anarchist publishing Est. 1886
Catalogue 2021 wELCOME TO THE FREEDOM CATALOGUE
Anarchism is almost certainly the most interesting political movement to have slipped under the radar of public discourse. It is rarely pulled up in today’s media as anything other than a curio or a threat. But over the course of 175 years since Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s declaration “I am an anarchist” this philosophy of direct action and free thought has repeatedly changed the world. From Nestor Makhno’s legendary war on both Whites and Reds in 1920s Ukraine, to the Spanish Civil War, to transformative ideals in the 1960s and street-fought antifascism in the 1980s, anarchism remains a vital part of any rounded understanding of humanity’s journey from past to present, let alone the possibilities for its future. For most of that time there has been Freedom Featuring books from Peter Kropotkin, Marie Press. Founded in 1886, brilliant thinkers past and Louise Berneri, William Blake, Errico Malatesta, Colin present have published through Freedom, allowing Ward and many more, this catalogue offers much us to present today a kaleidoscope of classic works of what you might need to understand a fascinating from across the modern age. creed.
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frontlist and upcoming 4-5 top sellers 6 • A Normal Life • Invisible • Why Work? 3rd Edition • The Trouble With National • Memoirs of a Revolutionist Action • What is Anarchist Communism? • Anarchism and The State • Fighting Women • Class Struggle and Mental • Workers in Stalin’s Russia Health • Anarchism is Movement • ABC of Anarchism • Our Masters Are Helpless backlist activism, Anti-fascism 7 housing & environment 13 • Beating The Fascists • Deep Ecology • Bumping Back • Fields, Factories and Workshops • Conquest of Violence • Freedom to Roam • Strip The Experts introductions to anarchism 14-15 classic freedom press essays 8 • About Anarchism • Charlotte Wilson: Anarchist Essays • Anarchy • Act For Yourselves • Anarchism & Anarcho-Syndicalism • A Decade of Anarchy • At The Cafe • Mutual Aid • Everything You Wanted to Know • Left & WWII About Anarchism But Were Afraid to Ask culture 9 • Fighting For Ourselves • Re-Reading Read • Summer in the Park Memoirs 15 • William Blake • Makhnovist Movement • Out of the Ghetto entertainment, satire 10 • Anarchist Quiz Book society 16-17 • March To Death • Child in the City • The Last Capitalist • Child in the Country • Wildcats (various) • Love, Sex and Power in Later Life • Social Policy history 11-12 • Thinner City • A Beautiful Idea • Tradition of Workers Control • Anarchism in London • Enrages the state 17 • Leaving the 20th Century • Neither East Nor West • Mayday • Seizure of State Power • Poll Tax Rebellion • Slow Burning Fuse • Zapata 4 2021 titles
a normal life by vassilis palaiokostas
A bestseller in his native country, this is the Freedom Press, nov 1, 2021 official autobiography of famed “Greek Robin ISBN: 978-1-904491-41-5 Hood” who has robbed millions from the rich b&w, 352PP and given it all to the poor. With decades of est rrp: £15.99 activity under his belt, Palaiokostas is perhaps best known for his daring prison escapes — including not once, but twice by helicopter.
why work third edition collected essays, with foreword by shiri shalmy
The nature of work and our relationship to it is evolving more rapidly than ever before. Freedom Press, may, 2021 This third edition of collected essays features ISBN: 978-1-904491-38-5 both a new foreword from union and co-op B&W Approx 184PP activist Shiri Shalmy and three new essays rrp: £7.50 discussing our modern circumstance. memoirs of a revolutionist out now by peter kropotkin
Perhaps history’s most important anarchist Freedom Press, apr, 2021 thinker, Kropotkin was born an imperial ISBN: 978-1-904491-37-8 Russian prince. Charting his involvement in b&w, 356PP epochal historic moments and the upheaval of rrp: £13 all that was, this autobiography is a beautiful bringing together of his memories and philosophical roots.
what is anarchist communism What is by brian morris Anarchist Communism? This short work summarising what you should know about the history, philosophy Freedom Press, AUG 2021 and background of anarchist communism is ISBN: 978-1-904491-39-2 a perfect introduction for anyone looking to b&w, A6 understand an often misunderstood political Details tba movement. Brian Morris 5 front list fighting women by isabella lorusso
This series of interviews with participants in the Spanish Civil War offers a unique insight Freedom Press, oct 2020 into the two-front revolution women were ISBN: 978-1-904491-35-4 trying to achieve in the 1930s, fighting fascism b&w, 300 pp while confronting men whose commitment to rrp: £10 liberation too often stopped at their front door. workers in stalin’s russia by marie louise berneri
Berneri’s precise and well-researched Freedom Press, dec 2020 investigation of working class and peasant life ISBN: 978-1-904491-36-1 in 1930s-40s USSR is annotated and updated b&w, 124 pp in this edition. As an anarchist she uses the rrp: £7.50 Stalinists’ own words to strip back the regime’s revolutionary pretensions and expose its hypocrisies. anarchism is movement by Tomás Ibáñez, foreword by peter gelderloos
The child of Spanish revolutionaries who fled to France in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil Freedom Press, nov 2019 War, Tomás Ibáñez has been active in anarchist ISBN: 978-1-904491-33-0 politics since the 1960s as an activist and thinker. b&w, 150 pp After a lifetime of struggle, this book distils his rrp: £7.50 thoughts on anarchism in times to come. our masters are helpless by george barrett
George Barrett was one of the anarchists’ key Freedom Press, jun 2019 organisers through the period of the Great ISBN: 978-1-904491-32-3 Unrest, a syndicalist-led uprising which shook b&w, 140 pp Britain shortly before the first world war rrp: £7.50 began. Written mainly between 1910-1915, this selection of essays offers a unique political view from the time and remains incisive today. 6 other top sellers
invisible by andrew fraser Freedom Press, Jan 2019 Many writers and books talk about the homeless. ISBN: 978-1-904491-31-6 Andrew has direct experience. His writing on life as a b&w, 208pp rough sleeper, interwoven through this scorching diary rrp: £10 piece, offers a clear-eyed truth from the gutters of Britain’s housing crisis.
the trouble with national action by mark hayes This short work examines the neo-nazi Freedom Press, oct 2019 organisation’s emergence in Britain in 2013, its ISBN: 978-1-904491-34-7 evolution until it was proscribed in 2016 and the A6 B&W impact such reliance on State mechanisms is Further details tbc having on both far-right and left-wing politics. anarchism and the state by peter kropotkin Freedom Press, 2017 In the three essays presented here, political ISBN: 979-1-904491-26-2 philosopher Peter Kropotkin attempted to distil his B&W, 100 PP insights into brief but brilliant essays on The State, RRP: £6 Anarchism and the ideology for which he became a founding name — Anarchist-Communism.
class struggle and mental health by LIBCOM.ORG CONTRIBUTORS This thoughtful work brings together accounts Freedom Press, 2015 from anarchists around the globe about what it ISBN: 978-1-904491-24-8 means to suffer from mental illness as an activist b&w, 44 pp and what we, as individuals and a movement, can rrp: £4 do about it. abc of anarchism by Alexander Berkman Freedom Press, 2006 Alexander Berkman answers some of the charges made First Published 1929 against the political creed and presents the case for ISBN: 978-0-900384-03-4 communist anarchism. Thorough and well constructed, b&w, 147 pp it is today regarded as a classic statement of the cause’s rrp: £6 goals and methods. 7 backlist
Activism, anti-fascism
Beating the Fascists by Sean Birchall A compelling account of the activities of Anti- Freedom Press, 2010 Fascist Action by those on the frontline. This ISBN: 978-1-904491-12-5 organised group of ordinary working class people B&W, 412 PP took the fight to the far right during the 1980s-90s. rrp: £15 They waged a nationwide street war – and won. Bumping Back by L Hobley Niccolo Press, 2008 Practical ideas on how to approach a target and ISBN: 978-0-944061-16-5 conduct surveillance without being seen, how to B&W, 239 PP approach and leave during an action and, if all goes RRP: £9.50 wrong, how to escape. Along the way are top tips, essential skills and very bad puns.
the Conquest of Violence edited by bart de ligt This series of reprints of classic anarchist texts PLUTO Press, 1989 from the mid-19th century to 1989 offers broad ISBN: 978-1-853050-57-2 access to the roots of this political perspective, to B&W, 306 PP the history of Libertarian thought and action and rrp: £12 contemporary ideological developments. Strip the Experts by Brian Martin Freedom Press, 1991 This booklet is designed for people who oppose a gang ISBN: 978-0-900384-63-8 of scientific experts and want to challenge them. The b&w, 69 pp various methods described show how a small number rrp: £1.95 of critics can mount remarkably effective challenges to a powerful scientific Establishment. p8 classic freedom essays
Act for Yourselves – Freedom articles1886-1907 Edited by Nicholas Walter & Heiner Becker Freedom Press, 1998 A score of articles which famed political thinker Peter ISBN: 978-0-900384-38-7 Kropotkin contributed to the anarchist paper Freedom b&w, 131 pp from 1886-1907. During the same period he was writing rrp: £5 articles in the French anarchist press which were later collected as a well-known book, The Conquest of Bread.
Charlotte Wilson: Anarchist Essays edited by nicolas walter A selection of political essays by Charlotte Wilson, Freedom Press, 2000 principal founder of Freedom Press. She had been ISBN: 978-0-900384-99-9 writing about anarchism in the socialist press since b&w, 95 pp 1884 before starting her own title, and she led the rrp: £5.95 anarchist fraction in the Fabian Society. A Decade of Anarchy (1961-1970) Edited by Colin Ward Freedom Press, 1987 Over the course of its run Anarchy produced some ISBN: 978-0-900384-37-9 4,000 pages of often groundbreaking work. This b&w, 283 pp selection of the very best essays, selected by editor rrp: £5 Colin Ward, is a must-read for paradigm-challenging theories that came out of the imprint.
The Left and World War II edited by vernon richards Starting with the article Communist Party Politics Freedom Press, 1998 Exposed from War Commentary in November (First published 1987) 1939, Richards selects a series of works savagely ISBN: 978-0-900384-39-5 analysing the Left at war. Trade Unions, Eire, B&W, 126 PP | RRP: £5.95 Pacifism and the ILP are all dealt with. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by peter kropotkin, intro by donald rouum, preface by iain mckay Freedom Press, 2009 The classical anarchist-communist’s most influential (first published 1902) work, first published in 1902. A challenge to classical ISBN: 978-1-904491-10-1 Darwinism, Kropotkin argues that in nature, co- B&W, 301 pP operation is as important as competition. RRP: £15 p9 culture
Rereading Read edited by Michael Paraskos From lowly beginnings Herbert Read grew to be Freedom Press, 2007 an important figure in the worlds of anarchism ISBN: 978-1-904491-08-1 and the arts. Paraskos’s compilation of essays with b&w, 237 pp colour illustrations explores all aspects of his work rrp: £15 and political thought. A Summer in the Park by Tony Allen, foreword by Ken Campbell Freedom Press, 2004 Nothing can prepare you for the Hyde Park speaking ISBN: 978-1-904491-04-9 experience. The close proximity of other meetings and B&W, 203 PP the robust heckling tradition make Speakers’ Corner RRP: £8.50 unlike any other forum of public performance. Allen recalls his year there talking about anarchism.
William Blake: Visionary Anarchist by Peter Marshall William Blake was a poet, painter, engraver and Freedom Press, 1994 visionary. Considered eccentric, if not mad, in his (First published 1988) own day, he now appears as a key figure in English ISBN: 978-1-904491-09-5 Romanticism. But he had his feet on the ground and b&w, 71 pp | rrp: £6 was involved in the central issues of his time. p10 entertainment, satire
Anarchist Quiz Book compiled by Martin Howard, illustrations by paul petard Freedom Press, 2006 Some say that it should not be the highest priority ISBN: 978-1-904491-07-3 of a revolutionary movement to ask itself obscure B&W, 97 PP A6 questions, but it is fun, and if it encourages an RRP: £5 enquiring mind, then all the better. So agitate, educate and organise, all in a handy Q&A format.
The Last Capitalist: A Dream of a New Utopia by Steve Cullen Anne Riordan is a fan of the hard-boiled detective Freedom Press, 1996 novels, but in a future British society they don’t ISBN: 978-0-900384-82-4 exist, swept away by the lifestyle of people living B&W, 91 pp in federated communes. So she undertakes a RRP: £3.50 pilgrimage to find the last of the capitalists. March To Death by john olday Freedom Press, 1995 This book of anti-war drawings, with quotations by ISBN: 0-900384-80-8 Marie Louise Berneri, was published when the war was (first published 1943) at its height. Fervently anti-Nazi, it also opposed the B&W, 83PP regimentation of society, the relentless propaganda, rrp: £3.50 the way the elite profited.
wildcat comics series by donald rooum Over four decades Freedom press, 1986-2011 Donald Rooum ISBNs by colour: charted the anarchist Red: 978-0-900384-30-1 | £1.95 movement, its ideals orange: 978-0-900384-60-8 | £3 and its responses Purple: 978-0-900384-73-5 | £1.95 to current events through his Wildcat L blue: 978-0-900384-97-2 | £1.95 comic strip. This blue: 978-1-904491-14-9 | £3 series collates the yellow: 978-1-904491-01-4 | £3 best of his work, with green: 978-0-900384-47-6 | £1.95 introductions and B&W, 48 pp focused collections covering the anarchist ABCs, bosses, the Millennium, anti-nuclear activism and more. p11 history the anarchists in london 1935-55 by albert meltzer At the beginning of the 1930s British anarchism Freedom Press, may 2018 was barely clinging on. By the mid-1960s however (First published 1976) all that had changed, with a newly invigorated ISBN: 978-1-904491-29-3 movement. Meltzer tells the story of his part in b&w, 108 pp | rrp: £7 those in-between years. a beautiful idea: History of freedom press by rob ray Freedom Press, oct 2018 Since 1886 Freedom Press has printed some of the ISBN: 978-1-904491-30-9 world’s most important libertarian thinkers. The oldest b&w, 300 pp anarchist publishing house in the English-speaking rrp: £9.50 world has survived wars, political trials, police raids, fascist attacks and innumerable internal crises.
Enrages AND SITUATIONISTS by Rene Vienet Published for the first time in English, this is the autonomedia, 1997 first-hand, insider’s account of the role played by ISBN: 0-946061-05-X two radical student groups in the revolutionary B&W, 158PP events that rocked all of France in the month of rrp: £6.95 May, 1968. Leaving the 20th Century edited by chris gray Freedom Press, 1998 Leaving the 20th Century was the first collection of (First published 1974) Situationist writing in English. Chris Gray was himself ISBN: 0-946061-15-7 a member of the Situationist International. Long out A4 B&W, 136PP of print it is time for a new generation of readers to rrp: £9.90 experience this remarkable book.
The May Days: Barcelona 1937 by Augustin Souchy, Jose Peirats, Burnett Bolloten and Emma Goldman Most academics treat the May Days in Barcelona Freedom Press, 1998 1937 as “a minor incident in the Spanish Civil War” ISBN: 978-0-900384-39-5 in spite of the fact that casualties – 500 killed and B&W, 126 PP 1,000 wounded – were actually greater that in the RRP: £5.95 first week of the military uprising in Barcelona. p12: Poll Tax rebellion BY DANNY BURNS AK Press, 1992 The inside story of the biggest mass movements in ISBN: 978-1873176504 British history, which at its peak involved over 17 B&W, 208PP million people. Using the voices of those involved, it rrp: £4.95 describes the everyday organisation of the local Anti- Poll Tax Unions.
the slow burning fuse by John Quail, foreword & biographies by Nick heath John Quail’s history of the anarchist movement in Freedom Press, oct 2017 Britain from the 1880s-1930s offers unique insights (first published 1978) into a force that fascinated, horrified and helped ISBN: 978-1-904491-27-9 change the face of modern Britain. This new b&w, 404 pp | rrp: £13 edition features updated foreword & biographies. Zapata of Mexico by Peter E Newell Freedom Press, 2005 Zapata was a leading figure of the Mexican Revolution ISBN: 978-1-904491-05-7 of 1910. He fought for local communities against b&w, 211 pp landlords, treacherous politicians and exploitative rrp: £9.50 businesses. Under the slogan “land and liberty” he became the purest embodiment of Mexico’s revolution. p13 housing, environment` deep ecology & anarchism various This collection of essays from ecology thinkers Freedom Press, 2017 including Brian Morris. Chris Wilbert and Murray ISBN: 978-1-904491-28-6 Bookchin offers a thoughtful contribution to what B&W, 140 PP has belatedly become that most mainstream of rrp: £6.50 questions — how do we save ourselves? Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow By Peter Kropotkin, edited by colin ward Freedom Press, 1985 The famed political philospher’s vision of the ordering (First published 1898) of industrial society along communistic lines. This ISBN: 978-0-900384-28-8 work has been widely influential for anarchists and B&W, 205 PP non-anarchists alike, and Kropotkin’s deductions are RRP: £7.95 still controversial and revolutionary today. Freedom To Roam by Harold Sculthorpe These essays discuss problems encountered when Freedom Press, 1993 walking in the countryside, such as landowners ISBN: 978-0-900384-68-9 who would prefer to command exclusive use of B&W, 80 pp their land, large scale factory farmers, the MoD RRP: £3.50 and others who try and exclude walkers. p14: introductions to anarchism
About Anarchism by Nicolas Walter, introduction by Natasha Walter Freedom Press, 2002 Today, the word anarchism inspires both fear and (First published 1969) fascination. But few people understand what anarchists ISBN: 978-0-900384-90-5 believe, what anarchists want, and what anarchists B&W, 93 PP do. This incisive essay puts the case for anarchism as a RRP: £3.50 pragmatic political philosophy. ANARCHY by errico malatesta Malatesta was a warm-hearted anarchist of wide Freedom Press, 2009 influence, who said he considered Anarchy the (First published 1891) best thing he had written. A rebuttal to the notion ISBN: 978-0-904491-11-1 that anarchism equals chaos, this short series of B&W, 60 PP a6 | RRP: £5 explanations about anarchist thinking is a classic. ANARCHISM & ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM by RUDOLPH ROCKER, FOREWORD BY ROB RAY Freedom Press/solfed, 2014 A new edition of this classic with extensive notes. (First published 1949) Rocker remains one of the most important figures in the ISBN: 978-1-904491-22-4 history of anarchism, from his role organising against b&w, 44 pp sweatshop labour in 1900s London to helping found the rrp: £5 IWMA anarchist international. At the Cafe: Conversations on Anarchism by errico malatesta Originally written in the 1890s, this collection Freedom Press, 2005 was only translated in 2005, and charts debates ISBN: 978-1-904491-06-5 the author had at a local cafe in which he argued b&w, 157 pp the corner of anarchism. Malatesta put himself at rrp: £5 some risk to do so, as he was wanted by police. Everything You Wanted to Know About Anarchism by Simon Read REBEL Press, 2004 Anarchism is not chaos within a bloody struggle ISBN: 0-946061-10-6 for survival. That’s what we have at the moment. B&W, 64PP The pursuit of selfish interests. A state of total rrp: £3 disorganistation. The triumph of the strong over the weak. That’s what we have at the moment. p15
Fighting For Ourselves BY SOLIDARITY FEDERATION How are we to fight back, to take the initiative? SOLFED & FREEDOM, 2012 Against capitalism, what do we want to put in its ISBN: 978-1-904491-20-0 place? Solfed looks at anarcho-syndicalism and the B&W, 121PP class struggle, while setting about recovering lost rrp: £6 history in order to set out a revolutionary strategy.
memoirs
History of the Makhnovist Movement by Peter Arshinov Freedom Press, 2005 The Russian Revolution was a time when the old (first published 1923) order was swept away. Everything was changing and ISBN: 978-0-900384-40-9 in Ukraine Nestor Makhno’s anarchist army was able b&w, 275 pp to break the Whites. But nearby the Bolsheviks were rrp: £9.90 growing ... Out of the Ghetto by joe jacobs An East End Jewish militant, Jacobs’ superb PHOENIX Press, 1991 autobiography recounts his life during the General ISBN: 978-0-94898-418-1 Strike of 1926, through the Great Depression and B&W, 320PP into the fight against Mosley’s fascists. rrp: £15 p16: society
Child in the City by Colin Ward bedford Press, 1990 One of a pair of brilliantly researched pieces charting ISBN: 978-0-719912-59-8 the use of space by children, and the limits on their b&w, 217 pp lives brought by societal attitudes. Child in the City rrp: £7.95 draws together lessons from the slums of Bangladesh to the back streets of London.
Child in the Country by Colin Ward Following on from Child in the City, Ward documents bedford Press, 1990 the realities facing children in a rural area. The ISBN: 978-0-719912-90-3 decline of public transport, closures of village shops B&W, 208 PP & schools, lack of access to fields, woods and streams, RRP: £7.95 and the influx of affluent newcomers are analysed. Love, Sex and Power in Later Life by tony gibson Freedom Press, 1992 The revolution in sexual mores has largely bypassed ISBN: 978-0-900384-65-4 the needs of older people, with the emancipated B&W, 101 pp young often unable to accept that the old also have a RRP: £3.50 continuing need for sexual and emotional fulfillment. Tony Gibson sets out to redress that balance.
Social Policy: An Anarchist Response by Colin Ward Ward examines the welfare road we failed to take, Freedom Press, 2000 the hidden history of housing, water and the gift ISBN: 978-0-900384-98-0 relationship and looks forward to anarchism in the B&W, 96 PP 21st Century. RRP: £5
The Tradition of Workers’ Control by Geoffrey Ostergaard Freedom Press, 1997 Ostergaard makes the case for libertarian socialism ISBN: 978-0-900384-91-3 in the workplace, castigating the false “managerial B&W, 154 PP revolution” brought about by social democrats. A RRP: £6.95 hopeful piece, it picks out examples of workers’ control in modern industry. p17
WELCOME, Thinner City by colin ward Ward challenges our preconceptions about the NCVO Publications, 1989 historical past, and about the state of our cities ISBN: 0719912520 today. He shows, with a host of examples, that poor B&W, 128PP city dwellers can rehouse themselves, given the rrp: £5.99 access to credit that the affluent take for granted.
the state
Neither East Nor West: 1939-1948 by Marie-Louise Berneri, illustrations by john olday Freedom Press, 1988 Perceptive analysis of the politics and policies of WWII ISBN: 978-0-900384-42-5 and the following witch hunts in the West, repression b&w,192 pp in the East. Berneri was let off on a technicality in 1945 rrp: £4.50 during a high-profile free speech trial based on her trenchant wartime writings.
Seizure of State Power by M. Velli The Seizure of State Power first appeared in 1972 Phoenix Press, 1990 as part of Manual for Revolutionary Leaders and ISBN: 978-0-948984-23-5 offers a rather pointed how to for would-be Party B&W, 128PP builders. rrp: £7 p18:
other contacts
Our shop Freedom runs a bookshop in Whitechapel, and also sells both its own stock and many other anarchist titles at freedompress.org.uk. To get in touch email: [email protected]
Our news website Freedom runs the freedomnews.org.uk website, which updates daily with new content and hosts thousands of articles. Also hosted on the site is the Freedom Newspaper Archive, consisting of more than 1,300 papers from 1886 to present. To get in touch with the editorial team, email: [email protected]
Our paper Comes out twice a year, copy deadlines April 1st and September 1st. For submissions see above.
about us
Freedom was founded by a group of friends including Charlotte Wilson (left) and Peter Kropotkin, who were already publishing Freedom newspaper. It has operated, with short breaks, ever since and has been at its home in Tower Hamlets for the last 50 years. An independent, radical co-op controlled by its volunteers and part-time staff, Freedom runs Britain’s oldest anarchist publishing house and its largest bookshop. Alongside our own extensive back catalogue of classic works we stock thousands of books, newspapers and pamphlets on everything from history to sex, philosophy to workers’ struggles, fiction to anti-fascism, as well as the latest magazines, periodicals and newsletters from all the major anarchist and radical groups.