God save the Anarcho-Mennonites

Ha ha ha. This is an old "classic" (sort of), a pamphlet with the long-winding title "Everything you ever wanted to know about anarchism, but were afraid to ask". My edition is dated 1988 and published by three mysterious groups with the scary names Black Sheep, Dark Star and Rebel Press. However, the actual text must be somewhat older, since it mentions Labour being in power. Apparently, the original edition was brought out by The Anarchist Media Group in Cardiff (a really scary town somewhere in Wales, I think).

One thing is for sure: whoever wrote this, really is "the black sheep" of the anarchist family. Listen to these excerpts: "Instead of a few thousand professional police there would be 57 million in the `United Kingdom' alone. Ultimately our only protection is each other." Further: "Then there's the question: `But what about those who refuse to work?' Well, social pressure can be applied. People could, for example, be `sent to Coventry', i.e. ignored. In drastic cases they could be expelled from the community". A bit like the Mennonites, then? "If you still need to be convinced than an anarchist society could solve the problem of failing to meet their responsibilities, then imagine yourself to be compelled to face a meeting of the whole community you live in and being publicly discussed as a problem. Ugh!". No, I don't need to be convinced. I prefer the "United Kingdom" any day, thank you (the quotation marks are the anonymous author's).

The rest of the pamphlet is as mushy and anti-authoritarian as usual, with Black Sheep being particularly incensed at the authoritarian family. Psychoanalysis is important, and feminism is apparently a form of such, since an "important anarchist strand" is "the importance of women coming to terms with each other's feelings". Anarchism during the Spanish Civil War was all rosy (no mention of CNT-FAI's participation in the Republican government!), and people's standard of living will actually improve if all of Britain is decentralized, anarchist style. Ever heard of limits to growth, peak oil and such stuff? I suppose the guys at Black Sheep and those over at Green Anarchist never spoke to each other, ha ha.

Of course, the main point of this pamphlet is to portray anarchists as reasonable, nice and fairly peaceful chaps. At one point, the author/authors exclaim: "Anarchists do not normally carry bombs, nor do they ascribe any virtue to beating up old ladies". Yet, the pamphlet ends with a comic showing a mad bomb-thrower! Irony, I suppose. Still, if these people don't want old ladies to think they are Jack the Ripper or one of the Molly Maguires, why do they even *call* themselves "anarchists" in the first place? I suppose they want us to think that they are a little bit dangerous after all...