Anarchist Discussion Forums

I was also trying to find a system that could function properly while preventing anyone from actually tracking the borrowers (except the special loans). An unpatriotable library. But where I live the local ILL fees are very high while the selection of anarchist works is practically nil.

[color=blue]Maybe we should set up an anarchist library system. I mean, I support the infoshops but quite often I just want to read a book once - or only use it for reference - and buying the thing is a bit ridiculous. Having a nice library which provides an eclectic variety of anarchist and non-anarchist material might attract some more people.</font color=blue> <br> <br>Actually, I find I'm able to get access to many anarchist works using interlibrary loan through my local library.

IMO, the best description of Orwell's politics would be "democratic socialist." He was basically an authoritarian socialist with a libertarian streak. Even though he wrote favorably about Anarchists in Homage to Catalonia, he was never an anarchist and stayed mainly in anti-Leninist state socialist parties. In the Spanish Civil War he fought with the POUMT militias (Party of Marxist Unity - anti-Stalin Leninists). He even criticized anarchism at a few points. After World War Two he gave lists of Leninists to the authorities to be blacklisted.

[color=blue]why don't you start treating people with respect</font color=blue> <br> <br>Why don't you.

Yeah, i mean, disobeying kev like that... <br> <br>*rolls eyes everywhere*

why don't you start treating people with respect

hahaha, that was pretty funny din. <br> <br>You guys know Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War right?

[color=green]Din, I order you to stop posting messages the same minute in which I do!</font color=green> <br> <br>Never!!! [img]/wwwthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Great, now no one will believe in my great divining powers. <br> <br>Din, I order you to stop posting messages the same minute in which I do!

Or else! <br> <br>lol, in my experience anarchists don't generally take well to commands, your statement would probably have the opposite of your desired effect. But heck if I know anything.

[color=green]drop the fucking attitude now</font color=green> <br> <br>Yes, Sir! <br>Aye-Aye, Sir! <br>Affirmatively, Sir! <br>Unquestionably, Sir! <br>Fucking Right Now, Sir! <br>So Obediently Blinding, Sir! <br>Most Passively Submissive, Sir! <br>Loyally and Emotionally Yours, Sir! <br>Severely and Sexually Subjugated, Sir! <br>Still Digilently Disciplined and Dominated, Sir! <br>Always and Forever in an Orderly Agreement, Sir! <br>With a Substantially Servile and Meek Comformity, Sir! <br>Continuously and Considerably Compelled and Coerced, Sir!

drop the fucking attitude now

[color=green]Orwell is an ambiguous author within an ambiguous movement which most of the people here (as Emma and I have certainly noticed - it was you, Emma, right?) consider the epitome of authoritarianism</font color=green> <br> <br>The epitome of authoritarianism? You have got to be kidding. What movement is this? Fascism? Stalinism? I would have thought it clear that Orwell was firmly on the side of the libertarians and not the authoritarians.

Orwell is an ambiguous author within an ambiguous movement which most of the people here (as Emma and I have certainly noticed - it was you, Emma, right?) consider the epitome of authoritarianism. My point, I think remains; Orwell was a state-socialist author, but also very much a dissident state-socialist author with an anarchist bent. Art and the state do not go together... <br> <br>"[color=red]If, for the better development of the forces of material production, the revolution must build a </font color=red>socialist[color=red] regime with centralized control, to develop intellectual creation an </font color=red>anarchist[color=red] regime of individual liberty should from the first be established. No authority, no dictation, not the least trace of orders from above!</font color=red>" <br>- Lev Trotsky, Andre Breton &amp; Diego Rivera, Towards a Free Revolutionary Art (emphasis in original)

Maybe we should set up an anarchist library system. I mean, I support the infoshops but quite often I just want to read a book once - or only use it for reference - and buying the thing is a bit ridiculous. Having a nice library which provides an eclectic variety of anarchist and non-anarchist material might attract some more people. <br> <br>There are quite a few ways to run these libraries. I prefer the honor system myself but even mainstream libraries have a high attrition rate. Using a secret deposit system might be a better idea for the near future. (That is, each book has a special stamp on it; to take any stamped book you must leave the listed deposit, close to the list price; when you return it you can get the deposit back and/or cover another book.) <br> <br>In addition to the books "on the shelves" people could set up a support net of local anarchists or other interested people; when a special request comes, someone could volunteer to supply this book. (and the requestee might be asked to provide a name &amp; contact information).