Transnational Institute of Social Ecology

Murray Bookchin in Italy

Written by Selva Varengo

The work of Murray Bookchin, who was interested in ecological issues since 1952, arrived in Italy for the first time in 1974 thanks to the anarchist monthly, A Rivista, which publishes Tecnologia e rivoluzione libertaria; later taken up again in the same year by the magazine Volontà. Starting with the first translation in 1974, A Rivista continues to publish translations of Bookchin articles and numerous comments and reflections over the years; now, if you enter “Bookchin” into its search engine, you will get almost three hundred results.

The introduction of Bookchin’s thought into the Italian-speaking world is therefore due to the anarchist and libertarian sphere. It is a stimulating discovery, the proposal to combine the ecological and social questions appears to be profoundly innovative and perfectly responsive to a growing ecological sensitivity in politically radical areas.

In 1975, the famous Feltrinelli publishing house published I limiti della città, the Italian translation of The Limits of the City with an introduction by urban architect, Gianni Scudo. Afterwards, a series of translations of Bookchin’s articles, a total of nearly 50, were published mainly by the Italian anarchist press. Bookchin’s thought influenced not only libertarian anarchists, but various areas of Italian radical ecology, too.

In Italy, there are translations of about a dozen of his books, with several Italian publishers. In particular, Le Edizioni Antistato (Antistato Editions) of Milan, which later became Elèuthera editrice—convinced of the importance of Bookchin’s reflections on the contemporary anarchist thought—printed his most important titles. Since the 1970s, Bookchin had a close relationship with the Italian anarchist archive, Centro Studi Libertari – Archivio Giuseppe Pinelli, however, the bonds between the two were sundered only in the last decade of Bookchin’s life by increasing political differences. But, this has not prevented comrades of the Centro Studi to define him after his death as one of the most acute and influential libertarian thinkers of the twentieth century, and to put the Bookchin’s aphorism at the top of their website: “If we do not do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable.”

Alongside all this, it is necessary to point out Bookchin’s many visits in Italy, at various meetings and conferences, particularly his participation in the 1984 International Anarchist Meeting in Venice, but also in many other Italian cities like Milan, Carrara, Bordighera, San Giorgio di Nogaro, Pisa, etc.

The Italian interest in Bookchin was also demonstrated by the development over the years of groups focusing on Social Ecology and ecofeminism. Especially significant was the experience in Friuli, Italy, and the website ecologiasociale.org, active until 2007 and reborn in 2018 as ecologiasociale.info.

With rare exceptions, we have not succeeded in developing a real concrete movement; all this activity has stimulated theoretical analyses for years and continues to do so. There are, in fact, at least a dozen graduate theses on Bookchin’s thought in Italy and about 50 articles and essays presenting or analyzing his thinking from a political, philosophical, urbanist, and historical point of view.

There are three monographs dedicated to him, the first in chronological order is my text La rivoluzione ecologica (Milan, 2007), in which I present the political thought of Murray Bookchin through the transversal reading of his texts and thematic analysis, emphasizing the originality of Bookchin’s thought, especially with his proposal to include ecology organically into libertarian thought. In 2011, Ermanno Castanò, in his Ecologia e potere (Milan, 2011), traces the texts of Bookchin in a critical reading, highlighting in particular his affinities with the thought of Merleau-Ponty. The last volume in chronological order is Anarchia verde (Lecce, 2016), by Marco Piracci, dedicated to a close comparison between the ideas of Murray Bookchin and John Zerzan and therefore between Social Ecology and anarchist primitivism.

It should be noted that, in the last few years, a renewed interest in Bookchin’s thought has emerged, certainly linked to the attention paid to the appearance of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdish Rojava, and to Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s interest in Bookchin’s thought that he discovered while in prison, where he has been incarcerated since 1999.

The latest book in chronological order is the Italian translation of the anthology, The Next Revolution, edited by Debbie Bookchin and Blair Taylor and published in Italy in 2018 by the publishing house BFS. The volume was accompanied by a lively debate, still ongoing, mostly for Bookchin’s trenchant judgments on the anarchist movement in the posthumous articles published therein.

However, the fact remains that the Social Ecology of Bookchin, beyond its latest pro-institutional drifts, can certainly still contribute to the practices of radical political ecology as well as to anarchism. Many of its elements remain current when assessing the causes of the ecological crisis. Numerous activists in the ecological movements in Italy are aware of this at this time, and the influence, often unconscious, of Social Ecology on popular movements in Italy is strong, such as the No Tav (High Speed Train), No Tap (Trans Adriatic Pipeline), No Muos (Mobile User Objective System), No Terzo Valico (third pass in lower Piedmont), etc.

While I am writing this essay, there are strong echoes of the last demonstration on climate that involved hundreds of thousands of young people in 196 countries stimulated by the appeal of Greta Thunberg of Sweden, who had a great success in Italy with a million students involved in 182 squares. Precisely in this regard, Bookchin’s teachings about the need for a radical change of the system and the civic mentality are as timely as ever. To act today against climate change in a capitalist economic system, or in any situation based on the logic of infinite growth, is simply impossible. Surely it is better to reduce consumption, limit gas emissions as much as possible, and change individual and collective lifestyles, but these efforts are insufficient if not accompanied, as Bookchin wrote, by a great movement, cultural and political, capable of radically changing the system and destroying the institution of domination. The “legacy of freedom” has remained silent too in the history of mankind.

Bibliography of Bookchin’s Works in Italian

Books by Bookchin in Italian

I limiti della città, (Milano: Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 1975).

Spontaneità e organizzazione, (Carrara-Torino: Edizioni del Centro Documentazione Anarchica, 1977).

L’anarchismo nell’età dell’abbondanza, (Milano: La Salamandra, 1979).

L’ecologia della libertà. Emergenza e dissoluzione della gerarchia, Milano: Antistato, 1984; (Milano: Elèuthera, 2017).

La crisi della modernità, (Bologna: Agalev Edizioni, 1988).

Per una società ecologica, (Milano: Elèuthera, 1989).

Democrazia diretta, edited by Salvo Vaccaro, (Milano: Elèuthera, 1993).

L’idea dell’ecologia sociale. Saggi sul naturalismo dialettico, edited by Salvo Vaccaro, (Palermo: Ila Palma, 1996).

Ecologismo libertario, (Lecce: Bepress, 2012).

Tecnologia & liberazione, (Lecce: Bepress, 2017).

La prossima rivoluzione. Dalle assemblee popolari alla democrazia diretta, (Pisa: BFS, 2018).

Essays, articles, and interviews by Bookchin

Tecnologia e rivoluzione libertaria, in “A Rivista,” no. 31 (1974).

Tecnologia e rivoluzione libertaria, in “Volontà,” (1974).

Potere di distruggere, potere di creare, Centro documentazione anarchica, (1976).

Oltre i limiti del marxismo, “An.Archos,” no. 2 (1979): 59-86.

L’autogestione e la nuova tecnologia, “Interrogations,” no. 17-18 (June 1979): 212-230.

Comment, progetto per un giornale, “A Rivista,” no. 75 (June/July 1979): 20-23.

Il marxismo come ideologia borghese, in “A Rivista,” no. 81 (March 1980): 33-41.

Cara ecologia. Lettera aperta al movimento ecologista, in “A Rivista,” no. 85 (August/September 1980): 36-40.

Il futuro del movimento antinucleare, “Volontà,” no. 3 (July/September 1980): 65-73.

Reagan, la rabbia del ceto medio, in “Volontà,” no. 1 (January/March 1981)

Utopismo e futurismo, in “Volontà,” no. 3 (1981): 75-83.

Io sono nato…, in “A Rivista,” no. 93 (June/July 1981): 18-19.

Fabbrica, scuola di potere, in “A Rivista,” (1981-1982): 97

Sociobiologia o ecologia sociale? in “Volontà,” no. 1 (January/March 1982): 70-86,

Sociobiologia o ecologia sociale? in “Volontà,” no. 3 (July/September 1982): 10-29.

La crisi ecologica: le sue radici nella società. Problemi e soluzioni, transcript of the speech held in Carrara, October 1984, edited by Circolo Culturale Anarchico of Carrara; in “Umanità Nova,” no. 37 (November 1984): 4-5.

1984 e il ruolo della memoria. A proposito di George Orwell, in “A Rivista,” no. 120, (June/July 1984): 27-34.

L’armonia perduta, speech at the International Anarchist Meeting in Venezia, 24-30 September 1984, in “A Rivista,” no. 121, (August/September 1984): 11-18.

L’anarchismo: 1984 ed oltre, in “Volontà,” no. 3, (July/September 1984): 77-101, speech at the International Anarchist Meeting, Venezia, (September 1984): 24-30.

Al di là del ghiaccio. L’alternativa verde, “Umanità Nova,” no. 4 (February 1984): 4.

Introduzione for the Italian translation of The Ecology of Freedom (May 1984).

Ecologia della libertà, interview, in “Oblum,” Milano, (May/June 1985)

Agricoltura, mercato, morale, in “A Rivista,” no. 132 (November 1985): 30-36.

Tesi sul municipalismo libertario, in “Volontà,” no. 4 (1985): 14-30.

L’America secondo me, interview of Rossella Di Leo, in “A Rivista,” no. 134 (February 1986): 19-24.

La guerra civile spagnola: Cinquant’anni dopo, in “Volontà,” no. 4, (October/December 1986).

Noi verdi, noi anarchici, transcription by Alison Leitch of a video-speech at the International Conference organized by the Greens in Pescara, (September 1986): 19-21, in “A Rivista,” no. 141 (November 1986): 9-12.

Ecologia sociale e pacifismo, in “A Rivista,” no. 144 (March 1987): 15-18.

Libertà e necessità nel mondo naturale, in “Volontà,” no. 2-3 (1987): 7-37.

Non sottovalutiamo la specie umana, in “Volontà,” no. 2-3 (1987): 125-175.

Sociale non profonda, in “A Rivista,” no. 153 (March 1988): 32-39.

Che cos’è l’ecologia sociale, in “A Rivista,” no. 153 (March 1988).

Ecologia sociale perché, in “A Rivista,” no. 159 (1988).

Prefazione, in L’ecologia della libertà, third edition, Milano: Elèuthera, (1989)

Per una società ecologica, in “A Rivista,” no. 166 (August/September 1989).

Società, politica, stato, in “Volontà,” no. 4 (December 1989): 39-56.

L’uomo, tiryear, interview, in “Panorama,” (April 9, 1989): 170-171.

No all’eco-business, interview of Salvo Vaccaro, “L’ora,” Palermo, (January 30, 1990): 7.

La politica radicale nell’età del capitalismo avanzato, Quaderni della società civile, Palermo, (February 1991).

La proposta federativa, in “Volontà,” no. 2-3 (February/March 1991): 129-135.

Occhio al bioregionalismo, letter to “A Rivista,” no. 185 (October 1991): 40-41.

Municipalismo libertario. La mia proposta, in “A Rivista,” no. 187 (December 1991/January 1992): 14-20.

Una politica municipalista, in “Volontà,” no. 1 (1992): 241-251.

Democrazia diretta, come, in “A Rivista,” no. 202 (August/September 1993): 31-36.

L’unico e l’umano, in “Volontà,” no. 2-3 (September 1994): 59-82.

La via del comunitarismo, in “Volontà,” no. 4, 1994, pp. 33-54

Comunalismo perché, “A Rivista,” no. 215, February 1995, pp. 25-31

Municipalismo libertario perché?, speech at the conference on Libertarian Municipalism, Plainfield, Vermont, 26 August 1999, “A Rivista,” no. 258, (November 199.

Tesi sull’ecologica sociale in un periodo di reazione, “Antisofia 3: Viaggio nella modernità,” Eterotopia/Mimesis (2004).

Il capitalismo e la crisi ambientale, in L’ecologia come giustizia e libertà. Scienza e pace nell’era della crisi globale, Roma: Nonluoghi Libere Edizioni (2009).

Bibliography on Bookchin in Italian

Castanò Ermanno. Ecologia e potere. Un saggio su Murray Bookchin, (Milano: Mimesis Edizioni, 2011).

Piracci Marco. Anarchia Verde. Murray Bookchin e John Zerzan a confronto, (Lecce: Bepress 2016).

Varengo Selva. La rivoluzione ecologica. Il pensiero libertario di Murray Bookchin, (Milano: Zero in Condotta, 2007).

Janeth Biehl. Dallo Stato nazione al comunalismo. Murray Bookchin, Abdullah Öcalan e le dialettiche della democrazia, (Chiomonte: Tabor edizioni, 2015).

Essays and Articles

AA. VV., Dossier Murray Bookchino. L’ecologia della libertà, in “A Rivista,” no. 320 (October 2006): 27-44.

AA. VV., Per una società ecologica/Dossier Murray Bookchin, in “A Rivista,” no. 413 (February 2017): 103-116.

AA.VV., Murray Bookchin 1921-2006, Bollettino del Centro Studi Libertari “Giuseppe Pinelli,” no. 28, 5-9.

Berti Francesco, Anarchismo e municipalismo: un matrimonio difficile, in “A Rivista,” (1993).

Berti Francesco, Prefazione in M. Bookchin, L’idea dell’ecologia sociale. Saggi sul naturalismo dialettico, Palermo: Ila Palma (1996).

Berti Giampiero, Prefazione in S. Varengo, La rivoluzione ecologica. Il pensiero libertario di Murray Bookchin, Milano: Zero in Condotta (2007).

Biehl Janet, La strana coppia, in “A Rivista,” no. 381 (June 2013): 91-96.

Bookchin Debbie, Venturini Federico, Bookchin: l’eredità vivente di un rivoluzionario americano, in “r/project,” (March 2, 2015).

Bookchin Debbie, Come le idee di mio padre hyear aiutato i curdi a creare una nuova democrazia, in N. Santi e S. Vaccaro, La sfida anarchica nel Rojava, Pisa: BFS (2019).

Borselli Simone, Il dibattito su A, in “A Rivista,” no. 320, (October 2006).

Caccia Beppe, Un ecologista sociale del ventunesimo secolo, in “il manifesto,” no. 190 (August 13, 2006): 13.

Bookchin e la sinistra europea: l’incontro mancato, in “A Rivista,” no. 320 (October 2006).

Cannillo Alessandra, Dall’atomismo sociale alla società ecologica. L’etica di Murray Bookchin, in “Rivista internazionale di filosofia e psicologia,” vol. 2, no. 1 (2011): 18-31.

Castanò Ermyear, Eco-anarchismo. Cronaca di un incontro al buio, “Antasofia no. 3. Viaggio nella modernità,” Milano (2004).

Cerundolo Luisa, La tradizione libertaria americana e l’ecologia sociale radicale di Murray Bookchin, in Annali Dipartimento Scienze Stroiche e Sociali, Lecce (1988): 167-187.

Cossutta Marco, Per un anarchismo attualista. Murray Bookchin: dall’ecologia sociale al municipalismo libertario, in: “Tigor: rivista di scienze della comunicazione e di argomentazione giuridica,” year 6, no. 2 (July-December 2014): 61-70.

Creagh Ronald, Da Rocker a Bookchin. Note sul pensiero libertario americano contemporaneo, in R. Rocker, Pionieri della libertà. Le origini del pensiero liberale e libertario negli Stati Uniti, Milano: Edizioni Antistato (1982).

De Toni Paolo, In ricordo di Murray Bookchin, “Germinal,” no. 101-102 (November 2006): 32-33.

De Toni Paolo (Gruppo Ecologia Sociale Friuli), L’anarchismo di fronte alla catastrofe climatica, in “Umanità Nova,” (September 30, 2014).

Donini Elisabetta, Liberare l’uomo dal dominio della natura. Una ristampa di Bookchin, “La nuova ecologia,” no. 42, (September 1987): 74.

Donno Antonio, Il radicalismo negli Stati Uniti degli anni ’80: l’anarco-ecologismo di Murray Bookchin, “Il Protagora,” no. 9-10 (January/December 1986): 49-64.

Ferbi Silvia, Un grande utopista contemporaneo, in “A Rivista,” no. 7 (2006).

Ferbi Silvia, Ecologia sociale, municipalismo libertario e democrazia diretta: Murray Bookchin e l’espropriazione della politica da parte dello stato, “Collegamenti Wobbly,” no. 2, (July/December 2006): 145-157.

Fernandez Benjamin, Murray Bookchin, ecologia o barbarie, in “Le monde diplomatique,” (August 1, 2016): 3.

Gallo Claudio, Bookchin: nella democrazia radicale tutti possono cambiare il mondo, in “La Stampa,” (April 4, 2018).

Gallo Claudio, Così i curdi siriani hyear abbandonato Marx per mio padre, in “La Stampa,” April 22, 2016.

Matteo Maria, L’utopia del signor Vitali, in “A Rivista,” no. 206 (February 1994).

Padoan Dario, Città e municipalismo libertario, in “A Rivista anarchica,” (1993).

Paterna Stefano, La sfida dell’ecologia della libertà, in “La Città Futura.it,” (March 12, 2015).

Pricolo Vincenzo, La democrazia dei post-moderni, “Il Giornale,” (January 7, 2002): 20.

Pucciarelli Mimmo, Il “mio” Murray, “A Rivista,” no. 423 (March 2018).

Romiti Maria Teresa, Ecologia sociale, “A Rivista,” no. 93 (June/July 1981): 16.

Scalzone Lucia Martini, Introduzione in M. Bookchin, The Modern Crisis. La crisi della modernità, Bologna: Agalev (1988): 5-13.

Schibel Karl-Ludwing, Ritorna “L’ecologia della libertà”/1, in “A Rivista,” no. 224 (February 1996): 24-25.

Schibel Karl-Ludwing, Un grande se n’è andato: Murray Bookchin, in “Libertaria,” no. 4, (October/December 2006): 72-75.

Scudo Gianni, Introduzione in M. Bookchin, I limiti della città, Milano: Feltrinelli (1975): 5-12.

Silvestri Giulio, Bookchin: un municipalista libertario, in “Rivista indipendenza.”

Sini Peppe, Oltre ogni dogmatismo, in “La non violenza è in cammino,” no. 1391, (August 18, 2006).

Toesca Pietro M., Ritorna “L’ecologia della libertà” Vol. 2, in “A Rivista,” no. 224, (February 1996): 24.

Ughetto Claudio, Recensione di Democrazia diretta, in “Diorama Letterario,” no. 249 (January 2002).

Vaccaro Salvo, Recensioni: Murray Bookchin, L’ecologia della libertà, in “Umanità Nova,” no. 37, year 64, (November 18, 1984): 2.

Vaccaro Salvo, Non mitizziamo Bookchin, in “Volontà,” no. 2 (April/June 1986): 115-117.

Vaccaro Salvo, Ancora Bookchin,in “A Rivista,” no. 163 (April 1989): 30-31.

Vaccaro Salvo, Dalla controcultura all’ecologia sociale. 1921-2006: Murray Bookchin, in “Umanità Nova,” no. 30, year 86, (October 1, 2006: 8.

Vaccaro Salvo, Prefazione in Murray Bookchin, Democrazia diretta. Idee per un municipalismo libertario, Milano: Elèuthera (2015).

Varengo Selva, Con Bookchin sottobraccio, in “A Rivista,” no. 347 (October 2009).

Varengo Selva, Il ritorno di Murray, in “A Rivista,” no. 355, estate 2010.

Varengo Selva, Murray Bookchin e l’ecologia sociale, in Etologia ed etica, Roma: Aracne (2012): 219-231.

Varengo Selva, La società ecologica, in Etiche dell’ambiente. Voci e prospettive, Milano: LED (2012): 245-263.

Varengo Selva, Seniga Martino, e Bookchin Debbie, Bookchin e l’anarchismo. Dibattito, in “A Rivista,” no. 424 (April 2018): 49-55.

Vigilante Antonio, Politica del desiderio. Aldo Capitini e Murray Bookchin, 131-166, in “Educazione aperta. Rivista di pedagogia critica,” no. 4, estate 2018.

Sandro Moiso, Murray Bookchin: una nuova prospettiva per il XXI secolo, in “Carmilla,” February 22, 2018.

Claudio Gallo, Bookchin: nella democrazia radicale tutti possono cambiare il mondo, in “La Stampa,” April 4, 2018.