Desert (Anonymous)

Anonymous
Desert

Another pamphlet from the anarchist book fair this one being a freebie and anonymous presumably as the author is still very much active in the libertarian struggle and I guess in ways that puts his or her liberty in danger. Basic premise is that we're too late to save civilisation (not necessarily a bad thing) or the ecology of the planet (as far as supporting billions of humans goes) and most involved in fighting for a better world (as defined by anarchists, ecologists, libertarians, syndicalists) know this fact and are either fighting a losing battle getting more depressed about it or have given up completely. The booklet takes us down this path in very logical arguments and is very well written and thought through even if you may not agree with either the ecological conclusions or why this is not a bad state of affairs from an anarchist viewpoint. I think much of the analysis is taken from others and one or two in particular. The author's view is that as civilisation disintegrates there will be pockets where anarchists can live together in communal living perhaps more so than is possible today. Examples of where such communities have existed and do so today are given. Counter arguments that limited resources will squeeze such libertarian communities are considered but overall the feeling is that liberty can be found as civilisation fragments.

I get the feeling that the author is sort of looking forward to carving out a libertarian way of life amongst the chaos but I feel that it'll be a lot more devastating than the author hopes for and despots and totalitarian governments and / or companies will ensure that there is no room for small communities to flourish anywhere that anyone can scrape together a living. And those in the central / equatorial regions which will become deserts (hence the title) will flood towards the warming northern parts not necessarily having living a community based way of life at the top of their agenda. An odd passage was saying that being in a shanty town gave a certain feeling of liberty and where I can see the author's point in the way that it's presented I was thinking that they presumably knew that they could leave at any time so not living with the stresses that others in that community would be.

Overall a very good read though. I had to take the photo myself as couldn't find on-line and although found a couple of reviews of this booklet can't find the publisher on-line: Stac an Armin press, St Kilda

Yesterday's To-morrow - Bristol's Garden Suburbs (Stephen E. Hunt)

Stephen E. Hunt
Yesterday's To-morrow - Bristol's Garden Suburbs

A short pamphlet picked up at the anarchist book fair I went to a couple of weeks ago giving an introduction to Bristol's garden suburbs and their links to libertarian sensibilities. I was interested cos the guy on the stand said that it included the Fry's Chocolate factory model village at Keynsham, near where I grew up and where my parents live, but it also includes other developments such as Shirehampton west of Bristol. The suburbs are an interesting mix of developments by libertarian planners, influenced by people such as William Morris, and those built by industrialists for their workers to give them a pleasant place to live - no doubt to ensure loyalty, healthiness (compared to slum dwelling) and proximity to the factory. No doubt some individualist libertarians felt claustrophobic in these surroundings and there is some paternity in not building pubs for the good of the residents but I guess better than the tenement slums a lot were used to. The booklet draws parallels with other garden cities built at the time and covers briefly how the Bristol suburbs are surviving today with the pressures of packing more people into less space. A good read.

Bristol Radical Pamphleteer #8
http://www.brh.org.uk/publications.html

Heart of a Dog (Mikhail Bulgakov)

Mikhail Bulgakov
Heart of a Dog



From just finishing one of the worst books to one of the best. Very readable and laugh out loud funny. A bizarre experiment and bizarre people all set in a Russian communist apartment block. Easy to understand digs at the communist state and those empowered by it whilst the wider context of the book and our hero the dog gives a more subtle analysis of communism. Or at least how it was implemented / evolved in Russia in the early 20s. The book could have been written today with a little update on the jobs or roles of certain characters and is written in a modern style which maybe due to the translation although I think that was in the late 60s. I picked it up at Oxfam Books having read the back cover blurb and only intended to dip into the introduction a few evenings ago but I was so intrigued that I started the first chapter and couldn't put it down. A couple of hours later and I'd finished. Fabulous and highly recommended.

Rosa Luxemburg (Paul Frölich)

Paul Frölich
Rosa Luxembourg

A Pluto Press Ideas in Action series translated by Joanna Hoornweg. Written 1939 and reissued 1972. This is a different cover to the one I borrowed off my work colleague Danny as, for the first time, I couldn't find the one I read on the net.

This is an excellent insight into the revolutionary politics of the early 20th Century in middle Europe in particular Poland and Germany. It's also a brilliant insight into a revolutionary life detailing a personal struggle in the wider political context. Rosa Luxemburg dedicated her life to socialism and was apparently a brilliant interpreter of Marxist theory applied to the practicalities of her place and time. Maybe she's made out to be a little too good to be true especially in her predictions of the future. There's also a big question about whether Rosa should have grasped power both within the socialist party in Germany and also pushed harder during the German revolution in 1918/19. This question and what could have happened if Rosa had been in charge is only really raised at the end of the book rather than a critical assessment in the relevant chapter. This is more a criticism of the book than Rosa as she obviously had her reasons including that of being in and out of prison and having appalling health problems.

The book ends with how Germany's socialist revolution was scuppered due to turncoats and thuggery of the Bourgeoisie thus paving the way for Hitler's takeover. Maybe Lenin had to create the proletarian dictatorship in Russia to protect the revolution with the risk that personal freedom and democracy would be rolled back, rather than progressed, resulting in that travesty of "left wing" dictatorship  Stalinism for which read state capitalism complete with the necessary repression to sustain it.

The book is remarkable given that, at the time, there were so many lost papers either destroyed during the revolution or by the Nazis or kept quiet in Russian archives as not supportive of Stalinist policies. Maybe for my education I'd like a bit more on the wider context as all it's all centred on Rosa but I kept up and as it was written in 1939 the context would've been well known to those reading the book. We could've gone into more detail about Rosa's personal life to get a better flavour of the woman. References to affairs and partners were so obtuse and I wondered if they were all men or some of her woman friends. Not important as such but an indication of Rosa's place in time. And Lenin legalised homosexuality which was unheard of across Europe. Her mistreatment at the hands of the police and especially just before her death are equally obtuse and leave you wondering what did go on. Maybe when written the author couldn't go into too much detail to both pander to current sensibilities and to not besmirch a heros character.

Overall extremely readable and excellent introduction to this period and a dedicated woman.