Zoe Baker
@anarchozoe.bsky.social
Historian of political thought. Trans woman (she/her). Author of Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States. For all my work see https://linktr.ee/zoebaker
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Zoe Baker
@anarchozoe.bsky.social
· Dec 6
Means and Ends
Zoe Baker Means and Ends The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States 2023 Cover design by John Yates | www.stealworks.com //...
theanarchistlibrary.org
My history book about the revolutionary strategy of anarchism is now on the anarchist library and available for free in a file format of your choosing. If you have the money please buy a copy from AK press and support radical publishing.
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/zoe-...
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/zoe-...
Kropotkin's analysis of women's domestic labour remains relevant over a century later.
November 20, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Kropotkin's analysis of women's domestic labour remains relevant over a century later.
Me whenever my best friend complains about her toxic ex boyfriend:
November 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Me whenever my best friend complains about her toxic ex boyfriend:
What abolishing the state meant to anarchists in the past.
November 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM
What abolishing the state meant to anarchists in the past.
Great article on @intrrgum.bsky.social about how engaging in precarious jobs impacts migrant labourers.
interregnum.ghost.io/from-the-gro...
interregnum.ghost.io/from-the-gro...
October 31, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Great article on @intrrgum.bsky.social about how engaging in precarious jobs impacts migrant labourers.
interregnum.ghost.io/from-the-gro...
interregnum.ghost.io/from-the-gro...
Today I read Jesuit descriptions of Wendat Indigenous communities in the 17th century. They claim that chiefs, who they call captains, "do not govern their subjects by means of command and absolute power; they have no force at hand to compel them to their duty".
October 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Today I read Jesuit descriptions of Wendat Indigenous communities in the 17th century. They claim that chiefs, who they call captains, "do not govern their subjects by means of command and absolute power; they have no force at hand to compel them to their duty".
Found an interesting example of a medieval woman's perspective on patriarchy. In the 15th century the Duchess of Brunswick said “I have a hard husband (as you know) who has scarce any care or inclination towards women. Have I not been in this castle even as it were in a cell?”.
October 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Found an interesting example of a medieval woman's perspective on patriarchy. In the 15th century the Duchess of Brunswick said “I have a hard husband (as you know) who has scarce any care or inclination towards women. Have I not been in this castle even as it were in a cell?”.
Essay I'm writing got too long. So now it's two essays! The first will debunk the myths that (1) anarchism only rejects representative democracy, (2) no anarchists advocated democracy prior to the 1960s, (3) anarchists only use consensus, and (4) all advocates of federations endorse majority voting.
October 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Essay I'm writing got too long. So now it's two essays! The first will debunk the myths that (1) anarchism only rejects representative democracy, (2) no anarchists advocated democracy prior to the 1960s, (3) anarchists only use consensus, and (4) all advocates of federations endorse majority voting.
Bakunin's hatred of Germans is so bizarre: "the Germans have since become so odious to me that I could not speak calmly to any of them; I could not hear their language, not even a German voice, and I remember when a German beggar asked me for alms once, and I had to restrain myself from hitting him"
October 16, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Bakunin's hatred of Germans is so bizarre: "the Germans have since become so odious to me that I could not speak calmly to any of them; I could not hear their language, not even a German voice, and I remember when a German beggar asked me for alms once, and I had to restrain myself from hitting him"
I have once again written a 15,000 word essay by mistake. It debunks five myths about historical anarchist views on democracy and collective decision making. 5,000 words are just on what Malatesta thought about voting in anarchist orgs. Should be finished by the end of the month.
October 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I have once again written a 15,000 word essay by mistake. It debunks five myths about historical anarchist views on democracy and collective decision making. 5,000 words are just on what Malatesta thought about voting in anarchist orgs. Should be finished by the end of the month.
Marriage guides in Europe have often just been men telling women that the ideal marriage is an abusive relationship eg the 14th century merchant who informs his teen wife that she should always obey her husband, never do anything he had forbidden her to do, and never answer back or contradict him.
October 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Marriage guides in Europe have often just been men telling women that the ideal marriage is an abusive relationship eg the 14th century merchant who informs his teen wife that she should always obey her husband, never do anything he had forbidden her to do, and never answer back or contradict him.
Re-read the 1868 programme of the Alliance by Bakunin, which both Marx and Engels read. It claimed that "all the political and authoritarian States of today must scale down their functions to the simple administration of the public services" and "merge into the universal union of free Associations".
In 1877 Engels claimed that with the abolition of the state "the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things". This is typically framed as a Saint Simon reference. I also think it might be a nod to anarchist ideas from the first international that he was likely familiar with.
October 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Re-read the 1868 programme of the Alliance by Bakunin, which both Marx and Engels read. It claimed that "all the political and authoritarian States of today must scale down their functions to the simple administration of the public services" and "merge into the universal union of free Associations".
In 1877 Engels claimed that with the abolition of the state "the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things". This is typically framed as a Saint Simon reference. I also think it might be a nod to anarchist ideas from the first international that he was likely familiar with.
October 5, 2025 at 1:30 PM
In 1877 Engels claimed that with the abolition of the state "the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things". This is typically framed as a Saint Simon reference. I also think it might be a nod to anarchist ideas from the first international that he was likely familiar with.
One of my fav history books is now on the anarchist library. Strongly recommend reading it.
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/keny...
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/keny...
Immigrants against the State
Kenyon Zimmer Immigrants against the State Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America 2015 Series: Working Class in American History
theanarchistlibrary.org
October 2, 2025 at 2:26 PM
One of my fav history books is now on the anarchist library. Strongly recommend reading it.
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/keny...
theanarchistlibrary.org/library/keny...
During the early 19th century a Japanese woman named Take ran away from her job as a maid, started wearing men’s clothes, and sought work as a man under the male name Takejirô. She not only adopted the physical appearance and mannerisms of a man, but also joined a gang of young men.
October 1, 2025 at 1:27 PM
During the early 19th century a Japanese woman named Take ran away from her job as a maid, started wearing men’s clothes, and sought work as a man under the male name Takejirô. She not only adopted the physical appearance and mannerisms of a man, but also joined a gang of young men.
In 1583 the puritan Philip Stubbes claimed that women who cross dress as men would change their sex and become men if given the opportunity. For context the weird looking f is actually an s.
September 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
In 1583 the puritan Philip Stubbes claimed that women who cross dress as men would change their sex and become men if given the opportunity. For context the weird looking f is actually an s.
In 1587 a man named William Harrison wrote an attack on women wearing men's clothes or dressing masc in England. He reported that, “I have met with some of these trulls in London so disguised that it hath passed my skill to discern whether they were men or women”. Trulls meant sex worker.
September 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM
In 1587 a man named William Harrison wrote an attack on women wearing men's clothes or dressing masc in England. He reported that, “I have met with some of these trulls in London so disguised that it hath passed my skill to discern whether they were men or women”. Trulls meant sex worker.
I think that leftist social theory should be grounded in at least the beliefs that: (1) a mind independent world exists and we can develop knowledge of it; (2) the scientific method is the best currently available means to do this; (3) humans are an animal within a web of life.
September 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I think that leftist social theory should be grounded in at least the beliefs that: (1) a mind independent world exists and we can develop knowledge of it; (2) the scientific method is the best currently available means to do this; (3) humans are an animal within a web of life.
I did some brief investigation into the 17th century word transfeminate, which meant "to turn from woman to man, or from one sex to another". So far looks like it was used to refer to people who were raised as one sex but then were found to actually be another, most likely due to being intersex.
September 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I did some brief investigation into the 17th century word transfeminate, which meant "to turn from woman to man, or from one sex to another". So far looks like it was used to refer to people who were raised as one sex but then were found to actually be another, most likely due to being intersex.
King James I of England sounded like an anime villain:
source: J. P. Kenyon, ed., The Stuart Constitution 1603-1688: Documents and Commentary, 2nd Edition (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p12.
source: J. P. Kenyon, ed., The Stuart Constitution 1603-1688: Documents and Commentary, 2nd Edition (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p12.
September 22, 2025 at 2:34 PM
King James I of England sounded like an anime villain:
source: J. P. Kenyon, ed., The Stuart Constitution 1603-1688: Documents and Commentary, 2nd Edition (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p12.
source: J. P. Kenyon, ed., The Stuart Constitution 1603-1688: Documents and Commentary, 2nd Edition (Cambridge University Press, 1986), p12.
Found another early example of anarchism being linked to democracy. A 1937 article in Vanguard by the anonymous authors S.M. and R.W. described an anarchist communist society as one in which “democracy is therefore maximised and made an active process” (Vanguard Vol 4, no 1, p13).
September 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Found another early example of anarchism being linked to democracy. A 1937 article in Vanguard by the anonymous authors S.M. and R.W. described an anarchist communist society as one in which “democracy is therefore maximised and made an active process” (Vanguard Vol 4, no 1, p13).
"there is a republic in America . . . but the native peoples are reduced to desperate straits and hunted down like wild animals… What am I saying? In America, as in Rome and in Greece before her, we have seen that the republic is compatible with slavery!" - Malatesta, 1884
The Republic of the Boys and that of the Bearded Men
Errico Malatesta The Republic of the Boys and that of the Bearded Men 5 January 1884 Translated from “La repubblica dei giovanetti e quella degli uomini...
theanarchistlibrary.org
September 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM
"there is a republic in America . . . but the native peoples are reduced to desperate straits and hunted down like wild animals… What am I saying? In America, as in Rome and in Greece before her, we have seen that the republic is compatible with slavery!" - Malatesta, 1884
TIL that Ainu parents tried to manifest via child names.
September 12, 2025 at 2:24 PM
TIL that Ainu parents tried to manifest via child names.
The ethnographic atlas: only Unangax̂ [Aleut] men hunted birds and used traps.
The first journal article I find: women hunted birds with traps and slings.
This database underpins so much research in the field. I kept seeing it's name pop up but nobody seems to have systematically fact checked it.
The first journal article I find: women hunted birds with traps and slings.
This database underpins so much research in the field. I kept seeing it's name pop up but nobody seems to have systematically fact checked it.
September 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
The ethnographic atlas: only Unangax̂ [Aleut] men hunted birds and used traps.
The first journal article I find: women hunted birds with traps and slings.
This database underpins so much research in the field. I kept seeing it's name pop up but nobody seems to have systematically fact checked it.
The first journal article I find: women hunted birds with traps and slings.
This database underpins so much research in the field. I kept seeing it's name pop up but nobody seems to have systematically fact checked it.
The ethnographic atlas compiled by Murdock et al claims that among the Haida trapping and fowling are exclusively male activities. The source for this claim says that women snare birds. The author of this source is Murdock himself. I am slowly losing my mind fact checking this guy.
September 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The ethnographic atlas compiled by Murdock et al claims that among the Haida trapping and fowling are exclusively male activities. The source for this claim says that women snare birds. The author of this source is Murdock himself. I am slowly losing my mind fact checking this guy.
More evidence of some Inuit women hunting like men.
Source: Diamond Jenness, Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Volume XII: The Life of the Copper Eskimos (F. A. Acland, 1922), p88.
Source: Diamond Jenness, Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Volume XII: The Life of the Copper Eskimos (F. A. Acland, 1922), p88.
September 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
More evidence of some Inuit women hunting like men.
Source: Diamond Jenness, Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Volume XII: The Life of the Copper Eskimos (F. A. Acland, 1922), p88.
Source: Diamond Jenness, Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Volume XII: The Life of the Copper Eskimos (F. A. Acland, 1922), p88.