The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
This year’s first issue has the usual mix of articles, re-prints and reviews, starting with an evaluation of German Anarchist John Most (1846-1906) and the development of his politics. We show that in the years following his arrival in America, he was not a consistent anarchist in both tactics and vision of a social revolution. The latter reflected his Marxist-Blanquist past while the former – his advocacy of “propaganda by deed” – was due to misinformation on Bakunin spread by Marx and Engels. While he did help the emerging American revolutionary anarchist movement grow as well as becoming a consistent anarchist after 1887, his politics before that were in transition. We include a selection of writings from his anarchist period plus a report from The Alarm of one his speeches as well as The Beast of Property (1883), so that the anarchist and non-anarchist aspects of it can be seen.
We follow this by marking the 90th anniversary of the death of Alexander Berkman (1870-1936), a leading American anarchist who contributed to, and edited, Mother Earth and The Blast. Most famous for his much-reprinted (and re-titled!) classic introduction to Anarchism, Now and After: The ABC of Communist-Anarchism (1929), we include articles, pamphlets and letters written after his release from prison for the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Flick after he sent Pinkertons to smash the union at Homestead, killing nine union workers. While overshadowed by Emma Goldman, his contribution to anarchism was just as significant, as was his exposure of the failings of the Bolshevik Revolution in such works as The Bolshevik Myth (1925).
Berkman died just before the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution and so did not see the transformation which occurred, but Irish Republican Jack White (1879-1946) did and he was so impressed he became an anarchist. He worked with Emma Goldman and the comrades around Spain and the World to get the CNT-FAI international solidarity. We include all his writings which appeared in that journal and his 1937 pamphlet, The Meaning of Anarchism which is an excellent introduction to the subject.
Following this, we mark 120 years of the launch of Mother Earth by discussing its politics and debunking claims made that it somehow ignored the class struggle in favour of culture or lifestyle. To show this was not the case, we present a selection from its “Observations and Comments” column which discuss the labour and socialist movements of the time. As a monthly paper, it was difficult to include articles on current events and this column was the means by which it engaged with them, including making recommendations on pursuing syndicalist tactics in the class war. Needless to say, this commentary complemented numerous articles on syndicalism and industrial disputes.
Then come two re-printed articles to mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike written by two stalwarts of the British anarchist movements, Tom Brown and Albert Meltzer (a founder of Black Flag). The strike marked the end of the syndicalist influence which was so strong before the Russian Revolution. Suffice to say, while the general strike was a key aspect of anarchism since 1873 – as we discussed in a previous issue – the 1926 one more reflected Engels caricature of the idea. It has much to teach modern radicals, if only what to avoid.
We end with reviews – one of which indicates that the misinformation spread by Marx and Engels on Bakunin is still being repeated by Marxists – and our usual round-up of movement news, Parish Notices.
Finally, we have changed the typeface used in Black Flag from Times New Roman to Calibri as it is more accessible and because the Trump Administration does not like it.
Original translations which appear in Black Flag: Anarchist Review eventually appear on-line here:
https://anarchistfaq.org/translations/index.html
This year we aim to continue to cover a range of people and subjects. These will hopefully include Guy Aldred, the Haymarket events, the Spanish Revolution amongst others. The next issue, however, will be a special to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Bakunin.
However, this work needs help otherwise at some stage it will end. Contributions from libertarian socialists are welcome on these and other subjects! We are a small collective and always need help in writing, translating and gathering material, so please get in touch if you want to see Black Flag Anarchist Review continue.
This issue’s editorial and contents are here: https://anarchistfaq.org/anarcho/black-flag-anarchist-review-spring-2026-issue-now-out/
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