Anarchism

Sinopse

Volume Two of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas was published in 2009. Originally subtitled “Between Apocalypse and Utopia,” Black Rose Books used the more prosaic and self-explanatory subtitle, The Emergence of the New Anarchism (1939-1977). Volume Two begins with a chapter on war resistance, anti-militarism and the emergence of new anarchist perspectives from people like Herbert Read, Marie Louise Berneri, Paul Goodman, Alex Comfort and Dwight Macdonald. It concludes with a chapter on sexual revolution, with selections from Marie Louise Berneri on Wilhelm Reich, Daniel Guerin and Paul Goodman on gay liberation, and Penny Kornegger and Carol Ehrlich on anarchist feminism. What I have tried to document in Volume 2 is the remarkable resurgence of anarchist ideas after the Second World War, despite that devasting conflict and the defeat of the Spanish anarchists in the Spanish Revolution and Civil War. Other topics covered in Volume 2 include art and anarchy, libertarian education, workers’ self-management, direct action and the new pacificism, science and technology, utopia, techno-bureaucracy and the rise of the “new class,” non-hierarchical organization, ecology, creating a libertarian counter-culture and resisting the nation state. Davide Turcato kindly agreed to revise his paper, “Making Sense of Anarchism,” to serve as the introduction.