On Anarchism

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Noam Chomsky: On Anarchism (2014, Penguin Books, Limited)

192 pages

English language

Published Oct. 7, 2014 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-241-96960-1
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4 stars (9 reviews)

2 editions

reviewed On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky

Good high level but not the meat & potatoes

3 stars

On Anarchism was a collection of short essay that wasn't really what I was expecting. I was hoping for examples, or at least ideas, of how anarchism would actually work in the real world. How we'd get from an idea to a product without a profit motive. What I got instead was basically a label for my wife. She doesn't think governments should exist but while they do she supports a large welfare state to take care of the people. Chomsky appears to be the same. It was well written and well cited, and otherwise awesome if I had gone in with different expectations it might be getting a 5 instead of a three.

If someone has a recommendation for a different book on anarchism that actually answers my questions I would appreciate it.

Review of 'On Anarchism' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

From the book:

WOMAN: It seems to me that as a social system, anarchism makes such bottom-line sense that it was necessary to discredit the word, and take it out of people’s whole vocabulary and thinking—so you just have a reflex of fear when you hear it.

CHOMSKY: Yeah, anarchism has always been regarded as the ultimate evil by people with power. So in Woodrow Wilson’s Red Scare [a 1919 campaign against “subversives” in the U.S.], they were harsh on socialists, but they murdered anarchists—they were really bad news. See, the idea that people could be free is extremely frightening to anybody with power.

That’s why the 1960s have such a bad reputation. I mean, there’s a big literature about the Sixties, and it’s mostly written by intellectuals, because they’re the people who write books, so naturally it has a very bad name—because they hated it. You could see it …

Review of 'On Anarchism' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

From the book:

WOMAN: It seems to me that as a social system, anarchism makes such bottom-line sense that it was necessary to discredit the word, and take it out of people’s whole vocabulary and thinking—so you just have a reflex of fear when you hear it.

CHOMSKY: Yeah, anarchism has always been regarded as the ultimate evil by people with power. So in Woodrow Wilson’s Red Scare a 1919 campaign against “subversives” in the U.S., they were harsh on socialists, but they murdered anarchists—they were really bad news. See, the idea that people could be free is extremely frightening to anybody with power.

That’s why the 1960s have such a bad reputation. I mean, there’s a big literature about the Sixties, and it’s mostly written by intellectuals, because they’re the people who write books, so naturally it has a very bad name—because they hated it. You could see it …
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