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Great Anarchists
Great Anarchists by Ruth Kinna and Clifford Harper started life as a pamphlet series. We’ve collected all ten essays and illustrations together to make this beautiful book.
“These short introductions delve into the anarchist canon to recover some of the distinctive ideas that historical anarchists advanced to address problems relevant to their circumstances. Although these contexts were special, many of the issues the anarchists wrestled with still plague our lives. Anarchists developed a body of writing about power, domination, injustice and exploitation, education, prisons and a lot more besides. Honing in on different facets of the anarchist canon is not just an interesting archaeological exercise. The persistence, development and adaptation of anarchist traditions depends on our surveying the historical landscape of ideas and drawing on the resources it contains. The theoretical toolbox that this small assortment of anarchists helped to construct is there to use, amend and adapt.”
“These short introductions delve into the anarchist canon to recover some of the distinctive ideas that historical anarchists advanced to address problems relevant to their circumstances. Although these contexts were special, many of the issues the anarchists wrestled with still plague our lives. Anarchists developed a body of writing about power, domination, injustice and exploitation, education, prisons and a lot more besides. Honing in on different facets of the anarchist canon is not just an interesting archaeological exercise. The persistence, development and adaptation of anarchist traditions depends on our surveying the historical landscape of ideas and drawing on the resources it contains. The theoretical toolbox that this small assortment of anarchists helped to construct is there to use, amend and adapt.”
127 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 27, 2020
Bakunin, De Cleyre, Godwin, Kropotkin, Malatesta, Michel, Parsons, Proudhon, Stirner and Wilde. This was originally a collection of ten pamphlets from Dog Section Press, and they have now been made into a practical pocketbook.
You don’t have to be an anarchist to be interested in anarchism and its theories. As fascinating as they are in theory they are arguably far from easy to apply in practice. Ruth Kinna highlights both the positives and the negatives of each thinker here, as well as dedicating time to analyse each ideology through a contemporary point of view while still explaining why these thinkers are “great”.
Clifford Harper’s woodcut engravings that introduce each chapter are lovely.
You don’t have to be an anarchist to be interested in anarchism and its theories. As fascinating as they are in theory they are arguably far from easy to apply in practice. Ruth Kinna highlights both the positives and the negatives of each thinker here, as well as dedicating time to analyse each ideology through a contemporary point of view while still explaining why these thinkers are “great”.
Clifford Harper’s woodcut engravings that introduce each chapter are lovely.
November 3, 2020
Society is better with radical people providing new ideas. Often, those ideas that seem most extreme to a particular society at a particular moment, can fuel progressive transformation at a later date.
This librito is full of radical ideas. Some are impractical, others dynamic. As always, context is essential for understanding any idea, and most of these thinkers were active in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Their ideas were a response to the society they inhabited.
Kroptkin argued that anarchism was about individual free expression and the rejection of all forms of enslavement: patriarchal, colonial, clerical or racist.
De Cleyre reflected modern thinking with surprising clarity. She believed that America’s education system was creating unthinking patriots rather than fostering active citizenship.
Bakunin lectured on the important distinction between instinctive and political patriotism. The former a sense of exclusive solidarity, the latter the cultivation of aggressive xenophobia.
And Wilde asserted that “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live”.
Spot any 21st century themes in there?
This demonstrates the importance of radical progressives for society. They should be listened to and evaluated by others. Listening is a skill which is being degraded by the fiery Herlemin of modern political discourse.
The ideas were interesting, although so anarchical in nature that I felt like I’d need a much deeper explanation to truly grasp their feasibility. But it definitely broadened my mind, in that metamorphic way of which only anarchism is capabale. Also, the wood cuts were beautiful.
Educate! Agitate! Organise!
This librito is full of radical ideas. Some are impractical, others dynamic. As always, context is essential for understanding any idea, and most of these thinkers were active in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Their ideas were a response to the society they inhabited.
Kroptkin argued that anarchism was about individual free expression and the rejection of all forms of enslavement: patriarchal, colonial, clerical or racist.
De Cleyre reflected modern thinking with surprising clarity. She believed that America’s education system was creating unthinking patriots rather than fostering active citizenship.
Bakunin lectured on the important distinction between instinctive and political patriotism. The former a sense of exclusive solidarity, the latter the cultivation of aggressive xenophobia.
And Wilde asserted that “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live”.
Spot any 21st century themes in there?
This demonstrates the importance of radical progressives for society. They should be listened to and evaluated by others. Listening is a skill which is being degraded by the fiery Herlemin of modern political discourse.
The ideas were interesting, although so anarchical in nature that I felt like I’d need a much deeper explanation to truly grasp their feasibility. But it definitely broadened my mind, in that metamorphic way of which only anarchism is capabale. Also, the wood cuts were beautiful.
Educate! Agitate! Organise!
January 5, 2026
Lovely to have a pocket size book about some famous anarchists. At times a little bit too intellectual and abstract in my opinion. Would recommend adding a list of their works at the end of each chapter, with some comments on what to read first etc.
November 25, 2020
A brisk and fun read, if not especially memorable. Ruth Kinna is a leader in anarchist publishing and a professor of Political Theory at the University of Loughborough, so it's no real surprise that she devotes pretty much no time to bringing the casual reader in gently. 'Great Anarchists' is loaded with theoretical jargon which, if like me, you're not especially interested in Anarchism as a modern practice, can be a bit of a turn-off.
But there's still plenty of interesting stuff to chew over here. I was leant this by a good friend, and it's certainly something I look forward to discussing with him in the pub sometime soon. There are ideas here from which you can trace a through-line to modern democratic practices, and semblances of civilised thought that don't seem *so* outdated; Oscar Wilde's views on property ownership, and even more profoundly Lucy Parsons's tireless work in tandem with the Civil Rights movement post-emancipation in the states; she was, as Kinna says 'a talented writer, orator and organiser in her own right'. There's also plenty that makes a lot of sense around the subject of class war; especially pertinent given the fetishization of the working class in right-wing leanings post- the Brexit referendum.
In an ideal world, many of the ideas here would hold proper gravitas in 2020. Unfortunately, the contrarian nature of most of these figures mean that in a modern context, their ideas are pure idealist whimsy; the gap created by a rejection of government gives rise to abuse of the systems that might be lovely ideas on paper, as we have seen throughout the entire history of Communism. General human behaviour dictates that there's little wiggle room for anarchism, but it's good to be aware of it all the same.
But there's still plenty of interesting stuff to chew over here. I was leant this by a good friend, and it's certainly something I look forward to discussing with him in the pub sometime soon. There are ideas here from which you can trace a through-line to modern democratic practices, and semblances of civilised thought that don't seem *so* outdated; Oscar Wilde's views on property ownership, and even more profoundly Lucy Parsons's tireless work in tandem with the Civil Rights movement post-emancipation in the states; she was, as Kinna says 'a talented writer, orator and organiser in her own right'. There's also plenty that makes a lot of sense around the subject of class war; especially pertinent given the fetishization of the working class in right-wing leanings post- the Brexit referendum.
In an ideal world, many of the ideas here would hold proper gravitas in 2020. Unfortunately, the contrarian nature of most of these figures mean that in a modern context, their ideas are pure idealist whimsy; the gap created by a rejection of government gives rise to abuse of the systems that might be lovely ideas on paper, as we have seen throughout the entire history of Communism. General human behaviour dictates that there's little wiggle room for anarchism, but it's good to be aware of it all the same.
September 4, 2021
Lovely book. Great introduction/summary of many anarchists and their work(s) and ideas. Though if you're completely unfamiliar with anarchism, I wouldn't recommend that you start here; this booklet is perfect for people who are interested to know more about anarchist theory but are unsure where to start, because the author references many works (and tells you a little about what's in them) and introduces key concepts. Perfect source for further research! Short chapters, all very interesting and distinct. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Voltairine de Cleyre, Oscar Wilde, Lucy Parsons, and Errico Malatesta.
July 8, 2023
Biographical-ideological sketches of 10 great practitioners of anarchist political from late 18th to early 20th century, concentrated, factual and attuned to modern age. Great woodcuts. Perhaps the order of the profiles would have been more logical if chronological.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews