num_pages: 147
description: Now &amp; After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism is an introduction to the principles of anarchism &amp; anarchist communism written by Alexander Berkman. First published in 1929 by Vanguard Press, after parts of it had appeared in Freie Arbeiter Stimme, Now &amp; After has been reprinted many times, often under the title What Is Communist Anarchism? or What Is Anarchism?. Because of its presentation of anarchist philosophy in plain language Now &amp; After has become one of the best-known introductions to anarchism in print. Historian Paul Avrich described Now &amp; After as "a classic" &amp; wrote that it was "the clearest exposition of communist anarchism." The anarchist movement was under siege during the 1920s. The USA had deported hundreds of anarchists, including Berkman &amp; Emma Goldman, in 1919. In the newly-created USSR, Russian anarchists were being arrested by the Cheka, imprisoned or executed. In Ukraine, an anarchist army led by Nestor Makhno had been defeated by the Red Army. Hundreds of Russian anarchists were fleeing to exile in Germany &amp; France. In an effort to revive the movement, the Jewish Anarchist Federation in New York 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 NY anarchists hoped that readers might be swayed to support the movement or, at a minimum, that the book might improve the image of anarchism in the public's eyes. Berkman's work successfully explains anarchist philosophy in terms any reader can understand. The book's chapters are brief, and many of them begin with questions (e.g., "Is Anarchism Violence?", "Will Communist Anarchism Work?"). Berkman avoids the sort of jargon &amp; technical language often used by political writers in favor of plain language. As he writes in the "Foreword": "Anarchist books, with few exceptions, are not accessible to the understanding of the average reader. It is the common failing of most works dealing with social questions that they are written on the assumption that the reader is already familiar to a considerable extent with the subject, which is generally not the case at all. As a result there are very few books treating of social problems in a sufficiently simple &amp; intelligible manner. For the above reason I consider a restatement of the Anarchist position very much needed at this time—a restatement in the plainest &amp; clearest terms which can be understood by every one. That is, an ABC of Anarchism." In 1929, Now &amp; After was published by Vanguard Press in NY. In 1937, a year after Berkman's death, a second edition was published with a preface by Emma Goldman. A British edition was published in 1942 by Freedom Press in London. Since then, the book has been reprinted many times.
language: English
title: ABC of Anarchism
titlecomplete: ABC of Anarchism (Anarchists Classics)
genres: Politics, Class, Philosophy, History, Classics, Essays, Russia, Nonfiction, Anarchism, Theory
ratings_count: 1427
publisher: Freedom Press