Thanks so much to everyone who is helping us raise the funds to reprint two of our books—Days of War, Nights of Love and the Contradictionary.

https://cwc.im/DaysContraReprint

Here's a preview of the enamel pins we produced for backers.

For everyone who still wants to get the books—the campaign runs for nine more days!

Errico Malatesta was born on this day in 1853. Mentored by Mikhail Bakunin, he played a pivotal role in the anarchist movement from 1872 until his death in 1932.

Here, we'll present a short reading list of the historic debates he participated in—all of which remain timely.

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When his former comrade Andrea Costa embraced electoral politics, Malatesta risked a prison sentence to return to Italy to debate him, as recounted in Nunzio Pernicone's "Italian Anarchism, 1864-1892."

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Malatesta and other anarchists defied the state to treat a cholera outbreak—demonstrating a model for grassroots healthcare that remains relevant in the #COVID19 era:

https://cwc.im/cholera

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At the International Anarchist Congress of 1907, Malatesta argued—contra Syndicalists—that revolution requires an insurrection as well as a general strike:

http://fdca.it/fdcaen/historical/amsterdam07/5.htm

Malatesta chastised Kropotkin and other anarchists who endorsed World War I:

https://archive.elephanteditions.net/library/errico-malatesta-anarchists-have-forgotten-their-principles

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Malatesta's "Democracy and Anarchy" offers a lucid analysis of the subject, prefiguring our own "From Democracy to Freedom":

https://marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1924/03/democracy.htm

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Likewise, long before our text "Against the Logic of the Guillotine," he rejected militarism and revenge:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-revolutionary-terror

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After the Russian Revolution, when Nestor Makhno and others proposed an "anarchist platform" emulating the Bolsheviks, Malatesta rejected this:

https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/library/errico-malatesta-and-nestor-makhno-about-the-platform#toc4

Selections from Malatesta's critiques of militarism, revenge, and centralized control.

In each of these disputes, Malatesta took a principled position, never substituting expediency for ethics.

As anarchists, we don't have heroes, nor do we name our schools of thought after bearded men. We see comrades like Errico Malatesta as our equals—as peers in a struggle spanning centuries. We're inspired by their efforts, we debate their ideas, and we pick up where they left off.

As we enter the final week of our fundraiser to reprint Days of War, Nights of Love and the Contradictionary, we'll share an entry from the Contradictionary each day.

Today's entry is about voting—and how it killed Edgar Allen Poe:

https://cwc.im/contra/vote

The fundraiser:

https://cwc.im/DaysContraReprint

Yesterday, our mail-order space was destroyed in a catastrophic fire in downtown Olympia, Washington. Thousands of our books, posters, and stickers were entirely consumed along with computers and equipment.

Read our full announcement and how to help:

https://cwc.im/burnt

This represents a tremendous setback to us. To resume operations, we will need to replace the books, posters, stickers, computers, printers, packing materials, furniture, and many other things, and to secure a new space.

It's especially rough that this occurs when we are on the cusp of completing a Kickstarter campaign to reprint two of our books. Fortunately, those books are still in the printing queue at the factory, so they will go out as promised.

We are determined to get back on our feet, but we're going to need help. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us make it this far. If we can get through this, we promise to keep doing this work for decades to come.

Thanks so much to everyone who has stepped up to help us in our time of need. It's humbling. We will do all we can to honor your faith in us.

While we are recovering and reprinting everything, you can order our books from AK Press:

https://akpress.org/catalogsearch/result/?q=crimethinc

The kickstarter campaign to reprint Days of War and the Contradictionary is almost over. Thanks to everyone's generous support, we'll be able to do it! 🖤

Today's entry from the Contradictionary is about property:

https://cwc.im/contra/property

The kickstarter:

https://cwc.im/DaysContraReprint

Gabriel Boric will be the first Chilean president who identifies as a "libertarian socialist."

In this picture, we see him sitting with the right wing to announce “Agreement to Peace and a New Constitution.” Later, he voted for the “Anti-barricade, Anti-looting, Anti-mask, and Anti-land occupation” law, which increased the penalties for the direct actions that were central to the Chilean revolt.

For our part, we urge radicals not to look to the state for change, lest its failures discredit them:

https://cwc.im/ChileElection

In Chile, there is a longstanding history of the far right leveraging economic power when they don't hold political power. The solution is not for a left government to intensify policing—the police will be turned against activists as soon as the right regains political power.

There is no substitute for building real social power through grassroots organizing. That is the only kind of power that cannot be taken away by an election or a coup—as many people in Chile know all too well.

Remember what happened to Syriza in Greece. Stay in the streets.