Anarchism, 1914-18 : internationalism, anti-militarism and war / edited by Matthew S. Adams and Ruth Kinna.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Adams, Matthew S., 1984- editor.

Kinna, Ruth, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anarchism--History--20th century--Congresses.

Anarchism.

World War, 1914-1918--Congresses.

World War, 1914-1918.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 271 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Anti-militarism is today an unquestioned mainstay of anarchism. This book presents a systematic analysis of anarchist responses to the First World War. It examines the interventionist debate between Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta which split the anarchist movement in 1914. The controversy revolved around conflicting interpretations of the shared ideas of internationalism and anti-militarism. The book analyses the debates conducted in European and American movements about class, nationalism, pacifism and cultural resistance. Just as Kropotkin's position was coherent with his anarchist beliefs, it was also a product of his rejection of the main assumptions of the peace politics of his day. Malatesta's dispute with Kropotkin provides a focus for the anti-interventionist campaigns he fought internationally. Contributions discuss the justness of war, non-violence and pacifism, anti-colonialism, pro-feminist perspectives on war and the potency of myths about the war and revolution for the reframing of radical politics in the 1920s and beyond. The collaboration between the Swiss-based anarchists and the Indian nationalists suggests that Bertoni's group was not impervious to collaboration with groups whose ideological tenets may have been in tension with the ideology of anarchism. During the First World War, American anarchists emphasised the positive, constructive aspects of revolutionary violence by aestheticising it as an outgrowth of individual creativity. Divisions about the war and the experience of being caught on the wrong side of the Bolshevik Revolution encouraged anarchists to reaffirm their deeply-held rejection of vanguard socialism and develop new strategies on anti-war activities.

Contents:

Introduction / Matthew S. Adams and Ruth Kinna

1. Saving the future : the roots of Malatesta's anti-militarism / Davide Turcato

2. The Manifesto of the Sixteen : Kropotkin's rejection of anti-war anarchism and his critique of the politics of peace / Peter Ryley

3. Malatesta and the war interventionist debate 1914-17 : from the 'Red Week' to the Russian Revolutions / Carl Levy

4. Beyond the 'People's Community' : the anarchist movement from fin de siècle to the First World War in Germany / Lucas Keller

5. 'No man and no penny' : F. Domela Nieuwenhuis, anti-militarism and the opportunities of World War One / Bert Altena

6. 'The bomb plot of Zürich' : Indian nationalism, Italian anarchism and the First World War / Ole Birk Laursen

7. The French anarchist movement and the First World War / Constance Bantman and David Berry

8. At war with Empire : the anti-colonial roots of American anarchist debates during World War I / Kenyon Zimmer

9. The anarchist anti-conscription movement in the U.S. / Kathy E. Ferguson

10. Aestheticising revolution / Allan Antliff

11. Mutualism in the trenches : anarchism, militarism and the lessons of the First World War / Matthew S. Adams

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 27 Mar 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-5261-2818-7

1-5261-1576-X

OCLC:

988385643