Libcom.org's reading guide on anarchism, anarchist theorists and their development through history.

French mutualist philosopher and first person to call themselves an ‘anarchist’.

Russian revolutionary, considered the original theorist of collectivist anarchism.

Legendary French anarchist who held a leading role in the Paris Commune and played an essential role in building the anarchist movement across Europe at the end of the 19th century.

Louise Michel, 1830-1905 - biography.

Memories of the Commune

Anarcho-feminism and Louise Michel - Marian Leighton on the beliefs and eventful life of the revolutionary Louise Michel.

Russian revolutionary (as well as scientist, zoologist, geographer and evolutionary theorist!) who was the first to advocate a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between workers - anarchist-communism.

The Conquest of Bread - Classic work explaining the defects of feudal and capitalist economic systems and how they can be replaced by a decentralised economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation.

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution - Kropotkin's response to Social Darwinism in which he explains the phenomenon of co-operation in evolution.

Fields, Factories and Workshops - Hugely influential work outlining how a society based on mutual aid and voluntary association could work.

Memoirs of a Revolutionist - Autobiography recounting his aristocratic beginnings to his transformation into the revolutionary he would be for the rest of his life.

The State--Its Historic Role - Classic work on the state and its function in society.

American anarchist-communist labour organiser and founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World of mixed African-American and Hispanic heritage. Known for her powerful public speaking, she was also the widow of Haymarket Martyr, Albert Parsons.

Highly influential Italian anarchist-communist who wrote and spoke widely across Italy and spent many years either in jail or in exile.

Lithuanian-born Jewish anarchist who emigrated to the USA, where she became highly involved in radical unions, anti-war and feminist activism. Became known as "the most dangerous woman in America".

Lithuanian-born anarchist-communist Alexander "Sasha" Berkman, who became a leading figure in the American anarchist movement and was sent to prison for attempting to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, the steel boss responsible for the deaths of workers in the 1892 Homestead strike.

Prominent anarcho-syndicalist who organised extensively amongst the Jewish community in the East End of London.

Mexican anarchist, friend of legendary revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and leading participant in the 1910 Mexican revolution.

Ricardo Flores Magon, 1873-1922 - biography.

Manifesto of the Mexican Liberal Party, 1911 - Manifesto issued by the Organising Council of the anarchist Mexican Liberal Party, September 23, 1911, scattered at that time broadcast and republished in its official organ, Regeneracion .

. Without bosses - Ricardo Flores Magon writes on why we would be better off in a society without bosses.

Government? - "No, there is no need to fear life without government; we long for it with all of our hearts."

Ukrainian anarchist-communist who led a revolutionary army during the 1917 Russian revolution which fought against both the old Tsarist regime and the new Bolshevik one.

French anarchist and revolutionary supporter of gay liberation.

Daniel Guerin, 1904-1988 - biography.

No Gods, No Masters: an anthology of anarchism - Classic anthology of anarchism bringing together unpublished documents, letters, debates and more, showing the history, organisation and practice of the movement.

Anarchism: from theory to practice - Book about the theoretical basis of anarchism, and its practical application to the real world in selected historical examples.

Libertarian Marxism - Two essays in which Guerin attempts to bridge the gap between anarchism and Marxism by drawing out the commonalities in both.

British anarcho-syndicalist print worker who fiercely opposed individualist strains within anarchism and was a major figure in the British anarchist movement.

American libertarian socialist and founder of social ecology who severely criticised individualist and spiritual elements within radical politics.

Bookchin remembered - Obituary written by Iain Mackay.

Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism - Essay against the increasingly individualist, misanthropic, mystical and anti-organisational trends in US anarchism.

Listen, Marxist! - An anarchist criticism of Marxism, aimed predominantly at the Maoist Progressive Labor Party in America.

Post-Scarcity Anarchism - Collection of essays envisioning an anarchist society without scarce resources, if we rely on technology.

Anarchism, Marxism and The Future of The Left - Collection of texts including accounts of his years as a teenage Communist during the Great Depression, his experiences and reflections on the 1960s and his vision of a libertarian communist society, libertarian politics and the future of anarchism.

- Collection of texts including accounts of his years as a teenage Communist during the Great Depression, his experiences and reflections on the 1960s and his vision of a libertarian communist society, libertarian politics and the future of anarchism. The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 - History of the day-to-day activism of Spanish anarchists in the decades leading up to the famous civil war and revolution of 1936.

African-American class struggle anarchist, former Black Panther and participant in the civil rights and black power movements.