Hello

[jeffreycc]

Hey guys, I hope you are all well. I'm a highschooler stuck in the US and have recently become "politically motivated," thereby discovering anarchism. I'm attempting to develop a thorough understanding of anarchism, and with that other leftist positions as well. So far i've only read through sites such as infoshop.org, "Anarchism and it's Aspirations," and i've just begun "Chomsky on Anarchism." If any of you could recommend some great and easy to understand introductory books, videos or websitesi'd appreciate it.
Thank you all fellow revolutionaries!

[Remus Bleys]

The Conquest of Bread (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/conquest/toc.html)
Its by Peter Kropotkin. Its truly fascinating. Though I gave up on Anarchism a long time ago, quite frankly because the movement in the States sucks (full of new age idiots and cappies), and no one believes a stateless society could work, the few concede we need a transition.

It would perhaps be better to accept a dictatorship of the proletariat, and fight as an anti-authoritarian member. Regardless, the Conquest of Bread is fantastic.

[jeffreycc]

I've heard a bit about "The Conquest of Bread." To my understanding, it is about anarcho-communism, am I correct? And I really do love the overall goals of anarchism, but as you said the anarchist movements are pretty weak. But this may be changing at the moment, especially throughout Europe. But yes, thank you for the recommendation, i'll definitely put it next on my reading list.

[Remus Bleys]

Yeah. Kropotkin's great.

Stay away from Bakunin. He's so insufferably petty-bourgeoisie.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

The Coming Insurrection (http://tarnac9.wordpress.com/texts/the-coming-insurrection/)
The Communist Manifesto for 21st century degenerate hipster post-Marxists.

Caliban and The Witch (http://libcom.org/library/caliban-witch-silvia-federici) (pdf)
A feminist, anticolonial history of the transition from feudalism to capitalism, written by one of the leading lights of autonomist feminism.

Work (http://crimethinc.com/books/work.html) (Sorry - link for buying - I don't know if it exists in full online)
CrimethInc. has produced some utter garbage (like, really, unforgivably bad stuff e.g. "Evasion", "While The Iron is Hot"), but Work is actually a pretty good, very contemporary summing up of the capitalist system. It's an excellent beginner's starting point for getting a handle on how "the system" works.

[jeffreycc]

Awesome, thanks guys!

[Skyhilist]

Though I gave up on Anarchism a long time ago, quite frankly because the movement in the States sucks (full of new age idiots and cappies), and no one believes a stateless society could work, the few concede we need a transition.

You consider ancaps to be part of the anarchist movement?
Besides them, I don't see how the movement really "sucks" more than the rest of the socialist movement in the USA... all tendencies are extremely marginalized.

Anyways, OP as people above has mentioned, The Conquest of Bread is a great book. As I've been learning more about anarchism (and you'll always be learning more if you really want to get into anarchist readings, it's a continual process because there's an infinite amount of facts, some more important, some less important) on resource that has really helped me is "An Anarchist FAQ". It's available online (http://www.infoshop.org/AnAnarchistFAQ) and has the answer to most if not all questions you might have about anarchism, and offers some good rebuttals to typical critiques of anarchism.

Another word of advice: don't be too worried about labels. Don't try to agree with something just because it's anarchist or disagree with something because it isn't. Make sure that your views on things are being dictated based on what you personally find to be most logical, rather than whether or not you can place something into a certain philosophical category. I know this may sound weird coming from someone who considers themselves to be an anarcho-communist and syndicalist, but the only reason I feel it reasonable to use that label is that after examining issues individually I don't feel that I have any major disagreements with anarcho-communist or anarcho-syndicalist theory. Oh by the way, if you're interested in anarcho-syndicalist ideas you might want to consider reading Anarcho-syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker. Also, a new idea that I'm really drawn to personally and maybe you'd like is green syndicalism, which tries to reconcile earlier versions of syndicalism that didn't put environmental issues at the forefront of concerns (http://libcom.org/library/green-syndicalism-alternative-red%E2%80%93green-vision).

Also, try not to be sectarian (obvious, I know, but you'd be surprised at how rampant that is on these boards). Left coms, council communists, autonomists, and even occasionally in my opinion some trots all are capable of forming very sound ideas, and we shouldn't be condemning everything that these people say solely on the basis that it doesn't match up perfectly with our own world views.

Welcome to the boards, hope you find everything you're looking for :)

[Remus Bleys]

You consider ancaps to be part of the anarchist movement?
Besides them, I don't see how the movement really "sucks" more than the rest of the socialist movement in the USA... all tendencies are extremely marginalized.

Of course not. But, every self described anarchist I've ever met was an extreme vegan who didn't care about economics, a anti-theist trying to be edgy, some weird new age types who thinks physics is wrong and dimensions are accessible via drugs, and capitalists. That's not the movement of course, but thats what everyone thinks of the movement, and I've never met any real anarchists irl. So I gave up.

[jeffreycc]

Of course not. But, every self described anarchist I've ever met was an extreme vegan who didn't care about economics, a anti-theist trying to be edgy, some weird new age types who thinks physics is wrong and dimensions are accessible via drugs, and capitalists. That's not the movement of course, but thats what everyone thinks of the movement, and I've never met any real anarchists irl. So I gave up.

I don't know exactly what my position on it is(if that's even possible without experiencing it for myself), but about the accessing of other dimensions via drugs: I recommend reading "DMT: The Spirit Molecule." It's extremely interesting and mind provoking. I believe there is also a documentary based on it with more interviews and such.

[Skyhilist]

Of course not. But, every self described anarchist I've ever met was an extreme vegan who didn't care about economics, a anti-theist trying to be edgy, some weird new age types who thinks physics is wrong and dimensions are accessible via drugs, and capitalists. That's not the movement of course, but thats what everyone thinks of the movement, and I've never met any real anarchists irl. So I gave up.

That's definitely a reason to give up on hipsters at least. There are at least a few real anarchists in my area so I guess I'm lucky enough to not have shared the same experience. Also what about vegans who do care about economics? haha

[jeffreycc]

This won't let me quote you yet for some reason Chomsssssssky, but Infoshop was actually one of the earliest sources of information on anarchism I delved into, I still have to read through ALL of it though. It's all very clear and logical which is great. And everything else you said makes sense as well. I strive to be independent in my thinking as much as possible(that's one of the reasons I've ended up here), but obviously we all gain information from other sources so it's up to ourselves to truly develop our viewpoints. And green syndicalism sounds appealing, I'll definitely check that and everything else out. Thank you for the welcome, I believe I'll be here for a while due to the vast amount of discussions and the friendly-appearing(so far) community.

[RedBen]

Of course not. But, every self described anarchist I've ever met was an extreme vegan who didn't care about economics, a anti-theist trying to be edgy, some weird new age types who thinks physics is wrong and dimensions are accessible via drugs, and capitalists. That's not the movement of course, but thats what everyone thinks of the movement, and I've never met any real anarchists irl. So I gave up.
seen alot of this in the punk rock scene and it put me off at a very young age. alot of self professed "anarchists" are simply people who don't want to do anything that isn't impulse by the seat of their pants and seem to be nihilistic adrenaline junkies, if not actual junkies. i don't think it's reflective of all anarchists, but it re-enforces the idea that all anti capitalist people are losers.

[Remus Bleys]

Thank you for the welcome, I believe I'll be here for a while due to the vast amount of discussions and the friendly-appearing(so far) community.
You are very lucky.

[Skyhilist]

but it re-enforces the idea that all anti capitalist people are losers.

To be fair, that isn't just faux-anarchist hipsters who do that.

http://newpowerleadinglight.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/stalin-kiss_1584259i.jpg

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

seen alot of this in the punk rock scene and it put me off at a very young age. alot of self professed "anarchists" are simply people who don't want to do anything that isn't impulse by the seat of their pants and seem to be nihilistic adrenaline junkies, if not actual junkies. i don't think it's reflective of all anarchists, but it re-enforces the idea that all anti capitalist people are losers.

I used to be an alcoholic drug-addicted punk rock loser, and you know what? I still did better organizing than a million armchair Marxists put together.
Take your middleclass moralism, your shit-talking, and shove it. Better a loser than a conservative populist.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

seen alot of this in the punk rock scene and it put me off at a very young age. alot of self professed "anarchists" are simply people who don't want to do anything that isn't impulse by the seat of their pants and seem to be nihilistic adrenaline junkies, if not actual junkies. i don't think it's reflective of all anarchists, but it re-enforces the idea that all anti capitalist people are losers.

I've been an alcoholic drug-addicted punk rock loser, and you know what? I still did better organizing than a million armchair Marxists put together. Which isn't to say that all Marxists are armchair, but, seriously, what the hell is with the moralizing? And since when have communists been anything but "losers"? We're talking about a history of people branded thugs, hobos, fuck-ups, the maladjusted.

[RedBen]

I used to be an alcoholic drug-addicted punk rock loser, and you know what? I still did better organizing than a million armchair Marxists put together.
Take your middleclass moralism, your shit-talking, and shove it. Better a loser than a conservative populist.
good for you that it was past tense. addiction is a terrible thing. i speak as an alcoholic. the reality is most people who see someone with a trihawk, and bondage pants aren't going to listen objectively, right or wrong. i'm glad you were able to organize people better "a million armchair marxists put together". good for you. sounds like a mathematically sound equation, 1=1,000,000 cause you say so. i have never been a member of the middle class in all the days of my life. i do appreciate how when someone takes offense they build a proto type boogeyman in their minds whether or not it correlates to reality or not. i grew up in a broken home, my dad left very early and my mom and my 5 siblings and i grew up in the chicago shelter system. we spent years bouncing between sleeping in parks, on someone's floor for a night, in a battered woman's shelter, or even sleeping in churches. i am also not a moralist in the context that your are attempting to frame, i think everyone should be able to do anything they want as long as it doesn't hurt or exploit anyone. perhaps i should have also put quotations marks around the word "loser".

[RedBen]

To be fair, that isn't just faux-anarchist hipsters who do that.

http://newpowerleadinglight.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/stalin-kiss_1584259i.jpg
fair enough.