NALSU Labour Studies Podcast | Lucien van der Walt, Rhodes University: Greek publication, Breaking The Chains: A History of Anarchism

SPEAKER AND TOPIC: Lucien van der Walt, Rhodes University: Greek publication, podcast, "Breaking The Chains: A History of Anarchism"

PAPER: "Breaking the Chains" is the first complete book by Lucien van der Walt to be translated into Greek. Written in a popular style, it presents a global history of the anarchist movement and its offshoot, revolutionary syndicalism. A global perspective shows the profound influence of the libertarian current on labour, left, popular and anti-imperialist struggles since the 1860s to the present. It dispels the myth that the broad anarchist tradition was just a minor footnote in working-class and popular movements. The Greek edition of "Breaking the Chains" includes a new introduction. It was launched by the grassroots syndicalist union, ESE [https://ese.espiv.net/] in Athens, Greece, at Café Locomotiva, on 9 December 2022, with a second launch at the Athens School of Philosophy, on 27 April 2023. Lucien is based at the Neil Aggett Labour studies Unit (NALSU), South Africa

DETAILS: This is a recording of a blended event held on Friday, 9 December 2022, 7 pm, Café Locomotiva, Athens, Greece. The recording is in English, with Greek translation is provided.

From the editor’s introductory note: "His work as an academic combined with organized participation in the libertarian movement has given him a penetrating eye that combines methodical analysis and deep knowledge of history with a genuine interest in the subjects he tackles, that avoids the pitfalls of academicism, and addresses the everyday person as equal to equal. To date, he has contributed to the international literature a series of works that highlight anarchism not as a minority whim of some theoreticians but as the most massive revolutionary current of the labor movement from the First International until today."

HOSTS: The series is run by the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) in partnership with the Departments of Sociology & Industrial Sociology, and Economics & Economic History, Rhodes University.

ABOUT NALSU: Based in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, is engaged in policy, research and workers' education. Built around a vibrant team from disciplines including Sociology and Economics & Economic History, it has active partnerships and relations with a range of advocacy, labour and research organisations. It draws strength from its location in a province where the legacy of apartheid and the cheap labour system, and the contradictions of the post-apartheid state, are keenly felt. We are named in honour of Dr Neil Hudson Aggett, a union organiser and medical doctor who died in 1982 in an apartheid jail after enduring brutality and torture.

MORE: https://www.ru.ac.za/nalsu