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.
The Anarchist Encyclopedia: Abridged
The Anarchist Encyclopedia: Abridged
"Mitch Abidor is to be commended for presenting the first English translation of selections from Sébastien Faure’s incomparable Encyclopédie Anarchiste. Between 1925 and 1934, Faure published articles by the leading proponents of anarchism on a remarkable variety of topics from every major perspective—anarchist communist, syndicalist, platformist, and individualist anarchist. This book is a must read for anyone interested in anarchist ideas." —Robert Graham, author of We Do Not Fear Anarchy—We Invoke It
This is an abridged version of the Anarchist Encyclopedia. The original was a four-volume compendium of anarchist thought and analysis compiled by the anarchist activist and writer Sébastien Faure. Within its pages can be found articles on political, social, and philosophical questions written from every point of view within the anarchist movement, by many of the most important figures of anarchism, like Faure, Max Nettlau, Emile Armand, Voline, and Errico Malatesta. It is a perfect reflection of the openness of anarchism, an unequaled assembly of the riches of the movement, and an essential text that has sadly been unavailable in English. Although much shorter, our selection reflects the depth and range of the original. Mitchell Abidor's lengthy Introduction provides historical context, biographical detail about the contributors, and an overview of political philosophies covered.
Sébastien Faure (1858–1942) was a French anarchist writer, educator, and editor.
Mitchell Abidor is a translator and writer from Brooklyn. He has published many collections of writings from the French revolutionary tradition, including Voices of the Paris Commune and A Socialist History of the French Revolution by Jean Jaurès, as well as May Made Me: An Oral History of the 1968 Uprising in France.