Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
My favourite Anarchist is Buenoventura Durruti.
Anarchist Literature
- Thread starter Threshers_Flail
- Start date
chilango
Ha! Ha! Armageddon
Dillinger4 said:Obviously an attempt to detourn the spectacle of a bourgeois family holiday.
I wrote my (heavily Sit influenced) degree dissertation on why going to the beach is the most revolutionary thing you can do...
...seriously, I did.
...it got a 1st.
...I was such a tosser!
Some good suggestions already (though I'd avoid anything by Crimethinc like the plague if I were you, appalling, pretentious shite that desparately tries to mimic the Situationists and only manages to reproduce their awful writing style), it might be worth checking out the works of not avowedly anarchist but libertarian and left communists, Workers' Councils by Pannekok is an excellent example.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I second the workers councils stuff.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I agree chilango - Situ stuff is my first love.
Tell me more about your dissertation!
Tell me more about your dissertation!
Threshers_Flail
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the suggestions, ill be scouring the library for ideas. Hey October_lost, id like to ask whether you became an anarchist the second you became politically aware, or were your views different beforehand? I considered myself a 'Socialist' only due to ignorance. In the last few weeks i have been a bit like "OMG - if I buy a tshirt from there a baby will die!" But unless im willing to become a hermit then i have no choice but to be called a hypocrite by every skeptic out there.
Anyway, lantwit, ta for the heads up about the library. Im guessing that you are part of the Cardiff Anarchist Network?
Anyway, lantwit, ta for the heads up about the library. Im guessing that you are part of the Cardiff Anarchist Network?
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Threshers_Flail said:
Your views change as your situation in life changes. You remind me a lot of me at the same age. I can't remember becoming 'politically aware', but I leaned towards socialism/communism, in my ignorance. Learning more about history kind of opened my eyes to the reality of ideology.
If you are interested in 'alternative history', I found the most interesting moments of peoples struggles to be (off the top of my head)
Kronstadt, and the betrayal of the Soviets in 1921
The Spanish Civil War
Hungary 1956
Paris 1968 (this is the one I personally find most interesting).
A Pattern repeats itself in each of these examples, where the radicals/progressives were stabbed in the back by the more hardline bolsheviks/stalinist/communists.
Anyway, my point is, it is quite interesting to see how the theory developed and worked in real life. I especially like how the students of 1968 reclaimed the sorbonne, and the whole format of education and power relations changed instantly. It worked as well!
Its hard to main a non hypocritical stance. But it will come to you in time. Don't let yourself subscribe totally to one ideology or another. Devolop your own stance. It is possible to live and still have a clean conscience. I do.
Threshers_Flail
Well-Known Member
Nice post Dillinger4. I really came across a more alternative left wing thought outside of the columns of the Guardian or New Statesman mag through reading Geoff Eley's A History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000, a good read. This book kinda left a vacuum of intrigue which I hope to fill by reading the above books.
butchersapron said:
Only read the first
(years ago) but butchers' recommendations are always worth attention<adds to wants list>
Butchers -- which of Sheehan or Guerin is best on anarcho-syndicalism -- or is there a separate and better book for that?
ETA : Just seen chico's post ... oh well.
One day I'll get time to read much more of this stuff generally (and avoid the self sabotage of beer fuelled bone idleness ...
)butchersapron
Bring back hanging
The Guerin one of them two, but neither are briillant on that. Esp not on the introuductory level - there were loads of pre-WW2 stuff that were ideal but that shuddered to a halt post 45 and need updating - the two best IMO are Tom Brown's Syndicalism or the one that's always mentioned Rocker' Anrcho-syndialicism: theory and practice. Lots of other more academic typer stuff later on but not much good as intros.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Good Luck TF. It is an interesting and fulfilling subject. Its good to see people getting into this kind of stuff.
Cheers butchers
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
i'd say Stirner and Gramsci are well worth reading too.
tho' if you're just starting to get into reading about @ stuff i'd still say go for the autobiographies of folk who were involved with significant periods of anarchism rather than the theory as a lot of it is pretty dull and irrelevant.
tho' if you're just starting to get into reading about @ stuff i'd still say go for the autobiographies of folk who were involved with significant periods of anarchism rather than the theory as a lot of it is pretty dull and irrelevant.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
chico enrico said:
Yep, i'd second that.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
butchersapron said:
Thirded. Its life that matters.
The things that have most influenced me have been reading about how things worked in real historical situations and stuff.
the button
out on the kocker
I'd go for this one first.butchersapron said:
Part of it here: -
http://libcom.org/library/principles-of-syndicalism-tom-brown
And his superb short account of the 1926 General Strike here: -
http://libcom.org/library/social-general-strike-1926-failed-brown
the button
out on the kocker
But then I'd probably say fuck it, and go for history/biography/autobiography first.
So I suppose that makes it "Fourthed."
For British stuff, maybe Stuart Christie's Granny made me an anarchist, which is entertaining, and manages to sneak in a fair amount of history in a fairly painless way.
So I suppose that makes it "Fourthed."
For British stuff, maybe Stuart Christie's Granny made me an anarchist, which is entertaining, and manages to sneak in a fair amount of history in a fairly painless way.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Albert Meltzer's autbiog is another one as well - don't worry about all the wanky infighting and refs till later on - everyone involved will be dead before you have to pick a side
Dare i mention Ian Bones book as well?
Dare i mention Ian Bones book as well?
the button
out on the kocker
butchersapron said:Albert Meltzer's autbiog is another one as well - don't worry about all the wanky infighting and refs till later on - everyone involved will be dead before you have to pick a side
The wanky infighting's the best bit.
On balance, no.
People question his "anarchist credentials" (whatever they are), but George Melly's three volumes of autobiography are good too.
If you want to get into "anarchist fiction" (or "fiction by anarchists") there's B Traven/Ret Marut (same bloke), and Jaroslav Hasek's "The good soldier Schweijk" (which I've probably spelt wrong). That last one I've read over & over, and I still think it's funny.
Larry O'Hara
Well-Known Member
While a dense book, and not strictly anarchist as such, I found Gombin 'The Origins of Modern Leftism' to be a superb introduction to the more sophisticated Leftists/Situationists, Gramsci aside. It was probably the first political book I ever read, at age 17...
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Good book, again needs updating. And the other one he did at the same timeThe Radical Tradition.
the button said:
Stuart Christie's down as one of the speakers at the Book Fair -- mostly about his Spanish experiences/relevance of those to anarchism I think (would need to recheck).. Looks like a talk to go for.
I've met him (years ago) and had quite a chat about history etc., he's very interesting!
I'm making quite a little list of books to look for now. Cheers folks!
What do people think of Colin Ward's stuff?
the button said:
I've seen the play of this a good few years ago. Is the book riddled with anarchism then?
I can well imagine it .....
the button
out on the kocker
It is indeed. I'd put it up there with Spike Milligan's war memoirs (and that's a long way up) as a portrayal of the complete absurdities & stupidites of war.William of Walworth said:Is the book riddled with anarchism then?
I can well imagine it .....
That's right. If you want you can come to a meeting on Monday (8pm upstairs in the Glamorgan Staff Club, Westgate St, Cardiff) - it's a South Wales Anarchist meeting so there'll be people from Gwent, and Rhondaa @s too (and maybe evben a Pembrokeshire @ or two).Threshers_Flail said:
It's just a kind of open networking meeting where we (and you if you want) can find out what everyone else has been up to. Also pencilled in for this meeting is 30mins for us to start planning a small 'What is Anarchism' type flyer we can use when we're out doing stuff. Might be interesting for you to come for that.
If you want then feel free to get invloved with the PAD social centre collective (info about social centres here: http://www.socialcentresnetwork.org.uk/), or just drop in the PAD when it's open and take a look at the library and have a read/chat (info: http://thepad.wordpress.com/).
Also, some info on a radical reading group some of us are doing: http://www.myspace.com/cardiffanticapitalism.
It's based around reading up on alternatives to capitalism. We read a real range of stuff (Parecon by Michael Albert [shudder], Solidarity Economics, Social Ecology, the Anarchist Platform, the Turbulence journal, etc) some of it good, some of it not so good. We're just using it as an excuse to make us read more - you're welcome to come to that, too.
