Posts Tagged ‘Elephant Editions’
‘Tame Words from a Wild Heart’ by Jean Weir (Elephant Editions)
Wednesday, February 1st, 2017
Preamble
Words. Mere Words. The pages that follow are in part transcriptions of the spoken word—‘the wonder worker that is no more’, as Emma Goldman wrote wistfully over one hundred years ago when referring to the inadequacy of the spoken word to awaken thought and shake people out of their lethargy. Here in the twenty-first century anarchists no longer talk about spoken propaganda to awaken the masses, bemoaning the absence of orators such as Johann Most or Luigi Galleani. In rare encounters organized by comrades today ‘the masses’ are noticeably absent, they don’t even enter the equation. Organized meetings or ‘talks’ as they are dully referred to are well-attended if there are 50–100 comrades. But there is no need for panic. Now all but the most disconnected fossilized anarchists have moved beyond aims of a quantitative growth in a hypothetical anarchist movement—where discourses addressed ‘to the masses’ have degenerated into an insulting populism—to the elaboration of ideas and methods addressed towards immediate action and attack on power in all its forms. Numbers have ceased to be important for anarchists as a prerequisite for attack. The illusion of ‘Le Grand Soir’ was a wonderful dream, it kept the flame flickering and thousands of militants waiting in the wings.
No, lack of numbers is no cause for alarm. They are there, the exploited, all around us—are also ‘us’—and could take us by surprise again at any moment (as could we ourselves). In the realm of the quantitative our task is to experiment and spread an insurrectional method for the self-organization of the necessary destruction of power and subjugation. Small groups with intermediate destructive aims based on affinity that can multiply, spread horizontally and coordinate, without limit. The apparent rift between anarchist theory and practice thus disappears along with the false conflict between individual and mass, and not least the conviction that the tenets of anarchism must be espoused by the exploited before they can fight for their own freedom along with that of others. An informal practice of attack leads to freedom revealing itself qualitatively, in leaps and bounds, far from the straight line of quantity, education, progress and waiting. (more…)
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Analysis, August 2011 Revolt: Anarchy in the UK, Elephant Editions, Greece, Gustavo Rodriguez, Insurrection, Interview, Jean Weir, Korydallos Prison, Kostas Gournas, London, Mexico, Pola Roupa, Revolutionary Struggle, Riots, Social Insurrection, Tame Words from a Wild Heart, UK, Zine
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New archive for Elephant Editions – A work in progress
Wednesday, February 1st, 2017
When words mingle with the passion to deepen our understanding of reality they become indispensable weapons for the self-organisation of the struggle against all that oppresses us. They don’t remain on paper – or the screen – but penetrate rebel hearts and spirits, giving courage and decision – for if many of us don’t act against what offends our dignity it is often not courage that is lacking, but that we simply don’t know where to start.
We need to liberate reality from the fictitious dimension created by the media into one that is tangible and exposed to attack. In order to carry this out we require knowledge of the enemy in all its forms, including those that lie concealed within us, crouching, waiting to pounce to push us back into the fold of consensus or manageable dissent. Reading certain texts becomes an encounter, tensions we feel burning inside us become clearer, making it easier to assimilate them in order to act. (more…)
Tags: Analysis, Elephant Editions, Insurrection, PDF, Social Insurrection, UK, Zine
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‘Nietzsche and Anarchy’ by Shahin (Elephant Editions)
Friday, December 23rd, 2016
Psychology for Free Spirits, Ontology for Social War
How is it possible to live free and joyful in this world of domination? The key idea Nietzsche offers us is this: don’t hide from struggle in fantasy worlds or imaginary futures, but affirm life, say yes to life here and now. With all its violence, cruelty and loneliness; and all its encounters of tenderness, wildness, delight and possibility.
The first part of the book is a reading of Nietzsche’s philosophy of individual self-making. It begins with his radical psychology of “drives”, which understands human beings as always multiple and always open to change. It works through his theories of incorporation, herd instinct, the sovereign individual, and slave morality, to reach the image of the “free spirit” who stands against the norms and creates new values.
The second part builds on these Nietzschean ideas with others from more recent thinkers, to develop an “ontology for social war”, a framework for thinking through relations of conflict and affinity, power and domination. It addresses questions such as: how do we form groups that are not conformist herds? How do we spread anarchic desires, without becoming advertisers or missionaries? How do we fight, without becoming cruel or cold?
While the first part of the book can be read as an accessible introduction to core aspects of Nietzsche’s thought, this is not a work of scholarship but one individual’s use of some Nietzschean ideas as weapons for self-transformation and social struggle.
Published by Elephant Editions & Active Distribution
Hard copies to order from Active Distribution:
http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/home/4002-nietzsche-and-anarchy-by-shahin.html
Read online at The Anarchist Library:
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/shahin-nietzsche-and-anarchy
Tags: Elephant Editions, Nietzsche and Anarchy, Zine
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Excerpt from 'Towards the generalisation of armed struggle' by Alfredo M. Bonanno (Elephant Editions)
Wednesday, September 24th, 2014
Insurrection
It is within the perspective of generalised mass armed struggle that the insurrection takes on libertarian meaning, and marks the definitive critique of any ‘closed’ attempt to organise the management of the class conflict.
Generalised armed conflict is the natural outcome of a situation that is getting worse every day. The exploited are beginning to point out this necessity in a series of anti-institutional actions that are continually spreading. The isolated acts of punishment carried out by minority clandestine groups against some of those responsible for exploitation are coming to be accepted with satisfaction and approved by the mass. (more…)
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Insurrection, Social Insurrection, Social War, Towards the generalisation of armed struggle
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The Russian Revolution in the Ukraine by Nestor Makhno (Elephant Editions)
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
The Russian Revolution in the Ukraine (March 1917 – April 1918)
Nestor Makhno
Introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno
Foreword by Daniel Guerin
Translated by Paul Sharkey
Newly released free PDF E-Book from Elephant Editions of the collected personal memoirs of Nestor Makhno, the legendary insurgent anarchist fighter, genius tactician, and general leader of the insurrectionary Makhnovist army in Ukraine. Features an introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno and a foreword by Daniel Guerin.
From the introduction of Alfredo M. Bonanno:
“Although the Russian anarchists of the past are still alive in our hearts today, their actual historical and human experiences seem far off in the night of time. We are talking about only a few decades, yet it is as though the dust of centuries has piled up on these events, preventing us from understanding them. Always victorious in battle, Makhno appears as a fearless knight galloping invincible at the head of the Ukrainian insurgents, first against the white Russians of Denikin or Wrangel, then against Trotsky’s Red Army. (more…)
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Daniel Guerin, Elephant Editions, Nestor Makhno, PDF, The Russian Revolution in the Ukraine
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'Fra Contadini' by Errico Malatesta w/ Introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno
Monday, July 11th, 2011
325 is pleased to present this newly released Elephant Editions free PDF download of the classic pamphlet Fra Contadini by the Italian anarchist, Errico Malatesta (1853–1932).
This classically successful text is a simple to read explanation of anarchist ideas in a conversational style. It was first printed in 1884, when it appeared in La Questione Sociale, the paper that Malatesta founded in Florence, Italy.
It is accompanied by an introduction by present day Italian anarchist-insurrectionalist comrade, Alfredo M. Bonanno, who reiterates the practical reality of expropriation and insurrection, and affirms the senselessness of attempting to “update” comrade Malatesta’s great work, which attempts “… to convince the peasant, the worker, the emarginated ‘lumpen’ proletariat reader, of the mechanism of exploitation and repression, of the system of ideological and political swindling, with the aim of pushing them to rebel in the struggle against the class enemies, and ultimately, to insurrection.”
The title also includes a short biography of Malatesta by David Poole.
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Errico Malatesta, Fra Contadini, PDF
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'Why a Vanguard?' + 'Fictional Movement or Real Movement?' by Alfredo M. Bonanno
Saturday, June 4th, 2011
Fictional Movement or Real Movement? [+ Cover label]
2009-2011/ Elephant Editions
Translated by Jean Weir
325 is pleased to present for the first time in English, these two new free online PDF editions from well-known anarchist-insurrectionalist comrade, Alfredo M. Bonanno, translated and produced by Elephant Editions. These pamphlets consist of two sections from ‘Movimento e progetto rivoluzione’; sections which analyse and explore the role of the anarchist revolutionary project within mass social struggle, and also the changing nature of that struggle, with differing political and subversive structures contrasted and examined in regard to their direction and impetus, and not only. We welcome you to print out and distribute these texts to interested readers, which cut to the heart of the topics of, amongst others; movement politics, minority struggle, and widespread social change, with their prescient nature and enduring critical value.
Download here: Why a Vanguard?
Original title: Avanguardia, perche?
Published in: Movimento e progetto rivoluzionaria, Edizioni di “Anarchismo”, January 1977
From the introduction:
“The ideas that follow are aimed at going into the problem of the relations between the movement of the exploited and the revolutionary anarchist movement.
The conclusion is very simple and constitutes the starting point of a reflection that we are proposing to all comrades: it is not within the enclosure of the specific anarchist movement that one works for the revolution, but outside in the reality of struggles, which at this moment do not see us present. In this sense the anarchist movement still has a long way to go. In the face of the urgency of the situation it has become imperative for all sincere revolutionary anarchist comrades to reflect on the ways and conditions of organising oneself to contribute to the widening, in the libertarian sense, of the present situation of crises and discomfort.
The time for hesitation and waiting is over. May whoever is available for the revolutionary struggle seek his or her comrades and not indulge in waiting for a sign or clarification on the part of the specific movement.”
Sections:
Why a vanguard?
The organisational question
The illusion of quantity
Authoritarian group and libertarian one
The relationship between groups: the vertical structure and the horizontal one
Authoritarian boss and libertarian leader
An attempt to examine the character structure of the libertarian militant
The conflict between total and partial
Revolutionary alienation
Revolutionary tension
The solution of the problem of the vanguard
+
Download here: Fictional Movement or Real Movement? [+ Cover label]
Original title: Movimento fittizio e movimento reale,
Published in the volume Movimento e progetto rivoluzionario, Edizioni di “Anarchismo”, June 1977.
From the introduction:
“Following on from the text ‘Why a Vanguard?’, the present work continues to go into the problem of the relations between the movement of the exploited and the revolutionary anarchist movement.
The anarchist revolutionary project is the bridge that is thrown in the direction of specific reality, uniting the experiences of selforganisation that are often singularly isolated. It is also the overcoming of the distinction between anarchist minority and movement of the exploited; from the moment the project is in course, all barriers start to fall and one finds oneself struggling for a common goal.”
Sections:
The movement of the exploited
The anarchist movement
Fictitious movement and real movement
The real anarchist movement
Organisation
The dangers of the primacy of doing
The false dilemma between theory and practice
The first contact with the reality of the struggle
More on the misconception of the quantitative growth of the minority
Contact with reality and the consequences
The fragmentary nature of the reality of the struggles
The revolutionary anarchist project
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Fictional Movement or Real Movement?, Why a Vanguard?
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Errico Malatesta and Revolutionary Violence by Alfredo M. Bonanno
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
325 is pleased to announce the publication of a new Elephant Editions pamphlet by Alfredo M. Bonanno called “Errico Malatesta and Revolutionary Violence” [+ Cover]. The title offers insight into the well-regarded Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta (1853–1932), and offers a discussion of his ideas.
This PDF is being made available for all comrades and interested people to download at no charge. We actively encourage you to print and distribute these important anarchist theoretical texts which pose a real danger to the established order in their circulation.
“My effort did not, nor does it here, intend to provide arguments supporting revolutionary violence. It just wanted, and still does, to make a contribution to the revolutionary ideas and activity of Errico Malatesta. Many unwarranted things have been said about this anarchist who all too often has been enlisted under the banner of whatever side or even party. Like all true revolutionaries, Malatesta did not bother to sort through his papers, he addressed problems as they occured in reality, always ready to look for evidence in the social conflict rather than in a theoretical syllogism.”
From the Introductory notes by Alfredo M. Bonanno, Trieste, Italy 2008
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Errico Malatesta, PDF, Revolutionary Violence
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Let’s Destroy Work, Let's Destroy the Economy by Alfredo M. Bonanno
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
325 presents this Elephant Editions theoretical pamphlet due to the timely nature of the theme of work, labour and self-management during the global economic ‘crisis’ of capitalism. Anarchists have always known that capitalism is permanent terror, not an occasional ‘crisis’, which is a false media concept that the bosses manipulate for themselves to rob the people with their ‘austerity measures’. Here we present the first chapter of Let’s Destroy Work, Let’s Destroy the Economy, by the anarchist-insurrectionalist writer, Alfredo M. Bonanno. The pamphlet is available as a downloadable PDF to print out and distribute.
Work is a subject that is coming back into fashion in a big way in newspapers, academic lectures, papal sermons, electoral speeches and even articles and pamphlets produced by anarchists.
The main questions raised are: what can we do about growing unemployment? How can we give meaning to lost professionalism in jobs that are undergoing the effects of neo-industrial development? What alternatives can be found to replace traditional work? And, finally, and this is the way many anarchists think, how can we abolish work or reduce it to the indispensable minimum?
Let us make it clear right away that none of these problems interests us. We are not concerned with the political problems of those who see unemployment as a danger to democracy and order. We do not feel any nostalgia for lost professionalism. We are even less interested in elaborating libertarian alternatives to grim factory work or intellectual labour, which are unwittingly doing nothing but toe the line of the advanced post-industrial project. Nor are we for the abolition of work or its reduction to the minimum required for a meaningful happy life. Behind all this there is always the hand of those who want to regulate our lives, think for us, or politely suggest that we think as they do.
We are for the destruction of work and, as we will try to demonstrate, that is quite a different matter. But let us proceed in an orderly fashion. (more…)
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Let's Destroy the Economy, Let's Destroy Work
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'Insurrection' PDFs online now (Elephant Editions Classics)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
‘Insurrection’ is an anarchist magazine of the 1980’s which was edited by Jean Weir of Elephant Editions, UK. Amongst agitational news reports of rebellion and repression, the publication carried some of the first English language translations of the work of Italian anarchist insurrectionist, Alfredo M. Bonanno, and remains an example of a high-quality revolutionary anarchist publication which has a confrontational analysis coupled with lasting insight.
‘Insurrection’ is the first publication to carry the key basic perspectives of anarchist insurrectional theory and methodology emerging at that time. Texts such as ‘Affinity Group’, ‘Why Insurrection’, ‘Beyond Workerism, Beyond Syndicalism’, ‘Informal Organisation’, ‘Beyond the Structure of Synthesis’, ‘Towards A New Projectuality’ and ‘Autonomous Base Nucleus’, all back to back with action reports informing and illuminating these theoretical ideas which have developed and spread around the world, becoming ‘dangerous’ tools in the hands of uncontrollables everywhere.
From direct action, strategy, organisation, rebellion, anti-militarism, to current affairs, ecology, changes in production, economy, Palestine, urban riots, anti-nuclear struggle and more; the scope of the magazine was very broad. The art and design of ‘Insurrection’ is superb, with many issues being treated to the illustration and graphic design of renowned radical artist and anarchist, Clifford Harper, as Graphic Editor. ‘Insurrection’ was designed to be an instrument of struggle for the revolutionary project and it certainly retains its coherent vitality to inform, educate and inspire fresh anti-state and anti-capitalist struggle over twenty years later.
‘Insurrection’ is a joy to read and it is our pleasure to host these newly released PDFs from a publication which has stood the test of time, which still appears current and relevant, unlike so many ‘anarchist’ and ‘radical’ publications of the left, which are seemingly consigned to historical irrelevance and terminal boredom the moment they are printed.
Some capitalist parasites (so-called ‘antiquarian’ & ‘rare’ second-hand booksellers) sell ‘Insurrection’ and other Elephant Editions publications for expensive prices due to their strong production values and continuing appeal, so part of the intention to put these PDFs online is to make available to everyone these publications and undermine the creation of a new commodity market – namely – ‘rare’ anarchist books! Don’t ever give your money to any online ‘antiquarian’ bookstores for any Elephant Edition, support your local anarchist distro who print their own copies or order them direct from Elephant Editions at reasonable prices or download free online in our Library section. Make your own print run of Elephant Editions texts and distribute them in your local area, ideas are weapons! Watch out for new releases coming soon.
In an over-saturated digital world of the information economy, Elephant Editions spreads the ‘anti-info’ for destructive and passionate individuals who seek nothing but the end of the present system and the beginning of our path into unknown freedom and anarchy.
Insurrection #0 (Dossier ‘Comiso’) / December 1982
Sample articles:
Why Insurrection?
Dossier ‘Comiso’ (about anti-militarist struggle in Italy)
Towards Anarchist Anti-Militarism
Torture in Italy
Document Azione Rivoluzionaria
Sample articles:
The Logic of Insurrection
Stop the City – Politics in Wolves Clothing
Vandalising for Fun not Profit
Stop the City? – From Information to Attack
Street Politics in Barcelona
Sample articles:
Strategy & Methods
The Question of the Miners
New Forms of Counter-Revolution
Interview from Sergovia Prison with the Autonomous Groups
Letter from Orazio Valastro
Sample articles:
Violence and Non-Violence
On Amnesty
Pannekoek on Trade-Unionism
The Miners Strike at Carmaux
Anarchism and the National Liberation Struggle
In Times of Danger Half-Way Measures Lead to Certain Death – Revolutionary Cells
Sample articles:
Social Conflict
Beyond Workerism, Beyond Syndicalism
Autonomous Base Nucleus
Affinity Group
Beyond the Structure of Synthesis
Informal Organisation
Internationalism
Palestine
Insurrection #5 / October 1988
Sample articles:
A Question of Class
Against Technology
Against Ecology
Pinelli, Nineteen Years On
Sabotage of Information Technology
Insurrection #6 / September 1989
Sample articles:
A False Problem
Anarchists Against Aparthied
The Pylons of Death Come Crumbling Down
Ecological Luddism: The Montedison Explodes
Towards A New Projectuality
China: Deng’s Guarantee
ALF: Striking the Laboratories of Power
Palestine: Time for Action
The Catastrophe Psychosis
Tags: Alfredo M. Bonanno, Elephant Editions, Insurrection, Jean Weir, Publications
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