B U R E A U O F P U B L I C S E C R E T S |
Kenneth Rexroth, Communalism: From Its Origins to the Twentieth Century
[1974]
An excellent account of communalist tendencies throughout history, from
“primitive communism” through medieval millenarian movements and
nineteenth-century utopian colonies to the sixties counterculture.
The book is long out of print, but it is
online at this website.
Thomas More, Utopia
[1516]
The original “Utopia.”
It is naturally historically limited in many respects, but
More’s genial and lively style still make it an interesting read.
[Rexroth
essay on More’s Utopia]
Victor Peters, All Things Common: The Hutterian Way of Life
[1965]
A study of the
Hutterites, a religious sect that has maintained a communistic social
organization for nearly 500 years.
Charles Fourier [1772-1837]
Fourier was an extremely inventive visionary, whose delightful though
rather loony utopia was based on encouraging the interplay, rather than the
repression, of the variety of human passions.
The best anthology is The Utopian Vision of Charles Fourier (ed.
Beecher & Bienvenu). Another good one is Harmonian Man (ed. Mark Poster).
The earlier collection, Design for Utopia, is not so good.
William Morris, News from Nowhere
[1891]
Probably the best utopian novel. As I tried to show in the
last chapter of “The Joy of Revolution”, no single utopian description could come
anywhere close to conveying what a liberated society would really be like,
because such a society would be characterized by an enormous diversity of social
forms. Morris’s work is simply one person’s vision of some of the features he
would like to see. But it’s one of the most open-ended and sensible ones.
Martin Buber, Paths in Utopia
[1949]
Examines utopian socialists, Proudhon, Kropotkin, Landauer, and various
experiments from cooperatives to kibbutzes. Buber’s optimism regarding the
promise of the kibbutzes proved unjustified.
Marie Louise Berneri, Journey Through Utopia
[1950]
Excellent. The best general survey of utopian novels and visions.
Aldous Huxley, Island
[1962]
The economic and political aspects of this utopia remain rather vague, but
there are some interesting points about the psychological and “spiritual”
features of a liberated society.
* * *
Daniel Guérin (ed.), No Gods, No Masters [1965]
A comprehensive anthology of anarchist writings,
focusing primarily on the revolutionary
historical expressions of anarchism.
Leonard Krimerman and Lewis Perry (ed.),
Patterns of Anarchy [1966]
Another good anthology. More eclectic and less historical than Guérin’s
selection, it includes anarchist perspectives on criminology, education, and
community planning.
Mikhail Bakunin [1814-1876]
The best
anthology is Sam Dolgoff’s Bakunin on Anarchism, but there are several
other pamphlets and collections.
For a brief examination of the
Marx-Bakunin split and of anarchism in general, see Guy Debord’s
The Society of the Spectacle ##91-94.
Peter Kropotkin [1842-1921]
Back in 1969, when I was first discovering anarchism, my favorite was
Kropotkin. He probably strikes many modern readers as a boring old fuddy-duddy,
but personally I still like his mature, low-key style, his humanistic
magnanimity, his striving for ecological balance, for the integration of mental
and manual activity, etc. His most well known work, Mutual Aid,
demonstrated that cooperation as well as competition plays an important role in
evolution. He and Élisée
Reclus were among the first ecological thinkers (back then they were referred to
as “geographers”). In this regard their writings have come to have a relevance
in some ways even greater than they did at the time, even if they are dated in
other respects.
Check out one of the collections of
Kropotkin’s pamphlets and articles. If you like
him, you might also try his Memoirs of a Revolutionist.
Errico Malatesta [1853-1932]
There are several anthologies of this important Italian anarchist. Vernon
Richards’s Errico Malatesta: His Life and Ideas also includes some
good biographical material.
Emma Goldman [1869-1940]
Goldman was important not only as a powerful propagandist for anarchism, but as
a “revolutionary within the revolution” who introduced cultural, feminist and
sexual issues into a radical movement that was often rather philistine,
chauvinist and puritanical.
There are several collections of her writings and speeches, the most
comprehensive of which is Red Emma Speaks (ed. Alix Kates Shulman). Her
autobiography, Living My Life, is also quite interesting.
[Rexroth
elegy for Emma Goldman]
Alexander Berkman [1870-1936]
Though dated in some regards, Berkman’s What Is Anarchism? is still
probably the best popular exposition of revolutionary anarchism. The perennial
questions and misconceptions are answered so clearly and systematically that it
is hard to imagine how anyone could fail to understand. Note: What Is Anarchism? (AK Press) is the complete work. It has also been
published in two separate parts: ABC of Anarchism and What Is
Communist Anarchism?
Berkman’s moving Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist has been reissued in
several different editions, including one with an introduction by Rexroth, another with an
introduction by Paul Goodman.
Section from Gateway to the Vast Realms: Recommended
Readings from Literature to Revolution, by Ken Knabb (2004).
No copyright.
Bureau of Public Secrets, PO Box 1044, Berkeley CA 94701, USA
www.bopsecrets.org knabb@bopsecrets.org