STIGMERGY: The C4SS Blog
C4SS Scholars in New Book: ¡No Pasarán!

Now available for pre-order from AK Press, ¡No Pasarán! is:

” … an anthology of antifascist writing that takes up the fight against white supremacy and the far-right from multiple angles. From the history of antifascism to today’s movement to identify, deplatform, and confront the right, and the ways an insurgent fascism is growing within capitalist democracies, a myriad of voices come together to shape the new face of antifascism in a moment of social and political flux.”

The book features essays from C4SS writers Emmi Bevensee and Frank Miroslav along with many from friends of the Center, all of which offer important commentary on contemporary antifascism. With a focus on actionable, grounded antifascism, this collection offers an excellent and historically informed resource for antifascist activists.

The Enragés: A Shared Future with Logan Marie Glitterbomb

​​For the (very delayed) 19th installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann was joined by Logan Glitterbomb (@MakhnoTits) to discuss Logan’s article Libraries Offer a Model for the Sharing Economy (https://c4ss.org/content/55523).

A Catholic anarchist-without-adjectives, Logan Marie discovered anarchism through the punk scene in high school and went on to join the Industrial Workers of the World in college where she studied theatre arts. She is a former editor, writer, and co-publisher of the queer anarchist news ‘zine Pink&Black, co-founder of the Libertarian Anti-Fascist Committee and the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Libertarian Party, member of the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the DSA, co-founder of the anarchist Mardi Gras krewe Krewe de Main and their festival Coup de Gras, and current organizer with the IWW’s Freelance Journalists Union. She spends her free time performing comedy, cosplaying, and writing comics.

Support C4SS – https://www.patreon.com/c4ssdotorg

Mutual Exchange Radio: Elizabeth Nolan Brown on Feminism and Libertarianism

In this episode of Mutual Exchange Radio, Elizabeth Nolan Brown discusses abortion, sex work, moral panics, conspiracies, feminism, libertarianism, and more.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason magazine, a co-founder of Feminists for Liberty, and a journalism lecturer at the University of Cincinnati. You can follow her on Twitter at @ENBrown.

Bring C4SS To LibertyCon 2022!

C4SS needs your help to table at LibertyCon 2022!

LibertyCon (October 14-15) is one of the biggest libertarian gatherings of the year and its participants always receive us warmly. We started tabling here in 2015 and our booth is consistently among the most popular. Now we have another opportunity to share left-market anarchist ideas with the broader libertarian movement and expose new people to liberty’s radical and revolutionary potential.

Our goal was to raise the tabling funds by September 15th, but we have until September 22nd to actually reserve tabling space. Every penny counts and C4SS greatly appreciates any and all support. See you in October!

ANGL: Multiversus with Kevin Carson & Nathan Goodman

C4SS scholars Kevin Carson and Nathan Goodman join us to play Multiversus and talk economics in the gaming and comics industries. We’ll touch on indie game pricing, the recent Warner Bros. merger, and some new game, show, and comic premieres.

Tune in THIS Friday, September 16th at 7:00 PM EST.

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Cory Massimino Talks Anarchy, Political Authority, and Stateless Societies

Longtime C4SS Fellow, Mutual Exchange Coordinator, and contributor Cory Massimino was recently interviewed by Aaron Ross Powell on (Re)Imagining Liberty about anarchy, political authority, the viability of stateless societies, and the relationship between anarchism, liberalism, and modernity.

Check out their interview below.

On the Pronunciation of ‘Labadie’

I am not a historian. I have never worked professionally in any field of historical studies. Difficulty in the details of the Laurance Labadie Archival Project is therefore bound to happen, with the latest conundrum being how the surname Labadie is pronounced. In my recent appearance on Mutual Exchange Radio, I used the pronunciation lɑˈbɑdi (or ‘luh-bah-dee’) and when prompted explained how that was the way I have heard it said (this is in reference to informal conversations I’ve had with other leftists). I would therefore like to (very briefly) outline the reasoning behind that pronunciation, speak on the possible mistake of said pronunciation, and place the whole thing into a context of multiple difficulties with fully understanding Laurance Labadie’s name.

The name Labadie is, according to House of Names, a Norman surname indicating “that the original bearer lived at or near an abbey. The word occurs in contraction with the article, le, meaning the, and thus appears Labbey.” I made my best go at a French pronunciation and my assumption was that its ‘Americanization’ would sound something like lɑˈbɑdi. It appears, however, that many would disagree with me. For one, the port of Labadie in Haiti (spelled Labadee by Royal Caribbean Cruise for ease of pronunciation by English speakers) is apparently pronounced something likeˈlæbədi (or ‘la-buh-dee’). Even more pertinent is the pronunciation apparently used by the folks at the Joseph A. Labadie Archive (the basis of which is the book and document collection of Laurence’s father), which is the same as the Royal Caribbean Cruise advertises it.

Despite these two pieces of evidence, it is unfortunately not easy to say how either Labadie—son or father—preferred his name to be pronounced beyond ‘that’s how I heard it said.’ Since the younger was somewhat hermetic and to this day relatively obscure, there’s not a lot of documentation on the specifics of his name, and this has led to confusion about more than just the pronunciation. For example, the Laurance Labadie anthology Anarcho-Pessimism released by Little Black Cart spells his first name as “Laurence.” Elsewhere in the piles of documents—digital and physical—by and about Labadie that I have lying around, there appears to have been confusion on whether Labadie preferred to be called Laurance or Larry (with the former being more likely). My point is that we may never be certain as to the specifics of Laurance’s preferences about his name, so I’ll just keep saying it the way I have bee saying it until I come across something on the pronunciation from Laurance himself or one of his contemporaries.

Mutual Exchange Radio: Eric Fleischmann on Laurance Labadie & Historical Materialism

This month on Mutual Exchange Radio, we are joined by Eric Fleischmann, leading an informative and inspiring conversation about their comprehensive Laurance Labadie archival project, Labadie’s special relevance for the market anarchist tradition, their study on Historical Materialism and more.

Eric Fleischmann (he/they) is an undergrad student working in the solidarity economy and pursuing a double major in anthropology and philosophy. He is an anarchist indebted to communistic and continental thought but engaged primarily in the traditions of mutualism, North American individualist anarchism, and modern left-libertarianism. He has been involved in various capacities with numerous leftist, left-leaning, and labor-oriented organizations—generally ones which promote forms of politico-economic decentralization and democratization and/or degrees of left unity (Center for a Stateless Society, Industrial Workers of the World, Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, Resource Generation, and his college’s Leftist Coalition). He has also played in and currently plays in several punk, hardcore, and alternative bands (Soy., Consumerist, Manbitesdog, and Nope) and has released multiple albums.

ANGL: Batman Beyond w/ Roderick Long & Cory Massimino

C4SS scholars and Batman aficionados Roderick Long and Cory Massimino join us as we discuss the launch of the “Rippaverse” comics, re-cap San Diego Comic Con, and remember Alan Grant.

Tune in on Friday, August 19th at 7:00 PM EST.

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Calling All Class Traitors: Resource Generation

There is a stereotype perpetuated by the political right that anarchists tend to be rich, white kids radicalized by the ‘postmodern neo-Marxists’ that have apparently taken over institutions of cultural production. This is clearly a tactic to strategically simplify and obscure both the complicated relationships between Marxism and postmodernism and the multicultural, working class origins of anarchism. However, there are indeed many anarchists—like myself—who do come from some type of class/wealth privilege. And it is therefore the responsibility of such anarchists to not only participate in standard anarchistic organizing and activism (and in the process work to contribute without centering our voices) but also to put our money where our mouths are and commit to voluntary wealth and land redistribution, mutual aid projects, and immediate reparations to working class BIPOC individuals and organizations. We must become the good kind of class traitors. To do anything less is to make our identification as anarchists a joke.

One avenue for this kind of work—specifically wealth redistribution—that C4SS does not officially endorse but I would like to individually ‘advertise’ for using the platform the Center has provided for me is Resource Generation (RG). Founded in 1998 by Tracy Hewat and Lynne Gerber, Resource Generation is, according to the official website, “a multiracial membership community of young people (18-35) with wealth and/or class privilege committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power.” The org is national campaign partners with both the Center for Popular Democracy and the Movement for Black Lives as well as part of the New Economy Coalition and Unmasking Fidelity. Utilizing the collective structure of RG, members are able to independently raise large sums of money (the goal for 2022 is $100,000,000+) to contribute to BIPOC-led solidarity and redistributive projects as well as participate in campaigns focused on challenging and transforming our current socio-economic systems.

Though not an anarchist organization, RG includes people who identify as anarchists as well as other anti-capitalist and leftist ideologies. It is also certainly anti-capitalist as a whole in its goal to reorganize wealth and ownership and, in its own internal structure, does have a central hub but its chapters—at least in my experience—tend to be both highly autonomous and if not fully consensus based, still directly democratic and largely horizontalist. With this in mind, I would highly recommend that any anarchists with material privilege should step up, read about RG further, and either start or join a local chapter. To begin, take the Class Privilege Quiz! If the future is to be equitable and decentralized in terms of wealth and land, then we need to start now!

Kelly Wright On Trans Liberation

Longtime C4SS contributor and activist Kelly Wright was recently interviewed by Aaron Ross Powell on (Re)Imagining Liberty about trans myths, trans identities, and trans rights; about the increase in the amount of openly transgender people and the reactionary political-cultural backlash; about the connections between gender affirming care, social acceptance, and suicide rates; and about the importance of self-authorship for liberty.

Check out their interview below.

Nathan Goodman Discusses Militarization, Politics, and Social Science

Longtime C4SS Fellow, activist, and economist Nathan Goodman was recently interviewed by Aaron Ross Powell on (Re)Imagining Liberty about the feedback loop between militarization at the border and militarization abroad, the role of social capital in public policy, and how good social science can help correct for the errors of the political process.

Check out their interview below.

Mutual Exchange Radio: Logan Marie Glitterbomb on Agorism, Manifold Coloured Markets, Mardi Gras, and Gun Control

This month we are joined by Logan Marie Glitterbomb, leading an awesome conversation about the fundamentals of Agorism, as well as its lesser-known forms and environmentalist potential. We’re also talking about Mardi Gras, Logan’s legal incident, gun control and more.

A Catholic anarchist-without-adjectives, Logan Marie discovered anarchism through the punk scene in high school and went on to join the Industrial Workers of the World in college where she studied theatre arts. She is a former editor, writer, and co-publisher of the queer anarchist news ‘zine Pink&Black, co-founder of the Libertarian Anti-Fascist Committee and the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Libertarian Party, member of the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the DSA, co-founder of the anarchist Mardi Gras krewe Krewe de Main and their festival Coup de Gras, and current organizer with the IWW’s Freelance Journalists Union. She spends her free time performing comedy, cosplaying, and writing comics.

Find her work and support her legal fund here:

Anti-Nazi Gaming League: Antifa The Game

This month, we’re joined by YouTuber Eron, host of the popular RE-EDUCATION channel to discuss mutualism and play Antifa (the game).

Tune in on Friday, July 15th at 7:00pm EST.

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Apology from The Enragés

[Hear Eric Fleischmann’s apology on this episode of The Enragés]

In the very first episode of The Enragés that I hosted, I interviewed Andrew Kemle on his article “Libertarianism versus Psychopathic Dumbfuckery,” in which he criticizes the destructive pandemic policies of so-called libertarian politicians like Rand Paul as being similar to psychopathy. It was soon after pointed out to both me and Andrew—by folks both in and outside of C4SS—that this kind of language is deeply stigmatizing towards people living with psychopathy and other antisocial personality disorders and inherently ableist in general. These criticisms are 100% correct and I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for not just using that language but embracing it so enthusiastically and wantonly. Andrew has also written an apology that can be found on the C4SS website titled “An Apology to the Neurodivergent Community.” I have no excuses for this behavior. Particularly as someone who is neurodivergent and suffers from mental health problems myself, I should have known better. In addition to removing the episode from public listing (while leaving it accessible so as not to try and erase our mistake), I want to promise—to both our audience and the broader neurodivergent community—that going forward as the host of The Enragés, I will be more responsible and inclusive with my language. Finally, I want to echo the point made by Maxx Crow that “in order to be an anarchist, you must be not just anti-racist, not just anti-sexist, but also be anti-ableist, to include everyone who’s part of the struggle.” Thank you to everyone who has helped hold us accountable. I hope you enjoy this latest episode.

Anti-Nazi Gaming League: Castle Wolfenstein with Comedian Roundtable

Join your C4SS co-hosts next Friday, June 17th at 7:00PM for our next ANGL stream with special guests Charles-Thomas Vidrine, Joey Thibodeaux, and Riley Suarez to honor the memory of comedy legend George Perez.

We’ll be playing Castle Wolfenstein and talking comedy, MegaCon, and more.

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The Enragés: Typologies, Patterns, and Heuristics with Dawie Coetzee

​​For the 16th installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann met with Dawie Coetzee to discuss Dawie’s article Towards Prefigurative Design (https://c4ss.org/content/56371).

Dawie Coetzee is a former architect based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has described his position as roughly where the anarchic end of Chestertonian Distributism overlaps the individualist end of Proudhonian Mutualism. His peculiar fields of interest include urban design and automotive history, though each of those is linked to a broader underlying philosophy.

Support C4SS – https://www.patreon.com/c4ssdotorg

Cathy Reisenwitz on Sex, Power, and Feminism

Cathy Reisenwitz joins Mutual Exchange Radio to discuss power, play, humility, religion, conservatism, bodily autonomy, and being an open book on the internet.

Cathy Reisenwitz is a writer and OnlyFans creator with bylines in TechCrunch, the Daily Beast, Reason, and other fine publications. Her newsletter is Sex and the State.

Jason Lee Byas on The Curious Task: “How Should We Deal With Historic Injustice?”

C4SS fellow Jason Lee Byas recently joined Alex Aragona on “The Curious Task” to discuss the complexities of responding to questions of historic injustice, reparations, and compensation within a libertarian framework.

Cory Massimino on Non Serviam Podcast: “Do Presidents Read Books?”

C4SS fellow, Cory Massimino, was recently on the Non Serviam Podcast to cover the all important question: “Do Presidents Read Books?”

Summary from Non Serviam: 

Returning from hiatus, the Non Serviam Podcast is back for a 37th episode! Now with long-time friend of the collective Lucy Steigerwald in the hot seat. Lucy is an accomplished writer and a self-described market-anarchist, feminist, and history nerd. Lucy is Contributing Editor at AntiWar.com, and you may also know Lucy from her writings at FEE, Vice, Reason, or her blogs; www.thestagblog.com, and www.lucysteigerwald.com.

For our first episode back, Lucy forced previous guest and market-anarchist Cory Massimino back onto the show and into an interview about everything from American Politics, to Ukraine, to Batman. If you don’t know Cory yet, he is a student of Philosophy and Economics with a focus on Anarchism, Market Processes, and Virtue Ethics.

View the full, downloadable catalog online at https://nonserviam.media/

Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory