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The Ambivalence of Alexander Berkman’s Anti-Prison Anarchism

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  • BENNETT, NOLAN

Abstract

Alexander Berkman’s 1912 Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is a significant book in the development of American anti-prison politics, not despite, but because of its ambivalent approach to prisons. I trace through Berkman’s book and archive an unresolved tension between two approaches to the prison: advocacy for political prisoners, whereby the prison is a state tool for suppressing radical ideas, and advocacy against the politics of prisons, whereby the prison is an “aggravated counterpart” of social structures and a site of struggle. Berkman’s ambivalence between these approaches amid his memoirs and activism exemplifies the complex development of U.S. thinking on prisons and enduring tensions in contemporary prison politics.

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  • Bennett, Nolan, 2024. "The Ambivalence of Alexander Berkman’s Anti-Prison Anarchism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 118(4), pages 1628-1642, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:118:y:2024:i:4:p:1628-1642_4
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