Anarchism is a form of revolutionary anti-state socialism which first emerged in 19th century Europe and rapidly spread to North America, South America, Asia and parts of Africa through trans-national networks and migration flows.
A large number of anarchists texts can be found at Libcom, the Anarchist Library, the Dwardmac Anarchy Archives, Robert Graham’s website and the Libertarian Labyrinth. A text is ‘classic’ if it is from the 19th or the early 20th century, and it is ‘modern’ if it is from the late 20th century or the 21st century.
For recommendations on feminism, including anarcha-feminism, see my feminism reading list.
A great (and very long) all round resource on anarchism is The Anarchist FAQ.
Classic Introductions
- Barrett, George – Objections to Anarchism
- Berkman, Alexander – Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism
- Goldman, Emma – Anarchism: What It Really Stands For (short)
- Malatesta, Errico – An Anarchist Programme (short)
- Malatesta, Errico – Anarchy! (short)
- Malatesta, Errico – At the Cafe (it’s like a Socratic dialogue but Malatesta is Socrates)
Modern Introductions
- Graeber, David – Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You! (very short)
- Milstein, Cindy – Anarchism and Its Aspirations
Classic Anarchist Texts
- Bakunin, Michael – Selected Writings, ed. Lehning
- Bakunin, Michael – Bakunin: Selected Texts 1868-1875, ed. Zurbrugg
- Galleani, Luigi – The End of Anarchism (the best historical anti-organisationalist anarchist text available in English)
- Kropotkin, Peter – The Conquest of Bread
- Kropotkin, Peter – Modern Science and Anarchy, ed. McKay (Kropotkin’s main theoretical work)
- Kropotkin, Peter – Direct Struggle Against Capital: A Peter Kropotkin Anthology, ed. McKay
- Malatesta, Errico – The Method of Freedom: An Errico Malatesta Reader, ed. Turcato
- Reclus, Elisee – Anarchy, Geography and Modernity: Selected Writings of Elisee Reclus, ed. Clark and Martin
- Rocker, Rudolf – Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice
- The Delo Truda Group – The Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (the founding text of platformism)
Modern Anarchist Texts
- Aziz, Omar – The Formation of Local Councils (Syrian anarchist who died in 2013 whilst imprisoned by the Assad regime)
- Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janerio – Social Anarchism and Organization (the main overview of especifismo anarchism available in English)
- Baker, Zoe – Means and Ends: The Anarchist Critique of Seizing State Power (also available in Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese)
- Black Rose Anarchist Federation – Role of the Revolutionary Organisation
- Bonanno, Alfredo – Armed Joy (one of the main influences on modern insurrectionist anarchism)
- Bookchin, Murray – Post Scarcity Anarchism
- Ervin, Lorenzo Kom’boa – Anarchism and the Black Revolution
- Graeber, David – Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology
- Magsalin, Simoun – Towards an Anarchism in the Philippine Archipelago
- Solidarity Federation – Fighting for Ourselves: Anarcho-Syndicalism and the Class Struggle
Anthologies of Anarchist Texts
- Black Rose Anarchist Federation (ed) – Black Anarchism: A Reader
- Guerin, Daniel (ed) – No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism
- Graham, Robert (ed) – Volumes 1-3 of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas (contains texts from around the world)
Broad Overviews of Anarchist History
- Finn, Mike – Debating Anarchism: A History of Action, Ideas and Movements
- Damier, Vadim – Anarcho-Syndicalism in the 20th Century
- Schmidt, Michael & Van der Walt, Lucien – Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (since its publication Schmidt was outed as a racist. The main author of the book is Van der Walt, not Schmidt, and it is because of this that I continue to recommend it until Van der Walt publishes his own separate book)
- Hirsch, Steven and van der Walt, Lucian (eds) – Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World 1870-1940 (the best overview of anarchism as a global movement)
History of Anarchist Movements in Europe
- Bantman, Constance – The French Anarchist in London, 1880-1914: Exile and Transnationalism in the First Globalisation
- Berry, David – A History of the French Anarchist Movement 1917-1945
- Cahm, Caroline – Kropotkin and the Rise of Revolutionary Anarchism 1872-1886
- Christie, Stuart – We, the Anarchists: A Study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), 1927-1937
- Di Paola, Pietro – The Knights Errant of Anarchy: London and the Italian Anarchist Diaspora 1880-1917
- Ealham, Chris – Anarchism and the City: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Barcelona 1898-1937
- Garner, Jason – Goals and Means: Anarchism, Syndicalism, and Internationalism in the Origins of the Federacion Anarquista Iberica
- Graham, Robert – We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It: The First International and The Origins of the Anarchist Movement
- Pernicone, Nunzio – Italian Anarchism 1864-1892
- Quail, John – The Slow Burning Fuse: The Lost History of British Anarchists
History of Anarchist Movements in North and South America
- Avrich – The Haymarket Tragedy
- Cappelletti, Angel – Anarchism in Latin America
- Cornell, Andrew – Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in the Twentieth Century
- Fernandez, Frank – Cuban Anarchism: The History of A Movement
- Goyens, Tom – Beer and Revolution: The German Anarchist Movement in New York City, 1880-1914
- Zimmer, Kenyon – Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America
History of Anarchist Movements in Asia
- Crump, John – Hatta Shuzo and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan
- Dirlik, Arif – Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution
- Hwang, Dongyoun – Anarchism in Korea: Independence, Transnationalism and the Question of National Development, 1919-1984
- Tierney, Robert – Monster of the Twentieth Century: Kotoku Shusui and Japan’s First Anti-Imperialist Movement
History of the Spanish Revolution
- Ackelsberg, Martha – Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and The Struggle for the Emancipation of Women
- Evans, Danny – Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
- Guillamon, Agustin – Ready for Revolution: The CNT Defence Committees in Barcelona 1933-38
- Leval, Gaston – Collectives in the Spanish Revolution
- Mintz, Frank – Anarchism and Workers’ Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain
- Peirats, Jose – Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution (a condensed single book alternative to his huge 3 Volume History of the Spanish Revolution)
History of the Russian Revolution
- Avrich, Paul – The Russian Anarchists (contains a number of errors. Read this review by McKay alongside the book)
- Avrich, Paul – Kronstadt
- Berkman, Alexander – The Russian Tragedy
- Brinton, Maurice – The Bolsheviks and Workers’ Control: The State and Counter-Revolution
- Goldman, Emma – My Two Years in Russia (available in two volumes – ‘My Disillusionment in Russia‘ & ‘My Further Disillusionment in Russia‘)
- Maximov, Grigori – The Guillotine at Work Volume 1: The Leninist Counter-Revolution
- McKay, Iain – The State and Revolution: Theory and Practice
- Voline – The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921
The Modern Anarchist Movement
- Bray, Mark – Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street
- Dupuis-Deri, Francis – Who’s Afraid of the Black Blocs? Anarchy in Action Around the World
- Graeber, David – Direct Action: An Ethnography
- Graeber, David – The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement
Zoe Baker 
Might want add David Graeber’s article ‘Turning Modes of Production Inside Out, or, Why Capitalism is a Transformation of Slavery’ (it build on a lot of the stuff that he talked about in ‘Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value’ and ‘Possibilities’), it’s really good long intro into anti-capitalism, you can find it here: https://libcom.org/library/turning-modes-production-inside-out-or-why-capitalism-transformation-slavery
Might want to also add something about the commons, so why not ‘Stop, thief!: The commons, enclosures, and resistance’ by Peter Linebaugh: https://libcom.org/library/stop-thief-commons-enclosures-resistance
I’m really happy to discover your website (i was watching one of your youtube videos, i don’t remember how i discovered it… maybe thanks to Mexie ? Really not sure) ! Thank you for this selection
Hi, I know that you’re advocate of the idea of prefiguration, but are you familiar with Uri Gordon’s recent critique of prefiguration:
“Prefigurative Politics, Catastrophe, and Hope: Does the Idea of “Prefiguration” Offer False Reassurance?”:
https://crimethinc.com/2018/06/12/prefigurative-politics-catastrophe-and-hope-does-the-idea-of-prefiguration-offer-false-reassurance
You can the academic version here:
Click to access Prefig%20final.pdf
About the reading list, I’m surprised not to see Peter Gelderloos, whose “Anarchy Works” has become (in my experience) the most used and read introduction to anarchism:
Anarchy Works – Peter Gelderloos:
https://libcom.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works
On the more academic side of things:
If you’re not aware of Jesse Cohn or his two books on anarchism, I highly recommend that you take a look at his works, I personally consider his two books to be the best secondary literature about anarchism that I’ve ever come across.
I really think that they also would be a great with your PhD thesis.
The book are:
“Anarchism And the Crisis of Representation: Hermeneutics, Aesthetics, Politics”:
Click to access Anarchism-And-the-Crisis-of-Representation-by-Jesse-S.-Cohn.pdf
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=FF4E42215B68D52C44B3616173B02A51
And his more recent “Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture, 1848-2011”:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=1F8CCA3122ECED1B3D2B0B4DA64E0812
The following book is not strictly anarchist (I don’t know if the British Beverly Skeggs is anarchist or not, but she’s close, she’s friends with Graeber), but I find it to be best takes on class theory that I’ve ever come across:
Class, Self, Culture – Beverly Skeggs (there’s a review of it on libcom.org):
https://b-ok.cc/book/2175640/81a7ac
Skeggs and Sara Ahmed are the best feminist theorist in Britain right now. By the way, a discussion of Sara Ahmed’s “The Cultural Politics of Emotion” would really make for a great video. Her take on queer theory is very good too.
Missing some Colin Ward:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/colin-ward
Some Benjamin Franks, Jacob Blumenfeld, Peter Gelderloos, Jesse Cohn and Kevin Van Meter:
– Rebel Alliances: The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=120B24E5A4ACFA7E9074B458A591457C
– Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=51B4369D8BA65A6E200941753A17375F
– All Things Are Nothing to Me: The Unique Philosophy of Max Stirner:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=61DE4B5FE6D39033A57E78657ABF8F8A
– Anarchism And the Crisis of Representation: Hermeneutics, Aesthetics, Politics:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=FF4E42215B68D52C44B3616173B02A51
– Guerrillas of Desire: Notes on Everyday Resistance and Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=47C7A85176450F0DD69ED038D3BF3111
These are also pretty good
– Sho Konishi’s “Anarchist Modernity, Cooperatism and Japanese-Russian Intellectual Relations in Modern Japan”:
https://libcom.org/library/anarchist-modernity-cooperatism-japanese-russian-intellectual-relations-modern-japan
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=9342829798E1F91501B4BCC25B0010D3
– Kristin Ross’ “Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune”:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=C29FAB1EAAE956FA7BC0A59A2C5BE14C
– Cohn’s “Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture, 1848-2011”:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=1F8CCA3122ECED1B3D2B0B4DA64E0812
– Why Work?: Arguments for the Leisure Society:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=24C0541442A5C0AF11D32999FF96102C
Cheap books at Freedom Press are always good:
https://freedompress.org.uk/
Again, Colin Ward’s books are classics of anarchist thought:
“Autonomy, solidarity, possibility: the Colin Ward reader”: https://libcom.org/library/autonomy-solidarity-possibility-colin-ward-reader
Hi, I’ve come across and was startled by some comments I’ve seen you make about anti-work politics, and I’ve wanted to to know if you could clarify your position?
If you’re still unfamiliar with the general thrust of anti-work socialist, I could only recommend taking a look at Alastair Hemmens’ book “The Critique Of Work In Modern French Thought: From Charles Fourier To Guy Debord”:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=38A8C6614F58BCD6EC7BCBECA8F422EC
I was also startled by your advocacy of economic planning, as I, as an anarcho-communist, am generally opposed to idea.
The communization tendency people like Bruno Astarian and Gilles Dauvé has written good articles about a different conception of communism:
Crisis activity and communisation – Bruno Astarian:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bruno-astarian-crisis-activity-and-communisation
Capitalism and communism – Gilles Dauvé:
https://libcom.org/library/capitalism-communism-gilles-dauve
I would like to particularly draw attention to Bruno Astarian’s concepts of “production without productivity”/”consumption without necessity”. I would really like to hear your opinion on that one (the article is relatively short).
Even Murray Bookchin has very good ideas concerning what he calls “usufruct, complementary and the irreducible minimum” that could serve as economic alternatives to the planning thing, that he lay out in “The Ecology of Freedom”:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-the-ecology-of-freedom
For my part, I really like the anthropologists’ concept of “demand sharing” which is really close to what Kropotkin by communist/”from each according to his/her needs”. Many anthropologists (like Thomas Widlok and James Ferguson) sometimes refer to Kropotkin when writing about demand sharing.
Useful books on this would be:
Anthropology and the Economy of Sharing – by Thomas Widlok:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=75D273AAB48C8C32BC5EB58795D4710F
The Anthropology of Economy: Community, Market, and Culture – Stephen Gudeman:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=4B9FA3D18D7C2907070B94D0E580E3A9
I think reading either of those books could really broaden your theoretical horizons on the economic issue.
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.
I’m curious to why Proudhon is absent considering he’s the father of anarchism, why is that?
Although I understand that this is mostly a ‘social anarchist’ reading list, it couldn’t hurt to add individualist anarchist texts like Benjamin R. Tucker’s ‘Instead of a Book’ considering that he proclaimed himself a socialist, as well as to just acknowledge individualist anarchism as a historically important current.
With the inclusion of David Graeber, other anarchist anthropologists like James C. Scott and Brian Morris have done some really phenomenal work in that area.
Great work as always! I’m a massive fan!
Great list, but you left out the Mexican Anarchist literature from Ricardo Flores Magon to Praxedis Guerrero, which is fundamental to understand anarchism in the the Americas as it was a trans-national anarchist movement
I only include books I’ve read and due to my PhD’s focus on Europe and the United States haven’t been able to read as widely as I would like on anarchism globally.