Punk and anarchism are inextricably linked; the connection is clear in the anarchistic rhetoric, ethics, and practices of punk, and in the huge numbers of anarchist activists politicised through punk culture. This zine looks back to ‘early punk’ (arbitrarily taken as 1976-1980), to identify the emergence of the anarchistic threads that run right through punk, and which continue to shape its contemporary global spread.
Even the self-declared ‘anarchists’ of early punk didn’t know their Bakunin from their Smirnoff. But, as this zine identifies, even prior to the emergence of anarcho-punk and other punk scenes explicitly engaged with anarchism, anarchistic currents are apparent in early punk: oppositionalism, resistance to repression, anti-fascism/anti-Marxism, and Do-It-Yourself production and distribution networks. The presence of anarchist rhetoric and practice in punk’s earliest manifestations is clear – this emerging anarchist strand has been the prime political companion for punk over the last 40 years, and remains the core principle of contemporary punk organisation, networking, and production.
Zine details:
Publisher: Active Distribution
Author: Jim Donaghey
Published: 2019 (A5 pamphlet), 2024 (A6 pocketbook)
Format: A5 Pamphlet / A6 Pocketbook
Pages: 32 / 68
ISSN: 1923-5615 (2019 edition)
ISBN: 9781914567391 (2024 edition)
