[STUDY GROUP] Basic Anarchist Theory

[JazzRemington]

I recently received a PM from an individual who asked me to educate him on anarchist theory. I think this would be better to have an actual class for "newbies," if you will, than to just have a private PM session. But I would like to know if anyone else here is interested? I'm not sure how I'll plan the lessons or what style I'll use to teach, but I'm sure I can hack something together.

[Tormented by Treachery]

I would love it, Actually.

[Ice]

I am in and I am looking forward to learn more about anarchist theory's.

[Everyday Anarchy]

I'd love an anarchist theory class.

[Sir Aunty Christ]

Sure, great idea.

[loveme4whoiam]

I'm in :)

[DeadFishCorpse]

Im in too :D

[Delirium]

one more on the A-Team

[ernesto]

Dear sir;

I, as an educator, now teaching an introduction to socialism class for the first time to high school students would be very interested in learning from you in any format. I'm sure my students would greatly benefit from your instruction as well.

Ernesto


[email protected]

[( R )evolution]

Yes, this would be cool and educational. I am a more of a communist but I would not mind to expand my horizons and learn some stuff about Anarchist theory. Could someone please explain to me the events in Spain when the Anarchist took place and how it was reversed.

[FULL METAL JACKET]

Count me in!

[enigma2517]

Preach (:)) it bro

[STI]

I'm up for it.

[Rockfan]

Count me in.

[MysticArcher]

Me too, I feel I don't know as much as I should about anarchism

[l3th4l]

I like where this is going.... :D

[violencia.Proletariat]

STI and I are down for some class war anarchist education :D

[bcbm]

I'll do what I can.

[elmo sez]

can i join too ? :wub:

[angelfacebich]

Well, start then.

[Delta]

Sounds like a party :D

[FinnMacCool]

I'm in.

[YSR]

Okay, a lot of peopel are intersted. But what do we want to read? Suggestions and then we can make a poll?

[guydebordisdead]

Seems a bit vague, what angle are you taking on it?

Anarchist theory from a classical libertarian socialist (bakuninst) pov? Modern anarchist theory?

There's a million angles, this seems vague. Willingness of so many anarchists to all listen to one person made me chuckle though.

[atlas]

/me is all for it. =)

I won't be on revleft to ask questions, thanks to school, but I'll subscribing to it via email. :)

[YSR]

We're not "all listening to one person," we're trying, albeit slowly and without a great deal of enthusiasm, to put together a study group.

Suggestions for reading, anyone? If we can get a few, we can decide which on to read and can start.

[CoexisT]

The only thing I've read thus-far on anarchy is "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" by David Graeber. I find it particularly interesting being in the anthropology field myself, but I think it would provide a great deal of information to even those not educated in the field.

[adz170]

i will join this study group , however it works :D , i would enjoy learning more about Anachists :D

[Enragé]

I'm in

[The Incorruptible]

You can check out the books:

Chomsky on Anarchism
The ABC of Communist Anarchism (by Alexander Berkman), and Government in the Future (by Chomsky)

[The Feral Underclass]

I'm sorry, but suggesting people should read Chomsky in the effort of understanding anarchism is pretty awful.

Why not read "Anarchy" by Malatesta or 'Anarchism' by Kropotkin. Berkmans book is good, but Chomsky isn't even an anarchist...

[-=Viva La Revolution!=-]

count me in too what exactly do you do in a study group thoug, because i dabble in alot of governments and anarchy interest me the most, of course, because there's no government

[Comeback Kid]

Just because Chomsky isnt and anarchist doesn't mean he can't write a decent book on it.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Alexander Berkman

He shot Andrew Carnegie after the Homestead Strike and did 22 years in prison for it. You have to at least respect the man for that.

[Rollo]

I'm in.

[-=Viva La Revolution!=-]

i find that getting books on anarchy is getting hard because alot of bookstores dont sell them and library's resources are limited.

but ebooks are free sometimes and they help

[which doctor]

Originally posted by Compañ[email protected] 19 2006, 02:30 AM

Alexander Berkman

He shot Andrew Carnegie after the Homestead Strike and did 22 years in prison for it. You have to at least respect the man for that.
He shot Frick, Carnegies right-hand man for squashin' strikes. It probaly would have been Carnegie if he wasn't in Europe (I think).

[Leo]

Why not read "Anarchy" by Malatesta

I would suggest Malatesta, he is one of my favorite anarchists :)

Also, I would suggest "Towards a Fresh Revolution" by Friends of Durruti.

And, lastly, I would suggest Korsh, Castoriadis, Vaneigem and Debord. They weren't exactly anarchists but they were pretty close.

[rebelworker]

"The ABC of anarchist communism" Burkman

"Life and Ideas" Malatesta, this one is good easy reading and is broke up into smaller articles so we could pick something smaller.

"The Bolsheviks and workers Control" by Maurice Brinton, although he was not an anarchsit i is an excellent, and breif, crtitique of the state and bolshevik power with a pro workers council spin, very anarchist friendly.

I personally would like to read the peice by the friends of Durutti group.

obviosly as a nefac member Im a bit biased, but I think the "Norhteastern Anarchist", NEFAC's theoretical journal, is a good collection of contemporary anarchist theory and debate, from around the world, with a little smattering of anarchst history.

The articles are fairly short, perfect for a study group, and if you cant affourd to buy a copy, most of the artticles are available from our web page, also perfect for a study group.

If your going to learn about anarchism, might as well keep it contemporary.

heres a link so you can check out whats available online.
The Northeastern Anarchist (http://nefac.net/nea)

Our Last issue focuses specificaly on anarchismin Oaxaxa, which you may find very interesting considering the events gong on there right now(for more info on Oaxaxa ceck the front page of the nefage webpage or the Oaxaxa thread in Politics on this site).

[DaRk-OnE]

I'm intrested

[anomaly]

If you guys want to read Kropotkin's 'Anarchism' and discuss it, I'd be in, since I have that book. However, other than that, I don't think I could particpate much, due to school, activism, and the fact that I hate reading shit online.

[ComradeOm]

Have people spent the last six months confirming that they are "in"? Even for the internet that's a pretty slow rate of progress. Can we please make something happen... soon?

[anomaly]

Yea, seriously. You know what, anyone who wants to read Anarchism by Kropotkin, speak up, and we'll get a group going. I'd start a thread now, but I want to make sure at least 5 or so people are interested.

[BurnTheOliveTree]

I'd like to be part of the group.

-Alex

[Guevarist]

I 'm in. When do we start?

[Enragé]

I was planning on reading the Conquest of Bread

[rebelworker]

Someone should start a poll with all the suggestions.

[JazzRemington]

Given that it's been...a while...since I posted the first lesson, I have decided to post the notes I made for the 2nd lesson, and hopefully this will provide a "jumping off" point for people. Please note that this was written a LONG time and is rather rough around the edges.



Individualist Anarchism (also called Liberal Anarchism for its supreme respect for the individual) has been a predominately American invention, though the theory does have its obvious origins in Proudhon.

The mainstays of Individualist Anarchism are as follows: advocation of personal property (including land, means of production, etc.), markets, and absolute sovereignty of the individual. Individualists tend to advocate Mutualism, since it promotes self-sufficiency and union where necessary based on the nature of production.

But one must not be confused with the Individualist's notion of a free market with the capitalist's market. Individualists consider the market to be legitimate but dominated by State monopolies, such as Land, Patents, Tariffs, Property, etc. They consider Capitalism to be a State monopoly as well. In fact, Benjamin Tucker, a famous Individualist Anarchist, stated that private property is one of the evils of the capitalist monopoly.

Individualist Anarchists believe that the market is the best method of distributing goods and services and fits in well with their idea of the supreme respect of the individual's autonomy. They believe that prices should reflect the amount of labor that goes into producing a good, thus following the “cost, the limit price” principle first advocated by Josiah Warren, a very early American Individualist Anarchist.

Warren, as well as early Individualists like a young Benjamin Tucker, believed in “natural law” and that individual property ownership was a right of an individual. Individualists believe that it is wrong to try to deprive one of one's property, be it a book, car, home, or tools. They even believe it is wrong to deprive a capitalist of the ownership of, say, a factory.

Individualist Anarchists believe in creating anarchy through a slow, evolutionary process that involves the working class obtaining property of their own, usually through the aid of mutual banks, and setting up businesses themselves to “out compete” the capitalists. They also advocate simply ignoring the State and refuse to pay taxes or rent, amongst other things.

Individualist Anarchism was first thought of as a theory (minus the name) with Lysander Spooner, a 19th century American lawyer who argued that the State held a monopoly on land and was a coercive agent and that capitalism was a State monopoly on property, amongst other things. He even argued that the American constitution and the “social contract” were invalid because there was no way that the founders of such things had any legal authority to speak for future generations.

The next big name in Individualist Anarchism is Benjamin Tucker. Tucker is perhaps the most famous of the Individualists for his theories of State monopolies: Land, Money, Tariffs, and Patents. He is also known for introducing the works of Max Stirner and Egoism into Individualist Anarchism, which up until that point had held base in Natural Law.

Recommended Reading
The Ego and Its Own – Max Stirner
What Is Property? - Pierre Joseph-Proudhon
Instead of a Book – Benjamin Tucker
Manifesto – Josiah Warren
No Treason – Lysander Spooner