Anarchism: The Feminist Connection

by Peggy Kornegger

Originally published in Second Wave: A Feminist Magazine, Spring 1975 (Vol 4 No. 1)

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Politics, Feminist Theory

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Peggy Kornegger is a Boston-based writer and the author of two books: Lose Your Mind, Open Your Heart (2014) and Living with Spirit (2009), a memoir. She has written about personal and global transformation for more than thirty years, offering her perspective on the profound changes occurring at this key time in human and Earth evolution. Her articles have appeared in a wide variety of spiritual, feminist, and political publications. Peggy’s biweekly blog is read internationally at her website (see link below), and her blog articles are also now regularly featured at Soul Spring and Simple Reminders, reaching 50 million readers weekly. She was recently interviewed about her new book on Vivid Life Radio.

Reviews

[Roxana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We learned from each other that politics is not "out there " but in our minds and bodies and between individuals. Personal relationships could and did oppress us as a political class. Our misery and self hatred were a direct result of male domination-in the home, street, job, and political organization."

"True revolution is neither an accidental happening nor a coup d'etat artificially engineered from above. It takes years of preparation: sharing of ideas and information, changes in consciousness and begavior, and the creation of political and economic alternatives to capitalist, hierarchal structures. It takes spontaneous direct action on the part of autonomous individuals through collective political confrontation. It is important to 'free your mind' and your personal life, but it is not sufficient. Liberation is not an insular experience; it occurs in conjunction with other human beings. There are no individual 'liberated women'.
What I'm talking about is a long term process, a series of actions in which we unlearn passivity and learn to take control over our own lives. I am talking about a hollowing out of the present system through the formation of mental and physical alternatives to the way things are. "

"The way we live and work changes the way we think and perceive and vice versa, and when changes in consciousness become changes in action and behavior, the revolution has begun."

"Hope is woman's most powerful revolutionary tool; it is what we give each other every time we share our lives, our work, and our love. It pulls us forwards out of self hatred, self blame, and the fatalism which keeps us prisoners in separate cells. It we surrender to depression and despair now, we are accepting the inevitability of authoritarian politics and patriarchal domination."

[Dania]

A short manifesto and very much product of its time (1970s).

I liked:

- the definition of communist anarchism / libertarian socialism.
- that Kornegger examines two practical examples of anarchism (Catalonia in 1936, France in 1968).
- that she highlights the anarchist nature of many grassroots women's movements (small groups weaving collective action).
- that she addresses the need for "subject-to-subject" personal relationships and briefly mentions the wlws.
- that she calls "feminist capitalism" a contradiction in terms.
- and!!! Kornegger writes that hope is our most important revolutionary tool, which I always love to read/hear/be reminded of.

But the limits of scope of second-wave feminism are just there. The booklet relies on a supposedly universal experience of womanhood that falls short. Also, I'm not super comfortable with the idea of "women's intuitive anarchism", it reads quite essentialist.

Despite its shortcomings, I still think it's an important text: because its impact when it was first published and because it raises a lot of questions we are still trying to answer today.

[Katsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting zine from a person who have grown up and was raised in a very capitalistic environment.
I love explanation why females are in the best position to make a change.
It's fast and pleasant to read.
Do recommend!

[Tammam Aloudat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful essy that is as fresh as it was when it was written nearly fourty-five years ago. Kornegger is advocating for an anarca-menisim approach that could be seen as the arch opposite of the currently prominent "lean-in" feminism. Rather than a place in the boardroom or the executive, Kronegger wants a place for women (and men) outside government, police, armies, wars, and capitalism. She wants a revolution!
What is different though is that her revolution is not like the ones we know of, it is not an "overthrow but outgrow" the government where careful prepration, education, community, and collaboration are the basis on which change is built.
There is a great case against authoritarianism here, as well as a case where neither anarchism nor feminism can work and reach their ultimate goals, form women and for all of us, without each other.

[Mureen Samosir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bagian awal, basic, Peggy menjelaskan tentang apa itu anarkisme yang sesungguhnya, prinsip utama yang dapat mendefinisikan anarkisme, bahkan tentang gerakan perempuan anarkis Spanyol 1936-1939 dan apa yang terjadi di Prancis tahun 1968. Selanjutnya, Peggy membelah lebih dalam tentang anarka-feminisme, ofc!Dan wiw, di bagian terakhir adalah bagian favoritku, berbicara tentang bagaimana membuat utopia di bagian sebelumnya menjadi nyata. Ada banyak sekali quotes ala tumblr agar kita tidak membiarkan kemarahan dan rasa sakit (yang dapat mendorong kita pada keputusasaan atau solusi dangkal yang tidak bijaksana) dan tentu quotes untuk berharap demi masa depan. Kata Peggy mah, bicara, berubah, transformasi diri, transformasi masa depan. Intinya, di bagian terakhir ini, berapi-api loh hati ini lol, sedep dah ini tu:p SORRY, amatir dan geleuh

[warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this as a short zine from kersplebedeb (counting short articles and zines as books is how i will reach my 2022 goodreads goal 😈). was somewhat interesting,, and was definitely practical to me bc it offered a short and broad retelling of the spanish revolution in the 30s, which was cool and also exactly all i care to know abt it. also gave some analysis of some anarchistic trends in the mainstream 60s feminist movement.

as second wave feminist texts do, it was leaning on a falsely universal experience of womanhood that doesnt account for differences in race, class, disability, etc etc. so it's not the most radical or illuminating text. and the way they would use the term "male" back then is also unhelpful and falsely universal ... likeeee where are you locating the problems? im assuming in socially conditioned patriarchal masculinity? but even then which ones? there are many. and ofc she speaks about how patriarchal thinking can be within women too. but can "male" thinking be within women? no clue. definitely different times lol.

i liked the part where she describes how radical feminists criticized:

"male hierarchical thought patterns — in which rationality dominates sensuality, mind dominates intuition, and persistent splits and polarities [or binaries] . . . . alienate us from the mind-body experience as a *Whole* and from the *Continuum* of human experience. Women are attempting to get rid of these splits, to live in harmony with the universe as whole, integrated humans . . ."

i've heard similar criticisms of these thought patterns and value them deeply, but i've heard them trace these modes of thinking mainly back to western civilization & whiteness, not patriarchal masculinity. hearing it this way is making me reflect more on the gendered dimensions of those white and colonial thought tendencies.

[George Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book, but I was surprised that in the section on Spain, Kornegger never mentioned the Mujeres Libres.

[mo (sie) · Rating 4 out of 5]

not the biggest fan.
there was nothing much new for me. some ideas of holistic and dynamic worldview and change, but sprinkeled with bio-essentialism. second wave white feminism stuff, no intersectional approach and no acknowledgement of the - as far as i know - mostly indigenous knowledge that founds these ideas of gradual, fluctual change and a holistic, spiritual view of individual, community and the earth. how can one talk about feminism and change and leave out the black and queer movements which have always been so much more revolutionary than white feminism? it also lacked a more analytic basis or materialist viewpoint imo (although i'm not a fan of strict materialism at all).
the most interesting thing to me was the historical section about the paris commune and the spanish civil war, i don't know much about those yet.
the german translation that i read was horrificly bad. it was published in 2018 by an leftist (i actually believe even an anarchist) group but uses the generic masculine for a text translated from english - that is not only a choice, but almost hard to do (especially when translating a text that rightfully underlines the importance of language to the construction of reality).

[Desp]

"Traditional male politics reduces humans to object status and then dominates and manipulates them for abstract 'goals' " p. 23

"There are no individual 'liberated women' " p. 31

"I used to think that if revolution didn't happen tomorrow, we would all be doomed to a catastrophic (or at least, catatonic) fate. I do not believe anymore that kind of before-and-after revolution, and I think we set ourselves up for failure by thinking of it in those terms" p. 37

"It takes a long time to build a revolution: its something that one both prepares and lives now" p. 39

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and short read. It is interesting how she relates feminism so clearly to anarchism; feminism wishing to destroy the patriarchy, which in itself is an hierarchy. Anyhow, sometimes it is extreme when it talks about men. Let's not demonize people also who are victim to this system, but still be critical of them. It gives some good ideas that have been surfacing in my head. Probably something to read again and ponder over.

[nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

took way too long to finish a 50 page zine. it’s a good brief introduction to anarchism and its connection to feminism. almost more of a historical viewpoint now. it’s cool to see how things were organised and thought of in the 70s but it’s obviously also very dated and binary.

[Oza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radical. Straight to the point. Good « summary-book » to come back to once in a while. Bonus: contains nice references for anarcha-feminist literature

It shall be total transformation or it shall not be

[Célestine Decloedt]

Very interesting and powerful, though I feel like I should read it again to understand it completely

[Nick Caris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short introduction in anarchism and feminist anarchism. It shows actual examples as wel as the ideals and ideas behind it. A great rec for people getting into the topic

[Zoé]

"salir a la calle juntas destruye la pasividad y genera un espíritu de esfuerzo colectivo y fuerzas vitales que pueden ayudar a sostenernos y transformamos"

[Rosalie Van Schaik · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025