Book records history of Canada’s anarchist presses

Until I met Allan Antliff, I had not thought seriously about the importance of anarchist philosophy within Canadian politics.

I’m not saying I imagined that all anarchist thinkers were wild-eyed tossers of Molotov cocktails. I have a lot of respect for folks who question the status quo, and I did know that the word “anarchy” derives from the Greek word anarkhos, meaning leaderless. But, aside from reading essays by the late George Woodcock and applauding the actions of a few gutsy environmentalists, I had not deliberately investigated the on-going presence of anarchist thinkers in our midst.

Then, in November 2004, along came Only a Beginning: An Anarchist Anthology, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Promoted as “the first comprehensive overview of anarchist theory and practice in North America from 1976 to the present,” the anthology is a hefty tome, marvellously illustrated with black-and-white reproductions of posters, art and photography.

Only a Beginning could serve as a primer for students of grass-roots activism, as well as a guide to the history of radical politics over the past 30 years. It documents a panoply of political engagements, including protests, street theatre, art exhibits, feminist manifestos and gay-rights initiatives; it catalogues such zines and small-press publications as BC Blackout, Canada's first anarchist info-bulletin, the Toronto-based Ecomedia and Riot Grrrl Montreal. The anthology opens with the founding of the Vancouver-based Open Road journal in 1976 and ends with commentaries and critiques on global economy and governance.

As editor of the anthology, Allan Antliff, 46, is the perfect person to answer my questions about anarchism as political catalyst. After a minor struggle to co-ordinate our schedules, we recently sat down over coffee to attend to my further education. An intense man with a razor-sharp wit, Antliff is a Canada Research Chair in the art history department at the University of Victoria. His previous book, Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics and the First American Avant-Garde, was published four years ago by the University of Chicago press, but he has also established a reputation outside the academy as a curator and freelance journalist. He is a contributing editor to the Alternative Press Review and art editor of Anarchist Studies. No dour ideologue, he fuels his conversation with a raspberry square and a Starbucks Frappuccino, but he considers my every question carefully and resists some of them.

In his Preface to Only a Beginning, Atliff says he has long been aware that “anarchism in Canada lacked a history, or more accurately, that neglect had driven that history underground.” Hence, the anthology’s task is to bring the subject into the light, in a concrete way. Anarchism “demands an end to oppression in all its forms,” writes Antliff. He maintains that the culture of protest documented in the anthology offers “a compelling instance of politics by example, proving anarchism is not only possible, but can be actualized in everyday life.”

Antliff was born in Victoria, lived here for his first four years, then moved with his family to Kingston, Ontario. Assuming his position at UVic felt like coming home, he says, because he had youthful memories of Victoria as a beautiful place. He taught at the University of Alberta from 1999 to 2003, but always thought “the prairies were a long way from water.” One of four siblings, Antliff delights in the fact that his identical twin brother, Mark, is an expert in fascist theory and art.

Antliff snorts when I mention the notion of the armchair anarchist. For him, experience is a crucible. “I lived near the bottom for many, many years,” he says. “It was a struggle for my mother to maintain a family as a single parent and work in a factory.

The formidable work that went into assembling Only a Beginning springs equally from Antliffís own extensive anarchist archive and from his passion for the subject. He describes himself as having been a “rambunctious” youth who developed early as a political animal.

Antliff recalls being taught art in high school by two American draft dodgers and influenced by ìthe vibrant radical community in Kingston, a city which shares with Victoria the social chasm between established citizens and those scrabbling to live. At age 13, he participated in his first protest -- organized by his older sister -- against rules preventing female students from wearing pants to school.

By the time he was 15 or 16, Antliff was reading books integral to the counter culture and feminism. He was further politicized by his undergraduate study of history at the University of Waterloo, then went on to pursue two master’s degrees, one in history and one in art history, followed by a PhD.

“There’s always a tension between what is aspired to and what can be achieved,” Atliff notes about his own activism, which is part of a national and international network. In the past he has worked for feminism, for a needle exchange, for aboriginal rights, for stronger local communities. The Victoria launch of Only a Beginning was linked to the opening of an anarchist bookstore in the Fernwood area.

Does Antliff have advice for those at the kindergarten stage of developing sound anarchist politics?

“Developing a politic is complex and it’s organic,” he says with a tinge of asperity. But then he reconsiders. “Think for yourself,” he advises. “And think how to work for a better world.”

“You learn to pick your battles,” he comments at the end of the interview. For Antliff, the purposeful struggle continues, and I suspect much of it is immensely satisfying, even if he “still ain’t satisfied.”