George Woodcock: the ghostwriter of anarchism

In ordinary language, a ghost writer is someone who stands behind or writes on behalf of a named author. In dubbing George Woodcock the ghost writer of anarchism we instead want to suggest that Woodcock identifi ed anarchism’s ‘essence’ or, as Stirner has it, ‘the spirit that walks in everything’.2 Aft er considering the evolution of Anarchism in the context of Woodcock’s political activism we discuss Woodcock’s contribution to the construction of the anarchist canon and his treatment of anarchism’s ‘essence’.