At any given point in my research, there are always a few texts that top the list of things I would love to read, but am unlikely to get my hands on. Some are of […]
Some of the most basic concepts in anarchist theory can prove terribly slippery when we try to apply them — sometimes even when we apply them with great care. Authority is arguably the most difficult of these notions to tame, which obviously poses problems for us, given the central place of anti-authoritarian critique in anarchist analyses. So, in response to some questions that have emerged since the first post on authority and hierarchy, I want to spend just a little more time exploring the concept in the context of anarchist theory. […]
The history of the International Workingman’s Association is obviously contested territory, with Marxist and anarchist accounts competing for attention with works, like Timothy Messer-Kruse’s very interesting account of The Yankee International, which emphasize other factions and other dynamics within the International. Of the existing histories, I am probably most partial to Robert Graham’s We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It: The First International and the Origins of the Anarchist Movement, which strikes me as a balanced account. But I’ll admit a fascination with a number of clearly partisan accounts that manage to cover comparatively unfamiliar ground. […]
Nine years ago, a movement was born, similar in many respects to the libertarian movement and very distant in others. Why isn’t it being discussed? It seems to be linked, on the one hand, to the highly developed theoretical aspect of the Situationist International’s texts and, on the other, to Situationist concerns, which seem to interest only a small minority. What are the causes? Among them, one of the most important is undoubtedly that professional revolutionaries from Lenin to Bakunin always separated political-economic action from action in culture. In their view, it was first necessary to change the material basis of life and only address the rest (the problem of art and lifestyle) in a second phase, without realizing that they were thus leaving “culture” in the hands of the bourgeoisie. […]
Back in 2020, I shared a translation of René Fugler’s pamphlet “The Anarchist Question,” as part of the Constructing Anarchisms project. At the time, I made a start at translating “The Forms and Tendencies of Anarchism,” another of his pamphlets, but never found the time to finish the work. This week, I found the time to complete that translation and to supplement it with a odd assortment of other texts by Fugler under his various pseudonyms — René Furth, René Forain, etc. […]
I am not sure there is any way forward but to gather together the fruits of the last couple of decades or research and present them for use, as if there was an audience ready and willing to use them. And since we’re talking about works deemed insufficiently commercial even for the niches filled by anarchist publishers and academic presses, the way to do that is through print-on-demand volumes. So the next phase of the Corvus Edition story involves a line of collections published through Lulu. […]
My goal overall is to produce a work that is at least potentially useful and shareable among anarchists of a variety of tendencies, as well as students of “the anarchist idea.” (The phrase is one of Nettlau’s that was obscured in translation.) But, to be honest, I am also very interested not to get too deeply involved in certain kinds of debate about how inclusive anarchist history ought to be. I expect that the best version of the work would hold little interest for those for whom anarchism does not appear still nascent in some important senses. For those willing to at least weigh the possibility of really sharing a historical tradition, I have some hope of presenting a relatively compelling case, but for others, honestly, I got nothin’… […]
One of 2019’s archival projects will be pulling together the large quantity of material I have gathered or generated regarding Max Nettlau and his works. […]
Mutualism (General) What Mutualism Was (1st Series) A Good Word: Anarchy in All its Senses Anarchism, Plain and Simple Mutualism.info: An Index Anarchist History: A Mutualist’s-Eye-View Josiah Warren (et al) A Documentary History of the […]
VOL. I — DECLARATIONS & PROFESSIONS OF FAITH Precursors & Related Tendencies: pre-1840 The Era of Anarchy: 1840—1880 The Era of Anarchism: 1881—1925 VOL. II — PROGRAMS & MANIFESTOS VOL. III — CATECHISMS, DIALOGUES, POEMS […]
I made the mistake, somewhere along the way, of allowing myself to make a few of these audio collages where the seams were not so obvious and the results were — gasp — sort of genuinely pretty. […]
Guinea-Pig Fleet — Fire Raids: Tokyo Like “Hiroshima Tattoo,” the two-disc “Fire Raids” set is one of the old recordings that I have returned to with equal parts fondness and regret. Originally released in 2002 […]
Guinea-Pig Fleet was really the culmination of the first set of Libertatia Laboratories projects — some twenty years ago — a noisy sort of “ambient” project, driven by research I was doing at the time on nuclear and incendiary warfare, nuclear tests and civil defense. […]
I’m sharing the tracks here with a bit of a nod and wink. They are, among other things, uncharacteristically musical, even if that musicality is a bit mutated. […]
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