If there’s a “radical history 101,” it is of course The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Zinn died on Wednesday, after fighting for radical social change for most of the twentieth century.
He also self-identified as an anarchist. There’s a bunch of arguing back and forth about this on the internets, but I think that Chuck0, the admin of infoshop news, put it best:
Anarchists need to get over the tiresome game of who is and isn’t an anarchist. That’s something for a place like WIkipedia where they argue about that endlessly. My “big tent” approach has always been to include more people in the circle of anarchism. Anarchism is not some kind of exclusive club. If an intellectual like Zinn, who had eveything to lose by idenitifying as an anarchist, called himself an anarchist and celebrated anarchists in his writing and speeches, then that makes him an anarchist in my book.
I hadn’t the chance to meet Howard Zinn, but the world is a poorer place without him.
And, fuck purity.
This week, my long-time hero Howard Zinn died. For years I was deeply touched by his intelligence, compassion, and humor.
I had the honor of creating an illustrated account of one of his often-told stories, a New York anti-war march and police riot that turned him into a life-long radical. I had the pleasure of giving it to him in person at a talk in Boston a few years ago.
Times Square: A True Story by Howard Zinn
Story by Howard Zinn, Illustration by Wes Modes
Howard Zinn’s personal account of a New York demonstration and police riot in the late 30’s that left him with a life-long radical point-of-view.