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The Tyranny of Structurelessness

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"The Tyranny of Structurelessness" is an influential essay by American feminist Jo Freeman concerning power relations within radical or anarchist collectives.[1][2] The essay critiqued the notion of leaderless resistance and non-hierarchical forms of organisation, and inspired the rejoinder "The Tyranny of Tyranny" by Cathy Levine.[3]

In a review of the essay for Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed, Jason McQuinn noted its popularity among leftist and platformist anarchists, and scathingly compared it to "a closely argued, but incomprehensibly unreal and illogical stab at sociology by a paranoid schizophrenic".[4]

Publication history

The essay originated as a speech given to the Southern Female Rights Union at a conference in Beulah, Mississippi in May 1970.[5] Freeman has stated that it was transcribed in 1971 for Notes from the Third Year (whose editors chose not to include it) and submitted to several women's liberation movement publications, only one of which sought her permission to publish it. Other outlets published it without asking, and it was first officially published in The Second Wave in 1972.[6] It was issued in pamphlet form by Agitprop in 1972, and later by the Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists, a women's group based in Leeds, United Kingdom. In 1973, altered versions appeared in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology and in Ms. magazine.[7][8] Later printings included that of the Anarchist Workers' Association (Kingston faction), and in 1984 in a pamphlet called "Untying the Knot - Feminism, Anarchism & Organisation" jointly published by Dark Star Press and Rebel Press (printed by Algate Press).

  • Black bloc, an ad hoc leaderless organisational tactic employed by anarchist and other radical protesters

References

  1. ^ Rebick, Judy (September 22, 2002). "Lip service: the anti-globalization movement on gender politics". Herizons.
  2. ^ Wainwright, Hilary (October 09, 2006). "Imagine there's no leaders". Transnational Institute. Retrieved February 17, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Levine, Cathy (April 14, 2005). "The Tyranny of Tyranny". Untying the Knot. Libcom.org. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
  4. ^ McQuinn, Jason. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness: An organizationalist repudiation of anarchism". Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed. 54.
  5. ^ Freeman, Jo. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness". JoFreeman.com. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
  6. ^ Freeman, Jo (1972). "The Tyranny of Structurelessness". The Second Wave. 2 (1): 20.
  7. ^ Freeman, Jo (1973). "The Tyranny of Structurelessness". Ms. magazine: 76–78, 86–89. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Freeman, Jo (1972–73). "The Tyranny of Structurelessness". Berkeley Journal of Sociology. 17: 151–165.
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