Fifth Estate Collective
Primitivo Solis (David Watson)
News & Reviews
We continue to receive a tremendous variety of publications for mention in this column, some of them anarchist and/ or syndicalist and libertarian communist, but many of them uncategorizable. It appears that an anarchic, autonomous underground press is flowering. Whereas the old underground press found its format in the multicolored tabloid, this new movement makes use of the photocopy—undoubtedly many of them printed free on liberated time, materials and machinery at workplaces. Some of the collage work is exceptional as well. We should also mention that they are often published in conjunction with street activities such as spraypainting, disruption and guerrilla theater.
One fabulous example of such creativity) is the Daily Lobe, a thick collection of materials on the demonstrations against the Democrats last summer in San Francisco. It is published by the Gray Matter Collective, c/o Johann Kingsfield, 930 Hayes No. 3, San Francisco CA 94117. The Bound Together Bookstore newsletter also has an article on demonstrations in San Francisco, a critique of the “peaceful, nonviolent” approach of most reformist demonstrations. Still another publication from SF is Brix and Bottles, “a publication of millions of sq. ft.” Contains still more material on the Dem Convention protests and cop riots as well as other material. The BTB newsletter and Brix and Bottles can both be obtained from Bound Together Books, 1369 Haight St., San Francisco CA 94117.
Other interesting photocopied pubs are Journey Into Savagery: Reflections of a Revolting Mess, from 145 Fox Run, Poughkeepsie NY 12603; Portrait of the American Wilderness, from P.O. Box 811, Junction City KS 66441; Reality Now, with articles on El Salvador, Ireland, milk and flesh, and more, from 214 King St. Hamilton, Ontario L8N 1B5 Canada; and Faze the Nation/Dead Time, with articles on voting, government, the Vancouver 5, and culture shock, available from P.O. Box 1425, NYC NY 10009. All of these publications would probably appreciate some money for postage costs when you write to them.
Some anarchist publications recently received
Circle A: Anarchy in Atlanta, with a long article on the Grenada invasion, a critique of voting, and on the conservative marxist takeover of the Atlanta Great Speckled Bird, one of the old surviving members of the second wave of underground papers from the 1960s, by the leftovers of the maoist October League. Available from P.O. Box 57114, Atlanta GA 30343.
Mutual Aid Alternatives, with articles on “male liberation” and anarcha-feminism, mutual aid, education and childhood, and more. Available from The Social Action Center, 221 Central Avenue, Albany NY 12206.
New Iron Guard, from the creative anarchists of America, with articles on John Brown, the American Indian today, the murder of seals, war crimes in El Salvador, and much more. We wrote to them asking why they had made such an unfortunate choice of names—the Iron Guard being the name of a Romanian fascist organization responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, radicals, and others during World War II (Grass Lake cleric of the Romanian orthodox church Valerian Trifa was recently deported from the U.S. to Portugal for membership in the group). After some discussion, they are changing the name to the Iron Column (from the uncontrollables of the Spanish Revolution. Well, we’re not much into ironing, but the content of the publication is worth checking out. Write ANIG, 1728 W. Bali Road No. 4, Anaheim CA 92804 (yep, right next door to Disneyland).
Black Flag comes in every two weeks (BM Hurricane, London WC1N3XX, UK) and has had a lot of news on the miners’ strike and on anarchist actions throughout the world.
The Black Rose: An Anarchist’s Conception of Reality and Hope, by Arthur J. Miller, has been published by Bayou La Rose, “a journal of working class ecological anarchism,” both available from P.O. Box 6130, Kansas City KS 66106. This is a new address for these folks. We just received a letter from them stating that “After eight months on strike and being blacklisted because of rank and file agitation the financial support of Bayou La Rose and the Survival Network Information Center is gone. So we have had to pack away the bayou and SNIC and move to Kansas where we will be able to continue our work. Bayou La Rose will be going to a quarterly with our next issue, which will be coming out in February...” They report that they will be changing to a newspaper format and will be improving in appearance. This spring will mark seven years of publication for them. Upcoming articles will include news on the international movement to save the rain forests from human greed, articles on the Marion Prison brothers, the New Orleans metal trades strike, Guatemalan refugees, and much more. Of course, like all struggling projects, they need financial support. We wish them the best of luck in Kansas—Louisiana’s loss is Kansas’ gain.
Eleutheromania! is available from CP 95 Station Place d’Armes, Montreal P.Q. H2Y 3E9 Canada.
A publication in Dutch is De Vrije, Anarchisties Maandblad, available from Postbus 5412, 1007 AK Amsterdam (Copies available upon request with book orders from the FE Book service).
We have also received some syndicalist and working class publications. One of the more interesting ones is Workers Playtime: Popular Yarns of Class War. Two recent issues contain material on strikes in Europe, the miners in Britain, Lebanon and other themes. Available from 84b Whitechapel High St., London E1 England.
Echanges continues to publish discussions on class struggle, radical theory and more. Write Echanges et Mouvement, BM Box 91, London WC 1N 3 XX, England.
Wage Labour & Demand Struggles is available from Correspondence a l’Insecurite Sociale, BP 243, 75564 Paris Cedex 12.
Solidarity is publishing again. Write c/o 123 Lathom Road, London E6, England.
Anarchist Insurrection can be obtained from Elephant Editions, London WC 1V 6XX, England.
Direct Action, another anarchosyndicalist paper, is available from Box DAM, 59 Cookridge St., Leeds 2, England.
Pensamiento y Acción, a Chilean anarchosyndicalist bulletin, is available from the Grupo Pedro Nolasco Arratia,145 Rue Amelot, Paris 75011 France. It is published by libertarian exiles.
Anarcho-Healthcare, a full-length book by Sam Colman, has been printed by the Dawn Press, and is available for $9.95 from P.O. Box 137, Lincoln Park MI 48146. Contains an exchange between Match! editor Fred Woodworth and the author on natural health and modern medicine.
A reader in Portland, Ore. has sent us the address of the Yesh G’vul group, the movement of soldiers in Israel who have refused service in Lebanon. They may be reached c/o The Yesh G’vul Fund, c/o Gideon Spiro, Ha lamed Hey 8, Jerusalem 93661, Israel or by writing the Jewish Peace Fellowship, Box 271, Nyack NY