{"id":115,"date":"2025-11-07T16:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/?p=115"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:18:05","slug":"black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2024-issue-now-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2024-issue-now-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Flag: Anarchist Review Summer 2024 issue now out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review <\/em>is now available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.blackflag.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main focus of this issue is Emma Goldman. While much, rightly, has been written about this stalwart of the movement for fifty years, it has all too often been focused on her life or her feminism. While this is understandable \u2013 her life was eventful (to say the least) and her feminism is important \u2013 this has led to a downplaying of her communist-anarchism. Here we seek to address this by means of a debunking of a deeply dishonest Leninist account of her life. This shows two things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

First, that Leninists have few qualms at distorting anarchism and why it is important to check the references they use in relation to their claims. As we show, the facts are usually at odds with the claims made. A genuinely revolutionary movement cannot be built on lies. Second, that Goldman\u2019s politics were anarchist-communism and so rooted in class analysis and class struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We include many rare writings by Goldman, most of which are reprinted for the first time since their publication. While the collection Red Emma Speaks<\/em> is good, an anthology of her writings edited by an anarchist is well overdue. This would help place her in the mainstream of communist-anarchism she actually was in, something usually obscured by previous writings on her which concentrate more on her admittedly eventful life or her feminism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, we start with Andr\u00e9 L\u00e9o. An early French feminist, Internationalist and Communard, she has unfortunately been somewhat forgotten over the decades. This is undoubtedly because she sided with Bakunin against Marx and Engels, with the latter denouncing her in print. As such, she is harder to appropriate for Marxism even if she does \u2013 rightly \u2013 gets mentioned in Marxist accounts of women in the Commune (although her actual politics go unmentioned). Yet she was not a revolutionary anarchist and her relations with Bakunin were mixed (he broke with her before the Commune for her attempts to appeal across class divides). Rather, she was a mutualist who, rightly, mocked Proudhon\u2019s sexism and consistently applied the ideas of associationism across all aspects of life, including the family. Along with many newly translated writings, we include her impressive speech at the League of Peace and Freedom on the Paris Commune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u00e9o and Goldman share an analysis which, rightly, puts the struggle against patriarchy on an equal footing as class struggle. This is important for all too often the left at best pays lip-service to this idea while, in practice, sexism is tolerated and addressing it postponed to \u201cafter the revolution\u201d (i.e., never). For example, an All-Russian Congress of Women Workers and Women Peasants was held in Moscow in November 1918 by the Communist Party (RCPb) and created what became known as \u201cthe women\u2019s section\u201d (Zhenotdel<\/em>). However, its impact was limited:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut in spite of Lenin\u2019s claims to the contrary, inside the RCPb, the Zhenotdel <\/em>was not an independent body. All instructions and plans for the Zhenotdel <\/em>werediscussed at joint meetings with the Organisational Department of the CentralCommittee, which was led by men. In addition, the Zhenotdel\u2019<\/em>s outreach activitiescame under the direction of the Central Committee\u2019s Department of Agitationand Propaganda. The same situation existed in the regions, where women\u2019spolitical work was guided by male party functionaries under the principles of\u2018democratic centralism\u2019. The majority of local communist leaders had strongpatriarchal views and did not want to empower women by increasing theirrepresentation in the RCPb or allowing them to create autonomous structureswithin it. In this way, women\u2019s aspirations to equal treatment were often blocked(but never eradicated) and they were forced to accept a subordinate role.\u201d (Olga Shnyrova, \u201cWomen and Socialist Revolution, 1917\u201323\u201d, Women Activists between War and Peace: Europe, 1918\u20131923<\/em> [London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017], Ingrid Sharp and Matthew Stibbe (eds.), 133)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, issues like sexual freedom and equality cannot be left until \u201cafter the revolution\u201d \u2013 if so, then they will never be addressed. Goldman and L\u00e9o were right to put this at the centre of their politics and apply it in the here and now, rejecting the (at best) lip-service of men within the movement to an equality which is denied in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we move onto John Turner, a stalwart of the early British Anarchist movement for decades. A member of the Socialist League and then the Freedom Group, Turner was a regular contributor to Freedom<\/em> as well as a leading activist and then official within the Shop Assistants\u2019 Union which he helped found in 1891. As can be seen from the articles we republish in this issue, his writings for Freedom<\/em> reflected his union activity (which, in turn, reflected the perspective of Freedom<\/em>\u2019s anarchist-communism) and he regularly toured Britain lecturing on anarchism as well as speaking at numerous meetings alongside the likes of Kropotkin. Later, he was the editor for Freedom<\/em>\u2019s syndicalist journal The Voice of Labour<\/em> as well as a leading member of the Industrial Syndicalist Education League. <\/em>He also toured America in 1896 and 1903, the second time saw him become the first victim of the 1903 Anarchist Exclusion Act which barred anyone with anarchist views entering the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turner\u2019s election to the office of general secretary of the Shop Assistants\u2019 Union in 1912 saw him place union work before his anarchism. In short, his union activities showed both the positive and negative aspects of working within the unions for he turned from an activist to a bureaucrat. However, he declined the union attempt to nominate him for Parliament as he preferred not to waste his time in parliamentary debates. Given his decades of activism in the movement, Turner’s contribution should be better remembered, and we hope that this issue ensures that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Constance Bantman discusses the \u201cTrial of the Thirty\u201d held in August 1894. This trial was the first use of the so-called \u201cWicked\u201d laws passed to criminalise the anarchist movement in France, using a wave of bombings as an excuse. It was a classic example of over-reach, with the State seeking to lump together anarchists activists with criminals but the trial exposing this as the nonsense it was. There is little on this trial available in English (although it is usually mentioned in passing in histories of the movement). We hope that this article fills a gap in our knowledge of the period and be the foundation for further research and writing on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we have reviews of a new volume of Malatesta\u2019s Collected Works<\/em> and Proudhon\u2019s War and Peace<\/em>, followed by our usual \u201cParish Notes\u201d on news from the movement and a discussion article suggesting anarchists vote which we hope will provoke replies (whether for or against). Before our usual news on the movement (\u201cParish Notes\u201d), we include a debate piece on why anarchists should vote \u2013 we hope that will get a response or two!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original translations which appear in Black Flag: Anarchist Review<\/em> eventually appear on-line here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/translations\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year we aim to cover a range of people and subjects. These should hopefully include Anselmo Lorenzo, Edward Carpenter, Ricardo Flores Mag\u00f3n and the debate with Kropotkin over his support of the Allies in 1914. Plus the usual reviews and news of the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em> continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue\u2019s editorial and contents are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second issue of Black Flag<\/em> in 2024 starts with Andr\u00e9 L\u00e9o, a French feminist-socialist active in the 1860s and 1870s who has been somewhat forgotten in spite of her being a member of the First International and a Communard. Yet she was a leading French socialist who exposed and mocked the sexism of so many on the left at the time, championing workers, peasants and women against the oppression and exploitation they faced, recognising the need for a common struggle to achieve true liberation. Undoubtedly, L\u00e9o\u2019s opposition to Marx within the International after the crushing of the Commune \u2013 and his public denunciation of her \u2013 ensured that Marxists made no attempt to claim her (although mentioned in their accounts of women in the Commune, her politics \u2013 like those of Louise Michel \u2013 go unmentioned). While associated with Bakunin, she was not a revolutionary anarchist but that does not stop her ideas being libertarian and of interest to revolutionary anarchists then and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then move onto to John Turner, a British anarchist who played a major role both in the Freedom group and his trade union. He had the dubious privilege of being the first person arrested under the Anarchist Exclusion Act in 1903, which barred anyone from entering the country who held anarchist views. While he was a consistent advocate for anarchist involvement in the labour movement, he took it too far and became the head of his union, with his anarchism becoming correspondingly placed into the background. We can learn from both aspects of his political life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next is Emma Goldman, who needs no introduction. Yet while she is rightly remembered, her actual ideas are all too often ignored or, worse, misrepresented (e.g. by Leninists seeking to stop radicals today reading her devastating accounts of the Bolshevik regime). Most obviously, her feminism is praised but her class struggle politics go unmentioned or noted in passing. Yet, as a communist-anarchist, class struggle was at the heart of her ideas and life \u2013 she was a strike organiser and supporter as well as an advocate of syndicalism. Here we address this exclusion as well as presenting an extensive selection of her writings, many of which are reprinted here for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also debunk a Leninist account of Goldman\u2019s politics which is simply staggering in its dishonesty. It indicates well why Marxist accounts of anarchism simply cannot be taken at face value (even if they have references!). Yet this is one of a long series of such articles. For example, in 1912 the paper of the British Socialist Party published a short paragraph on how \u201csyndicalism\u201d rejected the class war and its \u201cideal\u201d was \u201ca combination and agreement\u201d between bosses and workers in an industry \u201cto prey upon society\u201d. This nonsense rightly provoked a response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a remarkable example of the deliberate lying by which [Justice<\/em>] \u2018the organ of the Social Democracy\u2019 seeks to discredit Syndicalism . . . the paragraph provides striking evidence of the serious moral degeneration into which certain leading exponents of the B.S.P. have fallen. The object of it is clear enough. It is to create, if possible, a prejudice in the minds of the members of the B.S.P. against Syndicalism, to arouse a hostility which shall prevent them inquiring into the matter fairly for themselves.\u201d (\u201cOpen Letter to the Members of the British Socialist Party\u201d, The Syndicalist<\/em>, November 1912)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same can be said of the account of Goldman\u2019s ideas we debunk, a task which is always needed if time consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, before reviews and our round-up of movement news, we have an account of the infamous 1894 \u201cTrial of the Thirty\u201d. A key event in French anarchist history, it was an attempt by the State to repress the movement by linking it to criminals and so legitimise the lois sc\u00e9l\u00e9rates<\/em> (\u201cvillainous laws\u201d) that restricted the 1881 freedom of the press laws (the term being used to designate any harsh or unjust laws, which often broadly represses whole social movements). We end with reviews, our usual round up of movement news and a debate article suggesting anarchists vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

blackflagmag@yahoo.co.uk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iain McKay, Andr\u00e9 L\u00e9o: Internationalist and Communard<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • \u201cThe Vauxhall Sessions on women\u2019s work\u201d, L\u2019Opinion nationale<\/em>, 18 July 1868<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201cManifesto \u2013 Women\u2019s Rights\u201d, L\u2019Opinion nationale<\/em>, 20 July 1868<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Communism and Property<\/em> (1868)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201cV Right\u201d, Woman and Morals: Freedom or Monarchy<\/em> (1869)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201cAll Women with All Men\u201d, La Sociale<\/em>, 12 April 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201cThe Programme of the Commune\u201d, La Sociale<\/em>, 22 April 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Social War<\/em> (1871)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Barry Pateman, John Turner, anarchist union leader<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • \u201cAnarchy versus Social Democracy\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Socialism<\/em>, September 1889<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cAn Anarchist View of the Legal Eight-Hour day\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, May, June, July, 1895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cLet us Reason together\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, July 1895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Struggle in England\u201d, The Rebel<\/em> (Boston), 20 September 1895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Trade Union Congress\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, October 1895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cTurner Interviewed\u201d, The Firebrand<\/em>, 24 May 1896<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Labour War\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, November 1897<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cWe Never Forget\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, November 1900<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cJohn Turner and the U.S Government\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, June 1904<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cEnglish Trade Unionism\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, November, December 1906<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Workers Must Manage for Themselves\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, August 1907<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cRevolutionary Unionism\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, June 1909<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cInternational Socialist Congress at Copenhagen\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, October 1910<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Trades Union Congress\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, November 1910<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201c\u2018Justice\u2019 and Calumny\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, June 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201c\u2018Justice\u2019 and Emma Goldman\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, July 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201c\u2018Justice\u2019 and Emma Goldman: A protest from America\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, August 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Trades Union Congress\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, October 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cJohn Turner on the declaration of principles\u201d, The Syndicalist and Amalgamation News, December 1913<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cPeter Kropotkin\u201d, Justice<\/em>, 24 February 1921<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cA Forward\u201d, Another War?<\/em> (1923)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cForeword\u201d [Kropotkin\u2019s An Appeal to the Young<\/em>] (1932)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Iain McKay, Emma Goldman, class warrior<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • \u201cThe Condition of the Workers of America\u201d, The Firebrand<\/em>, 17 November 1895<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cMarriage\u201d, The Firebrand<\/em>, 18 July 1897<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Effect of War on the Workers\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, March-April 1900<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Propaganda and the Congress\u201d, Free Society<\/em>, April 1900<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAn Open Letter\u201d, Free Society<\/em>, 17 February 1901<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cTo the strikers of Paterson\u201d, Free Society<\/em>, 20 July 1902<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • A Beautiful Ideal: Anarchy and what it stands for<\/em> (17 March 1908)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cFrancisco Ferrer\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, November 1909<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cA Rejoinder,\u201d Mother Earth<\/em>, December 1910<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAnarchism and Socialism Defined\u201d, Herald of Revolt<\/em>, April 1911.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Syndicalism: The Modern Menace to Capitalism<\/em> (1913)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cOur Moral Censors\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, November 1913<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cSelf-defence for Labour\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, January 1914<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cPeace on Earth and Good Will Towards Men\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, January 1915<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cEmma Goldman\u2019s Defence\u201d, The Masses<\/em>, June 1916<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Promoters of the War Mania\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, March 1917<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Holiday\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, June 1917<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAn Unpublished Letter\u201d, Freedom<\/em> (New York), October-November 1919<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Red Trade Union Congress and the Anarchist Prisoners\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, February 1922<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cVladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, March-April 1924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cLosovsky Lets the Cat Out of the Bag\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, May 1924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Persecutions in Russia\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, September 1924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cWhat I saw in Russia\u201d [Unknown<\/em>] (1925)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cSamuel Gompers\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, February 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cMilitarism and the Social Revolution\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, March-April 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cDeclined With Thanks\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, March-April 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cPreface\u201d, My Disillusionment in Russia<\/em> (1925)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cWomen of the Russian Revolution\u201d, Time and Tide<\/em> (London), 8 May 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, \u201cSacco and Vanzetti\u201d, The Road to Freedom<\/em> (New York), August 1929<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cWorkers Should Seize Industries, Emma Goldman Tells Detroit\u201d, Detroit Evening Times<\/em>, 18 March 1934<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Communism \u2013 Bolshevist and Anarchist: A Comparison<\/em> (1935)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAnarchists And Elections\u201d, Vanguard: a libertarian communist journal<\/em>, June-July 1936<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Place of Women in Society\u201d, Mujeres Libres<\/em>, Week 21 of the Revolution, December 1936<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cEmma Goldman Speaks of the Spanish Workers Struggle\u201d, Spain and the World<\/em>, 24 November 1937<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Staying Power of a Myth\u201d, Spain and the World<\/em>, 5 January 1938<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Letters to Mariano R. V\u00e1zquez
        • 27 February 1939<\/li><\/ul>\n
            \n
          • 13 March 1939<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Letter to Comrades and Friends (1939)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Constance Bantman, The \u2018Trial of the Thirty\u2019, the failed trial of anarchy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            • Wayne Price, Malatesta\u2019s Anarchist Views of Elections and Democracy<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Bill Beech, Proudhon\u2019s War and Peace<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Zoe Lee, Debate: Why Anarchists Should Vote<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Parish Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Libertarian League (USA), What We Stand For<\/em> (1954)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Emma Goldman, \u201cA New Declaration of Independence\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, July 1909<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available: https:\/\/www.blackflag.org.uk The main focus of this issue is Emma Goldman. While much, rightly, has been written about this stalwart of the movement for fifty years, it has all too often been focused on her life or her feminism. While this is understandable \u2013 her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackflag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}