Saturday, April 24, 2010

Review in the "South African Labour Bulletin"

"What is unique about Black Flame is that it illustrates the universality of anarchism, which until now, other literature has not done as it has tended to focus on the European anarchist tradition ...  [with] ... countless examples of large movements globally from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and the United States,  to South Africa, Egypt, Korea and Japan, and of course Spain, Italy, Russia, the UK and Ireland ...

"For South Africans in particular the final chapter provides important insights into the anarchist perspective on issues which continue to undermine our struggles. It shows how anarchism, based on the fundamental tenets of equality and solidarity, was non-racial, non-sexist and supportive of the struggles against imperialism long before other socialist movements.

"In South Africa while the Communist Party of South Africa was supporting white workers' calls for the colour bar in the early twentieth century, the anarchists were organising multi-racial unions which included all workers.

 "Black Flame sets out to both clarify what anarchism is and to demonstrate the significant impact anarchism has had in the struggle of the working class on a worldwide scale over the past 150 years. The arguments in the book are backed by considerable evidence based on the authors' extensive knowledge of anarchist theory, movements and struggles across the world. It provides a rich, well-researched and dense account of the anarchist movement and the theories behind it .... The authors provide extensive evidence to argue that syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism in particular formed the underlying strategy of the mass anarchist movement ...

"I would highly recommend Black Flame to activists as this much information and insight on anarchism cannot be found in any other book on the subject."

Mandy Moussouris, labour / social movement activist, South African Labour Bulletin, volume 34, number 1, March/April 2010.

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