A conceptual revision occurred at the heart of anarchist theory between the end of the nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. As anarchist thinkers grappled with a state transformed beyond recognition by technological change, they reassessed their critique of state power and the rhetorical methods used to expose its inherent violence. Where nineteenth-century anarchists favored organic metaphors to emphasize the monstrosity of the state, twentieth-century anarchists tended to adopt a set of mechanical metaphors. This change focused attention on the idea of technocracy, and informed a more comprehensive assessment of the state's activities. This article analyses this innovation in anarchist political thought, before tracing it through to Herbert Read's critical appraisal of C. P. Snow's influential lecture “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution,” and Snow's response to Read. Their debate, in which Read challenged Snow's argument that the pursuit of technological and political modernization was essential to maintain the nation's international role and address the social and economic challenges of the mid-century, was a contest for Britain's future. Drawing on his anarchism, Read saw such ideas as an existential threat, with the unthinking promotion of a technological “revolution” imperiling “the tender shoots of all that is human.” Contextualizing Read in his anarchist intellectual milieu, this article recovers a neglected voice in British intellectual and cultural history, the complexities of an overlooked political tradition, and a radical vision of Britain's future that questioned the dominant assumptions of the age.

在 19 世纪末和 20 世纪中叶之间，无政府主义理论的核心发生了概念上的修正。当无政府主义思想家努力应对一个因技术变革而面目全非的国家时，他们重新评估了他们对国家权力的批评以及用于揭露其内在暴力的修辞方法。19 世纪的无政府主义者喜欢使用有机的隐喻来强调国家的可怕性，而 20 世纪的无政府主义者则倾向于采用一套机械的隐喻。这一变化将注意力集中在技术官僚主义的理念上，并为对国家活动的更全面评估提供了信息。本文分析了无政府主义政治思想中的这一创新，然后将其追溯到赫伯特·里德 （Herbert Read） 对 C. P. 斯诺 （C. P. Snow） 有影响力的演讲“两种文化与科学革命”的批判性评价，以及斯诺对里德的回应。在他们的辩论中，里德挑战了斯诺的论点，即追求技术和政治现代化对于维持英国的国际地位和应对本世纪中叶的社会和经济挑战至关重要，这是一场关于英国未来的较量。里德借鉴了他的无政府主义，将这种思想视为生存威胁，不假思索地推动技术“革命”会危及“人类一切的嫩芽”。本文将里德置于他的无政府主义知识环境中，恢复了英国思想和文化史中被忽视的声音、被忽视的政治传统的复杂性，以及对英国未来的激进愿景，质疑了那个时代的主导假设。