Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism

by Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman (Preface by), Barry Pateman (Introduction)

Overview

A compelling work to be studied and applied to new conditions each generation.

An exposition of anarchism by one of its greatest propagandists and clearest thinkers. In a conversational style, Berkman discusses society as it now exists, the need for anarchism, and the methods for bringing it about. His primary goal for writing the book was to dispel the misinformation concerning the aspirations of anarchists in the minds of average people. The secondary goal was to reexamine the movement after the Russian Revolution and to promote the fact that authoritarian methods cannot lead to liberty, indeed: methods and aims must be identical to ensure lasting equality and freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849355933
Publisher:	AK Press
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Series:	Working Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Alexander Berkman (1870–1936) was a leading writer and participant in the twentieth-century anarchist movement. The young, idealistic Berkman practiced "propaganda by deed" attempting to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892. While imprisoned, he wrote the classic tale of prison life Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist. After his release, Berkman edited Emma Goldman's Mother Earth and his own paper The Blast! When he was deported from New York City to his native Russia in 1919, and saw firsthand the failure of the Bolshevik revolution, Berkman dedicated himself to writing his now quintessential political primer, Now and After.

Emma Goldman (1869–1940) immigrated to the United States from Russia as a teenager before being deported in 1919 for her revolutionary activities. She spent her adult life writing, lecturing, and struggling on behalf of the anarchist ideal. Goldman edited Mother Earth and wrote numerous essays and books, including Living My Life and My Disillusionment in Russia.

Barry Pateman is a former Associate Editor at the Emma Goldman Papers. He is coeditor of Alexander Berkman's Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist as well as Emma Goldman's Anarchism and Other Essays and is a member of the Kate Sharpley Library Collective.

Alexander Berkman (1870–1936) was a leading writer and participant in the twentieth-century anarchist movement. The young, idealistic Berkman practiced "propaganda by deed" attempting to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892. While imprisoned, he wrote the classic tale of prison life Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist. After his release, Berkman edited Emma Goldman's Mother Earth and his own paper, The Blast! When he was deported from New York City to his native Russia in 1919, and saw firsthand the failure of the Bolshevik revolution, Berkman dedicated himself to writing his now quintessential political primer, Now and After. 
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) immigrated to the United States from Russia as a teenager before being deported in 1919 for her revolutionary activities. She spent her adult life writing, lecturing, and struggling on behalf of the anarchist ideal. Goldman edited Mother Earth and wrote numerous essays and books, including Living My Life and My Disillusionment in Russia. 
Barry Pateman is a former Associate Editor at the Emma Goldman Papers. He is coeditor of Alexander Berkman's Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist as well as Emma Goldman's Anarchism and Other Essays and is a member of the Kate Sharpley Library Collective.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Working Classics Edition, by Barry Pateman

Preface to the 1937 edition, by Emma Goldman

Foreword to the 1937 Edition

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Do You Want Out of Life?

Chapter 2: The Wage System

Chapter 3: Law and Government

Chapter 4: How the System Works

Chapter 5: Unemployment

Chapter 6: War?

Chapter 7: Church and School

Chapter 8: Justice

Chapter 9: Can The Church Help You?

Chapter 10: Reformer and Politician

Chapter 11: The Trade Union

Chapter 12: Whose Is the Power?

Chapter 13: Socialism

Chapter 14: The February Revolution

Chapter 15: Between February and October

Chapter 16: The Bolsheviki

Chapter 17: Revolution and Dictatorship

Chapter 18: The Dictatorship at Work

Chapter 19: Is Anarchism Violence?

Chapter 20: What is Anarchism?

Chapter 21: Is Anarchy Possible?

Chapter 22: Will Communist Anarchism Work?

Chapter 23: Non-Communist Anarchists

Chapter 24: Why Revolution?

Chapter 25: The Idea is the Thing

Chapter 26: Preparation

Chapter 27: Organization of Labor for the Social Revolution

Chapter 28: Principles and Practice

Chapter 29: Consumption and Exchange

Chapter 30: Production

Chapter 31: Defense of the Revolution

Editorial Reviews

"Among the best introductions to the ideas of anarchism in the English language." —Stuart Christie, author of Granny Made Me an Anarchist

"A lucid and gifted writer with a firm and fluent command of the subject." —Paul Avrich, coauthor of Sasha and Emma

"All such people need a primer of Anarchism—an ABC, as it were, that would teach them the rudimentary principles of Anarchism and whet their appetites for something more profound. Now and After was intended to serve this purpose. That it has fulfilled its purpose no one who has read this little book will deny." —Emma Goldman, from the preface

From the Publisher