The Anarchist Cookbook has been around for a long time, although it ain’t easy to find a copy of the original these days. Folks seem to be, um, nervous about publishing it. That’s where the internet comes in. I just read this article:

http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n...

Apparently, the old cookbook has been constantly evolving on the internets, with people adding new recipes and dangerous hijinks. Even Martha Stewart has contributed. I made that up.

I have a copy of Recipes For Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook. I like it a lot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec... ⇓

Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook is an anarchist book released by the CrimethInc. collective in December 2004. It provides information on and strategies for direct action useful to activists and dissenters. There are sections on forming affinity groups, organizing demonstrations, stenciling, black blocs, sabotage, squatting, and more personal topics like mental health and “Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence”. It was written over a span of three years by dozens of radical collectives from all over the world working together.

The title alludes to The Anarchist Cookbook, a controversial book from 1971. CrimethInc. denounces the earlier book, saying it was “not composed or released by anarchists, not derived from anarchist practice, not intended to promote freedom and autonomy or challenge repressive power—and was barely a cookbook, as the recipes in it are notoriously unreliable. At best, it was a fraud, a spoof; at worst, an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of anarchist practice, and cause readers to injure themselves. The recent movie by the same name is equally embarrassing, not so much to anarchists as to the industry that produced it.”^[1]

The work was positively reviewed in Fifth Estate (Spring/Summer 2005) and Clamor (Spring 2006, #36), as well as by Kirsten Anderberg.^[2]

It steers clear of the more dangerous aspects of that other book. Speaking of Martha Stewart, it’s actually a pretty great arts and crafts book. It contains instructions on how to create public art, organize collectives, dumpster diving, and much, much more. If you struggle with buying Christmas presents for your anarchist friends, I suggest Recipes for disaster.

P.S. Don’t try any of this at home. Try it at someone else’s home.