American Anarchism Syllabus

A few years ago, I taught my first class: a first-year writing seminar called “American Anarchism.” Here is the syllabus, which may be useful to folks looking for a grounding in the history of anarchism in the United States!

“Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals…”

-Emma Goldman

“If it is the future you seek, then I tell you that you must come to it with empty hands… You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.”

-Ursula K. Le Guin

Course description:

Anarchists are notorious for bomb-throwing “propaganda of the deed,” but they have historically been far more likely to reach for a pen than a stick of dynamite. What do anarchists have to offer us as writers? This course explores the history of American anarchism through historical analysis paired with literature and manifestos. We will study the rebellious writing of anarchists like Emma Goldman, David Graeber, and CrimethInc in order to refine our own techniques. Students will write historical essays, artistic and literary analysis, a persuasive political essay, and a manifesto. We will take inspiration from Ursula Le Guin’s affirmation that “writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight.”

Course Schedule

Unit 1: Introduction to American Anarchism

Week 1: A Beginning

Tue., Jan. 21: Introduction to Class
Thu., Jan. 23: “Are You An Anarchist?”

Week 2: Classical Anarchism
Tue., Jan. 28: Anarchist Communism


Thu., Jan. 30: Anarchy in the US

Week 3: Settler Colonialism, Slavery, and Resistance
Tue., Feb. 4: Settler Colonialism and Resistance


Thu., Feb. 6: Slavery and Resistance

Unit 2: Classical American Anarchism (late 19th/early 20th century)

Week 4: Early American Anarchism
Tue., Feb. 11: Utopian Socialism and Individualist Mutualism

Thu., Feb. 13: Immigrant Anarchism and Haymarket

Week 5: Anarchist Apogee and Decline

Tue., Feb. 18: Syndicalism and the Anarchist Apogee


Thurs., Feb. 20: Propaganda of the Deed and Insurrectionism

  • Lucy Parsons “A Word to Tramps
  • Luigi Galleani, excerpt from “Propaganda of the Deed,” from The End of Anarchism? (1925)
  • Andrew Cornell, short excerpts from “The Red and Black Scare, 1917-1924” and “A Movement of Defense, of Emergency, 1920-1929,” in Unruly Equality (2016)

Week 6: From the Depression to the 1950s
Tue., Feb. 25: February Break, No Class

Thu., Feb. 27: Depression, Spanish Revolution, and WWII

  • Andrew Cornell, excerpts from “The Unpopular Front, 1930-1939” and “Anarchism and Revolutionary Nonviolence, 1940-1948” from Unruly Equality (2016)

Unit 3: Anarchism in the Long 1960s

Week 7: Long 1960s Part 1: From Civil Rights to the New Left
Tue., Mar. 3: The Avant-Garde and the Civil Rights Movement

  • Andrew Cornell, excerpts from “Anarchism and the Avant-Garde, 1942-1956” and “Anarchism and the Black Freedom Movement, 1955-1964,” from Unruly Equality


Thu., Mar. 5: Anarchism and the New Left

  • Andrew Cornell, excerpts from “The New Left and Countercultural Anarchism, 1960-1972,” from Unruly Equality (2016) (240-279)
  • Murray Bookchin, “Post-Scarcity Anarchism” (1967/68)

Week 8: Long 1960s Part 2: Counterculture and the Rebirth of Anarchism
Tue., Mar. 10: Counterculture


Thu., Mar. 12: Anarchism “Reborn”

Unit 4: New Anarchisms: Anarcha-Feminism, Black Anarchism, and Environmentalism

Week 9: Anarcha-Feminism and Black Feminism
Tue., Mar. 17: Anarcha-Feminism


Thu., Mar. 19: Black Feminism and Anarchism

Week 10: Black/New Afrikan Anarchism and Radical Environmentalism
Tue., Mar. 24: Black/New Afrikan Anarchism


Thu., Mar. 26: Ecology, Primitivism, Earth Liberation

Week 11: Spring Break
Tue., Mar. 31: No Class (Spring Break)
Thu., Apr. 2: No Class (Spring Break)

Unit 5: Punk and Anarchism

Week 12: Punk, Anarchism, and Manifestos
Tue., Apr. 7: Punk and Manifestos


Thu., Apr. 9: Riot Grrrl and Zines

Week 13: Love & Rage, T.A.Z., and the Infoshop Movement


Tue., Apr. 14: Love & Rage (Revolutionary Anarchist Federation)


Thu., Apr. 16: Temporary and Permanent Autonomous Zones

Unit 6: Contemporary Anarchism

Week 14: Anti-Globalization Movement


Tue., Apr. 21: Anti-Globalization/Global Justice Movement


Thu., Apr. 23: 21st Century Anarchism, Earth & Animal Liberation, and the Green Scare

Week 15: Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter
Tue., Apr. 28: Occupy Wall Street


Thu., Apr. 30: Anarchist People of Color and Black Lives Matter

***Friday, May 1: Mayday, International Workers Day***

Week 16: Endings and new beginnings
Tue., May. 5: Whither Anarchism?

Author: Empty Hands

Empty Hands History is written by Spencer Beswick, a historian of anarchism and the left who hopes to offer inspiration and lessons for today's movements.