The Struggle Against The State And Other Essays by Nestor Makhno, edited by Alexandre Skirda [Review]

"Organisational responsibility and discipline should not be controversial: the are the travelling companions of the practice of social anarchism" Nestor Makhno.

The Struggle Against the State and Other Essays was published after eighteen years of meticulous research. Alexandre Skirda, the editor of this invaluable 120 page book has laid the proverbial golden egg with this publication. Most of the book is made up of articles written by Nestor Makhno between 1925-1928 for the anarchist magazine 'Dyelo Truda'.

One of the most interesting chapters in the book, the ABC of the Revolutionary Anarchist was published in the anarchist magazine 'Probuzdenige' in 1932.

Alexandre Skirda's 12 page Bibliographical Afterword could only have been written by someone who is familiar with his subject. Although a necessary addition to the book, the points and counter points made, tend to dull the reader's critical facilities and act as an effective sleeping potion.

Nestor Makhno's writings are invaluable, not because he expands the anarchist dream or encourages people to take up revolutionary activity but because they provide an insight into one of the few 20th century anarchists who was able to put anarchist theories into practice. If the Makhnovists had won in the Ukraine the course of 20th century history may have been different.

The Struggle Against The State And Other Essays

by Nestor Makhno, edited by Alexandre Skirda, AK Press 1996, ISBN 1-873176-78-3

From: Anarchist Age Weekly Review (Melbourne).