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The Murray Bookchin Reader

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The Murray Bookchin Reader The Murray Bookchin Reader We must always be on a quest for the new, for the potentialities that ripen with the development of the world and the new visions that unfold with them. An outlook that ceases to look for what is new and potential in the name of "realism" has already lost contact with the present, for the present is always conditioned by the future. True development is cumulative, not sequential; it is growth, not succession. The new always embodies the present and past, but it does so in new ways and more adequately as the parts of a greater whole. Murray Bookchin, "On Spontaneity and Organization," 1971 The Murray Bookchin Reader Edited by Janet Biehl BLACK ROSE BOOKS Montreal/New York London Copyright © 1999 BLACK ROSE BOOKS No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system-without written permission from the publisher, or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from the Canadian Reprography Collective, with the exception of brief passages quoted by a reviewer in a newspaper or magazine. Black Rose Books No. BB268 Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-119-4 (bound) Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-118-6 (pbk.) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-71026 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Bookchin, Murray, 1921- Murray Bookchin reader Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-55164-119-4 (bound).­ ISBN 1-55164-118-6 (pbk.) 1. Libertarianism. 2. Environmentalism. 3. Human ecology. I. Biehl,Janet, 1953- II. Title. JC585.B5931998 304.2 C98-900275-6 Designed and typeset by Ben Cracknell Studios BLACK ROSE BOOKS C.P. 1258 2250 Military Road 99 Wallis Road Succ. Place du Pare Tonawanda, NY London, E9 5LN Montreal, Quebec 14150 USA England H2W 2R3 Canada To order books in North America: (phone) l-800-565-9523 (fax) 1-800-221-9985 In Europe: (phone) 44-0181-986-4854 (fax) 44-0181-533-5821 Our Web Site address: http:/ /www.web.net/blackrosebooks A publication of the Institute of Policy Alternatives of Montreal (IPAM) Printed in Canada Contents Acknowledgments VII List of Sources VIII Introduction 1 An Ecological Society Introduction 13 Decentralization 14 Anarchism and Ecology 20 The New Technology and the Human Scale 24 Ecological Technology 26 Social Ecology 31 2 Nature, First and Second Introduction 37 Images of First Nature 39 Participatory Evolution 43 Society as Second Nature 46 On Biocentrism 53 3 Organic Society Introduction 58 Usufruct, Complementarity, and the Irreducible Minimum 60 Romanticizing Organic Society 65 4 The Legacy of Domination Introduction 75 The Emergence of Hierarchy 77 The Rise of the State 87 The Rise of Capitalism 90 The Market Society 94 5 Scarcity and Post-Scarcity Introduction 99 Conditions of Freedom 101 The Problem of Want and Work 105 Cybernation and Automation 108 Technology for Life 112 The Fetishization of Needs 116 6 Marxism Introduction 122 Marxism and Domination 124 Marxism and Leninism 128 7 Anarchism Introduction 143 The Two Traditions: Anarchism 144 Anarchy and Libertarian Utopias 150 Cultures of Revolt 156 Spanish Anarchism: The Collectives 158 Critique of Lifestyle Anarchism 164 8 Libertarian Municipalism Introduction 172 The New Municipal Agenda 173 9 Dialectical Naturalism Introduction 197 Objectively Grounded Ethics 199 A Philosophical Naturalism 203 Ecologizing the Dialectic 218 10 Reason and History Introduction 225 History, Civilization, and Progress 226 Permissions 238 Index 239 Acknowledgments The idea for this reader initially came from David Goodway, who, one sunny afternoon in May 1992, sat down with Bookchin, Gideon Kossoff, and myself in an attic in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to draft a table of contents. Although the present book bears only the faintest resemblance to the one we sketched that afternoon, its origins do lie in this meeting. Goodway has my warm thanks for setting the wheels in motion. I am immensely grateful to Dimitri Roussopoulos for his permission to reprint from works issued by his press, Black Rose Books; and to Ramsey Kanaan for his permission to use the materials published under the auspices of A.K. Press. Heartfelt thanks as well to Steve Cook and Jane Greenwood of Cassell for their support for this project. Peter Zegers commented helpfully on the manuscript. My greatest debt, however, is to Murray Bookchin himself, my companion, who encouraged me to take on this project. Rereading his writings, for this book, has reminded me yet again that it is a privilege to be associated with him. List of Sources 1 An Ecological Society Decentralization: Selected from Our Synthetic Environment, under the pseudonym Lewis Herber (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962), pp. 237-45. The British edition of this book was published by Jonathan Cape (London, 1963 ); a revised paperback edition was published by Harper Colophon Books, under the name Murray Bookchin (New York, 1974). Anarchism and Ecology: From "Ecology and Revolutionary Thought," under the pseudonym Lewis Herber, Comment [NY] (1964). This essay was republished in Anarchy [UK] 69, vol. 6 (1966); and in Murray Bookchin, Post-Scarcity Anarchism (San Francisco: Ramparts Books, 1971; London: Wildwood House, 1974; and Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1986). This selection comes from Post-Scarcity Anarchism, pp. 76-82. The New Technology and the Human Scale: From "Towards a Liberatory Technology," in Comment [N.Y.] (1965). Republished in Anarchy [UK] 78, vol. 7 (1967) and in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971, 1974, 1986), from which this selection comes, pp. 106-12. I have removed most of the (often dated) technical material from this and the following selection. Ecological Technology: From ibid., pp. 113-30. Social Ecology: From Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire Books, 1982), pp. 20-5. Second edition published by Black Rose Books (Montreal, 1991). LIST OF SOURCES ix 2 Nature, First and Second Images of First Nature: From "What Is Social Ecology?" in Murray Bookchin, The Modern Crisis (Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1986; and Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1987), pp. 52, 55-62. This essay was originally a seminar lecture presented at the University of Frankfurt (Germany) in 1984. Participatory Evolution: From "Freedom and Necessity in Nature," in Murray Bookchin, The Philosophy of Social Ecology, revised edition (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1995), pp. 77-81. This essay was originally published in Alternatives, val. 13, no. 4 (November 1986); it was heavily revised for the 1995 edition of The Philosophy of Social Ecology. Society as Second Nature: From Murray Bookchin, Remaking Society: Pathways to a Green Future (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1989; Boston: South End Press, 1990), pp. 25-30, 35-9. On Biocentrism: From Murray Bookchin, Re-enchanting Humanity (London: Cassell, 1995), pp. 100-4. 3 Organic Society Usufruct, Complementarity, and the Irreducible Minimum: From The Ecology of Freedom (1982), pp. 48-9, 50-2, and 143-5. Romanticizing Organic Society: From "Twenty Years Later ... ,"the introduction to the revised edition of The Ecology of Freedom ( 1991 ), pp. xvii-xix, xxxviii, xxxix-xliv, xlv-xlvii, xlviii, il-li. 4 The Legacy of Domination The Emergence of Hierarchy: From The Ecology of Freedom ( 1982), pp. 74-87. The Rise of the State: From Murray Bookchin, The Rise of Urbanization and the Decline of Citizenship (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1987), pp. 138-46. Republished in Canada as Urbanization Without Cities by Black Rose Books (Montreal, 1992); and republished with revisions as From Urbanization to Cities by Cassell (London, 1995). This selection is taken from pp. 129-36 of the latter edition. The Rise of Capitalism: From Urbanization (1987 and 1992), pp. 201-7; in the 1995 Cassell edition, pp. 181-6. The Market Society: From The Ecology of Freedom (1982), pp. 135-9. X LIST OF SOURCES 5 Scarcity and Post-Scarcity Conditions of Freedom: From "Post-Scarcity Anarchism" (1967), in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 33-5, 37-40. The Problem of Want and Work: From "Toward a Liberatory Technology" (1965), in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 89-94. Cybernation and Automation: From "Toward a Liberatory Technology" (1965), in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 95-105. Technology for Life: From "Toward a Liberatory Technology" (1965), in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 130-9. The Fetishization of Needs: From The Ecology of Freedom (1982), pp. 67-72. 6 Marxism Marxism and Domination: This selection combines excerpts from The Ecology of Freedom (1982), pp. 64-5, and from "Marxism as Bourgeois Sociology" Comment [ns], vol. 1, no. 2 (Feb. 1979). Republished in Toward an Ecological Society (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1980), pp. 203-6. Marxism and Leninism: From "Listen, Marxist!" (1969), in Post­ Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 181-5, 198-208. 7 Anarchism The Two Traditions- Anarchism: From "Listen, Marxist!" (1969), in Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), pp. 208-20. Anarchy and Libertarian Utopias: From Remaking Society (1989, 1990), pp. 117-22, 124-6. Cultures of Revolt: From From Urbanization to Cities (1987), pp. 211-15; in the 1995 Cassell edition, pp. 189-92. Spanish Anarchism- The Collectives: This selection combines excerpts from "Overview of the Spanish Libertarian Movement" (1974) and "After Fifty Years" (1985), both in Murray Bookchin, To Remember Spain (Edinburgh and San Francisco: A.K. Press, 1995), pp. 9-14,26-7, 43-4. "Overview" was originally published as "Reflections on Spanish Anarchism" in Our Generation, vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 1974); it was republished (in part) as the introductory essay to Sam Dolgoff, The Anarchist Collectives: Workers Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution 1936-39 (New York: Free Life Editions, and Montreal: Black Rose Books, both 1974). "After Fifty Years" was originally LIST OF SOURCES XI published as "The Spanish Civil War, 1936," in New Politics 1 (Spring 1986).
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