Tag Archives: history

New Zine: “Johann Most” by Emma Goldman

johann-most-cover Johann Most is one of the more misunderstood figures in U.S. anarchist history. His reputation is shaped by a legacy of vilification in the mainstream press, with the foreign-born Most being the target of relentless attacks by the newspapers of his day. In Most, the forces of capitalism and order found the stereotype of the wild-eyed anarchist bent on destruction.

This zine presents a biographical essay about Most by Emma Goldman, originally published in The American Mercury. It is notable for its profoundly human portrayal of Most, providing a biographical sketch and evaluating his role in the movement.

The essay is accompanied by a critical introduction that explores how Most has been portrayed over the years.

Download the PDF: Imposed / Screen Reading

New Zine: Neither East Nor West NYC

We’ve published a new zine, “Neither East Nor West NYC: A De Facto Anarchist Black Cross History, 1980-1994.” The zine is a reformatted version of an essay by Bob McGlynn that explores the history of the group Neither East Nor West. The group was formed in the 1980s in New York City as a way of extending solidarity to comrades in the East (Communist Bloc). Their activities included a variety of educational and organizing efforts. One of their most prominent contribution was the production of On Gogol Boulevard, a publication that provide updates on activities in the East. It was published both as a standalone publication and also appeared as a section in major anarchist publications of the period including Fifth Estate, Anarchy, The Shadow, and Profane Existence. With its focus on political prisoners, Neither East Nor West NYC in many ways functioned as a de facto Anarchist Black Cross.

Download the PDF: Imposed / Screen Reading

Zine: Yalensky’s Fable: A History of the Anarchist Black Cross

Recently while reading Michael Schmidt’s Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism, we came across a reference to an article by Matthew Hart that explores the history of the Anarchist Black Cross. Hart makes the argument that the anarchist prisoner support effort is one of the longest running anarchist projects.

We’ve put together a zine version of the article and also are reprinting it here.

Zine: Claim No Easy Victories

Claim No Easy Victories: A History and Analysis of Anti-Racist Action is a piece that was written by Rory McGowan in the early 2000s on the history of Anti-Racist Action (ARA). The article originally appeared in the Northeastern Anarchist, a magazine published by the North Eastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC).

We reprinted it as a zine because there unfortunately aren’t many histories of Anti-Racist Action (ARA) out there despite its role in recent anarchist history.

You can download it here.

Zine: Mob Action Against the State

mob_action_against This zine is a reprinted version of Mob Action Against the State: Haymarket Remembered …An Anarchist Convention, a long out of print book that provides a collection of experiences from the 1986 Haymarket Remembered conference in Chicago.

You can download the zine here.

Zine: The Political Pre-History of Love & Rage

The Political Pre-History of Love & Rage: Anarchist Struggle in the 1980s and 1990s presents a history of anarchist organizing efforts in North America. From the introduction:

This zine presents one version of the history of the anarchist context out of which the Love & Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation emerged in the early 1990s. There is no doubt much that could be said about the period and many different conclusions could be drawn. One route some anarchists took – very controversial at the time – was to form a federation to increase the level of organization amongst anarchists in the U.S.

Love and Rage broke apart in 1998 following wide-ranging internal debates over politics and goals (for example, some folks became Marxists). AK Press published a short book titled A New World In Our Hearts: Eight Years of Writings from the Love & Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation on the federation, but folks would do well to dig up the various critiques of Love & Rage’s politics (and practice) that circulated within the anarchist space.

This zine presents Love & Rage’s interpretation of anarchist struggle in the 1980s and 1990s (the history originally appeared in the “1997 Member Handbook” published by the New York Local, it’s been trimmed here for relevance). To be sure, its bias is towards making the case for a federation style of organization. Setting that aside (as hard as that may be), it presents a history that has been largely lost. We present it not to advocate for federations (which have a rather long history of not working out so well), but rather out of interest in the accomplishments and missteps of previous generations of anarchists.