Author: Warren McGregor
PDF File Size: 952 KB
The Strategy of Especifismo
Author: Juan Carlos Mechoso of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU), interviewed by Felipe Corrêa
English translation: Jonathan Payn, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2020
PDF File Size: 400 KB
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This interview with Juan Carlos Mechoso of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) – conducted by Felipe Corrêa – discusses FAU’s “strategy of especificismo”. Relevant topics are addressed in the questions, such as: the concept of especificismo, this type of anarchism’s relationship with the classics and with similar experiences that have emerged in history, especifismo’s relation with the Latin American context, comparisons with other ideologies that promote operating at distinct levels (party – mass movement), scientific concepts, ideology and its relation to socialism, programmatic positions that anarchists should defend in popular movements, concepts and conceptions of class, neo-liberalism, the development model of Latin American, popular power, strategy, armed struggle and social revolution.
Interview conducted between May and August 2009
Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation
Author: Universidade Popular / Movimento dos Trabalhadores Desempregados (MTD-RJ) (Movement of Unemployed Workers) [Brasil]
English translation: Jonathan Payn, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2020
PDF File Size: 432 KB
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This booklet, called Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation, is a publication of the Popular University of Rio de Janeiro in conjunction with the Movement of Unemployed Workers of Rio de Janeiro (MTD-RJ).
Formed in mid-2007, the Popular University believes in the political, social and cultural self-education of male and female workers (homeless, landless, unemployed, street vendors, etc.) with a view to building a new society based on socialism and freedom. It is made up of students and workers who assert themselves as the real producers of the wealth of the current society and ,“indignant with the most complete situation of misery and oppression that affects us”, has the “deepest desire for the collective construction of a new society, based on co-operation and equality. ” [Pro-Popular University Manifesto]
This notebook was designed and written by Universidade Popular. The first part was based to a large extent on the book Anticapitalismo para Principiantes by Ezequiel Adamovsky, edited in Argentina.
Towards a Fresh Revolution
Author: Friends of Durruti
PDF File Size: 497 KB
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Revolutions without theory fail to make progress. We of the ‘Friends Of Durruti’ have outlined our thinking, which may be amended as appropriate in great social upheavals but which hinges upon two essential points which cannot be avoided. A program, and rifles.”
— El Amigo del Pueblo,
No. 5, July 20, 1937.
Towards a Fresh Revolution is the highly influential pamphlet written by anarchist CNT militants during the Spanish revolution who opposed the co-option of their organisation into the Republican government.
The introduction to the 1978 edition of Towards a Fresh Revolution was written by Jaime Balius, former secretary of the Friends of Durruti and director of its paper.
Manifesto of Libertarian Communism
Author: Georges Fontenis
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The Manifesto of Libertarian Communism was written in 1953 by Georges Fontenis for the Federation Communiste Libertaire of France. It is one of the key texts of the anarchist-communist current.
It was preceeded by the best work of Bakunin, Guillaume, Malatesta, Berneri, the Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists * written by Makhno, Arshinov and Matt, which sprang from the defeats of the Russian Revolution, and the statements of the Friends of Durruti, also a result of another defeat, that of the Spanish Revolution.
The Manifesto was originally written in 1953 for the Federation Communiste Libertaire of France. It was then published in an English translation in Britain under the auspices of the Anarchist Communist Federation (now Anarchist Federation). This third ZB edition includes minor changes to the original.
Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)
Author: Group of Russian Anarchists Abroad (“Delo Truda” Group)
File Size: 436 KB
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First published 20 June 1926
Third Zabalaza Books Edition, August 2019
www.nestormakhno.info | www.anarkismo.net
Breaking the Chains: A History of Anarchism
Author: Lucien van der Walt
File Size: 1.7 MB
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This is a book about the history of anarchism. It is a history of nearly 120 years of unbroken workers struggle. It is a history of sacrifice and bravery by ordinary people fighting for a world without bosses and oppression.
First issued by Workers Solidarity Federation, 1998
This Zabalaza Books edition, July 2019
Building Working Class Unity in South Africa: Lessons from United Fronts in Germany, Italy and Russia
Authors: Jonathan Payn, Jakes Factoria, Tina Sizovuka and Warren McGregor
File Size: 443 KB
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This pamphlet is a collection of articles exploring the concept, history and anarchist/syndicalist approaches to United Fronts – and their relevance and potential for building working class unity in South Africa – written in the context of the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa)’s resolution, following its historic 2013 Special National Congress, to break with the ANC-led Alliance and form a ‘United Front against neoliberalism’
First Zabalaza Books edition, July 2019
From Union Renewal to a Self-Managed Society: Towards an Anarcho-Syndicalist Project
Author: Lucien van der Walt
File Size: 293 KB
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Trade union renewal is high on the agenda in many countries, but we need to think carefully about why we want it. Union renewal is a profoundly political and ideological issue.We need to have a clear understanding of how we got into the current mess where many unions are bureaucratic, inefficient and struggle to respond to urgent issues. We need to think carefully about what we want to achieve, not just in terms of how we organise – but what we aim at in the long run.
First Zabalaza Books edition, July 2019
[Leaflet] Tearing Racism up from its Capitalist Roots: An African Anarchist-Communist Approach
![[Leaflet] Tearing Racism up from its Capitalist Roots - Bongani Maponyane cover](https://zabalazabooks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/leaflet-tearing-racism-up-from-its-capitalist-roots-bongani-maponyane.gif)
Author: Bongani Maponyane (ZACF)
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Racism has been a curse in South Africa, and remains embedded in the society. But how scientific are racist ideas? Where do they come from? And how can we fight racism and create a truly equal and fair society? What do we as revolutionary anarchists think?
Text Source
Ecology in Democratic Confederalism
Ecology discussions and practices in the Kurdish Freedom Struggle with a focus on North Kurdistan (Bakur)
Author: Ercan Ayboga
File Size: 331 KB
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Ecology is one of the three pillars of the paradigm of Democratic Confederalism, the political-theoretical concept of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Besides democracy and gender liberation, ecology has been mentioned explicitly as a dimension in this concept since 2005. However to date, ecology is less discussed and practiced than the two other pillars.
First Zabalaza Books edition, July 2019
Related Link | Text Source
A Case for Anarchist Class Analysis: Why it Works Better than the Marxist Approach and What it Means for Struggles
Author: Leroy Maisiri
File Size: 326 KB
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The purpose of this pamphlet is giving a coherent, comparative analysis on how anarchists and Marxists view the concept of “class,” and the political implications of each approach. Class is the nucleus of both Marxism and anarchism; however the conceptualisation of class is different for both. In pointing out these differences, it is my hope that I will convincingly show how and why the anarchist conceptualisation of class is more comprehensive and more useful, providing a more holistic analysis of many related aspects of class, and a more practical political guide.
First Zabalaza Books edition, March 2019
Basic Bakunin
Authors: Colin Parker (with an introduction to the South African Edition by Lucien van der Walt)
File Size: 407 KB
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This pamphlet provides an excellent introduction to the ideas of Mikhail Bakunin, the “founder” of anarchism… We do not see Bakunin as a god who never made mistakes. Of course he was not perfect. He was a man, but a man who gave his all for the struggle of the oppressed, a revolutionary hero who deserves our admiration and respect. From Bakunin, we can learn much about revolutionary activism. We can learn even more about the ideas needed to win the age-old fight between exploiter and exploited, between worker and peasant, on the one hand, and boss and ruler on the other…
1993 edition by Colin Parker,
for Anarchist Communist Federation, UK
2004 South African edition by Zabalaza Books,
with new introduction
March 2019, second South African edition by Zabalaza Books,
with 2004 South African introduction
Alternatives from the Ground Up: Anarchism/Syndicalism and (Black) Working Class Self-Emancipation in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Author: Lucien van der Walt
File Size: 995 KB
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This commentary, an input at a Globalization School debate in Cape Town, engages current labour and Left debates on building alternatives, drawing on the experiences of the radical wing of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and on anarchism and syndicalism. It argues for a strategy of bottom-up mobilization based on debate and pluralism, and building structures of counter-power and a revolutionary counter-culture that can prefigure and create a new social order. The aim is to foster a class-based movement against exploitation, domination, and oppression, including national oppression, that can win reforms through self-activity, unite a range of struggles against oppression, and develop the capacity and unity needed for deep social change. This should be outside parliament, the political party system and the state. The outcome, ultimately, would be the replacement of capitalism, the state, and social and economic inequality, by a universal human community based on self-management, the democratization of daily life, participatory economic planning, and libertarian socialism.
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