I’m a self-identified anarchist and marxist. His theories are foundational, but he’s been dead 143 years so unless you’re some fundamentalist weirdo you’re adapting his theories, not wielding them like scripture.
Post-Scarcity Anarchism was my introduction to him, it’s a collection of mid-life essays on a variety of early ideas that would later coalesce into his larger themes like social ecology and communalism (One of them is actually about updating Marxism). I found it accessible and exciting in the same way that Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread is.
I’ve yet to check it out but I’ve heard multiple times that The Murray Bookchin Reader, a later collection of essays, is perhaps the best.
The Ecology of Freedom is considered his magnum opus as it’s the longest and contains some of the most developed versions of his ideas, but IMO I wouldn’t start with it as it’s a rather dense and somewhat less accessible. For a new reader, Social Ecology and Communalism is a more succinct exploration of the same topics.
You hear that Anarchists? The Marxists are calling you liars! /s
I’m a self-identified anarchist and marxist. His theories are foundational, but he’s been dead 143 years so unless you’re some fundamentalist weirdo you’re adapting his theories, not wielding them like scripture.
He’s an economist, his economic theories hold up today.
Not sure what it has to do with history though, there’s a lot of history that happened before him.
Bakunin says “what?”
Bookchin says yo
That’s actually somebody I’ve not read any of yet despite being on the list for some time. Any particular recommendations?
Post-Scarcity Anarchism was my introduction to him, it’s a collection of mid-life essays on a variety of early ideas that would later coalesce into his larger themes like social ecology and communalism (One of them is actually about updating Marxism). I found it accessible and exciting in the same way that Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread is.
I’ve yet to check it out but I’ve heard multiple times that The Murray Bookchin Reader, a later collection of essays, is perhaps the best.
The Ecology of Freedom is considered his magnum opus as it’s the longest and contains some of the most developed versions of his ideas, but IMO I wouldn’t start with it as it’s a rather dense and somewhat less accessible. For a new reader, Social Ecology and Communalism is a more succinct exploration of the same topics.
Don’t worry we’re used to doing all the work and getting shot in the back.