Chaz Bufe

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Charles Bufe, better known as Chaz Bufe, is a contemporary American anarchist author. Bufe writes on a wide variety of topics, and has published 16 books, most under the See Sharp Press imprint but one ("Godless") was published by PM Press and another ("Dreams of Freedom") by AK Press.

Contents

Life

Bufe founded See Sharp Press in 1984 in San Francisco, [1] then relocated to Tucson, Arizona, in 1992. In its approximately 40 years, See Sharp Press has published over 50 books, almost as many pamphlets, and over the last decade occasional e-book-only titles. The 16 books Bufe has authored, co-authored, compiled, edited, or translated have garnered favorable reviews in publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist (Free Radicals), Z Magazine (Heretic's Handbook of Quotations), Free Inquiry (American Heretic's Dictionary), and Guitar Player and Jazz Player (An Understandable Guide to Music Theory), and 11 are still in print. Bufe's American Heretic's Dictionary/Devil's Dictionaries was referenced by IslamOnline and recommended by the Cape Cod Times [2] and led AlterNet to call Bufe "the Ambrose Bierce of our time," although he has been accused of vanity and bad taste for mixing his own aphorisms with Bierce's in order to get them published. [3] [4]

Bufe translated into English from Spanish Ricardo Flores Magón's Flores Magón Dreams of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magón Reader, Frank Fernández's Cuban Anarchism: The History of a Movement, and Rafael Uzcategui's Venezuela: Revolution as Spectacle. He is also a musician; his An Understandable Guide to Music Theory is in its third edition. [5]

Publications

Books

Pamphlets and E-books

Listen, Anarchist!

[Listen Anarchist!] is sure to become one of the most bitterly hated, fought over, and denounced tracts about Anarchism that has appeared in the last twenty years. The reason is that Bufe comes right out and says what he has to say, rather than couching it in a lot of dreary, boring, diffuse verbiage ... Nobody can mistake his meaning; nobody can pontificate on what he "really meant" to say, and for this reason you should read this pamphlet.

Fred Woodworth, The Match! , Issue #80, Fall 1985

Listen, Anarchist! is an influential 1987 essay by Bufe on the internal dynamics of the American anarchist movement. [6]

In this essay, Bufe [7] launches heavy criticism against anarcho-primitivists, including Fredy Perlman and the Vancouver Five eco-terrorist group, as well as the publications Fifth Estate , Resistance, The Spark, and Open Road. [6] In a section entitled "What Can Be Done?", Bufe advocates minimal use of violence in revolutionary political struggle, condemning the vanguardist "urban guerillas" of insurrectionary anarchism. He criticizes these and other so-called "lifestyle" anarchists in the movement for deliberately alienating mainstream society, and falling to victim to dangerous irrationality and mysticism. [8]

In his account of "marginalised" anarchists, Bufe criticizes the anti-work tendency in contemporary anarchism, accusing some of its advocates of being parasites of those who do work. [8] In response, Feral Faun wrote an article called "The Bourgeois Roots of Anarcho-Syndicalism" in which he claims that the endorsement of work showed that anarcho-syndicalists "embrace the values essential to capitalism", only objecting to who is in charge. [9] The Summer 2005 issue of Green Anarchy included an "update on workerist morality", in which they characterised "Listen, Anarchist!" as Sam Dolgoff's Relevance and Murray Bookchin's "Listen Marxist!" poorly rewritten by Bufe to "shake his fist at all the young rapscallions who were throwing rocks at his perfect, beautiful philosophy". [10]

In the introduction to the second edition, Janet Biehl proposes that many of the tendencies within anarchism that Bufe criticizes stem from its individualist wing, inspired by the philosophy of Max Stirner, which she maintains is the source of "lifestyle anarchists" who are at odds with the ethical socialist tradition of anarchism. [11] Biehl criticizes the perceived lack of concern for morality among post-left anarchists such as Bob Black. [11]

Allan Antliff described the work as "abusive", and said that its distribution by the Workers Solidarity Alliance belied the organisation's pretensions of anti-sectarianism. [6] Mutualist Kevin Carson recommended the pamphlet as suggested reading for "getting from here to there". [12]

Criticism

Bufe's "A Future Worth Living" and "Design Your Own Utopia" were critically reviewed by Bob Black in "Bufe Goof" and "Views From Nowhere", respectively. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarcho-capitalism</span> Political philosophy and economic theory

Anarcho-capitalism is an anti-statist, libertarian political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforced by private agencies, based on concepts such as the non-aggression principle, free markets and self-ownership. An anarcho-capitalist philosophy extends the concept of ownership to include control of private property as part of the self, and, in some cases, control of other people as private property. In the absence of statute, anarcho-capitalists hold that society tends to contractually self-regulate and civilize through participation in the free market, which they describe as a voluntary society involving the voluntary exchange of goods and services. In a theoretical anarcho-capitalist society a system of private property would still exist, and would be enforced by private defense agencies and/or insurance companies that were selected by property owners, whose ownership rights or claims would be enforced by private defence agencies and/or insurance companies.

Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Although usually contrasted with social anarchism, both individualist and social anarchism have influenced each other. Mutualism, an economic theory sometimes considered a synthesis of communism, market economy and property, has been considered individualist anarchism and other times part of social anarchism. Many anarcho-communists regard themselves as radical individualists, seeing anarcho-communism as the best social system for the realization of individual freedom. Some anarcho-capitalists claim anarcho-capitalism is part of the individualist anarchist tradition, while others disagree and claim individualist anarchism is only part of the socialist movement and part of the libertarian socialist tradition. Economically, while European individualist anarchists are pluralists who advocate anarchism without adjectives and synthesis anarchism, ranging from anarcho-communist to mutualist economic types, most American individualist anarchists of the 19th century advocated mutualism, a libertarian socialist form of market socialism, or a free-market socialist form of classical economics. Individualist anarchists are opposed to property that violates the entitlement theory of justice, that is, gives privilege due to unjust acquisition or exchange, and thus is exploitative, seeking to "destroy the tyranny of capital,—that is, of property" by mutual credit.

Anarchist communism is a political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and services. It supports social ownership of property and the distribution of resources "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Zerzan</span> American anarchist and primitivist philosopher

John Edward Zerzan is an American anarchist and primitivist author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocates drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society should look like. Subjects of his criticism include domestication and symbolic thought.

Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism rejects the principle of violence which is seen as a form of power and therefore as contradictory to key anarchist ideals such as the rejection of hierarchy and dominance. Many anarcho-pacifists are also Christian anarchists, who reject war and the use of violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricardo Flores Magón</span> 19/20th-century Mexican anarchist, social reform activist, and revolutionary

Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón was a Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique and Jesús were also active in politics. Followers of the Flores Magón brothers were known as Magonistas. He has been considered an important participant in the social movement that sparked the Mexican Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Night-watchman state</span> Minimal state

A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggression principle by providing citizens with the military, the police, and courts, thereby protecting them from aggression, theft, breach of contract, fraud, and enforcing property laws.

According to different scholars, the history of anarchism either goes back to ancient and prehistoric ideologies and social structures, or begins in the 19th century as a formal movement. As scholars and anarchist philosophers have held a range of views on what anarchism means, it is difficult to outline its history unambiguously. Some feel anarchism is a distinct, well-defined movement stemming from 19th-century class conflict, while others identify anarchist traits long before the earliest civilisations existed.

Anarchist economics is the set of theories and practices of economic activity within the political philosophy of anarchism. Anarchists are anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist, with anarchism usually referred to as a form of libertarian socialism, i.e. a stateless system of socialism. Anarchists support personal property and oppose capital concentration, interest, monopoly, private ownership of productive property such as the means of production, profit, rent, usury and wage slavery which are viewed as inherent to capitalism.

The nature of capitalism is criticized by left-wing anarchists, who reject hierarchy and advocate stateless societies based on non-hierarchical voluntary associations. Anarchism is generally defined as the libertarian philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful as well as opposing authoritarianism, illegitimate authority and hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations. Capitalism is generally considered by scholars to be an economic system that includes private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange and wage labor, which have generally been opposed by most anarchists historically. Since capitalism is variously defined by sources and there is no general consensus among scholars on the definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category, the designation is applied to a variety of historical cases, varying in time, geography, politics and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism and the arts</span> Association of anarchism with the arts

Anarchism has long had an association with the arts, particularly with visual art, music and literature. This can be dated back to the start of anarchism as a named political concept, and the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on the French realist painter Gustave Courbet. In an essay on Courbet of 1857 Proudhon had set out a principle for art, which he saw in the work of Courbet, that it should show the real lives of the working classes and the injustices working people face at the hands of the bourgeoisie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism in Mexico</span> Anarchism

Anarchism in Mexico, the anarchist movement in Mexico, extends from Plotino Rhodakanaty's organization of peasant workers in the 1890s, to Ricardo Flores Magón's activism prior to the Mexican Revolution, to the punk subcultures of the 1990s.

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful as well as opposing authority and hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations. Proponents of anarchism, known as anarchists, advocate stateless societies based on non-hierarchical voluntary associations. While anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, opposition to the state is not its central or sole definition. Anarchism can entail opposing authority or hierarchy in the conduct of all human relations.

Anarchism in Russia developed out of the populist and nihilist movements' dissatisfaction with the government reforms of the time.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to anarchism:

The following is a list of terms specific to anarchists. Anarchism is a political and social movement which advocates voluntary association in opposition to authoritarianism and hierarchy.

Allan W. Antliff is an anarchist activist, art critic, author and founding member of the Toronto Anarchist Free School who has written extensively on the topics of anarchism and art in North America since the 1980s.

Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisation, peace, squatter and student protest movements. Anarchists have participated in armed revolutions such as in those that created the Makhnovshchina and Revolutionary Catalonia, and anarchist political organizations such as the International Workers' Association and the Industrial Workers of the World have existed since the 20th century. Within contemporary anarchism, the anti-capitalism of classical anarchism has remained prominent.

Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas is a three-volume anthology of anarchist writings edited by historian Robert Graham. The anthology is published by Black Rose Books. Each selection is introduced by Graham, placing each author and selection in their historical and ideological context. The focus of the anthology is on the origins and development of anarchist ideas; it is not a documentary history of the world's anarchist movements, although the selections are geographically diverse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magonism</span> Anarcho-communist ideology first described by the revolutionary Flores Magón brothers

Magonism is an anarchist, or more precisely anarcho-communist, school of thought precursor of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. It is mainly based on the ideas of Ricardo Flores Magón, his brothers Enrique and Jesús, and also other collaborators of the Mexican newspaper Regeneración, as Práxedis Guerrero, Librado Rivera and Anselmo L. Figueroa.

References

  1. ↑ "About See Sharp Press". See Sharp Press. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  2. ↑ Gonsalves, Sean (2005-07-12). "Not-so-best-selling summer reading list". Cape Cod Times . 10B4F2E766FF1010.
  3. ↑ Arbuthnot, Felicity (2004-04-21). "Iraq... The Aftermath". IslamOnline . Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  4. ↑ Gonsalves, Sean (2007-06-04). "The Art of Aphorisms". AlterNet. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  5. ↑ "Patty Horn, Daniel Asia keeping busy". The Arizona Daily Star . 1994-10-30.
  6. 1 2 3 Antliff, Allan (2004). Only a Beginning. Arsenal Pulp Press. p.  278. ISBN   1-55152-167-9.
  7. ↑ Williams, Leonard (September 2007). "Anarchism Revived". New Political Science. 29 (3): 297–312. doi:10.1080/07393140701510160. S2CID   220354272.
  8. 1 2 Bufe, Chaz. "Listen, Anarchist!". Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  9. ↑ Feral Faun. "The Bourgeois Roots of Anarcho-Syndicalism". Green Anarchy . Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2017-02-04.
  10. ↑ Waldorf and Statler (Summer 2005). "News From the Balcony with Waldorf and Statler". Green Anarchy (20). Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  11. 1 2 Biehl, Janet. "Introduction". Listen, Anarchist!. Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  12. ↑ Carson, Kevin. "Suggested Reading". Mutualism.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  13. ↑ Bob Black. "Bufe Goof". inspiracy.com. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  14. ↑ Bob Black. "Views From Nowhere". The Anarchist Library. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
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