Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #116b

by Alex Prichard

If you asked a passerby on the street what anarchism is, they may answer that it is an ideology based on chaos, disorder, and violence. But is this true? What exactly is anarchism?

This Very Short Introduction provides a new point of departure for our understanding of anarchism. Prichard describes anarchism as a lived set of practices, with a rich historical legacy, and shows how anarchists have inspired and criticised some of our most cherished values and concepts, from the ideals of freedom, participatory education, federalism, to important topics like climate change, and wider popular culture in science fiction. By locating the emergence and globalization of anarchist ideas in a history of colonialism and imperialism, the book links anarchism into struggles for freedom across the world and demonstrates that anarchism has much to offer anyone trying to envision a better future.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, History

138 pages, Paperback

Published November 25, 2022

Reviews

[heptagrammaton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Earnest, and surprisingly praxis-focused, contextualizing anarchism in its historical strains as a contining/ous philosophy and method.

Yet, the text's argumentation and examples feel patchy and selective, a twitter leftist's truncated timeline of notabilia, a literary essays' worth of just-remembered artistic examples. Prichard out of his field of expertise seems frustratingly sloppy and reductive: for a concrete example, the Millgram experiment, with its (ethical mis)use of methodology, is highly suspect as a source for elucidating human nature. My own limits of knowledge ( + limited time amongst the living + adhd + L + ratio + i'm white) prevent me from me being exhaustive or certain of all holes of argumentation, which may or may not be there, but the vibe is there, and hugely detrimental to otherwise broadly correct points.

[Jan D · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual in this series, a short, easy-to-read summary of topics. Pretty useful particularly to get an historical overview to see how the sub-movements are connected (or not)

[Bas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5 stars

This book delivers what you would expect from a very short introduction book: it gives a concise overview of the subject and it serves as an appetizer if one would like to research the subject deeper. The bibliography at the end is a great resource for further reading. I really appreciated that this book had attention for the global aspect of anarchism and was able to place anarchism in the broader socialist tradition. It also get extra points for mentioning Le Guin and discussing V for Vendetta ! I will say that the author is clearly partisan ( he doesn't make a secret of this that he is pro-anarchist) which gives it an enjoyable flavour but it also forces him to make some questionable judgements : most 19th century violent anarchists were no real anarchists ( sure...), Kropotkin's support for World War 1 made him be on the right side of history ( I'm baffeled by this take), ...

Aside from that I noticed also some 2 small historical errors about unrelated events:
'and into Poland, which has been partioned between the four neighbouring Imperial powers of the time,...'. I'm extremely curious to hear which country was the 4th Imperial power, did he count Prussia or Russia two times ?

'After the First World War ... tsarist Russia was gone... and the United States, Soviet Union and Germany rose to Great Power status.' How exactly did Germany became a great power after just losing the First World War? Somebody should have told the German nationalists of that time.
So while flawed I do think this is a solid intro if you want to learn more about anarchism.

[Katia N]

I've abandoned it after 1/3: sweeping statements, generalisations, slogans and not much of a substance. There is some context of the modern meaning of this movement (and less ideology). But it is a hard work to extricate any meaningful factual information in a way how it is written. And the historic perspective is very shallow even of this series.

[ttttooo”””’mmmmmm · Rating 4 out of 5]

apart from this short introduction being extremely interesting because of its content, i liked the way alex prichard’s personality shun through, giving it more depth. didn’t quite connect with the part about climate change, but pretty much every other chapter was full of interesting thought and clear demonstration. the examples he gave throughout the book were nearly always spot on and intriguing.

[Bejinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and academic.

[personne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful and broad introduction to Anarchism for very beginners. Prichard clearly demonstrates his knowledge of and passion for the subject. What I appreciated about his introduction was that for pretty much every concept or theory, he has a historical example to illustrate it in practice or to contextualize its genesis. When it comes to Political Theory, I think the employment of case studies is invaluable to show the feasibility of implementing the theory in the real world. In this particular case, the examples also show the development of the theory as a reflection of reality - whether you agree with this or not, the people behind the theories were earnest and weren’t just making it up as they went along: they were informed by empirical evidence and their own experiences (Kropotkin and his development of “mutual aid” after his time observing animals on the steppe, for example). Another “pro” in Prichard’s approach (not just his approach to using examples but also to writing as a whole) is that he often brings up the counter-argument/flaw/hypocrisy in the point, e.g., pointing out Proudhon’s sexism. The result is a balanced, grounded, and thorough overview of anarchism.

As with all the Oxford Very Short Introductions, you should not go into this looking to build upon a foundation of knowledge you already have about the subject. This is an absolute beginner’s introduction to a concept they might have heard mentioned before. Prichard writes in a very accessible, non-academic way. Can’t recommend this one enough as an intro to this way of thinking.

December 30, 2024

[Michaelann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I was looking for: a fairly concise, bird's eye view of the history, theory, and practical possibilities of anarchism, (what feels to me like a kind of left libertarianism).

If you were lucky enough to be within shouting distance of me recently :p you probably got to experience me making you read various screenshots and quotes. It gave me a ton to mull over and clarified a lot of my ideas, and most importantly, names and works to read next.

Four stars for a beginner's introduction. I imagine as I go further into this exploration I'll become clearer about the text's weaknesses.

[Bakknari · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is hard to describe whether I dislike the author or simply dislike the ideology of anarchism. I mirror many of the complaints other reviewers have already written about. But, on top of that, I find Prichard to pale in comparison to other anarchist writers. He seems to contradict himself every other line (which may also be a fault of anarchism, to be fair), and examples given of anarchism "in real life" are nothing more than Capitalism With Ethics. If you wish to read about anarchism, you are better off reading the previous edition of this book, authored by Colin Ward (may he rest in peace), and other books authored by Ward on any other topic.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 1: The origins of anarchism
Chapter 2: The globalization of anarchism
Chapter 3: Anarchism today
Chapter 4: Anarchism and the provision of public goods: health and policing
Chapter 5: Anarchism and the provision of public goods: work and education
Chapter 6: Anarchism and world politics

[Daniel Fullman · Rating 4 out of 5]

En grei introduksjon til et spennende felt.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot of interesting things. Some of the information was easy to digest and some I had a hard time retaining.

[Nando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise introduction to anarchism. Did exactly what it set out to do and nothing more, no complaints here.

[ErnstG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written brief introduction, covering history and today's platforms. With the bankrupcy of Leninism, perhaps reclaiming its role as the major direction in the left left? Reference to Rohava very interesting and worth keeping an eye on.

Still not for me -- I believe in a democracy that allows you to vote the government out.