January 1982, He was captured and charged with participating in an armored truck robbery, known as the Brinks robbery (1981). Convicted of murder and other charges and sentenced to life imprisonment, he died in prison of pneumocystis pneumonia, an AIDS-related illness, on December 13, 1986, aged 39. Balagoon authored several texts while in prison, writings that have become influential among black and other anarchists since first being published and distributed by anarchist prisoner support networks in the 1980s and 1990s

The full essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Usul of the Black Foot responds to an develops the thinking in the Post Civ zine by the group Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness.

The Zine can be read at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... A short but influential zine introducing the concepts behind post civilisation (Post-Civ) Anarchism by the group Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness.

Essay can be read here https://blackautonomynetwork.noblogs.org/post/2019/03/20/reparations-as-a-verb/ Short piece by the Salish Sea Black Autonomists criticising the limited scope of mainstream civil rights activism.

Essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/howard-zinn-the-conspiracy-of-law Conspiracy of Law is Howard Zinn's examination of the role of the legal system in enforcing class distinctions and criminalising alternative politics and opposition to the system whilst pretending to be a neutral force in society.

Essay can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-the-place-of-anarchism-in-socialistic-evolution Kropotkin's Essay on the place and need for Anarchism within the wider Socialist movement, written in 1884.

Pamphlet written by the UK's Anarchist Federation "Capitalism is Killing the Earth is our attempt to forge a more effective environmental movement. One capable of saving the planet before capitalism finishes destroying it. It builds on our collective experiences fighting against the destruction of the natural world, as well as reading and research."

Text can be read at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Elisee Reclus's important commentary on the Anarchist movement.

Article can be read here https://libcom.org/library/transphobia-class-issue An article by Anarchasteminist arguing that transgender rights are a working-class issue. [Content warning: In addition to transphobia in the abstract, this piece discusses harassment, violence and abuse. Some sources linked to for reference purposes feature transphobic abuse and slurs.]

Read the full text: https://zabalazabooks.files.wordpress... George Woodcock (1912-1995) was a historian, political biographer, essayist, poet, and anarchist. He wrote biographies of such anarchist thinkers as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, William Godwin, Oscar Wilde, and Peter Kropotkin. Throughout his life, Woodcock was given numerous awards for his work, but he refused several awards from the government of Canada on the grounds that he only accepted awards granted by his peers. In this final chapter, Woodcock provides an anarchist perspective on World War II, which was happening as he wrote the book. He argues that the myths of the Allies--that they were fighting for freedom against fascism--could be easily disproved by analyzing the prevailing social and economic conditions of those countries. The Allies were authoritarian as well, differing only in degree, but even those differences were eroding during the war. The real struggle, as Woodcock contends, was not the Allies against the Axis, but the working people of all countries against their rulers.

Read the full text: https://zabalazabooks.files.wordpress... George Woodcock (1912-1995) was a historian, political biographer, essayist, poet, and anarchist. He wrote biographies of such anarchist thinkers as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, William Godwin, Oscar Wilde, and Peter Kropotkin. Throughout his life, Woodcock was given numerous awards for his work, but he refused several awards from the government of Canada on the grounds that he only accepted awards granted by his peers. In this chapter, Woodcock recounts the most successful anarchist experiment of the twentieth century: Revolutionary Catalonia in Spain from 1936 to 1939. The anarchists successfully collectivized agricultural, factory work, and municipal jobs, leading in almost every case to increased productivity and happier people. But similar to Ukraine following the Russian Revolution, the Spanish anarchist society was brought down by outside forces, principally the Spanish communist party and the fascists.

Read the full text: https://zabalazabooks.files.wordpress... George Woodcock (1912-1995) was a historian, political biographer, essayist, poet, and anarchist. He wrote biographies of such anarchist thinkers as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, William Godwin, Oscar Wilde, and Peter Kropotkin. Throughout his life, Woodcock was given numerous awards for his work, but he refused several awards from the government of Canada on the grounds that he only accepted awards granted by his peers. In this chapter, Woodcock briefly summarizes the anarchist movement during the Russian Revolution. Led by Nestor Makhno (1888-1934), a Ukrainian peasant turned guerrilla fighter, the anarchists successfully fought against the Whites, the Reds, the Germans, the Austrians, and other factions while securing the Ukrainian Free Territory for an anarchist society. But by the end of the Russian Civil War, as the Bolsheviks were emerging victorious in their rush to control the Russian state, they turned on the anarchists and violently repressed the blooming anarchist federation in Ukraine.