Enemies of Society: An Anthology of Individualist and Egoist Thought

by Sidney Parker

This book tells the story of the most neglected tendency in anarchist thought; egoism.

The story of anarchism is usually told as a story of great bearded men who had beautiful ideas and a series of beautiful failures, culminating in the most beautiful failure of them all -- the Spanish Civil War: a noble history of failed ideas and practice.

Egoism, and individualist anarchism, suffer a different kind of fate. It is not a great history and glorious failure but an obscure series of stories of winning, with victory defined by the only terms that matter, those of people who lived life to their fullest and whose struggle against the existing order defined them. This struggle was not one of abstractions, of Big Ideas, but of people attempting to claim an authentic stake in their own life.

Inspired by the writings of Stirner's "The Ego and His Own" the assertion these people make is not of the composition of a better world (for everyone) but of how the machinations of society, especially one of abstractions and Big Ideas, have shaped the individual members of that society. How everything that we know and believe has been shaped (by structure and intent) into a conformed, denatured shadow of what we could be.

Individualists anarchists have always argued that anarchism should not be a version of heaven on earth but a "plurality of possibilities". This has relegated their activity to the actions that people make in their lives rather than participating in political bodies and formations that shape, and participate in, society. Egoists have gone to war with this world, robbed banks, practiced free love, and won everything except those things worth nothing: history, politics, & acceptance by society.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Anarchism

369 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[6655321 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing dinging this anthology is a tendency towards repetition (although it illustrates the continuity of thought). I would have preferred more varied subjects (debates about sexuality esp. given Emile Armand's fixation) or exchanges with other rev left tendencies but this is an undeniably important historical document for a tendency which is frequently neglected.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most books of essays, this had some good and some bad. None bad enough to make me put the book down, but also none good enough to make me put the book down. I've yet to read anything about Individualism that Stirner didn't already write, but it's nice to get some clarification.

[Michael Shockley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't even make it through the whole thing; after page 200 or so, I finally just started skipping around and only reading the essays that interested me. While there's something to be said for a bunch of anarchists who don't go around enslaving themselves to utopias or "fixed ideas" (spooks!) in their heads and who don't do all of the touchy-feely, bleeding-heart claptrap, there's really no reason why so many of the essays should be so repetitive and full of gassy, cringe-inducing purple prose. These authors write like I did when I was a scowling, Nietzsche-reading 17 year old and once it's been said that the only true anarchism is the one that exists in the moment for those strong enough to take it, it shouldn't take another 300 pages to say it again (and again, and again... and,...). It's full of bombast and vague calls to seize the day, but short on theory. You will actually feel more free and less burdened by tyranny when you toss it aside and move on to something actually enjoyable or informative.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

There isn't a single coherent idea expressed in this book and the quality of these essays is on par with the notebook rants of an Ayn Rand obsessed high school student.