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With sorrow we note the passage of Murray Bookchin, the renowned ecologist and anarchist thinker who died on July 30 this year. Although he was 85 years old, his absence will be sorely felt. Bookchin was born in New York City on Jan. 14, 1921 to Russian Jewish immigrants Nathan and Rose Bookchin. Like many other youths inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, he was active in the Young Pioneers and then later in the Young Communist League, the sections of the American Communist party reserved for children and teenagers. As a streetcorner orator and debater, Bookchin soon imbued himself with Marxist theory. He later described these streetcorner experiences as “a tremendous, fiery school for propaganda and agitation.” In 1935, Bookchin became bitterly disllusioned with Communist policies when the Communist International initiated the Popular Front, which Stalin used in the interests of Soviet foreign policy. By 1937 Bookchin had gravitated towards Trotskyism, and throughout World War II was actively involved in the Trotskyist movement. Trotskyists at that time were convinced that World War II would spell the end of capitalism and the creation of a Socialist Europe, perhaps even a Socialist United States. If capitalism came out of the war intact, on the other hand—thats is, if the war did not end in proletarian revolution—then Trotskyists were encouraged to reevaluate their most basic Marxist principles. Of course, capitalism not only survived World War II but in fact boomed throughout the 1940s and 50s. The prospects for proletarian revolution, too, evaporated in the post-war atmosphere. Recognizing this, Bookchin spent the 1960s-80s re-evaluating his Marxist beliefs. Eventually he came to believe that anarcho-communism was essentially correct. Beginning in the 1950s, Bookchin wrote extensively on ecological issues. During this period, his views on anarchism heavily influenced his views on ecology. The result were his writings on Social Ecology, a view which insists that capitalism is to blame for currently existing ecological crises. In Bookchin’s words, “A society based on a grow-or-die market economy must destroy the biosphere because of the very imperatives—growth and capital accumulation—that drive it along this anti-ecological path irrespective of any other factors.” In 1971, he even founded the Institute for Social Ecology at Goddard College in Vermont. Bookchin’s legacy is not without criticism, however. For instance, his blanket condemnation of anarcho-syndicalism and similar working class visions on the grounds that they will inevitably supplant community concerns to workers’ concerns seems too simpleminded. Nevertheless, his work still merits much thought and experimentation. Select Bibliography- Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971)
- The Limits of the City (1973)
- The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years (1977)
- The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy (1982)
- The Modern Crisis (1986)
- The Rise of Urbanization and the Decline of Citizenship (1987)
- To Remember Spain (1994)
- Re-Enchanting Humanity (1995)
- The Third Revolution. Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era (1996-2003) 4 Volumes
- Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm (1997)
- The Politics of Social Ecology:Libertarian Municipalism (1997)
- Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left. Interviews and Essays, 1993-1998 (1999)
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