Although unintended, the internet is the quintessential example of a large scale anarchist organization. There is no hierarchical authority controlling the internet, the subunits participate voluntarily, information flows freely, individuals join and exit associations at will. Since the internet also contains abundant information about anarchism, it is the perfect medium for a course on the political history and theory of anarchism. This course is designed following a "content based approach to internet literacy" and involves active learning. You do not need to have any internet skills at the beginning of the course, but by the end of the course, not only will you have learned about the history and theory of anarchism, you will have become internet literate and made quality contributions to the information available on the internet.

Each week we will study a different anarchist theorist or movement, and week by week internet skills will be introduced that will allow you to both consume and produce materials dealing with the history and theory of anarchism. Just as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first theorist to call himself an anarchist, acquired much of his education as a by-product of working as a printer, you will learn what the classic anarchists had to say as you prepare their words for publication on the World Wide Web. Although there are two texts for the course, much of the reading will consist of material already on the WWW and material you will scan and mark-up for electronic publication in the "Anarchy Archives".

Class sessions will consist of lectures, workshops, computer lab sessions, discussions, and internet video conferencing with scholars who have written about the history and theory of anarchism.

Traditionally, teachers control students' behavior by establishing a hierarchy based on the power to grade. The result is that most students pursue grades rather than knowledge. Anarchists have approached education in an entirely different manner. Anarchists believe that in all spheres, including education, "more harm than good results from coercion, top-down direction, central authority...pre-ordained standardisation..., etc." (Goodman, 1987, "The Anarchist Principle", in A Decade of Anarchy, ed. Colin Ward, p. 38. Also see Godwin, Political Justice, Book IV, Chapter 5, appendix.) Anarchists still recognize the value of leadership and expertise, but leadership and expertise must be separated from the exercise of power in order to avoid the deleterious and corrosive effects of coercion. Accordingly, in this course, evaluation will not result in a grade. As elaborated upon below, all students enrolled in the course will receive an "A" on their transcript. In this course, evaluation will be solely for the purpose of edification, and will be reserved strictly for participating members of the course collective.

The practice of anarchy requires order and moral integrity. Although adherence to anarchism is by no means a requirement of the course, order and integrity are necessary values to maintain if the course is to be a success. To meet these requirements, by voluntarily enrolling in this course and thereby becoming a member of the course collective, you have agreed to attend class sessions, make weekly contributions to the "Anarchy Archives", do the weekly reading for the course on a regular basis, and by the end of the semester 1) produce one scholarly work on any topic in the history and theory of anarchism, and 2) be internet literate (See: Internet Literacy Skills). If at any time during the semester you wish to leave the course collective, you may do so simply by dropping the class. If you choose to leave the course collective after the official add/drop period you will receive a "WP" (withdraw passing) grade on your transcript. If at any time during the semester you fail to meet the requirements of membership in the course collective, you may be asked to withdraw from the course. If you fail to withdraw from the course after being asked to withdraw, you will receive an "F" for the course on your transcript. Coming to the second class meeting constitutes agreement to these terms.

By eliminating traditional grading from the internal structure of the course I hope to create the possibility of a truly collective learning experience. Hopefully, this will create an environment in which we participate in the class activities for the intrinsic pleasure of learning, not the fear of a plummeting GPA. While grading has been eliminated, work has not. Perhaps by removing the drudgery of grades, room can be made to experience the joy of productive work. The class is designed in such a way that we will all be able to make real contributions to others' potential for learning, at the same time that we learn ourselves. How much we each learn will depend upon how much effort we each put into the course. On that note, I should make it clear that I have no interest in providing a refuge for those in need of a GPA fix. Therefore, you will be expected to make an effort to participate in the class. If you do not make that effort, you will be wasting not only your time, but other members' time as well and you will be asked to drop the course. Taking this class, therefore, should not be done lightly. The basic activities of the course are elaborated upon below, including descriptions of the "bare minimum" for meeting course expectations.

Readings

Marshall, Peter.  (1993), Demanding the Impossible: A History of
 	Anarchism.  London: Fontana Press. 
Bookchin, Murray (1977). The Spanish Anarchists. New York:
 	Harper and Row.
 

If you are new to the internet or still nervous pulling into the fast lane of the infobahn, a very basic, easy to read resource is:

Patrick Crispen (1997), Atlas for the Information Superhighway.
	Cincinnati: South-Western Educational Publishing
 

Archive Contributions

Scholarly Work

Internet Literacy

This section of the course will be different for each member depending upon your starting level of internet literacy skills. The skills necessary to be internet literate will be covered throughout the course and, as needed, may require an additional "lab hour" each week. The reading list below has links which will help you accomplish the course projects and in the process become internet literate. Each set of links focuses on a different internet skill. To be internet literate, you should have each of the following basic skills:

1. Emailing, including attachments, the ability to use

LISTSERV and the use of compacting/coding utilities;

2. Web browsing, including the ability to configure helper

applications, set all options, manage bookmarks, download files and applications, take digital notes from online resources, and use search engines;

3. Writing simple Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) code,

including construction of homepages, links, image embedding, simple colorizing, scanning text and visuals for HTML markup.

4. Using real-time internet communication tools including text

based tools (e.g., IRC), audio (e.g. e-phone, Maven, etc.), and video (e.g., CUsee-ME).

5. Telneting and logging onto other servers, uploading and

downloading files and applications using file transfer protocol (ftp) and using gopher tools.

6. Utilizing USENET newsgroups and bulletin boards.

If you already know most or all of these skills, you will 1) scour the archives for ways to improve its organization, 2) update links, 3) screen materials produced by other students in the course collective before they are submitted for inclusion in the Archive, 4) improve the presentation of material in the Archive, including producing links within and between documents in the Archive, and 5) help others in the collective to achieve internet mastery. As part of that assistance, rather than working on an Archive contribution, you may prefer to work on various parts of the Internet Literacy Skills Modules.

For students who have not yet become internet literate, activities will be designed so that each week different internet skills can be mastered. The reading list includes material on the WWW to help you master these skills and there is a set of tasks embedded in the reading list designed to help you develop each skill. For some, these will be new tasks, for others all the tasks will be old hat. Everyone, expert or novice, is expected to perform the tasks. Some of the tasks are related to the weekly archive contributions, but some are not.

Useful Software

READINGS

The required readings are listed below in green type.

Sept 1: Orientation

Internet Skills Assessment
Web Browsing

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OVERVIEW
Internet Literacy Skill: Email	Bibliographic Resources

Sept 3: Marshall, P. (1993), Demanding the Impossible: A History

of Anarchism, pp. ix-xv, 3-50.
Crispin, P., Roadmap 96, Weeks One and Two.

ANARCHIST ROOTS

Internet Literacy Skills Task 1

Sept 8: Marshall, P., pp. 53-139.

Lecture Notes

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GODWIN AND HIS TIME
Internet Literacy Skill: Telnet	Bibliographic Resources

Sept 10: Marshall, P., pp. 191-219.

Crispin, P., Roadmap 96, Weeks Three and Four.

GODWIN'S PHILOSOPHY

Internet Literacy Skills Task 2

Sept 15: Godwin, Political Justice, Book III, Chapter 6, "Of Obedience.

Godwin, Political Justice, Book VIII, "Of Property", Chapter 1,
Godwin, Political Justice, Book VIII, Chapter 2, Principles of Property.

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PROUDHON AND HIS TIME
Internet Literacy Skill: HTML	Bibliographic Resources

Sept 17: Marshall, P., pp. 234-262.

Crispin, P., Roadmap 96, Weeks Five and Six.

PROUDHON'S PHILOSOPHY

Internet Literacy Skills Task 3

Sept 22: Proudhon, What Is Property?, Chapter 2

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BAKUNIN AND HIS TIME
Internet Literacy Skill: Utilities	Bibliographic Resources

Sept 24: Marshall, P., pp. 263-308.

BAKUNIN'S PHILOSOPHY

Internet Literacy Skills Task 4

Sept 29: Bakunin, M., The Immorality of the State

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THE PARIS COMMUNE, SOCIALISM AND ANARCHISM
Internet Literacy Skill: Gophering	Bibliographic Resources

Oct 1: Kropotkin, P., "The Commune of Paris."

Edwards, S., The Communards of Paris, 1871, "Introduction," pp. 9-42 (on reserve)

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THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL
Internet Literacy Skills Task 5	Bibliographic Resources

Oct 6: Rocker, R. "The Forerunners of Syndicalism", chapter 3 of

Anarcho-Syndicalism

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KROPOTKIN AND HIS TIME
Internet Literacy Skill: Conferences	Bibliographic Resources

Oct 8: Marshall, P., pp. 309-338.

KROPOTKIN'S PHILOSOPHY

Internet Literacy Skills Task 6

Oct 13: Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, Introduction

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EMMA GOLDMAN'S LIFE & TIMES
Internet Literacy Skill: FTP	Bibliographic Resources

Oct 15: Marshall, P., pp. 396-409.

EMMA GOLDMAN'S PHILOSOPHY

Internet Literacy Skills Task 7

Oct 22: Emma Goldman, Marriage and Love, in Anarchism and

Other Essays  (1911), pp. 233-245.

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STIRNER, MALATESTA, TOLSTOY,AND OTHERS
Internet Literacy Skill: Searching	Bibliographic Resources

Oct 27: Marshall, P., pp. 220-233, 339-344, 345-361, 362-383,

410-421.

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THE IMPACT OF NINETEENTH CENTURY ANARCHISM

Internet Literacy Skills Task 8

Oct 29: Kropotkin, P., "Anarchism", from the 1910 Encyclopaedia

Britannica.

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ANARCHISM AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Internet Literacy Skill: USENET	Bibliographic Resources

Nov 3: Marshall, P., pp. 469-478.

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ANARCHISM IN THE CHINESE REVOLUTIONS
Internet Literacy Skills Task 9	Bibliographic Resources

Nov 5: Dirlik, A. "The Anarchist Alternative in Chinese Socialism",

in Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution, pp. 197-247 (on reserve).

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US ANARCHISM
Internet Literacy Skill: Advanced HTML	Bibliographic Resources

Nov 10: Marshall, P., pp. 384-395. 496-503.

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EUROPEAN ANARCHISM

Internet Literacy Skills Task 10

Nov 12: Marshall, P., pp. 431-452, 479-495.

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THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Internet Literacy Skill: Graphics	Bibliographic Resources

Nov 17: Marshall, P., pp. 453-468.

Murray Bookchin, The Spanish Anarchists, pp. 1-109.

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Nov 19: Murray Bookchin, pp. 111-251.

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Nov 24: Murray Bookchin, pp. 254-313.

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LATIN AMERICAN ANARCHISM ASIAN ANARCHISM

Internet Literacy Skills Task 11

Dec 1: Marshall, P., pp. 505-518, 519-535.

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ANARCHIST POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Dec 3: DeLeon, D. "For democracy where we work:

a rationale for social self-management",
Malina, J., "Anarchists and the pro-hierarchical left", both in Reinventing Anarchy, Ehrlich, H.J., Ehrlich, C., DeLeon, D., and Morris, G. (eds.). (on reserve)

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ANARCHIST SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Dec 8: Marshall, P., pp. 539-558, 587-601, 602-622.

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THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE:
CONTEMPORARY ANARCHISM

Dec 10: Marshall, P., pp. 625-665.