An article exploring Trotsky’s (limited) opposition to Stalinism and showing that it reflected Bolshevik orthodoxy in terms of advocating the dictatorship of the party and one-man management. Needless to say, almost all Trotskyist accounts fail to mention this. It first appeared in Black Flag Anarchist Review Vol. 3 No. 3 (Autumn 2023)
A review of a “communist-left” (Bordigist) book on the British anti-parliamentarian communist movement which developed during and after the First World War. Suffice to say, it is not very good, as befitting Bordigist ideology.
The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
The focus of this issue is Trotsky’s limited opposition to developments in the USSR which resulted in the rise of Stalinism. This is usually dated to his 1923 “New Course” articles but most Trotskyist accounts of his opposition are inaccurate, ignoring his advocacy of party dictatorship and lack of concern over economic democracy. We rectify this by discussing his actual ideas rather than the wished for ones of his followers. Camillo Berneri’s comment remains true;
This collection of essays by American Academic and Trotskyist Paul Le Blanc has little of interest for anarchists or, indeed, anyone who is not a Trotskyist. For the latter, this collection of essays which seek to highlight Marxist influences in American history may make them feel better about their adherence to an ideology which has little to offer the world.
This article originally appeared in Black Flag Anarchist Review Volume 3 Number 2 (Summer 2023). It discussed the politics of the Chicago Martyrs and shows its links with the ideas of revolutionary anarchism expounded by Bakunin and Kropotkin. It also debunks attempts to portray them as Marxists when, in reality, they were Marxists who moved to anarchism.
The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
This issue marks the founding of the International Working People’s Association (IWPA) in Pittsburgh in 1883. As well as numerous articles by members of the IWPA, we debunk claims – by Marxists and others – that it was something other than anarchist. We also show the links between “the Chicago Idea” and the Federalist-International and the ideas championed by Bakunin and Kropotkin.
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The London Congress of 1881
This article seeks to correct all too common generalisations and distortions about the London Congress of 1881. It indicates how looking solely at the resolutions – as most non-anarchists do – gives a distinctly false impression of both the Congress itself and anarchist ideas and strategy. This is an expanded version of the original which appeared in the blog of An Anarchist FAQ and then in Black Flag Anarchist Review (Spring 2023). This expanded version will appear in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
This review of China Miéville’s book on the Communist Manifesto was written for the Marxist group Platypus. I was asked due to my speech The 1848 Revolutions: An Anarchist Perspective. Suffice to say, more could have been written but that speech plus the few links I’ve added to the text should help flesh out the arguments made.
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Anarchism and the General Strike
An account of the General Strike in Anarchism as expressed in both theory and practice as well as the interaction between the two. It appeared in Black Flag Anarchist Review Vol. 3. No. 1 (Spring 2023) and long with articles by leading anarchists on both the theory and the practice of the General Strike from 1873 to 1935.
The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
This issue includes articles on Anarchism and the General Strike, the London 1881 Congress and two key 1883 events – the Lyon show trial and the 9th of March unemployment demonstration which saw Louise Michel raise the black flag. We also discuss Albert Camus and his links with anarchism, the lessons of previous revolutions for anarchists with regards to the Ukraine war as well as an account of anarchism in Brazil between 1903 and 2013. And more…