THE THIRD AND final volume in the series of titles produced by the Anarchism and Punk Book Project has just been published. Punk Anarchy in Action brings together a collection of essays from diverse authors which set out to document the part that “punk has played in anarchist activity, scenes and lives around the world”.
Over 500 pages of academic analysis of anarchist punx in action! Just what you need to keep a heavy door open. The third in our series of analysing the part punk has played in anarchist activity, scenes and lives around the world. “Punk Anarchy in Action! provides activist and scholarly accounts of how anarchism and punk overlap in practice. From various corners of Europe, Southeast Asia and the Americas, this collection of chapters tackles theres including: anti-fascism; violence; religion and anti-religion; Total Liberation and intersectionality; squatting; queer feminism; veganism and animal liberation; and ageing in radical scenes. Things are rarely straightforward in everyday lived experience, even less so in diverse punk countercultures informed by non-doctrinaire anarchist philosophies. These thoughtful and critical analyses draw from first-hand experience to explore the complex issues that arise when we encounter Punk Anarchy in Action!”
Some launch events are in the planning stages – including one in Belfast planned for 11 April 2026. More details on those to follow.
“With this final book, we’ve now published 1,612 pages, 58 chapters, about a gazillion words,” say the co-editors. “There are some ideas for subsequent publications, but for now we’re going to let the dust settle on six years of hard graft.”
Jim Donaghey, Will Boisseau and Caroline Kaltefleiter (eds). 2026. Punk Anarchy in Action. Active Distribution. ISBN 978-1-914567-84-1. https://www.activedistributionshop.org/product/punk-anarchy-in-action
The first two volumes in the series DIY OR DIE! Do-It-Yourself, Do-It-Together & Punk Anarchism and Smash The System: Punk anarchism as a Culture of Resistance are detailed below.
The first volume Smash the System is currently out of print, but Active Distribution can be convinced to arrange a reprint if there’s sufficient interest. Contact them to let them know if there is.
Jim Donaghey, Will Boisseau and Caroline Kaltefleiter (eds). 2024.DIY OR DIE! Do-It-Yourself, Do-It-Together & Punk Anarchism. Active Distribution. https://www.activedistributionshop.org/product/diy-or-die-do-it-yourself-do-it-together-punk-anarchism/
The phrase ‘do-it-yourself’, often bandied about in discussions on cultural and political activism, is another of those key terms that has been borrowed (or stolen) from elsewhere. Just as ‘anarchist’ and ‘punk’ were appropriated (in the 1840s and 1970s, respectively), ‘DIY’ has likewise been recontextualised (first appearing in the context of home improvement in the 1910s, and applied to musical and political contexts from the 1950s onwards). But these terms are adopted for a reason, and their original meanings have continued significance – there is an ineluctable strand of radicality that runs through do-it-yourself, stemming from: its basis in action and doing; its emphasis on freedom of expression; its ties to material and cultural production; and its blurring of the supposedly distinct roles of producer and consumer. Taking the domestic roots of DIY as a stepping-off point, it is evident that this core of amateur ‘tinkering’ resonates through its evolving application in the contexts of anarchism and punk. But this radical kernel is always under pressure from consumerism and entrepreneurialism, and these same tensions persist in DIY-informed punk culture and anarchist activism.
Jim Donaghey, Will Boisseau and Caroline Kaltefleiter (eds). Smash The System: Punk anarchism as a Culture of Resistance. Active Distribution. ISBN 9781914567131. https://www.activedistributionshop.org/product/smash-the-system/
434 pages of essays from all over the world about how anarchist punk has influenced and inspired resistance in many varied struggles. Punk and anarchism have been intertwined since punk first blasted into the public consciousness some 45 years ago, and, while the relationship is complicated (and not ubiquitous), anarchism has been identified as punk’s ‘primary political companion’ But, close investigation of the connections between anarchism and punk has been scant – it’s either taken-for-granted, lurks in the background of other topics of analysis, or is ignored completely. We’re going to change that, with the publication of four books about various aspects of the punk/anarchism relationship, this is the first!
Find out more about all three books in the series from the Anarchism and Punk Book Project blog.
The Hippies Now Wear Black 