Someone recently mentioned the god awful "anarchist" (it isn't anarchist for numerous reasons despite its claims of being so) book, black flame. The reasons for its awfulness are numerous to the point where it's difficult to be brief. But for starters Michael Schmidt is a nationalist and fascist quite literally who infiltrated anarchist organizations.

Secondly the actual content in the book itself has more in common with marxism than it does with anarchism. The authors knowledge of social anarchism is poor and it shows. The book is strongly class focused, but ignores that even class focused anarchists have been critical of class reductionism. The book focuses so much on class that it ignores other hierarchies. The book drastically understates how pervasive racism is and confusingly conflates race and gender. The book shows no intersectional theory which is an important part of modern anarchism and is key in fighting hierarchies especially when it comes to adressing identity and respectability politics. The books other author Lucien van der Walt, from what I have heard from another anarchist who conversed with him has the intersectionality of a 90 year old marxist-leninist. In addition the book focuses on work, a lot. Yes labor struggles and worker self management would be huge steps in the right direction (although I think abolishing work is better than anything). But the book focuses on work at the expense of everything else.

The book also conflates anarcho-communism with anarcho-syndicalism. And argues this anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist analysis is the only valid form of anarchism. Not only disregarding anarchists outside these currents but even those within them. Many anarcho-communists were platformists, insurrectionists, or pacifists. Prominent anarcho-communists such as Malatesta and Emma Goldman would be considered to be fake anarchists by the books logic.

In many ways the book mirrors Zerzan's work in running on emptiness. Both are marxist works in anarchist clothing. Except instead of having civilization implode due to inevitable material conditions, we now are having all hierarchies except class ignored. Its heart breaking really. After primitivism (really a form of marxism) rose to prominence within anarchist circles many people were repulsed for good reason. But sadly the response seen from anarchists in many cases has been to create a class reductionist viewpoint and ultimately adopt the same marxist framework primmies do. Such is the case with black flame. There are far better social anarchist pieces to read. And I would highly discourage reading black flame.