A Life for Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader

by Kate Sharpley Library (Editor)

"Without freedom there would be no equality and without equality no freedom, and without struggle there would be neither" —Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie (1946–2020) is best known for his involvement in the anarchist resistance to the Franco dictatorship in Spain. He also co-founded the Anarchist Black Cross, Black Flag and Cienfuegos Press – among many other publishing ventures.

This collection of articles has been put together as a tribute to his life by the Kate Sharpley Library collective. It contains some of his short political writings from the anarchist, radical and mainstream press; and some of his tributes to his friends and comrades. The final section contains a selection of tributes friends and comrades paid to him.

This book is not meant to be a crash course in modern anarchist history but simply a tribute to our friend who dedicated his life to "self-managed collectivism, individual freedom, solidarity and fun!"

282 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2021

About the author

The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchist history. We preserve the output of the anarchist movement, mainly in the form of books, pamphlets, newspaper, leaflets and manuscripts but also badges, recordings, photographs etc. We also have the work of historians and other writers on the anarchist movement.

We promote the history of anarchism by publishing studies based on those materials - or reprints of original documents taken from our collection. These appear in our quarterly bulletin or regularly published pamphlets. We have also provided manuscripts to other anarchist publishers. People come and research in the library, or we can send out photocopies.

We don't say one strand of class-struggle anarchism has all the answers. We don't think anarchism can be understood by looking at 'thinkers' in isolation. We do think that what previous generations thought and did, what they wanted and how they tried to get it, is relevant today. We encourage the anarchist movement to think about its own history - not to live on past glories but to get an extra perspective on current and future dangers and opportunities.

Everything at the Kate Sharpley Library - acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation work, publishing, answering inquiries is done by volunteers: we get no money from governments or the business community. All our running costs are met by donations (from members of the collective or our subscribers and supporters) or by the small income we make through publishing.

Reviews

[Mark Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've reviewed this elsewhere for KSL - an excellent read and well worth buying.