Guerin is a prolific writer whose work on fascism from the 1930s is considered a Marxist classic. This emphatically pro-anarchist essay fails to define central polemical terms such as "the state" and lacks the ease and philosophical sensitivity of first-rate French political writing. Noam Chomsky's introduction reflects the view of anarchism as a "libertarian" form of socialism. Guerin's thematic presentation of nineteenth-century anarchist theory elaborates on and extensively quotes Proudhon and Bakunin, with additional references to Kropotkin, Stirner, and others. The section on "Practice" describes the Bolsheviks as evil dictators and Russian anarchists as unsung heroes of 1917, briefly touches on the Italian left during Gramsci's time, and criticizes Stalinist policies during the Spanish Civil War, without discussing the significance of the fluctuations of Spanish anarchists between anti-political purity and political opportunism. Guerin concludes with a call for unadulterated post-revolutionary workers' control and shows indifference to the question of how or why a revolution should be carried out. The tendency to "force history," noted by Sartre in Guerin's work, is present, but the "enriching" quality is lacking, particularly regarding the social roots of anarchism. Nevertheless, the subject has enough intrinsic and contemporary significance to attract a politically intellectual audience.