Reviews and Comments

This was the final book in the Tyrant Philosophers series, I appreciated the overarching narrative of the series though the first book really stood out as the strongest offering.

Basically, first book got me with the colonial/resistance stories of early industrialism in a magical word. Felt really exciting and had the morals and outcomes I love to see with the underdogs.

second book takes place in the medic tents of the colonial army and even with the mutinous and subversives in the narrative it felt like so much more a book of complicated compromises.

this final book was like an exploration of statecraft and power struggles among the rules and while those can be fascinating stories, i just would so much rather the earlier narratives, lessons and outcomes.

but i think some of you freaks love that big picture and powerful people fighting vibes so i could see it really scratching the itch for many.

To start off 2025, I wanted to read a gelderloos essay because I find his writing usually focuses on posi, optimist, and big picture topics and I had just got my hands on this pocket book.

The title essay is broken into 3 sections, starting off with a look at formal and informal formats and trying to suggest when and how these different forms support a struggle, and when adherence or critique of any one form will hinter an expansive struggle.

Second section looks what keeps people going, keeps people around and in the scene, and has people burning out. Mostly it focuses in the ideas and dynamics that create that inner fire people have to push forward against opposition and resistance.

The third section looks at community, which in this content really is an exploration of power dynamics -- formal or informal -- within a scene, how they play out, are acknowledged or ignored. It is definitely an argument for the inevitability of power and specialization but that there is so many direct or nuanced ways to confront toxic dynamics if they begin to do harm.

Overall I liked the essays, the parts that get really granular about organization were alright, and there was references without explanation to lessons learned and experiences from Barcelona social struggles that I wish had been worked into the essay.

There was little bits that didn't jive with me, a section on spirituality, a new term for privilege called "zones of whiteness" and generally interesting discussions of informal power and gender dynamics, as these seem to be bigger contradictions on the Barcelona scene than race, sexuality, class or ability. (I am sceptical this is the case, but rather that it's a certain uniformity on these other topics that has the essay delve into the less.)

There is a second essay, which puts forward a critique of equality, in a similar vain to critiques of democracy, justice which groups like crimethinc or other Anglo authors have written more extensively about. The main thing in that essay was the specialisation in some tasks was useful, and generalization of reproductive labour was necessary.

My final thoughts -- on the design and publishing side of things -- was just that it looked beautiful, very legible but there was desperate need of a copy editor or second set of eyes before publishing the first edition. There is some were italicized "compa" text that comes up every time those string of letters appears in the text. The footnotes lack numbers for most of the book and one of the section titles was copy and pasted and is wrong. I found all this kind of distracting while reading it and can't not mention it here.

Would recommend, check it out. Not for the purest of any sectarian anarchist persuasion but perhaps they could benefit from reading with an open mind.