Welcome to the Kate Sharpley Library
The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchist history. (More information.)
Everything at the Kate Sharpley Library - acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation work, publishing, answering enquiries is done by volunteers: we get no money from governments or the business community. All our running costs are met by donations from members of the collective, subscribers and supporters, or by the small income we make through publishing. Please consider donating and subscribing.
We also try to promote the history of anarchism by publishing studies based on those materials - or reprints of original documents taken from our collection. Check out our books and pamphlets available for sale or explore our online documents or browse back issues of our Bulletin.
Our physical library (in California) includes books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts and ephemera documenting the history of anarchist movements. Contact us to arrange a visit.
Recent news
September 2022 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online
KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 106, September 2022 has just been posted on our site. https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/dv43bp The PDF is up at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/xpnxztContents:
Union-Bashing Economics [1975] by Albert Meltzer "It is the language of myth called in to justify power – an economic myth to replace the patriotic myth, but in this case using the same ‘national necessity’ ploy as in war." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9320zj
Remembering Stuart, two years on "Copies of A Life for Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader arrived in the UK at the very end of June 2022... We’d like to see copies in libraries: have you asked your local library to get one?" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/s4mz6t
A ‘good example’: A Life For Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader [Book review] by Mark R. "There is undoubtedly, a new world waiting to be built, and from those members of that ‘strange, unknown, unappreciated tribe’ who came before us, and in whose ranks Stuart Christie now stands, we can find the inspiration to fight on; for as another of those fighters once said; ‘we are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that.’" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/w6mc21
A living book : 'A Life For Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader' [book review] by Richard Warren "A life for anarchy is a proper reader – not a dry memorial, not a dusty headstone, but a living book to keep handy, to dip into repeatedly and to relish." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/7h4631
Immense enthusiasm and optimism : 'A Life For Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader' [book review] by Chris Ealham "I was impressed by his literary references, which ranged from obscure Scottish poetry to popular culture; this was always very natural, lightly worn, in no way jarring or artificial. He also displayed immense enthusiasm and optimism. Many of these admirable traits are attested to in the final section, which consists of tributes paid to Stuart by his comrades, friends and loved ones, although the frontiers between these categories were very fluid." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/98sgvg
The use and need for a union by Léa Wullschleger "Certainly, if they cannot fight against the bosses with the same weapons as them, capital, since they don’t own any, they can achieve anything through numbers and organisation; since we are no doubt the more numerous." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/0p2pvn
Joe Thomas [obituary] by Albert Meltzer "he was (to the surprise of his many friends in the trade union movement) a good friend to revolutionary anarchism and to the practicalities of anarcho-syndicalism (to the dismay of his Marxist friends)." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/gmsd1x
Audrey Beecham [1915-89] by Albert Meltzer "She was a good friend to Miguel Garcia and myself. I took back from Barcelona this October many messages of greetings from Spanish friends both of the ‘thirties and ‘sixties, which will never now be delivered." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/tx97x7
Anarchist history roundup Aug. 2022 https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9zw5bb
Advice to My Anarchist Comrades (1901) by Élisée Reclus (and Stuart Christie) "What then should we do to maintain our intellectual vigor, our moral energy, and our faith in the good fight?" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/31zf26
A Life for Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader out
Our collection of articles by and about our comrade Stuart Christie is now available in the UK. More details here: A Life for Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader out now https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/kprsz7May 2022 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online
KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 105, May 2022 has just been posted on our site. https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/31zf3c The PDF is up at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/mw6p4gContents:
Question and answer on Anarchism [Anti-Imperialism] by Albert Meltzer "Whenever we see the word ‘anti-imperialism’ nowadays we sniff at it carefully before opening the package, not as one would for explosives, but to see if the milk has gone sour. " https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/k0p4ff
Library update (May 2022) "As you might expect, other people have been busy digging away at anarchist history too." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/2281t9
Bessie Kimmelman: fragments of an anarchist life "No doubt more fragments of her life are waiting to be found!" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/jdfpvs
The Makhnovshchina and Its Aftermath: Documents from the movement and its survivors [Book review] "Black Cat Press have (again) added to what we know about the Makhnovist movement." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/j3v02p
Alternatives to suicide by Albert Meltzer "In 1980 Cienfuegos Press published Towards a citizens’ militia: anarchist alternatives to NATO & the Warsaw Pact. Various politicians complained. An earlier article in Black Flag declared ‘to be attacked by these people is like having the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.’ (v.6, n.3, June 1980) Here Albert probes the motives behind their fear of the idea of popular self-defence and speculates on what they would have done if Hitler had successfully invaded Britain. Would they really kill themselves rather than collaborate?" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/12jnj6
Ken Williams [a tribute from Hastings] by Alex Price "The character me and my friends knew was probably semi-unrecognisable from the anarcho-syndicalist legend of 1980s London, although we knew he was in there." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/8sf944
March 2022 Kate Sharpley library non-bulletin online
NOT the bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, No.8 March 2022 is now up. Read it at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/vt4d8zContents
Chummy Fleming and Other treasures
Anarchist lives (Riojan Involvement in Guerrilla Groups in France and Spain; Vladimir Barmash; Ethel MacDonald; Lev Cherny; Francisco Ponzán Vidal; Carmelo Romero Ortega
Friends and neighbours (Support the Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo; The Idea: Anarchist Communism, Past, Present, and Future; the Sparrows’ Nest; Crocenera Anarchica; and 'razorblades and anti-fascist folklore')
November 2021 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online
KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 104, November 2021 has just been posted on our site. https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/cjt05t The PDF is up at: https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/2548rqContents:
“An Affirmation of that for which I have fought.”, book review by Barry Pateman of “Salvador Puig Antich: Collected Writings on Repression and Resistance in Franco’s Spain.” Edited by Ricard de Vargas Golarons and translated by Peter Gelderloos. "The importance of this moving and informative book is to allow us to see Puig Antich as much more than a victim. It allows us to place him as part of a rich movement seeded by working-class militancy which was constantly assessing just how we can defeat capitalism and create a better world."https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/66t2x1
Two faces, two lives (anarchist mugshots of the 1890s) "We have just posted two biographies illustrated by mugshots by Alphonse Bertillon." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/ghx55v
Bastard, Elisée Joseph Michel aka ‘Francois Pichancourt’ "According to Rudolf Rocker who was living in Saint Denis in 1894 and who had been introduced to him by Jean Wollmann, Bastard was then ‘one of the best known orators at that time and an excellent comrade’."https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/905s00
Maria Zanini (1865-?) When on trial "Knows nothing and never as much as saw the faces of people who arrived to doss in her home"https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/crjg30
Jacinto Lives! Memories from St. Louis (a tribute from A few sad anarchists in St. Louis) "We spent only a handful of days with this funny, inquisitive, warm-hearted man. He defied all our stereotypes of an academic historian, and left a deep impression on us." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/c2fsjs
Tribute to Ross (Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh) "Please keep him in your thoughts as a wonderful comrade, activist and person who never sought the limelight or to promote himself but rather made an enormous contribution, without claiming any credit for it." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fttgmm
Young Rebels against the Empire: the youth memoirs of Nestor Makhno & Voldemar Antoni [Book Review] "To have uncovered and translated these memoirs is good work in itself, but Archibald is ever ready to aid the reader with maps, a glossary and footnotes. He is also able to point out the stories from his youth that Makhno does not tell..." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/m37rkh
Library News (Nov. 2021) "American readers can now get hold of: A Life for Anarchy: A Stuart Christie Reader edited by the KSL. We’ll let you know when it arrives in the UK."https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/34tp34