CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective

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.

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

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.

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

Malatesta chastised Kropotkin and other anarchists who endorsed World War I: https://archive.elephanteditions.net/library/errico-malatesta-anarchists-have-forgotten-their-principles * 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 * Likewise, long before our text "Against the Logic of the Guillotine," he rejected militarism and revenge: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-revolutionary-terror * 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

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. * 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." * 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 * 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

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!

Today is December 13. That's 13/12 to much of the world—ACAB day. A good day to reflect on why all cats are beautiful, all cars are barricades, and all cops—regardless of the marital status of their parents—are mercenaries in the service of oppression. http://cwc.im/cops From the United States to Brazil—from Germany to the Philippines and China—police play the same role, preserving disparities in power and access to resources. For a world without police.