Anarchism
Anarchism and anarchists and anything associated with the thinking, the people, or the history generally get a raw deal from the media and even mainstream historians. It is true that anarchism is profoundly anti-authoritarian, but its popular association with violence (wild-eyed bearded men throwing bombs) is exaggerated, even fictionalized by the very forces threatened by it, namely governments and the media with vested interests in things as they are.
As with any subversive political and economic movement, some proponents became impatient and felt justified in striking out in vengeance or justice. Thus you have Alexander Berkman and his attempted assassination of Pennsylvanian Henry Clay Frick in 1892 and Leon Czolgosz and his successful assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. Berkman, however, served his time in jail, wrote a deep and insightful account of his experience and went on to write more worthwhile books on the subject which possessed his life. (Czolgosz did not have that opportunity, being executed forty-five days after the death of his victim.)
Anarchism survived its dramatic beginnings in the 19th Century, however, and interested readers can find its articulate concern with agricultural reform, labor rights, and prophetic worries about the growth of the surveillance state in many excellent books. Here you will find books and a superb documentary on Sacco and Vanzetti (as well as Woody Guthrie's cd of his investigation into the miscarriage of justice). Here you will find histories, biographies, anthologies, memoirs, and fiction. It is a rich tradition, relevant to this day and to the future.
Letters of Joe Hill 1879-1915
Letters of Joe Hill 1879-1915
Radical songwriter and organizer Joe Hill was murdered by the state of Utah in 1915, but his songs continue to inspire working-class activists and musicians. This collection of letters, edited by radical historian Philip Foner (1910–1994), with new material by Alexis Buss, provides a window into the political reflections and personal struggles behind Hill’s legacy.
About the author
Philip S. Foner (1910-1994) was an American historian and professor who taught and lectured all over the world. He wrote and edited more than a hundred books, including the ten-volume History of the Labor Movement in the United States andThe Black Panthers Speak.
Alexis Buss served six terms as General Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World and also worked as a union organizer specializing in direct action strategies. She has coedited the Solidarity Forever Labor History Calendar since 1998 and is the author of The Union on Our Own Terms, drawn from columns she wrote on solidarity unionism for the Industrial Worker for nearly a decade.
Incendiary rock guitarist and acoustic troubadour Tom Morello is a groundbreaking artist in his solo career and as an original member of the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
Reviews
“Joe Hill’s influence is everywhere. Without Joe Hill, there’s no Woody Guthrie, no Dylan, no Springsteen, no Clash, no Public Enemy, no Minor Threat, no System of a Down, no Rage Against the Machine.”
—Tom Morello, from the foreword