Quick Facts About Murray Bookchin
- Born
- January 14, 1921
- Died
- July 30, 2006
- Nationality
- United States
- Profession
- Writer
- Notable works
- Post-scarcity anarchism
- Known for
- The Ecology of Freedom, Our Synthetic Environment, Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism, The Spanish Anarchists
- Spouse
- Beatrice Bookchin
About Murray Bookchin
He was also an author, orator, and historian, writing about two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, urban affairs, and social ecology. His notable titles include Our Synthetic Environment (1962), Post‑Scarcity Anarchism (1971), The Ecology of Freedom (1982) and Urbanization Without Cities (1987). Influenced by Hegel, Marx, and Kropotkin, he helped shape the early environmental movement. In the late 1990s he grew dissatisfied with what he saw as apolitical “lifestylism” among anarchists, stopped calling himself an anarchist, and founded a libertarian socialist ideology called communalism that tries to blend Marxist, syndicalist, and anarchist ideas.
![“I learned that [Trotskyism] were no different from the Stalinists, and they expelled me, which is the typical Marxist-Leninist way of dealing with dissenters. From that point on, I migrated by the 1950s into anarchism, increasingly emphasizing decentralization. Also, I made the all-important step…” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/60b/murray-bookchin-2587_anarchism_i-learned-that-trotskyism-were-no-differ_1094904.png)
![“In some instances even certain social services that normally were supplied, or pre-empted by the state. Take the United States, the [Ronald] Reagan administration is withdrawing assistance, all kinds of welfare programs, and if people don't improvise their own resources to cope with problems of…” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/8dc/murray-bookchin-2587_administration_in-some-instances-even-certain-social-se_768172.png)
![“I'm less influenced by any of [Karl] Marx's ideas today than I've ever been in my life, and most significantly Marx's theory of historical materialism, which I think is virtually a debris of despotism.” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/123/murray-bookchin-2587_debris_i-m-less-influenced-by-any-of-karl-marx_646516.png)
![“I don't want to think any longer simply in terms of the Spanish Revolution or the Russian Revolution. It doesn't make any sense to talk [Peter] Makhno to an American.” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/2fb/murray-bookchin-2587_peter_i-don-t-want-to-think-any-longer-simply_1052973.png)
![“The most important thing [anarchists] can do is educate themselves, develop a propaganda machinery in the form of books and periodicals, a literature, engage in discussion groups that are open to a community, to discuss and develop their ideas and to develop networks.” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/d5f/murray-bookchin-2587_anarchism_the-most-important-thing-anarchists-can_190565.jpg)
![“In The Ecology of Freedom, my critique of what is called civilization and industrial society is massive, and my attack upon [Karl] Marx's commitment to it as a necessary stage in human progress and the domination of nature is very sharp.” quote by Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/856/murray-bookchin-2587_civilization_in-the-ecology-of-freedom-my-critique-of_512869.jpg)
