A review of a posthumously published collection of essays by once leading anarchist Murray Bookchin. It discusses his break with anarchism in 1999 and how he spent the final years of his life destroying his own legacy. The collection itself includes pre- and post-break articles, showing the similarities in his ideas as well as their limitations.
(more…)Month: April 2026
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Review: Whither Anarchism?
Review of a pamphlet on the state of the anarchist movement in America. It appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review No. 78 (Winter 2020)
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Review: Black Flame
A short review of Black Flame which, in general, is very good. I have my disagreements with it, particularly on its inclusion of Marxist-syndicalists into the wider anarchist tradition and exclusion of Proudhon. This was written before the revelation that Michael Schmidt had ties to white nationalism. Needless to say, the book itself shows no signs of that and remains a good, if flawed, account of class struggle anarchism.
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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
A review of Imagine by Tommy Sheridan and Alan McCombes, the (then) leaders of the Scottish Socialist Party. An attempt by Trotskyists (formerly of Militant) to become libertarian sounding are not very convincing. At the height of its electoral success in 2003, the party had six Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) but it then imploded, in thanks to the activities of its leader, Sheridan, and the cult of personality the party had created around him. It appeared in Black Flag no. 224 (2004).
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Lies, Damn Lies and Economics
A review of five works on economics and the economy published in the late 1990s. It was my first significant article for the magazine Black Flag, whose editorial committee I had just joined. It appeared in Black Flag No. 215 (1998)
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