Anarchist Essays

In this essay, Ruth Kinna and Simon Stevens discuss their article Anarchism: war, violence and scapegoating - an analysis of power, violence and government irresponsibility. They talk about issues that inspired the article and the central claim, namely that violence does not turn solely on its performance, but on the embrace of an ethic of violence that empowers transgressive action without necessarily exposing law breakers to the ...

In this essay, Kirwin Shaffer explores the creation of an anarchist ethnic identity (an anarchist Latinidad) among Spanish-speaking anarchists in the United States in the 1880s and 1890s. This identity united anarchists from Spain and Cuba around a common language and common experiences confronting capitalism and the Cuban War for Independence in the 1890s while rejecting divisive ethnic and nationalist politics centered around the...

In this essay, Robert T.F. Downes examines how the eco-anarchist philosophy of social ecology and the pluriverse of Indigenous political thought come together in anarcho-Indigenous solidarities, from Standing Rock to the Zapatista caracoles, to imagine a “democracy of species” beyond the (neo)liberal rule of law. He asks how these experiments in “living otherwise” challenge anthropocentrism, private property, and the State while sk...

In this essay, Livia K. Stone discusses the origins of the concept of autogestion/self-management, generally associated with anarcho-syndicalism. Often described as emerging from Yugoslavia in the 1950s, Stone argues that the origins of the term actually lie in the Algerian independence movement in the 1960s and represented a defining shift in twentieth century social movements.

Livia K. Stone is an Associate Professor of Anthropol...

In this essay, Juan Carlos Mijangos Noh reflects on an experience of creating a microcosm of an anarchist community in a Yucatecan Maya Village in Mexico. The experience involved women students trained in a neoliberal university who, despite that, were able to perform in an anarchistic fashion.

Juan Carlos Mijangos Noh is a full professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico. His most recent publications are: Creating an...

In this essay, Jason Garner, looks at the debate between anarchists in countries on both side of the Atlantic about the need, or not, to revise anarchist tactics in the light of the end of the postwar revolutionary wave in 1923. This is part of an overall project on “Reformism and Cooperation in interwar anarchism. National and transnational debates in a context of decline”.

Jason Garner, former lecturer and teacher in Contemporary...

In this essay, Steve Emery and Dai O'Brien discuss the life and politics of a deaf anarchist communist, Leonard A. Motler. Steve and Dai explain his significance to both the anarchist movement in the UK as a visibly deaf signing person and to the deaf community as an openly anarchist radical. A longer version of this article appeared in Anarchist Studies 33:1 (2025). This episode is read by Isobel van Hagen.

Steve Emery is a freela...

In this essay, Alexandria H., Juan Verala Luz, and Charles W. draw distinctions and connections between two important aspects of social movements: organizing and mutual aid. They argue that practicing mutual aid inside organizing campaigns and the mass organizations that sustain them can prefigure the kinds of social relationships that will truly liberate us.

Full text of the article can be found at: https://www.blackrosefed.org/su...

In this essay, Josie Holland breaks down key characteristics of queer anarchism and its connection to anarchist principles of prefiguration and revolutionary desire. They conclude with an invitation to develop a critical utopian impulse through anarchist practices more generally. 

Josie Holland is a doctoral student in the English Department at the University of California, Riverside. Their most recent publication is "Leading Towar...

In this reading from Tolstoy’s Search for the Kingdom of God: Gender and Queer Anarchism (2025), Javier Sethness Castro reflects on Leo Tolstoy and the Russo-Ukrainian War. While praising the relevance of Tolstoy’s anti-militarist principles in light of this ongoing conflict, the author also considers not only Tolstoy’s contradictions as a Russian chauvinist, but also the Putin regime’s utilization of his fame to legitimize its gen...

In this essay, Theresa Warburton talks about the power of story for building a place-based method in anarchist organizing. Building on their own experiences and the works of Indigenous scholars, Warburton asks how anarchists can make space for the past, present, and future in the work we do together.

Theresa Warburton is an educator and organizer living in Washington State. Their most recent publications are Other Worlds Here: Hono...

This essay is based on the introductory chapter from a collection edited by Owen Clayton and Iain McIntyre entitled The Popular Wobbly: Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim (University of Minnesota Press, 2025).

Owen Clayton is a Senior Lecturer in English literature at the University of Lincoln in England and the author of Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos: The Literature and Culture of U.S. Transiency, 1890–1940 and Literature and Photogr...

In this essay, Graham McGeoch speaks about his research of Orthodox Christian influences on Anarchism in Latin America. A fuller version of the research was published in the edited volume, Orthodoxy and Anarchism: Contemporary Perspectives (ed Davor Dzalto, Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).

Dr Graham McGeoch teaches Theology & Religious Studies at Faculdade Unida de Vitoria, Brazil and is a Visiting Professor at the University o...

In this essay, Jesse Spafford argues that plausible libertarian premises support the classical anarchist conclusion that no one has any moral property rights over land or resources. Drawing on the argument advanced in Chapter 4 of his book Social Anarchism and the Rejection of Moral Tyranny, he contends that neither states nor would-be property owners can impose obligations on others without consent.

Jesse Spafford is a Lecturer in...

This essay is adapted from Jim Donaghey's excellent collection, Fight for a New Normal? Anarchism and Mutual Aid in the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis . It discusses some of the applications of 'mutual aid' in government agencies and its articulation in nineteenth century anarchist thought to flesh out a grassroots, transformative conception.

Ruth Kinna is a member of the Anarchism Research Group at Loughborough University and the author...

In this essay Keith Jacobs considers the relevance of Colin Ward’s work for addressing contemporary housing challenges. It is claimed that Ward’s writings on housing offer both a trenchant critique of managerially inspired policies and a set of political interventions that merit consideration.

Keith Jacobs is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania. His two most recent publications are: ...

In this essay, Rhiannon provides an Afterword summarizing some of the key themes in a recently published volume of collected essays edited by Jim Donaghey titled Fight for a New Normal? Anarchism and Mutual Aid in the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis. Rhiannon also playfully problematizes the title of the book, arguing that rather than fighting for a new normal, anarchists should be fighting against normativity itself.

Rhiannon Firth is Le...

In this essay, Matt Grimes discusses the continuing significance of anarchism among a group of ageing anarcho-punks, who first engaged with anarchist ideologies and politics in their adolescence in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on the relationship between ageing, identity, memory and nostalgia, Matt explores how this group of ageing anarcho-punks have negotiated their anarchist beliefs, alongside the responsibilities often associate...

In this essay, Dana Williams discusses the many complicated connections between sociology and anarchism. In particular, Williams explores what could be meant by "anarchist-sociology" and the potential for a social science anarchist studies.

Dana Williams is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico in California (USA). Williams's most recent publications include "The Uncivil Sphere and Anti-authoritarian Movement...