I’m digging anarchists’ more hands on, pragmatic approach to politics. I finished The Conquest of Bread a couple of weeks ago and I’m currently working my way through Bullshit Jobs. Any suggestions about theory, praxis, mutual aid, etc. would be appreciated

    • anarchotoothbrushist@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Seconding this.

      AFAQ gives overviews on topics with a lot of quoting from books and essays. It often notes that a book is ‘essential reading’ for a certain topic.

      So it’s not only an informative read in itself, it’s a great source for people looking for reading recommendations.

  • vxnxnt@feddit.deEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I haven’t read any anarchist books myself yet, but I have read plenty of shorter texts I found online (mostly from The Anarchist Library).

    Here are a few I found to be worth a read (in no particular order):

    Since you already read The Conquest of Bread I decided to leave out most of Kropotkin’s shorter texts, as I assume that you should already be familiar with his ideas and principles.

    Although not anarchists, I still find many libertarian Marxists to be pretty insightful as well (some may as well be Anarchists in denial). Anton Pannekoek’s and Rosa Luxemburg’s works being some I really enjoy reading.

    I also have What is Anarchism? (by Alexander Berkman) and Anarcho-Syndicalism (by Rudolf Rocker) standing on my bookshelf, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them quite yet. If they sound interesting enough you could give them a try.

  • Hotchip@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 years ago

    Fan of Bookchins work myself. I would suggest googling him, and if you’re into podcasts: give srsly wrong a listen. Its libertarian socialist thought broken down in a podcast with skits and well humored education/interviews. Their discord also has a fantastic bookclub with live readings and discussion.

  • pbpza@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    1·
    2 years ago

    You may join local IWW, help with local food not bombs, go to some anarchist bookfair near you etc. About theory, there is a website called the anarchist library with a lot of books concerning anarchism for free!

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    01·
    2 years ago

    I’m digging anarchists’ more hands on, pragmatic approach to politics

    I saw this post from /all…

    But isn’t the entire point of anarchy no government, how exactly do you think thats “hands on”?

    Or is this one of those things where people have invented new definitions for existing terms like saying the USSR was communist?

    • masquenox@lemmy.ml
      0·
      2 years ago

      how exactly do you think thats “hands on”?

      It’s really simple… the whole idea behind anarchism (and all libertarian socialist thought, for that matter) is to put the power of decision and action back into the hands of communities and not a bunch of far-removed and unaccountable political racketeers (which is essentially how anarchists view “formal” political establishments - and they are entirely correct in this view)

      Or is this one of those things where people have invented new definitions

      No. Nothing new about it… the meaning behind the term “socialism” (for instance) has always referred to a condition where the workers own the means of production. The big split in the left happened because Marxists believed the state could represent the workers - the Bakuninist anarchists believed the state would simply form a new “political elite” and simply become the new elite repressing the working class. This happened long before the Russian revolution… and subsequent events proved the anarchist side correct beyond a shadow of a doubt.

      • iriyan@lemmy.ml
        1·
        3 months ago

        I never took socialism seriously as it is seriously economic and non-political, then I read Gustav Landauer write about socialism, starting off very metaphysically, and I thought it would have been a waste of time, but the further I read the more interesting it became.

        So right wing circles in the US in the 50s, in defense of capital and in their infatuation with anti-communism, propelled and financed this pseudo doctrine and ideology called libertarianism, that is nearly the exact opposite of libertarianism. Passively libertarians in the US adopted the term libertarian socialist to deviate from this near fascist pseudo-ideology.

        Why I dislike the term socialist for being economic, because I think there are political (decision making processes on matters of common interest) attributes to class and not just economic. The same way Marx very well explains exploitation mechanisms in producing profit, oppression is used to build power within a class system. Whether parent, life partner, teacher, boss, supervisor, … the most oppressed and the most exploited form the bottom class, no matter what you would call it. And that class, based on both exploitation and oppression needs to organize and liberate itself.

        But will the liberators and the liberated end up in the same class of a classless society? Just because “means of production” change ownership, titles, and jurisdiction, will the abused, tortured, oppressed, be free?

        We have tons of “theoretical writing” that doesn’t necesseraly constitute a theory on the one side, and a hard “theory” on the other that is too busy defending its orthodoxy and universal value, let alone allow space for criticism, re-evalutation, and re-examination on whether it can still interpret current social, economic, and political conditions.

        Welcome to anti-capitalism at a loss and stagnation

    • vxnxnt@feddit.de
      0·
      2 years ago

      I think what they mean by hands on is most likely direct action. That would include going to protests and participating in projects of mutual aid.