The temporary autonomous zone

 

15

for the TAZ. Within tribal societies there exist what some anthropologists call 

mannenbunden: totemic societies devoted to an identity with "Nature" in the act of 

shapeshifting, of becoming the totem-animal (werewolves, jaguar shamans, leopard 

men, cat-witches, etc.). In the context of an entire colonial society (as Taussig points out 

in Shamanism, Colonialism and the Wild Man) the shapeshifting power is seen as 

inhering in the native culture as a whole-- thus the most repressed sector of the society 

acquires a paradoxical power through the myth of its occult knowledge, which is feared 

and desired by the colonist. Of course the natives really do have certain occult 

knowledge; but in response to Imperial perception of native culture as a kind of "spiritual 

wild(er)ness," the natives come to see themselves more and more consciously in that 

role. Even as they are marginalized, the Margin takes on an aura of magic. Before the 

whiteman, they were simply tribes of people--now, they are "guardians of Nature," 

inhabitants of the "state of Nature." Finally the colonist himself is seduced by this "myth." 

Whenever an American wants to drop out or back into Nature, invariably he "becomes an 

Indian." The Massachusetts radical democrats (spiritual descendents of the radical 

Protestants) who organized the Tea Party, and who literally believed that governments 

could be abolished (the whole Berkshire region declared itself in a "state of Nature"!), 

disguised themselves as "Mohawks." Thus the colonists, who suddenly saw themselves 

marginalized vis-·- vis the motherland, adopted the role of the marginalized natives, 

thereby (in a sense) seeking to participate in their occult power, their mythic radiance. 

From the Mountain Men to the Boy Scouts, the dream of "becoming an Indian" flows 

beneath myriad strands of American history, culture and consciousness. 

 

The sexual imagery connected to "tri-racial" groups also bears out this hypothesis. 

"Natives" of course are always immoral, but racial renegades and drop-outs must be 

downright polymorphous-perverse. The Buccaneers were buggers, the Maroons and 

Mountain Men were miscegenists, the "Jukes and Kallikaks" indulged in fornication and 

incest (leading to mutations such as polydactyly), the children ran around naked and 

masturbated openly, etc., etc. Reverting to a "state of Nature" paradoxically seems to 

allow for the practice of every "unnatural" act; or so it would appear if we believe the 

Puritans and Eugenicists. And since many people in repressed moralistic racist societies 

secretly desire exactly these licentious acts, they project them outwards onto the 

marginalized, and thereby convince themselves that they themselves remain civilized 

and pure. And in fact some marginalized communities do really reject consensus 

morality--the pirates certainly did!--and no doubt actually act out some of civilization's 

repressed desires. (Wouldn't you?) Becoming "wild" is always an erotic act, an act of 

nakedness. 

 

Before leaving the subject of the "tri-racial isolates," I'd like to recall Nietzsche's 

enthusiasm for "race mixing." Impressed by the vigor and beauty of hybrid cultures, he 

offered miscegenation not only as a solution to the problem of race but also as the 

principle for a new humanity freed of ethnic and national chauvinism--a precursor to the 

"psychic nomad," perhaps. Nietzsche's dream still seems as remote now as it did to him. 

Chauvinism still rules OK. Mixed cultures remain submerged. But the autonomous zones 

of the Buccaneers and Maroons, Ishmaels and Moors, Ramapaughs and "Kallikaks" 

remain, or their stories remain, as indications of what Nietzsche might have called "the 

Will to Power as Disappearance." We must return to this theme. 

 

Music as an Organizational Principle 

MEANWHILE, HOWEVER, WE TURN to the history of classical anarchism in the light of 

the TAZ concept. 

 

 

16 

Before the "closure of the map," a good deal of anti- authoritarian energy went into 

"escapist" communes such as Modern Times, the various Phalansteries, and so on. 

Interestingly, some of them were not intended to last "forever," but only as long as the 

project proved fulfilling. By Socialist/Utopian standards these experiments were "failures," 

and therefore we know little about them. 

 

When escape beyond the frontier proved impossible, the era of revolutionary urban 

Communes began in Europe. The Communes of Paris, Lyons and Marseilles did not 

survive long enough to take on any characteristics of permanence, and one wonders if 

they were meant to. From our point of view the chief matter of fascination is the spirit of 

the Communes. During and after these years anarchists took up the practice of 

revolutionary nomadism, drifting from uprising to uprising, looking to keep alive in 

themselves the intensity of spirit they experienced in the moment of insurrection. In fact, 

certain anarchists of the Stirnerite/Nietzschean strain came to look on this activity as an 

end in itself, a way of always occupying an autonomous zone, the interzone which opens 

up in the midst or wake of war and revolution (cf. Pynchon's "zone" in Gravity's Rainbow). 

They declared that if any socialist revolution succeeded, they'd be the first to turn against 

it. Short of universal anarchy they had no intention of ever stopping. In Russia in 1917 

they greeted the free Soviets with joy: this was their goal. But as soon as the Bolsheviks 

betrayed the Revolution, the individualist anarchists were the first to go back on the 

warpath. After Kronstadt, of course, all anarchists condemned the "Soviet Union" (a 

contradiction in terms) and moved on in search of new insurrections. 

 

Makhno's Ukraine and anarchist Spain were meant to have duration, and despite the 

exigencies of continual war both succeeded to a certain extent: not that they lasted a 

"long time," but they were successfully organized and could have persisted if not for 

outside aggression. Therefore, from among the experiments of the inter-War period I'll 

concentrate instead on the madcap Republic of Fiume, which is much less well known, 

and was not meant to endure. Gabriele D'Annunzio, Decadent poet, artist, musician, 

aesthete, womanizer, pioneer daredevil aeronautist, black magician, genius and cad, 

emerged from World War I as a hero with a small army at his beck and command: the 

"Arditi." At a loss for adventure, he decided to capture the city of Fiume from Yugoslavia 

and give it to Italy. After a necromantic ceremony with his mistress in a cemetery in 

Venice he set out to conquer Fiume, and succeeded without any trouble to speak of. But 

Italy turned down his generous offer; the Prime Minister called him a fool. 

 

In a huff, D'Annunzio decided to declare independence and see how long he could get 

away with it. He and one of his anarchist friends wrote the Constitution, which declared 

music to be the central principle of the State. The Navy (made up of deserters and 

Milanese anarchist maritime unionists) named themselves the Uscochi, after the long- 

vanished pirates who once lived on local offshore islands and preyed on Venetian and 

Ottoman shipping. The modern Uscochi succeeded in some wild coups: several rich 

Italian merchant vessels suddenly gave the Republic a future: money in the coffers! 

Artists, bohemians, adventurers, anarchists (D'Annunzio corresponded with Malatesta), 

fugitives and Stateless refugees, homosexuals, military dandies (the uniform was black 

with pirate skull-&-crossbones--later stolen by the SS), and crank reformers of every 

stripe (including Buddhists, Theosophists and Vedantists) began to show up at Fiume in 

droves. The party never stopped. Every morning D'Annunzio read poetry and manifestos 

from his balcony; every evening a concert, then fireworks. This made up the entire 

activity of the government. Eighteen months later, when the wine and money had run out 

and the Italian fleet finally showed up and lobbed a few shells at the Municipal Palace, no 

one had the energy to resist. 

 

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