ANARCHY Explained to Children by Jose Antonio Emmanuel, translated by NAFTA, Illustrated by Fabrica De Estempas--published by SEVEN STORIES PRESS

“Help: To those who hesitate, give them encouragement: to those who despair of seeing victory far away, give them courage. Mutual help is a sacred and universal duty.”

“Anarchy is a political and social state characterized by the absence of government, hierarchy, or enforced authority. It emphasizes voluntary cooperation, individual autonomy, and mutual aid rather than coercive rule. While often associated with chaos, proponents see it as a self-organized, free society.”–wikipedia

What is Anarchy? In my education, Anarchy was a political philosophy for crazy people, like the Russian who infamously rolled marbles across a stage during a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet to protest the Czar’s government. In the U.S., there were cowboy movies set in the old West and the film of the Steinback novel, The Grapes of Wrath set in the Depression. Strikers called “Anarchists” were brutally beaten with wooden clubs by policemen or professional strike-breakers, hired by business interests. The strikers, sometimes called rabble-rousing communists, threatened Democracy by asking for better wages, conditions even Unions!  Unlike cartoon  Anarchists throwing bombs, strikers in movies were desperate with starving families.The Union movement was at first considered a threat to profit, and much of the history of labor in America is about the right to strike and form Unions. 

Yet, as workers’ standard of livings rose, so did company profits. This fuelled our American Dream. Biographies of George Washington, a not well-educated younger son, explain how his work surveying land and meeting people living on it, taught him an ethic not so far from this book. Mutual support and “minding your own business” were part of the frontier ethic. Whatever a man believed, basic kindness was extended. People were entirely responsible for their lives in a wilderness. Their freedom meant responsibility. 

Washington was famously quoted as saying the “best government is no government.” If every man was able to govern himself, there would be no need for a government. Individual responsibility was an ideal, he believed beyond most people. A government was essential for managing collectively what indiviual men could not. And he fought the long, sometimes hopeless war for independence. He also took responsibility for coercing soldiers and money from colonies politically divided between loyalists to the Crown and fighters for an independent republic.

Hamilton, who put Washington’s thoughts to paper, evolved principles for a national banking system.  Why? Aware of the chaos and corruption of the government on the tropical island of his birth, and how rare his escape from poverty–Hamilton worked tirelessly for economic stabilitity. He also knew slavery, not matter how profitable, was evil, why he developed a bureau of volunteer lawyers to help runaway slaves seeking sanctuary. 

So is Anarchy a political philosophy based on individual freedom with both collective and individual responsibility? Consider the limits of free speech established by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes with his “clear and present test.” He famously used the analogy of falsely shouting “fire” in a theater. He is also noted for saying, “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.” And note, he was a Republican.

Is anarchy self-government  or an anti-business philosophy?  After reading ANARCHY EXPLAINED TO CHILDREN  by Jose Antonio Emmanuel–Illustrated by Fabrica De Estempas. Translated by NAFTA (translated by Piu Martinez) I think the ideal of Anarchy in this book is closer to humanist ideals–support of others, tolerance of difference. 

Here is a modern book for progressive readers of all ages that includes the prescient 1931 pamphlet, “Anarchy Explained to Children,” by José Antonio Emmanuel writing under the pseudonym Max Bembo, a teacher and anarchist philanthropist who advocated for, among other things, freeing the education of children from the power of the Catholic Church. In the essay he offers to the children of working-class families a simple explanation of liberatory principles and how to put them into practice.

Source: https://notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com/2026/04/anarchy-explained-to-children-by-jose.html