Anarchist & Radical Book Club discussion

Happy May Day all!

For May and June this group will be parsing through Noam Chomsky's ideas on authority and capitalism in his anthology Chomsky On Anarchism.

I'll post free, online texts from the book below. Help me out finding this stuff and post links in this thread!
- Preface
- Introduction
- Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship
- Language and Freedom [pdf]
- Notes on Anarchism
- The Relevance of Anarcho-Syndicalism
- Preface to Antologija Anarhizma
- Containing the Threat of Democracy
- Anarchism, Marxism, and Hope for the Future
- Goals and Visions (I think this is the right text; can someone with the book compare?)
- Anarchism, Intellectuals, and the State
- Interview with Barry Pateman [video]
- Interview with Ziga Vodovnik

Use this space to share questions about and reactions to the text, as well as any other context, links, background, history, or thoughts that seem relevant and will help us understand (or critique!) what we're reading better.

One of the books that turned me into a communist.

First of all: excuse my English. I will try to be short.

I didn't like this book just because Chomsky moves on the dynamic that I usually call "state anarchism" or "statist anarchism". That is because, for being commendable or acceptable, he goes way too deep in the way of reformism, and the thing you reform is the thing you reinforce.

I can't see the difference between his proposals on this book and a proto-State or, directly, a socialist state.

Samuel wrote: "Language and Freedom can be found here: http://www.chomsky.info/books/state02..."

Thanks! Added it above.

Are we going to go through the book piece by piece, or just discuss things as they grab our interest?

I would suggest going at it as things grab your interest, with the understanding that we may revisit topics several times as people read at different speeds. But feel free to step up and facilitate some focused discussions if you have ideas!

Anyone getting through this? What's been grabbing your interest?

I've almost gotten halfway through, but I'm not sure I can finish this one. I'm finding this really really boring. Sorry, Chomsky, I had a feeling we weren't meant to be.

haha Demelza, me too! I tried to read it years ago and gave up, and this time was a repeat performance. We can pick a new book in this thread.

You'd think a linguist would be a much more engaging writer! oh well. I'll try to suggest something soon . . .

I remember it getting better after the first two chapters, think I actually skipped the chapter on language.

'the relevance of anarcho-syndicalism' is a great interview. aided by a great interviewer.

Chomsky appears to be senile. Somebody drew me into an email correspondence with him a few days ago in which he claimed that he didn't have to look at any new information because he's known all the answers since he was 8 years old. He's a "lesser evil" statist, and indulges in ad hominem if he can't refute an argument. I haven't read the book but I doubt that even the best of interviewers could make Chomsky relevant to anarchism.

you mad bro?

This is an audio link to the interview - http://youtu.be/h_x0Y3FqkEI

This is still a really influential book for me but the problem with Chomsky is that he does not apply his anarchist ideas to his books on American foreign policy etc!