The Method of Freedom e-book An Errico Malatesta Reader

“Anarchy, in common with socialism, has as its basis, its point of departure, its essential environment, equality of conditions; its beacon is solidarity and freedom is its method.”
—Errico Malatesta

The most distinctive and universal anarchist principle is the principle of coherence between ends and means: human emancipation cannot be achieved by authoritarian means. However, the same principle could also be read in the opposite direction: our ends should not be disconnected from our action; our ideals should not be so lofty as to make no difference to what we do here and now. The anarchist whose deeds and words have best illustrated both sides of that principle—the “idealist” and the “pragmatist”—is Errico Malatesta. Never one to divorce thought from action, or retreat into dogmatism, his life and ideals remain an inspiration the world over. The Method of Freedom is the first collection to capture the full range of Malatesta’s thought over sixty years as an anarchist propagandist.

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (1853–1932) was an enormously influential Italian anarchist, comrade of Michael Bakunin in the First International, editor of eight papers, and author of numerous articles and short works.

Davide Turcato is a computational linguist with an interest in history. He is the editor of The Method of Freedom: An Errico Malatesta Reader, and of Malatesta's collected work published by AK Press.

Paul Sharkey has made a vast body of anarchist texts available in English.