In the highly unequal society produced by 30 years of Thatcherism, earning over £50,000 does not make you “middle-class” or a “middle-income” family. It puts you squarely in the top 5% of the population in terms of income. Yes, really, according to the Daily Mail the bottom-end of the top 5% is the middle!
Author Archives: Anarcho
Review: Proudhon’s General Idea of the Revolution
General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pluto Press, 1989 (Translated by John Beverly Robinson (1923)) This year marks the 200th anniversary of Proudhon’s birth, the person who first used the word “anarchist” in a positive light. This was in his 1840 book What is Property? so making anarchism as a […]
Letters on Anarchism and Marxism
A series of letters sent to the Weekly Worker on anarchism and Marxism. Most were printed as they were sent, although letter one was cut in half (letter two, which aimed to include the material cut when the first one was published was not if I remember correctly). The letters end up, as usual, discussing […]
Fight Fibs! Fight Inventions!
Two letters sent to the RCG’s paper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! a few years back in response to a disgraceful review of an anarchist pamphlet and their lies on the Makhnovist movement. Neither was published, unsurprisingly.
Letters on class to Freedom
Two letters on why class analysis is important for anarchism, as well as trying to dispel common misconceptions of what such an analysis means and implies.
Review: The Anarchist Past and Other Essays
The Anarchist Past and Other Essays Nicholas Walter David Goodway (editor), Five Leaves Publications, 2007 (£9.99)
Review: Basic Bakunin
Bloody Brilliant! This pamphlet does a remarkable job in summarising the basic ideas of Bakunin, the founder of revolutionary anarchism. It covers his analysis of modern class society, the state, bourgeois democracy and Marxism. On every count, Bakunin has been vindicated.
Reclaim May Day: An anarchist history
May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labour movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a […]
In Defence of the Truth – A reply to “In Defence of October” by John Rees of the British SWP
The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci once wrote that "to tell the truth is a communist and revolutionary act." If we apply this maxim to most of the left, we would draw the obvious conclusion that it is neither communist nor revolutionary. The Socialist Workers Party is a classic example of this mentality, rewriting history […]
Review: Evolution and Environment by Kropotkin
This work, volume 11 of The Collected Works of Peter Kropotkin, is in two parts. The first part is Kropotkin’s classic book "Modern Science and Anarchism." The second part is concerned with his thoughts on the latest theories and experiments in biology and evolutionary thought. As will become clear, the combining of these two very […]