Author: Scott Nappalos | PDF file size: 280 KB
Political organisation is a collective answer to common problems. People organise based on a collective sense of need, and the perspectives and problems encountered in social groups crystallize into organisational forms and moments. This is a general historical trend; even without a theory, organisation emerges to meet concrete needs that cannot be solved except by building social forms to address them.
Author: Jonathan – ZACF (Personal Capacity) | PDF file size: 162 KB
In this article the author attempts to explain why he feels it is that anarchists should consider starting a dialogue regarding the alcohol industry, the role of alcohol – and alcoholism – in capitalist society, its current effects on the poor and working classes, and its place in a future anarchist society.
Authors: Colin Wright & Howard J. Ehrlich | PDF file size: 230 KB
Pamphlet includes 2 texts: Anarchism, Feminism and the Individual by Colin Wright and Toward a General Theory of Anarcha-feminism by Howard J. Ehrlich
Author: Karl Blythe | PDF file size: 229 KB
In these essay’s, the author examines some selections from the Organisational Platform together with some of the writings of Nestor Makhno, as a starting point in the question of anarchist organisation. This is not meant as a comprehensive analysis of the Platform, so much as a look at certain of its shortcomings or weaknesses that the author would like to repair. After going through these, he then concludes with some general propositions as to how we might construct and/or improve our organisation, taking off from his discussion of the Organisational Platform.
Author: Peter Kropotkin | PDF file size: 221 KB
Kropotkin speaks on the relationship between syndicalism and anarchism, arguing that the anarchists welcomed syndicalist ideas in the IWMA and defended them against the attacks of the parliamentary current of the International. He also believed that syndicalism was the only movement capable of showing a way out of capitalism.
Author: a member of the Solidarity Federation | PDF file size: 47.5 KB
‘Anarchy’ is a word that has a very bad reputation these days. The mere mention of it causes most people to imagine nothing but rows of burning cars, roaming gangs of looters and senseless violence in the streets. Anarchy, we are told, means nothing but the very breakdown of social order itself. Yet is this the truth? Is government really the vital foundation of our society? To say that we would tear our society apart without a government standing over us, brandishing the stick of authority, is to say we are in reality no more than helpless infants.
Author: Mike Kolhoff | PDF file size: 313 KB
Old Joke:
On Ellis Island, early in the 20th century, an elderly eastern European man is being processed for immigration into the United States. He stands before the desk of the immigration officer who loudly asks him, without looking up: “Do you advocate the overthrow of the United States Government by subversion or violence?”
The old man mulls it over for a few seconds, then answers: “VIOLENCE!”
What place does violence have in the struggle to overthrow the capitalist system? What place does it have in any struggle? Is the current definition of violence as accepted by the ruling regime and the loyal opposition relevant or realistic?
Author: x344468 / IWW | PDF file size: 270 KB
Good meeting procedure is probably the most basic tool in the organisers’ kit. It’s the most basic building block in any form of collective action. With it a group of people can accomplish a lot more than they could alone, more than the sum of their parts, if you will. Without it they can do very little, except burn themselves out and reinforce the common belief that you can’t fight the powers that be and that collective action is a bore consisting mostly of endless meetings. Maybe that’s why they don’t teach it in school any more.
Author: Chaz Bufe | PDF file size: 284 KB
There are many popular misconceptions about anarchism, and because of them a great many people dismiss anarchists and anarchism out of hand. Misconceptions abound in the mass media, where the term “anarchy” is commonly used as a synonym for “chaos,” and where terrorists, no matter what their political beliefs or affiliations, are often referred to as “anarchists.” As well, when anarchism is mentioned, it’s invariably presented as merely a particularly mindless form of youthful rebellion. These misconceptions are, of course, also widespread in the general public, which by and large allows the mass media to do what passes for its thinking.
Author: Shawn Hattingh (ZACF) | PDF file size: 360 KB
Over the last few years, many on the left have been trying to formulate a vision of socialism based on democracy. As a consequence countless papers and talks have been produced internationally about how socialism needs to be participatory if true freedom is to be achieved. Some have given this search for a form of democratic socialism evocative names, such as ‘Twenty-First Century socialism’, ‘socialism-from-below’ and ‘ecosocialism’. In South Africa the desire for a democratic socialism has also inspired initiatives such as the Conference for a Democratic Left (CDL); while even the South African Communist Party has outlined a need for a more participatory socialist agenda.
Author: Alternative Libertaire | PDF file size: 263 KB
With a planetary ecological crisis on hand, it can no longer be denied that socialism will be incompatible with mass production and mass consumption. Indeed, even without returning to Malthusian catastrophe theories, we are forced to admit that the planet’s resources are not inexhaustible. These resources could provide for humanity’s needs, but only if they are used in a reasonable and rational way, i.e., in a manner directly opposed to capitalist logic, which in itself is a source of imbalance.
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Authors: Wayne Price and Anarcho | PDF file size: 256 KB
The pamphlet, “The Coming Insurrection” has been attracting attention. A discussion of some of its key points is useful in considering the differences between “insurrectional anarchism” and “class-struggle anarchism.”
This pamphlet is made up of 2 texts: “The Coming Insurrection”?:Insurrectional Anarchism vs. Class-Struggle Anarchism by Wayne Price, and“The Coming Insurrection” Review by Anarcho.
Authors: members of Common Cause – Ottawa | PDF file size: 203 KB
The booklet is based on a presentation made by two members of Common Cause Ottawa at the “Capitalism and Confrontation: Grassroots Responses to Empire, Ecology and Political Economy” conference in March 2010 held at Carleton University.
Common Cause Ottawa is a branch of the Ontario provincial anarchist organisation, Common Cause (www.linchpin.ca)
Capitalism has proven itself to be completely inadequate to meet basic human needs. At the dawn of the twenty first century, the world is deeply divided into haves and have-nots. Extreme inequalities have been intensifying since the 1970s. While a minority of the world’s population lives in opulence, the masses struggle in poverty (Schmidt and van der Walt, 2009, pp. 10-11).
Author: Chaz Bufe | PDF file size: 303 KB
This pamphlet briefly looks at many of the reasons that Christianity is undesirable from both a personal and a social point of view…. the purpose of 20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity is to list the most outstanding misery-producing and socially destructive qualities of Christianity in one place. When considered in toto, they lead to an irresistible conclusion: that Christianity must be abandoned, for the sake of both personal happiness and social progress.
zabalazabooks.net 