'Government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind' - William Godwin William Godwin was the first major anarchist thinker in the Anglophone world, who rocked the establishment at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Famously married to Mary Wollstonecraft, father to Mary Shelley and inspiration to Lord Byron, his life and works lie at the heart of British Radicalism and Romanticism. In this biography, Richard Gough Thomas reads Godwin afresh, drawing on newly discovered letters and journals. He situates Godwin's early life in the counterculture of eighteenth-century religious dissent, before moving on to exploring the ideas of the French Revolution. As Godwin's groundbreaking works propelled him from Whig party hack to celebrity philosopher, his love affair with Mary Wollstonecraft saw him ostracised in both liberal and conservative circles. Godwin's anarchism always remained at the centre of his work, and remains his key legacy, inspiring libertarians, both left and right-wing. This biography places Godwin alongside his famous family as a major political, ethical and educational writer and shows why a reappraisal of his ideas is needed today.

This handbook unites leading scholars from around the world in exploring anarchism as a political ideology, from an examination of its core principles, an analysis of its history, and an assessment of its contribution to the struggles that face humanity today. Grounded in a conceptual and historical approach, each entry charts what is distinctive about the anarchist response to particular intellectual, political, cultural and social phenomena, and considers how these values have changed over time. At its heart is a sustained process of conceptual definition and an extended examination of the core claims of this frequently misunderstood political tradition. It is the definitive scholarly reference work on anarchism as a political ideology, and should be a crucial text for scholars, students, and activists alike.

It has been nearly two centuries since Marx famously turned Hegel on his head in order to repurpose dialectics as a revolutionary way of thinking about the internal contradictions of our social relations. Despite critiques from post-structuralists, post-colonialists, and others, there has been a resurgence of dialectical thought among political theorists as of late. This resurgence has coincided with a rise in the mention of words like class warfare, socialism, and communism among the general public on the streets of Seattle in 1999, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, in the actions of the Greek anarchists and the Spanish indignados, and in the rallying cry of "we are the 99%" of the Occupy Movement, and in academia. This book explores how it is that dialectical thought might respond to the critiques brought forth by those on the left who are critical of Marxism's universalizing and authoritarian legacy. Brian C. Lovato singles out Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as the key interlocutors in this ongoing conversation between Marxism and post-structuralism. Laclau and Mouffe argue that Marxist theory is inherently authoritarian, cannot escape a class-reductionist theory of revolutionary subjectivity, and is bound by a closed Hegelian ontology. Lovato argues the opposite by turning to two heterodox Marxist thinkers, Raya Dunayevskaya and C. L. R. James, in order to construct a radically democratic, dynamic, and open conceptualization of dialectical thought. In doing so, he advances a vision of Marxist theory that might serve as a resource to scholars and activists committed not only to combatting capitalism, but also to fighting against colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and heteronormativity. The writings of Dunayevskaya and James allow for Marxism to become relevant again in these tumultuous early years of the 21st century.

First published in 1981, this book reassesses the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists living in Boston in 1920. The pair were accused of a payroll robbery and the murder of two guards for which they were arrested and, after a long trial based on inadequate and prejudiced evidence, executed in 1927. In 1977, on the fiftieth anniversary of their deaths, the Commonwealth of Massachusettes issued a proclamation which acknowledged a miscarriage of justice. The Black Flag provides an account of the controversial trial and a re-evaluation of the celebrated case of the Commonwealth's decision. Brian Jackson puts the trial in the social context of the period and exposes the nature of anarchism by looking at the lives of two of its exponents, resulting in a moving exploration of a series of events that continue to trouble the conscience of America.

Lysander Spooner: American Anarchist is the first book-length exposition of the ideas of the American anarchist and abolitionist who lived mostly in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1808 to 1887. Few people today are familiar with Spooner. Nonetheless, there are many interesting strands of original thought to be found in his works that have contemporary significance_for example his reflections on the need for jury nullification or his devastating critique of the social contract. Rediscovering Spooner today is no mere investigation of a bygone nineteenth century thinker, but rather a gateway to a brilliant and original scholar whose counsel should not be ignored.

Karl Marx has rarely, if ever, been treated as a writer. Charles Barbour argues not only that we can examine the literary and rhetorical aspects of Marx's texts, but also that, as soon as we begin to do so, those texts begin to take on new and entirely unexpected political implications. In the past, Marx scholars have characterized his literary remains as either a relatively coherent body of work, or a structure cut in half by a single, all-important "epistemological break." Neither metaphor really captures the incredible proliferation of documents that we retroactively label Karl Marx. Barbour proposes that we characterize them, instead, as a machine, or an assemblage of fragments and components that can be put together and taken apart in any number of different ways for any number of different purposes. Focusing primarily on Marx's early polemical writings, and especially the debates with Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner that make up most of the voluminous manuscript now called "The German Ideology," The Marx Machine endeavors to show how some of Marx's most consistently denigrated and ignored works can in fact be approached as responses to Marx's contemporary critics.

Although there have been a few historical accounts of the anarchist school movement, there has been no systematic work on the philosophical underpinnings of anarchist educational ideas - until now. Anarchism and Education offers a philosophical account of the neglected tradition of anarchist thought on education. Although few anarchist thinkers wrote systematically on education, this analysis is based largely on a reconstruction of the educational thought of anarchist thinkers gleaned from their various ethical, philosophical and popular writings. Primarily drawing on the work of the nineteenth century anarchist theorists such as Bakunin, Kropotkin and Proudhon, the book also covers twentieth century anarchist thinkers such as Noam Chomsky, Paul Goodman, Daniel Guerin and Colin Ward. This original work will interest philosophers of education and educationalist thinkers as well as those with a general interest in anarchism.

Anarchism & Sexuality aims to bring the rich and diverse traditions of anarchist thought and practice into contact with contemporary questions about the politics and lived experience of sexuality. Both in style and in content, it is conceived as a book that aims to question, subvert and overflow authoritarian divisions between the personal and political; between sexual desires categorised as heterosexual or homosexual; between seemingly mutually exclusive activism and scholarship; between forms of expression such as poetry and prose; and between disciplinary categories of knowledge. Anarchism & Sexuality seeks to achieve this by suggesting connections between ethics, relationships and power, three themes that run throughout. The key objectives of the book are: to bring fresh anarchist perspectives to debates around sexuality; to make a queer and feminist intervention within the most recent wave of anarchist scholarship; and to make a queerly anarchist contribution to social justice literature, policy and practice. By mingling prose and poetry, theory and autobiography, it constitutes a gathering place to explore the interplay between sexual and social transformation.This book will be of use to those interested in anarchist movements, cultural studies, critical legal theory, gender studies, and queer and sexuality studies.

This volume is concerned with the re-evaluation and criticism of Capital itself. It is in three parts, each covering a specific area of Marxist theory. The first part contains an investigation into Marx's theory of value and considers the types of questions and modes of analysis to which this theory leads. In the second part the nature and implications of necessary economic 'laws of tendency' in the capitalist mode of production are covered. Finally there is an analysis of the role of class structure and economic agents in Marxist theory.

This study examines Marx's disputes with, and attacks upon, those anarchist theoreticians he encountered at various stages of his career. Marx's attacks on Stirner, Proudhon and Bakunin are shown to be of vital importance to his career as a theorist and revolutionist. The formative influences upon Marx's writings and his political activity are discussed and analyzed. The author re-situates Marx's thought in the context of the 19th century when Marxism was not an unchallenged orthodoxy but a doctrine and method that needed to be defended against rival revolutionary impulses.

A biography of a remarkable figure, whose politics prefigured today's social justice, ecology, and gender equality movements Ammon Hennacy was arrested over thirty times for opposing US entry in World War 1. Later, when he refused to pay taxes that support war, he lost his wife and daughters, and then his job. For protesting the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was hounded by the IRS and driven to migrant labor in the fields of the West. He had a romance with Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker, who called him a "prophet and a peasant." He helped the homeless on the Bowery, founded the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in Salt Lake City, and protested the US development of nuclear missiles, becoming in the process one of the most celebrated anarchists of the twentieth century. To our era, when so much "protest" happens on social media, his actual sacrifices seem unworldly. Ammon Hennacy was a forerunner of contemporary progressive thought, and he remains a beacon for challenges that confront the world and especially the US today. In this exceptional biography, William Marling tells the story of this fascinating figure, who remains particularly important for the Catholic Left. In addition to establishing Hennacy as an exemplar of vegetarianism, ecology, and pacificism, Marling illuminates a broader history of political ideas now largely lost: the late nineteenth-century utopian movements, the grassroots socialist movements before World War I, and the antinuclear protests of the 1960s. A nuanced study of when religion and anarchist theory overlap, Christian Anarchist shows how Hennacy's life at the heart of radical libertarian and anarchist interventions in American politics not only galvanized the public then, but offers us new insight for today.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Making Another World Possible identifies the British contribution to the genealogy of modern green and anti-capitalist thinking by examining left libertarian ideologies in the late 19th and early 20th century Britain and highlighting their influence on present day radical thought. As capitalism heralded the triumph of technology, greater production, and a new urban industrial society, some imagined alternatives to this notion of progress based on endless economic growth. The book examines the development of ideas from these dissidents who included communists, class warriors, free thinkers, secularists, and Christian communitarians. All shared the same beliefs that the benefits of industrialism could only be realized through equality and that urban culture depended on a healthy agriculture and harmony with the natural world - concerns that are still of great importance today. This distinctive history of anarchist ideas reappraises the work of thinkers and revises the historical picture of the radical milieu in 19th and 20th century Britain. It will be an essential resource to anyone researching the history of ideas and studying anarchism.

Anarchism and the Advent of Paris Dada sheds new light on Paris Dada's role in developing the anarchist and individualist philosophies that helped shape the cultural dialogue in France following the First World War. Drawing on such surviving documentation as correspondence, criticism, periodicals, pamphlets, and manifestoes, this book argues that, contrary to received wisdom, Dada was driven by a vision of social change through radical cultural upheaval. The first book-length study to interrogate the Paris Dadaists' complex and often contested position in the postwar groundswell of anarcho-individualism, Anarchism and the Advent of Paris Dada offers an unprecedented analysis of Paris Dada literature and art in relation to anarchism, and also revives a variety of little known anarcho-individualist texts and periodicals. In doing so, it reveals the general ideological diversity of the postwar French avant-garde and identifies its anarchist concerns; in addition, it challenges the accepted paradigm that postwar cultural politics were monolithically nationalist. By positioning Paris Dada in its anarchist context, this volume addresses a long-ignored lacuna in Dada scholarship and, more broadly, takes its place alongside the numerous studies that over the past two decades have problematized the politics of modern art, literature, and culture.

Reports of people rejecting political authority, assaulting it with words and often violent acts, are actions that are part of modern life. Anarchism has been considered a dead movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but it assumed a renewed and substantial relevance in the late twentieth century. Robert Hoffman points out in his incisive Introduction that anarchists have always been viewed either as foolish idealists or, at the other extreme, as serious threats to justice and social tranquility. But, the editor argues, most anarchists have been ordinary people who have shared a singular passion for what they believe to be a just society.

To clarify widespread misconceptions about anarchism, this volume offers a lively debate on the subject, consisting of works by both advocates of anarchism and people who take it seriously but reject it. Represented here, in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, and others, are different types, styles, and periods of anarchist writing, reflecting a rich variety of thought arising from the anarchist perspective. The essays deal with many of the different strands of anarchists, including anarchist attacks on democracy, patriotism, and military conscription, and provide an outline of the movement's tumultuous history. Against these are set pieces that argue anarchism's impossibility and estimate its relevance to social change.

The debate format of "Anarchism" introduces the reader to a fresh perspective and understanding of vital issues of political and social theory, and provokes him to examine his own thinking. Looking at both sides of the controversy, this volume discourages unquestioning or over-confident opinions. Although the anarchist credo that man can live without government is difficult or impossible for most people to accept, as long as we find it difficult to live within the framework of government control, the influence and potential appeal of anarchist thought will continue to be felt.

This book - the first in a series of four - brings together a sketch of Anarchist organisation and perspectives in the twentieth century. Anarchists and syndicalists were centre stage in the history of labour movements in much of `Latin' Europe and in most of Latin America in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Syndicalists and libertarians sought to develop solidarity and workers' power, rejecting both cautious and conservative trade-unionism and their allied socialist parties. Criticising the chauvinism that engulfed the Second International and its most powerful section, German Social-Democracy, they campaigned for class solidarity across frontiers and worked to subvert the discipline that bound soldiers to imperialist states. The second part of this book describes international and national campaigns against militarism and war. Libertarians investigated democratic, modern and scientific ideas and challenged obscurantist, religious and authoritarian conventions. They sought to focus and organise the strength of working people whose voices could not be registered in parliamentary politics, working at a time when many working people had no right to vote, and also sometimes, challenged patriarchal gender relations. This is the first of four: 1. Anarchist Perspectives in Peace and War, 1900 -1918 2. Anarchist Perspectives: Syndicalism, Revolution and Fascism, 1917-1930 3. Anarchist Perspectives: Revolution in Spain, 1931-1939 4. Anarchist Perspectives after the Second World War

This volume, originally published in 1972, remains a major contribution to anarchist literature. It is one man's vision of an anarchist society based on ethical values-without laws, without political authority, and without concentrations of power. An active anarchist since youth and a contributor to anarchist journals for many years, Giovanni Baldelli lived anarchism from within the anarchist movement and the ethical community that the movement aspires to be. In this book he clearly sets forth the anarchist's alternatives to government- viable principles of organization for an ethical society.

The revival of anarchist movements is here viewed as stemming from extreme centralization of governmental authority and stringent political collectivism-communist or democratic-that is incompatible with personal freedom, economic justice, ethical society, and possibly with continued human existence. Baldelli also shows how anarchist movements, aimed at the abolition of government and the initiation of a reign of freedom and voluntary cooperation, have seriously threatened institutions of government, violence, oppression, and exploitation throughout the world.

"Social Anarchism" is one anarchist's outlook. While offering solutions to difficulties in traditional anarchist thought, Baldelli differs from many other anarchists on certain issues-especially with regard to economic theory. For him, the exploitation of ethical capital is far more relevant to anarchism than the exploitation of labor. He also advances a new theory of value, reexamines the concept of authority and contrasts it with that of power, and provides answers to the question of how to oppose power effectively without perpetuating it. Throughout the book, Baldelli underscores his contention that many paths can lead to an anarchist society and that the respect of those who choose one way versus those who choose another is already anarchism put into practice.

This volume of collected essays by some of the most prominent academics studying anarchism bridges the gap between anarchist activism on the streets and anarchist theory in the academy. Focusing on anarchist theory, pedagogy, methodologies, praxis, and the future, this edition will strike a chord for anyone interested in radical social change.

This interdisciplinary work highlights connections between anarchism and other perspectives such as feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, disability studies, post-modernism and post-structuralism, animal liberation, and environmental justice. Featuring original articles, this volume brings together a wide variety of anarchist voices whilst stressing anarchism's tradition of dissent. This book is a must buy for the critical teacher, student, and activist interested in the state of the art of anarchism studies.

Examining the political theory of anarchism from a philosophical and historical perspective, Paul McLaughlin relates anarchism to the fundamental ethical and political problem of authority. The book pays particular attention to the authority of the state and the anarchist rejection of all traditional claims made for the legitimacy of state authority, the author both explaining and defending the central tenets of the anarchist critique of the state. The founding works of anarchist thought, by Godwin, Proudhon and Stirner, are explored and anarchism is examined in its historical context, including the influence of such events as the Enlightenment and the French Revolution on anarchist thought. Finally, the major theoretical developments of anarchism from the late-nineteenth century to the present are summarized and evaluated. This book is both a highly readable account of the development of anarchist thinking and a lucid and well-reasoned defence of the anarchist philosophy.

In Neo-Impressionism and Anarchism in Fin-de-Siecle France, Robyn Roslak examines for the first time the close relationship between neo-impressionist landscapes and cityscapes and the anarchist sympathies of the movement's artists. She focuses in particular on paintings produced between 1886 and 1905 by Paul Signac and Maximilien Luce, the neo-impressionists whose fidelity to anarchism, to the art of landscape and to a belief in the social potential of art was strongest. Although the neo-impressionists are best known for their rational and scientific technique, they also heeded the era's call for art surpassing the mundane realities of everyday life. By tempering their modern subjects with a decorative style, they hoped to lead their viewers toward moral and social improvement. Roslak's ground-breaking analysis shows how the anarchist theories of Elisee Reclus, Pierre Kropotkin and Jean Grave both inspired and coincided with these ideals. Anarchism attracted the neo-impressionists because its standards for social justice were grounded, like neo-impressionism itself, in scientific exactitude and aesthetic idealism. Anarchists claimed humanity would reach its highest level of social and moral development only in the presence of a decorative variety of nature, and called upon progressive thinkers to help create and maintain such environments. The neo-impressionists, who primarily painted decorative landscapes, therefore discovered in anarchism a political theory consistent with their belief that decorative harmony should be the basis for socially responsible art.

In his new introduction to "The Anarchists," Horowitz points out that anarchism is an ideology in search of a movement, and also a psychology in search of a polity. While this seems to be a paradox, the fact is that anarchism has more than one hundred thousand entries on electronic search engines, but one can search high and low for a society that embraces its essential anti-Statist vision. At the same time, anarchism continues to attract people to its premises, seemingly generation after generation. Despite similarities in values and goals, anarchism seems especially attractive to those for whom individualism rather than collectivism provides a way of life. In this, it stands at the opposite pole from Behemoth, from the gods of political order.

"The Anarchists" is a rich collection of theories and practices in the words of those who have rebelled against the restrictive institutions and oppressive conditions imposed by state power upon the individual. Idealists and self-seekers, saints and assassins, they have often served as the conscience of the world and have expressed with eloquence and convictions, the deep-seated sense of anarchy that resides, to a greater or lesser degree, in most human beings.

Anarchism is not simply a European import; it is deeply rooted in the American political experience. The volume gives strong representation to this side of the anarchist tradition. Thomas Paine wrote, "Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil. This was a sentiment echoed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, "the less government we have the better." The Anarchists offers the most thoughtful and comprehensive selection of writings by and about those who protest against all rule by man over man, particularly that embodied in the State. As such, this anthology presents the history and philosophy of anarchism in the words of thirty-five of its greatest students, observers, and proponents.

The Spanish Civil War became the setting for the struggle between revolution and counter-revolution as well as being, for many outsiders, the place of armed conflict between the forces of democracy and fascism. This book is a path-breaking synthesis of political, social and cultural history concerning the anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War by Spain's leading historian of the Civil War.

This book provides a historical account of anarchist geographies in the UK and the implications for current practice. It looks at the works of Frenchman Elisee Reclus (1830-1905) and Russian Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921) which were cultivated during their exile in Britain and Ireland. Anarchist geographies have recently gained considerable interest across scholarly disciplines. Many aspects of the international anarchist tradition remain little-known and English-speaking scholarship remains mostly impenetrable to authors. Inspired by approaches in historiography and mobilities, this book links print culture and Reclus and Kropotkin's spheres in Britain and Ireland. The author draws on primary sources, biographical links and political circles to establish the early networks of anarchist geographies. Their social, cultural and geographical context played a decisive role in the formation and dissemination of anarchist ideas on geographies of social inequalities, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, feminism, civil liberties, animal rights and 'humane' or humanistic approaches to socialism. This book will be relevant to anarchist geographers and is recommended supplementary reading for individuals studying historical geography, history, geopolitics and anti-colonialism.

Are alternative energies and Green New Deals enough to deliver environmental justice? Peter Gelderloos argues that international governmental responses to the climate emergency are structurally incapable of solving the crisis. But there is hope. Across the world, grassroots networks of local communities are working to realise their visions of an alternative revolutionary response to planetary destruction, often pitted against the new megaprojects promoted by greenwashed alternative energy infrastructures and the neocolonialist, technocratic policies that are the forerunners of the Green New Deal. Gelderloos interviews food sovereignty activists in Venezuela, Indigenous communities reforesting their lands in Brazil and anarchists fighting biofuel plantations in Indonesia, looking at the battles that have cancelled airports, stopped pipelines, and helped the most marginalised to fight borders and environmental racism, to transform their cities, to win a dignified survival.