Readings found here have been selected by our affinity group to reflect our views on the fundamentals of anarchist thought and our positions on important topics.
This reading course is not yet complete but will ultimately provide a guide to the theory and practice of anarchism, and applying it to our modern and local context.
Defining Anarchism
Debating power and revolution in anarchism, Black Flame and historical Marxism, by Lucien van der Walt, 2011.
Originally an article in International Socialism in response to commentary from the International Socialist Tendency. In responding to criticisms of Black Flame, Lucien van der Walt clearly explains the critical differences between anarchism and Marxism. There is a short version of the essay (as published in IST) and a longer version available here.
Defining Anarchism, chapter 2 of Black Flame by Lucien van der Walt and Michael Schmidt, 2009.
Chapter 2 of Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism. In their historical re-examination of the anarchist tradition, Lucien van der Walt and Michael Schmidt reclaim anarchism’s democratic class politics, define anarchism in terms of it’s history, and debunk modern myths about anarchism’s political content.
Anarchist Organisation
Social Anarchism and Organisation, Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro, 2008.
One of the most comprehensive elaborations on the Latin American concept of especifista anarchism now available in English.
Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists, Group of Russian Anarchists Abroad, 1926.
In the aftermath of the defeat of Russian anarchism by the Bolsheviks, Russian exiles in France sought to examine what went wrong, and how to remedy it. Their conclusions about anarchist organisation, informed by the reality of revolution and defeat, are relevant to this day.
Specific Struggles
Insurrections at the intersections: feminism, intersectionality and anarchism (pdf),. by Abbey Volcano and J Rogue, 2012, a chapter from the second edition of Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader from AK Press. A critique of liberal conceptions of ‘intersectionality’ and an outline of an anarchist, class struggle approach.
Whiteness and Blackness in the Koori Struggle for Self-Determination, Gary Foley, 1999. Online at the Koori History Website. “Why does it often seem that some of our best white friends behave like some our worst enemies?”
Anarchist Method
You Can’t Blow Up a Social Relationship, by Libertarian Socialist Organisation and other Australian anarchist groups, 1979
A clear explanation of why anarchists oppose terrorism, and why terrorism, sometimes labeld “insurrectionism”, or “propaganda of the deed” can be of no benefit to the working class. Capitalism is a social relationship, not a group of bad individuals.
Our History
Anarcho-Syndicalism in Melbourne and Sydney by Conal Thwaite.
Historical perspective on anarcho-syndicalism in Melbourne and Sydney.