Anarchy Works
By: Peter Gelderloos
Publisher: Ardent Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: San Francisco, USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781620490204
Other titles: Anarquía funciona
Description: Anarchism is the boldest of revolutionary social movements to emerge from the struggle against capitalism, it aims for a world free from all forms of domination and exploitation. But at its heart is a simple and convincing proposition: people know how to live their own lives and organize themselves better than any expert could. Others cynically claim that we need a government to protect us. They claim anarchy is impractical and utopian: it would never work. On the contrary, anarchist practice already has a long record, and has often worked quite well. The histories in this book show that an anarchist society can succeed at enabling all its members to meet their needs and desires.

This book takes examples from around the world, picking through history and anthropology, showing that people have, in different ways and at different times, demonstrated mutual aid, self-organization, autonomy, horizontal decision making, and so forth–the principles that anarchy is founded on–regardless of whether they called themselves anarchists or not. Too well documented to be strictly mythology, and too expansive to be strictly anthropology, this is an inspiring answer to the people who say that anarchists are utopian: a point-by-point introduction to how anarchy can and has actually worked.
Table of contents: title: Introduction
pagenum: 1; title: Anarchy would never work
pagenum: 1; title: What exactly is anarchism?
pagenum: 2; title: A note on inspiration
pagenum: 4; title: The tricky topic of representation
pagenum: 7; label: 1.
title: Human Nature
pagenum: 11; title: Aren’t people naturally selfish?
pagenum: 11; title: Aren’t people naturally competitive?
pagenum: 16; title: Haven’t humans always been patriarchal?
pagenum: 22; title: Aren’t people naturally warlike?
pagenum: 27; title: Aren’t domination and authority natural?
pagenum: 32; title: A broader sense of self
pagenum: 44; label: 2.
title: Decisions
pagenum: 48; title: How will decisions be made?
pagenum: 48; title: How will decisions be enforced?
pagenum: 65; title: Who will settle disputes?
pagenum: 70; title: Meeting in the streets
pagenum: 72; label: 3.
title: Economy
pagenum: 76; title: Without wages, what is the incentive to work?
pagenum: 76; title: Don’t people need bosses and experts?
pagenum: 81; title: Who will take out the trash?
pagenum: 90; title: Who will take care of the elderly and disabled?
pagenum: 92; title: How will people get healthcare?
pagenum: 94; title: What about education?
pagenum: 97; title: What about technology?
pagenum: 102; title: How will exchange work?
pagenum: 108; title: What about people who still want a consumerist lifestyle?
pagenum: 111; title: What about building and organizing large, spread-out infrastructure?
pagenum: 112; title: How will cities work?
pagenum: 118; title: What about drought, famine, or other catastrophes?
pagenum: 128; title: Meeting our needs without keeping count
pagenum: 129; label: 4.
title: Environment
pagenum: 134; title: What’s to stop someone from destroying the environment?
pagenum: 134; title: What about global environmental problems, like climate change?
pagenum: 143; title: The only way to save the planet
pagenum: 148; label: 5.
title: Crime
pagenum: 152; title: Who will protect us without police?
pagenum: 152; title: What about gangs and bullies?
pagenum: 165; title: What’s to stop someone from killing people?
pagenum: 168; title: What about rape, domestic violence, and other forms of social harm?
pagenum: 170; title: Beyond individual justice
pagenum: 178; label: 6.
title: Revolution
pagenum: 184; title: How could people organized horizontally possibly overcome the state?
pagenum: 184; title: How do we know revolutionaries won’t become new authorities?
pagenum: 203; title: How will communities decide to organize themselves at first?
pagenum: 218; title: How will reparations for past oppressions be worked out?
pagenum: 223; title: How will a common, anti-authoritarian, ecological ethos come about?
pagenum: 226; title: A revolution that is many revolutions
pagenum: 238; label: 7.
title: Neighboring Societies
pagenum: 242; title: Could an anarchist society defend itself from an authoritarian neighbor?
pagenum: 242; title: What will we do about societies that remain very patriarchal, or racist?
pagenum: 249; title: What will prevent constant warfare and feuding?
pagenum: 251; title: Networks not borders
pagenum: 257; label: 8.
title: The Future
pagenum: 260; title: Won’t the state just reemerge over time?
pagenum: 260; title: What about other problems we can’t foresee?
pagenum: 264; title: Making anarchy work
pagenum: 265; title: It Works When We Make It Work
pagenum: 268; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 272