What we’re about
This is a group for anyone, regardless of their beliefs, who is interested in politics, economics, Marxist or Marxist-influenced philosophy, feminist theory, societal change, social and economic history and the history of ideas. You don't have to be a partisan for any particular philosophy to participate, but you do have to be willing to engage with the material critically and participate in discussions with an open mind. We meet for an assigned text or set of texts at least once a month, and have frequent informal coffee meetups as well.
We will sample ideas widely, reading some core Marxist thinkers as well as numerous others from diverse backgrounds and strands of critical thought. Our goal is to expand the thinking of every participant and stimulate vigorous, if structured and respectful, debate on serious topics.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- LMRG Revolutionary History: Tiqqun, The Coming Insurrection [Selections]London Action Resource Centre, London
"The book you hold in your hands has become the principal piece of evidence in an anti-terrorism case in France directed against nine individuals who were arrested on November 11, 2008 ... They have been accused of 'criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity' on the grounds that they were to have participated in the sabotage of overhead electrical lines on France’s national railways ..."
Welcome back, readers!
Some of us are old enough to remember the Tarnac 9 case, or at least the wave of anticapitalist militancy that swept Italy and Greece and inspired the world around that same time, just a few years ahead of the so-called Arab Spring and the rise of Occupy Wall Street and the Indignados movements. We may even remember noted crybaby Glenn Beck waxing lyrical on Fox News about the danger threatened by black bloc anarchists carrying copies of The Coming Insurrection in their gloved fists. For those of us that were there, this all seems very long ago and rather low-stakes compared to the struggles of more recent years.
But with the unfolding of a new round of insurrection across the US West Coast, from Los Angeles, Califoria to Portland, Oregon, and with the puzzling case of the anti-state Telegram group Défense des droits des prisonniers français ("Defense of the Rights of French Prisoners") and the string of attacks on the institutions of French "justice" it has inspired or co-ordinated, we feel it may be time for a trip down memory lane. France and the USA form something of a pair in current insurrectionary and revolutionary discourse, even as their real potentials remain highly subliminated beneath the major headlines, dominated as these are by the spectre of world war. This text has a strong symbolic relationship both to France and the US, and has something to offer all of us, even today.
The Coming Insurrection is in many ways the classic, essential text of the immediate post-2008 period of protest in the Anglo-European world. It was made famous when it became the key piece of evidence in a highly controversial criminal case in France involving a group of young people suspected, on the basis of their ownership of the book, of planning to sabotage consumer infrastructure.
Widely discussed and referenced if little-read, it provided colour and a kind of political "aesthetic" to a generation of insurrectionary anarchists and anti-capitalists who, if not the official face of Occupy or the "movements of the squares", certainly provided its heart and soul. Much of what made large-scale, peaceful demonstrations thrilling and attractive to the many non-militants who lent their support to the anti-capitalist cause in those days were drawn by the electrical charge that could be felt in the air wherever black blocs were near: the possibility, the threat of violence, danger, transgression, and the testing of the limits of the state's control.
The text deals with a number of topics, treating mass consumerism, surveillance, political and social history, relationships between communities and police, between workers and bosses, students and teachers, parents and children and every other ingredient that does into an insurrectionary stew with the same watchful eye and the same suspicious-yet-hopeful tone. Plenty of writers since have been influenced by Tiqqun's almost Proust-like, psychological-novelistic style, but this is still the "original", in a sense.
Over a decade on from those times and five years on from the 2020 George Floyd Uprising, The Coming Insurrection remains influential, continuing to provide inspiration to activists at the frontlines of fighting the state, such as those of the Stop Cop City movement and new generations of French anarchists and autonomists.
This is a poetical work in many ways, inspired by Guy Debord although in a more accessible, if no less unique, personal authorial style. We'll be reading selections - it's not a massively long text so feel free to read as much as you like, but I'll be making notes on the first chapter (just called "The Coming Insurrection", the chapter "Fifth Circle: less possessions, more connections!", and the final four (very short) chapters, "Get Going", "Find Each Other", "Get Organised" and "Insurrection". The introduction by the authors is also worth a read.
Find the text here in full:
https://archive.org/details/InvisibleCommitteeTheComingInsurrection/mode/2up
For more about the Tarnac 9 and the background to the text, see:
https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/commentary/the-war-against-pre-terrorism
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/books/16situation.html
![LMRG Revolutionary History: Tiqqun, The Coming Insurrection [Selections] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/3/4/b/event_528637707.webp "LMRG Revolutionary History: Tiqqun, The Coming Insurrection [Selections]")
