Kulinski’s milquetoast Berniebro social democracy is not my thing at all. But this is a great overview of why “right-wing” libertarianism fails. It ultimately ends of getting co-opted by the standard coalition of corporatists and reactionaries, who are in turn being puppetmastered by the imperialists, with the actual […]
This commentary is almost five years old but it seems to be a fairly accurate assessment of the fracturing of the libertarian milieu. As one who is generally more interested in meta-politics than politics, I’m generally favorably disposed to all sincere enemies of the state, regardless of what […]
I don’t know anything about the controversy described below but it seems to be another example of libertarianism being overrun by culture war tribalism. I generally find Reason to be good on civil liberties, a mixed bag on foreign policy, and shitty neoliberals on economics (except for their […]
I don’t really consider myself to be part of mainstream US libertarianism (the axis of ideas influenced by Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Rand, and Rothbard) though I am a fellow traveler on a range of topics. But in recent years I have noticed that US libertarianism (the movement seems […]
Pete asked Keith to come on to have a discussion about the Non-Aggression Principle and whether it is a vital part of anarchist/libertarian ideology. Listen here.
I generally find the ancap/libertarians vs libsoc/ancom debate to be irrelevant, though interesting on a sufficiently abstract level, because neither side gives due recognization to the fact that governments and corporations are part of the same ruling class apparatus. It’s like two medieval anarchists arguing over, “Who should […]
By Benjamin Franks This paper provides an account of ideological hybridity. It describes and categorises four main types of ideological hybrid in order to examine a range of sub-ideologies and crossbreeds but concentrates on identifying and assessing the particular phenomena described as conservative (or ‘Tory’) anarchisms. The paper […]
I first posted this piece in November of 2020. I am reposting it again, with some additions, in order to provide readers of Attack the System with an overview and explanation of how I approach political commentary, news analysis, theory, and strategy. By Keith Preston My general approach […]
A reader writes: I wonder if Chomsky, Carson, and Gillis would approve of the Waco assault by federal government forces? The ATF was probably doing it for “women’s rights” or “to get the kids in public education.” After all, they are probably on the pipeline to becoming fashes […]
By Lucien van der Walt This article responds to criticisms of the broad anarchist tradition in International Socialism, an International Socialist Tendency (IST) journal. I will discuss topics such as the use of sources, defending revolutions and freedom, the Spanish anarchists, anarchism and democracy, the historical role of […]
Kevin Carson is an American social theorist, self-proclaimed economist and anarchist-without-adjectives. In this episode we discuss his book The Desktop Regulatory State, alongside discussions on capitalism, post-capitalism, anarchism, hierarchy and organization.
By Nathan Goodman, Center for a Stateless Many libertarians favor constraining the State to a limited set of powers, typically to the maintenance of police, courts, prisons, and security services designed to protect individual rights. This “protective state” or “Night-watchman” state is seen as the minarchist ideal. However, […]
A problem with Pinker’s argument is that it is not in the interest of any state or ruling class anywhere to adopt libertarian values of any kind, except rhetorically for purposes of self-legitimation, or as something that can be co-opted and bent toward other purposes. Of course, measuring […]
By Duncan Whitemore, Mises UK Although I have written on the topic of how libertarian property rights can be applied to the situation of viruses in two, previous essays, it is useful to summarise this again for a clearer picture. Such an endeavor seems necessary now more than […]
By Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society Written by anarchist scholar Ruth Kinna (professor of Political Theory at Loughborough University and editor of Anarchist Studies) and illustrated by Ralph Harper (most famous for the illustrations in Radical Technology), this book is a collection of essays on ten […]
By Benjamin Franks Anarchism was not a major concern for political theory/philosophy from the 1930s to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was only with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the corresponding decline in the hegemonic primacy of orthodox Marxism, that other radical socialist movements, […]
Like most anarchists, I am very interested in historic examples of anarchist, quasi-anarchist, or otherwise stateless communities and territories, including the usual examples like Catalonia, Ukraine, Shimnin, Strandzha, Iceland, Baja, Chiapas, Rojava, Slab City, etc. But a problem with these kinds of examples is that most of them […]
By Benjamin Franks This paper examines the development of the schism between Marxism and anarchism, which characterized the relationship between the two ideologies during the ‘short twentieth century’ (to borrow Eric Hobsbawm’s phrase for the period 1914-1991). In addition, it looks at the development of collaborative interactions between […]
Anarchist News Survey courses are peculiar things, particularly when they address subjects of more than just passing interest. The construction of a survey always seems to involve at least some claim regarding the exemplary nature of the materials chosen. And if we were more certain about the character […]
Infoshop was the longest-running left-anarchist site on the web. It had been around almost as long as the Internet has been available for public use. However, its archives remain available. The following article by the recently deceased left-anarchist David Graeber on “The Twilight of Vanguardism” is interesting. “The […]
It’s good to see that Crimethinc recognizes that opposition to medical martial law is not just some crazy right-wing idea. It’s happening in countries that are much further “left” than the USA. Many left-wing anarchists have seriously dropped the ball on this question, just as many right-wing anarchists […]
By Matthew Adams While the study of anarchism has undergone a renaissance in recent years, historical scholarship has been a relatively minor aspect of this renewed focus. Presenting an historiographical examination of the main forms of writing on anarchist ideas, this article argues that the predominance of ‘canonistic’ […]
By Lucien van der Walt Examining the theory and practice of ‘mass’ anarchism and syndicalism, this paper argues against Daryl Glaser’s views that workers’ council democracy fails basic democratic benchmarks and that, envisaged as a simple instrument of a revolution imagined in utopian ‘year zero’ terms, it will […]
By Ersel Aydinli With the wave of violent jihadist activities in recent years, the world’s attention hasshifted away from a traditional prioritizing of state forms of formal violence toward one focusing on an apparently “new” phenomenon of transnational violence. Yet transnational violence itself is not a new phenomenon; it in […]
Only on ATS will you find a “let’s destroy business” article right next to a “let’s bring back the gold standard” article. By Benjamin Franks ‘Anarcho’-capitalism has for decades occupied a small but significant position within ‘business ethics’, while the anarchism associated with the larger traditions of workers […]
This looks interesting. Shawn Wilbur is very knowledgeable of classical anarchism. By Shawn Wilbur, Libertarian Labyrinth ’ve been contemplating hosting some sort of introductory course on anarchist history and theory for a long time now—and have put it off for a variety of reasons, not least of which […]
By Sureyyya Evren Although anarchists have a central interest in problems of domination and oppression, concepts of race and ethnicity have not been subject to sustained analysis in anarchist literature. This failure can be explained with reference to the priority that has been given to the great ideas […]
By Sureyyya Evren Dominant histories of anarchism rely on a historical framework that ill fits anarchism. Mainstream anarchist historiography is not only blind to non-Western elements of historical anarchism, it also misses the very nature of fin de siècle world radicalism and the contexts in which activists and […]
By Jorell Melendez Badillo, Reynaldo Padilla-Teruel Driving to the Canadian border in January 2011, headed for Toronto and NAASN-II with my friends Daniel and Susan, I was asked the purpose of our visit. “To attend an academic conference,” I said, perhaps a little too briskly, because the guard […]
By Dana Williams Anarchism has not had a noticeable impact upon sociology. The two traditions diverged in their interest in society and their relationship to it. This paper contrasts the practitioners or thinkers of one tradition against the other. The analysis shows some strong antagonisms, many instances of […]
By Patrick S. O’Donnell This bibliography has two conspicuous constraints: books, in English. While not exhaustive, it is nonetheless intended to be fairly comprehensive. I have included works on social movements, groups and organizations that may not be avowedly “anarchist” yet display many if not most of the […]
By Ruth Kinna Twenty years ago the task of compiling a research guide to anarchism would have been a more straightforward task than it is today. In his introduction to For Anarchism, published in 1989, David Goodway argued that anarchism – theory, practice, and history – was only […]
By Benjamin Franks This paper distinguishes some of the main currents in British anarchism at the time of the miners’ strike. It explores the influence of these libertarian movements on the conflict in the coalfield and assesses how the strike influenced the development of British anarchisms. Introduction If […]
By Darren Allen What is Anarchism? Anarchism is the rejection of domination. In an anarchist society — which means of course in the anarchist herself — nobody is dominated by anyone or anything else. This does not mean, as we shall see, that there is no authority.1 What anarchism rejects is authority […]
By Troy Southgate At the turn of the century, when I was still formulating my own National-Anarchist ideas, I made a point of saying that our communities must be based around a central or unifying vision and I still believe this to be the case. As an Absolute […]
Do we need a head of state? Does the United States of America need a president?
At some point, the US will likely have to convert to a consociational system in order to avoid complete fragmentation. In fact, I suspect the ruling class will eventually come to see such a system as a possible alternative to the dissolution of the mother country of the […]
By Terry Hopton It is difficult to discuss Tolstoy’s thought without invoking Berlin’s famous dictum that, ‘Tolstoy was by nature a fox, but believed in being a hedgehog.’ Applying this to Tolstoy’s views of history, which have a prominent place in War and Peace, Berlinshows how Tolstoy’s fox-like […]
By Alex Prichard Anarchist practice is localist and anarchist theory has generally followed in itsdisregard for the structures of global politics and the ways in which these underminethe possibility of the anarchist ideals. In this paper I set out one set of reasons as to why this state of […]
This is an interesting document. I would agree with many of the statements made in this, and much of the overall analysis that is provided. The ostensible goals may even be admirable in many ways. But this “program” would ultimately end up the same way as all “world transformative” […]
I knew Tom. He was a big influence on the development of my thinking.
“The Republican Myth: Donald Trump and his supporters are Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, fighting valiantly (but ultimately unsuccessfully) to take down Al Capone and the Deep State Gang. The Democratic Myth: Joe Biden and his supporters are Frank J. Wilson and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, actually […]
I found this on a social media site and thought it was interesting. I can’t say any of this is “wrong” (for one thing, it’s based on a single person’s observations and experiences). The only criticism I would have is that it underestimates the dangers of authoritarian leftism […]
By Jason Lee Byas, Center for a Stateless Society As you might have noticed, one of the (very quickly) upcoming Virtual Reading Groups will cover a wide selection of readings on left-libertarianism. So a reasonable question to ask, then, is just what is “left-libertarianism?”The term (as it’s being […]
By Logan Glitterbomb, Center for a Stateless Society As anarchists, we obviously reject representative democracy along with the state itself. As such, many anarchists advocate against voting in elections or even participating at all, seeing it as reinforcing and legitimizing the very system we’re fighting so hard to […]
These folks, and the financial, industrial, nuclear, and technological interests with which they are aligned, are the real enemy. By Duane Norman, in Current Events Exposing MSM Lies Politics While President Trump has changed federal-level politics in this country forever, the globalist cabal has proven that they’ve been […]
By Dean Spade, Truthout/Verso Books When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a crisis in the U.S. in early 2020, people all over the country started coordinating to deliver groceries and prescriptions to vulnerable people, making and distributing masks and hand sanitizer, and raising money for people who were […]
The Mindcrime Liberty Show discusses why the Left will never, in all likelihood, abolish the state. This is a continuation of an earlier episode we did with Keith Preston on “Does the left advocate a police state” but this time we state our own views. The left, compared […]
Wonderful. But the big question is what comes next? By Rhys Blakely, The Times Millennials in democracies throughout the world are more disillusioned with their system of government than any young generation in living memory, a study has found. A survey of nearly five million people showed that […]
Anarchist News Heroes go above and beyond the call of duty, acting boldly in the face of fear, defying it. Cowards fail to do what they’re expected, giving in to fear, shying away from action. Is your anarchism duty-free, or duty-bound? What are the countless duties imposed by […]
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson
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