From a new review in the "South African Journal of Philisophy" (extracts)

Ian Liebenberg and Petrus de Kock, " Review Article: Transforming the state away from the State? Radical social action and ‘minority attractions’ under scrutiny", South African Journal of Philosophy, 2010, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 195-208

"Anyone interested in the theory and socio-philosophical background to anarchism and syndicalism will find the Black Flame an active reflective utterance and a valuable reference work for some years to come ... despite ‘multiple deaths’, anarchist philosophy and action still manifests itself [and] forms part of and influences social movements that continue to utter a radical “No!” to centralist power, global capitalism and economic exploitation, ecological destruction included".


"The authors demonstrate that anarchism ... furthers a thoughtful historical and social body of direct action ... The issue at stake is the transformation of society based on communitarianism, social action and the attainment of direct democracy ...

"Various critical theorists observe that globalisation and global capitalism result in a further widening of the gap between rich and poor, with the predictable outcome being marginalisation, alienation, communal violence, crime and generalised planetary conflict ... To this, very few intellectuals of our time have an answer...

"... The authors of the Black Flame situate anarcho-syndicalism in the contemporary world ... [and] introduce the readers to a wide range of anarchist thinkers but demonstrate the links between anarchists and syndicalists in the world of work ... to anarchism and its manifestations on the globe since the middle of the 1800s...

"... the work infuses the current discourse with new perspectives and challenges and a warehouse of lessons learnt – and perhaps future steps that may benefit the debate on state oppression and capitalist exploitation...

"The anarchist intellectual streams insist on persistent/permanent decentralisation of the state. The state in the form we know it is per se both a parasite and a cruel bloody hegemony. The only compromise with the state then lies in the direct action of all workers (not an elected/ selected few)...

"Van der Walt and Schmidt contend – and demonstrate – in their substantial work the socio-historic and economic legacy of the discourse from yesteryear until now. Anarchist-syndicalism still leaves powerful states and the corporate capitalists uneasy. While anarchism and syndicalism were seen by Marxist revisionists as a ‘minority ttraction’ and was blamed by hard-line Marxists as ‘non-proletarian in character’, while simultaneously being vilified by advocates of global capitalism, corporate empires and militarists, it seems that despite ‘multiple deaths’, anarchist philosophy and action still manifests itself in different ways on the globe. Anarchist thought forms part of and influences social movements that continue to utter a radical “No!” to centralist power, global capitalism and economic exploitation, ecological destruction included.

"Anyone interested in the theory and socio-philosophical background to anarchism and syndicalism will find the Black Flame an active reflective utterance and a valuable reference work for some years to come."