Free eBooks Anarchism: From Theory To Practice Available To Downloads
Book by Daniel Guérin
Paperback: 166 pages
Publisher: Monthly Review Press (January 1, 1970)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0853451753
ISBN-13: 978-0853451754
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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Daniel Guerin was a French Marxist who became an anarchist in his latter life. He was also an activist, particularly around Gay rights and the Algerian War of Independence. As such he was almost perfectly qualified to write an introduction to anarchism from the point of view of a well read activist. Most other recent introductions to anarchism have been written by professional academics who thus missed the mass politics that lie at the base of anarchism and tend to give equal weight to insignificant individuals and mass movements.The book starts with an introduction to anarchist theory, covering the major writers. It goes on to look at how these ideas were put into practise, in the construction of the early union movement, in the Russian Revolution and Italian factory councils and finally during the Spanish revolution of 1936. These were times when anarchists numbered in the tens or hundred of thousands. In Spain up to two million members of the anarchist CNT c! ! arried out the most large scale voluntary collectivisation of industry and land that history has seen to date.In particular when talking about the failings of the Russian revolution Guerin's Marxist background comes through to great advantage. The Russian Revolution was the failure of Marxism, in particular its failure to realise how easily state power could corrupt a revolutionary party and transform it into a new ruling class. But Guerin never abandoned Marxism completely, he recognised it as a useful economic and analytical tool. His strength was in not only realising the criticisms of the anarchists about the Marxist view of the state were correct but having the integrity to then become and start to promote anarchism himself.
A basic tenant of Libertarian socialism is that workers should directly control and design what their political representatives' implement and should directly control their workplaces, so as to maximize their own freedom. As Marx stressed in his early writings the will to work, to create, to mold nature to our intellects and creative powers, is part of human nature, our "species-being." When prevented from developing their "species-being" by having to sell themselves to wage slavery, struggling to feed themselves and being fettered by other drudgeries, human beings are degraded. They become dysfunctional and their powers of intellect and creativity are assaulted. They become dysfunctional, anti-social. This would become very rare in a libertarian socialist with maximum personal freedom. A community could lock away any person committing criminal acts in order that his constructive "species-being "could be recuperated. Or if the criminal didn't want to do that, a community could expel the criminal from their midst. People should have a choice, said Bakunin of choosing to live in any community they wanted. If any community in a libertarian socialist society dosen't appeal to them, they can go live in the mountains and forests with the beasts as Bakunin put it. People with alternative lifestyles like nudists could set up their own community and link themselves to regular communities as called for in a program of Spanish anarchists in 1936.Anarchists in the 19th century, Guerin shows, were particularly cognizant of the dangers of authoritarian state socialism. Bakunin gave a particularly prescient prediction about it, though he unfairly described his rival Marx as an adherent of it.
Anarchism: From Theory to Practice Emma Goldman on Anarchism (and other Essays) Instead of a Book by a Man Too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play In Defense of Anarchism (with a New Preface) 1st (first) Edition by Wolff, Robert Paul (1998) Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America (Unabridged) Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction Post-Scarcity Anarchism (Working Classics) Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in the Twentieth Century Anarchism and other essays (Illustrated) Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biographical Criticism (The Theory and Practice of Biography a) Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz (Theory in Practice) Theory-Based Treatment Planning for Marriage and Family Therapists: Integrating Theory and Practice (Marital, Couple, & Family Counseling) Transitions Theory: Middle Range and Situation Specific Theories in Nursing Research and Practice (Meleis, Transitions Theory) Empowerment Series: Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills (SW 383R Social Work Practice I) Pediatric Neuropsychology, Second Edition: Research, Theory, and Practice (Science and Practice of Neuropsychology) Narrative Theory Unbound: Queer and Feminist Interventions (THEORY INTERPRETATION NARRATIV) Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer
