Anarchism in America is a 1983 documentary, directed by Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher, and produced by Pacific Street Films

Pacific Street Films

Pacific Street Films is a documentary film production company founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1969 by anarchists Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler...

. It has been re-released by AK Press

AK Press

AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...

 to DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

. The film begins by explaining the filmmakers' interest in anarchism based on their involvement in the group Transcendental Students

Transcendental Students

Transcendental Students was a student activist and anarchist group created in 1969 at NYU in New York City. Its motto and philiosophy was "insurrection through happiness"....

 while in film school at NYU. The film includes interviews with influential anarchists Murray Bookchin

Murray Bookchin

Murray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics,...

, Paul Avrich

Paul Avrich

Paul Avrich was a professor and historian. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for most of his life and was vital in preserving the history of the anarchist movement in Russia and the United States....

, Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...

, Mollie Steimer

Mollie Steimer

Mollie Steimer was born as Marthe Alperine in Tsarist Russia. She immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 15...

 and Karl Hess

Karl Hess

Karl Hess was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist...

, and with poet Kenneth Rexroth

Kenneth Rexroth

Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...

. It also discusses the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, the 1917 Revolution

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

, the influence of Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....

 and the case of executed anarchists Sacco

Sacco

Sacco is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy.-Overview:Sacco is known as La Città della Buona Fortuna , because many of its inhabitants have gone on to accomplish many great things...

 and Vanzetti.

The film labels anarchism

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

 as the only ideology that is staunchly anti-authoritarian, and discusses how anarchist ideals align with the revolutionary, independent spirit of America from rural communities to urban zones.

External links

• Anarchism Revisited: Voices and Visions, information on Pacific Street Films
  Pacific Street Films
  Pacific Street Films is a documentary film production company founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1969 by anarchists Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler...
  
  re-release of Anarchism in America, currently in production.

Media

• Anarchism in America (1983), with excerpts.