Armed Joy

by Alfredo M. Bonanno

Hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss. Now, before a new police prevent you.

Hurry to say No, before the new repression convinces you that saying no is pointless, mad, and that you should accept the hospitality of the mental asylum.

Hurry to attack capital before a new ideology makes it sacred to you.

Hurry to refuse work before some new sophist tells you yet again that ‘'work makes you free'.

Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theory, History, Essays, Anarchism

48 pages, Essay

First published September 1, 1977

About the author

Alfredo Maria Bonanno is a main theorist of contemporary insurrectionary anarchism who wrote essays such as Armed Joy (for which he was imprisoned for 18 months by the Italian government), The Anarchist Tension and others. He is an editor of Anarchismo Editions and many other publications, only some of which have been translated into English. He has been involved in the anarchist movement for over thirty years.

Reviews

[Griffin Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss. Now, before a new police prevents you.
Hurry to say No, before the new repression convinces you that saying no is pointless, mad, and that you should accept the hospitality of the mental asylum.
Hurry to attack capital before a new ideology makes it sacred to you.
Hurry to refuse work before some new sophist tells you yet again that 'work makes you free.'
Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself.

Bonanno was imprisoned for 18 months for writing this; all copies held in libraries were ordered by the Italian government to be burned.

[Ypres]

Podría decirse que coge toda la teoría anarquista previa, hace una pelota con ella y la tira a la papelera. Mi acercamiento a este libro tiene mucho que ver con que me enteré de que fue prohibido en Italia y su autor encarcelado 18 meses por escribirlo. Todo eso cuando faltaban apenas unos años para entrar en el siglo XXI. El propio concepto de un país europeo moderno prohibiendo un libro me resultó tan sorprendente que mi interés provenía en su mayor parte de este hecho, pero esperaba encontrar un manifiesto terrorista o algo por el estilo. En parte lo es, pero el camino que toma es muy diferente a lo que había imaginado.
Contiene imágenes muy vívidas, pero por desgracia su brevedad impide que pueda despegarse del apelativo de panfleto. Rehúsa complicarse, considera que teorizar demasiado va precisamente en contra de lo que intenta transmitir, pero se queda en un terreno demasiado metafórico para mi gusto. Eso no quita que sea una visión muy interesante y revitalizante, extremadamente radical, que rechaza absolutamente el propio concepto de producción. A tener muy en cuenta.

[nero]

I'm neither a communist nor particularly into anarchy, so I can't say that I agree with a lot of the things Bonanno talks about in this essay, but I definitely found this to be really intriguing, possibly less because of its content and more due to its historical value. Being able to read works whose existence was deemed illegal, their authors having been put in prison for the act of writing and distributing them, is a privilege - one I am extremely grateful for.

[Hinch · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool I guess

[Jaq]

Maaa quindi si spara a sti sbirri o no?

[Ietrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting piece of poetry. And the work can be fascinating: a catholic seeking a post–catholic order. There is no reason here, but a lot of genuine emotion.

One problem with the text: it is very anti—women. Which comes as no surprise. After all the man is very catholic. The revolutionary is a man and is concerned about the man and his manly fights. Women are just for making babies and keeping the food warm while the men are busy doing "the real work" like talking, making revolutionary committees, or doing the manly fight. For someone living in the days of J. J. Rousseau, that would be impressive.

The sad part is reading the readers. Some do believe this clown is some sort of a messia. With thoughts like "But nothing can be accumulated to infinity," maybe people should accept Mr. Bonanno for what he is: a provincial emotional poet with not a lot of reason.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's fight for joy! Life will triumph over the kingdom of hallucinogenic death.

[alita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this all gas no brakes affirmation of joy and play!
"...defend your right to ENJOY LIFE...obstruct capital's death project"!!!

[Dustin Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summer nights are heavy. One sleeps badly in tiny rooms. It is the eve of the guillotine.

[Siddiq Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few obviously stupid excesses which explain why its publication got the author imprisoned (there is a line that literally says "hurry comrades, shoot the cop, shoot the judge" -- how he could write that in his own name and not expect to get fucked over I have no idea, because he is clearly a very intelligent guy) but on the whole it reads like something uncannily close to an accessible repackaging of situationist ideas, without ever mentioning the term. The concept of the spectacle is very heavily drawn on in that book, as is the emphasis on joy and play as a central factor in revolt, the critique of the militant role, the rejection of work, vanguardism, quantity over quality, etc, etc. Also, he is very funny.

[Izzat Isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku ini merupakan kumpulan esei yang mengajak komrad-komrad yang menganuti fahaman Anarkis untuk bersatu berjuang menolak hegemoni pemerintah dan ekonomi pasaran bebas. Penulis mengajak pembaca untuk merenung kembali sistem penindasan masyarakat oleh kapitalisme dan makna kehidupan yang didambakan berdasarkan pandangan sejarah dan tinjauan terhadap sistem ekonomi. Malahan penulis juga turut mengkritik institusi keagamaan dengan memberi contoh agama Kristian.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Let’s be done with waiting, doubts, dreams of social peace , little compromises and naivety. All metaphorical rubbish supplied to us in the shops of capitalism.”
Being able to read such a piece of work and history so heavily censored is a honour

[Fíona V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adoration, mon amour Bonanno

["Nico" · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise snapshot of 70s rebellion and anarchist communitarianism. It is worth reading Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle first, as this work advances the model used there.

[Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good lines but mostly embarrassing

[mohave · Rating 5 out of 5]

- La macchina del Sessantotto ha prodotto i migliori funzionari del nuovo Stato tecnoburocratico.

- Per sfuggire al progetto globalizzante del capitale, gli sfruttati hanno solo la strada che passa per il rifiuto del lavoro, della produzione, dell’economia politica.

- Questa idealizzazione del lavoro ha ucciso, fino ad oggi, la rivoluzione. Il movimento degli sfruttati è stato corrotto tramite l’immissione della morale borghese della produzione, cioè di qualcosa che non è solo estranea al movimento, ma gli è anche contraria. Non è un caso che la parte a corrompersi per prima sia stata quella sindacale, proprio perché più vicina alla gestione dello spettacolo produttivo.

All’etica produttiva bisogna contrapporre l’estetica del non lavoro.

Alla soddisfazione dei bisogni spettacolari, imposti dalla società mercantile, bisogna contrapporre la soddisfazione dei bisogni naturali dell’uomo, rivalutati alla luce del bisogno primario ed essenziale: il bisogno di comunismo.

- Quando gli sfruttati vengono rinchiusi all’interno di una classe, si sono già confermati tutti gli elementi dell’illusione spettacolare, gli stessi della classe borghese.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A traditional revolutionary organisation ends up imposing its technicians. It tends unavoidably towards technocracy. The great importance attached to the mechanical aspect of action condemns it along this road."

Much of this is a clear-eyed examination of capital's unmatched viral properties. This ability to infect even a radical communitarian revolutionary is argued, in this book, to be a result of the mode of production. As Bonanno writes, "to change the mode of production would merely change the mode of exploitation."

The issues in my mind begin when Bonanno ties capitalist modes of production, and even the prioritization of production over other human activities, to quantitative activities in general. I'm pretty sure he says somewhere in here that it's impossible to enjoy math. If he had connected this to degrowth, or really any climate activism it probably would have read better but I guess that's asking a lot for 1977.

The violent shit is honestly pretty tame and a reasonable reaction to what we always knew here in America, and now I'm learning Italy as well, as a violent police state.

[Antonis Xognos · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Let us sit for a moment on the ruins of the history of the persecuted, and reflect. The world does not belong to us.
If it has a master who is stupid enough to want it the way it is, let him have it. Let him count the ruins in the place of buildings, the graveyards in the place of cities, the mud in the place of rivers and the putrid sludge in the place of seas.
The greatest conjuring trick in the world no longer enchants us.
We are certain that communities of joy will emerge from our struggle here and now.
And for the first time life will triumph over death”

A magnificent polemic. Bonanno’s critique is not only directed against capitalism and its society of the spectacle, but even against those leftist tendencies who dream of a different status quo. His critique is directed towards the very basis of civilization, work and production.

Alfredo Bonanno got imprisoned for 18 months for writing this book and all libraries in Italy were forced to burn it. Even nowadays it is illegal in the country

[Orion · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When the whole of reality is spectacular, to refuse the spectacle means to be outside reality.
Anyone who refuses the code of commodities is mad. Refusal to bow down before the commodity god will result in one’s being committed to a mental asylum.
There the treatment will be radical. No more inquisitorial-style torture or blood on the walls,
such things upset public opinion. They cause the self-righteous to intervene, give rise to justification and making amends, and disturb the harmony of the spectacle. The total annihilation of the personality, considered to be the only radical cure for sick minds, does not upset anyone....
Capital is programming a code of interpretation to be circulated at mass level. On the basis of this code public opinion will get used to seeing revolutionaries as practically mad. ...
Capital’s behaviour is not dictated by the need to defend itself from the struggles of the exploited alone. It is dictated by the logic of the code of commodity production [The economic concept of value]"

3.8/5

[Kundan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does a great job of showing how the traditional means of resistance, the stationary nature of "revolutionary" organizations & the fruitless "intellectual" discourses & discussions all have become mere cogs in the grand machine of capitalism.

People are tired of meetings, the classics, pointless marches, theoretical discussions that split hairs in four, endless distinctions, the monotony and poverty of certain political analyses. They prefer to make love, smoke, listen to music, go for walks, sleep, laugh, play, kill policemen, lame journalists, kill judges, blow up barracks. Anathema! The struggle is only legitimate when it is comprehensible to the leaders of the revolution.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Arms themselves are merely tools, and as such should continually be submitted to critical evaluation. It is necessary to develop a critique of arms. Too often we have seen the sanctification of the sub machine-gun and military efficiency."

It opens with the laming of a far right journalist and does not condemn the shooting of policemen. So its not surprising Bonanno was imprisoned for writing this.

Beyond the shocks this is a quite thoughtful work about the need to oppose the core of capitalism by abolition work, the dangers of political action as spectacle and even critiques common trends in left wing insurrectionism.

[Mirjam]

“Hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss. Now, before a new police prevents you.
Hurry to say No, before the new repression convinces you that saying no is pointless, mad, and that you should accept the hospitality of the mental asylum.
Hurry to attack capital before a new ideology makes it sacred to you.
Hurry to refuse work before some new sophist tells you yet again that 'work makes you free.'
Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself.”

Bonanno was imprisoned for 18 months for writing this. All copies held in libraries were ordered by the Italian government to be burned.

[M.S.Cem · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit short for my taste.I liked the idea that revolution should be "joy" based,and joy must be a fundemental part of revolution etc. But I would have like it more if the author explained his ideas more.

Overall,there were many interesting ideas about joy and its meaning in our Capital-based society and in a potential revolution.

4/5

[Kosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The greatest conjuring trick in the world no longer enchants us. We are certain that communities of joy will emerge from our struggle here and now. And for the first time life will triumph over death."

[Lucía Díaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se agradece la crítica al reformismo y al propio sector revolucionario que padece de reunionitis así como la reivindicación del goce como parte fundamental del presente y futuro del comunismo pero aparte de eso se queda en una arenga sin un horizonte claro hacia el que guiar.

[coeurbrouilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A turno, attori e spettatori. Invertiamo le parti, ora guardando a bocca aperta, ora facendoci guardare dagli altri. All’interno della carrozza di cristallo ci siamo entrati tutti, pur sapendo che si trattava di una zucca.”

[Andrew]

much to think about!

[Onur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anarşist literatürde çok bilindik bir yazı ve genel tema tuhaf olsa da haklı noktalar mevcut fakat Türkçe çevirisi berbat. Bunun üzerine imla hataları da mevcut.

[El cassidy]

yeah I'm not surprised the author was jailed for writing this

[Ap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you read that type of a book where you realize that the writer says something really smart, but not in a way that they are really understandable?


Well that's an example of such a book.