Anarchist Essays

In this essay, Michael Grooff argues for a bipartite reading of Kropotkin’s account of sympathy, the mechanism behind the evolutionary mutual aid principle. Incorporating both simulation as well as perception in our analysis solves the problem of animal sympathy and provides a better account of sympathy as the basis of anarchist morality. Michael Grooff is a PhD researcher in fundamental and pract...

In this essay, Alejandro Forero examines how bourgeois criminology weaponized positivist science to pathologize dissent, pseudoscientifically labeling anarchists as "born criminals" to justify state repression and legal exclusion. In response, Spanish anarchists repurposed evolutionary theory to propose the total abolition of prisons, advocating for a society rooted in mutual aid, rational educati...

In this essay, Ruby Tuke argues that the political philosopher, author and proto-anarchist William Godwin’s critique of punishment, alongside his commitment to a form of community-rooted justice guided by rational moral judgement, offers a striking yet overlooked antecedent to contemporary penal abolitionist debates. Ruby Tuke is a writer and researcher currently working at the intersection of nin...

This essay introduces Envisioning Abolition, arguing that modern penal abolitionism has deep roots in nineteenth and early twentieth-century anarchist and libertarian socialist thought that challenged prisons, punishment, and state coercion. It highlights how the traditions of red and black converge around a shared commitment to equality, freedom, and the abolition of punitive justice systems. Dav...

In this essay, Roberta Cesana examines the relationship between anarchism and print culture through the figure of Leda Rafanelli (1880–1971). It shows how writing, printing, and publishing functioned as forms of self-construction, shaping Rafanelli’s identity as a militant, an intellectual, and a professional. Roberta Cesana is Associate Professor of History of Bibliography, Books and Publishing a...

In this essay, Vincent Bouchard and Asia Matthews discuss how contemporary anarchism can be used as a framework to rethink how we teach mathematics at the university level. At its core, anarchism aims at aligning thoughts and actions, and we argue that an anarchist viewpoint on undergraduate mathematics may offer a path toward a more equitable, horizontal and human-centred approach. This is not an...

In this essay, Eleanor Strangways explores the collaborations between anarchists and anti-imperialists in Britain during the Second World War. The essay begins by examining publications on imperialism within War Commentary, before turning to the participation of anti-imperialist activists in both the publication and anarchist meetings, including George Padmore, Jomo Kenyatta, and Chris Jones. Elea...

In this essay, Sean Ketteringham examines the anarchist and anti-imperial politics which informed the work of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915), the French modernist sculptor who was based in London for the final and most productive years of his life. By suggesting several new models for Gaudier-Brzeska's Maquette for a Large Basin (referred to until recently as Maquette for a Bird Bath), the essa...

In this essay, Maria Chomard examines the transatlantic anarchist mutual aid initiative after World War II, focusing on its attempted reunification and the tensions between universalist politics and Jewish postwar relief. Through this case, she argues that the Holocaust constituted a structural rupture in anarchism’s social and moral economy, reshaping practices of solidarity and contributing to t...

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 nece...

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 natio...

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, priva...

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...

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 r...

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 l...

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 Isobe...

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...

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...

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 utilizat...

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 publi...

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,...

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 Vis...

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 conse...

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 L...

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...