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Smash the System!: Punk Anarchism as a Culture of Resistance
Essays from all over the world about how anarchist punk has influenced and inspired resistance in many varied struggles. Punk and anarchism have been intertwined since punk first blasted into the public consciousness some 45 years ago. While the relationship is complicated (and not ubiquitous), anarchism has been identified as punk’s ‘primary political companion’. But, close investigation of the connections between anarchism and punk has been scant – it’s either taken-for-granted, lurks in the background of other topics of analysis, or is ignored completely. We are going to change that!
This is the first in a series of books to be published by Active Distribution about various aspects of the punk/anarchism relationship.
This is the first in a series of books to be published by Active Distribution about various aspects of the punk/anarchism relationship.
434 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
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October 5, 2025
An excellent anthology of essays exploring the relationship between punk and anarchism and anarchist punk specifically as a culture, and vehicle for resistance. This book is the first of three volumes about anarchist punk (the second is about DIY culture and I've had that on my shelf a while, the third about punk and anarchy as a practice to be released later in 2025).
If I am being honest, the book had me in the introduction by CrimethInc had me smiling, punching the air and kind of gave me the sense of being seen and really connecting to both my punk and anarchist roots. Considering most of the essays focus on the relationship between punk and anarchism I think it's important to reflect on my own discovery of anarchism. I'd been dabbling in punk since my early teens but it was in my mid-teens when I was in a Marxist-Leninist phase where I was first exposed to anarchism via a Class War paper sale. By the time I was reaching my late teens and early twenties my punk sensibilities had developed beyond music and into DIY culture, writing for zines, putting on gigs, playing in bands and at the same time my awareness of anarchism through direct action, protest, friends and a lot of reading had developed too. Although I think I could still have discovered anarchism without punk, I think the punk culture and the things punks were writing about in zines and on records exposed me to a lot of ideas much more quickly. I can still remember 'the penny dropping' about a number of issues in my late teens which still make sense over thirty years later.
It is also true, that my frustrations with punk led to me slowly distancing myself from the scene, because for me punk was entwined with anarchism and yet many of my peers really were in it for the music only - or at least paying lip service to ideals, and in any case I found other ways to have fun. I'm also reflecting reading this book that I don't identify as a punk anymore. I'm not involved in the scene, I can take or leave most of the music and I certainly don't look like one and yet the anarchist principles I formed at the same time haven't left me, albeit, I'm the armchair anarchist I once would have poured scorn on.
I share all this because this book has really made me think. I think a general theme running through the book is that not all anarchists are punks and not all punks are anarchists but the ethos of both subcultures - that of taking action independently and challenging societies norms blend beautifully at times. I also think that there is a theme in the book that perhaps whilst anarchism doesn't need punk, punk is pretty empty and meaningless without anarchism (whether that is stated explicitly or not). This was certainly my perspective - because if it wasn't about creating something better outside the corporate music industry and wasn't a vehicle for change, well it's just a racket and an excuse to get drunk right?
The best thing about this book is that the essays are written by anarchist punks from all over the world with relatively little from the perspective of the US, UK and Western Europe. One really gets a sense of what anarchist punk means in the context of on the ground conditions. So what does punk look like if you want to smash the system or 'destroy capitalism' when you live in a self described socialist country? Or what does freedom of expression feel like when you live in a dictatorship and the slightest resistance can mean death? What is anarchy when you are a white punk in apartheid South Africa? It is these essays where I got the most value from and it made me reflect a lot. The book is really at it's best when I am reading about cultures very different from my own.
This leads me to another really important challenge in one essay, which permeates others too. Punk broadly, and anarchist punk specifically is largely a British invention, exported through images and music around the world from the late 70's to inform subcultures globally. There is a challenge that punk is neo-liberal and that it cannot exist without neo-liberalism, in that the way the culture travels globally yet looks and feels quite similar and it replaces the cultures in the places it lands. I couldn't agree more, and this is a challenge because punk does not seek to do this, it seeks to stop this and yet the anarchist punk cultures can look and feel very similar from country to country. (I'd argue that others do it much better than the British and Americans but the culture transfer happens in the same way as it does for other Western culture and practices). That doesn't mean it is necessarily bad but one must reflect on it's impact as the fashion, sounds and attitudes proliferate globally crossing national boundaries. In some way punk replicates what it is trying to destroy.
Of course, in a book of so many essays (I think there are sixteen) there is a range in the level of interest I had, plus the levels of theoretical, or scholarly language. At times, in some of the essays I felt I was 'lost in theory' rather than the point being made. I'm certainly not against academic language and discussions of philosophy or whatever, but that does mean some of the essays are better suited to an academic readership rather than a more general one. I could make a witty comment here about punk's simple messages of language but also creating a barrier to entry by how one looks and here language maybe acts as a barrier too even though this massive book is very accessible at a really cheap price.
Some of the highlights for me include how early punk symbolism from the UK influenced punk in South Africa and China. I saw this in Poland in the mid-90's where punks wore Union Jacks which would have looked out of place in the UK. I was fascinated by the relationship between senpai and kōhai in Japanese punk and how they mirrored Japanese hierarchical culture and at the same time allowed space for transgression and challenge. I also appreciated the nuance between resistance and transgression in Japan and the equivalent of creating safe environments for pushing at the system. I noticed that in Japan too, where punk (or any subculture) was a place you went to, but maybe didn't stay there. Also the article about anarchist punks fighting the regimes in Cuba and Venezuela was really good also.
Strongly recommended and I'll look forward to reading the second and third volumes.
If I am being honest, the book had me in the introduction by CrimethInc had me smiling, punching the air and kind of gave me the sense of being seen and really connecting to both my punk and anarchist roots. Considering most of the essays focus on the relationship between punk and anarchism I think it's important to reflect on my own discovery of anarchism. I'd been dabbling in punk since my early teens but it was in my mid-teens when I was in a Marxist-Leninist phase where I was first exposed to anarchism via a Class War paper sale. By the time I was reaching my late teens and early twenties my punk sensibilities had developed beyond music and into DIY culture, writing for zines, putting on gigs, playing in bands and at the same time my awareness of anarchism through direct action, protest, friends and a lot of reading had developed too. Although I think I could still have discovered anarchism without punk, I think the punk culture and the things punks were writing about in zines and on records exposed me to a lot of ideas much more quickly. I can still remember 'the penny dropping' about a number of issues in my late teens which still make sense over thirty years later.
It is also true, that my frustrations with punk led to me slowly distancing myself from the scene, because for me punk was entwined with anarchism and yet many of my peers really were in it for the music only - or at least paying lip service to ideals, and in any case I found other ways to have fun. I'm also reflecting reading this book that I don't identify as a punk anymore. I'm not involved in the scene, I can take or leave most of the music and I certainly don't look like one and yet the anarchist principles I formed at the same time haven't left me, albeit, I'm the armchair anarchist I once would have poured scorn on.
I share all this because this book has really made me think. I think a general theme running through the book is that not all anarchists are punks and not all punks are anarchists but the ethos of both subcultures - that of taking action independently and challenging societies norms blend beautifully at times. I also think that there is a theme in the book that perhaps whilst anarchism doesn't need punk, punk is pretty empty and meaningless without anarchism (whether that is stated explicitly or not). This was certainly my perspective - because if it wasn't about creating something better outside the corporate music industry and wasn't a vehicle for change, well it's just a racket and an excuse to get drunk right?
The best thing about this book is that the essays are written by anarchist punks from all over the world with relatively little from the perspective of the US, UK and Western Europe. One really gets a sense of what anarchist punk means in the context of on the ground conditions. So what does punk look like if you want to smash the system or 'destroy capitalism' when you live in a self described socialist country? Or what does freedom of expression feel like when you live in a dictatorship and the slightest resistance can mean death? What is anarchy when you are a white punk in apartheid South Africa? It is these essays where I got the most value from and it made me reflect a lot. The book is really at it's best when I am reading about cultures very different from my own.
This leads me to another really important challenge in one essay, which permeates others too. Punk broadly, and anarchist punk specifically is largely a British invention, exported through images and music around the world from the late 70's to inform subcultures globally. There is a challenge that punk is neo-liberal and that it cannot exist without neo-liberalism, in that the way the culture travels globally yet looks and feels quite similar and it replaces the cultures in the places it lands. I couldn't agree more, and this is a challenge because punk does not seek to do this, it seeks to stop this and yet the anarchist punk cultures can look and feel very similar from country to country. (I'd argue that others do it much better than the British and Americans but the culture transfer happens in the same way as it does for other Western culture and practices). That doesn't mean it is necessarily bad but one must reflect on it's impact as the fashion, sounds and attitudes proliferate globally crossing national boundaries. In some way punk replicates what it is trying to destroy.
Of course, in a book of so many essays (I think there are sixteen) there is a range in the level of interest I had, plus the levels of theoretical, or scholarly language. At times, in some of the essays I felt I was 'lost in theory' rather than the point being made. I'm certainly not against academic language and discussions of philosophy or whatever, but that does mean some of the essays are better suited to an academic readership rather than a more general one. I could make a witty comment here about punk's simple messages of language but also creating a barrier to entry by how one looks and here language maybe acts as a barrier too even though this massive book is very accessible at a really cheap price.
Some of the highlights for me include how early punk symbolism from the UK influenced punk in South Africa and China. I saw this in Poland in the mid-90's where punks wore Union Jacks which would have looked out of place in the UK. I was fascinated by the relationship between senpai and kōhai in Japanese punk and how they mirrored Japanese hierarchical culture and at the same time allowed space for transgression and challenge. I also appreciated the nuance between resistance and transgression in Japan and the equivalent of creating safe environments for pushing at the system. I noticed that in Japan too, where punk (or any subculture) was a place you went to, but maybe didn't stay there. Also the article about anarchist punks fighting the regimes in Cuba and Venezuela was really good also.
Strongly recommended and I'll look forward to reading the second and third volumes.
August 19, 2023
Great collection of essays on punk and anarchism. I read Jim's PhD last year and it was so exciting to read a book he had edited as found his writing really insightful. Got this book after meeting him in the Cowley for the launch!
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