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Total Liberty vol4/1 (Autumn/Winter 2003) : A Journal of Evolutionary Anarchism A4 16pp. £1.00 per issue. Subscription £8.00 for 4 issues (£5.00 for low income) from J.P. Simcock, 47, High Street, Belper, Derby, DE56 1GF.

Total Liberty is probably one of the lesser-known anarchist magazines (journal is perhaps too grand a word for it) currently published in Britain.  It is not aligned to any particular perspective but is open to any contributor who is willing to discuss matters of interest to un-hyphenated anarchists, especially those exploring ideas rather than just following a party line. A wide variety of writers have contributed to previous issues including Brian Morris, Richard Griffin, Dennis Gould, Donald Rooum, Larry Gambone. Joe Peacott, Steve Booth and many others.  Indeed they have even been generous enough to include the occasional item by this reviewer. 

The current issue under review focuses on the issue of individual vs collective / communist anarchism, or rather most contributors don’t see these as necessarily opposed, rather taking both a pragmatic approach wherein it is best left to experimentation to decide which if either is to be the preferred economic model, and the principled which sees that any society based on voluntary association has to leave it open for individuals and groups of individuals to determine which is their optimal size of associated organisation (from 1 to infinity).  Another theme that emerges is that of authority (in contra-distinction to power) and some twerp ways in with a review of Lobster magazine which was obviously written on the single day this year when Iraq wasn’t a major news item. This current issue doesn’t really have a standout, must-read article; rather it is one in a series. Many of the articles concern ongoing debates. Which, it has to be said, the final words of which are very unlikely to be written. (Fortunately, copies of Issues 2 –12, are still available so if you haven’t read the magazine before you can go back and find out everyone is talking about.)

Jonathan Simcock, the editor and publisher, does a good job of laying out and editing his magazine and the general tone is one of friendly discussion. Differences are aired but abuse and haranguing is avoided. In many ways Total Liberty has the appearance of being one that a newcomer to anarchism might feel most comfortable with, although I have to say that the contributors are overwhelmingly old hands, people who, in many but not all cases, have been around the anarchist movement for 30 years or more. (Again the reviewer admits his guilt in this regard!) Amore activist reviewer might regard Total Liberty as Freedom on Valium but us old timers prefer a more measured approach to our politics. Total Liberty also has a web site at: http://mysite.freeserve.com/total_liberty1 and Jonathan can be e-mailed at: ain@ziplip.com.

Given the low price I can recommend that readers send off for a sample copy to get a flavour of it, or have butchers at the web site, which has a few articles from earlier issues. As a contributor to the magazine I would naturally like to encourage people to subscribe. But don’t wait until you’ve been active for over 30 years before writing for it. (Actually one of the contributors to the current issue is a teenage anarchist, so it’s not just for old farts!!)

Summary: Worth a quid of anyone’s money.

7/10

Richard Alexander