Ill
strategic shift from the anarchist resurgence of the 1980s when organizers were still
interested in creating associations and were dedicated to producing regular propaganda,
usually in the form of pamphlets and short periodicals. These groups sought to build an
active following which they thought would seek out anarchist texts and would
subsequently participate in formally coordinated anarchist activities.
Between 1982 and 1983 there was even an attempt to form an anarchist political
party called the “Anarchist Federation”, but this was mostly an exercise in political
criticism and didn’t last for very long. During this time a number of anarchist-communist
groups also formed with the Group of Anarchist-Communists of Nea Smymi118 (Oμαδα
Avapχoκoμoυvιστωv Nεaς ∑μυpvης) being the most influential. The leaders of this
association worked with the publisher Eleftheros Typos (Eλευθεpoς Tυπoς, Free Press) in
Athens to produce “Anarchist” (Avαpχoς), a leaflet dedicated to promoting their activities
and spreading the political theory of Peter Kropotkin and Murray Bookchin119 (a mix of
classic anarchist philosophy and more modem anarchist perspectives on decentralization,
anti-capitalism, and ecological awareness). Some years later, in November 1986, another
group appeared calling itself the Anarchist-Communist Cell of Ano Liosia120
(Avαpχoκoμoυvιστικoς ∏υpf∣vaς Avω Λιoσiωv) which published the magazine
“Autonomous Action” (Aυτovoμη ∆pαση) in partnership with a small circle of anarchists
(not anarchist-communists) from Piraeus. The magazine ran until 1991 and included
"s Nea Smymi is an inner suburb of south-central Athens.
119 Murray Bookchin was a Trotskyist communist rather than a Stalinist. His appeal to modem anarchists is
his stand against urbanization and for ecological awareness which provides a nice supplement to classical
anarchist theory that does not address these issues adequately (see Bookchin 1992; Bookchin 1995;
Bookchin 1999; Bookchin 2007).
120 Ano Liosion is a poor working class suburb in the west-end of Athens.