I Am Not A Man, I Am Dynamite!

The conjunction of Friedrich Nietzsche and anarchism will sound like an audacious proposal to many, especially those who still associate Nietzsche with fascism, and anarchism with a simplistic notion of class struggle. However, anarchism – the project which aims at the abolition of all forms of power, control and coercion – should be free to appropriate the work of one of the greatest iconoclasts of all time. Although Nietzsche was rather harsh on his anarchist contemporaries, he nevertheless in some respects shared with them a vision of the total transformation of life. The notion of a transvaluation of all values clearly remains not merely compatible with, but an integral component of the anarchist project, and the idea of philosophy with a hammer underlies the anarchist commitment to radical social transformation. I Am Not A Man, I Am Dynamite! examines the historical, political and philosophical linkages between Nietzsche’s transgressive thought and the transformative political vision of anarchism.