Overview

David Goodway surveys key figures, among them Gerald Brenan, G.K. Chesterton, G.D.H. Cole, George Orwell, Raphael Samuel, E.P. Thompson and Colin Ward. He reflects on literature and experience, offering insights on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Spanish revolution, and the Peckham Health Centre as the model for an alternative to the Welfare State.​ This anthology includes new and pioneering coverage of the Rossetti sisters addressing an episode in the very early days of anarchist activity in the UK. ‘Throughout, there runs an emphasis on the connection between British left-libertarianism and literature’. ​

Full Product Details

Author:   David Goodway
Publisher:   The Merlin Press Ltd
Imprint:   The Merlin Press Ltd
ISBN:  

9780850368017

ISBN 10:   0850368014
Pages:   410
Publication Date:   02 April 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction;  1. What does it mean to be an Anarchist;  2. From Pre-Raphaelitism to Anarchism: The Rossetti Sisters and The Torch;  3. Freedom, 1886-2014: An Appreciation;  4. Colin Ward and the New Left;  5. Raphael Samuel (1934-1996): A Reminiscence;  6. E.P. Thompson: The Making of The Making;  7. G.D.H. Cole: A Libertarian Trapped in the Labour Party;  8, The Libertarian Politics of G.K. Chesterton;  9. Gerald Brenan (1894-1987): Bloomsbury, Gamel Woolsey and Spain;  10. Lessons of the Spanish Revolution and Vernon Richards;  11. The Catastrophe of 1917;  12. Orwell and Trotskyism;  13. Ken Weller (1935-2021);  14 Nicolas Walter;  15 Literature and Anarchism;  16. Revisiting Charlie Lahr: Anarchist, Bookseller, Publisher;  17. Herbert Read: Organicism, Abstraction and an Anarchist Aesthetic;  18. Anarchism and the Welfare State: The Peckham Health Centre;  19. A Reading List for the Occupy Movement; 20. Autobiographical Note. ​

Reviews

For some time now, David Goodway has been this country's leading historian and scholar of British anarchism and left libertarian thought. Following his masterly Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow (2006), Left Libertarian Currents offers another collection of elegant, insightful essays on Britain's finest rebel thinkers. With characteristic precision and verve, Goodway provides both a rigorous history of contemporary free thinking but also a timely and relevant resource for reflecting on the perilous state of our freedom today.  Dr Sophie Scott-Brown​

Author Information

DAVID GOODWAY taught at the University of Leeds and has been a Visiting Fellow in History at Girton College, Cambridge.

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