Bob Black American anarchist Date of Birth: 04.01.1951 Country: USA

1. Biography of Bob Black
2. Bob Black's Ideas
3. Books by Bob Black
4. Influence

Biography of Bob Black

Bob Black is an American anarchist and author known for his essays "The Abolition of Work," "Anarchy and Other Obstacles to Anarchy," and "Feminism as Fascism," among others. His full name is Robert Charles Black, Jr. In 1977, Bob Black earned a Juris Doctor degree and moved to San Francisco. In the mid-80s, his first book, a collection of essays titled "The Abolition of Work and Other Essays," was published by Loompanics.

Bob Black's Ideas

Kirby Olson, in an article titled "Bob Black - Butterfly Hunter," described Bob Black as the originator of the term "feminazi," according to Mikhail Verbitsky. In his essay "The Abolition of Work," Bob Black criticizes the concept of work in modern society and proposes replacing it with play. His alternative suggestion is not idleness, but a different organization of labor. Black condemns forced labor and advocates for voluntary work, referencing anthropologist Marshall Sahlins' study on hunter-gatherers who work only four hours a day.

In his essay "Anarchy and Other Obstacles to Anarchy," Bob Black critiques contemporary American leftists and anarchists. In "Feminism as Fascism," he examines feminism as both fascism and female chauvinism. Additionally, in the essay "Reviewing the 20th Century - Realizing and Suppressing Situationism," Bob Black analyzes situationism.

Books by Bob Black

Bob Black has written several books, including "The Abolition of Work and Other Essays" (1985), "Friendly Fires" (1992), "Beneath the Underground" (1994), "Anarchy after Leftism" (1996), and others. Some of his works have been published in the collection "Bob Black's Anarchy" by Gileya Publishing. Although Bob Black is not an anarcho-primitivist, his works "The Abolition of Work" and "Primitive Affluence" mention primitive societies, such as the Bushmen tribe, where people work significantly less compared to civilized societies.

Influence

Hakim Bey, whom Bob Black mentioned in his essay "Marco Polo, Fundamentalist of the Underground," refers to two of Bob Black's ideas (the "third type" of anarchism and the abolition of work) as points of the Ontological Anarchy Association's program. Anarchist Mikhail Magid, in his article "Journey to Croatan," analyzes the essay "The Abolition of Work" and agrees with the ideas presented. Magid also wrote a review of "Feminism as Fascism" titled "The Naked Queen."