Editing Fredy Perlman

{{short description|American author, publisher, and activist (1934–1985)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Fredy Perlman
| image              = 
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = Fredy Perlman
| birthname          = 
| birth_date         = August 20, 1934
| birth_place        = [[Brno]], [[Czechoslovakia]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1985|7|26|1934|8|20}}
| death_place        = [[Detroit, Michigan]], U.S.
| education          = [[Columbia University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])<br />[[University of Belgrade]] ([[PhD]])
| occupation         = Author, publisher and activist
| known_for          = ''Against His-Story, Against Leviathan'' (1983)
| nationality        = 
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Lorraine Nybakken|1958}}
| footnotes          = 
}}

{{Green anarchism| People}}

'''Fredy Perlman''' (1934–1985) was an American author, publisher, and activist. His best-known work, ''Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!'', retells the historical rise of state domination (and domination generally) through a poetic investigation of the [[Hobbesian]] metaphor of the [[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]].

== Early life ==

Perlman was born August 20, 1934, in [[Brno]], [[Czechoslovakia]], to Henry and Martha Perlman. His family immigrated first to [[Cochabamba, Bolivia]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/perlman-fredy/index.htm | title=Fredy Perlman Reference Archive }}</ref> to escape [[the Holocaust]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/al_Fredy_Perlman_Anti-Semitism_and_the_Beirut_Pogrom_a4 | title=The Anarchist Library: Fredy Perlman Anti-Semitism and the Beirut Pogrom a4 }}</ref> and later to the United States. Perlman received a [[master's degree]] from [[Columbia University]] and a [[PhD]] from [[University of Belgrade]]. He married Lorraine Nybakken in January 1958.<ref name=DeathsFredy>{{Cite news |title=Deaths: Fredy Perlman |work=Iowa City Press-Citizen |page=3 |date=1985-07-29 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91411356/fredy-perlman-obituary-in-iowa-city/ |location=Iowa City, Iowa |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

== Career ==

His best-known work,<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Purkis |editor1-first=Jonathan |editor2-last=Bowen |editor2-first=James |title=Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-7190-6694-8 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |page=237 }}</ref> ''Against His-Story, Against Leviathan'' (1983) rewrites the history of humanity as a struggle of free people resisting being turned into "zeks" (a Soviet term for forced labour that Perlman borrowed from [[The Gulag Archipelago]]) by [[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathans]] (a term used by [[Thomas Hobbes]] for the sovereign nation-state).<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Marcus |first1=Daniel |title=Information War |work=[[Artforum]] |volume=58 |issue=8 |date=April 2020 |url=https://www.artforum.com/print/202004/daniel-marcus-on-danielle-aubert-s-detroit-printing-co-op-82449 |language=en-US |issn=0004-3532 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The book influenced the anarcho-primitivist author [[John Zerzan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purkis |first=Jonathan |chapter=Anarchy Unbound: A Tribute to John Moore |page=6 |editor1-last=Moore |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Sunshine |editor2-first=Spencer |title=I Am Not a Man, I Am Dynamite! Friedrich Nietzsche and the Anarchist Tradition |date=2004 |language=en |isbn=978-1-57027-121-2 |publisher=Autonomedia |location=New York |oclc=249155584 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Philosopher John P. Clark states that ''Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!'' describes Perlman's critique of what he saw as "the millennia-long history of the assault of the technological megamachine on humanity and the Earth." Clark also notes the book discusses "anarchistic spiritual movements" such as the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion|Yellow Turban]] movement in ancient China and the [[Brethren of the Free Spirit]] in medieval Europe.<ref>John P. Clark,
"Anarchism" in ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature'', edited by [[Bron Taylor]]; New York : Continuum, 2008, pp.49–56. {{ISBN|978-1-84706-273-4}}</ref>

== Death ==

Perlman died on July 26, 1985, while undergoing heart surgery in Detroit's [[Henry Ford Hospital]]. He was survived by his wife and a brother.<ref name=DeathsFredy />

== Selected publications ==
* {{Citation
    |publisher = Living Theatre
    |publication-place = New York
    |author = Fredy Perlman
    |title = Plunder
    |publication-date = 1962
    }}
* "Essay on Commodity Fetishism". ''Telos'' 6 (Fall 1970). New York: Telos Press.
* [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fredy-perlman-the-continuing-appeal-of-nationalism "The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism"]
** [http://resonanceaudiodistro.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/the-continuing-appeal-of-nationalism/ Sound recording]
* [http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/perlman/sp001702/repro.html "The Reproduction of Daily Life"]
* [http://noblesavagery.blogspot.com/2007/03/fredy-perlmans-against-his-story.html ''Against His-story! Against Leviathan!'']
* [http://libcom.org/library/worker-student-action-committees-france-1968-perlman-gregoire ''Worker-Student Action Committees, France May '68'' with Roger Gregoire]
* [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/perlman-fredy/1977/revolutionary-leaders/index.htm ''Manual for Revolutionary Leaders'']
* [https://archive.org/details/VelliManualForRevolutionaryLeadersSecondEditionIncludingTheSourcesOfVellisThoughtsABBYY ''Manual for Revolutionary Leaders''] Second Edition Including The Sources of Velli's Thoughts (Black & Red, Detroit, 1974)
* [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/perlman-fredy/1977/thesis-egocrats.htm "Ten Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats"]
* [http://www.radicalarchives.org/2009/10/09/fredy-perlman-on-paul-baran/ "Obituary for Paul Baran"]
* [http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fredy-perlman-the-machine-against-the-garden "The Machine Against the Garden: Two Essays on American Literature and Culture"]
* [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lorraine-and-fredy-perlman-chicago-1968 "Chicago, 1968"]
* [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fredy-perlman-anything-can-happen "Anything can happen"]
* [https://resonanceaudiodistro.org/2016/09/11/illyria-street-commune-audioplay/ Illyria Street Commune] 1979 (AudioPlay)
* [http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Fredy_Perlman__Illyria_Street_Commune.html Illyria Street Commune] 1979 (Playscript on The Anarchist Library)

== See also ==
* [[Original Affluent Society]]
* [[Situationist International]]
* [[David Watson (anarchist)]]
* [[John Zerzan]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* [http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Lorraine_Perlman__Having_Little__Being_Much__A_Chronicle_of_Fredy_Perlman_s_Fifty_Years.html Having Little, Being Much: A Chronicle of Fredy Perlmans Fifty Years] by Lorraine Perlman
* [https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/347-spring-1996/the-dragons-of-brno/ Max Cafard, "The Dragons of Brno: Fredy Perlman against History's Leviathan". Fifth Estate #347, Spring, 1996] Review of Fredy Perlman, ''Against His-Story, Against Leviathan''
* [https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/325-spring-1987/no-compromise-with-nationalism/ l'Insécurité sociale, "No Compromise with Nationalism". ''Fifth Estate'' #325, Spring 1987.] Translation of the introduction to the French edition of Fredy Perlman's ''The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism''
* [https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/392-fallwinter-2014/love-letters-insurgents/ Artnoose, "Love & Letters of Insurgents". ''Fifth Estate'' #392, Fall/Winter, 2014] Review of ''Letters of Insurgents'' by Sophia Nachalo and Yarostan Vocheck, as told by Fredy Perlman
* [https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/383-summer-2010/reading-letters-insurgents-34-years-publication/ Unruhlee, "Reading ''Letters of Insurgents'' 34 Years After its Publication". ''Fifth Estate'' #383 Summer 2010]
* [http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7348 Carleton S. Gholz, "Fifth at 40 Detroit radical rag celebrates its ruby anniversary". Detroit ''Metro Times,'' August 10, 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915040257/http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7348 |date=September 15, 2012 }} Includes discussion of Fredy Perlman's contribution to ''Fifth Estate'' newspaper's history
* [http://www.inventorypress.com/product/the-detroit-printing-co-op The Detroit Printing Co-op by Danielle Aubert.]
* {{Cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=Uri |title=Leviathan's Body: Recovering Fredy Perlman's Anarchist Social Theory. |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=58–82 |date=2023-03-22 |id={{gale|A743361503}} |language=English |doi=10.3898/AS.31.1.04 |s2cid=257296248 |issn=0967-3393 |df=mdy-all }}
* {{Cite book |editor1-last=Purkis |editor1-first=Jon |editor2-last=Bowen |editor2-first=James |chapter=Public Secret: Fredy Perlman and the Literature of Subversion |title=Twenty-First Century Anarchism: Unorthodox Ideas for the New Millennium |pages=117–133 |date=1997 |isbn=0-304-33742-0 |publisher=Cassell |df=mdy-all }}

{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.blackandred.org/ Black and Red Books], the press founded by the Perlmans
* [http://libcom.org/tags/fredy-perlman Fredy Perlman] texts at Libcom
* [http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/perlman/ Fredy Perlman] texts at Spunk Library
* [http://theanarchistlibrary.org/authors/Fredy_Perlman.html Fredy Perlman] texts at The Anarchist Library

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlman, Fredy}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American translators]]
[[Category:20th-century anarchists]]
[[Category:American anarchist writers]]
[[Category:American anti-capitalists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American people of Czech-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Anarchist theorists]]
[[Category:Anarcho-primitivists]]
[[Category:Anti-consumerists]]
[[Category:Bolivian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:Czechoslovak emigrants]]
[[Category:Immigrants to Bolivia]]
[[Category:French–English translators]]
[[Category:Green anarchists]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World members]]
[[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Jewish anarchists]]
[[Category:People from Cochabamba]]
[[Category:Scholars of nationalism]]
[[Category:University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]]
[[Category:Western Michigan University faculty]]
[[Category:Writers on antisemitism]]