NationStates Jolt Archive

Could some of the resident Anarcho-Communists give me a list of books to read to learn more about this? While I may not agree with anarchy as a political system, I have to say that I find this particular school of thought intellectually interesting, and Im a sucker for a good bit of political theory.

So, I know there are some of you out there (Chumbly comes to mind). Would you be so kind as to give me a few authors worth reading? I could just search the net, but Id rather get advice from people whose tastes I am more familiar with, so as to not waste time seperating the "cream of the crop" myself, so to speak.

Danke.

My only knowledge comes from Wikipedia, lol...so, :citation needed: lol...


But, Im more of a Chomskyist, Libertarian-Socialism and all that....

[Not an anarcho-communist]Read some of Emma Goldman's books.[/Not an anarcho-communist]

[Not an anarcho-communist]Read some of Emma Goldman's books.[/Not an anarcho-communist]This.
Try also Mikhail Bakunin or Peter Kropotkin.

[Not an anarcho-communist]Read some of Emma Goldman's books.[/Not an anarcho-communist]

Wow...this reminded me of a collection of essays by her that I bought a long, long time ago and completely forgot about after reading one. Now I've gotta go dig that book out but it's at the bottom of a box in the back of a closet that is behind a minifridge surrounded by more boxes. Great, now I'm going to end up tearing my room apart. Jerkface. :(

Eurocommunist here (hence not an anarcho-communist, more of a libertarian communist, but might be interesting for you).

Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks: Selections, Lawrence and Wishart, 1973, ISBN 0-85315-280-2
Santiago Carrillo, Eurocommunism and the State, Lawrence and Wishart, 1977, ISBN 0-85315-408-2
Roger Simon, Stuart Hall, Gramsci's Political Thought: An Introduction, Lawrence and Wishart, 1977, ISBN 0-85315-738-3
Detlev Albers u.a. (Hg.), Otto Bauer und der "dritte" Weg. Die Enrico Berlinguer, Antonio Bronda, Stephen Bodington, After Poland, Spokesman, 1982, ISBN 0-85124-344-4

I would highly recommend Emma Goldman - Anarchism and other Essays is a good start. Kropotkin, of course - try The Conquest of Bread. Malatesta's Anarchy is an excellent work, brief, clear, and well argued. Of those, I have read Goldman and Malatesta, but I'm still looking for the time to work through my copy of Kropotkin.

Edit: For a general overview of anarchism and its development, I cannot recommend Defending the Impossible: a History of Anarchism highly enough. Excellent overview of the various trends and thinkers, and plenty of citations back to their original works, to help guide further reading.

Also, don't just read Goldman or Bakunin. Read Jefferson, Hamilton, Hitler, Marx, Mussolini, Mill, Rothbard, Bookchin, Konkin, Machiavelli (sp?), Hobbes, Gramsci, Locke, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Gandhi...everyone. Starting now. Get busy! :tongue:

Also, don't just read Goldman or Bakunin. Read Jefferson, Hamilton, Hitler, Marx, Mussolini, Mill, Rothbard, Bookchin, Konkin, Machiavelli (sp?), Hobbes, Gramsci, Locke, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Gandhi...everyone. Starting now. Get busy! :tongue:

Many of whom are good - Marx, Jefferson, and Machiavelli present themselves obviously. But fewer of whom are Anarcho-communist - you might just be able to argue Bookchin, at least to some extent.

Many of whom are good - Marx, Jefferson, and Machiavelli present themselves obviously. But fewer of whom are Anarcho-communist - you might just be able to argue Bookchin, at least to some extent.

Jefferson isn't even remotely communist of any kind. All I'm saying is that you should read as many major thinkers of every ideology (however abhorrent some of them are), so that even if you don't agree with their way of thinking, at least you can understand how they think and why they think that way.

Peter Kropotkin - Mutual Aid

Mikhail Bakunin - God and the State

Rudolf Rocker - Anarcho-Syndicalism

Murray Bookchin - Post-Scarcity Anarchism

The above are good places to start; the first three being 'classic' texts, while Bookchin's text is a fantastic collection of newer (1970s+) articles on anarcho-communism, with emphasis on what's sometimes called green or ecological anarchism. For a more general overview, I cannot recommend enough the books by David Miller (incidentally, one of the finest Marx scholars around) and George Woodcock, both simply called Anarchism.

Woodcock has also edited the Anarchist Reader which, apart from being a bit old now, is probably the best collection of distilled anarchist thought, including not just texts by anarchist big names like Proudhon, Kropotkin, Stirner, et al, but also articles by Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau and George Orwell.

You should be able to find the first four texts I listed online.

Jefferson isn't even remotely communist of any kind. All I'm saying is that you should read as many major thinkers of every ideology (however abhorrent some of them are), so that even if you don't agree with their way of thinking, at least you can understand how they think and why they think that way.

I am quite aware that Jefferson isn't communist. Neither is Machiavelli. That makes them both reasonably irrelevant to the current discussion. Knights of Liberty has already made it clear that he simply want to find out more about anarchism, not necessarily that he agrees with it - basically, he already understands the point you are trying to make.

Peter Kropotkin - Mutual Aid

Mikhail Bakunin - God and the State

Rudolf Rocker - Anarcho-Syndicalism

Murray Bookchin - Post-Scarcity Anarchism

The above are good places to start; the first three being 'classic' texts, while Bookchin's text is a fantastic collection of newer (1970s+) articles on anarcho-communism, with emphasis on what's sometimes called green or ecological anarchism. For a more general overview, I cannot recommend enough the books by David Miller (incidentally, one of the finest Marx scholars around) and George Woodcock, both simply called Anarchism.

Woodcock has also edited the Anarchist Reader which, apart from being a bit old now, is probably the best collection of distilled anarchist thought, including not just texts by anarchist big names like Proudhon, Kropotkin, Stirner, et al, but also articles by Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau and George Orwell.

You should be able to find the first four texts I listed online.

*takes notes*