Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism

by Michael Schmidt

A concise history of the significance and global reach of mass organized anarchism, tracing its syndicalist origins to Mexico in 1869, then Spain, spreading to Egypt and Uruguay by 1872, then to Cuba and the United States by 1883, its dramatic rise to labor dominance throughout Latin America, and its radicalizing minority influence in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa. Historian Michael Schmidt identifies five "waves" of labor militancy that define anarchist organizing over the past 150 years, explaining the central features of each. He also explores the industrial and social foundations of anarchism/syndicalism, and during each of the "waves," interrogates key documents debating the vital relationship between the militant minority and the working and poor masses.

"Part history, part manifesto, Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism is a succinct and insightful polemic. Michael Schmidt has distilled a vast literature on anarchism to demonstrate that anarchism is a historical movement with deep roots in the working class and continuity into the present. The book is lively, with equal measures of pragmatic judgement and hope; it is plainspoken, powerful, and thoughtful. Activists and scholars interested in anarchism will find here much to contemplate and debate and take to heart."—Mark Leier, author of A Biography

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2012

About the author

Michael Schmidt is a bestselling author, African human rights rapporteur, and investigative journalist with over 30 years in the field and a reputation for producing unique and challenging copy, having worked on some of South Africa's leading print titles including Sunday Times, Financial Mail, and Africa In Fact. He was a 2009 Fellow of the Academic Leaders Programme at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, a 2011 Fellow of the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ), Germany, as well as a 2011 Clive Menell Media Fellow at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University (USA). He is: * former Executive Director, Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) * Administrative Secretary, Professional Journalists' Association of South Africa (ProJourn) * Director & Strategic Relations for the non-profit Hammerl Arts Rights Transfer (HART) * Rapporteur & Curator, Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT).

Reviews

[James]

I disagree with the essayist in nearly all ways. This was worth reading, though, because it presented so much information I was not fully familiar with, in a way I was completely not used to. And different opinions are worth being aware of.

[Gurty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alerta alerta this dude long since exposed as fash

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism by Michael Schmidt is a study in the world history of Anarchism. Michael Schmidt is Executive Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and Administrative Secretary of the Professional Journalists’ Association of South Africa. An active participant in the international anarchist milieu, he is an investigative journalist, a researcher, an amateur song-writer and a tireless advocate for journalistic freedom. With Prof Lucien van der Walt, he is the author of Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism, published in 2009 by AK Press. He lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. 1

Cartography is published by AK Press a collectively owned and operated publisher. It specializes in radical left and anarchist literature and accessories. I usually do not include publisher information in reviews, but AK Press practices what they publish. They are organized as a worker's co-operative; there are no bosses, all members are paid the same and have equal say in the company.

Schmidt has a rather straight forward mission: Provide a global history of Anarchism. He does a through job of writing a detailed history divided into five waves:

First Wave 1868-1894
Second Wave 1895-1923
Third Wave 1924-1949
Fourth Wave 1950-1989
Fifth Wave 1989 to the Present

Each Wave has major events that anchor in place. The Fifth Wave, for example, starts with the fall of the Soviet Union. The introduction is detailed and provides background information and defines anarchism and syndicalists as well as making comparisons to Marxism. The history is very detailed, but the writing style is extremely dry. At times I felt like I was reading a list. Schmidt does an excellent job documenting his work and the notes give plenty of additional source material. This is a rather difficult book to review because the history is presented without embellishment, but the reading is dry. Cartography is an excellent reference book, but probably something you would want to read cover to cover. 4 stars for the information. 2 Stars for the writing. 3 Stars overall.

1 Michael Schmidt's biography is pulled directly from the AK Press www.akpress.org

[Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the maps at the beginning of each section, as well as discussion of early 20th century anarchist groups. However, a lot of the book felt like a list of anarchist groups, parties, and unions. I wish it had been more informative about the groups rather than listing their membership totals.

[Mark Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In as few a sentences as possible - full of details some may find irrelevant. I found this interesting as it charts the wide spread of 'anarchist' ideas around the world - many of which I was unaware of. So in that respect: job done.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is a bit conflicted. I am unsure whether to give two or three stars.

I was very excited to read this book. Geography, in particular cartographic study, is something i am very interested in. However, upon seeing the lack of maps for a book with "Cartography" in the title (there is only a map at the beginning of each chapter) I knew I was in for more of a historical geographical explanation than a true cartographic examination of revolutionary anarchism. Moreover, the maps that are present are not really needed, don't have any real explanation, and could be better referenced in the writing to give the book a more cartographic approach.

That being said, the information presented in the book is stellar (probably 4, 4.5 stars). As someone who has studied cartography/geography with an eye on radical politics, it was great to expand my knowledge of movements that I may otherwise have overlooked. The scope of the book is great, trying to stay away from the oft studied Euro-centric look at the origins of Anarchism (and a general study of the global north). However, it does read as more of a list than an examination until the last couple of pages of each chapter. I do appreciate that the author broke it in to waves rather than "points", using a broad global scope within a specific range of dates to examine the overall state of anarchism throughout history. I do wish there was a bit more analysis/examination, though, and less of a listing of dates and names. The introduction and conclusion of the book, and the conclusions of each chapter, were significantly more readable than the listing of dates names people and events.

So, an interesting read if you're already interested in a historical geographic examination of radical politics, specifically revolutionary anarchism. However, i don't see this being a book someone would stick with if they weren't previously interested, even though it's only 160 pages long (134 pages of actual reading, plus notes and acknowledgements).

Thus: 2 stars for readability, 1-2 star(s) for maps, 4-4.5 stars for information/

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to really rate or discuss. On the one hand, Schmidt's discussion on anarchism are incredibly useful in that they give you an understanding of the expansiveness of class-struggle anarchism. At the same time, the bulk of this book is basically listing acronyms, dates, and membership numbers. Actual discussion of theory and ideas is minimal, and the entire text is very dry and lacking in humor/personality of any sort. It makes it difficult, especially for people who are not completely oriented with a very specific view on anarcho-syndicalism and the broad anarchist tradition. There are some good moments in it, but I would prefer to read Black Flame again over this, though that volume has some of the same problems. With BF there is at least enough length to make the text a little less factually dense, but it still decides that listing events and organizations is more important than leaving some of that data out and actually using narrative and real writing to draw out themes and maintain the interest fo the reader.

[River · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a brief overview of the history of what Schmidt terms "the revolutionary anarchist tradition" and its global reach. It's basically a geographic accounting of the various anarchist and syndicalist groups that fit into Schmidt's definition of anarchism. Of course, for readers familiar with his book Black Flame, this definition is relatively narrow and generally considers only anarchists oriented towards class struggle to be part of the revolutionary anarchist tradition. I still have issues with his conception and certainly don't share his conclusions about contemporary anarchism (I really am not convinced that platformist anarchist groupings have much to offer). Still, it's a good brief overview of anarchist activity over the past 150 years. In a lot of ways it seemed like a more comprehensive version of Jason Adams' Non-Western Anarchisms.

[Ollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A concise recap of the different anarchist groups and unions that have sprung up over the past few centuries, it's hard to imagine who this book is for exactly. Historians?

Splitting the movement into 5 waves, Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism briefly mentions the time frame, the location, and the institutions that arose out of revolutionary movements and whether it dissolved or later begat another group. It's basically a collection of dates and acronyms, and doesn't really serve much of a purpose except to show that the anarchist movement has been alive and flourishing for quite a while and possibly continues to be so.

Also, would it hurt them to redesign those incredibly amateurish and confusing illustrations at the beginning of each chapter?

[Jonathan Pistorino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I much more concise version of the Black Flame book that this person co-authored. Covers what are, in the authors opinion, the major outbreaks of revolutionary anarchsim throughout our history. He does a great job of giving equal attention to various anarchist movements which is greatly appreciate, especially his attention to movements located in the global south which are often overlooked. I enjoy his coverage of revolutionary anarchism because he uses less divisiveness and broad approach coined by the author as the "broad anarchist tradition."

[Drexel · Rating 4 out of 5]

comme quoi, il y a même eu une orga anar au Zimbabwe...
we are everywhere! même si beaucoup d'entre nous sont en taule...