{"id":98,"date":"2025-11-04T08:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/?p=98"},"modified":"2025-11-04T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:33:08","slug":"black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2023-issue-now-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2023-issue-now-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Flag: Anarchist Review Summer 2023 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

This issue marks the founding of the International Working People\u2019s Association (IWPA) in Pittsburgh in 1883. As well as numerous articles by members of the IWPA, we debunk claims \u2013 by Marxists and others \u2013 that it was something other than anarchist. We also show the links between \u201cthe Chicago Idea\u201d and the Federalist-International and the ideas championed by Bakunin and Kropotkin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

While having the positive outcome of sharing the ideas of the IWPA with current activists, debunking such claims are an example of Brandolini’s law (\u201cThe amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it\u201d) and so time consuming. It needs to be done, for the false notion that the Chicago Anarchists were \u201cMarxists\u201d \u2013 for example \u2013has been repeated by American Leninist parties (it is ironic to see Trotskyists do something even Stalinists could not bring themselves to do).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such claims also bring to mind these comments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as I admire and trust the single-mindedness and devotion of the real historian in his search for every detail that will complete the historical picture, but feel unable to follow in his footsteps, so I despise the phoneys who pose as serious historians, cluttering their texts with footnotes and source references to impress the reader that their facts are well founded, and am moved to expose them with the very sources they allege to be summarising. (V. R., \u201cAnarchism and the historians\u201d, Anarchy<\/em> No. 46, December 1964).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, always check the references because there are certain writers who assume \u2013 sadly, correctly in the main \u2013 that no one will and so just write what they think or hope is true rather than factually based comments. This does not mean that the conventional wisdom is correct \u2013 anarchists know that as regards anarchism, it is often not \u2013 but challenging it should rest on more than wishful thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then, with the help of the Marie Goldsmith Project, recall the sadly somewhat forgotten contributions of Marie Goldsmith, a leading scientist and anarchist. Then we turn to German anarchists Max Baginski and Rudolf Rocker before ending with a review by Wayne Price and the news that there is finally a book of Camillo Berneri\u2019s writings.<\/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

Our remaining issue for this year aims to include an account of Trotsky\u2019s (limited) opposition to Stalinism as well as articles on and by Guy Aldred, Maurice Brinton, amongst other people and subjects.<\/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

We start with the International Working People\u2019s Association founded in 1883. As well as summarising its ideas, we also debunk claims that they were not, in fact, anarchists at all. We place the \u201cChicago Idea\u201d within the context of the Federalist-wing of the International and show the similarities between it and the ideas of Bakunin and Kropotkin. As we show, the very thing \u2013 the cult of dynamite \u2013 used to portray them as \u201canarchists\u201d is alien to the anarchist tradition while the labour activism which is used to suggest they are \u201csyndicalists\u201d or \u201cMarxists\u201d is what makes them anarchist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not hard to conclude that those who claim the IWPA was not anarchist are simply expressing their ignorance of anarchism, a failure to read The Alarm<\/em> and other writings or lack a wider understanding to place what they do read into the right context. We include a large selection of writings from IWPA members, mostly from The Alarm<\/em>, which show their anarchist politics. While we doubt that this will stop historians or Marxists from suggesting the IWPA was anything other than anarchist, it will help anarchists and other seekers of the truth debunk such nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then move on to Marie Goldsmith who, like Kropotkin, was a noted scientist as well as an anarchist. All the articles published in this issue of Black Flag <\/em>\u2013 which focus on the lessons of the Russian Revolution \u2013 were translated as a part of the Marie Goldsmith Project, led by S\u00f8ren Hough. It is an independent research initiative established to bring this remarkable \u2013 but largely forgotten \u2013 anarchist scientist\u2019s ideas into the twenty-first century (see their website https:\/\/mariegoldsmith.uk\/). We are excited to work with the Project to make Goldsmith’s writings accessible to the public, first in our Kropotkin issue of late last year (volume 2, number 3) and now in this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We return to America with German-American anarchist Max Baginski. Not as well-known as his colleagues Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, he was an important member of the American movement for decades and helped make Mother Earth<\/em> such an influential and important journal. We reprint a selection of his writings from Mother Earth<\/em> on a wide range of subjects, including how he could \u2013 like Goldman \u2013 combine an appreciation of Max Stirner with advocacy of syndicalism. We hope his writings will be of interest to anarchists today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rudolf Rocker is next. Born 150 years ago and best known for his classics Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice<\/em> (1938) and Nationalism and Culture<\/em> (1937), Rocker was another important German anarchist who spent most of his life in exile. He played a key role in the East London Jewish labour movement and \u2013 after his imprisonment and then expulsion during the First World War \u2013 the anarcho-syndicalist movement during the German Revolution. He led the rejection of Bolshevism in the global Syndicalist movement and played an important role in the syndicalist International Workers\u2019 Association. Here we reprint a few of his lesser-known articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We end with Wayne Price\u2019s review of a new book on libertarian socialism and the good news that a collection of writings by Camillo Berneri has been published by Freedom Press. We included articles by Berneri in our Summer 2020 issue and his views on Kropotkin in our Winter 2023 one, so readers will know his importance as a thinker. We include an article not included in that book, a defence of the POUM published a few days before his assassination by Stalinists. We hope that comrades will find the book of interest and will support a long-standing anarchist publisher.<\/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

Anarchy in the USA: The International Working People\u2019s Association \u2013 Iain McKay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Manifestos, reports and others<\/em>\n
      \n
    • Manifesto of the International Working People\u2019s Association, October 1883<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Black Flag\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 29 November 1884<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cMetal Workers\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 27 June 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThanksgiving!\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 12 December 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe American Group: Large Mass-Meeting of Workingmen and Women\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 6 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe International, A Mass-Meeting of Working People to Consider the Jay Gould Railway strike\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 20 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To The Workmen, The Committee of the Central Labor Union<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Albert Parsons<\/em>\n
        \n
      • \u201cThe International\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 4 April 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cWhat Anarchy Means\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 7 March 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAnarchy\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 16 May 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cTypographical Unions\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 13 June 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cSelfishness\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 27 June 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Wabash Strike\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 22 August 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cAnarchy vs. Government\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 22 August 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cLegislation\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 17 October 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cLiberty and Wages\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 28 November 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cPennsylvania\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 6 February 4, 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cOhio\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 20 February 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Church\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 20 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cExpropriation\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 20 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Knights of Labor\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 3 April 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cParsons\u2019 Plea for Anarchy\u201d, New York Herald<\/em>, 30 August 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cA Correction\u201d, The Knights of Labor<\/em>, 11 December 1886<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • August Spies<\/em>\n
          \n
        • \u201cAn Anarchist and the Ministers of the Congregational Church\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 9 January 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • \u201cAnarchism\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 6 and 20 February 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Address to the Court (Extracts), 7 October 1886<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Adolph Fischer<\/em>\n
            \n
          • Address to the Court, 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • \u201cA Chicago Anarchist on Anarchy\u201d, Liberty<\/em>, 26 February 1887<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Letter to Lloyd and Salter, 4 November 1887<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Lizzie M. Swank<\/em>\n
              \n
            • \u201cAbolition of Government\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 23 January 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201c\u2018Timid\u2019 Capital\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 20 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cPeacemakers\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 24 April 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cWhat Are \u2018American Institutions\u2019?\u201d, The Commonweal<\/em>, 16 July 1887<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cA Word on Martyrs\u2019 Mistakes\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 11 February 1888<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cThe Vital Question\u201d, The Commonweal<\/em>, 29 June 1889<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cThe Vital Question Again\u201d, The Commonweal<\/em>, 28 September 1889<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • \u201cSomething in a Name\u201d, The Commonweal<\/em>, 28 December 1889<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Others<\/em>\n
                \n
              • \u201cPrivate Ownership\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 1 November 1884<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • \u201cThe Indians\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 8 November 1884<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • M.H., \u201cThe Steet Car Strike\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 11 July 1885<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • J.H., \u201cWhat ls Socialism?\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 9 January 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Dyer D. Lum, \u201cCommunal Anarchy\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 6 March 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Tufferd, \u201cWhat Is Property?\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 24 April 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Dyer D. Lum, \u201cThe Knights of Labor\u201d, Liberty<\/em>, 19 June 1886<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Lucy E. Parsons, \u201cWe are all Anarchists\u201d, The Advance and Labor Leaf<\/em>, 12 March 1887<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • \u201cThe Proudhon Library\u201d, The Alarm<\/em>, 10 March 1888<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Marie Goldsmith: Scientific Luminary, Anarchist Militant \u2013 S\u00f8ren Hough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  \n
                • \u201cProblems of Tomorrow I: The Reasons for our \u2018Maximalism\u2019\u201d, Les Temps Nouveaux<\/em>, 15 July 1919<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cProblems of Tomorrow II: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat\u201d, Les Temps Nouveaux<\/em>, 15 November 1919<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cProblems of Tomorrow III: Some Economic Milestones\u201d, Les Temps Nouveaux<\/em>, 15 April 1920<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cThe Truth about Kronstadt\u201d, Les Temps Nouveaux<\/em>, April-May 1921<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cMarxist Utopia\u201d, Golos Truzhenika<\/em>, September 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cA few words on a confusing notion\u201d, Plus Loin<\/em>, 15 September 1925<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cOn the Subject of \u2018Revision,\u2019\u201d Dielo Trouda<\/em>, November 1925,\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                • \u201cOn the Subject of \u2018Revision\u2019 (Continued)\u201d, Dielo Trouda,<\/em> January 1926<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  Max Baginski (1864\u20131943) \u2013 Rudolf Rocker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    \n
                  • \u201cWithout Government\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, March 1906<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cAims and Tactics of the Trade Union Movement\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, June and July 1906<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cStirner: The Ego and His Own\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, March 1907<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cThe Anarchist International,\u201d Mother Earth<\/em>, November, 1907<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • M.B., \u201cEverlasting Murder\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, April 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cCommunism the Basis of Liberty\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, May 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cA Bankrupt Labor Paradise\u201d, June 1911<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • M.B., \u201cThe Right To Live\u201d, January 1912<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cSyndicalist Tendencies in the American Labor Movement\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, February 1912<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cState Socialism at Work\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, July 1912<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cThe Troubles of Socialist Politicians\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, May 1913<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cHow we shall bring about the revolution\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, June 1913<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • \u201cMichael Bakunin (1814-1914)\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, May 1914<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                    Rudolf Rocker 1873-1958 \u2013 Colin Ward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      \n
                    • \u201cAnarchism and Political Action\u201d, Germinal<\/em>, December 1906 (Views & Comments<\/em>, October 1958)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cThe History of Parliamentary Action in the Modern Labour Movement\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, January 1920<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cThe History of Parliamentary Action in the Modern Labour Movement\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, November-December 1924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cThe True Nature of the State\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, October 1926<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201c\u2018Proletarian Dictatorship\u2019 and Counter-Revolution\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, June 1927<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cSocialism and the Principles of the International Working Men\u2019s Association\u201d, Vanguard<\/em>, May-June 1933<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cThe Communist Party and the Idea of Dictatorship\u201d, Dyelo Truda<\/em>, January-February 1935\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cOn German Social Democracy\u201d, Dyelo Truda<\/em>, February 1935\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • \u201cSocial Rights and Freedoms: Their Vital Worth to us\u201d, The World Scene from the Libertarian Point of View<\/em> (1951)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                      A Guide to Anarcho-Syndicalism and Libertarian Socialism — Wayne Price<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      Camillo Berneri, Revisited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        \n
                      • Camillo Berneri, \u201cIn Defence of the POUM\u201d, L\u2019adunata dei refrattari,<\/em> 1 May 1937<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

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

                        \u201cAnarchy and Communism\u201d, Le Drapeau Noir<\/em>, 16 September 1883<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available: https:\/\/www.blackflag.org.uk This issue marks the founding of the International Working People\u2019s Association (IWPA) in Pittsburgh in 1883. As well as numerous articles by members of the IWPA, we debunk claims \u2013 by Marxists and others \u2013 that it was something other than anarchist. We […]<\/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-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackflag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","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=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}