For a Future Made By Us All [Book Review]

Rebel City are a London anarchist group who ‘give talks to anyone interested in Anarchism’, students in particular. For a Future Made By Us All: Questions and answers about Anarchism is a direct result of these conversations. Anarchists have always been keen on the dialogue format. Rebel City break theirs up into ‘What is anarchism?’, ‘What would an anarchist society look like?’ and ‘How do we get from here to there?’

I enjoyed reading it. I recognised the anarchism they talk about: that revolutionary social change is necessary, and that it won’t be instant. The questions (and helpful glossary) made it feel current (climate crisis, social media, transformative justice) but so did the layout (colour illustrations with some good stickers and graffiti, pull quotes, generous use of white space). Finally, it felt like a dialogue: respectful and the opposite of preachy. The collective are clear about what they think (‘Representative democracies. Casting a vote every 4 or 5 years after which you have no further say in any decision making, and the so-called elected leaders then do whatever they want.’) but provisional about how things might or could change, rather than giving blueprints.

Inevitably, several of the questions could have a booklet of their own. I would have liked a page on how we ended up here (in Thatcher’s ‘no such thing as society’ society) or more on how class works (see ‘Is class still relevant’ on their website). But this is not supposed to be the final word on anything. It might be the start of something, though! For a Future Made By Us All is a quick and refreshing read. I wish I’d ordered more than one.

For a Future Made By Us All: Questions and answers about Anarchism 
Rebel City, 2023. 92 pages. £5 ISBN 978-0-9537390-2-8
See https://rebelcitylondon.wordpress.com/2023/07/21/download-full-pdf-of-new-rebel-city-intro-to-anarchism-book-for-a-future-made-by-us-all-questions-and-answers-about-anarchism/