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Anarchic Agreements: A Field Guide to Collective Organizing
A new world is possible and not just in our hearts. Anarchic Agreements is a quintessential field guide for the revolution, answering the practical questions often left out of works of political theory and philosophy. How do leaderless groups organize? How might they create constitutions, balance power and write protocols? How do group cultures and institutions maintain coalitions? This urgent and inspiring how-to is the product of more than twenty years of research. Designed explicitly for everyday use, it contains lived examples and text from current horizontally organized constitutions. These documents illustrate the never-ending process of developing community and keeping collaborations alive in the fairest ways possible. Written by dedicated anarchist scholars and organizers, and based on the widely popular Anarchic Agreements pamphlet series, this book facilitates grassroots activism and provides methods to improve and streamline decision making. It is an inspiring celebration of the novel, complex, and flexible constitutions anarchists have created over time. This book shows how to realize another world, collectively without domination, while leaving the future open to infinite other possibilities.
Praise
“Anarchic Agreements is a kind of how-to offering about something not often codified at all, much less with systematic and comprehensive care—forming effective groups, and then, groups of groups, consistently with anarchist aspirations and insights. It addresses the nitty gritty of working well together, a focus that everyone who wants a better world ought to prioritize.”
—Michael Albert, ZNet, author of Practical Utopia
“I’ve been using the tools and principles in the Anarchic Agreements pamphlets—here at last as one book, with more besides—since 2017. The book works with campaign groups, charities, housing co-ops, workers' co-ops, and all sorts of organisations and committees with an aspiration to be less hierarchical or to work better with volunteers. Making agreements that are consensual, changeable, and conscious is the keystone for making groups that last. It can also be a tonic for groups that have gone stale, inherited old rules, or need a new shared vocabulary to move from a vision of the future to the real thing.”
—Jed Picksley, community organiser, trainer, activist, and permaculturist
“Informed and informative, this is a rare and much needed response to the often simplistic approaches to anarchist organising. For every piece of practical advice useful to organisers, there’s an equally valuable reflection on the complexities of working together without hierarchies. I couldn’t recommend this more highly for newcomers to horizontal organising—and I’d make the case that it should be mandatory reading for anarchist veterans!”
—Matthew Wilson, author of Rules Without Rulers
About the Authors
Ruth Kinna teaches at Loughborough University, UK. She has published numerous books on anarchism, historical and contemporary, and is a contributor to PM Press’s Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution. She is coeditor of Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red, also published by PM Press.
Alex Prichard teaches international relations at the University of Exeter, UK. He has published widely on the international political thought of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, most recently a new translation of his 1861 work War and Peace. He is also the author of the new edition of Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press).
Thomas Swann writes on anarchist politics and alternative organization. His book Anarchist Cybernetics: Control and Communication in Radical Politics was published in 2020. He is also coeditor of Anarchism, Organization and Management, a book that introduces anarchism to business school students.
Seeds for Change is a workers' co-op of experienced campaigners and co-operators. It offers training, facilitation, online resources and other support for campaigns, community groups, and co-operatives. It provides free-to-use resources on campaigning, facilitation, and workshops. Its members authored A Consensus Handbook: Co-operative Decision-Making for Activists, Co-ops and Communities.
Praise
“Anarchic Agreements is a kind of how-to offering about something not often codified at all, much less with systematic and comprehensive care—forming effective groups, and then, groups of groups, consistently with anarchist aspirations and insights. It addresses the nitty gritty of working well together, a focus that everyone who wants a better world ought to prioritize.”
—Michael Albert, ZNet, author of Practical Utopia
“I’ve been using the tools and principles in the Anarchic Agreements pamphlets—here at last as one book, with more besides—since 2017. The book works with campaign groups, charities, housing co-ops, workers' co-ops, and all sorts of organisations and committees with an aspiration to be less hierarchical or to work better with volunteers. Making agreements that are consensual, changeable, and conscious is the keystone for making groups that last. It can also be a tonic for groups that have gone stale, inherited old rules, or need a new shared vocabulary to move from a vision of the future to the real thing.”
—Jed Picksley, community organiser, trainer, activist, and permaculturist
“Informed and informative, this is a rare and much needed response to the often simplistic approaches to anarchist organising. For every piece of practical advice useful to organisers, there’s an equally valuable reflection on the complexities of working together without hierarchies. I couldn’t recommend this more highly for newcomers to horizontal organising—and I’d make the case that it should be mandatory reading for anarchist veterans!”
—Matthew Wilson, author of Rules Without Rulers
About the Authors
Ruth Kinna teaches at Loughborough University, UK. She has published numerous books on anarchism, historical and contemporary, and is a contributor to PM Press’s Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution. She is coeditor of Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red, also published by PM Press.
Alex Prichard teaches international relations at the University of Exeter, UK. He has published widely on the international political thought of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, most recently a new translation of his 1861 work War and Peace. He is also the author of the new edition of Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press).
Thomas Swann writes on anarchist politics and alternative organization. His book Anarchist Cybernetics: Control and Communication in Radical Politics was published in 2020. He is also coeditor of Anarchism, Organization and Management, a book that introduces anarchism to business school students.
Seeds for Change is a workers' co-op of experienced campaigners and co-operators. It offers training, facilitation, online resources and other support for campaigns, community groups, and co-operatives. It provides free-to-use resources on campaigning, facilitation, and workshops. Its members authored A Consensus Handbook: Co-operative Decision-Making for Activists, Co-ops and Communities.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
112 pages, Paperback
Published November 22, 2022
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145 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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April 17, 2023I picked up this book as research for something secret I'm writing. It's meant to be read mostly as a practical guide, so I appreciated how succinct and to the point it was, though a lot of what is described in the book is largely common sense and the relevant examples are almost thrown in as appendixes at the end rather than incorporated throughout the body of the book, which was what I thought would be most useful for someone who's not at all familiar with the subjects.
December 9, 2022
I was pretty surprised when this pamphlet ended after 30 pages and almost half of it dealt with organizing coalitions. I don’t feel that much of this information was really practical versus theoretical, and a decent amount of the material in the appendices from now defunct organizations. I was expecting a far more practical text.
January 6, 2025
Quite useful and brief guide to collective organizing, mixing theory and concrete examples of codes of conduct. Can't confidently say I have "finished" reading this as I don't think I ever will, I will keep pulling it out of my bookcase as a resource. This -relationship anarchy in the workplace- might well be one of my absolute favourite topics to think about and was very useful in a moment where the collective I am part of are having to reconsider who we are, what we do and especially how we do them. Particularly helpful, I found the concept of "constituting" as a verb, opposed to the more often used noun "constitution"
April 12, 2023
The entire pamphlet focuses on consensus within co-op groups or organizations and offers some sensible enough guidelines yet is far too oversimplified and idealistic for much practical use without elaboration. Useful for small communities but would need much more substance in order to be applicable towards any larger movement.
July 27, 2025
Well-organized and thoughtful, this pamphlet would be useful to anyone seeking to organize at both the group and coalition levels. I still need to read through the appendices, but what I did read helped open my eyes to future leftist projects I may participate in.
January 10, 2023
Useful
January 12, 2025
good and practical advices, particularly generic at some points, and a possible contention is
what if there’s literally no crew or anyone who actually cares enough to even go to meetings?
what if there’s literally no crew or anyone who actually cares enough to even go to meetings?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews