The Institute for Anarchist Studies

Lessons for a New Generation of Organizers: A talk with David Ranney, author of Living and Dying on the Factory Floor

The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS), together with the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU), presents David Ranney, author of the new book Living and Dying on the Factory Floor: From Outside In and the Inside Out (PM Press, 2019). David will be speaking at the AFSCME … Read more

Opening Space for the Radical Imagination conference!

The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS) is proud to co-sponsor the “Opening Space for the Radical Imagination” conference in Corvallis, Oregon. This gathering intends to explore “formats to address, fabricate and discuss social transformation that challenge the standard model of an academic conference. It invites … Read more

To Care is to Struggle, by Kevin Van Meter

From the “Care” issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory in 2012. Often lost in the slogans, chants, and feverish excitement of a street action, or the ideological and sematic battles waged by radicals, is the richness of human relations. It is the ‘in between’ of these … Read more

Joyful Militancy interview

Solecast talks with carla bergman and Nick Montgomery about their Institute for Anarchist Studies/AK Press book Joyful Militancy on their podcast! Joyful Militancy, part of the IAS/AK Anarchist Interventions series, is a critical examination of the toxicity that is so common within activist subcultures. Nick and … Read more

Hillary Lazar on LaborWave Revolution Radio

Artwork by Tararchy

Here’s an interview with writer and activist Hillary Lazar on the connections between border politics and antifascism, applying intersectional frameworks to movement organizing. The discussion begins with a conversation about Lazar’s recent essay, “Connecting Our Struggles: Border Politics, Antifascism, and Lessons from the Trials of Ferrero, Sallito, and Graham,” published in Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (N30, “Beyond the Crisis” issue)

Mutual Aid Speakers list

The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS) has revamped and updated our list of speakers. Our speakers bureau, called the Mutual Aid Speakers, are all available to come to your town and assist in your organizing efforts. Take a look at all the awesome folks … Read more

Beyond the Crisis

The world is on fire. It has been, for quite some time. If you’ve done any organizing, you’ve felt it—that sense of racing about, extinguishing this flare up or that, spending precious energy and resources surviving the immediate emergency and hoping the future will somehow … Read more

An Anarchism of the Working-Class: A Review of Whither Anarchism?, by Kristian Williams (To the Point/AK Press, 2018), Reviewed by Miriam Pickens

I appreciate Kristian Williams’ pamphlet, both the thought put into it and the challenge it represents. I learned a lot from its history, and in particular gained insight into the behavior of anarchists I meet today. Williams traces some practices of contemporary US anarchism back to pacifism, looking at how contemporary anarchists unthinkingly accept much of that philosophy. In my view, that influence led to the movement prioritizing providing comfort to its participants, rather than organizing to change the circumstances that led to the discomfort they feel with society in the first place. This emphasis accepts the inevitability of capitalism and is therefore a strategy to live within its parameters. But I don’t think capitalism will allow us these spaces. Instead, it has to be overthrown and not allowed to come back.

Beyond Anti-Fascism Reflection

The Beyond Anti-Fascism, But Not Without It statement was circulated in December, 2017, generating a number of both positive and negative responses.

Positive responses include Hillary Lazar’s piece, Connecting Our Struggles: Border Politics, Antifascism, and Lessons from the Trials of Ferrero, Sallitto, and Graham, in the forthcoming print issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (N.30, “Beyond the Crisis”), as well as other writing we’ll be sharing on-line soon.

Negative responses included critiques that the call was, a) being improperly essentialistic about identity politics and b) disregarding the fact that some of the white men writing about fascism/anti-fascism are Jewish and therefore it was insulting to say they don’t understand the history of fascism.

In light of these responses, we have rewritten the statement and are including it in the new print issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory. Below you’ll find this new version, followed by a reflection on how we got from the original to this one, and what we still find inadequate and needing in our discussions of fascism and anti-fascism. And here we really want to encourage you to use our comments section for discussion, or send us your thoughts to be considered for posting on-line.