Anarchism 1914-18 is the first systematic analysis of anarchist responses to the First World War. It examines the interventionist debate between Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta which split the anarchist movement in 1914 and provides a historical and conceptual analysis of debates conducted in European and American movements about class, nationalism, internationalism, militarism, pacifism and cultural resistance. Contributions discuss the justness of war, non-violence and pacifism, anti-colonialism, pro-feminist perspectives on war and the potency of myths about the war and revolution for the reframing of radical politics in the 1920s and beyond. Divisions about the war and the experience of being caught on the wrong side of the Bolshevik Revolution encouraged anarchists to reaffirm their deeply-held rejection of vanguard socialism and develop new strategies that drew on a plethora of anti-war activities.

Reviews

'This book concurrently highlights the complexity and the significance of the anti-interventionists' values, ideas and practices. Stimulating and problematic themes emerge across contributions: anarchists' relation to "nation" and "state", the definition of "motherland", pragmatic and ideological answers to outbreaks of conflict (in the past, present and future), the role of art and aesthetics in the elaboration of trauma and in ideological developments....a valuable resource across disciplines.'
Pietro di Paola, The University of Lincoln

'The flowering of anarchist studies in recent years shows no signs of abating and Anarchism, 1914-18 provides yet another treat. The product of two conference panels in 2014, its ten substantive chapters are penned by a good mixture of well-established and next generation researchers. Edited by two luminaries of Loughborough University's dynamic anarchist studies centre, it offers some rich and rewarding research on a period that, with recent centenary events, remains to some degree in the public eye.'
Anarchist Studies

Introduction - Matthew S. Adams and Ruth Kinna
Part I: The interventionist debate
1 Saving the future: the roots of Malatesta's anti-militarism - Davide Turcato
2 The Manifesto of the Sixteen: Kropotkin's rejection of anti-war anarchism and his critique of the politics of peace - Peter Ryley
3 Malatesta and the war interventionist debate 1914-17: from the 'Red Week' to the Russian Revolutions - Carl Levy
Part II: Debates and divisions
4 Beyond the 'People's Community': the anarchist movement from fin de siècle to the First World War in Germany - Lucas Keller
5 'No man and no penny': F. Domela Nieuwenhuis, anti-militarism and the opportunities of World War One - Bert Altena
6 'The bomb plot of Zürich': Indian nationalism, Italian anarchism and the First World War - Ole Birk Laursen
7 The French anarchist movement and the First World War - Constance Bantman and David Berry
8 At war with Empire: the anti-colonial roots of American anarchist debates during World War I - Kenyon Zimmer
Part III: The art of war: anti-militarism and revolution
9 The anarchist anti-conscription movement in the U.S. - Kathy E. Ferguson
10 Aestheticising revolution - Allan Antliff
11Mutualism in the trenches: anarchism, militarism and the lessons of the First World War - Matthew S. Adams
Index

Editors

Matthew S. Adams is Lecturer in Politics, History and Communication at Loughborough University

Ruth Kinna is Professor of Political Theory at Loughborough University