''Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism'' is an introduction to the principles of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

and

anarchist communism Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains r ...

written by

Alexander Berkman Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing. Be ...

. First published in 1929 by

Vanguard Press The Vanguard Press (1926–1988) was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array of ...

, ''Now and After'' has been reprinted many times, often in partial or abbreviated versions, under the titles ''What Is Communist Anarchism?'', ''What Is Anarchism?'' or ''The ABC of Anarchism''.Berkman, p. viii (Introduction by Barry Pateman). Because of its presentation of anarchist philosophy in plain language, ''Now and After'' has become one of the best-known introductions to anarchism in print. Anarchist

Stuart Christie Stuart Christie (10 July 1946 – 15 August 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. When aged 18, Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo, General Francisco Franco. He was later alleged ...

wrote that ''Now and After'' is "among the best introductions to the ideas of anarchism in the English language". Historian Paul Avrich described it as "a classic" and wrote that it was "the clearest exposition of communist anarchism in English or any other language".Avrich, p. 206.

History

The anarchist movement was under siege during the 1920s. The United States had deported hundreds of anarchists, including Berkman and

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

, in 1919. In the newly created

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Russian anarchists Anarchism in Russia has its roots in the early mutual aid systems of the medieval republics and later in the popular resistance to the Tsarist autocracy and serfdom. Through the history of radicalism during the early 19th-century, anarchism d ...

were being arrested by the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə), abbreviated ...

and imprisoned or executed. In

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, an anarchist army led by

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, The surname "Makhno" ( uk, Махно́) was itself a corruption of Nestor's father's surname "Mikhnenko" ( uk, Міхненко). ( 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ("Father Makhno"),; According to ...

had been defeated by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

. Hundreds of Russian anarchists were fleeing to exile in Germany and France. In an effort to revive the movement, the

Jewish Anarchist Federation Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

asked Berkman in 1926 to write an introduction to anarchism intended for the general public. By presenting the principles of anarchism in plain language, the New York anarchists hoped that readers might be swayed to support the movement or, at a minimum, that the book might improve the image of anarchism and anarchists in the public's eyes. Parts of the work initially appeared in the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

anarchist newspaper, ''

Freie Arbeiter Stimme ''Freie Arbeiter Stimme'' ( yi, פֿרייע אַרבעטער שטימע, romanized: ''Fraye arbeṭer shṭime'', ''lit.'' 'Free Voice of Labor') was a Yiddish-language anarchist newspaper published from New York City's Lower East Side between ...

''.

Versions

In May 1929, Berkman's complete work was first published by Vanguard Press in New York (jointly with the

) under the title ''Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism'', consisting of 31 chapters grouped into three sections: "Now", "Anarchism" and "The Social Revolution". Simultaneously, they also printed a cheaper edition in smaller format using the title ''What Is Communist Anarchism?'' as an instalment of their running series on "social philosophies". After Berkman's death in 1936, a second edition using the original title was reissued in August 1937 by Freie Arbeiter Stimme with a preface by Emma Goldman. In May 1942 – during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

–

Freedom Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1886, it is the largest anarchist publishing house in the country and the oldest of its kind in the English speaking world. It is bas ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

published the first British edition, using the name ''ABC of Anarchism'', opting on grounds of expense to leave out the first of the three sections of the original work, titled "Now", consisting of 18 chapters dealing primarily with the ills of contemporary capitalist society, criticism of socialist parties and of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. Since then, the book – most frequently the abridged version – has been reprinted many times and translated into many languages. In 1989, Phoenix Press published the 18 chapters left out of the Freedom Press version, and many subsequent printings, in a separate volume, titled ''What is Communist Anarchism?'' Complete unabridged reprints of the first edition from 1929 (supplemented by Goldman's preface from the 2nd edition) have been put out by

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

in 1972, reprinted in 2005 as ''The ABC of Anarchism''.

The book

Berkman's work explains anarchist philosophy in terms that uninitiated readers can understand. The book's chapters are brief, and many of them begin with questions (''e.g.'', "Is Anarchism Violence?", "Will Communist Anarchism Work?"). A number of the ideas he discusses are similar to those proposed in ''

The Conquest of Bread ''The Conquest of Bread'' (french: La Conquête du Pain; rus, Хлѣбъ и воля, Khleb i volja, "Bread and Freedom"; in contemporary spelling), also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist P ...

'' by

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...

, whom Berkman cites throughout. Berkman avoids the sort of jargon and technical language that is often used by political writers in favor of plain language. As he writes in his foreword:

References

Footnotes

Works cited

Avrich, Paul Paul Avrich (August 4, 1931 – February 16, 2006) was a historian of the 19th and early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for his entire career, from 196 ...

. ''Anarchist Portraits''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. . *Berkman, Alexander. ''What is Anarchism?'' Oakland: AK Press, 2003. . *Kenez, Peter. ''A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. . *Raleigh, Donald J. ''Experiencing Russia's Civil War: Politics, Society, and Revolutionary Culture in Saratov, 1917-1922''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. .

External links

Online editions of ''Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism'':
HTML
at

Anarchy Archives Dana Ward is a professor emeritus of Political Studies at Pitzer College, where he founded and maintains the Anarchy Archives and where he taught from 1982 through 2012. He was the Executive Director of The International Society of Political Psycho ...

PDF
at

PDF
at Anarchy is Order
HTML
at Libcom
Multiple formats, including ePub
at RevoltLib {{Anarchism 1929 non-fiction books Books about anarchism Philosophy books Vanguard Press books