Hey all, I started my dive into anarchism a little over a year ago and I’ve read a lot of the anarchy/socialism 101 type books but I’m starting to find a lot of it repetitive. I’m looking for suggestions to deepen my understanding of anarchism and libertarian socialism. Especially praxis and tactics, a lot of theory that I’ve come across doesn’t really get into the weeds about applying it, and as someone in an area with no leftist orgs to speak of (outside of a small DSA chapter), I don’t have anyone local to go to in order to learn from.
I want to start putting all of this knowledge to use in my area but I’m not 100% sure where to start or how to avoid some of the pitfalls of organizing. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Just to give a reference point for where I’m at in my understanding for suggestions, here’s a little bit of what I’ve read through. This isn’t all, but it’s a decent enough snapshot of where I’m at
Kropotkin: the bread book, mutual aid
Malatesta: anarchy, at the cafe
Rudolf rocker: anarcho syndicalism
FARJ: Social anarchism and organization
James c. Scott: seeing like a state (currently reading)
Did you check out crimethinc? I really like them for approach that to me feels very different more classical texts i read (didnt read that many tho)
Also which book from list did you feel most connected with / engaged by?
I’ve seen them referenced online before but I haven’t gotten around to looking them up. Their library seems to have a lot on praxis, thank you for linking it!
Kropotkin definitely spoke to me most, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Malatesta and rockers writing as well. The first chapter of anarcho-syndicalism was a great summary and history of anarchism that tied a lot together for me. The rest of it was so-so, I want to start anarcho-syndicalism: theory and practice after I finish seeing like a state, but that may be a while. Seeing like a state is deeeeeeense haha
I read both of kropotkins books (bread book 100% and mutual aid 40%) and I connect with his ideas / views on mutual aid :) I think he writes in a way that just make it seem so natural and reproducable.
I’ll second Kropotkin’s The Bread Book (AKA “The Conquest of Bread”). I’ll admit it’s been a few years since I’ve directly read any political philosophy, but this one struck me as a bit more practical than the average anarchist text. By that I mean (if I’m remembering correctly) he does a better than average job of laying out how his proposed society could come about, as well as addressing what it might look like in practice. He’s specifically a proponent of anarchist communism, so it’s a different take than anarchist literature that focuses more on the individual.
Its a great read for sure! While it wasn’t huge on theory per se, it had a hopeful streak that I found very encouraging. It was one of the first strictly anarchist books I read and it showed a great contrast to the likes of Marx and Lenin, which I had been reading before. They seemed solely focused on criticizing without posing much in the way of meaningful alternatives to the status quo. I’m sure those suggestions exist on the auth left but a lot of their introductory texts are just “shits bad, yo”.
Just reading kropotkin go on for a few pages about dishwashers definitely put me in the mindset of “things can be better, they had the means then so we must have the means now” over the persistent sense of dread that saturated other socialist books.
Hahaha. Sorry, I didn’t realize I was replying to OP - I took that comment as being someone’s suggestions to you. In that case I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer. As I had said in my earlier comment my grasp on anarchist literature these days is a bit spotty (though I’m hoping to start freshening up on it, so I look forward to other replies.)
From what I recall, however, most anarchist writers seem to have an unfortunate tendency to lean more on theory than practice. Furthermore, a lot of the foundational stuff was written in the 19th century, so their practical suggestions are quite often not super applicable to the modern context.
All good! I have read some more modern texts from FARJ (an especifist org in Brazil), some stuff on zapatismo, and I have more modern texts on the back log. Stuff from Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin and a handful of queer anarchist theorists as well. There’s a boatload of modern theory floating around out there, it’s just time consuming to parse through. I also wanted to get “the classics” out of the way to have a good foundation and historical context to pull from when reading more modern work
Very cool! I’ll have to find some time to read up on some more modern stuff. I vaguely remember one really good modern book from when I went back to finish a poli sci degree 5ish years ago, but unfortunately don’t remember the name or author. If I manage to dig it up I’ll let you know, as I recall it being quite informative.
Do you have access to special ressources / infrastructure, have specific skills or did you notice any problems in your neighborhood or daily life that you want to change? I feel like those can useful to pathways to learn specifics of organizing in relation to your individual situation and very often there are already some anarchist theory texts or report backs to be found.
Besides that, is reading your go to way of engaging with other peoples ideas?
I work in EMS and see the realities of American healthcare on a daily basis. One big issue I’ve identified in my area is poor access to (affordable and convenient) transportation for people with disabilities. My city is a victim of urban sprawl and has one of the highest pedestrian death rates in my state so not only is everyone car dependent, but if you try to walk or bike there’s a higher than average chance you get mowed down by an SUV. Not to mention homelessness, addiction, and food insecurity are a huge problem here that cause and exacerbate a number of health issues.
Reading has been my main way of engaging with politics lately. But I talk to friends and co-workers as well to engage with their ideas. Most of the people around me are evangelicals and conservatives so I get to understand their worldview more than they try to understand mine haha. I’ve also attended the odd protest and pride event when they come up and I’m not working, but that’s not often here. I wouldn’t say reading is my go to, but it’s one that’s most available to me at the moment
You mentioned lots of topics that I feel like you could make an big impact. I am from different continent so I dont know if I am just assuming, but there might be already active people/groups/organizations and maybe the way you want to be active aligns with the way they do things. I think its possible to “do anarchism” with others that are not anarchist ot atleast dont use that label.
Other than that, I enjoy reading your comments, to me they are engaging and precise, so maybe that is a skill you can use somehow.
The first is what thinking on what kind of organization do you want to be a part of. Do you want to fight for labor rights in a union? Do you want an affinity group? Or maybe do you want to join a broad coalition of environmental defense. Or maybe a large anarchist platform.
Those are all different and will have different advantage and issues. There isn’t one right way of doing anarchism.
The other thing is, you mentioned there’s only a local DSA in there. Are you sure? Where is the chapter currently working? And more importantly, which movements are they working with? Knowing that might shed some light into other organizations or at least social movements.
I’m in a very conservative city in Florida, there aren’t a lot of left leaning political groups in the city, I’ve looked around as well as I can and attended a few protests over the last couple of years to find orgs. The DSA chapter is small and only really seems to show up for protests. They haven’t run any local candidates and only seem to do fundraisers for their party and planned parenthood. Not to knock their work, but it’s not what I had in mind. I’m not opposed to poking around and looking for fellow anarchists hanging around them. There was also a food not bombs group but they seem defunct. Their page is inactive and no one’s gotten back to me when I reached out. There was a vanguard/community defense group but they dissolved a few years back too. I’ve found a few Instagram pages but they’re not very active either. I’ve looked
As for what kind of org I want to be a part of, I’m not sure. I’ve read a bit about especifism, community organizing, book clubs, mutual aid networks, free stores, and anti fascist action and they all sound good in their own right. I’m not sure what all of the options are, in what circumstances they make sense, how to do them, etc. My education on this topic has been very sporadic and in bits and pieces. I want to learn a bit more in depth about all of these and whatever other tactics make sense. I am currently working on organizing my workplace but thats only recently started and I’m still testing the waters. My company has avoided unionization before and a lot of those people who voted against are still working here so it’s iffy.
I know there isn’t a “right way to do anarchism” per se. But I know the why, and very little of the how. I want to balance that out and start putting anarchism to work in my community
I recommend trying to reach put to large organizations that align with your interests in this case.
Especifismo: black rose anarchist federation
Radical unionism: Industrial Workers of the World
Both of those orgs will be able to help a lot more than we can, if you want to build something aligned to them. Building different organizations take different approaches, and they can share their experiences and strategies that are more likely to succeed.
I’m not from the US, so I don’t know many more organizations. But the principle stays the same: you want to build a mutual aid network, try talking with people already working on those, even if they aren’t from the same place.
Now, as to what exactly amongst each of those you should do, I think only you can answer. My approach is that the best thing is something that touches you (be either in your heart, your body or your wallet). So basically, what do you feel like doing?
I wish you the best of luck, comrade :)
Thanks for the links! I think I’m going to reach out to black rose. I appreciate the advice
