Anarchism
Introductions
Classic
- 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
- Graeber, David – Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You! (very short)
- Milstein, Cindy – Anarchism and Its Aspirations
- The Anarchist FAQ (is very long and comprehensive. Best used by finding a specific question you’re interested in and reading the section)
Anarchist Texts
Classic
- 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)
- Grave, Jean – Moribund Society and Anarchy
- 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
- Anderson, William C – The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition
- 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 Organization
- Bonanno, Alfredo – Armed Joy (one of the main influences on modern insurrectionist anarchism)
- Bonanno, Alfredo – The Anarchist Tension
- 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)
History of Anarchism
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, Lucian – 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)
The Emergence of Anarchism as a Social Movement
- Bensimon, Quentin and Moisand (eds) – “Arise Ye Wretched of the Earth”: The First International in a Global Perspective (useful to learn more about specific sections of the International and the wider context)
- Eckhardt, Wolfgang – The First Socialist Schism: Bakunin vs Marx in the International Workingmen’s Association (the best detailed overview of the topic)
- Graham, Robert – We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It: The First International and The Origins of the Anarchist Movement (good summary, especially if Eckhart is too long for you)
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
- Pernicone, Nunzio – Italian Anarchism 1864-1892
- Quail, John – The Slow Burning Fuse: The Lost History of British Anarchists
- Yeoman, James – Print Culture and the Formation of the Anarchist Movement in Spain, 1890–1915
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
- 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
- Arshinov, Peter – History of the Makhnovist Movement
- 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
Marxism
Marx
Part 1
- Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto
- Marx, Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (very short)
- Marx, Wage Labour and Capital (short)
- Marx, Thesis on Feuerbach (very short)
Part 2
- Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme
- Marx, The Civil War in France
- Marx, Letters to Zasulich (clarifies important points about Marx’s theory of history and views on Russia)
- Marx, Conspectus of Bakunin’s Statism and Anarchy (very short)
- Marx, Value, Price and Profit
Part 3
- Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
- Marx, Grundrisse
- Marx, Capital Volume 1
Secondary Sources
- Anderson, Kevin – Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity and Non-Western Societies
- Fromm, Erich – Marx’s Concept of Man (short)
- Hunt, Richard – The Political Ideas of Marx and Engels Volumes 1 and 2.
- Heinrich, Michael – “Je ne suis pas marxiste” (very short)
- Heinrich, Michael – An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx’s Capital
- Lebowitz, Michael – Beyond Capital: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class
- Meszaros, Istvan – Social Structure and Forms of Consciousness, Volume II: The Dialectic of Structure and History (very hard but worth it)
- Ollman, Bertell – Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society
- Ollman, Bertell – Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx’s Method
- Raekstad, Paul – Karl Marx’s Realist Critique of Capitalism: Freedom, Alienation, and Socialism
- Tabak, Mehmet – Dialectics of Human Nature in Marx’s Philosophy
Marxist Theory
- Lebowitz, Michael – The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development
- Lebowitz, Michael – The Contradictions of “Real Socialism”: The Conductor and the Conducted
- Wood, Ellen Meiksins – Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism
Feminism
Introductions
- Finlayson, Lorna – An Introduction to Feminism
- hooks, bell – Feminism is For Everybody
Feminist Theory
- Hanisch, Carol – The Personal is Political
- hooks, bell – Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism
- hooks, bell – The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and Love (see understanding patriarchy for an extract)
- Young, Iris – On Female Body Experience: “Throwing Like A Girl” and Other Essays
- Walby, Slyvia – Theorizing Patriarchy
Anarcha Feminism
Classic Anarcha-Feminism
- Goldman, Emma – Anarchy and the Sex Question
- He-Yin Zhen – The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory
- de Cleyre, Voltairine – Sex Slavery
Modern Anarcha-Feminism
- Akemi and Busk – Breaking the Waves: Challenging the Liberal Tendency within Anarchist Feminism
- Ehrlich, Carol – Socialism, Anarchism and Feminism
- Shannon and Rogue – Refusing To Wait: Anarchism and Intersectionality
- Tanenbaum, Julia – To Destroy Domination in All Forms: Anarcha-Feminist Theory, Organization and Action 1970-1978
- Volcano and Rogue – Insurrections at the Intersections: Feminism, Intersectionality and Anarchism
- Warburton, Theresa – Coming to Terms: Rethinking Popular Approaches to Anarchism and Feminism
Marxist Feminism
- Costa, Mariarosa Dalla and James, Selma – The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community
- Brown, Heather – Marx on Gender and The Family (for summary see)
- Federici, Silvia – Caliban and The Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
- Federici, Silvia – Revolution At Point Zero
- Vogel, Lise – Marxism and The Oppression of Women