Anarchy After Leftism by Bob Black ( C.A.L Press, c/o AAA, P.O. Box 11331, Eugene OR 97440 $7.95 + $2.05 s&h) reviewed by John Filiss
Bob Black's Anarchy After Leftism is a seminal
work from one of the seminal figures in the anti-authoritarian
milieu. Written as a response to Murray Bookchin's abrasive
Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm
(AK Press, P.O. Box 40682, San Francisco, CA 94140-0682),
Black revives a type of intellectual exchange all but moribund
in our modern era of encapsulated thought and belief: he attacks
his opponent not at his weakest points, but at his
strongest. Not only is it marvelous critique on its own,
it remains so with the object of critique next to it--the written
works of Murray Bookchin.
Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism was written
as a rather personal attack on the views of a number of
contemporary anarchist authors who actually took the idea of
anarchy, or freedom from rule, seriously. Whether it be the
mystic flights of Hakim Bey, John Zerzan's critique of
symbolic culture, or Fifth Estate's search for useful
concepts within primitive lifestyles, Bookchin attacks with an
ire which does little to support his occasionally valid points.
Interestingly, it is often where Bookchin founders in his
attempts to bring down his opponents at all costs that the
poverty of the prevailing vision--both his and his target's--is
made most apparent. To give one example, Bookchin states:
"Ironically, even the collective that produces Fifth
Estate found it could not do without a computer and was
`forced' to purchase one--issuing the disingenuous claimer, `We
hate it!' Denouncing an advanced technology while using it to
generate antitechnological literature is not only
disingenuous but has sanctimonious dimensions". (p.49)
Though the weakness of Bookchin's argument for a moralistic
purity of the means of expression is all too obvious, being read
as it is on paper and ink doubtless created through capitalist
and ecological exploitation, it shows as well Fifth
Estate's own puritanism, a tendency to retreat from this
world into restrictions and modes, rather than an uninhibited
search for a utopia to supersede the current nightmare. The
question is not whether new technology generally excels and
surpasses within the limited spheres that technology creates
(I'll take my modern word processor over my turn-of-the-century
Oliver typewriter any day), but whether we can create a world
where the processing of words is needless for our fulfillment.
When Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism first
came out, I had mixed reactions towards it. While disliking
Bookchin's (unwarranted) smugness and tone of debate, I
granted it had, again, some valid points, and hoped that at
some level it would foster intelligent input on issues which
need input, and from as broad a spectrum of thought as
possible. After reading Anarchy After Leftism, I
realized above all else that we do not need to be ridiculed, not
in an era where the most tiresome and inane proponents of the
existing order pose as its iconoclasts. With Bob Black as
defender of many of the most liberatory tendencies within modern
anti-authoritarian thought, it is an issue which will surely come
up with decreasing frequency in the years ahead.
The reasons for this are well known to Murray Bookchin.
Black is a gifted satirist, whose penchant for pugnaciousness
occasionally spills over into his writing, as well as being a
much talked about aspect of his private life (an area I am hardly
qualified to discuss or pass judgment on). Though as well or
better known than anyone mentioned in Social Anarchism or
Lifestyle Anarchism as a major theorist of the more radical
of anarchist tendencies (e.g., having written the essay
on zero-work), Black is nowhere mentioned in the book, certainly
an attempt by Bookchin to escape Black's wrath.
And yet it is Black in this instance who comes off as
being chivalrous in his critique. Though Anarchy After
Leftism is cutting and sometimes merciless (and frequently
hilarious), not one statement seems unwarranted against Bookchin,
who gives us such gems of constructive and thoughtful criticism
as "I would love to see the Bey and his disciples surface at an
'old-time libertarian picnic'!"(p. 24) Further, Black has enough
respect for his readers and possible detractors to furnish an
index, absent in Bookchin's book.
Incidentally, another book has recently been published in
response to Bookchin: George Bradford's Beyond Bookchin:
Preface For A Future Social Ecology (contact Fifth
Estate, 4632 Second Ave., Detroit MI 48201). Though
certainly of interest to those who have long dwelled upon the
thought of Murray Bookchin, it hardly ranks with Black's effort.
Bradford's ponderous overstriving for eloquence and lack of
concision--he never uses one sentence where three will do--will
unfortunately turn off the majority of readers merely curious
about the debate. If not one in ten of those who buy Bradford's
book will actually finish it, Black's book, by contrast, will be
passed from friend to friend. Black's writing has the uncanny
charm of awakening interest in topics previously thought to be
of no interest.
Bradford's efforts are somehow tragic, as his writing shows
some insight, and it seems that with a little effort, he could
improve upon it dramatically. Black, too, has all too frequently
done less than he is capable of, among other things directing his
scathing wit at individuals w.ho could hardly be expected to
match his skill at satire or polemic. Anarchy After
Leftism is Black at his best, a lengthy yet stimulating
dissection and critique of a multifaceted and intelligent
thinker, Murray Bookchin, placed within a broader critique of the
intellectual currents which made a Bookchin possible. Black
bites hardest when he bites with ideas, which he does with elan.
As important as are its contents, just praise must be given
to its format. Personalizing a debate, yet staying within
appropriate boundaries, and making the core of the critique the
ideas propounded by one's opponents, is a superb and
too-little-used method of bringing one's viewpoints to a broader
audience. Exposing as intellectual sham a trite, yet
undeservedly cult figure within a given circle, whose members
have probably had little or no exposure to the most emancipating
concepts of modern anarchist thought ... brilliant, Bob. I only
hope he continues to ripple in ever-larger circles, with an
ever-growing audience. I would love to see a similar book on
Chomsky.
In short, Anarchy After Leftism is an important
part of the growing effort to wean anarchy off of leftism, with-a
future none can easily foresee; an attempt to create
something unique, wonderful, and ultimately real.
I realize, dear reader, that so far it seems I have only
discussed this book in superlatives, and have done little of the
critiquing here or there which gives a review an air of
objectivity. Be that as it may. I haven't written a book review
in two years and wouldn't have bothered now if I weren't so
impressed. If you have any interest in the doctrine of social
ecology, in primitivism, the abolition of work, or simply
anarchy--qet this book!
John Filiss
Port Jervis, NY
Steamshovel!