When most people hear the words ‘anarchy’ or ‘anarchism’ they think of just chaos, violence, or nihilism. But many would be surprised to learn that Anarchism is actually a social/political philosophy with a long history which demands the abolition of all oppressive relations of domination and hierarchy in order to maximize the potential for liberatory human relationships.

Join the Student Solidarity Network for our “Intro to Anarchism” reading series at The Base, where we’ll be navigating through the deep river of anarchy, beginning from the anarchistic elements of the past, to the very beginnings of the anarchist movement during the late 19th century covering its development up until the present day. Through our discussions, we hope to demonstrate the relevancy of anarchist theory and praxis to our contemporary society while developing our own ideas in order to combat the present day crisis of capitalist civilization.

The readings will be slightly chronological but people can come whenever they can as all of the readings stand on their own. It’s also not necessary to read the texts to attend but still encouraged of course. This week we’ll be learning about Bakunin, who’s activities and theories were essential to the development of modern Anarchism. We’ll be exploring some of his work, along with his dispute with Marx in the First International, and how this all culminated into a global anarchist movement. We’ll be reading the following texts…

Bakunin Texts:

God and the State (pgs. 1-28) https:// theanarchistlibrary.org/ library/ michail-bakunin-god-and-the -state

Statism and Anarchy https:// theanarchistlibrary.org/ library/ michail-bakunin-statism-and -anarchy

Secondary Sources:

Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism – Peter Marshall (Chapter 18) https://libcom.org/ library/ demanding-impossible-histor y-anarchism

The Bakunin-Marx split in the 1st International – Franz Mehringhttps://libcom.org/ library/ bakunin-marx-split-1st-inte rnational-franz-mehring

The History of the Federalist IWMA – Vadim Damier https://libcom.org/ history/ history-federalist-iwma

Wed, April 13th

7:30pm