Demanding the Impossible?

Booknews

Explores the relationship between anarchism's notion of human nature and its vision of a future stateless society by way of three great 19th-century social anarchists: Proudhon, Bakunin, and Kropotkin. Demonstrates that social anarchism's assumption of the existence of both egoism and sociability provides a realistic assessment of human nature, but argues that this conception of human nature is incompatible with establishing a stateless society. Concludes by exploring the possibilities for a reconceptualization of the anarchist conception of human nature to further develop anarchist thought. Distributed by Books International. Paper edition (33687-4), $27.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.