LIBRADO RIVERA. Anarchists in the Mexican Revolution by Dave Poole eBook £1.00/€1.50 (see eBookshelf) Also available from Kobo and Kindle

anarchism, Anarchists in Mexico, libertarian socialism, Mexican Revolution Comments Off

Jul 262016

Librado Rivera (17 August 1864, Aguacatillos, Rayón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Died 1 March 1932 in Mexico City.)

Librado Rivera and Ricardo Flores Magón

Of the many comrades and collaborators of Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón, Librado Rivera was by far the closest. It was a revolutionary partnership that lasted twenty years, rivalling that of Durruti and Ascaso, ending only with Ricardo’s murder (directly or indirectly by the US authorities) in Leavenworth Federal Prison, Kansas. Librado, a founding member of the Partido Liberal Mexicano, was a man who made fundamental and major contributions to its anarchist orientation.

1913 – Arrest of the PLM Organising Committee prior to their imprisonment on McNeil Island (Washington State): Ricardo Flores Magón, with Pinkerton agent; Anselmo L. Figueroa, Librado Rivera (and Pinkerton agent); Enrique Flores Magón.

Librado, however, has been badly neglected on his own account, partly due to his own natural modesty and reticence. He always shunned the limelight while remaining at the same time in the forefront of the struggle, preferring to adopt the role of a seemingly ‘simple militant’. The reality was very different. A tireless anarchist revolutionary and propagandist, he spent more than thirty years fighting, as he would say, ‘for all the oppressed and exploited of the earth’ against injustice and ‘a new society which would have, as well as liberty, love and justice for all!

In addition to Dave Poole’s English text, the book contains many of Rivera’s most important articles, but unfortunately these are IN SPANISH ONLY.

eBook £1.00/€1.50 (see eBookshelf) Also available from Kobo and Kindle

RADICAL GLASGOW A skeletal sketch of Glasgow’s radical tradition by John Couzin (see eBookshelf)

anarchism, Anarchism in Scotland Comments Off

May 282016

RADICAL GLASGOW. A Skeletal Sketch of Glasgow’s Radical Tradition by John Couzin eBook £1.00/€1.50 (see eBookshelf) Also available from Kobo and Kindle
A summary of some of the events and people that have helped to shape the Glasgow of today, a glimpse at a history that is sometimes difficult to find. My hope is that anyone who reads these few pages will be prompted to dig a little bit deeper and discover a rich heritage of which we can be very proud and perhaps try to contribute to that struggle and carry the heritage forward. The information contained in these pages has been gleaned from countless conversations, stories told, articles, pamphlets and books read over more years than I care to remember. My thanks goes to those friends, acquaintances and total strangers who over the years passed on some of these stories. — John Couzin

The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution, Burnett Bolloten. eBook £1.50/€2.00 (see eBookshelf)

anarchism, Anarchism in Spain Comments Off

May 172016

The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution, Burnett Bolloten. eBook £1.50/€2.00 (see eBookshelf) Also available from Kobo BUT NOT from Kindle

The final, revised, edition of Burnett Bolloten’s exhaustive and indispensable, 50-year-long scholarly study of Republican/revolutionary politics in the Spanish Civil War (“The Grand Camouflage:, 1961; “The Spanish Revolution”, 1979; “The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution”, 1986), covers the entire period of the war from 1936 to 1939. Welsh-born Bolloten, initially a Communist Party fellow-traveller, was a war correspondent for United Press who witnessed at first hand the rise to power of the Stalin- and bourgeois liberal-backed Spanish Communist Party and how it successfully subverted and repressed the popular revolutionary process that resulted from the failed military-clerical-fascist pronunciamento of July 1936.

“Burnett Bolloten’s The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution is a monument of dedicated scholarship that is not likely to be replaced. The best study of the subject in any language, it merits a place beside Gerald Brenan’s The Spanish Labyrinth and Raymond Carr’s Spain, 1808-1939 as a classic in the historiography of modern Spain.” — Paul Avrich, Queens College, City University of New York

MORAL COERCION by Ricardo Mella. Translated by Paul Sharkey. eBook £1.00/€1.25 (see eBookshelf)

anarchism, Ideas, Philosophy Comments Off

Apr 252016

eBook £1.00/€1.25 (see eBookshelf ). Also available from Kindle and Kobo

Galician-born surveyor Ricardo Mella (1861-1925) is regarded by many as one of the major theorists of anarchism in Spain. His moderate tone and outlook set the keynote for fellow-anarchists in Galicia and Asturias as he oposed jacobinism, regionalism, political socialism and extremism of any hue. While many embraced Ferrer’s rationalist educational methods, Mella campaigned for “neutral” education. Himself an anarcho-collectivist by inclination, he was one of those who brought Spanish anarchism out of the ghetto and into the workplace. His wide reading, incisive mind and preparedness to tackle the big subjects without going for extremist position has left a lasting imprint on the libertarian movement in Spain. In this work he considers the question — Can society really cope without law and government? What is the nature of moral coercion? How does it manifest itself in human relationships? What is its role in a free and egalitarian society? and how modern capitalist society turns moral coercion on its head.

“Whenever we posit that in a free society founded upon equality of condition moral coercion will be enough to maintain the harmony and peace between men, we are stating something that cries out for clear and precise proof.

“Folk being used to the belief that everything that happens in the world happens by the efforts and grace of governments, and persuaded that they themselves count for nothing in the life of society, so much so that they think of themselves are mere cogs in the machinery of government, it is going to be hard to explain to them how human society might function with no compulsion other than that deployed naturally and mutually by the members of society. So, even though the impact of moral coercion may be a self-evident fact today, we need to show that the world dances to the tune of said mutually suggestive force and that it, on its own, is enough to ensure that human groups with sound foundations can develop and survive.

MEMOIRS OF A REVOLUTIONIST by Peter Kropotkin. eBook £1.50/€2.00 (see eBookshelf)

anarchism Comments Off

Mar 132016

eBook £1.50/€2.00 (see eBookshelf ). Also available from Kindle and Kobo

Peter Kropotkin’s (1842-1921) autobiographical account of his journey from privileged childhood, through military service and two years in prison to anarchist thinker and activist; it was originally serialised in The Atlantic Monthly from September 1898 to September 1899, and provides a fascinating account of his intellectual development and radicalisation, of life under tsarist rule, and of the early European socialist movement.

The following footage is of Kropotkin’s funeral procession from the village of Dmitrov, where he died, to Moscow on 13 February 1921. It turned into a protest — the last anarchist demonstration in Russia until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The accompanying sound track is a choral rendition of a traditional Russian folk song: ‘The Sun Descends Over the Steppe’.

ANARCHISM Kropotkin’s entry on ‘anarchism’ for the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. First published 1910. eBook £1.00/€1.30 (see eBookshelf ).

anarchism Comments Off

Mar 102016

Kropotkin’s entry on ‘anarchism’ for the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1910). £1.00/€1.30 (see eBookshelf ). Also available on Kobo

Anarchism is “the name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government – harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being.”

“ANARCHISM (from the Gr…., and …., contrary to authority), the name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government – harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being. In a society developed on these lines, the voluntary associations which already now begin to cover all the fields of human activity would take a still greater extension so as to substitute themselves for the state in all its functions. They would represent an interwoven network, composed of an infinite variety of groups and federations of all sizes and degrees, local, regional, national and international temporary or more or less permanent – for all possible purposes: production, consumption and exchange, communications, sanitary arrangements, education, mutual protection, defence of the territory, and so on; and, on the other side, for the satisfaction of an ever-increasing number of scientific, artistic, literary and sociable needs. Moreover, such a society would represent nothing immutable. On the contrary – as is seen in organic life at large – harmony would (it is contended) result from an ever-changing adjustment and readjustment of equilibrium between the multitudes of forces and influences, and this adjustment would be the easier to obtain as none of the forces would enjoy a special protection from the state.

ANARCHY Élisée Reclus. First published 1894. eBook £1.00/€1.30 (see eBookshelf ).

anarchism Comments Off

Mar 102016

ANARCHY by Élisée Reclus. First published 1894. eBook £1.00/€1.30 (see eBookshelf ). Also available from Kindle and Kobo

The anarchist ideas of renowned French geographer, writer and activist Élisée Reclus (5 March 1830 – 4 July 1905) who produced his 19-volume masterwork, La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes (“Universal Geography“), over a period of nearly 20 years (1875–1894). In 1892 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work, despite having been banished from France because of his role in the Paris Commune of 1871. The text is based on a talk originally delivered to the Brussels Masonic Lodge ,“The Philanthropic Friends,” on June 18, 1894. It was later published as l’Anarchie in Les Temps Nouveaux 18 (May 25-June 1,1895).

An Anarchist on Anarchy

“It is a pity that such men as Elisée Reclus cannot be promptly shot.” — Providence Press

To most Englishmen, the word Anarchy is so evil-sounding that ordinary readers of the Contemporary Review will probably turn from these pages with aversion, wondering how anybody could have the audacity to write them. With the crowd of commonplace chatterers we are already past praying for; no reproach is too bitter for us, no epithet too insulting. Public speakers on social and political subjects find that abuse of Anarchists is an unfailing passport to public favor. Every conceivable crime is laid to our charge, and opinion, too indolent to learn the truth, is easily persuaded that Anarchy is but another name for wickedness and chaos. Overwhelmed with opprobrium and held up with hatred, we are treated on the principle that the surest way of hanging a dog is to give it a bad name.

LUCIO URTUBIA — THE INDOMITABLE ANARCHIST by Bernard Thomas. (Translated by Paul Sharkey) eBook — £1.50

anarchism, Anarchist resistance Comments Off

Dec 142015

LUCIO URTUBIA — THE INDOMITABLE ANARCHIST by Bernard Thomas — £1.50 MOBI or ePUB file (readable on your Kindle or other device) Any of our titles can be purchased directly from us for between £1.00 and £1.50 — either from our eBOOKSTORE or by PAYPAL to christie@btclick.com. You can check out all (or most of) the available Christiebooks titles HERE (Kindle) or ChristieBooks on KOBO — and then order directly from us …

The biography of Lucio Urtubia, a Paris-based Navarese anarchist who was a friend and protégé of the enigmatic Spanish urban guerrilla ‘El Quico’, and the friend of, among others, André Breton and Albert Camus. Lucio played his part in the network of anarchist action and illegalist groups (Laureano Cerrada, D.I., First of May Group, M.I.L., G.A.R.I., Action Directe) that resisted and challenged the Franco and other oppressive regimes from the late 1950s through to the ‘70s and beyond. He is probably best known — because of his arrest in 1977 — for his ‘Robin Hood’ role in the falsification and international distribution of tens of thousands of Citibank $100 cheques— the money raised being used to support the libertarian guerrilla movements in Latin America (Tupamaros and Montoneros) and in Europe (G.A.R.I.). The action so damaged the bank its stock price plummetted. However, in spite of the scale and audacity of the forgery operation, Urtubia received only a six-month jail sentence as a result of an extrajudicial agreement with Citibank, which dropped the charges in exchange for Lucio’s printing plates. A unique story of ordinary politically conscious people — bricklayers, house-painters, electricians, etc. — challenging injustice in the turbulent nineteen sixties- and –seventies.
Continue reading »

THE COMMUNE, THE CHURCH AND THE STATE by MICHAEL BAKUNIN. eBook — £1.00

anarchism, Religion, The State Comments Off

Dec 122015

THE COMMUNE, THE CHURCH AND THE STATE by Michael Bakunin — £1.00 MOBI or ePUB file (readable on your Kindle or other device) Any of our titles can be purchased directly from us for between £1.00 and £1.50 — either from our eBOOKSTORE or by payment by PAYPAL to christie@btclick.com. You can check out all (or most of) the available Christiebooks titles HERE (Kindle) or ChristieBooks on KOBO — and then order directly from us …
— KOBO edition: THE COMMUNE, THE CHURCH AND THE STATE — £2.00

Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin on the Paris Commune, government and the state: “This work, like all my published work, of which there has not been a great deal, is an outgrowth of events. It is the natural continuation of my Letters to a Frenchman (September 1870), wherein I had the easy but painful distinction of foreseeing and foretelling the dire calamities which now beset France and the whole civilized world, the only cure for which is the Social Revolution.

“My purpose now is to prove the need for such a revolution. I shall review the historical development of society and what is now taking place in Europe, right before our eyes. Thus all those who sincerely thirst for truth can accept it and proclaim openly and unequivocally the philosophical principles and practical aims which are at the very core of what we call the Social Revolution.

“I know my self-imposed task is not a simple one. I might be called presumptuous had I any personal motives in undertaking it. Let me assure my reader, I have none. I am not a scholar or a philosopher, not even a professional writer. I have not done much writing in my life and have never written except, so to speak, in self-defense, and only when a passionate conviction forced me to overcome my instinctive dislike for any public exhibition of myself…”

UK : £1.32 ; USA : $2.00 ; FRANCE : €1.84 ; GERMANY : €1.84 ; SPAIN : €1.84 ; ITALY: €1.84 ; NETHERLANDS : €1.84 ; JAPAN : ¥ 246 ; CANADA : CDN$2.67 ; BRAZIL : R$ 15.49 ; AUSTRALIA : $2.73 ; INDIA : R133 ; Mexico : $69.57 — KOBO edition: £2.00

GOD AND THE STATE by Michael Bakunin. Preface by Carlo Cafiero, Elysée Reclus; Introduction by Paul Avrich — eBook — £1.00

anarchism Comments Off

Dec 122015

GOD AND THE STATE by Michael Bakunin — £1.00 MOBI or ePUB file (readable on your Kindle or other device) Any of our titles can be purchased directly from us for between £1.00 and £1.50 — either from our eBOOKSTORE or by payment by PAYPAL to christie@btclick.com. You can check out all the available Christiebooks titles HERE (Kindle) or ChristieBooks on KOBO — and then order directly from us …
NB: This title is NOT available on Kindle! — KOBO edition: GOD AND THE STATE, £2.00

Bakunin’s classic and highly influential text setting out the anarchist critique of religion as bound up in legitimising the state.

INTRODUCTION by Paul Avrich

This man was born not under an ordinary star but under a comet. — ALEXANDER HERZEN

It was nearly a century ago that Michael Bakunin wrote what was to become his most celebrated pamphlet, God and the State. At that time, anarchism was emerging as a major force within the revolutionary movement, and the named Bakunin, its foremost champion and prophet, was as well known among the workers and radical intellectuals of Europe as that of Karl Marx, with whom he was competing for leadership of the First International.

In contrast to Marx, Bakunin had won his reputation chiefly as an activist rather than a theorist of rebellion. He was born into the Russian landed gentry in 1814, but as a young man abandoned his army commission and noble heritage for a career as a professional revolutionist. Leaving Russia in 1840, aged twenty-six, he dedicated his life to a struggle against tyranny in all its forms. He was not one to sit in libraries, studying and writing about predetermined revolutions. Impatient for action, he threw himself into the uprisings of 1848 with irrepressible exuberance, a Promethean figure moving with the tided revolt from Paris to the barricades of Austria and Germany. Men like Bakunin, a companion remarked, “grow in a hurricane and ripen better in stormy weather than in sunshine.”1 But his arrest during the Dresden insurrection of 1849 cut short his feverish revolutionary activity. He spent the next eight years in prism, six of them in the darkest dungeons of tsarist Russia, and when he emerged, his sentence commuted to a life term of Siberian exile, he was toothless from scurvy and his health seriously impaired. In 1861, however, he escaped his warders and embarked upon a sensational odyssey that encircled the globe and made his name a legend and an object of worship in radical groups all over Europe.
Continue reading »

Older Entries