The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
This year’s first issue has the usual mix of articles, re-prints and reviews, starting with an evaluation of German Anarchist John Most (1846-1906) and the development of his politics. We show that in the years following his arrival in America, he was not a consistent anarchist in both tactics and vision of a social revolution. The latter reflected his Marxist-Blanquist past while the former – his advocacy of “propaganda by deed” – was due to misinformation on Bakunin spread by Marx and Engels. While he did help the emerging American revolutionary anarchist movement grow as well as becoming a consistent anarchist after 1887, his politics before that were in transition. We include a selection of writings from his anarchist period plus a report from The Alarm of one his speeches as well as The Beast of Property (1883), so that the anarchist and non-anarchist aspects of it can be seen.
We follow this by marking the 90th anniversary of the death of Alexander Berkman (1870-1936), a leading American anarchist who contributed to, and edited, Mother Earth and The Blast. Most famous for his much-reprinted (and re-titled!) classic introduction to Anarchism, Now and After: The ABC of Communist-Anarchism (1929), we include articles, pamphlets and letters written after his release from prison for the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Flick after he sent Pinkertons to smash the union at Homestead, killing nine union workers. While overshadowed by Emma Goldman, his contribution to anarchism was just as significant, as was his exposure of the failings of the Bolshevik Revolution in such works as The Bolshevik Myth (1925).
Berkman died just before the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution and so did not see the transformation which occurred, but Irish Republican Jack White (1879-1946) did and he was so impressed he became an anarchist. He worked with Emma Goldman and the comrades around Spain and the World to get the CNT-FAI international solidarity. We include all his writings which appeared in that journal and his 1937 pamphlet, The Meaning of Anarchism which is an excellent introduction to the subject.
Following this, we mark 120 years of the launch of Mother Earth by discussing its politics and debunking claims made that it somehow ignored the class struggle in favour of culture or lifestyle. To show this was not the case, we present a selection from its “Observations and Comments” column which discuss the labour and socialist movements of the time. As a monthly paper, it was difficult to include articles on current events and this column was the means by which it engaged with them, including making recommendations on pursuing syndicalist tactics in the class war. Needless to say, this commentary complemented numerous articles on syndicalism and industrial disputes.
Then come two re-printed articles to mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike written by two stalwarts of the British anarchist movements, Tom Brown and Albert Meltzer (a founder of Black Flag). The strike marked the end of the syndicalist influence which was so strong before the Russian Revolution. Suffice to say, while the general strike was a key aspect of anarchism since 1873 – as we discussed in a previous issue – the 1926 one more reflected Engels caricature of the idea. It has much to teach modern radicals, if only what to avoid.
We end with reviews – one of which indicates that the misinformation spread by Marx and Engels on Bakunin is still being repeated by Marxists – and our usual round-up of movement news, Parish Notices.
Finally, we have changed the typeface used in Black Flag from Times New Roman to Calibri as it is more accessible and because the Trump Administration does not like it.
Original translations which appear in Black Flag: Anarchist Review eventually appear on-line here:
https://anarchistfaq.org/translations/index.html
This year we aim to continue to cover a range of people and subjects. These will hopefully include Guy Aldred, the Haymarket events, the Spanish Revolution amongst others. The next issue, however, will be a special to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Bakunin.
However, this work needs help otherwise at some stage it will end. Contributions from libertarian socialists are welcome on these and other subjects! We are a small collective and always need help in writing, translating and gathering material, so please get in touch if you want to see Black Flag Anarchist Review continue.
This issue’s editorial and contents are:
Editorial
Welcome to the first issue of Black Flag in 2026!
We start with John Most. Originally a Social-Democrat elected to the German parliament, Most became increasingly radical and became a social revolutionary after being expelled from the party in 1880. His radicalism saw him become closer to anarchism, although as we discuss he did not become fully an anarchist until 1887. Arriving in America in December 1882, he played an important role in the emerging anarchist movement and the International Working People’s Association (IWPA). However, his advocacy of individual terrorism and a transitional terrorist power during a social revolution reflected his former politics rather than the one he was moving towards. Unfortunately, his politics between 1883 and 1886 helped portray anarchism as little more than violence, a stereotype he later lamented in spite of doing so much to foster it. Still, after 1887 he became consistently an anarchist communist and helped spread its ideas until his death in 1906.
Emma Goldman famously horsewhipped Most when he refused to support Alexander Berkman’s assassination attempt on Henry Clay Frick after his private goons attacked strikers at Homestead in June 1892. We mark the 90th anniversary of Berkman’s death, a stalwart of the movement for decades, first in America then in Europe after leaving Bolshevik Russia. Best known for his classic introduction to Anarchism, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, first published in 1929 and reprinted many times since (often under differing titles), he wrote for many anarchist journals as well as editing Mother Earth and The Blast. Yet the collection Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader (1992/2005) does not contain anything from Mother Earth nor from Freedom, something we amend here. Like his close companion Goldman, he played a pioneering role in exposing the failure of the Russian Revolution in works like The Bolshevik Myth and in numerous articles and pamphlets.
Then we turn to Irish Republican turned Anarchist, Jack White. Originally a Unionist, he moved towards Irish Republicanism and helped organise the Irish Citizen Army. He became an anarchist after seeing the Spanish Revolution at first hand, returning to Britain to help raise funds and support for the CNT-FAI. We reprint his few articles in the anarchist press from this period along with his 1937 pamphlet, The Meaning of Anarchism.
March 1906 saw the first issue of Mother Earth. We mark this with a short account of its politics, debunking a claim that it ignored the class struggle. We also provide extracts from its “Observations and Comments” column on the labour and socialist movements from 1906 to 1917, when it ended its monthly run due to state repression. These short pieces are rarely included in anthologies of the paper in spite of their expressing its politics by commenting upon current events and making recommendations on what to do next. As such, they present an essential insight into the ideas of America’s leading anarchists and the movement during the first two decades of the last century.
This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike and we reprint two articles on it. The first is by syndicalist activist Tom Brown (1900-1974) which summarises events and draws lessons from it. The second is by Albert Meltzer (1920-1996) and was written for its 50th anniversary, appearing in an earlier incarnation of Black Flag. We end with an obituary for Frank Fernández and our usual reviews and news of the movement, Parish Notices.
If you want to contribute rather than moan at those who do, whether its writing new material or letting us know of on-line articles, reviews or translations, then contact us:
blackflagmag@yahoo.co.uk
Contents
Iain McKay, John Most and Anarchism
- The Beast of Property, 1883
- “Revolutionary, Echoes”, The Alarm, 11 October 1884
- From “Anarchy”, 1888
- Anarchist-Communism, 1889
- “Why I am a Communist”, Twentieth Century, 22 May 1890
- The Social Monster: A Paper on Communism and Anarchism, 1890
- Gifts (“Präsente”), Freiheit (New York), 24 December 1892
- John Most and Emma Goldman, “Anarchy Defended by Anarchists”, Metropolitan Magazine, October 1896
“In Memoriam Alexander Berkman”, Vanguard: a libertarian communist journal, August-September 1936
- Violence and Anarchism, Mother Earth, April 1908
- The Pennsylvania Constabulary and the McKees Rocks Strike, Mother Earth, September 1909
- The Failure of Compromise, Mother Earth, November 1909
- The Need of Translating Ideals into Life, Mother Earth, November 1910
- The I.W.W. Convention, Mother Earth, October 1913
- Political Hucksters, Mother Earth, November 1913
- The Menace of the Unemployed, Mother Earth, March 1914
- The War at Home, Mother Earth, October 1915
- An Intimate Word to the Social Rebels of America, Mother Earth, December 1915
- The Only Hope of Ireland, The Blast, 15 May 1916
- Anent the Cloakmakers’ Strike, The Blast, 1 July 1916
- Come, Workers, Let Us Take Counsel Together, The Blast, 15 July 1916
- The Russian Revolution, The Blast, 1 May 1917
- Bukharin on Anarchism at the Red Labor Congress, March, 1922.
- The “Anti-Climax”, January 1925
- To the International Proletariat, Freedom, March 1927
- Abolishing War, Freedom, November-December 1927
- Chapter 12: Whose is the Power?, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, 1929
- To Emma Goldman, 9 February 1932
- To Group “Amshol”, 18 October 1932
- To Pauline Turkel, 21 March 1935
Alan MacSimoin, “Jack White”, Workers Solidarity, Spring 1997
- “Impressions of An Irish Republican in Spain”, The Fighting Call, December 1936
- “Anarchism – A Philosophy of Action”, Spain and the World, 5 February 1937
- “The Church: Fascism’s Ally”, Spain and the World, 5 March 1937
- The Meaning of Anarchism, 1937
- A Review by J. R. WHITE “The Churches and Their Policy”, Spain and the World, 29 April 1938
Iain McKay, Remembering Mother Earth
- Mother Earth: “Observations and Comments”
Tom Brown, The British General Strike, 1943
[Albert Meltzer], “1926: The Watershed of Class History”, Black Flag, May 1976
Reviews
- Nicolas Walter, “Flowers to the rebels failed?”, Anarchy, December 1964
- Wayne Price, Degrowth Communism? Kohei Saito’s Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto – An Anarchist Review.
- Iain McKay, The Dilemma of Leninists: Research or Regurgitation?
Parish Notices
“Why The Blast?”, The Blast, 15 January 1916