A lot of anarchists wrote about state, but unlike in Marxism where Lenin's "State and Revolution" remains an unchallenged work in terms of popularity and theoretical importance to Marxism, there isn't a singular anarchist theoretical work on the state on the same level as Lenin's. This is perhaps by design. Anarchism has no central canon to enshrine an equivalent to Lenin. So if there is no anarchist equivalent of Lenin's "State and Revolution, what then is your favorite text explaining the state? What text brings the most insight in explaining hierarchy and statism?

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Hibiscus_Syrup wrote on January 31, 2021 at 4:23 PM

Deleuze and Guattari's take on the emergence of the state is pretty cool because it's based in anarchistic metaphysics, lends well to an anti-civ paradigm while challenging simplistic ideas of hunter-gatherer societies, and takes all of the stuff that is kinda interesting about Marx's work on how capitalism emerged and writes it from an anti-authoritarian perspective, and spends a decent amount of time expanding on Pierre Clastres (a solid and notable anarchist anthropologist)'s really important work on counter-state societies, expanding on it in a way that makes it even more anarchist.

The plateau called "Apparatus of Capture" is probably the best starting point for that, if you're engaged with his work.

Hibiscus_Syrup wrote on January 31, 2021 at 4:24 PM

Against History, Against Leviathan! does come to mind as notable, but I don't think I'd say it was definitive.

thelegendarybirdmonster wrote on January 31, 2021 at 10:30 AM

emma goldman's anarchism and other essays are pretty neat

Hibiscus_Syrup wrote on January 31, 2021 at 4:25 PM

I think Shawn Wilbur has quite a bit to say on how Proudhon made a specifically anarchist critique of the state. I'm not familiar with it and would like to be.

ruin wrote on January 31, 2021 at 5:27 PM (edited on January 31, 2021 at 5:29 PM)

If you’re short on reading time, Cory is doing all the weekly recommended readings on the Immediatism podcast.

Edit: Should have clarified, the weekly readings for shawn’s constructing anarchisms seminar he’s posting over on Libertarian Labyrinth.

Hibiscus_Syrup wrote on January 31, 2021 at 5:34 PM

I'm drowning in reading for more immediate stuff right now, but I am curious to learn about it sometime. I wish somebody would write a short-short essay covering the key bits.

ruin wrote on January 31, 2021 at 5:54 PM

I can relate.

Shawn has some quick synopsis on his site, but it’s a bit of a mess. I haven’t had time to participate or engage at all really.

Just managing to keep up thanks to the podcast in my headphones while I’m shoveling snow and doing chores.

Hibiscus_Syrup wrote on January 31, 2021 at 6:45 PM

The one or two short synopses I've come by of his didn't do the broader contextualizing that's necessary for me to get what's going on, and were more just like notes he took as he was reading through something rather than something curated for other people to be able to better understand the content.