Peace is war

Carlo Cafiero (1846 - 1892) is undoubtedly one of the most important figures of the First International both in Italy, his home country, and in general throughout Europe. But this mild-mannered anarchist is all too often remembered only for some of the curious episodes in his life (his participation in the Benevento uprising, his "gift" of La Baronata to Bakunin and anarchist revolutionaries), rather than for his ideas and the enormous influence he had on the early socialist movement in Italy.

The Housing Monster is a scathing illustrated essay that takes one seemingly simple, everyday thing—a house—and looks at the social relations that surround it. Moving from intensely personal thoughts and interactions to large-scale political and economic forces, it reads alternately like a worker’s diary, a short story, a psychology of everyday life, a historical account, an introduction to Marxist critique of political economy, and an angry flyer someone would pass you on the street.