Tue 26th Nov 7pm London - Reading Group 05 – Anarchism and The Black Revolution

For our fifth reading group we will be reading Anarchism and The Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. Ervin was a Vietnam war conscript who became an anti-war activist, went on to join the Black Panthers, and became an anarchist while in prison for high-jacking an aircraft to escape to Cuba after being alleged in an attempt to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. Anarchism and The Black Revolution, written in prison and first published in 1979, is not only a classic work of late 20th century anarchism, but brings a black perspective to anarchism that has often been missing in a movement dominated by the ideas of white European thinkers.

This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the centre of the text, discussing capitalism and white supremacy, the differences between anarchism and Marxism, the anarchist critique of the state, police violence, the threat of fascism, and, as the title suggests, anarchism and the black revolution.

Free versions of Anarchism and The Black Revolution can be found on the Anarchist Library here [1] and our friends at Freedom Press here [2] have offered a 10% discount on physical copies for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs.

The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 26h of November, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. You are welcome to come and join in the discussion even if you have not finished the book, and if you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.

[1] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lorenzo-kom-boa-ervin-anarchism-...
[2] https://freedompress.org.uk/product/anarchism-and-the-black-revolution/

https://solfednl.noblogs.org/post/2024/11/04/reading-group-05-anarchism-...
http://solfed.org.uk/north-london/tue-26th-nov-7pm-london-reading-group-...

Tue 29th Oct 7pm London - Reading Group 04 – Palestine, Mon Amour

After an initial run of Anarcho-Syndicalist theory and practice, we are going to change things up and read something from a different perspective for Octobers’s reading group. From this point on we will alternate from month to month between more syndicalist/workplace focussed books and more general anarchist and radical books, both to add some variety and to provoke debate.
We will be reading at Palestine, Mon Amour, by Alfredo M. Bonanno, aiming to discuss what has changed since it was written, and what has remained the same. Description from Active Distribution here [1]:
“A large collection of short writings on the ever topical, and thorny topic of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Originally published from 1988-1995, they are more mediations on the likes of Jewish identity, the role of the Kibbutz, and the need for an overall Israeli-Palestinian insurrection, than commentary on current events.”
A free versions of Palestine, Mon Amour is available from the Anarchist Library here [2], and although we are not sure if this pamphlet is currently in print, Freedom Press have offered a 10% discount on physical copies of books for the reading group, so we will still them a shout out just for being cool. Go get books from them here [3].
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 29th of October, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.
[1] https://www.activedistributionshop.org/product/palestine-mon-amour-by-al...
[2] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alfredo-m-bonanno-palestine-mon-...
[3] https://freedompress.org.uk/
https://solfednl.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/26/reading-group-04-palestine-...

Tue 24th Sep 7pm London - Reading Group 03 – Practical Pamphlets - Workmates, Anarcho-Syndicalism in Puerto Real

For our third reading group we will be moving away from history and theory and looking at modern forms of anarcho-syndicalist practice, and instead of reading a single book we will be reading three pamphlets that cover different struggles, with the aim of discussing what kind of tactics are needed to build a truly radical working class movement.
We will be looking at both of Solidarity Federation’s Theory and Practice pamphlets; Workmates, which describes building a parallel organisation alongside a traditional union on the London underground, and Anarcho-Syndicalism in Puerto Real, which describes how a workplace dispute led to broader community organising. We will also be looking at Seattle Solidarity Network’s The Seattle Solidarity Network: A New Kind of Working Class Social Movement, which describes forms of working class resistance that do not rely on a strong workplace presence.
Free versions of the Theory and Practice pamphlets can be found on the Anarchist Library here [1] and here [2], and our friends at Freedom Press here [3] have offered a 10% discount on physical copies for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs. A New Kind of Working Class Social Movement is only available online, and can be found a LibCom here [4].
The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 24th of September, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you have the money, please bring a donation for the space.
[1] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/solidarity-federation-workmates
[2] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/solidarity-federation-iwa-anarch...
[3] https://freedompress.org.uk/
[4] https://libcom.org/article/seattle-solidarity-network-new-kind-working-c...

Tue 27th Aug 7pm London - Reading Group 02 – Fighting for Ourselves, by SolFed IWA

Reading Group 02 – Fighting for Ourselves

For our second reading group we will be reading Fighting for Ourselves. Written by members of SolFed, this book looks at different currents within the workers movement, what went wrong during the 20th century, what we can learn from those failures, and chart a possible way forward in the 21st century. From the back cover:

“We are living in times of unprecedented attacks on our living conditions on all fronts, of rising social tensions and sometimes violent eruptions of class conflict. And yet, if anything, the surprise is not that there have been riots and the odd strike, but that there have been so few. How are we to make sense of this? How are we to fight back, and take the initiative? Against capitalism, what do we want to put in its place? The 20th century discredited state socialism, and rightly so. But with it, a whole history of international class struggle, of revolutions and counter-revolutions, victories and defeats, spontaneous uprisings and vast workers’ organisation has been eclipsed too.

This pamphlet aims to recover some of that lost history, in order to set out a revolutionary strategy for the present conditions.”

A free version of the book can be found on the Anarchist Library here, and our friends at Freedom Press here have offered a 10% discount on books for the reading group. Just quote “London SolFed Reading Group” or pop into Freedom for your general radical book buying needs.

The reading group will be meeting on Tuesday the 27th of August, 19:00, at Well Space, Hackney, 241 Well Street, E9 6RG. If you can spare the money, please bring a donation for the space.

Tue 30th July 7pm London - Reading Group 01 - Anarcho-syndicalism - Theory and Practice

We are starting a new reading group, and for our first book we will be reading Anarcho-syndicalism: Theory and Practice by Rudolf Rocker. Written during the Spanish Civil War, this book is a short explanation of classic anarcho-syndicalism at its height, and is a good introduction to the general tradition of politics that the Solidarity Federation comes out of.