The government had imprisoned 3000 strikers of the anarchist union, the CNT, & declared martial law in its attempt to crush the workers.

But the workers won in mid-March when the company agreed to reinstate all workers with wage increases & an 8 hours day; it was also agreed those imprisoned during the strike were to be released.

By 1923 IWW had three branches with job control in Canada: Lumberworkers IU 120 & Marine Transport Workers IU 510 in Vancouver & an LWIU branch in Cranbrook BC for a total of 5,600 members.

1924 marked a peak year for the IWW in Canada. 8,000 in Northern Ontario, the Canadian Lumber Workers vote to join the IWW.

On January 1, 1924, IWW Lumber Workers IU120 struck the British Columbia lumber owners, calling for an 8-hour day with blankets supplied, minimum wage of $4 per day, release of all class war prisoners, no discrimination against IWW members & no censuring of IWW literature. Fighting a mandatory dues check off to the United Mine Workers, Alberta Coal miners joined the IWW in 1924.

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Founded in Lausanne by the anarchist pediatrist Jean Wintsch & Emile Durand, inspired by "l'Escuela moderna" of Francisco Ferrer. The school accomodated about 30 boys & girls. It was supported by about 15 trade unions & with personal donations (especially from Russian refugees). It was also favorably received by "Réveil" & the libertarian press in general. In 1911, Paul Robin bequeathed to the school most of the teaching equipment used at Cempuis.

Unfortunately WWI & the dissension following publication of the "Proclamation of the 16" (Proclamation of Seize/Manifesto of the Sixteen), which Wintsch was a signatory to, resulted in his withdrawal from activism & the school's closure in April 1919.

See Jean Wintsch, Une Révocation, une école (Lausanne: Société de l’école Ferrer, 1910)

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During this month Emma emphatically rejects Ben Reitman's request to visit her in prison.

Also this month & next, mail bombs purportedly sent to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer & other prominent officials gain media attention. Government agents wrongly implicate Emma & Alexander Berkman in the 'conspiracy'.

That'll teach 'em to get their anarchists straight.

En fait une machination politico-judiciaire qui se clôt par un acquittement général, après un impressionnant discours (de 2 heures) que Bertoni prononce pour sa défense.

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Also involved in the uprising were Gustav Landauer (murdered by soldiers), the novelist B. Traven, & Ernst Toller.

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Forced into refuge in France with the rout of the Republican forces in 1939. In 1999 she participated in the collected work Mujeres Libres, will luchadoras libertarias, translated into French by the Ascaso-Durruti Center of Montpellier in 2000 & published by Los Solidarios.

Infatigable militant anarcho-syndicalist, writer, translator & historian of the international anarchist movement.. Sometimes known as 'the Marco Polo of anarchism' for the length & breadth of his travels Translator (in Castillan) of l'Encyclopédie Anarchiste of Sébastien Faure, author of Antologia del anarcho-sindicalismo,Museihushugi, el anarchismo japonés, Three Japanese Anarchists: Kotoku, Osugi & Yamaga (Kate Sharpley Library, 2000), etc.

"Hang or incarcerate all anarchists for life."

Filippi dies in a premature explosion while climbing the steps of the building to the "club of nobles," a meeting place for the richest people of the city. His presumed accomplices, the anarchists Guido Villa, Aldo Perego, Elena Melli & Maria Zibardi, are tried in July 1920 & receive harsh sentences.

They saw only one hope, to break through his lines. Denikin thought the move was a feint or reconnaissance. His principle forces continued chasing Makhno westward, thinking the Anarchists still in retreat.

Never did Denikin's staff dream that Makhno would turn to attack the bulk of the White army...

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A number of Left Social Revolutionaries & underground anarchists bombed the headquarters of the Moscow Committee of the Communist Party in protest at the growing repression. Twelve Communists were killed & 45 others were wounded.

Giliana studied medicine & specialized in pediatrics. A militant involved with the French anarchist milieu & worked with "Le Libertaire."

American labor agitator Tom Mooney was falsely convicted of a fatal bombing. He is not released until 1939.

Meanwhile, Bureau of Investigation Director & famed cross-dresser J. Edgar Hoover, in NY to review evidence collected for Emma Goldman's deportation, monitors a protest rally this same night. In search of further evidence, Hoover personally pokes around in a storage room leased by the anarchists M. Eleanor Fitzgerald & Ben Reitman.

See Aliens & Dissenters: Federal Suppression of Radicals, 1903-1933 by William Preston, Jr.

[10- 16 -1919] -- Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman spend a few days in the country recuperating from harsh prison conditions before beginning work to oppose their deportations. Emma is to appear before immigration authorities at Ellis Island on the 27th & 28th to appeal her deportation order; she claims US citizenship from her marriage to Jacob A. Kersner. On the 31st a benefit theater performance in New York City raises $500 to help them cover the costs of fighting their deportation.


[10- 27 -1919] -- US: Emma Goldman appears before immigration authorities at Ellis Island to appeal her deportation order from the land of the free. She & Alexander Berkman have just recently been freed from prison.

[Details / context]

[10- 28 -1919] -- US: "Reds" of Various Hue Light Up
Emma Goldman's Cheery 'Coming Out' Party. In [New York] Evening World (Oct. 28, 1919) Reel 63.



[11- 1 -1919] -- US: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman send out a 3,000-piece solicitation to raise support for political prisoners, the fight against deportation of aliens, & to announce their proposed lecture tour scheduled to begin at the end of the month.

On the 7th of this month violent raids of the homes of hundreds of "suspected radicals" & labor activists begin in NY City, & across the country some 10,000 suspected communists & anarchists are arrested. Based on a list of 450,000 dissidents compiled by J. Edgar Hoover, in January another crackdown sweeps the country during what is referred to as the "Palmer Raids" during America's first "Red Scare." Ambitious men, with unbridled appetites for power, Hoover & US Attorney General Palmer, both notorious liars & law breakers, soon have the country in a panic, claiming a revolution is planned for May Day.

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[11- 2 -1919] -- Laurent Tailhade (1854-1919), French poet, writer, libertarian polemist, opium addict (La noire idole), translator (Satyricon de Pétrone), dies.

“What do the victims matter, if the gesture be beautiful?”

His first poems were published in 1880, but it was his polemical writings which gained the most attention, being lambasted by the press & a costing him a year in jail for "provoking murder."

Tailhade himself was the victim of an anarchist bombing of a restaurant where he chanced to be (April 4, 1894,) & lost an eye.

See also the Daily Bleed, April 16, 1854.


[11- 7 -1919] -- US: "Palmer's Reign of Terror" begins: 3,000 anarchists imprisoned without bail, Ellis Island in NY harbor, in a "Freedom-loving" nation (just don't try to practice it!).


[11- 11 -1919] -- US: American Legion (armed "patriots") attacks & destroys IWW labor hall, kill five; the upstanding citizens kidnap, torture, castrate & lynch Wesley Everest, a WWI veteran & IWW organizer, Centralia, Washington (see also Everett Massacre, 5 November 1916 for another fine chapter in American History not taught in history classes).


[11- 15 -1919] -- US: In New York City, the main headquarters of the anarcho-syndicalist I.W.W is torn up & destroyed by agents acting under the US Attorney General Palmer, in his continuing persecution of labor militants, anarchists, radicals, etc. The era of the Palmer Raids (the"Red Scare") ruthlessly foisted upon the public, it should better be called the "White Terror,": government agents illegally breaking into trade-union buildings & peoples homes, meeting halls, arresting militants without cause or charges, seizing or trashing files, destroying fixtures & the buildings.


[11- 17 -1919] -- US: Emma Goldman speaks at a New York dinner organized by friends of Kate Richards O'Hare.



[11- 18 -1919] -- Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis dies. Elected to office in Amsterdam, as a socialist, in 1891 before giving up politics to adopt the anarchism of Mikhail Bakunin.

alt; Michael Bakunin, Michel Bakounine


[11- 19 -1919] -- Brasil: In São Paulo, João Penteado, a teacher & militante anarquista, is ordered to close the Modern School n°1 — open since May 13, 1912 (founded by Neno Vasco, Edgard Leuenroth, Oreste Ristori & Gigi Damiani) — when a bomb explodes (accidental?) in a house, killing four anarchists, including José Alvés, the principal of l'Ecole moderne de São Caetano.

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[11- 20 -1919] -- Liu Shih-p'ei dies, at the early age of 36. Chinese anarchist, involved in the Chinese anarchist movement which emerged in Tokyo about the same time as another important group emerged in Paris, France.

Liu Shih-p'ei, his wife Ho Chen, Chang Ping-lin & Chang Chi were leading members of the group in Japan.
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[11- 23 -1919] -- US: The anti-war activists & anarchists Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman begin a short lecture tour in Detroit; today's event is attended by 1,500 people & Emma says 2,000 people had to be turned away for lack of space. Large Jewish audience attends a meeting on Nov. 25.


[11- 25 -1919] -- US: Department of Labor orders antiwar activist & anarchist Alexander Berkman's deportation to Russia. Emma Goldman's deportation order follows on Nov. 29. Their lawyer Weinberger meets in Washington, D.C., with immigration officials, including Anthony Caminetti & Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post.


[11- 25 -1919] -- US: Amid a strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers (ultimately unsuccessful), approximately 250 "anarchists," "communists," & "labor agitators" were deported to Russia yesterday, marking the onset of the so-called "Red Scare."

The United States:
"a country where truth is tarred & feathered, lynched, imprisoned, clubbed, & expatriated as undesirable...

       — George Bernard Shaw (1925)

[11- 25 -1919] -- US: Department of Labor orders antiwar activist & anarchist Alexander Berkman's deportation to Russia. Emma Goldman's deportation order follows on Nov. 29. Their lawyer Weinberger meets in Washington, D.C., with immigration officials, including Anthony Caminetti & Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post.


[11- 29 -1919] -- US: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman address an audience of 4,500 people in Chicago about their prison experiences.

Tomorrow they address another large crowd. Then, on December 21, a large benefit banquet is held at the Hotel Morrison in Chicago. Emma describes the Detroit & Chicago meetings as "among the most inspiring in our public career." Berkman received his deportation orders from the "Land of the Free" on the 25th, & Emma receives hers today.

[11- 29 -1919] -- US: Bogalusa Massacre.

From: "Gene Lawhorn"
Subject: UBCMEMBERS * Bogalusa Massacre Memorial Resolution

Bogalusa, Louisiana Carpenters Memorial Resolution

Whereas; On November 29th of 1919 four union organizers, & officers of Bogalusa UBC local 2203 were murdered while they were working to organize the Great Southern Lumber Company in the offices of the Central Labor Council,

[Full text of the resolution & reference links, test]

Be It Therefore Resolved; That a plot of land as close as possible to the original Central Labor Council be purchased by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & that a monument be erected in remembrance of Lum Williams, & the other three Union Brothers who were murdered in their attempt to organize workers at the Great Southern Lumber Company...

— Resolution passed at Carpenters local 247 on May 9th (1999?) ... & I am looking for any further information regarding the subject of the Bogalusa massacre that anyone can provide.

Solidarity, Gene Lawhorn Local 247 Portland, Oregon.

[12- 1 -1919] -- US: Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman & 200+ anarchists, labor militants, & radicals are forced to leave the "Land of the Free," deported to Russia on the rust-bucket Buford. Shades of B. Traven's The Death Ship. In America it is axiomatic that we have free speech only if no one practices it.


[12- 5 -1919] -- US: Representative Isaac Siegel, after a trip to Ellis Island yesterday, declares he has discovered

how anarchists are made.

[12- 5 -1919] -- US: "Made Anarchists" — Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman — detained at Ellis Island.

Goldman & Berkman appear in federal court before Judge Julius M. Mayer, December 8th, who declares that as aliens, they have no constitutional rights. They remain in detention at Ellis Island & are be kicked out of the "Land of the Free" before month's end, sent to Red Russia on a leaking scow that is in danger of sinking with them & 247 other radicals & labor organizers who are also deported to protect American free speech.

"THE "Red Ark" will loom big in American history.

It is the first picturesque incident of the beginning effort of the War Millionaires to crush the soul of America & insure the safety of the dollars they have looted over the graves of Europe & through the deaths of the quarter million soldier boys whom American mothers now mourn..."

— Robert Minor, excerpt from the introduction, Deportation, Its Meaning & Menace: Last Message to the People of America by Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman, Ellis Island, New York, U.S.A., December, 1919.

[12- 5 -1919] -- M.L. Polonsky, Bolshevik, commander of a regiment of the Makhnovist army, arrested by the Makhnovist counter-intelligence under suspicion of planning to kill Nestor Makhno, is shot today.

"Once a Bolshevik parliamentarian by the name of Polonsky was executed at Makhnovist headquarters. Many members of the general staff were unhappy with this.

Voline arrived at the headquarters, & when he heard what had happened he asked: "What does Batko [Makhno] think? If he says it was the right thing to do I won't go into the issue."

Makhno was sitting in the next room & had got tipsy. When he heard his comrades talking he came in & went up to Voline: "So you don't give a damn that a man has just been shot? You don't even ask why he was executed! As long as Batko approves it's alright, huh? But a man can make mistakes, can't he, especially when he's drunk. What do you say to that, eh?"

Voline decided it was prudent not to answer.

[12- 5 -1919] -- Spain: This evening several cenetistas in Barcelona open fire on the Civil Guard & capture Gregorio Daura, to whom they apply the"ley de fugas." This is in response to government assassinations & repression of the CNT (nevertheless the city remains under control of the CNT & affinity groups).


[12- 8 -1919] -- US: Jailed at Ellis Island on the 5th, "Made Anarchists" Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman appear in federal court before Judge Julius M. Mayer, who declares that as aliens, they have no constitutional rights. They remain in detention at Ellis Island.



[12- 10 -1919] -- Spain: The Madrid Congress of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (December 10-20). The questions on the agenda, the quality of the delegates & the sheer number of workers represented (over 600,000) made this the most important congress to date. Dazzled by the Russian Revolution, & despite complaints it was a "political" revolution & did not incorporate the libertarian ideal, the congress voted provisionally to join the Communist International & to send a delegation to the Second Congress of the Third International (Moscow on July 15, 1920).
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[12- 19 -1919] -- Spain: Pépita Carpeña lives (1919-2005), Barcelona. Militant Spanish anarcho-syndicalist & feminist. Combatant during the Spanish Revolution, member of the CNT, "Jeunesses Libertaires" (JJLL) & "Mujeres Libres." Escaped Barcelona on January 25, 1939, interned in France. Involved with CIRA de Marseille during the 80s & 90s. Wrote De toda la vida, & appeared in two films, Richard Prost's Un autre futur. & Lisa Berger & Carol Mazer De toda la vida. Pépita died three years after the death of her companion Juan Martinez Vita (Moreno).


[12- 24 -1919] --

Coming from exile England, from Cardiff, Wales, the anarchist Errico Malatesta slips clandestinely back into Tarente (southern Italy) & takes the train for Gènes, where an immense crowd greets his return. Malatesta was a wealthy man who put his entire fortune at the disposal of the cause. He won the militant support of broad sections of his countrymen whose demonstrations & strikes on his behalf saved him from death & imprisonment many times. His writing & speeches on anarchist organization influenced the shape of the anarchist movement. Kropotkin left us a picture of Malatesta's life in exile: "Without even so much as a room that he could call his own, he would sell sherbet in the streets of London to get his living, & in the evening write brilliant articles for the Italian papers. Imprisoned in France, released, expelled, re-condemned in Italy, confined to an island, escaped, & again in Italy in disguise; always in the hottest of the struggle...."

Through the systematic destruction of its finest radical leadership by big business & royalists, Italy eventually succumbed to fascism. Malatesta remained in Italy, under house arrest, until he died. Authorities ordered his body thrown into a common grave.

[12- 24 -1919] -- US: Four men attempt to rob the payroll of the L.Q. White Shoe Company in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. One, later known as the “shotgun bandit,” fires at the moving payroll truck. They are unsuccessful & no one is hurt. The would-be bandits escaped. Part of a series of robberies in the area, which includes the Braintree robbery for which the anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti are tried & executed.


[12- 25 -1919] -- Chile: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) forms administration.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/chile/




[12- 27 -1919] -- Germany: On the initiative of Rudolf Rocker, the founding Congress of F.A.U.D. (Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschland), free union of the German workers, is held in Berlin, from the 27th-30th.

Arthur Lehning & Augustin Souchy are among the founders, along with Rocker. FAUD declares itself anarchist-syndicalist — opposed to both the State & to parliamentarism.

It eventually counts 125,000 members.

[1- 2 -1920] -- US: The Red Scare goes into full swing, until the 6th. Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who has Presidential ambitions, unleashes a nationwide reign of terrorism, raids on suspected anarchist, communist, unionist & radical Americans, arresting at least 2,700 (possibly as many as 8,000) after issuing orders for the arrest (without warrants), & illegal detention of 10,000 Americans, many of them trade union members & officials. Federal agents seized labor leaders & literature in the hopes of discouraging labor activity. A number of citizens were turned over to state officials for prosecution under various anti-anarchy statutes.

Thugs with badges break down doors, destroy personal property, printing presses, books, etc. Palmer orders Justice Department raids on meeting halls & homes in 30 cities nationwide.

None of the 2,700 people arrested are charged with any explicit crime. In all, more than 6,000 are arrested.

"The war bowed to a hundred repressive acts. They have become slaves to the government. They are frightened at the excesses in Russia. They are docile; & they will not recover from being so for many years... In the end, of course, there will be a revolution, but it will not come in my time."

— Hiram Johnson, former Governor of California

Shortly after the famous Vitameatavegamin episode aired, Ball appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the next big Red Scare because she had registered as a Communist in 1936. She explained that it was to please her grandfather.

Palmer, in coordination with Justice Department agent J. Edgar Hoover & immigration commissioner Anthony Caminetti, orders the arrest of approximately 10,000 alien radicals. US Bureau of Investigation carries out nationwide Palmer Raids. Federal agents seize labor leaders & literature in the hopes of discouraging labor activity. A number of citizens are turned over to state officials for prosecution under various anti-anarchy statutes.

[1- 7 -1920] -- England: Albert Meltzer lives (1920-1996), Tottenham, London. Militant anarchist, historian, publisher.


[1- 17 -1920] -- Italy: Luigi Galleani & Raffaele Schiavina begin publishing their anarchist paper, N°1 of "Cronaca Sovversiva," in Turin. Galleani began the paper in the US in 1903, but he & other "Cronaca Sovversiva" supporters were deported on June 24, 1919.


[1- 17 -1920] -- Finland: S.S. Buford, full of labor activists, anarchists & radicals kicked out of the Land of the Free, lands at Hangö. On January 19 the deportees are met at the Russo-Finnish border by Russian representatives & received warmly at a mass meeting of soldiers & peasants in Belo-Ostrov.


[2- 1 -1920] -- Russia: During this month Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman settle in Petrograd where they renew their friendships with William Shatoff, now working as Commissar of Railroads, & John Reed.

They also meet with Grigory Zinoviev, director of the Soviet Executive Committee, & briefly with Maxim Gorki at his home in Petrograd.

They attend a conference of anarchists, including Baltic factory workers & Kronstadt sailors, who echo criticisms of the Bolsheviks voiced by Left Social Revolutionaries & others who have paid visits to Berkman & Goldman in this period.

Emma Goldman Papers

[2- 10 -1920] -- England: Alex Comfort lives. British anarchist, poet, & author of the ever-popular Joy of Sex. Involved with Freedom Bookstore in the 40s & ‘Anarchy' magazine in the 50s — & author of the hugely successful « Joy of Sex ». He also lectured in physiology at London Hospital Medical College. Devoted to "unreason" — or the imagination. Wrote lyrics for Pete Seeger. Oh, Joy! Oh, Joy!

[2- 19 -1920] -- US: John Creaghe (or Juan, as he came to be known) dies in prison in Washington, DC. Doctor & Irish militant anarchist.

[2- 25 -1920] -- US: Roberto Elia & Andrea Salsedo, anarchists who worked for the "Cronaca Sovversiva", are kidnapped by the Department of Justice without a warrant or being arrested. They are secretly confined & beaten in Department Justice (sic) offices until they agree to inform on their fellow anarchists. // Arrest of Andrea Salsedo & Roberto Elia (or March 8?), editors, for "interrogation" about the anarchist attacks of the previous year. Andrea Salsedo was suicided on May 3rd, defenestrated from the 14th floor of the "Department of Justice" where he was being questioned.


[2- 26 -1920] -- Italy: Premier of "Umanita Nova", anarchist daily paper published in Milan & Rome (circulation 50,000). Shut down in 1922 by the fascist regime, it reappears in 1945 as a weekly, & currently continues publishing at this writing. Founded by Errico Malatesta & Antonio Cieri, with many contributors, including Gigi Damiani, Luigi Fabbri, Camillo Berneri, Nella Giacomelli, etc.

Paillette was one of the main anarchist song-writers of the period. An engraving worker, he produced 10,000 verses, among them "Heureux Temps" (Happy Times) which treats lyrically of the future anarchist communist society & is still popular in anarchist circles today. He was a poet of harmony, of love & nature & often dealt with the anarchist communist society of abundance where need had been eradicated. He became a full-time singer in the Montmartre cabarets, remaining faithful to the movement.

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Il naît le 16 avril 1844. D'abord ouvrier ciseleur, il devient par la suite un chansonnier des cabarets de Montmartre où il exprime ses idées libertaires, appelant de ses voeux une société plus juste comme dans "Heureux Temps" chantée sur l'air du "Temps des Cerises":

"Quand nous en serons au temps d'anarchie,
Le travail sera récréation / au lieu d'être peine
Le corps sera libre et l'âme sereine
En paix fera son évolution." etc

Auteur de nombreux vers qu'il publie lui-même sous forme de brochures, il participe ensuite aux journaux d'E Armand durant la guerre de 1914, "Pendant la Mêlée" puis "Par-delà la Mêlée." Agé d'environ 80 ans, il meurt en ce début de 1920.

The councils began a strike combined with occupation of the factories & resumed production under their own control. By September an upsurge again engulfs most of Northern Italy: the occupation of more than 200 factories by 600,000 workers revitalized the sagging council movement. It was supported by a small Socialist section in Turin & by the anarchists in Piedmont, but the unions & the Socialist Party opposed the movement & sabotaged the strikes.

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See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.

This is during a period of a second series of "Palmer raids" which swept 33 cities throughout the US in January to suppress radicals, labor agitators, & in this case, is related also to the South Braintree hold-ups & the crime for which Sacco & Vanzetti were ultimately executed for.

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Sonsored byUnião dos Trabalhadores em Fábricas de Tecidos (Fabric Workers' Union), 23 sessions are held, with 39 organizations from 11 states in attendance. Source: [ Arquivo de História Social ]

It depends how you define Russia. Pilsudski forces entered Ucraina with Ucrainian nationalists' forces to support them. Before WWI, Ucraine (& huge part of Pole populated territory) formed part of Tsarist imperial Russia.

— Bleedster Piero

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/eu/poland/

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At the funeral of the victims Errico Malatesta declares:

"Our high ideal is not violence but peace, a society of people who are free & equal, in which conflicts & massacres will be impossible. Violence is not ours, but theirs, of the governing class which oppresses, tramples on the ground & murders the weaker. There is nothing left to the proletariat but to react violently against their violence & to put lead against lead to crush violence."

— "Umanita Nova," June 26, 1920

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Here Errico Malatesta argues for "continuous struggle, pacific or violent, according to circumstances, against the government & the possessors to conquer as much possible of freedom & well-being for all."

See the Anarchist Encyclopedia page,
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/UAI2ndCongress.htm

A General Strike was raging across Italy, with Workers Councils appearing, & the councilist program & occupation of the factories was approved by the Congress. The strike & the councilist movement, under attack by the Italian government & military, would be sabotaged by the Socialist party & the mainstream unions.

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Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman are given responsibility for collecting materials... In Kharkov they meet anarchists they worked with in the US, including Aaron (executed in 1940) & Fanya Baron (executed on Lenin's personal order by the Cheka in 1921), Mark Mratchny, & Senya Fleshin...They receive a plea to aid Nestor Makhno's movement...

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Moscow, Russia:

Second Congress of the Third International opens / celebra la Conferència prèvia a la constitució de la Internacional Sindical Roja (ISR). Hi va participar Àngel Pestaña representant la CNT. Pestaña is a delegate for the anarcho-syndicalist CNT & the Spanish spokesman. When Pestaña leaves Russia on September 6, he is profoundly disillusioned by all he has observed. [Details / context]

These raids were retaliatory: Through the summer of 1920 the Chilean union conducted a three month strike to prevent the export of grains from the country at a time when this export was producing famine & famine prices & profits.
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Moscow, Russia July 23 to August 7, 1920

2on. congrés de la Tercera Internacional. Hi van assistir Àngel Pestaña represents la CNT i Ramón Merino Gracia represents el Partit Comunista Espanyol. Àngel Pestaña, Spanish anarcho-syndicalist, left Russia in September thoroughly disheartened with the Bolshevik Revolution... [Details / context] [Source: Congressos Obrers]

Anarcho-syndicalist participation &/or a marked presence at this congress is evident. Throughout most of South America in the early 20th century, in addition to their own congresses, anarchists & anarcho-syndicalists are often on the front lines of the various workers' actions, meetings, unions, conferences & congresses. [I don't have exact dates or details; not clear if two separate gatherings are held, or a joint congress — ed.] [ Source: Arquivo de História Social ]

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A writer for Albert Camus' journal "Combat," he was passionate about journalism & the French language. He began teaching at the "Centre de formation des Journalistes" in 1952, & eventually published 10 volumes on the history of the press & writers, as well as providing an accessible version of Proudhon's memoirs.

Present are: Errico Malatesta & Clodoveo Bonazzi for the U.A.I.; Gigi Damiani, for the newspaper "Umanità Nova"; Diego Guadagnini for the "Libertarian Committee of Defense"; Dante Pagliai & Emilio Spinaci of the Milan "Committee For the Political Victims"; Giuseppe Sartini, for the U.S.I.; Domenico Giulietti for the "Federation of Sea Workers"; Andrea Pedrini & Cesare Stazzi for the "Labor market of Ancône"; Camillo Berneri for the "Federation of Young Revolutionaries" & Andrea Viglongo for the "Committee of the Turin Factory Councils".

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The majority of the population is Jewish. Here they find valuable material on the rightwing Denikin pogroms; interview local Jews whose views on Bolshevik anti-Semitism differ....

Visited by two women representing the Ukranian guerrilla Nestor Makhno ... it is too risky to meet with him in person.

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Pestana told the congress:

"You tell us that the revolution cannot take place without a communist party & that without the conquest of political power emancipation is not possible, & that without dictatorship one cannot destroy the bourgeoisie: all these assertions are absolutely gratuitous." alt sp: Angel Pestaña Núñez

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In revenge for the prosecution of Sacco & Vanzetti, Mario Buda, Galleanist anarchist (practitioners of "propaganda by the deed"), detonates a horse-&-buggy bomb at the corner of Wall & Broad streets in Manhattan.

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Among those attending was the teacher Eugènie Trébuquet who, with her husband François Segond Casteu, wrote for "Germinal" & "Libertaire." Eugènie Casteu was killed in a bombardment while visiting her wounded brother at the anarchist front during the Spanish Revolution.

In Odessa, Emma Goldman meets with local officials & again polls members of the Jewish community about their experience with & views about anti-Semitism. She meets the famous Jewish poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik. Attends a gathering of anarchists in Odessa.

Later in the month, on the way to Kiev, Alexander Berkman is robbed of a large amount of his & Emma's savings. The Expedition spends a few days in panic-stricken Kiev as residents brace for a potential attack by Polish forces.

Overall 1920 was a year of brutal repression for the workers movement — many labor locals were burnt down, agitators murdered, workers sent to prison, etc., & the following year witnessed the San Gregorio Massacre where hundreds of miners were killed mercilessly.

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The factory occupations again Northern Italy,as they had in March & April earlier this year. With the mass factory occupations in September 1920 a defining moment is reached...

[Details / context]

[10- 3 -1920] -- Dr. Marie Equi (1872-1952) is imprisoned at San Quentin, California this month (exact date unknown) to serve a three year term which was later commuted to a year & a half.

Dr. Equi is convicted of sedition (like countless others opposing American involvement in one of Europe's bloodiest wars) under a newly amended Espionage Act.

The law "forbade criticism of the US government, the constitution, the military, the flag, navy or uniform."

At her trial A Special Agent of the Dept. of Justice, called her "an anarchist, a degenerate, & an abortionist."

Of prime interest to the Department of Justice (sic) were efforts made by Equi's friends to secure a pardon on her behalf. J. Edgar Hoover noted Equi was "associated with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Anita Whitney & Emma Goldman...& was a professional abortionist."

[Details / context]

[10- 3 -1920] -- Italy: The re-opening of the Modern School at Clivio, later closed by a government official (See "Umanita Nova," Feb. 17, 1921).



[10- 10 -1920] -- Italy: Errico Malatesta meets his comrades of the General Council of the Unione Anarchica Italiana, 22 out of 30, at their first six-monthly meeting in Bologna, where he takes up the question of action on behalf of political prisoners; the Council also resolves to contact the Socialist-Anarchist Federation of Holland, which proposes to organize an International Anarchist Congress.
Max Nettlau, Errico Malatesta: The Biography of an Anarchist


[10- 12 -1920] -- Italy: Armando Borghi, general secretary of the Unione Sindicale Italiana (USI) & militant anarchico, arrested in Milan by some order dating from July 20, but which had not been executed before.

Armando Borghi's arrest is meant to cripple the union, which represents some 300,000 workers.

Despite nationwide protests over 80 arrests occurred in Milan by the 17th, & even the veteran jailbird Errico Malatesta is nabbed.

[Details / context]

[10- 14 -1920] -- Italy: Demonstrations held in support of the Russian Revolution (opposing the American & European invasions) & also demanding the release of political prisoners in Italy. In Bologna, where Errico Malatesta appears, police open fire on demonstrators, killing several.


[10- 15 -1920] -- Italy: Errico Malatesta, anarchist militant/writer, is arrested. He is held responsible, along with Armando Borghi, for the worker occupations of the factories in Milan during this past summer & in September.

[Details / context]

[10- 15 -1920] -- Russia:

Les makhnovistes et les bolcheviques signent un accord de collaboration contre les troupes du général Wrangel.

[10- 15 -1920] -- Spain: Ernest Queraltó, "El pintor" (The painter), dies. An old member of the band of Köenning.



[10- 16 -1920] -- Spain: Trial begins, involving seven defendants, amongst them Paulino Diez, an indefatigable labor militant in the CNT & thus much accustomed to trials & jailhouses.

Indeed, Paulino Diez is only recently provisionally released from prison where he was doing a 100-year sentence.

Arrested again in July, he forms a defense committee in the prison. Among their lawyers is José del Río & Francesc Layret, & during the trial a General Strike is called by the local unions in Málaga & its province.
Layret provided a great defense, & all of the defendents are acquitted — to much shouting of "long live anarchy!" The town of Malaga hefts Layret to its shoulders, jubilantly carrying him off to his Hotel.

Layret hizo una argumentación tal del anarquismo que un cabo de artillería, que se encontraba en la sala, no pudo más que gritar viva la anarquía, por lo que los compañeros anarquistas tuvieron que esconder su identidad para que no fuera detenido. Todos salieron absueltos. El pueblo de Málaga llevó en hombros a Layret hasta el Hotel y dando vivas a la Confederación.

Diez is arrested again, in January, escapes, arrested again....& so it goes...

See his autobiography, Memorias de un anarcosindicalista de acción (Editorial: Ediciones Bellaterra).

[10- 17 -1920] -- Italy: The Unione Anarchica offices in Bologna are raided. Carlo Frigerio & Errico Malatesta, anarchist militant/writer, are arrested (& upwards of 80 others), held responsible, along with Armando Borghi & Corrado Quaglino, the local editor of "Umanita Nova," & Virgilia d'Andrea, for the worker occupations of the factories in Milan during the summer & especially during September.

Since the arrest of Armando Borghi on October 13, shortly after his return of Russia & the searching on October 15 of the newspaper Umanita Nova," all the principal leaders of the U.A.I. & the U.S.I. are detained because of the factory occupations.

Their demand for provisional liberation is refused early in January, & the manufacture of a "criminal" plot fiction leads their lawyer, Merlino, to tear to shreds in the "Scintilla," the accusing documents.

When Errico Malatesta returned to Italy in October [actually Dec. 24 — ed.] 1919, after being smuggled out of England on a coal boat by the head of the Italian Seamen's Federation, all the ships in the port of Genoa saluted his arrival, the city stopped work & turned out to greet him.

— Hippolyte Havel

[10- 21 -1920] -- Italy: About 25 delegates of the Unione Sindicale Italiana (USI, a syndicalist union 300,000 strong), meeting at Bologna, are all arrested in a body.

With the tide of fascism on the rise, this is part of a government crackdown against the union & numerous anarchist organizations & publications, resulting in the jailings of hundreds of activists. Among the jailed are Armando Borghi (General Secretary of the USI, his wife Virgilia d'Andrea, Errico Malatesta, & the editorial staff of newspaper "Umanita Nova."

[Source: Max Nettlau, Errico Malatesta.]

[10- 21 -1920] -- Spain: Cenetista Ramón Jaume Mateu is attacked by "Pistoleros del Libre" (rightwing assassins supported by anti-labor business & the Catholic Church). Attacks such as these against militant workers are common during this period in Spain.


[10- 23 -1920] -- Russia: Emma Goldman postpones her return trip to Petrograd to attend John Reed's funeral in Moscow today.
[Details / context]



[10- 23 -1920] -- Spain: In Badalona several cenetistas are arrested as they arrive at the North Station, among them Joan Manent y Pesas, Guillermo Martí Texier, & Vicens Soler Juan.

Part of an orchestrated crackdown on the best revolutionary syndicalist militants during this period, marked by targeted arrests & murders.

[10- 30 -1920] --

The basis of the anti-parliamentary communist critique of trade unionism was that trade unions organised workers within the capitalist system, as 'The Pimps of Labour' bargaining with the capitalists over the sale of the commodity labour power

— "Workers' Dreadnought", 30 October 1920.

[11- 7 -1920] -- Russia: Emma Goldman attends the third anniversary of the October Revolution in Petrograd, in her estimation "more like the funeral than the birth of the Revolution."

Also during this month, following the Red Army's murder of Nestor Makhno's commanders in the Crimea while negotiating under a white flag, Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Leon Trotsky orders an attack on Makhno's headquarters; Makhno manages to escape, eventually reaching Paris where he lives in exile. Trotsky orders the arrest & imprisonment of Russian anarchist Voline.

Sowing what he one day shall reap, "The Red Butcher" creates a fine legacy.

[11- 14 -1920] -- France: Founding congress of the Union Anarchiste (UA), Paris (14th-15th).



[11- 14 -1920] -- Italy: In Turin, "Cronaca Sovversiva", the anarchist weekly, announces it can no longer publish while Luigi Galleani & the manager of the paper, Piero Rayneri, are subjects of warrants for their arrest.


[11- 20 -1920] -- Spain: The government declares the anarcho-syndicalist CNT illegal & 64 union leaders are jailed.

Signals the bloody repression of Spain's largest union over the next few years, militants being attacked, jailed, &/or assassinated.

[Background / context]

[11- 26 -1920] -- Russia: Red Army led by "Snowball" (Trotsky's name in Orwell's Animal Farm) & Kamenov murders Makhnovist anarchist delegation under a flag of truce & attacks agrarian commune federation.

[11- 27 -1920] -- Spain: Andrés Nin & Josep (or José) Canela attacked by "pistoleros" in Plaza Buensuceso, Barcelona. Nin is unscathed but Canela dies.

Part of the government's bloody campaign to destroy the CNT. The so-called "Free" Unions (syndicat libre) were organized to serve as the bosses' gunmen, &, protected by the civil & military authorities, they murdered the most selfless of the trade union militants: Salvador Segui, Evelio Boal, José Canela were just a few among hundreds of others. These death squads & their assassinations were directed by Barcelona Governor Martinez Anido. At the end of month, the CNT's labor lawyer Francesc Layret is assassinated & 36 more union leaders imprisoned. [Details / context]

[11- 27 -1920] -- Russia: Leon Trotsky (aka "The Red Butcher") orders an attack on Nestor Makhno's headquarters. Yesterday Makhno's anarchist commanders were executed after being lured to a meeting with Trotsky under a flag of truce. The Cheka simultaneously arrests members of the Nabat Confederation in Kharkov & raids anarchist clubs & organizations throughout Russia.

http://blackeyepress.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/nestor-makhno/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSmakhno.htm
http://www.hack.org/mc/mirror/www.spunk.org/library/quotes/sp000092.txt
http://struggle.ws/inter.html

[11- 30 -1920] -- Spain: The CNT's labor lawyer Francesc Layret is assassinated & 36 more union leaders imprisoned (including Narcís Vidal, Miguel Abós Serena, & Spain: Salvador Caracersa). Part of the government's bloody campaign to destroy the CNT.
[Background / context]


[12- 6 -1920] -- US: First issue of the fortnightly paper "L'Agitazione", in Boston, Massachusetts, sponsored by the Comitato di Difesa Pro Sacco & Vanzetti (Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee). Edited by Aldino Felicani, the paper attained a circulation of 25 thousand copies, publishing until March 1925, then changed its title to "La Protesta Humana", & appeared from June 1926 to April 1927.


[12- 18 -1920] -- Russia: In Archangel, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman & others in a Museum expedition collect leftist & anarchist underground publications produced during the rule of the Czar.

The Expedition also obtains letters written by Nicholas Chaikovsky from the period of his provisional government leadership. Emma, at this point, is favorably impressed with the efficiency & integrity of Bolshevik operations in Archangel. Late in the month they return to Petrograd.

[12- 20 -1920] -- Anarchist masthead, August 12, 1922

Bulgaria: In December 1920, the first number of the semi-monthly "Anarchist" appears in Kustendil, replacing the "Alarm Clock". After three numbers the paper moves to Sofia where, under the direction of poet/journalist George (Gueorgui) Getchev, it appears clandestinely. Subtitled "Organ of the Federation of the Communist Anarchists in Bulgaria" (in Bulgarian & French), it is the voice for activists grouped around Vassil Ikonomov & promotes acts of "propaganda by the deed". It continues publishing during the years 1921-1922.

[12- 28 -1920] --

Spain: Pepita Estruch lives. Member Mujeres Libres. http://www.url.it/donnestoria/testi/calendttaver/novembre.htm http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/196122

[1- 14 -1921] -- Murray Bookchin, American anarchist, lives.

Daily Bleed Saint 2007-2009
American anarchist theorist, organizer, social ecologist.

Prolific author, philosopher, ecologist (under the pseudonym Lewis Herber during the 50s Red Scare & blacklist), historian, advocate of 'Libertarian Municipalism', head of the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont.

Bookchin was a young communist, expelled in the 40s. He became a labor organizer & a libertarian socialist working with dissident German exile Marxists in New York city, then an anarchist. During the 50s he pioneered writing on ecological issues.

During the 60s he founded the Anarchos Collective & his writings, particularly his critiques of Marxism & Leninism (Listen, Marxist!), profoundly influenced the American New Left.

[1- 17 -1921] -- Spain: Crackdown on Barcelona cenetistas involved with the Comité Pro-Presos de la CNT (Pro-Prisoner Committee).

Cenetistas (Juan Villanueva, Juli Peris, Ramon Gomar, Antonio Parra), delivering financial aid for prisoners, are arrested & accused of an attentat on ex-governor Salvatierra. Meanwhile Policía raid the Comité Pro-Presos de la CNT, detaining Pablo Martínez Casanova, María López, Juan Canales Moncax y Pablo Martín (using the identy of José Ramón Cuartero), confiscating documents & records which in turn are used to detain or arrest still others.

[1- 18 -1921] -- Spain: Antonio Téllez lives (1921-2005); anarquista guerrilla, historian.


[1- 18 -1921] -- Spain: In a series of reprisals between the CNT & Barcelona police, police are ordered to murder ("Ley de Fugas") cenetistas currently being held in jail.

Thus the Valencian cenetistas Juan Villanueva, Antonio Parra, Juli Peris, & Ramón Gomar — arrested yesterday while delivering funds to aid political prisoners in Barcelona — are among those shot down. Police announce all are killed in an attempted jailbreak. In fact, however, Parra is only wounded, buried beneath the dead bodies of his companions. (Parra survived, dying in exile in Venezuela, 1970).

[1- 20 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman leave Petrograd for Moscow to prepare for second journey with the museum expedition; they stay with Angelica Balabanoff, head of the Russo-Italian bureau. Emma offers to nurse Peter Kropotkin when she learns he is very ill.


[2- 4 -1921] -- Chile: Massacre at San Gregorio leaves 565 nitrate miners dead. Hot on the heels of the 1920 post-war depression the employers are on the offensive & from 1921 to 1923 are successful in beating back the unions.

Overall 1920 was a year of brutal repression for the workers movement — many locals were burnt down, many agitators murdered, workers sent to prison, etc. The IWW led a three month long strike protesting the export of grain during a food shortage. The government repressed both the IWW & anarchists, going so far as to frame the Wobblies with a planted bomb. & the following year witnessed the almost forgotten San Gregorio Massacre where hundreds of miners were killed mercilessly.

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/chile/

[2- 8 -1921] -- Russia: The "Anarchist Prince," geographer, theorist, militant Peter Kropotkin dies.

Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Lenin offers a state funeral & burial in the Kremlin Wall — which is refused.

100,000 people attend Kropotkin's funeral procession on February 13 — organized by Alexandre Atabekian & others — & it is the last non-state-sponsored mass assembly in the Bolshevik Worker's Paradise for the next 70 years.

[2- 8 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman arrives in Dmitrov shortly after Kropotkin's death.

On Feb. 13, Emma, among others, delivers a public remembrance at Kropotkin's funeral in Moscow. Soviet leaders release only a handful of anarchist political prisoners following an appeal to allow all incarcerated anarchists to attend the ceremony.

She & Alexander Berkman later decide to discontinue their work with the Petrograd Museum of the Revolution in order to accept an invitation to participate in the organizing committee of a museum honoring Kropotkin, independent of Soviet financing & oversight.

In mid-February Emma prepares articles about Kropotkin's death for the "Nation" & the "Manchester Guardian," & rejects an offer to write about Soviet Russia for the "New York World."

Within a month both she & Alex decide to leave Russia & alert the world to what they have witnessed & their disillusionment with the Bolshevik counter-revolution.

[2- 13 -1921] -- Russia: Peter Kropotkin's funeral held in Moscow — the last public anarchist gathering & the last non-state-sponsored mass assembly in Russia for 70 years — as Lenin, Trotsky & the Bolsheviks begin their crackdown to secure their power over the working class. On passing Butyrki jail, incarcerated political prisoners strike up an anarchist hymn to the dead.


[2- 13 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman, among others, delivers a public remembrance at Kropotkin's funeral in Moscow.

Soviet leaders release only a handful of anarchist political prisoners following an appeal to allow all incarcerated anarchists to attend the ceremony.

Later, Emma & Alexander Berkman decide to discontinue their work with the Petrograd Museum of the Revolution in order to accept an invitation to participate in the organizing committee of a museum honoring Peter Kropotkin, independent of Soviet financing & oversight.

In mid-February Emma receives permission to visit anarchist prisoners at Butyrki prison; among others, she sees Fanya & Aaron Baron (both eventually executed) & Voline.

Goldman & Berkman return to Petrograd & she prepares articles about Kropotkin's death for the Nation & the Manchester Guardian; rejects offer to write about Soviet Russia for the New York World.

[2- 22 -1921] -- Russia: Wave of strikes in Petrograd protesting factory conditions & the discipline of 'war communism.'
See Voline's The Unknown Revolution, page 469.


[2- 26 -1921] -- Russia: The revolutionary Kronstadt sailors send delegates to Petrograd find out about strikes occurring there. The delegation visits a number factories & return on the 28th, when things begin to heat up as they protest the Bolshevik counter-revolution.



[2- 27 -1921] -- Italy: Les 27 et 28 février 1921, à Florence (Italie), dans un contexte exacerbé par la montée du fascisme, des affrontements particulièrement graves se produisent avec les fascistes, et causent la mort de deux cheminots: Gino Mugnai et Spartaco Lavagnini.

Les fascistes tenteront ensuite de pénéter dans le quartier de San Frediano, ils se heurtent alors à une forte résistance des militants radicaux et de la population qui se retranche derrière une barricade. A Certaldo (près de Florence), l'anarchiste Ferruccio Scarselli, meurt déchiqueté par un bombe durant un affrontement, tandis qu'à La Spezia c'est l'anarchiste Uliviero qui est tué par la police. Dans le même temps à Trieste, la Bourse du travail est incendiée. Le 1er mars, en réponse aux violences fascistes, une grève générale est déclenchée à Trieste et à Florence, ville où de nouveaux heurts se produiront. Ils causeront la mort de plus de 20 personnes et feront plus d'une centaine de blessés.

[2- 28 -1921] --


[2- 28 -1921] -- Russia: Kronstadt Revolt. It is here Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Leon Trotsky utters his famous line,

"Shoot them down like partridges."

The Kronstadt Revolt begins, critical of Bolshevism & in sympathy with the resistance in Petrograd. As opposed to the Bolshevik Party dictatorship they demand workers' rule.

"Kronstadt is of great historic significance. It sounded the death knell of Bolshevism with its Party dictatorship, mad centralisation, Tcheka terrorism & bureaucratic castes. It struck into the very heart of Communist autocracy. At the same time it shocked the intelligent & honest minds of Europe & America into a critical examination of Bolshevik theories & practices. It exploded the Bolshevik myth of the Communist State being the "Workers' & Peasants' Government."        — Alexander Berkman, The Kronstadt Rebellion (Berlin: Der Syndikalist, 1922), pp. 41-42. Kenneth Rexroth (See his poem "From the Paris Commune to the Kronstadt Rebellion"), was among those few Americans who saw through Bolshevik pretenses as early as 1921, when Trotsky & Lenin crushed the libertarian revolt of the Kronstadt Soviet in their drive to impose their dictatorship. While clearly opposing all forms of "Communism" he did not, like so many others of his generation, react into supporting Western capitalism or becoming a "Cold War Warrior." The Kronstadt Revolt was a topic at meetings he helped organize with the San Francisco Libertarian Circle in the 1940s. http://libcom.org/tags/kronstadt

I am far better aware of
The evils of Stalinism
Than you are, you ex-Trotskyite
Warmonger. But it won’t get you
Anywhere to tell me I should
Welcome the beast who devours me
Just because a bigger lion
Is eating somebody else on
The other side of the arena.

http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/rexroth3.htm
http://flag.blackened.net/ksl/bullet14.htm#Maximoff
http://struggle.ws/russia.html

[2- 28 -1921] --

México: Founding convention of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), during this month [I don't have an exact date — ed.], in México City.

Breaking with the reformist CROM, some 50 unions, influenced by revolutionary synicalists & anarcosindicalistas, adopt "class war & direct action" as fundamental principles, & reject participation in the political arena.

Initially associated with Moscow's Red International, under the influence of the anarchists, this congress breaks with Mexican communists & the International.

The backbone of the CGT is the Federation of Spinning & Weaving Workers Unions, but also includes agricultural, tabaquera, textile, transport, mining, telephone, graphic arts, commerce, construction, dress makers, & other unions.

[3- 4 -1921] -- Russia: During Krondstadt uprising (March 1-17), in support of striking Petrograd factory workers, sailors demand democratic election of Soviet representatives. Emma Goldman attends today's meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, which votes to accept Zinoviev's proposal to force the surrender of Krondstadt sailors upon penalty of death.


[3- 5 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, & several others send a letter of protest to Zinoviev, proposing a commission to settle the dispute with the Krondstadt sailors peacefully; no response received. In two days Leon Trotsky orders the artillery bombardment of Krondstadt, counter-revolutionary vs. revolutionaries.



[3- 7 -1921] -- Russia: Specially selected forces of the Red Army (commanded by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Field Marshal Leon Trotsky) opens fire on the forts of Kronstadt; the sailors, soldiers, workers & populace of Kronstadt counter-fire & reduce Trotsky's batteries to silence.

In a discussion Voline (known as the "dynamiter of the Bolshevik myth") had with Trotsky in 1919, at the height of the Russian Civil War, they had the following exchange:

Trotsky: "One can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."

Voline: "I see the broken eggs — now where's this omelet of yours?"

Reminiscences of Voline by his son Leo at Kate Sharpley Library, http://flag.blackened.net/ksl/bullet12.htm#Voline

[Details / context]

[3- 7 -1921] -- US: Man Ray (1890-1976), artist, chess player/designer, anarchist & photographer, between today & the 26th, while in Philadelphia, wins $10 for Portrait of a Sculptor Berenice Abbott in John Wanamaker's competition "15th Annual Exhibition of Photographs." Man Ray also makes a movie with Marcel Duchamp; Elsa, Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven, shaves her pubic hair.



[3- 7 -1921] -- Russia: As Trotsky orders the artillery bombardment of Krondstadt, Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman, feeling that their last tie to the Bolsheviks has been broken, decide to leave Russia & alert the world to what they have witnessed.
Alex writes his book, The Bolshevik Myth, & helps Emma with her book, published as My Disillusionment in Russia (1923) (the publisher unilaterally dropped the last chapter).



[3- 8 -1921] -- Russia: The Russian anarcho-syndicalist militant Grigori Petrovitch Maximov is imprisoned, along with other members of the Nabat Federation. He is not released until autumn, following a hunger strike, when he is expelled from Russia with Voline.


[3- 8 -1921] -- Spain: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader President Eduardo Dato assassinated in Madrid by Luis Nicolau, Pedro Mateu, & Ramon Castenellas, metallurgists of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT.

"ley de fugas"

Dato was in charge of anti-union repression in Barcelona, responsible for murder: on January 20th three imprisoned union activists were victims of the "Ley de fugas" (law of escape) — being "set free" only to be shot down moments later as "escapees."

[3- 9 -1921] -- Russia:

"Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman [part of an anarchist mediation group who had the ear of the Kronstadt Soviet] had an interview with Zinoviev...Their mediation scheme was a complete failure...

Most of the Russian members of the mediation groups were arrested.

I was not — an indulgence which I owed to the good opinion that Zinoviev, Zorin & a few others had of me..."

       — Victor Serge, "Kronstadt 1921" (A former anarchist, now a sympathizer, believed the Kronstadt rebels were right, but toed the Bolshevik line.) alt: Cronstadt
[Details / context]


[3- 10 -1921] -- Russia: Attack on Kronstadt, in revolt against Bolshevik absolutism in their demands for Free Soviets. alt: Cronstadt uprising, anarchism



[3- 14 -1921] -- Italy: Errico Malatesta, Armando Borghi & Corrado Quaglino launch a hunger strike in the San Villore prison in Milan.

In October of 1920, Borghi, Malatesta & other anarchists were rounded up on no particular charges. Today the three go on their hunger strike to force the court authorities to set a trial date. After nine months in prison on remand, by late July, they were brought for trial to the Assizes in Milan. All of those charged were freed. Malatesta & Borghi had offered a vigorous defence of themselves. Fascism was now in the ascendant & the lives of antifascist militants were in the balance. Borghi & Virgilia d'Andrea were continually receiving death threats.

[3- 17 -1921] -- USSR: Kronstadt falls to the Bolshevik military assault under the direction of Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Trotsky, who boasted he would "shoot them like pigeons." There is a great slaughter when the island is taken. To the end of his life Trostky continued defending his actions, as Kenneth Rexroth notes, in a dispute with Victor Serge he continued dispensing Bolshevik lies.
[Details / context]


[3- 18 -1921] -- Russia: Kronstadt fell yesterday. Thousands of sailors & workers lie dead in the streets. Summary execution of prisoners & hostages continues.

Today the victorious Bolsheviks are celebrating the anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871.

Trotsky & Zinoviev, without shame, denounce Thiers & Gallifet for the slaughter of the Paris rebels.

From the Paris Commune to the Kronstadt Rebellion

They shall rise up heroes, there will be many,
None will prevail against them at last.
They go saying each: "I am one of many";
Their hands empty save for history.
They die at bridges, bridge gates, & drawbridges.

Remember now there were others before;
The sepulchres are full at ford & bridgehead.
There will be children with flowers there,
And lambs & golden-eyed lions there,
And people remembering in the future.

— excerpt, Kenneth Rexroth, (1936)
Originally titled "March 18, 1871-1921"

From Paul Avrich's Kronstadt 1921 (p. 213):

The next morning [after the final crushing of Kronstadt], March 18, the Petrograd newspapers carried banner headlines commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Paris Commune. Bands played military tunes & Communists paraded in the streets, singing the "Internationale."

"Its strains," noted Emma Goldman, "once jubilant to my ears, now sounded like a funeral dirge for humanity's flaming hope."

Alexander Berkman made a bitter entry in his diary:

"The victors are celebrating the anniversary of the Commune of 1871. Trotsky & Zinoviev denounce Thiers & Gallifet for the slaughter of the Paris rebels."

The Berkman quote is from The Bolshevik Myth, p. 303. A fuller passage from it is in Avrich's The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution, p. 163alt: Cronstadt

[3- 23 -1921] -- Italy: A bomb explodes at the Teatro Diana in Milan, killing & wounding many. Among those accused are Giuseppe Mariani & Giuseppe Boldrini who get life sentences, & Ettore Aguggini (who died in prison); also implicated are Ugo Fedeli, Pietro Bruzzi, & Francesco Ghezzi (editors of "L’Indivi-dualista").

The work of an individualist anarchist group believed manipulated & set up by the Chief of Police Gasti, the bombing serves as a pretext for a general repression against all anarchists & also serves the interests of the fascists, who attack the offices of the trade unions & leftist organizations. They also destroyed the office of the anarchist paper "Umanita Nova."

[3- 25 -1921] -- Argentina: Premier issue of the weekly anarchist paper "La Antorcha," in Buenos Aires.
Numéro 300 of May 1930, includes an interview with Simón Radowitzky (just released from prison).

Principal collaborators include Rodolfo González Pacheco, Teodoro Antillí, Alberto S. Bianchi, Horacio Badaracco & its manager Antonio Rizzo.

“Haute Cuisine” ¡¿?!

The title "La Antorcha" revives the name of an Argentinian gastronomical federation publication of 1911-1912....with fewer dire intestinal implications.

[4- 5 -1921] -- Russia: Early this month Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman return to Moscow determined to cut off all relations with the Bolshevik government.

Also during the month, they plan to request permission to leave the country; prepared to exit secretly if necessary. Agrees to appeal to anarchists in the US for funds to support the Kropotkin Museum. Emma accompanies Louise Bryant to meet Stanislavsky, "the father of the modern Russian theater."

See Emma Goldman's My Disillusionment in Russia — Ch 28.

The Armenian medical doctor Alexander Atabekian was one of the veteran anarchists who founded the Museum; arrested in the 30s & presumably died in a Stalinist labor camp in 1940. Vera Figner was director of the Museum until she was herself banished by the Communists on Feb. 3, 1930.

Peter Kropotkin, see
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/KropotkinPeter.htm

[4- 17 -1921] --   US: "The New York Times" publishes excerpts from a letter from Emma Goldman to her niece Stella Ballantine disclaiming December 1920 reports by American businessman Washington B. Vanderlip that Emma had requested he use his influence to gain her return to the US (from which she was deported & banned).



[4- 27 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman alerted about the April 25 Soviet night raid of the Butyrki prison intended to break prisoner solidarity.

Fanya Baron is among those relocated (executed 1938-1940). Soviets attempt to repress all political protests of the raid. Emma helps collect food provisions for the starving anarchist prisoners. In light of Soviet constraints on independent political expression, Goldman & Berkman postpone efforts to organize support for the Kropotkin Museum.

[5- 1 -1921] -- Japan: Japanese Workers Association clashes with anarchist unions during the May Day gathering.


[5- 2 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman begin receiving visits from many foreign delegates, during this month, for the International Congress of the Third International.
... show details

Visitors include Americans "Big" Bill Haywood, Agnes Smedley, Bob Robins, Mary Heaton Vorse, Ella Reeve Bloor, William Z. Foster, & Robert Minor.

Emma is disparaging of Haywood's flight from the US, comparing his action to a "captain leaving the ship," for abandoning fellow IWW members who remain imprisoned.

[5- 2 -1921] -- Paul Wulf lives (1921-1999). German antifascist much influenced by the work of the anarchist Erich Mühsam.

Wulf was a victim of Nazi eugenics, forcibly sterilized in 1938. Following WWII he was an active Nazi-hunter, flushing out & revealing those seeking to hide & integrate themselves in the community.

[5- 4 -1921] -- US: The libertarian & utopian "Home Colony" in Washington State ends. See the article in the Stan Iverson Memorial Archives,
http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/


[5- 5 -1921] -- Italy: Fascists in Pisa attack & set fire to the printing works of the newspaper "Avvenire anarchico."


[5- 5 -1921] --

Italy: Riccardo Siliprandi (pseudonym, Ariè) is assassinated by a fascist squad in Luzzara, in the Piazza del Teatro. Militant antifascist, anarchosyndicalist & part of the Luzzara anarchist group which had some 36 members. Interred with other antifascist partisans in the Mausoleo dei partigiana Luzzaresi. See G. Laghi & R. Cavandoli, Storia di Luzzara (1978) & A. Paterlini, Il sacrificio reggiano per la pace e la libertà 1915-1943 (1982).

[5- 8 -1921] -- France: Nathalie Lemel (1827-1921) dies, blind & miserable in an old people's home in Ivry. Revolutionist & feminist. Founded a bookshop in Quimper, then moved to Paris & became a bookbinder.

A Parisian Communard, she was sent to prison along with the anarchist Louise Michel.

Pardoned in 1879, she returned to Paris, working with "the intransigent." Nathalie eventually went blind & died in miserable conditions.

[Details / context]

[5- 9 -1921] -- US: Radical priest & anti-war activist Daniel Berrigan lives.

Berrigan loves to burn draft records.

J. Edgar Hoover & his elegant crew of FBI guys have the same affinity for Berrigan as for Martin Luther King, Jr. — trying to smear & destroy him & also his brother Philip (a Josephite priest doing God's work & a Christian anarchist).

J. Edgar, now best-known for his peculiar interpretation of "dress code," went so far as to publicly call Howard Zinn & Berrigan "traitors" for going to North Vietnam & securing the first release of American POWs.

[5- 9 -1921] -- US: Thirteenth Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is called to order, at 9 a.m., by Roy Brown, the Chairman of the General Executive Board.


[5- 24 -1921] -- US: Beginning of the trial of Sacco & Vanzetti, anarchist labor organizers, in Massachusetts. Their execution is the culmination of a five-year government campaign to crush political dissidents (particularly socialist & anarchist workers) in the Land of the Free. (See April 9 & 22; May 5; Aug 21.)

The prosecution leaves a trail of doctored eyewitness accounts, altered testimony & false ballistics reports.

That trail appears to exonerate the victims while convicting the executioners.

[5- 31 -1921] -- US: Sacco & Vanzetti trial begins.

"Both Nick [Sacco] & I are anarchists — the radical of the radical — the black cats, the terrors of many, of all the bigots, exploitators, charlatans, fakers & oppressors. Consequently we are also the more slandered, misrepresented, misunderstood, & persecuted of all. After all we are socialists, as the social democrats, the socialists, the communists, & the IWW are all Socialists. The difference — the fundamental one — between us & all the other is that they are authoritarian while we are libertarian; they believe in a State or Government of their own; we believe in no State or Government."

— Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1927)

[6- 2 -1921] -- México: IWW hall at Tampico is raided. In response the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) calls a general strike in the area, winning the right to have their hall.


[6- 3 -1921] -- Russia: Alexander Berkman sustains a foot injury, delaying his departure with Emma Goldman from Workers' Paradise.

The veteran anarchists are thoroughly disillusioned with the Bolshevik "counter" revolution...
[Details / context]

[6- 3 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, after several days of voir dire, only seven jurors have been selected & the entire panel of 500 people exhausted. The Court directs the Sheriff to bring in 200 more potential jurors to try "those anarchist bastards."
See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.


[6- 4 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the defense challenges the way in which the additional potential jurors (200 of 'em) were arbitrarily rounded up. Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Judge Thayer denies the challenge. anarchist


[6- 9 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, eyewitnesses Carrigan, Bostock, & Wade testify they are unable to identify any of the bandits they had seen at the crime.
[Details / context]


[6- 10 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, Mr. Pelser testifies Sacco was the “dead image” of the man in the getaway car. He admits in cross-examination that he earlier told the police that he had not witnessed the robbery & had run away because he was scared.


[6- 11 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, Lola Andrews testifies she had spoken to a man working under a car in front of the shoe factory the day of the robbery & identifies Sacco as the man. She denies stating during an interview that a picture of Sacco did not resemble the man she had seen.
[Sacco-Vanzetti Sources]



[6- 15 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, the final identification witness, Goodridge, testifies he had seen Sacco shooting from the car. The defense tries to impeach his testimony by implying a larceny charge had gone unpunished in return for his testimony. Judge Thayer refuses to allow the defense to introduce its impeaching evidence.


[6- 17 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, Connolly, the officer who arrested Sacco & Vanzetti on the train, testifies that Sacco & Vanzetti reached for their guns when they were arrested.


[6- 17 -1921] -- Spain: Evelio Boal, Secretary General of the CNT, assassinated ("ley de fugas") by the government. Part of the bloody repression of the anarcho-syndicalist union in the early 1920s, large numbers of cenetista leaders being jailed &/or assassinated.
[Details/ context]


[6- 18 -1921] -- Spain: José Martínez Guerricabeitia (aka Felipe de Orero) lives (1921-1986), Villar del Arzobispo (Valencia). Active in the Spanish underground 1945-1947. Anarchist & founder of the Ruedo Ibérico publishing house in 1961, of which he was the undisputed heart & to which he devoted most of his life for the next 25 years. Committed suicide in Madrid, March 12, 1986.


[6- 21 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, a ballistics expert testifies shells found at the scene & taken from the bodies of the decedents were "consistent with" having been fired by Sacco’s pistol.
[Details / context]


[6- 28 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, the defense began to present their case on June 22. Today Mr. Kurlansky testifies that Mrs. Andrews had told him she could not identify the defendants but a government agent was forcing her to do so. Defense expert witnesses testify that Sacco’s gun did not fire the bullet that killed Berardelli.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/SaccoVanzetti/databaseEntries.htm


[7- 3 -1921] --

Moscow, Russia July 3 to 19, 1921

1st Congress of the Red Trade Union International. Representing the CNT are Joaquim Maurín, Hilari Arlandis, Jesús Ibañez & Andreu Nin. Attended by 380 delegates from 41 countries of Europe, America & Asia, among them Russia, Britain, Italy, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, Finland, Korea, China & South Africa. The Red Trade Union International lasted till late 1937 & had a large influence on the world trade union movement. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/jul/18.htm [Source: Congressos Obrers]

[7- 5 -1921] -- US: Bartolomeo Vanzetti takes the stand. He is questioned at length about his political views during cross- examination.


[7- 6 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti trial, during cross-examination, Sacco, too, is questioned at length concerning his political views.


[7- 9 -1921] -- Russia: Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman persuade some of the foreign delegates, including Tom Mann, to protest the imprisonment of Voline, G. P. Maximov, & other anarchists who have begun a hunger strike.

A delegation meets with Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Lenin today; Lenin is only willing to deport the anarchists, upon penalty of death if they return to Russia. Offer is accepted.

[Details / context]

[7- 14 -1921] -- US: Sacco & Vanzetti case goes to the jury. At 7:30 in the evening the jury returns its verdict: both are both found guilty of murder in the first degree. Their long years of appeals & massive protests world-wide, begins.

The emotional & highly publicized case of Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti became a touchstone & rallying cry for American radicals.

The two were accused of murder & although the evidence against them was flimsy, they were readily convicted, in large part because they were immigrants & anarchists. They were executed, despite international protests, on August 23, 1927.

[ Details + audio interview with Aldino Felicani ]

[7- 14 -1921] -- France: Man Ray, artist, anarchist & photographer, arrives in Paris where Marcel Duchamp introduces him to Dadaists.


[7- 19 -1921] -- Italy: In Piombino the Arditi del Popolo "battalion" first sees action today after an assassination attempt on a socialist.

The fascist's meeting place was attacked & fascists rounded up from their homes & work places. When the Royal Guard intervened to prevent this they too were overwhelmed & disarmed. The workers held the streets for several days before the forces of law & order could regain control.

[7- 20 -1921] -- Belgium: Jacques Long (Jacklon) dies, a suicide. French militant anarchist & antiwar activist. Frequented the individualist milieu & wrote for "L'Anarchie". Joined the Fédération Communiste Anarchite. Companion of Jeanne Morand. Opposed to the War that Ended All Wars, under threat of prison they both left France, bouncing around Europe.
[More details]


[7- 21 -1921] -- Italy: 500 fascists arrive at the railway station in Sarzana to exact revenge for previous humiliations. The town is expecting their attack. Twenty of the thugs are killed & others sent packing to the countryside an effort to escape, only to be hounded by the peasants.
[Details / context]

[7- 25 -1921] -- France: Mécislas Charrier, French anarchist individualist & illégaliste, attempts to rob the Paris-Marseilles train.

Mécislas Charrier & two accomplices attempted to rob the First Class travellers on the Paris-Marseilles train, but things go badly & one person is killed. Charrier was later arrested, & his accomplices killed. While not the killer, Charrier defended his anarchist illegalism at his trial (April 28, 1922) & defies the court to take his head.

It did exactly that, sending him to the guillotine on August 22, 1922, as he sang "l'Internationale," "L'hymne au 17e" & "La Carmagnole."

"Je ne puis me défendre de la sympathie que j'éprouve pour vos conceptions ; j'en reconnais toute la valeur, mais que voulez-vous, j'ai trop souffert pour ne pas vouloir me venger, et j'ai été trop écoeuré par les inégalités sociales pour vous suivre dans l'âpre voie du travail (...)"

— "Le Libertaire," May 26, 1922

[7- 27 -1921] -- France: Léon Prouvost (the "Libertarian Philanthropist") is raided. A few days from now he ends his life, a suicide, after having bequeathed part of his fortune to his fellow anarchist publisher André Lorulot.
[Details / context]


[7- 29 -1921] -- Italy: Maria Occhipinti lives (1921-1996), Sicily. Pacifist & anarchist, active in Sicily, Milan, San Remo, Rome, Los Angeles & Raguse.

In 1945, in Raguse, Sicily, Maria Occhipinti lies down in front of army trucks which came to find new young conscripts to incorporate into the new Italian army. Within minutes, a crowd surrounds the soldiers, forcing them to release their recruits, but they kill a demonstrator & set off a major revolt.
... show more

The city falls to the insurgents & resists government troops for three days. The revolt is subdued only at the cost of many deaths. The ringleaders, including Maria & Erasmo Santangelo, were imprisoned until the end of 1946, (except the young anarchist Santangelo, who was sentenced to 23 years & later found hanged in his cell).

The Communist Party, seeking to help restore the capitalist state & the national army in a bid for a piece of the power pie, condemned this revolt as a "soulèvement fasciste."

Maria Occhipinti tells her own story of the uprising in A Woman of Sicily (Italy, 1957; translated into French, 1980) & published It carrubo E altri racconti (1993).

[8- 3 -1921] -- Hayden Carruth lives. American poet & anarchist, Carruth has published 23 books of poetry in addition to other works.
http://recollectionbooks.com/links.html#HaydenCarruth


[8- 11 -1921] -- France: Léon Prouvost dies, St-Raphaël. Known as the "Libertarian Philanthropist." Anarchist militant, antimilitarist & anticlericalist propagandist, & publisher. He bequeathed part of his fortune to André Lorulot.
[Details / context]


[8- 12 -1921] -- Spain: Abel Paz lives (1929-2009). ... more

A militant anarchist, Paz helped found the "Los Quijotes del Ideal" group in August 1936, along with Victor García, Liberto Sarrau, & other young libertarians. (Los Quijotes del Ideal opposed anarchist collaboration with the Republican government.)

Historian & the author of Durruti, the People Armed , CNT 1939-1951: El anarquismo contra el Estado franquista (Madrid: 2001), etc.

http://www.ephemanar.net/aout13.html

[8- 16 -1921] -- Kenneth Owen Ghormley lives, Tacoma, Washington. Member of Redlands Fortnightly Club, Redlands California. (Believed to be the second oldest literary club in the United States.) Author of a family history which involves the anarchist Home Colony.
http://www.redlandsfortnightly.org/papers/ghorm99.htm


[8- 19 -1921] -- Georges Darien dies. French novelist & anarchist.

" . . .the grandfather catches the boy plowing, unenlightened, through the Code's articles on contracts, dowries & diving walls & demoralizes him by saying it is not what is written down in black & white which matters but the blank spaces, the margins: the unwritten laws, the loopholes."

— W.D. Redfern in "Georges Darien" Theft & Private Enterprise" (p. 134)

---

Between 1886 & 1890, Darien moves among the young literary generation, first appearing on the literary stage with Bas les coeurs! & Biribi, & his play Les Chapons, which is found scandalizing. He is seen as a subversive, antimilitarist & naturalistic writer.

Darien also denounces socialism because of his hatred of parliamentary government & legal political action.

After his defence of terrorism in "L'endehors" & the publishing of his review L'Escarmouche, he leaves France in July 1894. After 1898, he became more aloof from the anarchist movement, & more extremist, an individualist preferring personal & violent action rather than submission to collective action.

André Breton characterized Darien as "A heart too big & beating too well not to knock in every sense against the walls of its cage." He described his writings as "the most rigorous assault that I know against hypocrisy, imposture, stupidity, cowardice".

---

Biribi

Biribi is the name given in France to the punishment battalions in Algeria...

Scores of the most terrible facts became known lately, since Georges Darien published his book "Biribi" (Paris, 1890, Savine publisher) based on actual experience, & full of the most horrible revelations. One of my Clairvaux companions had to spend two years of military service in such a battalion — his condemnation at Lyons, as the editor of an Anarchist paper, being already a reason to be transported to Algeria.

— Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism: Its Philosophy & ldeal.

---

Louis Malle directed the film The Thief of Paris, after the novel by Darien, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as a gentleman-thief in fin-de-siècle France, impressed by the anarchist thief Canonnier, a recent escapee from Devil 's Island.

[8- 25 -1921] -- "The slave is always in a state of legitimate defence & consequently, his violence against the Boss, against the oppressor, is always justifiable, & must be controlled only by such considerations as that the best & most economical use is being made of human effort & human sufferings."

— Errico Malatesta (Umanita Nova, August 25th, 1921)


[8- 28 -1921] -- Peru: Fernando Fernán-Gómez lives (1921-2007), Lima.

Famed Spanish film actor & director, novelist, anarchist.

(His mother, Spanish actress Carola Fernán-Gómez, was making a tour of Latin America at the time of his birth.)

[9- 3 -1921] --

It seems unbelievable that even today, after everything that has happened & is happening in Russia, there are people who still imagine that the difference between socialists & anarchists is only that of wanting revolution gradually or quickly. — Errico Malatesta, Umanita Nova, September 3, 1921

[9- 3 -1921] -- Italy: Death of a local anarchist in Piombino sets off clashes between radicals & fascists, & government raids on the left radicals.

So, in Piombino, following the death of a local anarchist on September 3rd in a fire fight with Royal Guards & Fascists, the authorities launched a series of raids during the night, arresting & detaining some 200 comrades. The fascists immediately seized their opportunity & attacked & burned the Socialist Party offices. However, their advance was checked by an anarchist patrol, who were soon reinforced by groups of workers. &, as in Sarzanza a few months earlier, the fascists had no choice but to surrender to the police in order to escape a severe dose of working class justice.

[9- 10 -1921] -- Spain: Eugenio Martínez Fernández is detained, & later prosecuted, for publishing the clandestine CNT publication, "Solidaridad Obrera." The anarchosyndicalist CNT union is suppressed by the government during this period & many of its confederal groups decimated, but maintained itself undergound, & managed to continue publishing "Solidaridad Obrera.".


[9- 16 -1921] -- Emma Goldman visits briefly with the "millionaire American hobo" James Eads How, who, she believes, does not have the ability to make a worthwhile assessment of the situation in Russia. She was also disappointed by most published accounts of events in Russia, including reports by Louise Bryant.



[9- 17 -1921] -- Russia: Ten anarchists released from prison & deported: Voline, Vorobiov, Mark Mratchny, Michailov, Gregori Maximoff, Ioudine, Iartchouk, Gorelik, Feldman & Fedorov.
Fanya Baron & the poet Lev Chernyi are detained, to be executed. Her execution was personally ordered by Lenin himself.
[Details / context]


[9- 21 -1921] -- Russia: The anarchist poet Lev Chernyi is shot by the Cheka.

In 1921 a new wave of arrests swept the country. The anarchists are scattered to the prison camps, dying of illness, hard labor — or Cheka executioners. Afew manage to flee into exile.

'Grey are the passing days. One by one the embers of hope have died out. Terror & despotism have crushed the life born on October. The slogans of the revolution are foresworn, its ideals stifled in the blood of the people. The breath of yesterday is dooming millions to death; the shadow of today hangs like a black pall over the country.

Dictatorship is trampling the masses underfoot. The revolution is dead; its spirit cries in the wilderness... I have decided to leave Russia.'

— Alexander Berkman

[9- 29 -1921] -- Russia: The Cheka (Bolshevik Secret Police), execute Fanya Baron & nine other anarchist prisoners. (Fanya's execution was on the personal order of Lenin.) These executions follow that of the anarchist & poet Lev Chernyi on the 21st.

Leon Trotsky remarks at the time, "We do not imprison the real anarchists, but criminals & bandits who cover themselves by claiming to be anarchists."

Emma Goldman, a friend & fellow anarchist, was so outraged that friends had to dissuade her from chaining herself to a bench in the hall where the Third International was meeting to shout her protests to the delegates.

Fanya's husband Aaron met the same fate: after 18 years in imprisoned at Taganka he was briefly released before being arrested again in 1939 & executed in 1940.

It seems unbelievable that even today, after everything that has happened & is happening in Russia, there are people who still imagine that the difference between socialists & anarchists is only that of wanting revolution gradually or quickly. — Errico Malatesta, Umanita Nova, September 3, 1921

[10- 1 -1921] --

Brasil 1º de outubro de 1921

O Congresso da Covilhã, também votou pela não-adesão à ISV, apesar dos esforços das "minorias sindicalistas" infiltradas na CGT para servir ao governo ditatorial soviético, de acordo com o Relatório de Jules Humberto Droz, delegado da IC. [Source: Movimento Anarquista no Brasil]

[10- 21 -1921] -- Massive demonstrations all over Europe in support of the anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti. In Paris 10,000 police & 18,000 soldiers attempt to control the crowds.

'The prosecution left a trail' of doctored eyewitness accounts, altered testimony & false ballistics reports. That trail appears to exonerate the victims while convicting the executioners.

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sacvan.html

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/SaccoVanzetti/databaseEntries.htm

[10- 22 -1921] --

France: Georges Brassens lives (1921-1981), Sète. Anarchiste militant, nonconformist poet who began writing/singing songs in 1952. Popular, but reclusive as a star. Songs include "La mauvaise réputation," "La non-demande en mariage," "Les copains d'abord."

Je suis anarchiste au point de toujours traverser dans les clous afin de n'avoir pas à discuter avec la maréchaussée.

[10- 28 -1921] -- Argentina: In response to an employers' & government offensive, workers revolt & the anarchist flag of red & black flies. Isolated, the groups are encircled & destroyed by the army. Over 1,500 workers die, including all the leaders of the revolt.

[11- 4 -1921] -- Switzerland: Victorine Brocher-Rouchy, French militant anarchist, dies (1838-1921), in Lausanne. Participant in Paris Commune, married Gustave Brocher (who wrote reminiscences published by Jean Grave).
[Details / context]


[11- 5 -1921] -- France: Jeanne Humbert & Eugène Humbert, militant anarchistes, pacifistes, néo-malthusians & naturists are sentenced to prison. Under the terms of the new laws (voted in 1920) to repress anti-natalist propaganda, Jeanne & Eugene are each sentenced to one to two years in prison & fined 3000 francs. Jeanne is released on July 30, 1922. Eugene is not released until February 1924.


[11- 7 -1921] -- Dancer Isadora Duncan, sympathetic to the Soviets, attempts to meet with Emma Goldman.



[11- 8 -1921] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the Ripley motion for a new trial is made.

The defendants argued that it was reversible error for the the jury foreman, Ripley, to have had brought into the juryroom 38 caliber cartridges, presumably to show the other jurors what they looked like. The defense also produces an affidavit stating that Ripley had responded to a comment that the defendants might not be guilty by saying,

“They ought to hang anyway.”

[11- 21 -1921] -- US: Columbine Massacre (the one you never heard about); IWW picketing miners massacred in Columbine, Colorado. are authorized to leave Russia.

Early this month Goldman & Berkman settle in Riga, Latvia. They write to Harry Weinberger about chances of getting back into the US. Allowed only a temporary visa in Latvia, they seek entry to either Germany or Sweden. They are granted Swedish visas on December 14th, & enroute to Germany, on a train on the 22nd they are arrested by the Latvian secret service; accused of being Bolshevik agents.

[12- 3 -1921] -- Anti-authoritarian educator A.S. Neill establishes his school, Summerhill, with Lyme Regis, in England. Moves it three years later to Leiston (Suffolk). Proponent of children sharing in running schools, Neill told of this anarchist experiment in numerous books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.S._Neill

[12- 22 -1921] -- Latvia: Having left Russia disillusioned with the Bolshevik counter-revolution, on the train to Reval, Estonia, Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman are arrested by the Latvian secret service & accused of being Bolshevik agents. They are detained for several days, preventing them from attending the anarchist congress in Berlin.

When we can't dream any longer we die.

— Emma Goldman

[Details / Context]

[1- 2 -1922] -- US: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, & Alexander Schapiro, having left Russia disillusioned with the Bolshevik Paradise, arrive in Stockholm, Sweden, & are met by birth-control advocates Albert Jensen & Elise Ottesen-Jensen; Emma becomes lover with 30-year old Swedish anarchist Arthur Svensson shortly after arrival.

Voline, G. P. Maximoff & other hunger strikers are deported from Russia & resettle in Berlin.



[1- 3 -1922] -- France: "La Revue Anarchiste" appears in Paris. It runs for 35 issues, until August 1925, & counts many talented collaborators.


[2- 7 -1922] -- US: Samuel Fielden, American militant anarchist & propagandist & one of the few Haymarket Martyers not executed, dies.

Fielden's crime was to be stepping downfrom the speaker's platofrm when a bomb went off, wounding him. His death sentence commuted to life by Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby, he was pardoned & released in 1893 by Governor John Peter Altgeld ("The Friend of Mad Dogs" as the famed "liberal" illustrator Thomas Nast characterized him).

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/haymarket.html

[2- 17 -1922] -- Patagonia: In San Julian (Patagonie) five prostitutes of the "Catalana" brothel refuse to consort with Varela's (aka the "Killer of Patagonia") soldiers (who killed or tortured more than 1,500 striking workers), shouting:

"Screw yourselves! We do not sleep with assassins!"

(See La Patagonie rebelle by Osvaldo Bayer).
[Source: L'Ephéméride Anarchiste]

[3- 26 -1922] -- US: The New York World publishes a series of controversial articles, (March 26-April 4) by Emma Goldman, exposing the harsh political & economic conditions in Russia.


[4- 4 -1922] -- Finally obtaining temporary German visas, Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman travel to Berlin.


[4- 28 -1922] -- Mécislas Charrier, French anarchist illégaliste, goes on trial for his attempt, along with two others, to rob the Paris-Marseilles train, in which one person was killed. ... more

Charrier was arrested & his accomplices killed by police. Charrier was not the killer, but he defended his illegalist activities & defied the court to take his head.

It did exactly that, sending him to the guillotine, singing "l'Internationale," "L'hymne au 17e" & "La Carmagnole," at 4 a.m., August 2, 1922.

"Je ne puis me défendre de la
sympathie que j'éprouve pour vos conceptions ; j'en reconnais
toute la valeur, mais que voulez-vous, j'ai trop souffert pour ne pas
vouloir me venger, et j'ai été trop
écoeuré par les inégalités sociales pour
vous suivre dans l'âpre voie du travail (...)"

— "Le Libertaire," May 26, 1922

http://www.recollectionbooks.com/bleed/0802.htm#Charrier

[5- 4 -1922] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the Gould & Pelser motions are made.
[Details / context]


[5- 5 -1922] -- During May-June, Arthur Svensson joins Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman in Berlin.

Later, her niece Stella Ballantine visits with six-year-old son Ian.

Emma develops friendship with anarchist theorist Rudolf Rocker & his wife, Milly, with whom she had begun to correspond while in Russia.

Emma also begins work on book-length manuscript with the intended title My Two Years in Russia.

[5- 9 -1922] -- Italy: Milan trial begins for the anarchists held responsible for bombing the Teatro Diana. Giuseppe Mariani & Giuseppe Boldrini get life sentences, & Ettore Aguggini dies in prison after many years. Others accused are Ugo Fedeli, Pietro Bruzzi, & Francesco Ghezzi (editors of "L’Indivi-dualista").


[5- 18 -1922] -- Italy: Pasquale Binazzi, eminent Italian anarchist from Spezia, contacts the Soviet Minister of Interior Department to help the anarchists imprisoned by the Bolsheviks.


[6- 11 -1922] -- Spain: The anarcho-syndicalist CNT withdraws its provisional affiliation with the Third International in favor of the International Workers Association (IWA).

The National Congress of the CNT convenes at Saragossa (June 11-12) & decides to withdraw from the Red Trade-Union International & to send delegates to an international anarcho-syndicalist conference held in Berlin in December, from which resulted a "Workers' International Association."

From the time of this breach Moscow bore an inveterate hatred for Spanish anarchism. Joaquin Maurin & Andres Nin were disowned by the CNT & they founded the Spanish Communist Party. In 1924 Maurin published a pamphlet declaring war to the death on his former comrades, a threat carried out during the Spanish Revolution when the Communists began assassinating anarchists.
[Source/Details, here]

list of anarchist congresses


[6- 12 -1922] -- Italy: The Fascists make a definitive assault on Piombino, with the support of Royal Guards from Pisa. They were repulsed on their previous attempt, on April 25th, by the Arditi. Even so it took a day & a half of heavy fighting before they are able to storm the offices of the USI & the printing press of the anarchico paper "Il Martello" & complete their conquest of the town.


[6- 25 -1922] -- France: Delegates of the first congress (June25-July 1, in Saint-Etienne) of the C.G.T.U. (Confédération générale du travail unitaire) align with the Communist International. This decision marks the defeat of the anarcho-syndicalists within its ranks.


[7- 8 -1922] -- Spain: Conference in Blanes (8-10th) where the principal discussion centers on the repressive Martínez Anido, Military & Civil Governor of Barcelona, & his bloody repression of the CNT.

The union is outlawed in 1920, & large numbers of cenetista anarchist leaders are jailed or assassinated in the years following by the government's effort to destroy the CNT. The leadership of Spain's largest trade union is decimated but the union unvanquished.

[Background / context / list of participants]

[7- 22 -1922] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, following the trial, the Goodridge motion for a new trial is made. It is based on the lack of credibility of prosecution witness Goodridge, a known felon who testified under a false name. Other motions for similar reasons have previously been filed & others follow in the next year.


[7- 30 -1922] -- France: Jeanne Humbert released from St. Lazare prison.

Militant anarchist, pacifist, néo-malthusian & naturist, she & Eugène Humbert were sent to prison on November 5, 1921, under 1920 laws designed to repress anti-nataliste propaganda. They were sentenced one to two years of prison & fined 3000 francs.

Eugene is not released until 1924, & they then continue their actions for free maternity & in the naturist movement.

[8- 2 -1922] -- Mécislas Charrier (1895-1922) dies, guillotinéd in Paris. French anarchist individualist & illégaliste. Raised until the age of five by the anarchist Mécislas Golberg (or Goldberg).

On July 25, 1921, Charrier & two accomplices attempted to rob the First Class travellers on the Paris-Marseilles train, but things went badly & a person was killed. Afterwards in Paris, he was arrested, & his accomplices were killed by the police. Charrier went on trial on April 28, 1922. Mécislas, while not the killer, argues before the court his anarchist illegalism & defies it to take his head.

The court obliges, sending to the guillotine a simple idealistic robber.

At four o'clock in the morning, he approaches death in song, singing "l'Internationale," "L'hymne au 17e" & "La Carmagnole."

[8- 4 -1922] --
Corto travelled to the Aegean island of Rhodes in the Autumn of 1921 to begin a new Asian adventure, "La Maison Doree du Samarkand." This took him from the Turkish coast to the mountains of Afghanistan in search of the treasure of Alexander the Great. Beginning in Adana he crossed Turkey into Azerbaidjan.

Corto Maltese
Today, during a Russo-Turkish border dispute in Tadjikistan, Corto Maltese — existential anarchist adventurer — & Rasputin, witness the heroic death of Enver Pasha. Hugo Pratt & Corto Maltese Tribute Site http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hugoprat.htm		Arrested by a trigger-happy Bolshevik Comissar he was nearly shot but was saved by the intervention of then-Commissar Stalin (always tip your porter!) Next Corto crossed the Caspian Sea from Baku to Krasnovodsk. There he found Rasputin imprisoned in the Emirate of Bukhara. During a Russo-Turkish border dispute in Tadjikistan the pair witnessed the heroic death of Enver Pasha on August 4, 1922. Finally they reached Afghanistan where for a hallucinatory moment they see the treasure of Cyrus. At the end of the adventure Corto & Rasputin bade each other farewell at a borderpost on the Pakistani frontier.

[8- 25 -1922] -- Spain: Ángel Pestaña is ambushed by a rightwing death squad.

Returning from a lecture tour, Pestaña, militant anarcho-syndicaliste & CNT reformist, is shot down by "pistoleros du syndicat libre" in the industrial town of Manresa, Catalonia. The pistoleros are thugs commonly employed during this period by the Catholic Church, Barcelona governor Martínez Anido & big businesses.

Seriously wounded, Pestaña is hospitalized in a private clinic, but the pistoleros, which have openly sworn to kill him & enjoy total impunity, try again upon his release from the clinic (unsuccessfully).

Excluded from the CNT in 1932, he joins the "Parti Syndicaliste" & is elected to the "Popular Front" government in February 1936. Imprisoned during the street fighting during the first days of the Spanish Revolution, CNT combatants free him & he rejoins the CNT & is appointed an officer in the army before his death in 1937.

[Details / Links]

[9- 11 -1922] -- US: In the Sacco-Vanzetti Case, the Andrews motion for a new trial is made. It is based upon Mrs. Lola Andrews’ retraction.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.

[9- 12 -1922] -- US: Jackson Mac Low lives (1922- ). American poet & anarchist pacifist involved (1944-54) with "Why?" & edited(?) "Resistance."

Also writes performance pieces, essays, plays, & radio works.

Mac Low has always been a political activist, a self-proclaimed pacifist-anarchist. This political stance is evident in the content of the verse written before 1954, as it is also in Mac Low's activity as an editor of an anarchist publication.

After 1954 & Mac Low's increasing use of non-intentional strategies, the politcal stance is shifted to the poem's form & becomes actualized in the transaction between the text & the reader. As Bruce Campbell has explained, Mac Low has no desire "to be a dictator....Instead Mac Low wants to 'empower' the reader.... The reader is not someone who simply gazes upon the work or arrives at a prefabricated meaning; the reader helps to make the meaning." In short, using non-intentional strategies allows Mac Low to alter radically the power relationship of conventional author / reader transactions.

The Jackson Mac Low Papers:

Political Subjects consists largely of newspaper & magazine clippings, brochures & flyers. Many of these materials date to the 1940s, 1950s & 1960s, with an emphasis on anarchist movements of the period.

[9- 30 -1922] -- Japan: Founding conference of the All-Japan General Federation of Labor Unions (Zenkoku Rôdô Kumiai Sôrengô) begins in Ôsaka.

This is the last attempt to form an all-encompassing federation of unions, with a combined membership of over 27,000.

The federation was split three ways between anarchists, reformists & Bolsheviks...

[Details / context]

[10- 9 -1922] -- France: International Anarchist Congress held in Paris (9-10th).


[10- 10 -1922] -- Luisa Capetillo dies (1879– 1922). One of Puerto Rico's most famous labor organizers. A writer & anarquista who fought for workers & women's rights. The first woman to wear pants in public in Puerto Rico, her struggles as a leader in the emerging labor movement & in a male dominated society made her a woman far ahead of her time. Author of A Nation Of Women: An Early Feminist Speaks Out / Mi opinión sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la muje; see also Amor y Anarquia: Los Escritos de Luisa Capetillo (Clasicos Huracan). anarchist


[10- 29 -1922] -- Spain: El 29 de octubre aprovechando la nueva coyuntura, una delegación de obreros de la CNT se presentaron en Gobernación para hablar con Ardanza, el general les recibió y escuchó a la delegación cenetistas que iba encabezada por el abogado Joan Casanovas, la conversación verso sobre la intensión de la CNT de estar dentro de la legalidad. Ardanza se limitó a decirles que él transmitiría el mensaje a Madrid. El gobierno de la nación tardó varios días en contestar, pero evidentemente no podían más que aceptar aquella nueva situación.
[Details / context]


[10- 31 -1922] -- Italy: Fascist Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier (-1943); Head office of the anarchico paper "Umanita Nova" is again ransacked by Mussolini's fascists.

Costituzione del governo con l'inclusione oltre che di fascisti anche di popolari, nazionalisti, democratico-sociali, salandriani, giolittiani, militari e cani sciolti. Una manifestazione fascista per celebrare la vittoria si conclude con assalti a giornali, violenze, morti e feriti. Un inizio violento prepara fin d'ora una fine violenta.

[11- 1 -1922] -- Russia: Mollie Steimer & photographer Senya Fleshin arrested & imprisoned for propagating anarchism — that is, "aiding criminal elements"; released & deported in 1923 only after they begin a hunger strike. See Paul Avrich's Anarchist Portraits.


[11- 1 -1922] -- Brazil: Alfonso Henriques de Lima Barreto (1881-1922) dies, Rio de Janeiro. Important Brazilian novelist, wrote for the labor press, social critic, & an anarquista sympathizer. Author of the classic Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, (9th edition, 1971; novel of the 1910 Sailors’ "Revolt Against the Lash"), A Nova California Contos.

Lima Barreto wrote for the anarchist press, in "A Plebe, A Voz do Trabalhador" & "A Lanterna".

See Carmem Lúcia Negreiros de Figueiredo, Lima Barreto e o Fim do Sonho Republicano (Rio de Janeiro, 1995).


[11- 15 -1922] -- Ecuador: General Strike called by the anarchosyndicalist-inspired union FTRE — reuniting nearly all the workers & craftsmen in Guayaqui — resulting later in a massacre of the workers.

1922 - General strike & massacre

Huelga General y posterior masacre de obreros de la ciudad de Guayaquil, en Ecuador. La huelga fue convocada por la sindical FTRE, de inspiración anarcosindicalista, que reunía a casi todos los trabajadores y artesanos de la ciudad.

[11- 20 -1922] -- US: Muere Ricardo Flores Magón, anarchiste, en la prisión de Leavenworth.

—Cuando muera, mis amigos quizás escriban en mi tumba: «Aquí yace un soñador», y mis enemigos «Aquí yace un loco». Pero no habrá nadie que se atreva a estampar esta inscripción: «Aquí yace un cobarde y traidor a sus ideas». En su celda, lejos de su tierra, lo extrangulan. Paro cardíaco, dice el parte médico. http://www.patriagrande.net/memoria.del.fuego/19221120.htm

[11- 21 -1922] -- US: Ricardo Flores Magón, Mexican anarquista militant & author, dies at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas, USA. Possibly murdered by prison guards. His remains are returned to Mexico, where they rest at the "Rotunda of Illustrious Men" in México City; he also now has a city named after him in Mexico.
Daily Bleed Saint September 16, 2006-2008
Prominent Mexican revolutionist,
anarchist, martyr.



[11- 29 -1922] -- Renzo Novatore (1890-1922) is killed in an ambush by police. Close friends with Enzo Martucci & Bruno Filippi.

Pseudonimo di Abele Ricieri Ferrari. Fu poeta, filosofo, artista e militante anarchico individualista, fondamentalmente autodidatta. Individualista e anticlericale.

Viene ucciso il 29 Novembre 1922 a Teglia, nel Genovese, dentro un'osteria, durante un conflitto a fuoco con i regi carabinieri, i quali gli avevano teso una vile ed infame imboscata.

"So turn to yourselves rather than to your Gods or to your idols. Find what hides in yourselves; bring it to light; show yourselves!"

Caro Renzo, nostro amico, nostro compagno, anima immensa, cristallina, cuore generoso e provvido, i nostri cuori palpitano, la mia mano trema, le mie membra fremono, i miei occhi lacrimano, nell'attimo in cui io mi industrio a scrivere su di te, nel tentare inverecondamente ed ingiustificatamente di riassumere, sintetizzare, limitare la tua superba Individualità in questa scheda o articolo per forza di cose meschino, mediocre, inarrivabile a te...

"Already the foreboding sky grows dark & silent!"

"Novatore began as an anarcho-communist, but soon fell under the influence of Stirner, Nietzsche & Baudelaire. He believed that the truly realized individual would conflict with any organized society, even an anarchist utopia; he was a complete immoralist, in fact a practicing bandit. The anarcho-communist scholar Camillo Berneri attacked Novatore & his disciple Enzo Martucci as “paranoid megalomaniacs, exalters of a mad philosophy & a decadent literature, feeble imitators of the artists of opium & hashish, sirens at so much an hour.”"


[12- 18 -1922] -- Nelly Roussel dies. Free thinker, anarchiste, feminist. Partner of the sculptor Henri Godet.

Roussel worked with Paul Robin to spread néo-Malthusian ideas, opposing the prevalent ideology & laws which repressed contraception & its propaganda. Also closely associated with Marguerite Durand.


[12- 18 -1922] -- Italy: In Turin, the fascists attack the "Chambre du Travail," set fire to the Circle of the Railwaymen, the Circle Karl Marx & the seat of the anarchicho paper "L'Ordine Nuovo".

22 workmen, socialists, Communists & anarchists are assassinated. The anarchist Pietro Ferrero, secretary of the metallurgists union (F.I.O.M.) & organizer of the Councilist movement in the factories, is assassinated in atrocious manner — attached to a truck & dragged in the street.

Scontri a Torino fra fascisti e socialisti-comunisti. Il capo delle squadre fasciste afferma con orgoglio di aver provocato la morte di 22 persone.

[12- 22 -1922] -- Germany: International Congress of Revolutionary Syndicalists at Berlin. Founding of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association (AIT/ IWA), on the initiative of Rudolf Rocker.

Rudolf Rocker was responsible for putting together the anti-authoritarian A.I.T.; it is an umbrella organization of various anarchist-syndicalist trade unionists from 12 countries (FORA, USI, SAC, FAUD, CNT, etc.) which numbered several million members over the years. The first secretaries are Rudolf Rocker, Augustin Souchy & Alexander Schapiro.

[Details / Links]

[1- 3 -1923] -- ¡Dead Drunk! Czechoslovakian writer Jaroslav Hasek dies of drunkenness at 39, having finished only four QUARTS volumes of his projected six-volume anarchist novel The Good Soldier Schweik [or Svejk]. For the first edition Hasek's friend Karel Vanek provides a weak, spurious ending. Now a classic in world literature, Schweik is a soldier who creates havoc in the Austrian army during World War I by pretending to be extremely stupid.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/ppl/wri/



[1- 15 -1923] -- France: "La Brochure mensuelle" (The Monthly Booklet) begins publishing in Paris.

"La Brochure mensuelle" is published by Emile Bidault & the Groupe de Propagande par la Brochure. The first number is a text by Peter Kropotkin "To Young People." Devoted to spreading libertarian ideas, it publishes the writings of over 100 authors in 190 issues before its cessation in December of 1937.

[1- 20 -1923] -- Varban Kilifarski (1879-1923), Bulgarian anarchist & libertarian teacher, dies.


[1- 23 -1923] -- France: The young individualist Germaine Berton attempts to kill Leon Daudet, the extreme rightwing propagandist of l'Action Française (& father of the anarchist Philippe Daudet). A solidarity campaign in the pages of "Libertaire" rallied Severine (Caroline Remy), Louis Lecoin, & other militants to her defense.
[Details / context]


[2- 5 -1923] -- Italy: Mass arrests of socialists, anarchists & communists.


[2- 9 -1923] -- France: Emile Masson (1869-1923) dies, in Paris, the evening of February 8-9. Breton militant, professor, writer & libertarian socialist propagandist.

Masson frequented the revolutionary milieu of socialists, anarchists & antimilitarists while a student of philosophy & English at the Sorbonne. He writes "Rebelles", "Anarchico-Breton" tales, & diverse articles for "Temps Nouveaux", the Fédération Régionaliste Bretonne journal, etc. & is publisher of the bilingual monthly, "Brug" (Breton-Français) until the onset of the Great War That Ended all Wars.

[Details / context]

[2- 14 -1923] -- US: American-Italian anarchist Nicola Sacco goes on prison hunger strike.

Long ago a British judge was quoted as saying he refused clemency at popular demand to uphold the principle of capital punishment & to prove he was not to be intimidated by public protest. During Hitler's time, Himmler remarked that for the good of the state, popular complaints should be ignored, & if they persisted, the complainers should be punished. Judge Webster Thayer, during the Sacco-Vanzetti episode, was heard to boast while playing golf, "Did you see what I did to those anarchistic bastards?" The Never-Ending Wrong Katherine Anne Porter

[2- 27 -1923] -- US: Formation in New York of the Mohegan Colony Association, based on anarchist principles.
[Details / context]


[3- 10 -1923] -- Spain: Salvador Segui Rubinat, "El noi del sucre," assassinated.

Born in 1890, Segui, "El noi del sucre," was an anarcho-syndicalist in the very large & popular CNT in Catalonia. He was assassinated today along with another trade unionist, Francesc Comes (murders financed by the governor of Catalonia). Fundacion Salvador Segui now exist in Barcelona, Valencia & Madrid.

[3- 25 -1923] -- Germany: Emma Goldman delivers a speech in Berlin, "Rudolf Rocker on the Occasion of his 50th Birthday."
[Exact day not given by source; presumably on or about today — ed.]


[3- 26 -1923] -- Bulgaria: In Yambol, during an anarchist protest against the government decision to disarm the people, the army shoots into the crowd, wounding the speaker Atanas Stoitchev & massacre others.

About 30 are murdered here (
Todor Darzev, Pani Botchkov, Dimitar Vassilev, Cyrille Kehaiov, Spiro Obretenov, Pétar Kassapina, Rousko Nanine, Pétar Glavtchev, etc.), including others executed at the Yambol barracks tomorrow. Still others are executed on April 24, & with the coup d'etat of June 9th, the remaining activists are forced underground.

[Details / context]

[3- 27 -1923] -- Italy:

Pier Carlo Masini lives (1923-1998). Grand historien de l’anarchisme, militant libertaire lui-même surtout pendant les années 1940 et 1950.

[4- 24 -1923] -- Bulgaria: In Sliven, the anarchists Nicolai Dragnev, the brothers Panayot & Ilia Kratounkov are shot by soldiers under the pretext of "attempting to escape."


[4- 30 -1923] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the Hamilton motion for a new trial for the anarchists is filed. It is based upon criminologist & gun case expert Hamilton who signed an affidavit stating that said the bullets at the scene & in Berardelli did not come from Sacco’s gun.

Similarly, on Nov 5, 1923, the Proctor motion for a new trial is made. Prosecution expert witness Proctor admitted that the use of the ambiguous phrase “consistent with” was prearranged by the District Attorny to allow the jury to believe he was testifying that Sacco’s gun was the gun that killed Berardelli.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.

[5- 1 -1923] -- France: Ôsugi Sakae, the Japanese anarchist, makes a speech at a May Day gathering in Paris. He is arrested & deported. Osugi returned to Japan, where he was, shortly thereafter, murdered by military police, along with his companion Ito Noe & their 6-year old nephew.


[5- 29 -1923] -- Anarchist Bernard Clavel lives.


[6- 16 -1923] -- Argentina: In Buenos Aires the anarchist Kurt Gustav Wilckens is shot in his cell by a prison guard, a rightwing fanatic.

He dies tomorrow &, despite government attempts to cover up the crime, a nation-wide General Strike is called in protest.

See Daily Bleed, January 25, 1923.

[6- 16 -1923] -- Spain: During this month the review "Generación Consciente" first appears, in Alcoi (Catalonia).

Published June 1925 to 1928 in Valencia, it changes its name to "Estudios" & continues publishing until 1937 with a print run of 60,000 copies.

An eclectic review, naturist & libertarian, its principal themes are nudism, integral medicine, free love, sex education, hygiene & natural foods, rational pedagogy, art, etc. Exerting a decisive influence on the Spanish working class, it contributes to developing radical sensibilities.

Among its many collaborators are the anarchist doctors Isaac Puente & Felix Martí Ibañez. In charge of the review is Jose Juan Pastor, a member of the founding committee of the "League for Sexual Reform" in 1928.

[6- 18 -1923] -- Argentina: A nationwide General Strike, protesting the assassination of the anarchist Kurt Wilckens in his prison cell, paralyzes the country.

In Buenos-Aires a protest demonstration turns into a shoot-out when police attempt to raid the local offices of the anarchist union (FORA (Fédération Ouvrière Régionale Argentine). Two workers are killed, 17 wounded (including the Spanish anarchist Enrique Gombas) & 163 arrested; one policeman is killed & three wounded. See the Daily Bleed,
http://www.recollectionbooks.com/bleed/0125.htm

[7- 9 -1923] -- Russia: Mollie Steimer & photographer Senya Fleshin deported; arrested November 1922 for propagating anarchism — that is, "aiding criminal elements" (Mollie had earlier been arrested & booted out of the US for such dastardly activities); they were released soon after they begin a hunger strike to publicize their situation. See Paul Avrich's Anarchist Portraits.


[7- 20 -1923] -- México: Mayhaps revolutionary Pancho Villa (1878-1923) dies, ambushed in Parral, Mexico. Villa had teamed up with the anarchist Emiliano Zapata to overthrow the corrupt conservative government (redundancies abound, so sorry!), then retired.

Daily Bleed Saint, June 5.

PANCHO VILLA
Inspired hero of the Mexican Revolution, or "social bandit," depending on your point of view.

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

— last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923)

[Details / context]

[7- 21 -1923] -- US: Prince Caetani delivers a speech bitterly denouncing the opponents of Fascismo among the American Italians, & argued "a certain Italian paper in New York ought to be suppressed."

The assembled apostles of Human Liberty knew that he meant "Il Martello", & applauded him heartily. That there was no law in the US forbidding a newspaper to criticize a foreign government did not trouble them; they had been through the late war, & knew what could be done. So did the Department of Justice, then still in command of the eminent Daugherty, & the Postoffice Department.

Word was conveyed to Washington, & then back to NY. [Today] the whole issue of "Il Martello" was held up in the mails. The anarchist Carlo Tresca demanded to know why. The Postoffice gave him no answer. He kept on denouncing the Fascisti.

— H. L. Mencken
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/sf/1964.htm#H.L.%20Mencken

[7- 23 -1923] -- México: Mayhaps revolutionary Pancho Villa (1878-1923) dies, Parral. Teamed up with the anarchist Emiliano Zapata to overthrow the corrupt conservative government of Mexico, then retired.

Having put down his arms for land & amnesty, Pancho Villa is ambushed by political enemies. His death is variously listed as June 20th ("The New York Times" & Compton's), July 20th & the July 23rd. Most internet sites list July 20.

With his death, however, the legend of Pancho Villa did not fade but grew to mythic proportions. Pancho Villa was seen by the people as a Mexican Robin Hood of those times.Always supporting vague ideas of land & educational reform, Villa represented for the people a regional patriotism which found expression for years to come in corridos (songs) & cries of "Viva Villa."

Daily Bleed Saint, June 5.

PANCHO VILLA
Inspired hero of the Mexican Revolution, or "social bandit," depending on your point of view.

[8- 1 -1923] -- Spain: Regional Plenary Session of the Catalunya CNT.
[Details / context]

[8- 10 -1923] -- US: Carlo Tresca, Italian-American anarchist, suddenly arrested. The charge was that he had printed an article, three months before, attacking the Italian monarchy & the the Fascists. No such crime, of course, is known to American law, but Tresca was nevertheless arrested.

"On August 18 the whole issue of Il Martello was held up because it contained an account of a raffle; two other Italian papers, containing precisely the same account, went through the mails unmolested. On September 8 it was held up because it contained a two-line advertisement of a book on birth control. On October 27 it was held up because it printed an account of how the Fascisti had forced an Italian woman to swallow an immense dose of castor oil; all the American newspapers printed the same story, but were not molested. On November 10 it was held up because it printed a letter from a reader predicting that Mussolini would come to the same end as Rienzi; other papers had made the same prediction without challenge. On November 24 it was held up for charging Mussolini with misappropriating funds. September 8, announcing a book in Italian on birth control, showed the way. Experienced witch-hunters from the Department of Justice were rushed to New York, Tresca was indicted for advertising a means of preventing conception, & his trial was called in hot haste. He appeared before Goddard, J., in the United States District Court, on November.

So far, indeed, but eight persons in all the United States have gone to Tresca's aid. Four are Italian-American politicians. One is a Liberal pastor. Two are old & battle-scarred libertarians, already marked with the scars of a hundred defeats. The eighth is La Sanger, the birth control agitator, herself an experienced goat of the New Jurisprudence. No one else will take any interest in the case."

— H. L. Mencken
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/sf/1964.htm#H.L.%20Mencken


[8- 13 -1923] --

1923 Carlos Cortez Koyokuikatl lives, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Graphic artist, poet, anarchist & Wobbly. Researcher Archie Green tells us that Industrial Workers of the World artists "have been modest in telling their life-stories," & "within this laconic tradition, Carlos Cortez reports key facts." — Archie Green, "Carlos Cortez & Wobbly Artistry," in Carlos Cortez, Where are the Voices & Other Wobbly Poems? Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1997, p. 5.

Carlos Cortez, son of Alfredo Cortez, a Mexican partisan of the Industrial Workers of the World (acronym, IWW, popularly known as "Wobblies"), & a German socialist-pacifist mother, Augusta Cortez. Cortez spent two years in federal prison (Sandstone, Minnesota) during World War II as a conscientious objector "because he did not want to kill living things." — Eugene Nelson, "Introduction" to Carlos Cortez, Crystal-Gazing the Amber Fluid & Other Wobbly Poems, Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 1997, p. 6. Upon his release from federal detention in 1947 he joined the IWW & has remained active for five decades as a graphic artist, poet, & adviser within that organization. In 1985 at the Gato Negro Press [transl. Black Cat Press] he printed a catalog for a touring exhibition of cartoons, Wobbly: 80 Years of Rebel Art.

[9- 2 -1923] -- Spain: Rafael Torres Escartín, a member of the anarchist Los Solidarios, is arrested in Oviedo & tortured. He escapes but is recaptured.


[9- 8 -1923] -- Spain: "Los Solidarios" members are discovered hiding out in an attic, setting off a two day daring escapade, out a window, fleeing by train & a long shoot-out. Some members make it to Basque country but Eusebio Brau & Torres Escartín, involved in the shootout, do not.


[9- 16 -1923] -- Japan: Anarchist Osugi Sakae, his companion Ito Noe, & a six-year-old nephew, are murdered by military police.

Anarchism in Japan was dealt a blow as hard as the execution of Kôtoku & his comrades 12 years earlier. Ôsugi was the most talented thinker & writer in the anarchists' ranks.

Their battered bodies are discovered four days later where they had been dumped in a well.
This provoked outrage throughout Japan & became known as "The Amakasu Incident".

[Details / context]

[9- 20 -1923] --

Joseph Spivak (1882-1971) is being watched...we think we're not too paranoid...

[Agent Report In re:] Joseph Spivak — Anarchist Activities, Los Angeles, 1923 Sept. 20 Informant report on Spivak at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Guide/titleindex.html

[9- 21 -1923] -- Russia: Following their deportation from Russia, where they were imprisoned for anarchist activities, Mollie Steimer & Senya Fleshin join Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman in Berlin.


[9- 28 -1923] -- Fug You!! Anarchist songster, author Tuli Kupferberg lives! (Coca Cola Douche, CIA Man, Paint It Red [&Black], Wide, Wide River.) "One of the leading Anarchist theorists of our time," according to "Reader's Digest" (4/87).


[10- 5 -1923] -- Sweden: Stig Dagerman (1923-1954) lives.

Playwright, novelist, anarkosyndikalistiska.

Created the review "40-tal," & wrote for the libertarian newspaper "Arbetaren."

His works present a variety of themes which prefigure the French existentialists. His many writings include The Snake (1945), & Island of the Condemned.
(See also 4 November 1954).

Stig Dagerman committed suicide at age 31.

[10- 5 -1923] -- US: Rebel Roman Catholic priest, anti-war activist & christian anarchist, Philip Berrigan lives (-2002).

Along with his brother Daniel Berrigan, also a priest & anarchist, he was for a time on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for actions against Vietnam war.

[10- 20 -1923] -- Beat poet & anarchist Philip Whalen lives, Portland, Oregon.

TRUE CONFESSIONS

My real trouble is
People keep mistaking me
        for a human being.

Olson (being a great poet) says
"Whalen!—that Whalen is a—a—
That Whalen is a great big vegetable!"

He's guessing exactly in the right direction.

                                                                6:xi:64

It is interesting to note that upon publication of Overtime the following luminaries came out to praise & celebrate this wise & good-hearted "Zen Falstaff": Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Diane diPrima, David Meltzer, Clark Coolidge, Joanne Kyger, Bill Berkson, Lewis MacAdams, Phoebe MacAdams, Jackson Mac Low, Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman, Anselm Hollo, Jack Collom, Mei-Mei Bersenbrugge, Charles Bernstein, Lewis Warsh, Anne Tardos, Eileen Myles, & many others.

The spirit of honor & admiration for Philip Whalen extends beyond the Beat Generation. He is honored by some as one of the progenitors of the Language School movement of poetry. & by others he said to be the progenitor of Zen poetry in America.

One thing for certain, he spread an "ecology of permission" that enabled poets of every style & taste to go beyond the limits of the known to explore their new creative selves.

— Michael Rothenberg

[10- 24 -1923] -- Poet Denise Levertov, lives, Ilford, Essex, England. Socially committed writer, moved to the US in the 40s.

Levertov's poetry displays “a kind of animal grace of the word, a pulse like the footfalls of a cat or the wingbeats of a gull. It is the intense aliveness of an alert domestic love — the wedding of form & content in poems which themselves celebrate a kind of perpetual wedding of two persons always realized as two responsible sensibilities.”

— Kenneth Rexroth, "Poets Old & New," in Assays

In the 40s emerged as one of the best of the British Neo-Romantics (included the anarchists Alex Comfort, George Woodcock, Herbert Read). With her move to America her verse changed abruptly. Influenced by Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, William Carlos Williams, her poetry was "like" Parker Tyler, Kenneth Patchen, Kenneth Rexroth & With Eyes at the Back of our Heads (1959), established her as one of the great American poets. Rexroth considered her "superior to all but a handful of American poets born in this century."

In the early 60s she was poetry editor of "Nation" magazine. During the 1960's of the Vietnam War era, activism & feminism became prominent in her poetry. She produced one of her most memorable works of rage & sadness, The Sorrow Dance (1967), encompassing her feelings toward the war & the death of her older sister. From 1975 to 1978, she was poetry editor of "Mother Jones" magazine. She spent the last decade of her life in Seattle, Washington.

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Levertov


[11- 5 -1923] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the Proctor motion for a new trial is made.

Prosecution expert witness Proctor admitted the use of the ambiguous phrase “consistent with” was prearranged by the District Attorny to allow the jury to believe he was testifying that Sacco’s gun was the gun that killed Berardelli.

Previously, on April 30, 1923, the Hamilton motion for a new trial was filed, based upon criminologist & gun case expert Hamilton who signed an affidavit stating the bullets at the scene & in Berardelli did not come from Sacco’s gun.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.
Sacco & Vanzetti Timeline
http://www.torremaggiore.com/saccoevanzetti/storia.html

[11- 12 -1923] -- Emma Goldman's manuscript published this month under the title My Disillusionment in Russia; the last twelve chapters have been cut without her permission.

[Details / context]

[11- 24 -1923] -- Philippe Daudet, French anarchist, son of Léon Daudet (leader of fascist "Ligue de l'Action Française"), dies under mysterious circumstances (assassinated).

Saint-Pol-Roux, Raymond Roussel, Philippe Daudet, Germaine Berton, Saint-John Perse, Pablo Picasso, Giorgio di Chirico, Pierre Reverdy, Jacques Vachè, Leon-Paul Fargue, Sigmund Freud, your portraits hang on dream's bedroom walls, you are the presidents of the Republic of Dream.

— Louis Aragon, A WAVE OF DREAMS

[12- 14 -1923] -- Alexandre Steinlen dies. French artist & contributor to the anarchist magazine "Temps Nouveaux," along with Aristide Delannoy, Maximilien Luce, Theo van Rysselberghe, Camille Pissarro, Paul Signac, Van Dongen, George Willaume, etc.

[Details / context]

[12- 24 -1923] -- France: Germaine Berton, the young individualist is acquitted for her attempt to kill Leon Daudet (father of the anarchist Philippe Daudet), the extreme rightwing propagandist for l'Action Française.
[Details / context]


[1- 1 -1924] -- Canada: IWW Lumber Workers IU120 strikes the British Columbia lumber owners, calling for an 8 hour day with blankets supplied, minimum wage of $4 per day, release of all class war prisoners, no discrimination against IWW members & no censuring of IWW literature.

By 1923 IWW had three branches with job control in Canada: Lumberworkers IU 120 & Marine Transport Workers IU 510 in Vancouver & an LWIU branch in Cranbrook BC for a total of 5,600 members.

1924 marks a peak year for the IWW in Canada. 8,000 in Northern Ontario, the Canadian Lumber Workers vote to join the IWW. Fighting a mandatory dues check off to the United Mine Workers, Alberta Coal miners also join the IWW.

[1- 9 -1924] -- France: Jean-Baptiste Thuriault dies. French labor militant, considered by authorities to be the "Grand Master" of anarchism in the Nièvre department.


[1- 13 -1924] -- Austria: Anarchist philosopher, anti-scientist Paul Feyerabend lives (1924-1994), Vienna. If we wish to we wish to defend society against science, then the only philosophy to adopt is the anarchist one. See Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend & Against Method.
Source: Autonomedia Calendar
http://blackeyepress.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/paul-karl-feyerabend/


[1- 22 -1924] --

Joseph Spivak (1882-1971) is being watched, we think...

[Agent Report In re:] Neie Geselshaft, Free Workers Forum, Joseph Spivak — Russian (Jewish) Anarchist Activities, Los Angeles [19]24 Jan. 22; Reel 66: Informant report on Spivak at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Guide/titleindex.html

[1- 26 -1924] -- Armand Gatti lives, in Monaco. Libertarian playwright, author of more than 40 plays.

Armand's father Gino Gatti, a Piedmontese anarchist, was a comrade of Carlo Cafiero, & involved in many struggles in Argentina.

A Resistance member during WWII with the "Maquis", Armand Gatti was captured in 1943, condemned to death & shipped to Germany, near Hamburg, from which he escaped to England.

After the war he became a prize-winning journalist (Prix Albert Londres in 1954), then devoted himself to the theatre.

For the anarchist that Gatti still is, the theatre is "a perpetual medium for freedom". Resistance & exile are themes in his works, which include The Time of the Physicists, La Deuxième Existence du camp de Tatenberg, & La Journée d’une infirmière. His La passion du général Franco (1968) was banned in France, under pressure from Franco's fascist government.



[1- 31 -1924] -- George Simeonov Popov (1900-1924) dies.

George Popov was a Bulgarian teacher, poet, speaker & anarchist organizer.

Popov initiated an insurrectionary movement against the coup d'etat of June 1923, which was quelled after a week of fighting against the army. Popov took refuge in the mountains, forming guerrilla anarchist groups. When his hiding place was discovered, he committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of the army.

[2- 20 -1924] -- France: In a Parisian restaurant Ernesto Bonomini takes revenge for the beating murder of his teacher/friend by a squad of fascist thugs in Italy, silencing Nicola Bonservizi, secretary of "Faisceau," a writer for "L'Italie Nouvelle" & Mussolini's fascist paper, "Popolo d' Italia," with several shots from his revolver. The brutal murder in June, of Giacomo Matteotti, an Italian socialist & antifascist politician, by Mussolini's henchmen, creates a sympathetic atmosphere for Bonomini: facing a possible death sentence, he gets eight years hard labor (later commuted to prison time).
[Further details]


[2- 20 -1924] -- France: During an extraordinary congress held to save the daily Le Libertaire from bankruptcy, the U.A. (Union Anarchiste) creates the association "Amis du Libertaire" (Friends of Libertaire).


[2- 24 -1924] -- Uruguay: On the rue Monte Caseros, Montevideo Chief of Police Luis Pardeiro & his chauffeur are killed in a hail of bullets. An attentat against the renowned torturer of many anarchists (Miguel Arcangel Roscigno, et al), the attack is attributed to the anarchists Armando Guidot, Bruno Antonelli Dellabella & Francisco Sapia.


[3- 24 -1924] -- Spain: Aurelio Fernández Sánchez is arrested & imprisoned in Barcelona. Spanish anarchist militant & anarchosyndicalist, member of "Los Solidarios." Active in the FAI & CNT. Became secretary of the CNT (in exile) of Mexico. Participated in the CNT (Spanish) congresses in Limoges in 1961 & Montpellier in 1965.


[3- 24 -1924] -- Spain: Barcelona police attempt to haul in the militant anarchist group, "Los Solidarios."

“Los Solidarios”

Gregorio Suberviela tries to escape but falls in a hail of bullets, while Marcelino del Campo is killed. The brothers Ceferino & Aurelio Fernandez, & Adolph Ballano, are arrested before they are able to use their weapons. Gregorio Jover, though arrested & taken to the police station, effects an escape through a window. Police attempting to arrest Domingo Asacaso are so fearful of the anarchist that he too is able to escape.

[4- 3 -1924] -- Emma Goldman, this month, is unable to solicit writing contracts with European & American magazines; she finds mainstream magazines are interested only in her experiences in Russia, thus thwarting her attempts to earn a living.



[4- 11 -1924] -- US: Premier issue of the Bulletin of the Anarchist Red Cross."

Bulletin of the Anarchist Red Cross

"Save your brothers tortured in the prisons of Russia" Launched with a call to American workers & their organizations to put pressure on the Bolshevik authorities to put an end to persecutions & imprisonments of Russian workers, Socialist revolutionary militants, trade unionists, & anarchists — victims because they refuse to kneel before the Bolshevik Party dictatorship.

[4- 16 -1924] -- Argentina: Durante o mandato de Silvetti caracterizouse pola súa actitude unitaria cara á (FORA) anarquista. Iniciou unha grande campaña en defensa dos presos por cuestións políticas. Durante a súa xestión á frente da central sindical aconteceron os tráxicos sucesos da Patagonia que acabaron con 1.500 fusilados.

Do 16 ó 22 de abril de 1924 realizouse o Primeiro Congreso Ordinario da Union Sindical Argentina (USA) sendo reelixido por un mandato. Ao remate do mesmo volveu ao taller, foi electo dúas veces máis membro do Comité Central da USA. Organizou o Sindicato de Obreiros da Industria do Calzado.

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/

[4- 24 -1924] -- Germany: Emma Goldman is howled down during a meeting of 5,000 workers in Berlin when she criticizes the Soviet government. Emma, "The Queen of Anarchy," is warned about the "consequences" of expressing further criticism of the Soviet Republic.



[5- 22 -1924] -- France: Germaine Berton arrested in Bordeaux, following a conference, & a brawl ensues. Newly imprisoned, the young anarchist went on a hunger strike & was hospitalized.
[Details / context]


[5- 28 -1924] -- Spain: The "Torturer of Barcelona," Rogelio Pérez, is killed by anarquistas, during uprisings sparked by the revolt in Vera de Bidassoa. José Llacer & Juan Montejo, members of the anarcho-syndicalist union CNT, are accused of the assassination, along with attacking the Atarazanas barracks on November 6th, & executed on November 10th.


[6- 24 -1924] --

Anarchitecte Michel Ragon lives, Marseille, France.After meeting Henry Poulaille & being introduced to the libertarian movement he discovered his vocation as writer & anarchist critic. A veritable autodidact, he collaborated on various publications like "Les cahiers du peuple." Ragon's thirst for knowledge lead him into the milieu of painters & he became member of the Cobra group in 1949... [Details / context]

Michel Ragon Proletarian writer, poet, critic & historian of art & architecture, fellow traveler of anarchy.

[7- 26 -1924] -- Germany: Leaving Alexander Berkman in Berlin, Emma Goldman travels to the Netherlands; speaks at the celebration organized by Dutch anti-militarist & anarchist Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis for the 20th anniversary of the International Anti-Militarist Association.



[7- 27 -1924] -- Holland: 20th anniversary of the creation of the A.I.A. (Association Internationale Antimilitariste). In the Hague an international meeting is held at the "House of the People." Many well-known militants attend, such as Rudolf Rocker, Emma Goldman, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, Barthélemy de Ligt, & Pierre Ramus. anarchist


[8- 3 -1924] -- Joseph Conrad, 66, dies suddenly of a heart attack in Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury. His tombstone reflects his wife's uncertain grasp of the Polish language as his name is misspelled. Conrad was 66 years, eight months old when he died: exactly two-thirds of a century, to the very day. His epitaph comes from Spenser's "Faerie Queene":

"Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,

Ease after warre death after life, does greatly please."

Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent … [constructs] anarchism as a form of fraudulent self-deception symptomatic of a widespread social degeneracy in British society. The...novel's ambivalent engagement with Nietzsche, showing how through a dialogue with Nietzschean intertexts anarchism is constructed as a form of religious fanaticism that is connected with the dangers of both foreign imperialism & the lower classes.

[8- 7 -1924] -- Emma Goldman enters France from Germany under the name E. G. Kersner; visits a number of friends in Paris, including Harry Weinberger & Frank & Nellie Harris. Meets Arthur Leonard Ross who she later hires as her attorney. Meets Ernest Hemingway at a party given by English novelist Ford Madox Ford.


[8- 14 -1924] -- England: Colin Ward lives. British architect & planner, teacher, anarchist & social critic.

An editor of "Freedom" newspaper from 1947-1960 & editor of the monthly "Anarchy" from 1961 to 1970.

Ward has written widely on town planning & related subjects, author of a dozen works dealing with the social environment. These include Housing: An Anarchist Approach, Tenants Take Over, Art & the Built Environment. Anarchy in Action is probably his most important book.

[9- 5 -1924] -- France: Emma Goldman leaves Paris for London where she hopes to find it easier to earn a living. Resides at the home of Doris Zhook. Her closest associates here include John Turner, Thomas H. Keell, & William C. Owen.



[9- 15 -1924] -- Uruguay: Fernando O’Neill Cuestas, nicknamed Zapicán, lives (d. 2005). Direct action illegalist, revolutionary & historian of anarchism in Uruguay.

“Finito” (Little Thin Man)

Member of Libertarian Youth in Montevideo, did much time in prison & as an exile eluding various dictatorships. Involved with the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) & the Tupamaros.

photo: Zapicán

[10- 1 -1924] -- US: In the case of the anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti case the highly prejudiced Judge Thayer ("Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards?") denies all motions for a new trial.


[10- 6 -1924] -- India: Gandhi ends 21-day fast for Hindu-Moslem unity. Pacifist inspired by the christian mystical anarchist & novelist Leo Tolstoy.


[10- 7 -1924] -- Russia:

Nicolas Lazarevitch & Alexis Maslov are arrested for belonging to a criminal workers' organization. Both were active this past summer in Moscow with an anarcho-syndicalist group publishing "Dynamo". Maslov is sent to the camp at Urda & Lazarevitch is imprisoned for nearly three years (Lubianka, Butyrki, Souzdal, & Vladimir prison), before a campaign gains his deportation in 1926.

[10- 24 -1924] -- Italy: Anarchist Ernesto Bonomini sentenced to eight years hard labor (commuted to prison time) for killing, with the blow of a revolver, Nicola Bonservizi, a correspondent of Mussolini's fascist newspaper, "Popolo d' Italia," & secretary of the Parisian "Faisceau."
[Further details]


[10- 31 -1924] -- Italy: Enrico Baj (1924-2003) lives, Milan. Controversial Italian painter & sculptor, best known for his collages of ridiculous-looking generals (sic) made from medals, shards of glass, scraps of flowery material & shells.

"Baj's playful & ironic side masks a constant & coherent engagement against all the forms of destructiveness & oppression that man inflicts on man," French surrealist André Breton commented.

One of his great paintings is "The funeral of the anarchist Pinelli" (I funerali dell’anarchico Pinelli 1972), which was banned for disturbing the public order. In fact , at 9a.m. on the morning of 17 May 1972, the day the work was to be inaugurated, Luigi Calabresi, the Milan police chief thought by many at the time to be responsible for the murder of Pinelli, was assassinated in the street.


[11- 6 -1924] -- Spain: CNT militants (including Durruti) attempt a revolt in Vera de Bidassoa, as cenetistas attack the Atarazanas barracks in Barcelona. Anarchists & civil guards clash for two days. A guard is killed, two militants die, four wounded, 19 taken prisoner. Captured, Pablo Martin, Enrique Gil, Julián Santillan, Jose Llacer & Juan Montejo are condemned & executed (except Martin who commits suicide in prison).
[Details / context]



[11- 10 -1924] -- Spain: 26-year-old José Llacer & 19-year-old Juan Montejo, militantes of the anarcosindicalistas union CNT, are executed following the November 6th attack on the Atarazanas barracks, both also implicated in assassinating Rogelio Pérez, the "Torturer of Barcelona," on May 28 of this year.


[11- 12 -1924] -- England: Among Emma Goldman's speaking engagements this month is a talk before the American Students Club at Oxford University.

[Details / context]

[12- 21 -1924] -- Germany: After five years of prison for his participation in the Republic of the Workers Councils, anarchist Erich Mühsam is amnestied. Thousands of workers turn out for his release. German anarchist poet, murdered by the Nazis at the Orianenburg concentration camp.



[1- 3 -1925] -- Italy: Mussolini puts an end to the parliamentary system & issues a decree ordering the dissolution of the anarcho-syndicalist USI (Unione Sindacala Italiana).


[1- 18 -1925] -- Libertarian anti-capitalist philosopher Gilles Deleuze lives, Paris, France.

http://www.webdeleuze.com/deleuze/index2.html
http://www.hack.org/mc/mirror/www.spunk.org/library/misc/sp000962.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze

[1- 29 -1925] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures on "The Bolshevik Myth & the Condition of the Political Prisoners" at South Place Institute, London, her first public meeting in England at which she denounces the Bolsheviks, prompting vocal protests from some members of the audience.

In London, Emma Goldman continues her efforts to expose the Bolsheviks as betrayers of the revolution & violators of civil liberties, a task made more difficult & more urgent by the return of a British trade union delegation that reports favorably on conditions in the Soviet Union.

[2- 14 -1925] -- In the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre a close-up of a lottery list shows the winning numbers drawn in the Mexican National Lottery, dated February 14, 1925.

The camera pulls back to the hands of a man holding a lottery ticket.

The scraggly-looking bum, a dirty, ragged scrounger [later identified as Fred C. Dobbs "Dobbsie" (Humphrey Bogart)], tears his losing ticket to pieces.

— From John Huston's film script of the anarchist B. Traven's book, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

[4- 16 -1925] -- US: During this month Boni & Liveright publishes Alexander Berkman's The Bolshevik Myth, critical of the Bolshevik counterrevolution in Russia.

  In an attempt to refute the report of the British trade union delegation, Emma Goldman & her comrades — as the British Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners in Russia — publish a pamphlet, "Russia & the British Labour Delegation's Report: A Reply."

Emma continues speaking on conditions in the Soviet Union with a lecture at South Place Institute today, "An Exposure of the Trade Union Delegation's Report on Russia"; she also delivers a second lecture in London on April 27.

[4- 19 -1925] -- England: April 19-29, Emma Goldman fills speaking engagements in Norwich, Leeds, & Manchester with lectures on Soviet Russia.



[4- 27 -1925] -- England: Emma Goldman delivers a lecture in London, her second here this month.


[5- 31 -1925] --

Julian Beck lives, New York. Cofounder of the infamous Living Theatre, along with his partner Judith Malina.

Beck wrote & directed plays many plays throughout the course of his life. Julian led massive political demonstrations in NY in the 60s. All were involving peace. Julian Beck was a lifelong poet & anarchist.

"I CALL FOR A THEATRE IN WHICH THE ACTORS ARE LIKE VICTIMS BURNING AT THE STAKE, SIGNALLING THROUGH THE FLAMES." — Antonin Artaud

Julian published several books including: Poetry: Songs of the Revolution 1-35 (1963); 21 Songs of the Revolution (1969); Songs of the Revolution 36-89 (1974). See also his book, The Life of the Theatre (City Lights Books, 1972).

[6- 2 -1925] -- Bulgaria: Gueorgui Cheitanov dies.
Anarchist militant captured & executed, along with his companion Mariola Sirakova & others, by the fascist government during a crackdown on leftists following a Communist bombing in Sofia.


[6- 5 -1925] -- Chile: More blood is shed by the mine owners in La Coruna (Nitrate mine encampment) — on this occasion more than 500 rebels are tortured in Iqueque.

By 1925 there were 214 syndicates in Chile boasting the active participation of more than 200,000 people. (It is also the first year a Chilean delegation of the IWW is able to participate in an IWA Congress.)

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/chile/

[6- 20 -1925] -- Bulgaria: Vassil Ikonomov dies. Tracked down by the army & paramilitary groups, the revolutionary guerrilla is killed under mysterious circumstances today while bathing in a river close to the village of Bélitsa.

A significant figure in the Bulgarian anarchist movement & an anti-fascist partisan against the dictatorship of Stambolijski, Ikonomov organized groups which included anarchists, Communists, & members of the peasants' party.

[Details / context]

[6- 27 -1925] -- England (?): Emma Goldman, on her birthday, marries James Colton, an elderly anarchist friend & trade unionist from Wales, in order to obtain British citizenship & the right to travel & speak more widely. Emma had been deported from the "Land of the Free," & was having difficulty travelling, working & finding places to live.



[8- 5 -1925] -- France: Georges Palante (1862-1925) dies, Yffiniac, (Côtes d'Armor). Philosopher preaching an aristocratic & libertarian individualism.

Victim of a rare hormonal & disfiguring disease, Palante became a professor of philosophy. Influenced by the work of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche & the individualist Max Stirner, he developed a radical anarchist philosophy & "une morale désespérée, mais élégante, de la résistance."

Pessimism taking the upper hand in his struggles, Palante puts an end to his life today. His epitaph reads,

"L'individu est la seule source d'énergie, la seule mesure de l'idéal."

"The individual is the sole source of energy, the only measure of the ideal."

[Details / context]

[8- 7 -1925] -- Ricardo Mella (1861-1925), Spanish anarchist, dies. Headed publishing teams of "Solidaridad", "El Libertario," "Acción Libertaria".

... "El socialismo anarquista" de Ricardo Mella. es tracta d alguns capítols del seu llibre "IDEARIO" que ens semblen molt interessants i actuals per el seu ... pages

Segarra, Agusti Cuadernos, Federico Urales y Ricardo Mella (Anagrama, 1977) 128p.

[8- 18 -1925] -- England: Warlaam Tcherkesoff (or Tcherkezov; or Varlam Cherkezov in Russian manner) dies, London. Georgian Prince, anarchist militant & collaborator of that other Prince, Peter Kropotkin. "Ambassador of Georgian patriots." Incisive early critic of Marxism. His Pages of Social History is translated into nine languages.
[Details / context] alt; Cerkezov, Cerkesov, Cherkesov, Cherkezov; first name also written as Varlaam, Warlam


[8- 25 -1925] -- England: Emma Goldman spends most of this month in the British Museum reading Russian dramatists in preparation for her upcoming lectures.

M. Eleanor Fitzgerald, Goldman's close associate from NY, visits at the end of the month & through her Goldman meets African-American singer & actor Paul Robeson, who is starring in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones in London.

Prompted by a publisher's fleeting interest in a book of reminiscences, Red Emma begins asking correspondents to send her letters she had written them over the years.

[9- 9 -1925] -- England: Emma Goldman's one-volume English edition of My Disillusionment in Russia, with an introduction by Rebecca West, is published early this month, by C. W. Daniel of London.

Emma borrowed $250 from Michael Cohn to underwrite its publication. Meanwhile, during this time, through the British Drama League, she solicits lecture dates from 250 affiliated local playgoers societies while she continues her reading of Russian dramatists in the British Museum.

[9- 11 -1925] -- US: IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) marine strike.


[9- 27 -1925] -- Brazil: Third Labor Congress of Rio Grande do Sul, September 27 to October 2.

12 sessions are held involving delegates from 23 labor organizations, the Comitê Pró-Presos Sociais & two periodicals. A Declaration of Principles of the AIT is approved & a Pact of International Anarchist Solidarity formulated. Source: [ Arquivo de História Social ]

[10- 1 -1925] -- Korea: In Kiho province the daily newspaper "Dong-a Ilbo" reports this month (I don't have exact day. — ed.) that 10 members of the League of Black Flag had been jailed for one year each.


[10- 13 -1925] -- Lenny Bruce, standup comic, social rebel, hounded to death by cops for using such words as fuck & cocksucker on stage, lives. Of course the "Jackie Hauling Ass bit" wasn't funny to the all-Catholic jury he faced in Chicago.

Imprisoned on obscenity charges & refused permission to enter Britain, his show was banned both in England & in Australia. Nightclub owners, fearing police harassment, began refusing to book him & his career collapsed. See his autobiography How to Talk Dirty & Influence People, & also Bob Fosse's award-winning film Lenny (1974). "When you can't say 'fuck,' you can't say 'fuck the government.'"

[10- 15 -1925] -- Japan: Daijiro Furuta (1900-1925) executed. Refusing to appeal, he is hanged. Japanese anarchist, member of the Guillotine Society (Girochin Sha), an anarchist terrorist group.



[11- 1 -1925] -- England: November 1-9, Emma Goldman lectures on drama in Birmingham, Bath, & Birkenhead, & in Manchester delivers her first lecture on Eugene O'Neill.

Despite excellent publicity, Emma's lectures draw a small audience & receipts barely cover expenses. Publisher C. W. Daniel, however, considers issuing a book of her lectures on Russian dramatists & supplies a stenographer to record them.

In East London, Emma repeats the lecture series on Russian drama in Yiddish.

November 12-December 17, Goldman repeats her lecture series on Russian drama at Keats House, Hampstead, London.

November 21-22, she speaks twice — once on birth control — under the auspices of the Trades & Labour Council in Neath, South Wales.

[11- 9 -1925] -- Argentina: Perez Millan (rightwing nationalist who killed the anarchist Kurt Gustav Wilckens in his prison cell), is killed in an asylum in Buenos Aires. Boris Vladimirovitch, a doctor & biologist doing time for an "expropriation," feigned madness so as to be transferred to Millan's asylum. Vladimirovitch was unable to get close enough (Millan was "protected"), so another internee killed him. See Daily Bleed, http://www.recollectionbooks.com/bleed/0125.htm


[12- 1 -1925] -- Joseph Tortelier dies. A carpenter, anarcho-syndicalist, ardent proponent & speaker for the General Strike, Tortelier organized "La Ligue des Antipatriotes" (League of Antipatriots) (with Emile Bidault), to fight militarism, the wars it leads to, along with its corollary, patriotism. Also organized the "Ligue des Antipropriétaires." Along with Peter Kropotkin & Elise Reclus, Tortelier was instrumental in influencing the socialist Sébastien Faure to become an anarchist.


[12- 20 -1925] -- After finishing up a lecture series, Emma Goldman leaves for France where she spends the holidays in Nice at the home of author Frank & Nellie Harris.



[1- 12 -1926] -- Pedro Augusto Mota (189?-1926) dies. Brazilian graphics worker, journalist & militant anarchist & labor activist.

In 1924 he was arrested, with hundreds of other militant laborers, anarchists & Communists, & sent to a concentration camp in Oiapoque (NE Brazil). In 1926 he managed to escape to French Guyana, but died today from deteriorating health due to his maltreatment in the forced-labor camp.

The labor camp of Oiapoque meant the death of some of the most well-known labor militants: José Alves do Nascimento, Nicolau Parada, Biófilo Panclasta, Pedro Augusto Mota e Nino Martins, among others.

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/brazil/index.html

[1- 25 -1926] -- France: Emma Goldman in Nice for most of the month, finishing a prospectus for "Foremost Russian Dramatists," a book based on her lectures, for which she hopes to receive an advance from Doubleday, Page & Company, leaves for Paris. Alexander Berkman is also in Nice, helping Isadora Duncan edit her autobiography.



[2- 2 -1926] -- France: Jules Leroux (1860-1926) dies. Militant anarchist cooperativist. Founded a working coop of shoe makers in Amiens. Began manufacturing in 1902 & in 1906, becomes the "Société coopérative de production à bases socialistes." Forced to close in 1914, they resume activity with the end of the war, animated by Jules Leroux.


[2- 20 -1926] -- France: Jules Durand (1880-1926) dies. Anarchist, revolutionary trade unionist, secretary of the Le Havre coalmen's union.


[2- 26 -1926] -- France: Georges Butaud (1868-1926) dies, in Ermont.

Partisan of the "Milieux libres," publisher of "Flambeau" ("an enemy of authority") in 1901 in Vienna. Most of his energies were devoted to creating anarchist colonies (communautés expérimentales) in which he participated in several.

[3- 24 -1926] -- Italian playwright, manager-director-actor-mime Dario Fo lives, Leggiuno-Sangiamo, Italy.

In 1997, the Nobel committee awarded Dario Fo the Literature Prize, noting he "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority & upholding the dignity of the downtrodden."

Dario Fo´s career started in small cabarets, theatres. In 1959 he founded the Compagnia Dario Fo — Franca Rame, producing satirical dramas such as Archangels Don´t Play Pinnball & He Had Two Pistols with White & Black Eyes.

In 1968 Dario founded the acting group Nuova Scena, which had ties to the Italian Communist Party, but his satirical views aroused much criticism from the Communist Press — like earlier from the Catholic Church.

In 1970 Fo started Colletivo Teatrale La Comune. Among Fo's most famous works are Accidental Death of an Anarchist & We Can´t Pay? We Won´t Pay!

[3- 25 -1926] -- England: Emma Goldman returns to London for a series of six lectures ( March 25-April 29) on dramatists, including O'Neill, Ibsen, Susan Glaspell, & the German expressionists; Emma also delivers the same lectures in Yiddish as well as lecturing on Yiddish drama.
[Details / context]



[4- 1 -1926] -- France: Charles Angrand (1854-1926) dies. Impressionist, Pointillist painter & anarchist illustrator. Friends with Seurat, Cross, Luce & Signac & other libertarian artists & illustrators. Angrand designed a now-famous black cat & provided illustrations to Jean Grave's "Les Temps Nouveaux" as well as helping to finance it with the sale of his paintings.


[4- 8 -1926] --    England: Emma Goldman lectures in Norwich (part of a series on dramatists begun on March 25th).
[Details / context]



[4- 14 -1926] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures on "The Menace of Dictatorship: Bolshevist or Fascist," with British feminist Sylvia Pankhurst & William C. Owen at Essex Hall.

Emma is in London until the end of the month, for a series of six lectures on dramatists, including O'Neill, Ibsen, Susan Glaspell, & the German expressionists; she also delivers the same lectures in Yiddish as well as lecturing on Yiddish drama.

Emma continues her work for political prisoners in Russia, focusing her efforts on imprisoned women; enlists the support of influential women politicians like Lady Astor. Her old anarchist pal, Dr. Ben Reitman & his family visit her.

[5- 1 -1926] -- Switzerland: "Le Réveil communiste anarchiste" shortens its name, from today on simply called "Le Reveil anarchiste" (The Anarchist Alarm Clock). Luigi Bertoni founded the paper in Genève, in 1900, as "Il Risveglio anarchico, Le Réveil socialiste anarchiste". Bilingual (Italian-French), it printed different articles depending on the language. Bertoni edited the paper until his death in 1947.


[5- 3 -1926] -- England: The British general strike is called off by the Trades Union Congress after nine days, though the coal miners remain out through the summer.


[5- 4 -1926] -- England: Beginning of a nationwide General Strike.


[5- 12 -1926] -- US: Massachusetts Supreme Court upholds the death sentences of "those anarchistic bastards" Sacco & Vanzetti & denies their motion for a new trial.

The prosecution left a trail of doctored eyewitness accounts, altered testimony & false ballistics reports. That trail appears to exonerate the victims while convicting the executioners.

[Sacco Vanzetti sources]

[5- 19 -1926] --

US: Robert Brentano lives. Cosmpolitan, humane anarchist & longtime history professor.

[5- 24 -1926] -- Japan: Founding conference Zenkoku Jiren.

400 delegates, representing 25 unions with a combined membership of 8,400, particpate in the founding of The All-Japan Libertarian Federation of Labor Unions (Zenkoku Rôdô Kumiai Jiyû Rengôkai), generally abbreviated in Japanese to Zenkoku Jiren. ... show details These figures compared with the 35 unions (with around 20,000 members) which remained in the reformist Japanese Confederation of Labor when 32 of its constituent unions (with 12,500 members) split away in 1925 to form the Bolshevik-led Japanese Labor Union Council. While Zenkoku Jiren was thus smaller than its reformist & Bolshevik rivals, the unions which comprised it were implanted in virtually all areas of Japan, from the island of Hokkaidô in the far North, through major urban centers such as Tôkyô & Ôsaka in Japan's industrial heartland, to cities in the South-West of the country, such as Hiroshima. In addition to the wide geographical spread of Zenkoku Jiren, it also had roots in most major industries. Its unions were organised along industrial lines & encompassed sectors of the workforce as varied as printworkers, textile workers, engineering workers, food workers, rubber workers, general laborers & so on.

[5- 25 -1926] -- France: Times Up? Simon Petliura (Petlyura) assassinated in Paris by Samuel Schwartzbard, a young Jewish anarchist poet & watchmaker, to avenge the Ukraine pogroms of 1919-1920 against Jews (directed by Petliura, a rightwing nationalist & former Hetman of Ukrainian armies) & the murder of his own family members.

Schwartzbard was set free October 26, 1927 by a sympathetic jury & to the acclaim of a sympathetic public.

[5- 26 -1926] -- US: A motion is filed for a new trial for the anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti case based upon Medeiros’ confession & information about the Morelli gang, an Italian gang that robbed freight cars in Providence, R.I. & New Bedford, Mass.

The prosecution left a trail of doctored eyewitness accounts, altered testimony & false ballistics reports....

[Details / context]

[5- 28 -1926] -- Portugal: A military coup today forces Portuguese anarchists to move their planned congress & relocate it to Valencia, Spain, where it proceeds surreptitiously on July 25, 1927.
[Details / context]


[6- 3 -1926] -- Allen Ginsberg lives (1926-1997), Newark, New Jersey.

Beat poet, auntie-authoritarian activist, pedophile &, according to the FBI, god forbid (!),

an "Internal Subversive-Cuba" risk.

Branded by de FBI,
in his 3-foot high file,
as a displayer of
anti-American sympathies.

Kicked out of Cuba & Czechoslovakia for chanting to Commie Cops.

http://Sprayberry.tripod.com/
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ginsberg.htm

[6- 20 -1926] -- Portugal: Original date for the União Anarquista Portuguesa (UAP; Portuguese Anarchist Union) congress. Scheduled today in Lisbon, the rightwing coup on May 28 forces postponing the congress for a year & moving it outside of Portugal. (It secretly convenes in July 1927 in Valencia, Spain.)
[Details / context]


[6- 25 -1926] -- France: In Paris, three Spanish anarchists are arrested, accused of preparing to assassinate Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Alphonse XIII: Ascaso, Durruti & Jover. Louis Lecoin mounts a major protest campaign to prevent their extradition & gains their release in July of 1927.

Francisco Ascaso, Buenaventura Durruti & Gregorio Jover, meet for a banquet in a Parisian restaurant to celebrate their recent release; in addition to their families, those released are joined by the "Comité International de Défense Anarchiste," some 30 militants, including Sebastien Faure, Nestor Makhno & Louis Lecoin (who mastermind their release).

[7- 2 -1926] -- France: Police announce they have thwarted a plot to assassinate the king of Spain Alphonse XIII (officially visiting France), with the arrests of the Spanish anarchists Francisco Ascaso, Buenaventura Durruti & Gregorio Jover (on June 25). Also today numéro 65 of the anarchiste paper "Libertaire" is seized in Paris.

Spain & Argentina immediately seek extradictions for the three pistoleros (Spain for killings & escapes, Argentina for “expropriations”). But the French anarchists mobilize themselves, & in particular Louis Lecoin, & circumvent their delivery to their torturers.

The three are tried in Paris on October 17, 1926, & proudly declare their intent to remove the king & bring down the monarchy in Spain.

They are finally condemned to 6 months of prison for rebellion, forged passports, wearing prohibited of weapons, etc. They are not released until July 1927.

[7- 12 -1926] -- France: At the Union anarchiste Congress in Orléans (12-14th) the U.A. changes its name to Union anarchiste communiste (UAC). This reflects the major shift in the French movement away from the "individualist" anarchism of the pre-WWI years.
[Details / context]


[7- 19 -1926] -- France: Henri Gauche (aka René or Henri Chaughi), anarchist, dies. Longtime contributor to "Les Temps Nouveaux." Gauche originally agreed with Manifest de Seize, & went to the front during WWI to fight — though by 1916 he concluded he was wrong (fortunately not "dead" wrong).


[8- 4 -1926] -- Italy: Gaetano Salvemini escapes to France after his arrest (while out on bail?). A socialist & leading anti-Fascist critic, he was in exile for over 20 years, teaching at Harvard University (1930-48) before returning to Italy.

Camillo Berneri attended his univeersity lectures before he was forced to flee fascist persecution. Salvemini (1873-1957), Enzo Tagliacozzo, Davide Jona, & many other anti-Fascist refugees were contributors to the anarchist Aldino Felicani's Italian & English language anti-Fascist journal, "Controcorrente/ Countercurren".

[8- 8 -1926] -- US: Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Holmes (-- nee Swank--1850-1926) dies, Santa Fe, New Mexico. American anarchist, feminist, & journalist. She & her husband William H. Holmes joined with Albert & Lucy Parsons in publishing "The Alarm", inciting women in the labor movement & agitating for the 8-hour work day. A contributor to Benjamin Tucker's periodical "Liberty," she also translated & published Sophie Kropotkin, Michael Bakunin, etc.


[9- 4 -1926] -- Germany: Ivan Illich (1926-2002) lives.

llich was a priest who thought there were too many priests, a lifelong educator who argued for the end of schools & an intellectual sniper from a perch with a wide view. He argued that hospitals cause more sickness than health, that people would save time if transportation were limited to bicycles & that historians who rely on previously published material perpetuate falsehoods.

His intellectual ordnance of anarchist panache, hatred of bureaucracy, Jesuitic argumentation, deep reverence for the past & watered-down Marxism, was applied to many targets.

[9- 11 -1926] -- Italy: A rocky day in Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Mussolini's life.

In Rome, the anarchist Gino Lucetti tosses a bomb at Mussolini's car, but it deflected from the windshield, wounding eight passersby.

"Bullets pass, Mussolini stays," announces Mussolini after surviving the attack.

Famous Italian anarchist-communist Errico Malatesta was briefed & endorsed the attentat.

The 26-year-old Lucetti was sentenced to 30 years; he died in the Ischia prison in 1943.

In his honor, two anarchist antifascist partisan groups fighting in the Carrara area adopted the names ‘G. Lucetti’ (60-80 combatants) & ‘Lucetti bis’ (58 strong).

[Details / context]

Illustration by Flavio Costantini

[9- 29 -1926] -- Russia: Nicholas Lazarevitch (1895-1975) is expelled.

Lazarevitch, the son of Russian revolutionary émigrés, became an anarcho-syndicalist shortly before WWI. He went to Russia in February 1919 & was close to the Bolsheviks prior to his arrest.

[10- 15 -1926] -- Canada: Emma Goldman arrives by ship, to lecture; proximity rekindles her hope for readmission to the US, where she grew up, but has been banished from the "Land of the Free." Shortly after Emma's arrival, Leon Malmed, a long-time anarchist friend from Albany, N.Y., visits & they become lovers.


[10- 15 -1926] -- Japan: Nakahama Tetsu (aka Tomioka Makoto) executed for various anti-government acts, including a plan to assassinate Prince Hirohito. Member of the Guillotine Society (Girochin Sha), an anarchist terrorist group.


[10- 23 -1926] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, Judge Thayer denies the Medeiros motion, presented before him on Sept 13-17. Jan. 27-28, 1927 Appeal from the denial of Medeiros motion is argued before the Supreme Judicial Court, but on April 7, 1927 the denial of the Medeiros motion is affirmed.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn
Sacco & Vanzetti Timeline



[10- 31 -1926] -- Italy: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Benito Mussolini (a former anarchist-syndicalist) escapes an assassination attempt by the 15-year-old anarchico Anteo Zamboni. Lynched by the black-shirted fascistes. Son of anarchico Mammolo Zamboni, both parents are sent to prison with 30-year terms. Zamboni's effort follows on the heels of an earlier botched attempt on Il Duce's life by Gino Lucetti on September 11th



[10- 31 -1926] -- Canada: Emma Goldman gives her first lecture in Montreal before an audience of 700 at His Majesty's Theatre on "The Present Crisis in Russia."


[11- 8 -1926] -- Italy: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Dictator Mussolini issues the laws of exceptions. It sets up special tribunals for the "defense" of the state, allowing the arrests & imprisonment of many anarchists without trials.


[11- 13 -1926] -- France: Le congrès de la Fédération autonome du Bâtiment donne naissance à la troisième C.G.T., Lyon (November 13-14): la C.G.T.-S.R., d’obédience anarcho-syndicaliste.


[11- 15 -1926] -- Italy: During this month Mussolini issues the "laws of exceptions," instituting special "tribunals of state defense," with many anarchists arrested & deported.

[11- 15 -1926] -- France: Le 15 et 16 novembre 1926, à Lyon, se tient le congrès constitutif d'un nouvelle organisation syndicale la C.G.T-S.R (Confédération Générale du Travail - Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire). Impulsée par Pierre Besnard, la création de cette nouvelle organisation de sensiblitité libertaire et ouvertement anarcho-syndicaliste était devenue nécessaire après la main mise des communistes staliniens sur la C.G.T.U. La C.G.T.- S.R adhère à son tour à l'A.I.T (anti-autoritaire) créée à Berlin en 1922.

"Ils ont un drapeau noir
en berne sur l'Espoir
Et la mélancolie
pour traîner dans la vie
Des couteaux pour trancher
le pain de l'amitié
Et des armes rouillées
pour ne pas oublier...

— Léo Ferré, extrait de la chanson "Les anarchistes"

[11- 29 -1926] -- Canada: Emma Goldman lectures on Ibsen to an audience of 500 at Hygeia Hall; the interest shown persuades her to initiate a series on drama.


[12- 2 -1926] -- France: Premier issue of "Combat Syndicaliste," journal of the Confédération Générale duTravail - Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CGT-SR), French anarcho-syndicalist section of the AIT.

[Details / context]

[12- 3 -1926] -- Emma Goldman's lectures on Russian drama this month cover Griboyedev, Gogol, & Ostrovsky, though the attendance is disappointing.

More successful are Emma's three lectures to the Arbeiter Ring: 600 attend her Dec. 12 lecture in Yiddish on Gorki. In addition, she lectures twice at Hygeia Hall, on modern education on Dec. 3 & on the dictatorships of Bolshevik Russia & Fascist Italy on Dec. 5.

Among her visitors are her brother Morris, her sister Lena, & Lena's children, Saxe Commins & Stella Ballantine.

[12- 13 -1926] -- Théo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926) Belgian painter (pointillisme), dies. Contributor, along with Paul Signac, Maximilien Luce, Aristide Delannoy, Alexandre Steinlen, Camille Pissarro, Van Dongen, George Willaume, etc., to the anarchiste magazine "Temps Nouveaux".


[1- 7 -1927] -- Canada: Emma Goldman lectures in London, Ontario, on Communist & Fascist dictatorships, having finished her lecture series in Toronto on Russian dramatists with talks on Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov, & Andreyev.



[1- 17 -1927] -- Chile: General Strike, simultaneously, in Santiago & Valparaiso.

The ability of workers to openly seek economic & political liberation that has led to so many bloody fights culminates today, the last of the workers' major strikes for the next 10 years. In February a military dictatorship takes power & devastates workers' organizations through terroristic methods. Revolutionary anarcho-syndicalists refuse to strike their battle flags, but are forced to work clandestinely or from outside the country. http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/chile/

[1- 18 -1927] -- Brazil: Roberto Freire lives, São Paulo.

Brazilian intellectual life is marked by the intense multiplicity of his work. Anarchist, writer, dramaturg, journalist, doctor, psychiatrist, ex-psychoanalyst, he also worked with theatre, television & cinema. His long & rich trajectory was always characterized by his effort in combining the ideology of pleasure (‘tesão’) with his scientific & artistic work. He created SOMA, an anarchist therapy based on the revolutionary ideas of Wilhelm Reich & the art of Capoeira Angola. As a writer, Roberto Freire reached great recognition. He wrote several essays, short stories, children stories & romances. With his novels (Cléo e Daniel (1965), Coiote (1986), Os cúmplices (1995/6, two volumes), & Liv e Tatziu), he conquered loads of readers, especially among the young. In psychology & politics, he has several books of essays, such as ‘Ame e Dê Vexame’ (1987), ‘Utopia e Paixão’ (1991), ‘Tesudos de Todo Mundo, Uni-vos!’ (1995). As a filmmaker, he wrote, co-produced & directed the feature film ‘Cléo e Daniel’. In all his work, in his books, articles, plays, etc, the themes are always love, creation & freedom. During the dictatorship in Brazil, Roberto Freire had an important political & cultural role. He took part in many subversive groups from 1963 to 1979 & was arrested & tortured 13 times, leading to the loss of sight in his right eye.

[1- 27 -1927] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's first two lectures, January 27-30, in Winnipeg draw large audiences: a Yiddish lecture attracts 400 & 1,000 attend an English lecture on "The Labor Situation in Europe."


[1- 29 -1927] -- US: Cactus Ed Abbey, American xenophobic anarchist / ecologist / writer lives, Home, Pennsylvania. His uncompromising works include The Monkey Wrench Gang; Desert Solitaire; Hayduke Lives.

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/AbbeyEdward.htm


[2- 5 -1927] -- France: The Dielo Trouda, a publishing group founded by Nestor Makhno, Peter Arshinov & other exiled Russian & Ukrainian anarchists in Paris, issues an invitation to an 'international conference', based on their 'Organisational Platform.'

The 'Platform' was met with ferocity & indignation by many in the international anarchist movement. First to attack it was the Russian Voline, who, with Mollie Steimer, Senya Fleshin & others, who noted that to "maintain that anarchism is only a theory of classes is to limit it to a single viewpoint."

[Details / context]

[2- 12 -1927] -- France: Preliminary meeting is held for 'international conference', based on the Dielo Trouda group's 'Organizational Platform.'

The Dielo Trouda group, often referred to as "Platformists," was founded by Nestor Makhno, Peter Arshinov & other exiled Russian & Ukrainian anarchists in Paris...

[Details / context]

[2- 22 -1927] -- France: The Dielo Trouda group, which inclues Peter Arshinov & Nestor Makhno, sends a circular out to all anarchist groups calling for an international conference for April 20th (held near Paris) based on their "organizational platform."
[Details / context]



[3- 3 -1927] -- Canada: In Edmonton, where Emma Goldman expects to give just two lectures March 3-11, she addresses 15 meetings in a week, speaking on trends in modern education, Ibsen, birth control, women's emancipation (to the Women's Press Club); she speaks to factory girls during their lunch hour & to large Jewish audiences under the auspices of the Jewish Council of Women, the Arbeiter Ring, Hadassah, & Poale Zion, as well as to professors at the University of Alberta & a Sunday audience of 1,500.


[3- 24 -1927] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's English-language lecture series in Toronto (March 24-April 26) covers social topics as well as drama, including plays of Susan Glaspell, Eugene O'Neill, & Russian drama.

"Red Emma" also researches a new lecture on "The Awakening in China," which draws 800 people.

After protests from the Catholic community, Emma delivers the final lecture of the series, on birth control, to a packed hall.

She also lectures in Yiddish on the history of anarchism & on art & revolution.

[4- 7 -1927] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the denial of the Medeiros motion is affirmed.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.

[4- 9 -1927] -- US: Massachusetts: Death sentences for "those anarchistic bastards" (quote from the trial Judge Thayer during the trial) Nicolas Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti are upheld.

excerpt...AMERICA

...America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?
I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his
automobiles more so they're all different sexes
America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe
America free Tom Mooney
America save the Spanish Loyalists
America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die . . .

— Allen Ginsberg

[4- 20 -1927] -- France: International anarchist conference at Hay-les-Roses, near Paris, in the Cinema Les Roses.


[5- 29 -1927] -- Anarchiste Georges Eekhoud dies.


[6- 10 -1927] -- Italy: The trial (June 8-10) of anarchist Gino Lucetti concludes. He attempted to assassinate Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Mussolini, September 11, 1926. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison; two others receive 12 years. Antifascist partisan formations during WWII took group names, & two in the Carrara area proudly adopted the names ‘G. Lucetti’ (60-80 guerrillas) & ‘Lucetti bis’ (58 strong).
[Details / context]


[6- 22 -1927] -- US: Stan Iverson, Seattle activist & anarchist, lives (1927- May 1985).

http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/

[7- 15 -1927] -- Julien Content (1892-1927) dies. French anarchist militant, antimilitarist, revolutionary trade unionist involved with numerous libertarian papers. Secretary of the Paris section of the Fédération Communiste Anarchiste & a principal instigator in restarting its paper "Libertaire". Administrator of that paper & "La Revue anarchiste" until discord in 1924 led to his working with "l'Idée anarchiste." Crippled in a car accident in 1926, today he commits suicide.


[7- 21 -1927] -- France: Francisco Ascaso, Buenaventura Durruti & Gregorio Jover meet for a banquet in a Parisian restaurant to celebrate their recent release from a French prison — the result of an intense campaign by the "Comité International de Défense Anarchiste" to get them freed. The three had been jailed for a plot to kill the Spanish King Alphonse XIII. In addition to their families, anarchistes criminels horribles are joined by some 30 other militants, including Sebastien Faure, Nestor Makhno & Louis Lecoin (true architect of their release).


[7- 22 -1927] -- Switzerland: Albert Meister lives (1927-1982), Bâle. Writer & anarchist sociologist. Under various pseudonyms he wrote many works on the problems of labor associations, workers' self-management & development in poor countries, including Coopération d'habitation et sociologie du voisinage (1957), Socialisme et autogestion, l'expérience yougoslave (1964), Participation, animation et développement (1969), La participation dans les associations (1974), L'inflation créatrice (1975), La soi-disant utopie du centre Beaubourg (1976).


[7- 23 -1927] -- Germany: The anarchosyndikalistische "Gegenkultur" forms a network of the most diffuse currents & unions, branching out far.

[Details / context]

[7- 25 -1927] -- Spain: Portuguese anarchist conference, relocated from Portugal, secretly meets in Valencia (July 25-26). Founding of the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI).

A Portuguese military coup in May forces the anarchists move this conference to Spain. The Portuguese cofounded the the "F.A.I." (Iberian Anarchist Federation), which quickly became a significant revolutionary organization in both regions, opposing the reformism of some CNT leaders, & were involved in the National Plenum of Regionals in Madrid on October 30 & 31.

[Details / context]

[7- 25 -1927] -- Spain: Congress of the União Anarquista Portuguesa (UAP; Portuguese Anarchist Union) secretly held, in Valencia (July 25-26th). Originally scheduled for June 20, 1926 in Lisbon, Portugal, a rightwing coup in May of 1926 forced its cancellation & the move to Valencia. This congress marks the founding of the FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica).
[Details / context]


[7- 28 -1927] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, after being interviewed for several hours by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Governor Fuller, Vanzetti writes a letter to him providing more complete answers to the Governor's questions & asking him to stop the scheduled executions. Fuller announces his refusal to intervene on Aug. 3rd.

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.


[8- 3 -1927] -- US: In the Sacco & Vanzetti case, Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Gov. Fuller announces he will not intervene to stop the scheduled executions.


[8- 6 -1927] --

US: Massachusetts high court hears final plea from "those anarchistic bastards," Sacco & Vanzetti. Protest bombs hit homes of Baltimore mayor, & Boston. (see August 21). siml/library/vanzettipoem.htm anarchist_archives/bright/SaccoVan/SaccoVan.html http://infoshop.org/page/Sacco-Vanzetti

[8- 21 -1927] -- US: Supreme Court Justice Brandeis refuses to hear request for stay of execution in the case of the anarchists Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti. (see August 23).


[8- 23 -1927] -- US: Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-born anarchist labor militants, executed in the electric chair, in Boston, despite unprecedented protests worldwide. (see August 24). Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay is arrested outside Dedham Prison, Mass.

The execution of Sacco & Vanzetti inspired Upton Sinclair's novel Boston & Maxwell Anderson's play Winterset, as well as songs & poems over the years.

Sacco & Vanzetti Timeline
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/saints/StBenShahn.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti
[Sources]

---

[8- 24 -1927] -- France: Violentes manifestations, Paris, pour protester contre l’exécution de Sacco et Vanzetti.


[8- 27 -1927] -- Paris: Thousands turn out in violent protests over deaths of Sacco & Vanzetti.

Aldino Felicani (1891-1967)

In 1918, Aldino Felicani, Italian-American anarchist, typographer, editor, publisher, settled in Boston & became friends with Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

With the arrests of Vanzetti & Nicola Sacco, Felicani organized a support group with the two & created, for their defense, the newspaper "l'Agitazione" (1920-1925) & "The Lantern" (1927-1929).

[8- 28 -1927] -- US: Ashes to Ashes?: Sacco-Vanzetti funeral procession from North End to Forest Hills Cemetery. The anarchists are cremated. In September all Hollywood newsreels on Sacco & Vanzetti are ordered destroyed by Will Hayes, movie czar.


[9- 1 -1927] -- Canada: Memorial meeting for Sacco & Vanzetti (in Toronto?). Speakers include Emma Goldman, who has spent the summer trying to research & write a new lectures for her fall series despite the impending executions, & had addressed a meeting on the case in Toronto on Aug. 18, a few days before their execution on Aug. 23.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/SaccoVanzetti/databaseEntries.htm



[9- 3 -1927] -- Man Ray, surrealist, chess player/designer, anarchist, filmmaker & photographer, in this month signs the surrealist manifesto, "Hands Off Love," devoted to Charlie Chaplin, in "La Révolution surréaliste."




[9- 7 -1927] -- François Malicet (1843-1927) killed by a burglar. French barber, lifelong anarchist, member of "Les déshérités" group in Nouzon.


[10- 7 -1927] -- R.D. Laing, British radical anti-psychiatrist, lives.


[10- 11 -1927] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's ambitious lecture series, October 11-December 8, begins at Hygeia Hall, Toronto.

The series consists of 18 lectures & covers drama as well as social & literary topics...

[Details / context]

[10- 18 -1927] -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Colorado Mine strike; first time all the coal fields are out.




[10- 30 -1927] -- Spain: FAI National Plenum of Regionals held in Madrid (-31st).

Germinal de Sousa, a participant, along with other Portuguese delegates, was a member of the new Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI).

The "F.A.I.," which includes both Portuguese & Spanish anarchists, was founded at a congress in Valencia back in July, & quickly became a significant revolutionary organization & played an important role in the Spanish Revolution of 1936.

[Details / context]

[10- 30 -1927] -- France: Congrés de l’U.A.C., Paris (-November 1). L’organisation se dote de statuts, elle prend le nom d’Union anarchiste communiste révolutionnaire pour bien se démarquer d’autres tendances libertaires.


[12- 25 -1927] -- Argentina: In Buenos Aires, the National City Bank is bombed, killing two & wounding 23 American & Argentinean customers: it is the work of anarchist (Giovanni & the brothers Scarfo) proponents of violent action.


[1- 29 -1928] -- Canada: Family members visit from the US to see Emma Goldman before she departs for France; a farewell banquet is held in her honor today. As she anticipates writing her autobiography, Emma asks a wider circle of friends to loan her her past correspondence to refresh her memory.



[2- 7 -1928] -- Canada: In her final appearance in Toronto, Emma Goldman lectures on two books by Judge Ben Lindsey, The Revolt of Youth & Companionate Marriage.



[2- 9 -1928] -- Canada: Emma Goldman travels to Montreal, where she gives two lectures in Yiddish — on birth control & on art & revolution — & one on poet Walt Whitman delivered in a private home. She leaves Montreal on Feb. 18 for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she embarks for France on Feb. 20.


[2- 14 -1928] -- Venezuela: Pío Tamayo, poet & influential militant anarquista, arrested along with student leaders Rómulo Betancourt, Jóvito Villalba & Prince Lara. La Federación de Estudiantes demanded their release. Anti-dictatorial fighter who died 1936.


[2- 18 -1928] -- Canada: Emma Goldman leaves Montreal for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she embarks for France on Feb. 20.



[2- 20 -1928] -- Canada: Emma Goldman embarks for France from Halifax, Nova Scotia.



[3- 5 -1928] -- France: During March-May, in Paris, Emma Goldman is reunited with old friends & comrades, including Alex Berkman, Mollie Steimer, & Senya Fleshin.
[Details / context]



[3- 13 -1928] -- René-Louis Lafforgue lives (1928-1967). Singer, typesetter, interpreter, anarchiste.

With his anarchist parents in the Basque country during the fighting in Spain, the Lafforgue family was forced into exile in France, where his father was killed in the Resistance.

Lafforgue was an actor & singer, & in the 1950s his talent gained him a place in Georges Brassens' shows, where songs such as "Julie la Rousse" assured his popularity. He & his companion Claudie then opened a Parisian caberet on rue Mouffetard, "L'Ecole Buissonnière," which became a gathering place for many pacifists & libertarians.

[4- 7 -1928] -- Marcel Wullens dies of tuberculosis. Militant anarchiste & syndicaliste who helped found "La révolution prolétarienne." He also participated, with his brother Maurice, in the review "Les humbles," the journal "L'insurgé," & (without Maurice, a novelist, who broke with the anarchists in favor of the Bolsheviks) later became an organizer, with André Breton & Leon Trotsky, of the F.I.A.R.I. [Fédération Internationale (pour l') Art Révolutionnaire Indépendant]).


[5- 3 -1928] -- Argentina: In Buenos Aires, to protest against the Italian dictatorship, the anarchist Severino Di Giovanni bombs the Italian consulate (which was being used to eliminate Italian antifascists in exile). Nine killed, 34 wounded.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/world/la/


[5- 13 -1928] -- Man Ray, artist, chess player/designer, anarchist, filmmaker & photographer, premiers L'Etoile de Mer (The Star of the Sea), a film by Man Ray based on a poem by Robert Desnos, at the Studio des Ursulines. It continues to be shown in the same program as The Blue Angel at least until December.


[5- 19 -1928] -- Lucien Tronchet, anarchist & Swiss trade unionist, & Clovis-Abel Pignat & Vuattolo instigate a 15-day wildcat strike which results in a reduction of working hours, minimum wages, etc.



[5- 25 -1928] -- France: During this month Emma Goldman tries to organize a small gathering of anarchist writers & theoreticians in to discuss the future of anarchism & especially its propaganda, circulating an agenda & soliciting comments. Though the meeting does not occur as planned, Emma is gratified that the effort generates ideas & discussion.



[7- 17 -1928] -- México: General Alvaro Obregón, Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader president, assassinated. Obregón is responsible for the crushing of Zapatistan autonomous initiatives 10 years ago. His assassin is not an anarchist, but rather an activist Catholic.


[8- 5 -1928] -- Italian anarchist Gaetano Grassi dies.



[9- 2 -1928] -- US: A picnic held for the individualist journal "Eresia" today is deemed a great success, & is followed up by a theatrical production, “La Donna del Populo,” a "powerful drama analyzing social psychology in four acts, with musical selections, Ladies 50 cents, men 75 cents." Could this have been an Italian version of one of Brand's plays? (Brand is a pseudonym for the anarchist Enrico Arrigoni.)


[9- 26 -1928] -- US: Man Ray, surrealist, chess player/designer, anarchist, filmmaker & photographer, publishes a photographic report about the big trades of lorraine in the magazine "Vu."



[9- 27 -1928] -- Brazil: Fourth Labor Congress of Rio Grande do Sul, held clandestinely, the date secret as well.

Three sessions are held over two days with delegates from 16 labor organizations, two periodicals, six anarchist groups, various São Paulo militant refugees & anarchist groups from southern Brazil (Florentino de Carvalho, Domingos Passos & others) & delegates from Uruguay, Paraguay & Argentina. [Source: Arquivo de História Social]

[11- 9 -1928] -- Uruguay: At 4 am, in Montevideo, 300 stalwarts from the police force & the army encircle the house at 41-J.J. Rousseau street, trapping anarchist illegalists inside. Those sent to prison later escape, thanks to a tunnel built by anarchist comrades.

[Details / context]

[11- 23 -1928] -- Albert Laisant (1873-1928), libertaire, dies. Son of Charles Ange Laisant (1841-1920), Albert, introduced to libertarian ideas by Sébastien Faure, turns the whole family into anarchists, including his father & his own two sons, Maurice & Charles.


[12- 7 -1928] -- Noam Chomsky lives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Linguist, anarchist, social critic, activist. Critic in the manner of the great I.F. Stone — & just as ignored & vilified by establishment.

" While I have yet to hear him play the accordian, I have been proud to know that he is part of a family as well as a community I have identified with, a man with private moments, & good hearty laughs, of a boat that sails a Cape Cod pond, & so many friends in movements far away who take heart from his words, & passion from his pen.

       — Danny Schechter, one of over 1,500 birthday greetings on Chomsky's 70th birthday
http://www.zmag.org/noambirth.htm

[12- 14 -1928] -- Spain: Emma Goldman, accompanied by Henry Alsberg & Otto Kleinberg, travels the country; in Barcelona, she meets anarchist intellectuals Federico Urales (Joan Montseny) & Soledad Gustavo, & their daughter Federica Montseny.



[1- 11 -1929] -- After two weeks in Paris, Emma Goldman returns to St. Tropez during January-February, where she learns that friends, principally Peggy Guggenheim & Mark Dix, have contributed enough money to help her purchase the cottage & ensure her a place to live & write. She returns to working full-time on her autobiography, interrupted only by the visit in February of her nephew Saxe Commins & his wife Dorothy.



[1- 20 -1929] -- Manchuria: The Korean anarchist guerrilla general Kim Jwa-Jin (sometimes called the Korean Makhno) is assassinated while doing repair work on a rice mill.

The Korean Anarchist Federation in China was formed in April 1924. Over 2 million Koreans were living in Manchuria, & the Korean anarchists were active & influential among them.

[Details / context]

[3- 13 -1929] -- Italy: Ettore Aguggini dies in prison after many years there. One of those convicted for bombing the Teatro Diana in Milan, believed manipulated & set up by the Chief of Police as a pretext by the fascists for instigating a general repression against all anarchists.


[5- 1 -1929] -- Germany: Liberal Book Friends (GfB) begins publishing the free monthly illustrated review "Meditation & Departure."

Nice mix of anarchist & contemporary & critical art-related materials. Included Max Baginski, Karl Roche, Erich Mühsam, Fritz Linow, Arthur Lehning, Rudolf Rocker among many others. Each issue included a booklet by some anarchist or sympathetic author (Emma Goldman & Theodor Plievier, for example).

[5- 11 -1929] -- French anarchist propagandist Albin Cantone, aka Albin, dies of cancer, age 41. Born in Italy 1888, metal worker in Lyon. Cantone published the review, "Les Glaneurs," in 1917-18, wrote for "Les vagabonds" (1921-1922), "La brochure mensuelle," "Semeur," etc.


[5- 15 -1929] -- Paint It Black?: Soviet anarchist artist, Suprematist movement founder, Kazimir (or Kasimir) Malevich dies, neglected & in poverty, persecuted by the Stalinist regime. His painting "White on White" drives 'em nuts; Black Square is even worse!

Daily Bleed Saint 2006-2008
Russian designer, painter, Supremicist theorist.

[6- 1 -1929] -- China: At a meeting in Peking of the KAFC it is decided to divert all resources outside Korea itself to Manchuria & most KAFC members moved to the anarchist zone in northern Manchuria.

Over 2 million Koreans were living in Manchuria, & the Korean Anarchist Federation was active & influential among them.

Unfortunately, between Japanese attacks from the south & Russian supported attacks by the Stalinists from the north, coupled with assassination & kidnapping teams sent by the Stalinists into the anarchist zone in early 1931, many leading anarchists were soon dead & the war on two fronts devastated the region.

[Details / context]

[6- 16 -1929] -- Ronald Creagh (May 1968-2023) lives. French historian of the American anarchist movement. Professor at l'université de Montpellier, author of Histoire de l'anarchisme aux USA (1981), Laboratoires de l'utopie, les communautés libertaires aux Etats Unis (1983), Sacco et Vanzetti (1984), etc. Also moderates the Internet "Research on Anarchism" discussion list.


[6- 27 -1929] -- Emma Goldman takes time out of a busy writing schedule to celebrate her 60th birthday with Alex Berkman & visiting American friends Ben & Ida Capes.



[6- 28 -1929] -- Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) dies. Sheffield propagandist, ran the Socialist Centre, wrote "England Arise" & Non-Governmental Society (1911). Homosexual & early proponent of gay rights, utopian & anarchist, poet, songwriter, pacifist. Influenced by William Morris. E.M. Forster described him as "a poet, a prose writer, a mystic, a manual labourer, an anti-vivisectionist, an art critic, etcetera."


[7- 9 -1929] -- William Charles Owen (1854-1929) dies. Anglo-American militant & anarchist individualist propagandist.

Member of the International Workmen's Association. Discovers the writings of Kropotkin & becomes his translator.

Under the influence of Benjamin Tucker, Owen evolved to anarchist individualism.

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/OwenWilliam.htm

[7- 29 -1929] -- France: Jean Baudrillard appears (1929-2007), looking for a simulacrum. Philosopher, sociologist, anarchiste.

Whiskey Pete's Casino...

---

"Showing no irritation at my rusty command of his language, he rolled his own cigarettes & lit mine, drank espressos & conjured castles of theory in the air, offering every formulation with a twinkle, exuding an irrepressible joie de penser."

«"Ouf! It's a game!"» "It is the task of radical thought, since the world is given to us in unintelligibility, to make it more unintelligible, more enigmatic, more fabulous."

"The reality-fundamentalists equip themselves with a form of magical thinking that confuses message & messenger: if you speak of the simulacrum, then you are a simulator; if you speak of the virtuality of war, then you are in league with it & have no regard for the hundreds of thousands of dead ... it is not we, the messengers of the simulacrum, who have plunged things into this discredit, it is the system itself that has fomented this uncertainty that affects everything today."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/mar/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/baudrillard-articles.html

---

[9- 30 -1929] -- US: Publisher Alfred Knopf signs a book contract with Emma Goldman 's representatives, lawyer Arthur Leonard Ross & Saxe Commins; she receives an advance of $7,000.

Emma Goldman began writing her autobiography, Living My Life, in March, & many American publishers express interest in it; eight made offers to the aging anarchist. Absorbed in writing her book, the departure in May of Emily Holmes Coleman, whose assistance & companionship have been invaluable, was disruptive; eventually her friend's daughter Miriam Lerner serves as secretary through the summer.

As Emma writes, she contacts friends to corroborate her memory of events & furnish details of personalities; some of her former acquaintances request to be omitted from her book.

[10- 7 -1929] -- France: French lettrist & situationist theorist Gil J Wolman lives.


[10- 21 -1929] -- Ursula Le Guin lives, Berkeley, California. Science fiction/fantasy novelist, anarchist, daughter of famed anthropologist Kroeber. Her books include The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness. One of the best modern science fiction & fantasy authors, Grandmaster noted for her exemplary style & for her exploration of Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological & sociological themes.


[1- 11 -1930] -- France: In Paris for the winter, Emma Goldman continues writing; Alexander Berkman, who lives nearby in St. Cloud, helps edit her manuscript. She mails the first installment of her autobiography to Knopf. American journalist & editor H. L. Mencken visits Goldman.


[2- 3 -1930] -- Russia: Vera Figner, the 78-year old director of the Kropotkin Museum, is banished for protesting against the maltreatment of women' in communist prisons.

In the 18880s Vera was a leader of the 'People's Will' & involved in planning several acts of terrorism including the successful the assassination of Alexander II, for which she was sentenced to death (commuted to life imprisonment). Figner was highly critical of the Bolshevik government.

Alexander Atabekian was another of the veteran anarchists who founded the Museum; he was arrested in the 30s & presumably died in a Stalinist labor camp in 1940.

[Details / context]

[2- 15 -1930] -- Spain: Barcelona, aparece el primer número del semanario "Acción", órgano de los sindicalistas (grupo Solidaridad). Tras 47 números, desaparecerá en abril de 1931.


[2- 22 -1930] -- Italy: Camillo Berneri sentenced to six months in prison.

The situation became more complicated when Carlo Rosselli & Emilio Dolci managed to escape from Italian prisons & reach Paris.

A series of bombs exploded in Nice & in bars in Cannes. The responsibility lay with the fascist régime, who expected the anarchists to be blamed....

[Details / context]

[3- 6 -1930] -- France (?): During this month Emma Goldman is presented with an expulsion order dating from March 1901. Red Emma is taken immediately to police headquarters. She demands & receives a stay of 10 days; lawyer Henri Torres ultimately succeeds in overturning the expulsion order.

Meanwhile, in the US, Mencken petitions the US Department of State to revoke Goldman's deportation & grant her a visitor's visa, & requests the Department of Justice return her personal papers seized in the 1917 raid on the Mother Earth office.
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/sf/1964.htm#H.L.%20Mencken

[4- 3 -1930] -- April-May, Emma Goldman sends her publisher what she assumes is the last installment of her autobiography — concluding with her deportation from the United States aboard the Buford — but Knopf insists on additional chapters covering her years in Russia & Europe.



[4- 5 -1930] -- France: Antoine Cyvoct dies. Lyons anarchist militant.

Cyvoct was wrongly suspected of & spent many years in prison, then worked then worked in the bookstore business, & gave talks on prison conditions.

[Details / context]

[4- 9 -1930] -- High Seas: IWW organizes 1700 member crew on the Leviathan, then the world's largest vessel.


[4- 19 -1930] -- France: Congrès de l’Union anarchiste communiste révolutionnaire (U.A.C.R.) held in Paris (19-21st).


[5- 8 -1930] -- One of the earliest of the Beat Poets, Zen anarchist Gary Snyder, lives in Frisco, California.


[6- 8 -1930] -- Antoine Antignac dies. French anarchist, speaker, bookstore manager, writer for numerous libertarian publications. See the Anarchist Encyclopedia page,
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/AntignacAntoine.htm


[6- 30 -1930] -- Francisco Saverio Merlino (1856-1930) dies. Lawyer, theorist, propagandist of Italian anarchism, then a socialist. He continued to defend the anarchists as needed — which was often.

The End of Anarchism? was Galleani's outraged response to an interview of ex-anarchist Saverio Merlino entitled "The End of Anarchism," in which Merlino pronounced "anarchism an obsolete doctrine, torn by internal disputes, bereft of first-rate theorists, & doomed to early extinction."

[Details / context]

[8- 21 -1930] -- Italy: Goliardo Fiaschi (1930-2000), Italian partisan, anti-fascist & anarchist guerrilla in Spain, bookstore owner, lives.
[Details / context]


[8- 24 -1930] -- Indochina: Two killed in riots on third anniversary of Sacco & Vanzetti execution (see August 23, 27).

The Sacco & Vanzetti prosecutors left a trail of doctored eyewitness accounts, altered testimony & false ballistics reports in the judicial murder that aroused millions around the world.

Sacco & Vanzetti Timeline

[8- 26 -1930] -- Louis Eugène Jakmin (aka Jacquemin) dies. French blacksmith, anarchist propagandist, antimilitarist, militant syndicalist.

Secretary of the fédération communiste anarchiste, director of "libertaire," cofounder of the journal "Le Réveil anarchiste ouvrier." Eugène Jacquemin was a member of the SFIO until his death today following an illness.

[Details / context]

[8- 30 -1930] -- Zo d'Axa dies. French lampoonist, publisher, writer & anarchist propagandist.

Zo d'Axa, publisher of "La Feuille",
he ran an ass in the elections, leading to street brawls.
(Presumably outraged they couldna tell one ass from another.)


[11- 8 -1930] -- France: Alexander Berkman, denied renewal of his visa once again, is given 15 days to leave the country; by mid-month he receives another three-month extension.

Also during this month, Knopf publishing house postpones publication of Emma Goldman's autobiography until the fall of 1931. Eunice M. Schuster, writing a Master's thesis on anarchism, asks Emma Goldman for information & assistance; Goldman encourages comrades — W. S. Van Valkenburgh, Hippolyte Havel, Max Nettlau, & anarchist publisher Joseph Ishill — to assist Schuster; her thesis is published in 1932 as Native American Anarchism, one of the earliest studies of American anarchism.

[11- 21 -1930] -- US: 450 people attend a fund-raising banquet for Alexander Berkman in New York City to celebrate his 60th birthday. Berkman cannot attend because he is not allowed into the "land of the free."


[12- 24 -1930] -- Italy: Petroni Carlotta Zelmira Binazzi dies. Published "Il Libertario", an anarchist weekly magazine, with her partner Pasquale Binazzi.

"Il Libertario" is a vital part of the Italian trade union movement & agitation at the beginning of the century, in the debates over WWI & the upheavals of 1919-1921, surviving repressive efforts by authorities until destroyed by the fascists in 1922.
[Details / context]

[1- 6 -1931] -- E. L. Doctorow lives, New York City. (His historical novel Ragtime, includes such fine citizens as Emma Goldman.)



[1- 11 -1931] -- Emma Goldman finishes her autobiography, Living My Life, having written 100,000 words since she began the last two chapters in July 1930.



[2- 1 -1931] -- Severino Di Giovanni dies in a shoot-out with the police.

Typographer. He fled to Argentina in 1923 to escape Italian Fascism, where he joined the Anarchist Circle (Renzo Novatore) in Buenos Aires & printed & published the review "Culmine".

He organizes a demonstration for the release of Sacco & Vanzetti, but when they are executed on August 23, 1927, Di Giovanni turns to violent actions with the Scarfo brothers (Alejandro & Paulino); many bombs are set off, especially aimed at North American interests. For example, on December 25, 1927, the National City Bank was bombed, & on May 3, 1928, the Italian consulate.

This spiral of violence is condemned by the anarchists of FORA (Fédération Ouvrière Régionale Argentine) & "La Protesta." See Osvaldo Bayer, Severino Di Giovanni, the idealist of violencia (1970).

[2- 2 -1931] -- Argentinean anarchist Paulino Scarfo dies in a shoot out with police.


[2- 3 -1931] -- US: The Second Oldest Profession, a study of pimps, by the good anarchist & whorehouse doctor, Ben Reitman, is published.


[3- 27 -1931] -- Uruguay: In Montevideo, the celebrated Argentinian anarchist expropriator, Miguel Arcángel Roscigno (or Roscigna), is arrested & disappeared.

Célèbre expropriateur

Roscigno, anarchist Argentinean expropriator who, after being a wrought iron craftsman, went from anarcho-syndicalism to violent action to finance propaganda & to help prisoners escape. Captured & turned over to Argentinean police, he is never seen again.

[Details / context]

See Osvaldo Bayer, Les anarchistes expropriateurs, & the film by Virginia Martínez: Acratas: les anarchistes expropriateurs du Rio de la Plata; disponible en français grâce à Eric Jarry et à la traduction de Françoise Thanas.

[4- 11 -1931] --

"The ordinary man is an anarchist. He wants to do as he likes. He may want his neighbor to be governed, but he himself doesn't want to be governed. He is mortally afraid of government officials & policemen."

— George Bernard Shaw, Address in New York, April 11, 1931.

[4- 12 -1931] -- Spain: Teresa Claramunt, (1862-1931) dies, Barcelona. Militante anarchiste et féministe catalane.

Une des pionnières de l'anarcho-syndicaliste féminin en Espagne.

Edited La mujer en la Lucha Social y en la Guerra Civil de España, de Lola Iturbe. (Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A. México D.F., 1974).

[Details / context]

[4- 14 -1931] -- Spain: A Republic is proclaimed. Alfonso XIII crosses paths on his way out of Spain with hundreds of returning exiles, among them the anarchists Buenaventura Durruti & Francisco Ascaso.
... show details

A colleague of Durruti & Ascaso, Juan García Oliver, recalled in 1937 (by then a minister of the Republic) the years of struggle when many anarchist militants such as ‘Sugar Baby’ Salvador Segui perished.

Juan GARCÍA OLIVER, (Archive footage): Our anarchist group was formed in 1923. The gangs of gunmen from the employer-sponsored Sindicato Libre were all but masters of the city & the police were conniving in the destruction of our organisations & our personnel. We came together & set up an anarchist group, an action group to take on the gunmen, the bosses & the government.

And we achieved our aim. We beat them.

Helenio MOLINA: I must have been about 10 years old & the whole of Barcelona seemed to be hawking Tierra y Libertad! Tierra y Libertad! Organ of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI)! ... [its] print run soared from 4,000, when my father took it over, up to 20,000 by 1934–5.

http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/utopia.htm

[Further Details / context]

[5- 1 -1931] -- France: The pacifists, anarchists & néo-malthusians Jeanne Humbert & Eugène Humbert begin publishing the newspaper "La Grande Réforme."


[5- 6 -1931] -- During this month Emma Goldman learns that, despite the dreadful economic situation, Knopf intends to publish Living My Life in two volumes at what she considers an exorbitant price.



[5- 17 -1931] -- US: Emma Goldman, the anarchist feminist who has been kicked out of the "land of the free," is included in John Haynes Holmes's sermon in New York on "The Ten Greatest Living Women."



[5- 29 -1931] -- Italy: In Rome, 32-year-old anarchist Michele Schirru is executed by a fascist firing squad.

Schirru had emigrated to the US. A committed antifascist, he then returned to Italy, where he was arrested, tried & found guilty by "il Tribunale Speciale", of hoping to assassinate the notorious thug, Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Mussolini.

His "trial," on May 28th, was presided over by Cristini — a fascist cut-throat raised to the highest ranks in the government as a reward for his bloody propensities.

No judge, no jury, no witnesses & no lawyers were allowed. Schirru was shot 8-1/2 hours after sentencing.

Schirru’s execution was plain murder, He had not killed anybody. The death penalty, as capital punishment existed in Italy at that time only for the murder of the king, the crown prince & Mussolini.

— MAN! Vol. 1, Nos 5-6 (May-June 1933)

[5- 31 -1931] -- US: "The Forward," a Yiddish socialist daily in New York, begins serialization of Emma Goldman's autobiography, Living My Life; Emma is dissatisfied with both the translation & editor Abraham Cahan's introductory reminiscence of her.


[6- 11 -1931] -- Spain: National Congress of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) held in Madrid. list of anarchist congresses
http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/utopia.htm


[6- 12 -1931] -- Argentina: à Avellaneda, un groupe d'activistes anarchistes conduit par Juan Antonio Moran abat de cinq coups de revolver le major Rosasco qui dînait dans un restaurant. Celui-ci, serviteur zélé de la dictature du Gal Uriburu, était responsable de la répression et de l'éxécution de nombreux militants. L'anarchiste Lacunza (dit "Bébé") trouvera également la mort dans cette opération.


[6- 16 -1931] --

Madrid, Spain. June 16-21st

4art. Congrés de l' AIT(r). El secretariat de l'AIT (r) s'establí, per poc temps, a Barcelona, n'hi formaven part Eusebio Carbó i Valeriano Orobón. [Source: Congressos Obrers]

[6- 28 -1931] -- France: Alexander Berkman is presented with another expulsion order, the third in 15 months; he rushes to Paris to try to get an extension of his papers.


[7- 21 -1931] -- France: Emile Pouget (1860-1931) dies. Anarchist militant & propagandist. Founded "Le Père Peinard." Author & signatory to the "Charte d’Amiens" (Charter of Amiens; 1906), adopted by the CGT.

Pouget wrote numerous books & pamphlets, including Direct Action (1910), & Sabotage.


[8- 4 -1931] -- US: Paul Avrich lives (1931-2006). Devoted & sympathetic biographer & historian of anarchism. Among many notable books, Anarchist Voices gathered 200 interviews made over a 30-year period, allowing these "anonymous" militants to avoid oblivion, opening the way for innumerable works of research & reflection. Avrich was a trusted friend to many of the older members of the movement, putting them in touch with each other, following their reunions, & visiting them regularly.


[8- 7 -1931] -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) heads labor strike at the Boulder Canyon Project.


[8- 26 -1931] -- Writer & editor Frank Harris dies in Nice; Emma Goldman hurries there to be with Nellie Harris, Frank's widow, & to help arrange his funeral.
[Details / context]


[9- 3 -1931] -- Spain: In Barcelona the CNT launches a General Strike. Police actions against workers result in several deaths.


[9- 20 -1931] -- Canada: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) delegates meet in Port Arthur. They vote to form a Canadian administration to coordinate specifically Canadian industrial activity.


[10- 7 -1931] -- André Colomer (1886-1931) dies. Poet, anarchist & finally a Communist.

Involved with the review "L'action d'art," an organizer with the CGTU, involved in "Libertaire" & "La revue anarchiste." Broke with anarchism to become a "true Communist."

[Details / context]

[10- 30 -1931] -- Spain: Clandestine National FAI Plenum & a plenum of regionals held in Madrid (October 30-31st). Portuguese & Spanish delegates of the FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation) attend.

[Details / context]

[11- 4 -1931] -- Luigi Galleani, Italian anarchico, dies of a heart attack, at the age of 70.


[12- 28 -1931] -- 1931 . . .

Guy Debord lives, Paris, France.

Maitre penseur of the Situationist International,
writer, filmmaker, critic of Spectacular,
Too-Late Capitalism.

"The world at once present & absent which the spectacle makes visible is the world of the commodity dominating all that is lived. The world of the commodity is thus shown for what it is, because its movement is identical to the estrangement of men among themselves & in relation to their global product."        — Guy Debord, La société du spectacle

http://www.bopsecrets.org
http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents/4
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/debord.html
http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/273



[12- 31 -1931] -- US: John Haynes Holmes lectures on Emma Goldman's Living My Life to an overflow audience at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.

Growing interest in dramatizing Living My Life prompts Emma to grant lawyer Arthur Leonard Ross full charge of negotiations over dramatic, radio, & cinema rights to her life.

[1- 1 -1932] -- US: "The Nation" magazine includes Emma Goldman's Living My Life among its list of most notable books of 1931.



[1- 11 -1932] -- Spain: Rising of Casas Viejas Pueblo in Cadiz, Spain, heralds Civil War; anarchist elder "Seisdedos" fights to the death against the hated Civil Guards. See The Anarchists of Casas Viejas by Jerome Mintz.


[1- 15 -1932] -- US: The Rand School in New York City holds a symposium on Emma Goldman's book, Living My Life.



[1- 18 -1932] -- Robert Anton Wilson (RAW), author, anarchist, illuminated.
http://deoxy.org/raw.htm
http://www.rawilson.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson

[1- 18 -1932] -- Spain: Libertarian Communism is proclaimed in the Catalonia mine fields of High Llobregat, in Berga, Cardona, Fijols, Sallent, & Suria.

The insurrection is suppressed within the week & over 100 militants, including the anarchists Francisco Ascaso & Buenaventura Durruti, are sent to the Rio de Oro prison colony.

[Details / context]

[1- 19 -1932] -- Spain: Armed miners' uprising in Barcelona region in response to anarchist uprisings in Catalonia. "Libertarian communism" declared, including the abolition of money & property, followed by general strikes & armed uprisings throughout Spain over the next five days.


[2- 9 -1932] -- Germany: Last issue of the Syndikalist published by the Dresden FAUD (anarcho-syndicalist Free Worker's Union - Germany), is suppressed by the Nazis.

Other anarchist papers FAUD produced are also suppressed: Der Arbeitslose is shut down March 1933, & the Arbeiter-Echo (Worker Echo), the unofficial organ of the German AnarchosyndikalistInnen, is banned 16 February 1933.

[2- 10 -1932] -- Spain: Anarcho-syndicalist CNT proclaims General Strike; insurrections follow. Within the week the Catalan city of Terrassa is taken over & anarchist communism is declared.



[2- 13 -1932] -- Denmark: Emma Goldman lectures at Copenhagen University on "Dictatorship, a World Menace" to an audience of 1,000 after lectures scheduled there earlier in the month are canceled for fear of Communist demonstrations.


[2- 16 -1932] -- Spain: The anarchists take the Catalan city of Terrassa & proclaim libertarian communism. But their success is of short duration. Among those arrested is Julià Abad.


[2- 22 -1932] -- Germany: Emma Goldman does a series of lectures, February 22-March 10.

Emma speaks to a well-attended meeting of the League for Human Rights on "Crime & Punishment in America," confining herself to political & labor cases; to the Gilde freiheitlicher Bücherfreunde on "The Drama as a Social & Educational Factor"; to the Anarcho-Syndikalistischer Frauenbund on "The Child & Its Enemy"; & to a FAUD meeting on "Is the Spirit of Destruction a Constructive Spirit?" She also speaks in Oberschoneweide & Potsdam.

In addition to lecturing, in Berlin Emma is preoccupied with schemes to earn money — a CBS radio broadcast to America, for which Alexander Berkman works up themes; a German translation of her autobiography; & German translation projects for Berkman.

[2- 25 -1932] -- Pierre Lariviere (1884?-1932) dies. French anarchist, painter & caricaturist who illustrated some of Jean Grave's "Temps nouveaux."


[3- 1 -1932] -- US: Librado Rivera (1864.-1932) dies from complications following a car accident.

---

Mexican anarchist, a school principal, then a professor, & companion in the fight waged by the Magón brothers, Enrique & Ricardo Flores.

Librado Rivera's libertarian ideals landed him in jail numerous times &, in May 1905, Rivera went into exile in the US with Ricardo Flores Magón & was active in the newspaper "Regeneración". Several times he was jailed & threatened with expulsion. Just a year before his death Rivera was arrested, struck & thrown in front of a train in an attempt to kill him, but foiled the attempt, & went on to found yet another newspaper, "El paso." [Details / context]

[3- 7 -1932] -- Germany: During this month, at its last regional Congress, held in Erfurt, the Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands (FAUD, anarchosyndicalist union) decides that, in the event of the Nazis taking power, its federal bureau in Berlin will shut down & be replaced by an underground directorate & that there would have to be a general strike by way of reply. The latter decision proves impracticable: for one thing, the FAUD all across Germany is decimated by a wave of arrests.



[3- 11 -1932] -- Poland: The second leg of Emma Goldman's tour begins with two successful meetings (March 11-12) in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) — a lecture to FAUD (Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands) members on the American labor movement & a public meeting of the Gilde freiheitlicher Bücherfreunde.



[3- 14 -1932] -- Germany: Emma Goldman's tour continues (14-23) with two meetings in Dresden & Leipzig, & further engagements in Naumburg, Zella-Mehlis, Erfurt, & Sömmerda.



[3- 24 -1932] -- Germany: Emma Goldman's lecture tour of the country finished up, she is back in Berlin, where she continues to solicit the interest of American publishing houses in translations of German & Russian works for Alexander Berkman.

"Red Emma" lectures to the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) on "Woman's Achievement in the United States"; & to the women of the F.A.U.D. (Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands).

[3- 28 -1932] -- Madrid: Spanish Anarchists begin burning monasteries.



[4- 9 -1932] -- Yippie! The 20th century's greatest living American journalist, "The Realist" editor Paul Krassner, lives! Accompanied Groucho Marx on his first LSD trip, cofounder of the Youth International Party. Yippie!!


[4- 11 -1932] --    Denmark: April 11-13, Emma Goldman lectures in German at the student union in Copenhagen under the auspices of the Society for the Defense of Personal Liberty on "Social Problems in a Contemporary Light"; in Odense; & in Aarhus to a large & enthusiastic audience on the effects of prohibition in the US.



[4- 16 -1932] -- Norway: Emma Goldman visits Oslo, her first visit to Norway, where she has "three wonderful meetings." One lecture is canceled by the Communist-controlled student association, which objects to her criticism of the Soviet Union.



[4- 20 -1932] -- Sweden: Emma Goldman lectures on the Mooney-Billings case, in Stockholm.



[4- 22 -1932] -- Germany: Emma Goldman arrives back in Berlin, where she learns that CBS has canceled her planned radio broadcast, fearing that it will be interpreted as an effort on her part to reenter the "Land of the Free."

Can't have that. In Nazi Germany America this is extolled as a "Free Press."



[4- 25 -1932] -- Germany: Emma Goldman is on the last leg of her German tour (April 25-May 15) — through Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg, & Hessen — all meetings are sponsored by the FAUD. She also lectures in Schweinfurt, Furth, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Göppingen, Ulm, Offenbach, Darmstadt, Mannheim, & Ludwigshafen.

Among her lecture topics are "Birth Control," "The American Labor Movement," "Art & Revolution," & "Women's Role in the Russian Revolution."



[4- 28 -1932] --

France: Michèle Bernstein lives, Paris. Novelist & critic, best known as a member of the Situationist International from its foundation in 1957 until 1967, & as the wife of its most prominent member, Guy Debord. http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/chronology/chronology.html | Situationist Resources | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mich%C3%A8le_Bernstein

[5- 11 -1932] -- Virgilia d'Andrea (1890-1932) dies, NY City, age 43. Italian poet, teacher, writer. Met Armando Borghi while a teacher & from then on was a dedicated anarchist. Her anti-fascist activities forced her to leave Italy, but she continued her militant activities in Germany, Holland, France & the US.
[Details / context]


[6- 4 -1932] -- Italy: Angelo Sbardellotto arrested in the belief (correct) he is seeking to assassinate Mussolini.
[Details / context]


[6- 17 -1932] --

Angelo Sbardellotto (1907-1932), is executed at 5:45 am. Italian anarchist & antifascist, he is executed by a fascist firing squad, having admitted to the Tribunal Spécial (fasciste) his plan to assassinate Mussolini.

Anarchico bellunese, è condannato a morte e fucilato avendo confessato l'intenzione di uccidere Mussolini. Viene fucilato anche il genovese Domenico Bovone per alcuni attentati dimostrativi in varie parti d'Italia. [Details / context]

[7- 17 -1932] -- Spain: José Prat dies (??-1932). Eminent anarcosindicalista, one of the "parents" of the CNT. Early advocate of women's liberation, arguing that the condition of women is their repression by men. "‘Nature’ has nothing to do with this.... If woman is backward, it is because in all times man has kept her inferior ..." (1903).


[7- 22 -1932] -- Italy: Errico Malatesta, center fielder
(speaking of baseball) for the "Armageddonia Anarchists," dies,
trying to hit a grand slam all his life.

[8- 18 -1932] -- Spain: Founding of Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias (FIJL), August 18th to the 22nd, in Madrid. In February 1937 FIJL organised the Plenum of Regional organisations (second congress of FIJL).

Participation: Andalusia: 7,400; Extremadura: 1,907; Valencia & Murcia: 8,20; Castilia 18,469; Aragón: 12,089; Catalonia: 34, 156.

Following the fascist victory in 1939 FIJL had two branches, one in exile situated in Paris & the other clandestinely in Spain, an illegal organisation operating in Franco's regime.

FIJL, anarchist, anarquista


[8- 29 -1932] -- Netherlands: The International Anti-War Committee is formed in Amsterdam (??This entry is murky; there was an International Antiwar Congress, Amsterdam (August 27-29); another on August 30, 1907, parallel to the famous 1907 Amsterdam Anarchist Congress; also founding congress of "l'Association Internationale Antimilitariste" (A.I.A.) in Amsterdam in 1904.


[9- 25 -1932] -- Spain: Catalonia becomes an "autonomous" region.


[9- 27 -1932] -- US: Judge Thayer’s house is bombed (presumably for his prejudiced role in the Sacco & Vanzetti case).

See Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, & the Revolutionary Struggle, an audio CD by Howard Zinn.


[10- 24 -1932] -- England: Adrian Mitchell lives. British poet, performer & playwright, in whom the legacies of Blake & Brecht coalesce with the zip of Little Richard & the swing of Chuck Berry. Wrote the songs & poems ("Tell Me Lies About Vietnam") famous in the anti-war movement.


[11- 9 -1932] -- Switzerland: Army opens fire on crowd where thousands gather for an antifascist demonstration, killing 13 & wounding a hundred others.

In a Europe where the rise of fascism was creating fresh tensions, workers’ efforts to erect a barrier against the totalitarians were many & repeated. Thus on the evening of 9 November 1932, a fascist kangaroo court had decided to arraign socialist leaders at a public meeting. There were significant counter-demonstrations but there was no threat posed to the armed forces cordoning off the hall. Yet the army opened fire. Thirteen people died & 65 were wounded. Among the demonstrators is André, a member of the ligue d'action du bâtiment (L.A.B.) &, in 1957, one of the founders of CIRA (Centre international de recherche sur l'anarchisme) in Geneva. See his autobiography, Souvenirs d'un rebelle. Not surpisingly Lucien Tronchet is also among those rounded up in the ensuing police swoop. Yet again he is acquitted on the grounds of insufficient evidence, whereas other workers received prison terms. Once again no soldier & no fascist is charged. The real terrorists in society were getting off scot free.

[12- 13 -1932] -- Argentina: 2nd Anarchist Regional Congress, in Rosario / No II Congreso Anarquista Rexional celebrado en Rosario. Participants include Antonio Casanova among as many as 50 delegations.
Related, see Ricardo Accurso, El Anarquismo en la ciudad de Rosario (Argentina).



[1- 8 -1933] -- Spain: Anarchist uprisings begin in Barcelona, Madrid & Valencia.

"The insurrection was quickly beaten back; but three days later, on January 11, fighting unexpectedly broke out in the small Andalusian town of Casas Viejas. In an exchange of shots at the barracks of the Civil Gaurds, two guards were mortally wounded ... They then exacted a terrible vengeance on the town.

The incident at Casas Viejas symbolized the fury & the martyrdom of the landless workers of Andalusia."

— Jerome Mintz, from the introduction, The Anarchists of Casas Viejas (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago, 1982).

[1- 10 -1933] -- Spain:

Anarchist Uprising in Spain 1933

Rioting, bombings & gunfighting continue throughout the country as the Revolution spreads to the southern cities. Anarchists & Syndicalists besiege Barcelona. Armed anarchist risings in Barcelona (January-February) & several other cities are defeated by the Republican government; left-right polarization develops further in Spain. http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPAchronology.htm http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/04/PARDO/8109.html

[1- 12 -1933] -- Spain: The anarchist uprisings which began on 8 January are brutally suppressed.

Their greatest successes were in Andalusia. Police & army buildings were attacked, & the anarcho-trade unionists seized public buildings & proclaimed Libertarian Communism there.

In the small village of Casas Viejas, the government "Gardes d'assaut" demonstrate their cruelty by assassinating many of the the villagers, burning alive others gathered in a thatched cottage. See also 1984 below.

[1- 13 -1933] -- Having travelled from Paris (on the 10th) to the Netherlands via Reims, Brussels, & Antwerp, Emma Goldman's lecture tour of the Netherlands takes her to The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, & Hengelo (from the 13th to the 23rd); Emma speaks on "Dictatorship, the Modern Religious Hysteria."


[1- 24 -1933] -- England: In London, Emma Goldman begins her stay with a dizzying week of welcome meetings & dinners with political associates & old friends, including Paul Robeson & Emily Holmes Coleman; Emma prepares for her British lecture series.



[2- 4 -1933] -- England: Emma Goldman's vacation in Bristol (February 4-16) at the home of English friends Thomas & Nell Lavers includes informal meetings with local anarchists.

During this month & next Emma also tries to interest London publishers in Alexander Berkman's proposed translations of German & Russian books.

'Emma Goldman Papers'

[2- 5 -1933] -- Marinus van der Lubbe crosses the Dutch/German border.

Marinus van der Lubbe, born in Leiden 1909, a half blind militant of the Dutch communist party & an ultraleft partisan of workers' councils, confessed to setting fire to the Reichstag in Berlin. He was beheaded in Leipzig on 10 January 1934. Most believe van der Lubbe was framed or set up by the Nazis so they could seize full power in Germany. Some French anarchists, mostly individualists, took his defence, glorifying his action.

Before the trial you were good as dead, the hangman knew he'd have your head while you sat in gaol your death to await, I wept beside you at your fate. . . . — Willem Elsschot (1882-1960), Marinus van der Lubbe

[2- 16 -1933] -- Germany: "Arbeiter-Echo" (Worker Echo), the unofficial organ of the German AnarchosyndikalistInnen published by the FAUD in Dresden, is banned by the Nazis.
Source: [Kate Sharpley Library, Bulletin #5]

[2- 16 -1933] -- Wales: Emma Goldman delivers four well-received lectures in South Wales, February 16-22, including "Crime & Punishment" & "The Spirit of Destruction & Construction."


[2- 24 -1933] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures in London on "Constructive Revolution."



[2- 27 -1933] -- Germany: Berlin's Reichstag parliament building is torched, & the Nazi's try to blame it on communists as a ploy in their steady consolidation of total power.

Berlin. Les nazis attribuent l’incendie du Reichstag à un « anarchiste ». Il s’agit en réalité d’un partisan du communisme des conseils : Marinus Van Der Lubbe. André Prudhommeaux cessera sa collaboration au "Libertaire" à cause d’un article où Van Der Lubbe était accusé d’être un agent d’Hitler.

Initially blaming anarchists, the Nazi's arrest Erich Mühsam while Rudolf Rocker manages to slip their grasp.

Prudhommeaux was an early Council Communist, then an anarchist. He participated in the defense campaign for Marinus van der Lubbe.

Marinus van der Lubbe, born in Leiden 1909, a half blind militant of the Dutch communist party & an ultraleft partisan of workers' councils, confessed to setting fire to the Reichstag in Berlin. He was beheaded in Leipzig on 10 January 1934. Most believe van der Lubbe was framed or set up by the Nazis so they could seize full power in Germany. Some French anarchists, mostly individualists, took his defence, glorifying his action.

Before the trial you were good as dead, the hangman knew he'd have your head while you sat in gaol your death to await, I wept beside you at your fate. . . . — Willem Elsschot (1882-1960), Marinus van der Lubbe

[2- 28 -1933] -- Germany: Following yesterday's burning of Berlin's Reichstag, torched by Marinus Van Der Lubbe, the Nazi's initially blame it on anarchists & today arrest Erich Mühsam, but Rudolf Rocker manages to slip their grasp.


[3- 1 -1933] -- US: An Anarchist Looks At Life: Speech Before The Foyle's 29th Literary Luncheon.

When I was 15 I suffered from unrequited love, & I wanted to commit suicide in a romantic way by drinking a lot of vinegar. I thought that would make me look ethereal & interesting, very pale & poetic when in my grave, but at sixteen I decided on a more exalted death.

I wanted to dance myself to death.

— Emma Goldman, March 1, 1933

[3- 16 -1933] -- Germany: Last appearance of "Arbeitslose," FAUD's (Die Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands) newspaper for the unemployed in Dresden, which also served as the unofficial organ of the German anarcho-syndicalist movement after the Nazi's banned their two previous papers.

[Details / context]

[4- 13 -1933] -- Bulgaria: Police assassination of Pano Vassilev, in Sofia. Militant anarcho-syndicalist bulgare.
... more (in French)

Fils d'un tanneur pauvre, il naît le 17 octobre 1901 à Lovetch. Le 7 novembre 1920, pour échapper au chômage et à la misère, il émigre en Argentine où, durant 4 ans, il fréquentera les anarcho-syndicalistes de la F.O.R.A. De retour en Europe en 1924, il séjourne un temps en France avant de retourner dans son pays, à Sofia. A partir de 1926, il milite activement à la diffusion des idées anarcho-syndicalistes, tant par l'écrit (création de revues et de journaux), que par la parole (orateur conférencier). Du 16 au 21 juin 1931, à Madrid, il représente la Bulgarie au IVe congrès de l'A.I.T. Le 13 avril 1933, à Sofia, alors qu'il va chercher à l'imprimerie des tracts en vue du 1er mai, il est assassiné par un membre de la police du régime "démocratique" de Grigorov. Il est l'auteur d'une étude intéressante sur "L'Idée des Soviets" (disponible en français dans les brochures "Volonté anarchiste"). "La théorie des soviets n'a rien de commun avec le système de gouvernement sovietique, comme le croient la plupart des gens".

[5- 1 -1933] -- US: Christian anarchist "Catholic Worker" newspaper founded, New York City. Dorothy Day & Peter Maurin, anarchist-Catholics (!) who met five months ago, today publish the first issue of their long-running newspaper, in an edition of 2,500 copies. Circulation quickly rose, to 150,000 by 1936. The House of Hospitality opened soon after. Day & the Catholic Workers are that anamoly of being Catholics & anarchists at the same time.


[5- 9 -1933] -- Spain: Bombings & shooting mark a general strike.


[5- 16 -1933] -- Bleed Saint, Swiss-German anarchist, gay writer John Henry Mackay dies.


[5- 16 -1933] -- Germany: The first blacklist of "unacceptable" books is declared by German National Socialists of the Berlin Librarian Commission. Among the titles banned by the Nazis are the anarchist novelist B. Traven's The Carreta & Government:

"I wish to do my share so that authority figures & authority worship vanish."

[Source: Calendar Riots]


[7- 19 -1933] -- Belgium: The Council of War in Brussels condemns two anarchist conscientious objectors (COs):

Hem Day (anarchist, used book seller, scholar) & Léo Campion (French anarchist, Day's assistant bookseller, a freethinker & later actor & famed songster), sentencing them, respectively, to 2 years & 18 months of prison.

The two had turned in their army papers to the Minister of Defense as an act of protest against new laws outlawing pacifist propagandanda.

During the trial Campion ridicules (mock my words?) the legal & military authorities. The two quickly begin a hunger strike which, reinforced by international protest, causes the Belgian government (gutless?) to cave in, releasing them on August 3.

[8- 12 -1933] -- Cuba: Machado's tyranny is brought down by a general strike fermented & maintained by anarchist elements of the Transport Union, first, & then by the Streetcar Worker's Union, & finally by the masses of people.

All of previous vicious harrassment couldn't prevent the anarchists from gathering within a new organization, created in 1924, Federacion de Grupos Anarquistas de Cuba (FGAC).

It promulgated strikes, circulated propaganda & contributed to the violence & disorder of the most confused & bloody periods of Cuban history, 1930-33 & culminates in Machado's downfall.

[Details / context]

[9- 4 -1933] -- Cuba: Coup against the provisional government.

Machado's tyranny fell on August 12th, brought down by a general strike fomented & maintained by libertarian elements of the Transport Union, & then by the Streetcar Worker's Union &, ultimately, by the masses of people. 1930-33 was one of the most confused & bloody periods in Cuban history, & the Federacion de Grupos Anarquistas de Cuba (FGAC) were fully involved.

[Details / context]

[10- 7 -1933] -- Joseph A. Labadie

American labor activist, writer, poet, printer, anarchist, dies. Deeply influenced by Josiah Warren, Benjamin Tucker, & Proudhon. The largest labor & radical library (The Labadie Collection) in the US is named in his honor.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/LabadieJoseph.htm


[10- 15 -1933] -- US: American liberal Mabel Carver Crouch, during this month, begins working furiously for Emma Goldman's readmission to the "Land of the Free" US, organizing a committee & soliciting the help of lawyers & others with contacts in the new administration in Washington, D.C.

[Details / context]

[11- 5 -1933] -- Spain: Rogelio Madrigal Torres lives. Catalan anarquista guérrilla with Sabaté's group; trapped & shot down in 1960.
[Details / context]


[11- 6 -1933] -- Libertarian poet Jehan Rictus dies. "Le poete de la miserie," contemporary of Rimbaud, Charles Cros & Mallarmé. The only real competitor to Jean Richepin at Le Chat Noir.

Anthologie de la poésie

Jehan Rictus

Le revenant

Soliloque du pauvre Voui, qu'y z'y pionc'nt dans leur purin Fait d'or,d'laideurs et d'arrogance: Vrai, y manqu'nt par trop d'élégance. Y m'dégoût'nt mes contemporains! ... Et c'est affreux et si tell'ment Malpropre, obscur et délétère, Qu'on s'figurait qu'les z'éléments Sont sous le régime parlementaire...

Extraits Si qu'y r'viendrait! Si qu'y r'viendrait, L'Homm' bleu qui marchait su' la mer Et qu'était la foi en balade... L'mec qu'était gobé par les femmes (Au point que c'en était scandaleux) ... L'Homme aux beaux yeux, l'Homme aux beaux rêves, Eul' l'charpentier toujours en grève, L'artiss, le meneur, l'anarcho, L'entrelardé d'cambrioleurs (Ça s'rait-y paradoxal? L'gas qu'a porté su'sa dorsale Eune aut'croix qu'la Légion d'honneur!)

[11- 11 -1933] -- France: In Paris, at a Yiddish meeting she addresses, Emma Goldman learns from German refugees about the growing horrors in Nazi Germany.


[11- 17 -1933] -- Netherlands: Emma Goldman's lecture tour meets with mixed success: Emma lectures in Hilversum & Amsterdam on Living My Life, but her lecture in Rotterdam on dictatorship is prohibited. Under surveillance throughout the trip, she is arrested at Appeldorn on November 23 & expelled from the country the following day.



[12- 11 -1933] -- Portugal: The militant anarco-sindicalista Acácio Tomás de Aquino is arrested & imprisoned until 1949. Tossed into the the Trafaria penitentiary, he is sent to Angra do Heroísmo (1934-1937), & then spends the next 10+ years in the Tarrafal concentration camp in the Cape Verde Islands until his release in September 1949.


[12- 12 -1933] -- France: Emile Ernest Girault (b.1871) dies, in Paris. Typographer, militant anarchist advocate & antimilitarist before becoming a communist. An excellent speaker, he did lecture tours through the country with Louise Michel & André Lorulot. In 1906, along with Lorulot & his companion Emilie Lamotte (a lecturer & teacher) & Jean Goldsky, he helped found the anarchist-communist colony at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In 1919 he began shifting his allegiances to the Bolsheviks. Author of many booklets which he printed at his place, as well as biography of Louise Michel.


[12- 13 -1933] -- Spain: From 8th-13th, some provinces (Andalusia, Aragon, Estremadure) experience uprisings, initiated by the anarquistas. In several villages, they declare anarchist-communism, destroy property files, & abolish the currency. But these movements remain insulated & on December 10 the Republican government declares a State of Emergency & sends in the army. As in Casas Viejas, repression is severe: 87 dead, many arrests, tortures, & more than 700 imprisoned.


[12- 15 -1933] -- Canada: Emma Goldman arrives in Toronto from France, where she applies for a visa at the US consulate for a proposed three-month lecture tour.

Roger Baldwin works with the US immigration authorities, attempting to secure a visa for Emma Goldman, while the committee organized by Mabel Carver Crouch issues a formal invitation to Emma to visit the US. Commissioner of Immigration. Daniel W. MacCormack advises Baldwin that it is Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins who has the legal right to admit her.

Emma Goldman is offered, but declines, a large sum to appear in vaudeville theaters in the United States.

[1- 15 -1934] -- Canada: Emma Goldman gives a well-attended series of lectures, January 15-31, at Hygeia Hall in Toronto.

Topics include "Germany's Tragedy & the Forces That Brought It About," "Hitler & His Cohorts," "The Collapse of German Culture," & "Dictatorship Right & Left — a Religious Hysteria."

A talk to a Jewish meeting also raises money for anarchists forced to flee repression in Nazi Germany.

During this month US Department of Labor approves a three-month visa, effective Feb. 1, for Goldman to lecture on nonpolitical subjects, which may include Living My Life under the category of literature. Once word of her tour leaks out, many lecture agencies in the United States offer their services.

[1- 18 -1934] -- Portugal: CGT Portuguesa calls a General Strike against the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar.



[2- 6 -1934] -- France: Riots break out in Paris over a government corruption scandal (-2/9; the Stavisky affair; 15 people are killed at the Chamber of Deputies). Mounting concern (when extreme-right demonstrators attacked the National Assembly), led a group of prominent anarchistes (Louis Lecoin, Sébastien Faure, Georges Bastien & Pierre Le Meillour) to call for a special conference to resolve the movement’s tactical differences & produce a more united national organisation. This took place in Paris in May 1934.


[2- 13 -1934] -- Spain: Anarchosyndicalist CNT calls for the socialist UGT to clearly & publicly state its revolutionary objectives. It meets with no reply, leaving the CNT, in effect, to be used as cannon-fodder to help produce another government that would attack the CNT.


[2- 21 -1934] -- Nicaragua: Augusto Cesar Sandino, hero of Nicaraguan independence, & his aides, assassinated in Managua by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Somoza's National Guard.

While in exile in México during early 1920s, Sandino participates in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by them he returns to foment revolution in Nicaragua. He adopts the IWW's black & red colors.

[3- 13 -1934] -- France: Victor Barrucand (b.1864) dies. Poète, musicien, journaliste et écrivain; d'abord militant anarchiste puis fédéraliste et enfin humaniste bourgeois, défenseur des droits des musulmans algériens.


[4- 27 -1934] -- Chile: FOCH (Federacion Obrera de Chile) headquarters in Santiago assaulted by the police & the 'white guards'; seven workers die in the attack, a child slain, & 200 workers were badly injured.


[5- 3 -1934] -- US: IWW strikes at Draper Manufacturing Co. begins, Cleveland, Ohio.


[5- 6 -1934] -- Alfred Marpaux (1862-1934) dies. French federal credit militant, typesetter, trade unionist & coopérativist, a "socialist possibilist." Influenced by the ideas of Proudhon, Bakunin & Benoît Malon, his socialism had the distinct imprint of the libertarian ideas embodied by the anarchist Jura Federation.


[5- 10 -1934] -- Spain: The General Strike in Aragon, which "totally paralysed the Aragonese capital throughout April 1935" ends today, 10 May.
[Graham Kelsey, Anarchism in Aragon, p. 72]


[5- 28 -1934] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's recent lectures in Montreal drew audiences of 300-400: she spoke on Hitler & Nazism, "The Collapse of German Culture," & "Living My Life," as well as lecturing in Yiddish on May 21. Now back in Toronto, Goldman finds an apartment; after a disappointing lecture on the New Deal today she determines to curtail her public speaking & concentrate on writing.


[6- 5 -1934] -- Artist Ralph Rumney lives (1934-2002). Rumney was a founding member of the Situationist International, & the first to be expelled by Guy Debord.

Daily Bleed Saint 2006

British painter, writer, co-founder of the Situationist International.

[Details / context]


[6- 27 -1934] -- Canada: Emma Goldman celebrates her 65th birthday in Toronto with a party attended by 40 friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klC8jOVrHq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST_Xj4wvt8g



[6- 28 -1934] -- American novelist & poet Kenneth Patchen marries Miriam Oikemus. Moves to Greenwich Village, New York. Writes reviews for New Republic. Member of the San Francisco Libertarian Circle in the 1940s along with fellow anarchists Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, et al. Pioneered jazz poetry.

"Patchen has gone back to the world of Edward Lear & interpreted it in terms of the modern sensibility of the disengaged, the modern comic horrors of le monde concentrationnaire. It is as if, not a slick New Yorker correspondent, but the Owl & the Pussycat were writing up Hiroshima."

— Kenneth Rexroth
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/patchen.htm

His writings remain youth cult classics, from the Beats, to the hippies to today.

Written before widespread public awareness of modern threats such as nuclear war & environmental devastation, his writings portended today's concerns with clarity & gentle humor.

Among his most charming/eloquent works are "picture poems," intuitive free verse combined with his fanciful paintings.

"Not long before I worked with a poet named Patchen. He was wearing his scarlet jacket & sitting on a stool on a little stage in a theatre you walk upstairs to down on 14th street. We improvised behind him while he read his poems, which I read ahead of time "It's dark out, Jack" — Patchen's a real artist, you'd dig him, doctor. "I believe in truth" he said, "I believe that every good thought I have, all men shall have. I believe that the perfect shape of everything has been prepared.""        — Charles Mingus, From Beneath the Underdog [p.330]

[7- 10 -1934] -- Erich Mühsam, German anarchist poet, murdered on the night of July 9/10, by the Nazis at the Orianenburg concentration camp.

alt; Erich, Eric Muehsam

Der deutsche Schriftsteller Erich Mühsam lebte in den Jahren von 1878 bis 1934. Er starb in einem national-sozialistischen KZ (Konzentrationslager). Mühsam gilt als Vertreter eines radikalen Anarchismus. Von ihm stammen expressionistische Gedichte und Dramen. See the Antiauthoritarian Encyclopedia

[7- 18 -1934] -- US: The American Mercury accepts Emma Goldman's article, "Communism: Bolshevist & Anarchist, A Comparison," which it publishes — to Emma's disgust — in a truncated form as "There is No Communism in Russia" in April 1935, violating the spirit of the original article.

Harper's rejects her article "The Individual, Society, & the State"; unwilling to revise it, she submits instead the article about her US visit that Redbook rejected. She finishes writing "The Tragedy of the Political Exiles," which the Nation accepts.

Emma hosts a gathering of young people with the aim of starting an anarchist group in Toronto & meets with them weekly throughout the summer. Among her visitors are Jeanne & Jay Levey from Chicago & her brother Herman & his son Allan.

Alexander Berkman's health & mental state decline while translating a manuscript by Rudolf Rocker.

[7- 24 -1934] -- Nestor Makhno dies this evening of July 24-25, in exile in Paris, age 44, from tuberculosis.
Above: Makhno with daughter & wife, 1925. alt; Nestor Ivanoviè Machno; Nestor Ivanowich Machno

Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla leader who fought authoritarian reactionaries on the left & the right (both the Bolshevik Red Army & the White armies).

[8- 6 -1934] -- US: One of the few women of the Beat movement to attain prominence, author / anarchist Diane Di Prima lives, Brooklyn, NY.

Di Prima had her . . .

hand wrapped around the heart of 50's beat culture.

Diane di Prima was a second generation American of Italian descent. She began writing at the age of seven, deciding to live her life as a poet at age 14.

Co-editor with Le Roi Jones (Imamu Amiri Baraka) of "Floating Bear" (1961-1963) & later sole editor from 1963-1969 (a key mimeograph magazine that published virtually every poet who was to be grouped as New York, Beat or Black Mountain); contributing editor to "Kulchur" (1960-1961); associate editor of "Signal Magazine" (1963-1965); publisher / editor of The Poets Press (1964-1969); editor / publisher of Eidolon Editions, Point Reyes, California (1972-1976). Also associated with Wingbow Press, Berkeley, California, & an instructor at the Naropa Institute (1974- ) & the New College of California (1979- ). Di Prima is also a co-founder of the American Theatre for Poets. In 1965 she participated in Timothy Leary's psychedelic community at Millbrook & in 1968 she joined the "Diggers," a radical political troupe.

"Really burning down all the myths about yourself as you create new ones." ... show details [8- 6 -1934] -- During the 60s di Prima published 13 books. Memoirs of a Beatnik, her autobiography published in 1969, exposes readers to her Beat lifestyle. Diane Di Prima (1934 - ) loss of temper no problem arrogance no problem boxes of empty beer cans & wine bottles no problem thousands of styrofoam cups no problem Gregory Corso no problem Allen Ginsberg no problem Diane di Prima no problem Anne Waldman's veins no problem — No Problem Party Poem Diane di Prima, Bob Dylan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Michael McClure, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Leon Tabory, Anne Waldman, Lew Welch, ruth weiss, Philip Whalen http://dianediprima.com/ http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2002spring/poetryproject.shtml http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/diprima7.html http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/DiPrima.htm http://www.litkicks.com/DianeDiPrima/

[8- 10 -1934] -- US: Anarchist conference at Stelton, N.J., August 10-11, organized to discuss the creation of an English-language anarchist weekly; Emma Goldman contributes in writing her ideas on anarchists building alliances with other groups.


[8- 20 -1934] -- Fredy Perlman, lives (1934-1985), Brno, Czechoslovakia. Printer, organizer, scholar, dramatist, musician, gardener, translator, social theorist, novelist & anti-authoritarian activist.

"This is the place to jump, the place to dance! This is the wilderness! Was there ever any other?"
... show more

Hic Rhodus! This is the place to jump, the place to dance! This is the wilderness! Was there ever any other? This is savagery! Do you call it freedom? This is barbarism! The struggle for survival is right here. Haven't we always known it? Isn't this a public secret? Hasn't it always been the big public secret?

It remains a secret. It is publicly known but not avowed. Publicly the wilderness is elsewhere, barbarism is abroad, savagery is on the face of the other. The dry sterile thunder without rain, the confused alarms of struggle & flight, are projected outward, into the great unknown, across the seas & over the mountains.

We're on the side with the angels.

A great part of his theoretical & practical struggle was an investigation of this process of alienation & fragmentation by which human beings surrender their autonomy & participate in their own suppression.

See the Anarchist Encyclopedia page, http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/PerlmanFredy.htm
http://www.blackandred.org/

[8- 24 -1934] -- US: IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) labor pickets attacked by capitalist farmers, Yakima, Washington. (Same attack as yesterday?)
http://www.iww.org/



[9- 13 -1934] -- France: The movie "L'Atalante," by the anarchist Jean Vigo, premiers, Paris.


[9- 25 -1934] -- Canada: Emma Goldman lectures to a Jewish women's organization in Toronto, on "The New Approach to the Child."
[Further details]



[10- 2 -1934] -- Canada: Emma Goldman delivers a series of eight lectures at Forester's Hall, Toronto, on literary & political topics, including George Bernard Shaw, munitions manufacturers, Russian literature since the revolution, & German literature & the Nazi book-burnings.

Of five other meetings this month, only a lecture to a mostly unemployed workers' organization on "The American Labor Movement & the General Strike" today gives Emma much satisfaction; attendance is mostly disappointing, & even a free anarchist meeting on October 31 fails to draw a good crowd.

Emma worries about financial survival if refused permission to reenter the US; she even considers the possibility of dramatizing Living My Life for theater or film.

Civil libertarian Roger Baldwin discusses Emma's application for a new US visa — & Rudolf Rocker's application for an extension of his stay — with the authorities in Washington, who advise him they will deny Goldman's request; only Rocker's application is approved.

[10- 5 -1934] -- France: Surrealist/anarchist filmmaker Jean Vigo (1905-1934) dies.

Son of the anarchist Eugene Vigo.

Great filmmaker, social rebel — French authorities gave him Zero for Conduct.

Jean VIGO : Zero De Conduite His first film, "In Connection with Nice" (1930) is a virulent social satire. "Zero for Conduct" (1933) his most famous film, was banned for "Praise of indiscipline & attacking the prestige of the educational institution." Also filmed "L'Atalante" (1934). Died at the age of 29 from tuberculoses. Life in a French boarding school, where the authorities attempt to regiment the students — unsuccessfully. The kids are all wonderfully spontaneous; one of the best films ever about children among children. The inspiration for [Lindsay Anderson's] If…. — Leonard Maltin

[10- 6 -1934] -- Spain: Declaration of Catalan republic within the federal Spanish republic, following the workers' uprisings occuring all over the peninsula (especially Asturias where the anarcho-syndicalist CNT was involved) against the rightwing government.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/


[10- 7 -1934] -- Ulrike Meinhof lives. German terrorist who end up commiting suicide in her jail cell in 1996. She was a member of the "Baader-Meinhof Gang," also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF), with Andreas Baader.



[10- 7 -1934] -- Brazil: Green Shirt fascists in São Paulo attempt to mimic Mussolini's "March on Rome," only to be scattered in disarray when confronted by the anarchists & workers from the Federação Operária de São Paulo, determined to stop them at the Praça da Séto.

Simão Rodovich, discovering the fascists are armed with machine guns to counter the antifascists, gets into an enormous shoot out that leaves six people dead. [Details / context]

[10- 13 -1934] -- France: First issue of the "Conquest of Bread" appears, as a libertarian review open to all the tendencies of anarchism. It was managed by Emile Bidault (1869-1938), a French anarchist & organizer of the "League of the Antipatriots," who previously edited "La Brochure mensuelle."


[11- 22 -1934] -- Nicolas Walter (1934-2000), lives. British journalist, philosopher, atheist, anarchist.


[12- 12 -1934] -- US: During this month Harper's publishes Emma Goldman's "Was My Life Worth Living?" & Roger Baldwin advises Emma that in the current atmosphere of hostility toward alien radicals she is unlikely to be granted a US visa. Today her brother Herman dies.


[12- 13 -1934] -- France: Anarchiste review "Conquete du pain" publishes its first issue.


[1- 3 -1935] -- Canada: During this month Emma Goldman is absorbed writing lectures with the hope that a new lecture series & published articles will provide a meager livelihood, as well as spread anarchist ideas. She considers writing a book of portraits of famous people she has known, an idea first suggested by Frank Heiner. Emma suggests that the sustaining fund Jeanne Levey is helping to raise might be designated to support its writing.


[1- 4 -1935] -- Canada: During this month Emma Goldman is absorbed writing lectures with the hope that a new lecture series & published articles will provide a meager livelihood, as well as spread anarchist ideas. She considers writing a book of portraits of famous people she has known, an idea first suggested by Frank Heiner. She suggests that the sustaining fund Jeanne Levey is helping to raise might be designated to support its writing.



[1- 7 -1935] -- Emma Goldman talks to Jewish audiences — the Temple Emanu-El adult school today, the second meeting arranged by Rabbi Harry Stern, & the women's branch of the Arbeiter Ring on Jan. 12 — which are are well received.



[1- 9 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's 10-week lecture series (January 9-March 13) on drama & literature at the Central YMCA in Montreal includes lectures on Russian & Soviet drama, German literary works destroyed by the Nazis, & American drama, especially Eugene O'Neill.

Only 50 people subscribe for the series, & few others attend. After a disappointing turnout for her Jan. 17 lecture on moral censorship of current films Goldman cancels further lectures; by contrast, talks to Jewish audiences — the Temple Emanu-El adult school on Jan. 7, & the women's branch of the Arbeiter Ring on Jan. 12 — were well received & promising.

[1- 17 -1935] -- Canada: After a disappointing turnout for her Jan. 17 lecture on moral censorship of current films Emma Goldman cancels further lectures.



[2- 1 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's four lectures in Yiddish this month continue to be her most successful in Montreal, drawing an audience of 200 when Emma speaks on "the element of sex in unmarried people" today, & raising money for the first time in Montreal when she speaks again to the women's branch of the Arbeiter Ring on Feb. 17.

During the month Emma decides to return to France in the spring after receiving further discouraging reports from friends who have met with Labor Department officials in Washington, D.C., about chances for readmission into the Land of Freedom.

As other possibilities close, she looks increasingly to her proposed book venture as a means of support; she also pursues the idea of a sustaining fund as she inquires about receiving an advance from a publisher.

Source: Emma Goldman Papers

[2- 3 -1935] -- Ira Cohen lives.

Publisher & performer, associated with William Burroughs, Terry Wilson, Hakim Bey, Brion Gysin, Charles Henri Ford, Gregory Corso, Paul Bowles, Judith Malina Gerard Malanga, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Cohen

[2- 17 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman speaks again to the Montreal women's branch of the Arbeiter Ring.

[3- 4 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman delivers two further lectures to Jewish groups — on "Crime & Punishment" on March 4 & birth control on March 15 — & the last in her drama series conclude Emma's lectures in Montreal; she returns to Toronto on March 17.

Emma speaks at two Yiddish meetings in Toronto at the end of the month, one a lecture, the other a 70th birthday celebration for Chaim Zhitlovsky, the exiled Russian revolutionary.

By the end of the month a formal committee to raise a "Sustaining Fund for Emma Goldman" is organized in New York by her niece Stella Ballantine & Roger Baldwin, & 300 fund-raising letters solicit $3,000 in contributions to support Emma while she is writing a book; Jeanne Levey helps with the appeal from Chicago.

She grows increasingly concerned about Alexander Berkman's financial condition & raises emergency funds for him & Emmy Eckstein.

Emma Goldman Papers

[3- 19 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman delivers a series (March 19-April 9) of four lectures at Toronto's Hygeia Hall.

The series is organized by a group of young anarchists. Emma speaks on "The Element of Sex in Life," "Youth in Revolt," "The Tragedy of the Modern Woman," & "Crime & Punishment."

Source: Emma Goldman Papers

[3- 29 -1935] -- Clément Duval dies. Anarchist illegalist, member of "La panthère des Batignolles," sentenced to death by a French court for a burglary (in which a policeman was wounded trying to apprehend him).

Following anarchist protests his sentence was commuted to life. Duval spent 14 years in prison in French Guyana where he attempted over 20 escapes. Finally, on April 14, 1901, he made good his escape & after a two year sojourn slipped into New York City, where he lived until age 85, supported & surrounded by Italian & French anarchist comrades.

His memoirs, translated by Luigi Galleani were published in Italian in 1929. In 1980 Marianne Enckell at C.I.R.A. in Lausanne recovered part of his original manuscript, which was published as Clement Duval, Convict & Anarchist.

"Vous m'inculpez de vol, comme si un travailleur qui ne possède rien peut être un voleur. Non, le vol n'existe que dans l'exploitation de l'homme par l'homme, en un mot par ceux qui vivent aux dépens de la classe productrice."

[4- 11 -1935] --    Canada: In her last month in this country this year Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman speaks in Hamilton, Ontario, under the auspices of the National Council of Jewish Women.

Also during the month, "Harper's" magazine rejects Emma's suggestion that she write a monthly column about the European situation.

The effort to aid the ailing Alexander Berkman is formalized with the creation in New York of the Alexander Berkman Provisional Committee which plans fund-raising events to celebrate the anniversary of his release from prison & his upcoming 65th birthday.

[4- 14 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman speaks twice in Toronto, on "Youth in Revolt," to a branch of the Arbeiter Ring.



[4- 15 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman attends a farewell dinner in her honor in Toronto that raises $95 toward her sustaining fund. Hopefully these aren't Canadian Buckaroonies.



[4- 16 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman speaks on birth control at Hygeia Hall, after meeting with the head of a Toronto birth control clinic.



[4- 21 -1935] -- France: Auguste Garnery (1865-1935) dies. French jeweler, anarchist militant, revolutionary trade unionist & antimilitarist.

Jailed several times, including a 15-month sentence for his activities in the l'Association Internationale Antimilitariste.

A close friend of Pierre Monatte, whom he helped in founding the review "The Proletarian Revolution."

[Details / context]

[4- 22 -1935] -- Canada: Emma Goldman returns to Montreal where her niece Stella Ballantine visits her on April 26.


[4- 26 -1935] -- Charles Plymell lives. Anarchist-leaning American mid-West poet. "Let's make history, Dorothy."


[5- 2 -1935] -- Canada: Telegrams of tribute greet Emma Goldman at a farewell event hosted by Rabbi Stern of Montreal. ... show details

On May 4-14 Emma sails from Canada to Le Havre, France; she reaches Paris on May 15. On May 18 is back homein St. Tropez in time to celebrate the anniversary of Alexander Berkman's release from prison in 1906; Emma finds him in better health than she expected.

[5- 4 -1935] -- Canada:

May 4-14 Emma Goldman sails from Canada to Le Havre, France; she reaches Paris on May 15.

On May 18 Emma arrives back in St. Tropez in time to celebrate the anniversary of Alexander Berkman's release from prison in 1906; she finds him in better health than she expected.

[5- 18 -1935] -- François Segond Casteu (1876-1935) dies (or on the 21st?) in Paris. French anarchiste who attended Sébastien Faure's "Ruche" colony & a collaborator (with his partner, the teacher Eugènie Trébuqueton) on "Libertaire" & weekly magazine "Germinal." His remarks often have him in hot water with authorities &, in September 1927, he was imprisoned at Amiens for a series of anticlerical articles. Casteu was released following a hunger strike.


[6- 24 -1935] -- Luigi Fabbri dies. Professor, Italian anarchist theorist. Fabbri & Pietro Gori participated in the review "Il pensiero."

In 1926 Fabbri went into exile to escape the fascist regime, taking refuge in France, Belgium, &, finally, after being expelled several times, in Uruguay.... Luigi Fabbri died prematurely in the thick of the struggle...

[Details / context]

[7- 14 -1935] -- France: "During the summer of 1934, the anarchists were involved in the setting-up of a Centre de liaison et de coordination des forces antifascistes de la région parisienne - a non-communist rival, more or less, to the communist-dominated Comité Amsterdam-Pleyel. Some felt a ‘profound distaste at having to associate with certain elements’. Nonetheless, they decided that, as Sébastien Faure put it, ‘for the time being, the most important thing is to halt the progress of fascism’ & agreed to take part in the demonstration of 14 July 1935. As the prefect of police refused to allow the anarchist black flag on the demonstration, they took part with their respective trade unions rather than as a separate anarchist contingent."


[7- 30 -1935] -- The first ten Penguins paperback books appear with a penguin on the cover. Each book cost the price of a pack of cigarettes (in the days before smokes cost the same as your SUV).

Penguins get down on their knees for no one, & thus the paperback revolution begins.

[8- 11 -1935] -- France: Jean-Gabriel Goujon (1859-1935) dies. Militant co-operatavist & anarchist.

Grew up in a middle-class family & school, much like Élisée Reclus. Began a career in military engineering, becoming a lieutenant-colonel. Following this Goujon became involved in the co-operative movement & joined several co-operative companies. A Proudhonien, & also anti-religious, Goujon was a regular contributor to the anarchist press — Dr. Marc Pierrot's newspaper "Plus loin," & also "Libertaire," "La Voix libertaire," & Sébastien Faure's L'Encyclopédie anarchiste.

[8- 14 -1935] -- France: In the middle of this month Alexander Berkman returns to Nice; once apart, Emma Goldman & Alex are able to discuss their differences & their disappointment with each other's attitude after a long separation. Among Emma's visitors this month in St. Tropez are her old anarchist pal Ben Reitman's son Brutus & Dutch friends Dien & Tom Meelis from Toronto.


[8- 15 -1935] -- Paul Signac dies (of "smallpox"?). French artist, pointillist (a technique some contemporary critics described as "painted confetti" or "artistic smallpox"). Best known for his his association with his fellow anarchists Maximilien Luce, Félix Fénéon, Camille Pissarro & Georges Seurat. Close friend of Matisse, Marquet, Camoin, Valtat & Van Dongen, et al.

Like many artists & writers associated with the Neo-Impressionist group he was closely linked with the anarchist movement. One of the most interesting works of his career is a large canvas entitled The Wreckers of 1897-1899. Signac's pick-axe wielding wrecker was an open reference to his political engagement & his anarchist desire to fight against the old, corrupt order of society. Profoundly anarchist, in 1914 Signac was quite shaken by Jean Grave & Peter Kropotkin when they came out in favor of Allied intervention in WWI (see the "Manifesto of the 16" / manifeste des 16) & was unable to paint for the next three years. Signac then joined the pacifists around Romain Rolland. Toward the end of his life he joined with other artists & intellectuals to fight the fascist movement.

... more

"For the Vultures" is a stark image of a soldier's body preyed upon by a vulture. It was his protest against the notorious murder of a young soldier by the "Biribi" military police establishment in the French colony of Algeria in 1909. It was published in a special edition of the anarchist weekly, "Les Temps Nouveaux."

Signac's pen & ink drawing evokes the event with a stark sense of horror, as the young man's hands clutch at the ground, a yawning gap between him & the distant town. Algiers is delicately sketched with fine lines & dots, palm trees echoing the shapes of the ambiguous winged shapes hovering above. Signac argued that the "pure aesthetes, revolutionaries by temperament, leaving the beaten track, paint what they see, as they themselves experience it, & very often unconsciously, deliver a solid blow of the pickaxe to the old social edifice."

[9- 1 -1935] -- Henry Miller, 43, responding to a laudatory letter from Lawrence Durrell, 23, asks, "I am curious to know if you are not a writer yourself."

---

Miller was first published in the US by Bern Porter who published his anti-war tract, "Murder the Murderers." He was also an admirer of the anarchist novelist & poet Kenneth Patchen, & wrote Patchen: Man of Anger & Light

---

http://www.henrymiller.org/

[Kenneth Rexroth on Miller]

[9- 17 -1935] -- Hippie bus driver, psychedelician, author Ken Kesey lives.
Wrote One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a vehicle for his anarchist rant against the oppressive conformism imposed by society’s institutions.


[10- 11 -1935] -- Argentina: Founding of Federación Anarco-Comunista Argentina (F.A.C.A.), October 11-14th. Realízase na Plata o Congreso Constituinte, onde se funda a FACA, its founders include Antonio Casanova. Having changed its name in 1955, now the Federación Libertaria Argentina (FLA).


[11- 21 -1935] -- England: In June of this year Emma Goldman began mobilizing anarchist writers & editors of the movement's press — for example, Rudolf Rocker, Max Nettlau, & Albert de Jong — to publish articles to mark Alexander Berkman's 65th birthday today.
[Details / context]

[12- 4 -1935] -- Switzerland: In Geneva, anarchists begin destroying slum housing, smashing windows & tearing up roofs this evening.

In 1935 the FOBB launched an intense campaign of agitation over workers' homes which were little better than hovels. Lucien Tronchet alone was arrested...

[Details / context]

[1- 5 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures to the Leicester Secular Society on "Traders in Death (The International Munitions Clique)."

Emma begins a lecture tour, hopeful she can establish a lecture base in London for six to eight months a year & spend the summers in St. Tropez.

The death of King George V on Jan. 20, however, plunges the country into mourning, resulting in poor attendance at her lectures. Also during this month are the deaths of friends Louise Bryant, journalist & companion of the late John Reed, & Dr. William Robinson, an early birth control advocate in the US.

[1- 16 -1936] -- Spain: Socialists / communists / anarchists form "Unidad Popular."

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/

[1- 19 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures to the Southend Labour League of Youth on "Youth in Revolt."



[1- 20 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman gives three lectures in London, January 20-30. The first, at the Workers Circle House on "The Two Communisms (Bolshevist & Anarchist — A Parallel)," is disrupted by Communists. She also lectures on "Russian Literature" at the National Trade Union Club, & on "Mussolini, Hitler & Stalin (How Far Do Their Common Methods Lead To Similar Results?)" in Hammersmith.



[1- 31 -1936] -- Several delegates from the Portuguese Anarchist Federation & from exile attend FAI meeting on 31 January & 1 February 1936.

It is, as I see it, very important for the historical record & for
ourselves that we call to mind these true stories that sometimes
have a tendency to slip from our memories.

— Edgar Rodrigues, "Le Monde Libertaire" no. 934, 25 Nov.- 1Dec. 1993.

See also: We, The Anarchists, a study of the FAI, 1927-1931
by Stuart Christie, The Meltzer Press
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/07ref.htm#25/1927
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/

[1- 31 -1936] -- Spain: Plemum of the FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation) convenes in Madrid (January 31-February 1). Members of the FARP-FAI are also in attendance.

[Details / context]

[2- 3 -1936] -- During this month Emma Goldman considers publishing a new book of essays drawn from her recent lectures, not only as a source of income but also to appease contributors to the Emma Goldman Publication Fund established to enable her to write another book.

Also during the month:

Jeanne Levey organizes the publication of twelve thousand copies of "The Place of the Individual in the Society" in pamphlet form to raise additional funds.

Alexander Berkman has a prostate operation in Nice, unbeknownst to Emma. Later in the month, Emmy Eckstein enters the hospital for gastrointestinal observation. Berkman has a second prostate operation next month. Emma learns of their condition while completing her scheduled lectures.

'Emma Goldman Papers'

[2- 9 -1936] --

Early in 1936, living at that time in England, Emma Goldman asked Powys to help her as she badly needed to find work. Powys immediately answered: 'I was so honoured & pleased to get a letter from you...I have the greatest admiration for you.' & a little later he writes: 'Everyone in America of course knows the name of E.G. — & all Americans of every class (now between 25 & 35 or even 30 & 40 years of age) remember your name from their chilhood — one of the great names of history along with Kropotkin & Bakunin & Tolstoy — as a champion of human & individual liberty on moral spiritual & philosophical lines.' (February 9, 1936, quoted by Prof. Goodway in The Powys Review, No.15)

[2- 13 -1936] -- Italy: Temistocle Monticelli (b.1869) dies. Anarchist militant & antimilitarist, member of "Comité de défense libertaire," arrested during WWI, as secretary of the underground Comitato di Azione Internazionalista Anarchica (CAIA).
[Details / context]


[2- 14 -1936] -- Spain: The CNT (anarcho-syndicalist trade union) issues a prophetic manifesto warning that right-wing elements are ready to provoke a military coup.
[See Murray Bookchin, The Spanish Anarchists, p. 273]


[2- 16 -1936] -- Spain: Election & formation of the Popular Front government against the fascist Franco. Anarchists [a few, most opposed], socialists, communists, republicans & labor groups form a republic.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/


[2- 17 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman's three lectures in Plymouth, February 17-23, 1936, draw enthusiastic audiences, though at the last she is heckled by local Communists.



[2- 28 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures again to the Workers Circle in London.
Source: 'Emma Goldman Papers'

[3- 5 -1936] -- England: During this month Emma Goldman's friendship with Eslanda & Paul Robeson deepens, as does her friendship with her new admirer & benefactor, Shloime Sutton. Also, Garden City Publishing Company prints a cheaper edition of her autobiography, Living My Life after purchasing the rights from Alfred Knopf.



[3- 7 -1936] -- Germany: Hitler's government remilitarizes the Rhineland in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles.

FROM A PEACE MUSEUM TO A HITLER BARRACKS

Ernst Friedrich (1894-1967), an anarchist, founded the first international anti-war museum in Berlin (1923) as a testament to the German anti-militarist movement & to demolish nationalist lies. The horrors of the war, on the front & at home, were overwhelmingly portrayed.

When the Nazis took power, they seized the Museum, burned the exhibits & books & transformed the place into an SA-Heim (storm troopers' barracks) They could not wait for the necessary alterations to be made & overnight painted out the word "Anti" from the fascia & posted a guarded on the door.

[3- 8 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures again to the Leicester Secular Society.


[3- 8 -1936] --

France: Jules Alexandre Sadier (b.1862) dies. Franco-Argentine anarchist militant & propagandist, antimilitarist. (Pseudonym Alexandre Falconnet.)

"Nous ne faisons pas de programme, l'heure de discuter est passée...(...) Notre ordre du jour est simple : Prolétaires du monde entier, quelle que soit la langue que nous parlions, quelle que soit notre race et couleur, marchons à la conquête du bien-être pour tous! Plus d'oppresseurs ni d'opprimés!... Plus de travailleurs mourant de travail et de faim, et d'oisifs crevant de paresse et d'indigestion! En avant! Sonnons la charge pour la liberté!"

Extrait du premier numéro de "La Liberté," Buenos Aires, du 23 janvier 1893.

[3- 15 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman speaks on "The Russian Theatre" to a 1,000 members of the Coventry Repertory Circle, one of the most successful meetings she has ever had in England.

[3- 19 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman's lecture in Hammersmith, London, on "Anarchism (What It Really Stands For)" is sparsely attended.


[3- 25 -1936] -- Wales: Emma Goldman delivers three lectures (March 25-27) to miners in South Wales — at Mountain Ash, Ystradgynlais, & Aberdare — sponsored by the National Council of Labour Colleges. Her lectures on "Mussolini & Hitler" & on "The Two Communisms" are surprisingly well received, as it is the first time that the Labour Colleges had provided a hearing for anarchism & a critique of Soviet Russia.


[3- 31 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures on her book, Living My Life, at Conway Hall, in London.


[3- 31 -1936] -- Marge Piercy lives, Detroit, Michigan. American poet, novelist, & social activist. Author of 17 volumes of poems, numerous novels including Woman on the Edge of Time (explores a global utopian society organised on broadly anarchist lines), winner of the Arthur C. Clarke for her cyber-fiction novel She, He & It.

"The imagination is a very powerful liberating tool. If you cannot imagine something different you cannot work towards it."

[4- 1 -1936] -- England: During this month Emma Goldman leaves London, arriving in Nice on April 6.
[Details / context]


[4- 12 -1936] -- France: The Union anarchiste (UA) convenes its Easter congress (12-13 April).
[Details / context]


[5- 1 -1936] -- Spain: Saragossa [Zaragoza] Congress, national gathering of the CNT; IV Congrés Confederal de la CNT Saragossa, 01-12 de maig de 1936. Participants include Eusebio Carbó, Juan García Oliver, Horacio Martínez Prieto, Federica Montseny, José Peirats.
[Details here]


[5- 2 -1936] -- The "Sterilizers of Bordeaux" trial in France.

In April 1935, lacking specific laws against voluntary vasectomies, the government charged Dr. Norbert Bartosek, an anarchist Austrian, & others (among them Aristide Lapeyre & both Andrée Prevotel & André Prévotel) with the "crime of castration" & "aggravated assault." Charges against Andrée are dropped; Bartosek received three years in prison & the others 16 months.

[5- 2 -1936] -- Spain: First edition of "Mujeres Libres" appears.

The magazine Mujeres Libres went to the streets of Spain, where the essential ideas which drove the collective & their actions, were harvested.

... show details In Barcelona, Mujeres Libres (Free Women) put in gear the "Casal de la Dona Treballadora" (the house of the working woman), between 600 & 800 such women attended, & midwifed the creation of a nursing school & the Louise Michel maternal infant institute. The Womens' Congress; Free & Libertarian. These women, Lucía Sánchez Saornil (author of the "Women's Anthem" C/f ):: Mercè Comaposada Guillén :: Ampar Poch Gascón :: Soledad Estorach :: Pepita Carpena :: Sara Berenguer :: Pepita Estruch :: María Jiménez :: Pura Pérez :: Suceso Portales :: Azucena Fernández :: Antonia Fontanillas :: Conxa Pérez :: Concha Liaño :: Lola Iturbe :: Carmen Conde :: Pilar Grangel :: Aurea Cuadrado :: Concha Guillén :: Antonia Fontanillas :: Isabel Mesa Delgado :: Belén Sárraga :: are the models for remembrance whence to learn of the women of the libertarian socialist & anarchist tradition.... & they of course walk in the footsteps of Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, & Isadora Duncan (a dancer of burlesque) & were exact contemporaries of Emma Goldman ... http://www.alasbarricadas.org/ateneovirtual/index.php/28_de_diciembre http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/196122

[5- 8 -1936] -- Japan: In Tokyo, the Japanese anarchist movement is beheaded with heavy prison sentences of 19 of its major activists for "illegal activities". Toshio Futami, aged 34, is about to be sentenced to death (commuted). The anarchist stronghold, the Tôkyô Printworkers' Union, was crippled when nearly 100 of its members were arrested. During this month a further 300 anarchists are swept up in mass arrests.


[5- 10 -1936] -- Spain: Azaña is named President of the Republic. Wave of strikes. Land seizures in the west & the south of the country.
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/


[5- 13 -1936] -- Le 13 mai 1936, mort à Turin (Italie) d'Alfredo Bagaglino. Militant anarchiste italien. Après de nombreuses années d'activisme notamment dans les mines de charbon de l'Illinois (USA), il est, pour cause d'anarchisme, déporté en Italie en 1920, par le gouvernement américain. Arrêté par le régime fasciste italien, il sera ensuite condamné à la relégation dans un "confino."


[5- 27 -1936] -- France: Alexander Berkman, in declining health, is released from a hospital & returns to his domestic life with companion Emmy Eckstein & his old anarchist pal Emma Goldman in Nice.


[6- 26 -1936] -- Death of Régis Meunier, French militant syndicalist, anarchist propagandist.

Sentenced to seven years in a penal colony during the anti-anarchist hysteria (see Vaillant for a sterling example), May 30, 1894 for "criminal conspiracy". He became friends with Clément Duval, an anarchist illegalist with "La panthère des Batignolles," whom he helped in a prison escape. Meunier was pardoned June 18, 1901.

[6- 27 -1936] -- Emma Goldman celebrates her 67th birthday with visiting American anarchist & benefactor Michael Cohn & his family. Too ill to celebrate with her, Alexander Berkman telephones in the afternoon.



[6- 28 -1936] -- In the early hours of the day, unable to continue enduring the physical pain of a longstanding ailment, Alexander Berkman shoots himself; the bullet lodges in his spinal column, paralysing him. Emma Goldman rushes to Nice to be at his side. He sinks into a coma in the afternoon & dies at 10pm.

Daily Bleed Saint, 2003, ALEXANDER BERKMAN
Lover of Emma Goldman, failed assassin, US deportee, & a suicide following Soviet heartbreaks & aching prostrate.

[6- 30 -1936] -- France: Alexander Berkman is buried in Nice. Lifelong anarchist pal Emma Goldman is in attendance.



[6- 30 -1936] -- Dave Van Ronk lives. American songster. Unfortunately better known for nurturing & helping Bob Dylan get his music career off the ground than for his own music.

Far more than one of the founding figures of the 1960s, Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) was also ’among other things’ a pioneer of modern acoustic blues, a fine songwriter & arranger, a powerful singer, & one of the most influential guitarists of the 60s, as well as a peerless musical historian & storyteller. "The Man" (Tom Paxton) was in the mix with Bob Dylan (who slept on Van Ronk's couch for his first year in NY), Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, & Joni Mitchell, as well as older luminaries Woody Guthrie & Odetta.

"In the engine room of the NY Folk Scene shoveling coal into the furnace, one Big Man rules. Dog-faced roustabout songster. Bluesman, Dave Van Ronk.

Long may he howl."

— Tom Waits

"Of course I was aware of the folk music thing in Washington Square. I had been hanging around the village for a few years by this time, & the sight & sound of happily howling Stalinists offended my assiduously nurtured self-image as a hipster, not to mention my political sensibilities, which were at the time vehemently I.W.W.-.anarchist."

In 1959, Dick Ellington & Dave Van Ronk wrote & self-published THE BOSS'S SONGBOOK, the subtitle of which was Songs To Stifle the Flames of Discontent. It was supposed to be a humorous collection, consciously modeled on the IWW Little Red Songbook.

Dick had a Multilith 1250 & did some movement printing in New York City during the 1950s, including VIEWS & COMMENTS, which was published by the Libertarian League. It was either a weekly or biweekly paper edited by Sam Dolgoff & Russell Blackwell.

— Robby Barnes, Charlatan Stew

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/VanRonkDave.htm

[7- 9 -1936] -- US: Alexander Berkman Memorial Meeting sponsored by the Jewish Anarchist Federation in NY City.

Speaking are Harry Kelly, Sam Weiner (aka Sam Dolgoff), Julius Hochman, Philip Kapp, Carlo Tresca, Arturo Giovannitti, Harry Weinberger, Rose Pesotta, Abe Bluestein, & Mark Mratchny.

[7- 12 -1936] -- Spain: Lt. José Castillo is assassinated by Falangists. Tomorrow the Monarchist leader Calvo Sotelo is assassinated in reprisal while in the custody of State security forces. The Falangists attempt their fascist coup on the 17th, but the anarchists immediately battle back & prevent the takeover & spark the Spanish Revolution. The revolution is undermined by liberals & Communists & eventually degrades into a "Civil War."


[7- 16 -1936] -- Spain: In Barcelona the anarcho-trade unionists of the powerful C.N.T (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) urge, without success, Luis Companys, president of the "Generalitat" (governing Catalonia), distributing weapons to the workers, to counter the imminent threat of a rightwing military coup d'etat.

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/

[7- 17 -1936] -- Spain: Fascist military uprising against the Republican government, led by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Generals Francisco Franco, Mola, & Sanjurjo, triggering the Spanish Revolution & Civil War. (The uprising also occurs in Spanish Morocco.)

Barcelona workers of the largest & most powerful trade union, the anarchist C.N.T., seize 200 rifles & distribute them. Where the workers offer armed resistance, the fascists are defeated.

Federico Arcos recalls: I woke up to the factory sirens. & it was as if the whole of Barcelona was pulsing to a single heartbeat, the sort of thing that only happens maybe once in a century… &, if I may say so, it has left its mark on my life & I can still feel that emotion. http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/utopia.htm Rightwing military forces clash with popular front forces of the Second Republic. The Spanish army in Morocco supports Franco & opposes the republic. They seize cities on the 18th. The Navy sailors rise to assassinate their turncoat officers. Resistence in Barcelona is immediate, with a General Strike of transportation workers. All over the country anarchists, socialists, labor unionists & communists decided to fight for a social revolution or for the liberal Republic. The first major battle occurs on the 19th where CNT/FAI people head the resistance. http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf1Fz5bbAB8 http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/04/PARDO/8109.html [ Resources & sources on the Spanish Revolution of 1936 ]

[7- 19 -1936] -- Spain: The fascists, under Franco, attempt to overthrow the elected government in Spain, triggering the Spanish Revolution & Civil War.

First day of the Spanish libertarian revolution, & beginning also the "short summer of anarchy." Symbol of the enfranchisement of a whole people which, weapons in hand, try to build another future despite the totalitarian menace on all sides.

Today the rebellious military officers hold most of the garrisons in Barcelona. The workers of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT & socialist POUM attack the barracks, joined by soldiers, civil guards & policemen faithful to the republic; the fascists are defeated as they attempt to take Barcelona.


[7- 19 -1936] --

---

A text written to accompany the album of drawings Estampas de la Revolución Española, 19 de Julio de 1936 by the artist Sim reflects this correlation between the mentality of the time & the positive aura of many of the images:

"The Revolution also has colors. Not all is combat to death, war, blood, pain. There is also happiness, life, youth. Our Spanish revolution is built with joy & youthfulness. That is why it will triumph. That gaiety, the juvenile & enlivening enthusiasm, has been grasped by the serene retina of a great artist."

---

Estampas de la revolucion espanola, 19 julio de 1936.

Durruti, Garcia Oliver & Ascaso are the true craftsmen of this day, but the Atarazanas barracks still resists in the evening ...

[7- 20 -1936] -- Spain: In Barcelona, following the fascist uprising by Franco & the military against the Republic yesterday, the workers of the CNT & POUM counterattacked & today only Atarazanas barracks remain in fascist hands. During the assault Francisco Ascaso is killed (see Daily Bleed, April 1, 1901).

"Francisco, I'll Bring You Red Carnations," one of the finest poems in 7 Years from Somewhere, honors Francisco Ascaso, another powerful figure in the FAI who died in combat. Set in a cemetery in Barcelona, it surveys "the three stones / all in a row: Ferrer Guardia, / B. Durruti, F. Ascaso" & then focuses on the latter. The swift, clean development represents Levine at his best...

For two there are floral displays, but Ascaso faces eternity with only a stone. Maybe as it should be. He was a stone, a stone & a blade, the first grinding & sharpening the other. — Philip Levine

"Francisco, I'll Bring You Red Carnations",
In Search of a New World: The Anarchist Dream in the Poetry of Philip Levine

[Details / context]

[7- 24 -1936] -- Spain: The Durruti Column, made up of 2,000 militiamen leaves Barcelona towards Zaragoza.

"We make war & revolution at the same time. The militiaman has to know that he fights for the conquest of the land, the factories, culture ... the pick & the shovel are as valuable as the gun"

— Buenaventura Durruti, Interview , 1936

We have it here growing in our hearts, as your comrade said, & when we give it up with our last breaths someone will gasp it home to their lives. — Philip Levine [Details / context]

[7- 25 -1936] -- Spain: Camillo Berneri arrives in Catalonia with a cargo of rifles & ammunition.

News of the fascist 'coup d'état' in Spain spread rapidly. With the slogan "Today in Spain, tomorrow in Italy" on their lips, Italian anti-fascists headed to Spain.

When Berneri arrived he was immediately offered a position in the Council of the Economy, but he refused as soon as he realized he was dealing with a sort of ministry. Berneri instead hosted a rally before 100,000 people in Plaza de los Toros, in Barcelona, bringing with him the greetings of the Italian anarchists & their solidarity with the Catalan revolution.

[7- 25 -1936] --

---

Francesco Barbieri, the Italian antifascist & anarchist militant, slipping back into Spain, reaches Barcelona today. Barbieri fought at the Huesca Front before illness forced him back to Barcelona in May 1937, where he was dragged from his home by Stalinists goons & murdered.

---

[7- 27 -1936] -- Spain: In Catalonia, in the enthusiasm of the revolution throughout Spain of the past few days, a new rationalist school — "Nouvelle Ecole Unifié" — is founded, based & run upon the "Modern School" principles of Francisco Ferrer. anarquista; anarchist


[8- 5 -1936] -- James Colton, who married Emma Goldman in 1925 to provide her British citizenship, dies of cancer. Colton, an elderly anarchist from Wales, married Emma so she would be free of the problems of travel & speech which plagued her friend Berkman until his death.



[8- 6 -1936] -- Mollie Steimer & Senya Fleshin arrive in St. Tropez to comfort Emma Goldman during her worst period of grief & depression. Her spirits are lifted by Augustin Souchy's invitation to Barcelona to work for the foreign-language press office of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo-Federación Anarquista Ibérica (CNT-FAI).


[8- 6 -1936] -- Spain: Ramón Acin is murdered by pro-Francoists, in Huesca.

Militant anarcho-syndicalist, professor, writer & avant-garde artist. Involved with the CNT, imprisoned for his support of political prisoners, forced into exile for his involvement in attempted uprisings.

... show details

Ramón Acin contributed many articles to the libertarian press where, in addition to art & political critiques, he expressed interests in ecology, vegetarianism, & animal rights.

[8- 14 -1936] -- Spain: The fascist insurgents take Badajoz; over 4,000 people are massacred in the next ten days.


[8- 15 -1936] -- France: Toulouse, se tient le congrès constitutif d'une nouvelle organisation "La Fédération Anarchiste Française" (qui fait suite à une scission au sein de l'Union Anarchiste). Voline & André Prudhommeaux, qui éditent le journal "Terre Libre" en seront les principaux animateurs.


[8- 19 -1936] -- Spain: Camillo Berneri, after organizing an Italian anarchist column within the Francisco Ascaso Column in the Pedralbes barracks (renamed "Bakunin"), with Angeloni & de Santillán (from the CNT-FAI), leaves Barcelona for the Aragonese front.

Berneri landed in Catalonia on July 25 with a cargo of rifles & ammunition. Berneri hosted a rally before 100,000 people in Plaza de los Toros in Barcelona before departing for the front. His unit engages the attacking Nationalist army on the 23rd of this month & drove them back.

Because of problems with his vision & hearing, Berneri was sent back to Barcelona. There he worked to warn people about the important implications of the imminent fascist landings in the Balearic Isles, did propaganda work, attacked the Madrid government for its politics of compromise which were damaging Catalan autonomy, & criticized the ambiguous behaviour of the French & English governments. He wrote for 'Guerra di Classe', & often visited the 'Amigos de Durruti ' (Friends of Durutti) before Communist agents murdered him in 1937.

[8- 23 -1936] -- Spain: Camillo Berneri, after organizing an Italian column within the Francisco Ascaso Column in the Pedralbes barracks (renamed "Bakunin"), takes part in the harsh engagements on the "bare mountain," where the anarchists Mario Angeloni, Vincenzo Perrone & Michele Centrone died, Angeloni singing the Internationale.

After defeating the Nationalist troops, because of problems with his vision & hearing, Berneri was sent back from the front & returned to Barcelona to do propaganda work.


[8- 28 -1936] -- Spain: At Monte Pelado, near Huesca, Aragon, the Italian section of the Ascaso Column, headed by Mario Angeloni & the libertarians Carlo Rosselli, Camillo Berneri & Umberto Tommasini, repulse the attack by fascist forces. Angeloni & the anarchists Michele Centrone, Fosco Falaschi & Vincenzo Perrone are killed. After defeating the Nationalists, Berneri is sent to Barcelona to do propaganda work because of problems with his vision & hearing.



[9- 5 -1936] -- Spain: 24-year-old Federico "Taino" Borrell dies. Anarquista, member of the FAI, made famous by the iconic photo "The Fallen Soldier" by Robert Capa, who captured his moment of death. Federico was buried in a shallow unmarked grave near where he fell & its whereabouts have never been traced. A militia column, "Ruescas-Taino," was named in his honor along with that of Juan Ruescas Ángel, another fallen anarchist comrade.


[9- 16 -1936] -- Spain: Based in Barcelona, the anarchist stronghold in Catalonia, from September 16-December 10, Emma Goldman helps write the English-language edition of the CNT-FAI's information bulletin, visits collectivized farms & factories, & travels to the Aragon front, Valencia, & Madrid. She works closely with Martin Gudell of the CNT-FAI's Foreign Propaganda Department & broadcasts two English-language radio addresses. Emma hopes to conduct publicity from Barcelona, not wanting to leave Spain.


[9- 21 -1936] -- "One group of people really get on my nerves, it is the volunteers who have come as observers (French for the most part). They come here with the airs of priests & got up like cowboys to spend half the time in cafes."

— anarchist Camillo Berneri, Spain, 21st September, 1936


[9- 23 -1936] -- France: Robert Capa’s photographs of the militia at Cerro Muriano during the Spanish Revolution appear in today's issue of the magazine "Vu."

It includes "The Falling Soldier," a photo capturing the moment of death of 24-year-old anarchist Federico Borrell. An iconic photo of the Spanish Revolution & now one of the most famous war photographs of all time.

Federico was buried in a shallow & unmarked grave near where he fell & its whereabouts have never been traced.

[9- 25 -1936] -- Spain: Emma Goldman speaks, 10,000 turn out.


[9- 26 -1936] -- Spain: Three anarchists — Juan Doménech, Juan Fábregas & Antonio Garcia Birlan — join the Generalidad government in Catalonia.


[9- 28 -1936] -- Spain: National plenum of CNT regionals. (Here Horacio Martínez Prieto launches his political collaborationist ("pajaros carpinteros"), efforts which eventually put him outside the anarchist movement.)


[10- 2 -1936] -- Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti interview published in the Toronto Daily Star (or on Aug 5?), where he declares:

e have always lived in slums & holes in the wall. . . We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces & cities, here in Spain & in America & everywhere. We, the workers. We can build others to take their place. & better ones. We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth. There is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast & ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history.

e carry a new world here, in our hearts, & that world is growing in this minute.

— Buenaventura Durruti

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm

[10- 2 -1936] -- Spain: The CAMC (Central Anti-Fascist Militias Committee, founded July 21, 1936 in Catalonia) is wound up.


[10- 3 -1936] --

"We make war & revolution at the same time. The militiaman has to know that he fights for the conquest of the land, the factories, culture ... the pick & the shovel are as valuable as the gun." — Buenaventura Durruti, anarchist, interview October 3, 1936

[10- 8 -1936] -- Spain: Emile Cottin dies, a combatant in the international group of the anarchist Durruti Column during the Spanish Revolution.

[10- 9 -1936] -- Anarchist journal "Guerre de classe" appears. Founded by Camillo Berneri. In 1936, Berneri also published the bilingual anarchist & antifascist paper "Italia Libera/Free Italy" in collaboration with Vernon Richards. His daughter Marie Louise Berneri was a member of the group that edited "Revolt," "War Commentary" & ""Freedom"" (still currently publishing), which were issued by the Freedom Bookstore (originally co-founded by Peter Kropotkin) in London.


[10- 17 -1936] -- Spain: In Perdiguera (Aragon), the International Group of the
Durruti Column, composed of 250 anarchists, engage in a battle against the fascists.

Many friends & partners are killed...

[Details]

[10- 18 -1936] -- Spain: Emma Goldman addresses a mass meeting of 16,000 people organized by the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (Iberian Anarchist Federation [FAI]) youth in Barcelona.

Also during the month she visits the Aragon front for two days where she is honored to meet Buenaventura Durruti, a leading FAI activist & militia commander. From the 20th to the 26th, in Valencia, with German exiles Anita & Hanns-Erich Kaminski, Goldman tours collectivized villages & farms.



[10- 25 -1936] -- France: Bernard Thomas lives. Libertarian journalist for "Canard Enchaîné." Wrote Alexandre Marius Jacob (1970), Les provocations policières (1972) & Aurore ou la génération perdue (1984), Anarchism & Violence: Severino di Giovanni, etc.

"…As I see things, I am not a robber. In creating man, Nature gave him the right to live & man has the duty to exercise that right in full. So if society fails to provide him with the wherewithal to survive, the human being is entitled to seize what he needs from wherever there is plenty." — Alexandre Marius Jacob See Jacob (Alexandre Marius, alias Escande, alias Attila, alias Georges, alias Bonnet, alias Féran, alias Georges, alias the Burglar), by Bernard Thomas, (Introduction Alfredo M. Bonanno), Elephant Editions Alexandre Jacob (1879-1954) is the original "Arsene Lupin" in the French detective novels of Maurice Leblanc, with only slight exagerations which made him a sensational "fictional" character.

[11- 4 -1936] -- Spain: Four leaders of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo], the largest union in the country, bag their principles during the Spanish Revolution & join the "Popular Front" government as Cabinet Ministers, helping reduce "social revolution" to just another "civil war."

[Details / context]

[11- 4 -1936] -- Spain: Juan Peiro Belis (1887-1942) appointed Minister of Industry in the Republican government under Caballero Largo.

With the defeat in Spain, Peiro takes refuge in France in 1939, but is turned over to Franco by Pétain's fascist government & is shot in 1942 after refusing to collaborate with the Franco government.

[Details / context]

[11- 5 -1936] -- Spain: Buenaventura Durruti makes a radio broadcast from the Madrid front, in which he opposes the decree issued by the Generalidad militarizing the militias, & calls for greater commitment & sacrifice from the rearguard if the war is to be won.

"We make war & revolution at the same time. The militiaman has to know that he fights for the conquest of the land, the factories, culture ... the pick & the shovel are as valuable as the gun."

In July, 1936, Durruti was one of the most important leaders of the CNT masses that prevented the fascist military coup in Barcelona. After the uprising was suppressed, he inmediately lead militia columns to retake Zaragoza, which was occupied by these nationalists. He spread his ideas about 'libertarian communism' as he marched into Aragon, as the doctrinal basis of the 'communes' recently established there.

http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/
http://www.chisholm-poster.com/...Spanish+Civil+War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf1Fz5bbAB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b4Ee_pjuKU

[11- 6 -1936] -- Spain: The Republic's government (along with the four new anarcho-syndicalist ministers) flees Madrid for the safety of Valencia. The populace of Madrid's response is the cry of "Long live Madrid without government!"


[11- 7 -1936] -- Spain: Increasingly aware of her inability to speak Spanish hindering her work in Spain, Emma Goldman plans to shift to publicity work & fund raising in Great Britain or the United States, where she could make a greater contribution.

The threat of Nationalist forces to Madrid prompts the government to relocate to Valencia, including four anarchists ('pajaros carpinteros'),who have accepted major ministry posts just days ago. While recognizing the paramount need to fight the fascists, Emma Goldman is troubled by the CNT-FAI's direction, especially its decision to join the government & effectively align itself with pro-Soviet forces. In her correspondence with close friends, she is highly critical of the collaborative direction of the CNT [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo], but publicly remains supportive.

[11- 11 -1936] --

Comrades of Cataluna! In your hour of trial when you hold the barricades not only for yourselves but for us all, I greet you with the voice of revolutionary Ireland, smothered awhile but destined to regain its strength. I hold myself honoured to be among you, to serve if I can in whatever capacity I can be most useful. — J. R. White (Captain Jack White, founder of the Irish Citizens Army, became one of the ‘The Uncontrollables’ while fighting in Spain), CNT-AIT Boletin de Informacion. No. 15, November 11th 1936 [Details / context]

[11- 15 -1936] -- Spain: Today 1,800 militiamen from the best of the Durruti Column enter into combat at University City (Madrid).

Buenaventura Durruti was called to the defense of Madrid, but had refused to leave the Aragon front. Later he was persuaded as his presence would lend moral support to the fighters. The combat & the bombings were terrifying. Madrid was the first civilized city in the world subjected to a fascist attack as a prelude to WWII. Franco initiated the attack he thought would be the final one. At University City combat was hand to hand.

By the 18th only 700 of the 1800 anarchist militiamen remained. On the 19th Durruti was told some militiamen were deserting positions as they had been without eating or sleeping for five days. Durruti went by car to the Clinic Hospital & on the way stopped to persuade some militiamen to return to their positions. As he got back in the car he was mortally wounded by a shot to the chest. He died at dawn on November 20.

[11- 19 -1936] --

Spain: This afternoon, Buenaventura Durruti is mortally wounded under uncertain circumstances while helping to defend Madrid. Earlier this month Durruti was persuaded by Juan García Oliver & Federica Montseny to bring his column (composed of about 3,000 men) to the city to defend it against Franco's fascist army.

[Durruti & his close friend Francisco Ascaso were once bookshop owners in Paris when in exile there. Both were also condemned to death by the Argentine government as anarchist agitators... Indeed, even the Stalinist hack, Ilya Ehrenburg, later remarked with pride that four capitalist States had condemned Durruti to death.]

We have it here growing in our hearts, as your comrade said, & when we give it up with our last breaths someone will gasp it home to their lives. — Philip Levine http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/scw/durruti.html

[11- 20 -1936] -- Spain: Buenaventura Durruti y Domingo, the famous & beloved Spanish anarchist, shot in the lung yesterday, dies this morning at 6a.m.

Son of a socialist railroad worker, he began working for railroads at age 14. Later became a bookseller, briefly, in Paris, with his closest friend, Francisco Ascaso (who was also killed during the Spanish Revolution). Durruti became, & remains today, the major legendary figure of the Revolution. See also 14 July 1896 Durruti's body was taken to Barcelona, where he was buried in a ceremony attended by over 200-500,000 people. His total belongings, when he died, were a few clothes, two pistols, sunglasses & a pair of binoculars. Durruti was a member of "Los Justicieros" & "Los Solidarios," who fought against the pistoleros of the capitalist employers & the clergy. But the groups were decimated by repression, leaving only Gregorio Jover, Ascaso & Garcia & himself. They fled to France & began the "International Bookshop." Durruti went also to Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay & then was involved in a plot against King Alphonse XIII. Eventually arrested, Spain & Argentina tried to extradite them, but they were successfully defended by the Anarchist Union & Louis Lecoin. Released & expelled, they went to Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, & Germany before slipping clandestinely back into France. In Spain, when Franco & the military attempted to overthrow the Republican government, Durruti participated in an attack on the military garrison of Barcelona, where Ascaso was killed. On July 23 he formed the column which bears his name & defeated the fascists in Aragon, where the liberated peasants & workers reorganized themselves into anarchist collectives. Attempts to liberate Saragossa failed for lack of weapons & the Durruti column was then asked to defend Madrid, now threatened by the fascists. It is here that Durruti is killed, apparently from a stray bullet to the lung. Durruti's funeral in Barcelona was attended by 500,000 people http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/durruti.html In Spanish: http://usuarios.lycos.es/durruti/ http://struggle.ws/spaindx.html

[11- 22 -1936] -- Spain: Over 500,000 attend the funeral of the anarchist Buenaventura Durruti in Barcelona.

It is an immense popular & emotional outpouring for a figure who incarnated the Spanish libertarian revolution so well, the hope of a new world become possible. It was one of the most significant demonstrations in worker history.

Peter Newell & Emma Goldman on Durruti:
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Durruti.htm
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/


[11- 22 -1936] -- Bonaventura Durruti Dumange

Enterrament del líder anarquista Bonaventura Durruti Dumange a Barcelona el 22 de novembre de 1936
Arxiu ECSA


[11- 30 -1936] -- US: "Yippie" leader Abbot (Abbie) Hoffman, aka "Free," lives, Worcester, Massachusetts. Wrote the philosophical Steal This Book, & the anarchist dance classic, Square Dancing in the Ice Age. Consummate joiner (Chicago 7, Viet Nam War protester, etc.).

"Confusion is mightier than the sword."

       — Abbie Hoffman

Steal this Website, http://www.hayduke.com/

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

— Abbie Hoffman

Daily Bleed Saint 2003-4

Steal this Calendar!

"Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit."

       — Abbie Hoffman, Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

[12- 6 -1936] -- Spain: In "Solidaridad Obrera" Jaime Balius publishes an article entitled "Durruti's Testament" in which he claims "Durruti bluntly asserted that we anarchists require that the Revolution be totalitarian in character."

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Durruti.htm

[12- 15 -1936] -- George Orwell dispatches manuscript of The Road to Wigan Pier to publishers & leaves for the revolution in Spain.
http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/


[12- 17 -1936] -- USSR: In Moscow, Pravda announces that in Catalonia (Spain), the "cleaning" out of Trotskyites & the anarcho-syndicalists has already started. Stalin's agents will carry out these purges:

"As for Catalonia, the purging of Trotskyist & anarcho-syndicalist elements has begun; this work will be carried out with the same energy with which it was done in the USSR."

[12- 17 -1936] -- Spain: Large international meeting organized by the Regional Committee of the C.N.T. Among the many speakers are Pierre Besnard, secretary of the A.I.T; Paul Lapeyre, C.G.T- S.R delegate; Gaston Leval, for the C.N.T. of Catalonia; Lorenzo Justi for the Italian section; etc.



[12- 23 -1936] -- England: Emma Goldman arrives in London & finds the propaganda bureau of the Generalitat in a shambles.

Earlier in the month, while in Barcelona, Emma was named official representative in London of the CNT-FAI & of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Vernon Richards's twice-monthly Spain & the World appears to be her most reliable vehicle for communicating about the conditions & aspirations of the Spanish anarchists.

[12- 25 -1936] --

Spain: Generalitat de Catalogne publishes a decree legalizing abortion. Pushed for by the women's anarchist group "Mujeres Libres," & enacted because of the strong presence of the libertarians. Article 4 specifies abortions should not exceed three months pregnancy, except in the event of therapeutic need.

[12- 25 -1936] -- France: French anarchist militant Paul Bernard lives.
[Details / context]


[12- 29 -1936] -- Spain: Publication of issue No. 1 of the anarchist "Ideas."

dans le Bas Llobregat (près de Barcelone), lancement par des militants anarchistes de l'hebdomadaire "Ideas", qui restera fidèle à l'idéal libertaire et à l'action révolutionnaire et se montrera hostile à la collaboration des anarchistes au gouvernement.

[1- 3 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman begins organizing a publicity campaign about the Spanish Revolution.

Aside from the London anarchists, Emma finds allies among leading members of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), including Fenner Brockway & especially writer Ethel Mannin.

[Details / context]

[1- 18 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman speaks on "The Spanish Revolution & the CNT-FAI" at a large meeting chaired by novelist Ethel Mannin in London.

[Details / context]

[1- 26 -1937] -- Spain: Jaime (or Jaume) Balius appointed director of La Noche. Wrote the pamphlet "Towards a Fresh Revolution."


[1- 31 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures on Spain in Plymouth.



[2- 5 -1937] -- Spain: Plenary assembly of the confederal & anarchist militias meeting in Valencia, February 5-8, to consider the militarization issue.


[2- 5 -1937] -- Spain: During the war years in Spain, there was a systematic persecution of Esperantist activities in the zone occupied by General Franco. During this month in Malaga, the Esperantist group was shot "for the unique reason they were Esperantists." Ironically, the man responsible for such a crime became honorary president of an Esperantist Congresss 31 years later.

Similarly, during the mass persecutions by Stalin in the '30s, many Esperantists are arrested & murdered, including the Esperantist poet Eugen Michalski & esperantologist Ernest Drezen. Esperantists are treated as suspects by the Soviet regime, because of their contacts abroad through Esperanto.

[2- 13 -1937] -- Scotland: In Glasgow, Emma Goldman meets with local anarchists at the home of Frank Leech, secretary of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation.


[2- 14 -1937] --

Saragossa, Spain 14 y 15 de febrero

"Congreso Extraordinario de Colectividades de Aragón donde se funda la Federación de Colectividades de Aragón" Meets today & tomorrow at the Teatro Goya, in Caspe, Saragossa. 456 delegates represent 150,000 to 300,000 colectivistas, & some 275 to 500 active collectives (with still others joining soon after). Adopted measures include defending & promoting collectives, the suppression of currency, & the construction of a true federalism.

[2- 14 -1937] -- Scotland: Emma Goldman speaks in Glasgow to an audience of 600 on "The Part of the CNT-FAI in the Spanish Revolution" in the afternoon; & in Paisley on "The CNT-FAI & Collectivisation" in the evening.



[2- 19 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman & writer/novelist Ethel Mannin speak on "The Relation of the Church in Spain with Fascism," at Friends House, London, under the joint auspices of the C.N.T.-FAI London Committee & the ILP.



[2- 20 -1937] -- England: Spanish exhibition opens, to raise funds for Spanish refugees. (A broad English coalition sympathetic to the Republican cause mounted the exhibition of photographs, cartoons, posters, & pamphlets from Spain. It is a financial failure, & in March, & in response, Emma Goldman begins organizing a benefit in London.)



[2- 22 -1937] -- Tomás Herreros Miguel dies. Writer, gifted speaker, active in the Arte de Imprimir, organizer, & a street activist.

Spanish anarcho-syndicalist militant frequently jailed — it was while cooling his heels in a Madrid jail that Herreros introduced Diego Abad de Santillán to anarchism.

CNT militant, editor of "Solidaridad Obrera" & "Tierra y Libertad," Herreros' high profile accounts for his having been harassed & even targeted for murder (Baldrich's rightwing gunmen stabbed him with a stiletto as he stood in front of his book stand).

[2- 28 -1937] -- England: With novelist Ethel Mannin, Emma Goldman speaks on the revolution in Spain, in Bristol.



[3- 4 -1937] -- Spain: The newspaper "La Noche" carries an announcement introducing the aims, characteristics & membership conditions of the anarchist Friends of Durruti Group. Also, the Generalidad issues a decree winding up the Control Patrols. In "La Batalla", Nin passes favorable & hopeful comment on an article by Jaime Balius carried in the March 2nd edition of "La Noche". alt: Jaume Balius; anarquista, anarchist
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm


[3- 7 -1937] -- England: Disappointed by the financial failure of the Spanish exhibition that opened February 20th, this month Emma Goldman begins organizing a benefit performance in London for the refugee women & children in Spain.


[3- 10 -1937] --

"i wanted nothing & don't want anything to do with order, rank orders & commands. i am as i am, a peasant who learned to read in prison, who experienced pain & death close by, who was an anarchist without knowing it, & today, now that i know, i am even more anarchist than yesterday, when i killed to be free." From Nosotros, — anarchist daily — March 1937

[3- 11 -1937] -- Gudell notifies Emma Goldman (in England) of the establishment of a new committee composed of members from the C.N.T. [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo] & the FAI to handle all foreign propaganda matters, in order to alleviate inefficiency caused by the personal & political rivalry between Augustin Souchy & Helmut Rudiger (aka M. Dashar) over propaganda.


[3- 17 -1937] -- Spain: The Friends of Durruti Group is formally established.

The growth of the Group was a consequence of anarchist unease with the CNT's policy of compromise with the Republican government.
See the Anarchist Encyclopedia,
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm

[3- 18 -1937] -- Spain: Battles in Guadalajara (March 8 through 18) end in victory for the Republican forces (the International Brigades & a division controlled by the anarchist Cipriano Mera) over the fascist nationalist camp composed of Italian, Moroccan troops & strongly armed & motorized Carlists attempting to seize Madrid.


[3- 21 -1937] -- Spain: The anarchist Iron Column meets in assembly to vote on militarization or disbandment: it agrees to militarization.


[3- 28 -1937] -- Spain: Late March-early April: A flyer bearing the endorsement of the anarchist Friends of Durruti Group is issued.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm


[3- 31 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman lectures on Spain at a meeting in East London.



[4- 1 -1937] -- US: Abe Bluestein & Selma Cohen head to Spain to aid the anarchists.


[4- 4 -1937] -- England: In Bristol Emma Goldman speaks in the afternoon to a conference of ILP delegates & in the evening on "The Relation of the Church in Spain with Fascism" at a meeting arranged by the local ILP.

Also during this month in her correspondence with the Spanish comrades Emma criticizes the C.N.T. [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo, the anarcho-syndicalist labor union, which is the largest union in Spain] for collaborating ('pajaros carpinteros') with the Communists & accepting Soviet support; publicly she remains an unwavering supporter.

[4- 7 -1937] -- Spain: Italian anarchist militant Antonio Cieri (1898–1937) is killed on the Huesca front during the Spanish Revolution.
... show more details

A leading light in the anti-fascist Arditi del Popolo, during five days in August 1922 he participated in the successful defence of working class neighbourhoods from heavily armed fascist squads which numbered 20,000. With the militant socialist Picelli he was one of the principal organisers of the resistance. Barricades were thrown up & the whole working class population came out. The fascists were resisted with firearms, rocks, & knives.

An amusing incident from these days of high drama: as Antonio & his comrades were raising a barricade, they saw a priest come cycling up fast. After a sarcastic exchange between Antonio & the priest, the latter led him into the church. Antonio had not set foot in such a place since childhood. Grabbing one end of a bench, the priest commanded Antonio to help him carry it outside to reinforce the barricade.

All the benches were removed from the church, but the priest stopped the confessional box being added to the barricade. Soon, he said, you will be killing fascists & breaking the fifth commandment & would need to be confessed!

The heroic defence of the working class neighbourhoods has been immortalised in the historical novel Oltretorrente by Pino Cacucci.

Forced into exile, he went to Paris where he founded the anarchist paper "Umanita Nova" with Camillo Berneri & others & for a long time was its editor.

In 1936 he went to Spain & was a founder of the Italian Column which became attached to the Ascaso Column & was one of its commanders alongside fellow Abruzzese Giuseppe Bifolchi from December 1936 until his death today during an assault. There were strong suspicions that he had been shot in the back by a Stalinist & this allegation was made in "Guerra di Classe," Berneri’s paper.

His two children, Ubaldo & Renee, were adopted & brought up by Giovanna Caleffi, the companion of Camillo Berneri.

On 22 October 2006 a plaque in his memory was put up in the neighbourhood which he had helped defend against the fascists in Parma.

[4- 8 -1937] -- Spain: In "Ideas," Jaime Balius' article entitled "Let's make revolution," he critically argues, "if [Companys] had a larger contingent of armed forces at his disposal, he would have the working class back in the capitalist harness."


[4- 14 -1937] -- Spain: Friends of Durruti Group," (former anarchists in the Durruti Column) issues a Manifesto opposing commemoration of the anniversary of the Republic, arguing it is merely a pretext for reinforcing bourgeois institutions & the counterrevolution.


[4- 16 -1937] -- Spain: Andreu Capdevila Puig (1894 -1987) fou conseller d'Economia de la Generalitat de Catalunya (16 d'abril - 5 de maig de 1937) i després president del Consell d'Economia. Dirigent del Sindicat Tèxtil de la CNT, actuà especialment a Sant Andreu de Palomar (Barcelona). El 1939 s'exilià a Perpinyà. Continuà militant a la CNT, i col.laborà regularment en els periòdics sindicalistes "Le Combat" de París i "L'Espoir" de Tolosa de Llenguadoc.


[4- 18 -1937] -- Spain: "Friends of Durruti Group," (anarchists, formerly part of the Durruti Column) hold their first public meeting, with four speakers addressing about 1,000 workers.

[Details / context]

[4- 25 -1937] -- Spain: The UGT leader Roldán Cortada is murdered in Molins del Llobregat.
Source: [Anarchist chronology; Agustin Guillamón]


[4- 25 -1937] -- England: The benefit concert for the Spanish refugees, which Emma Goldman has worked frantically to produce, is held at Victoria Palace. With Paul Robeson's performance, it is an artistic success but raises less money than Emma had hoped for.



[4- 27 -1937] -- Spain: Armed conflict between anarchists & Generalidad forces in Bellver de Cerdaña, April 27 & 28. Antonio Martin, the anarchist mayor of Puigcerdá, is shot dead.
[Source: Agustin Guillamón, Friends of Durruti Group]


[4- 28 -1937] -- England: Manchester Guardian publishes Emma Goldman's letter criticizing its report that Catalonia had contributed little to the defense of Madrid.



[5- 1 -1937] -- Spain: The only meetings in Barcelona on May Day is indoors, a small meeting by the 'Those of Yesterday & Those of Today' adhering to the Friends of Durruti Group, & an anarchist nudist group meeting on the value of music.
[Details / context]


[5- 1 -1937] -- England: 60,000 people take part in a May Day demonstration & march that includes anarchists for the first time in 30 years. Under the auspices of the London Committee of the C.N.T.-FAI, Emma Goldman speaks at the conclusion of the march in Hyde Park.


[5- 2 -1937] -- Spain: Friends of Durruti rally at the Goya Theater, where the film 19 de julio is screened to comments from Jaume Balius: there are speeches by Liberto Callejas & Francisco Carreño as well. Anarchist militants from the C.N.T. also interrupt a telephone conversation between Companys & Azana.


[5- 3 -1937] -- Spain: Republican government attacks workers; beginning of open resistance to both the Republican & Communist authorities by radical workers, anarchists, & others opposing the regional government takeover of the worker-run telephone company in Barcelona.

Fighting spreads to all parts of the city, lasting for four days.

Stalinists denounce Trotskyite P.O.U.M. as "Franco's Fifth Column," in preparation for liquidating (assassinations, etc.) independent Spanish leftists & anarchists (similar to Stalin's purges in Russia).

[Details / context]

[5- 4 -1937] -- Spain: (Tuesday): Gun-battles throughout the night in Barcelona. Many barricades & violent clashes throughout the city.

In the Sants barrio 400 Guards are stripped of their weapons. Companys asks the Valencia government for aircraft to bomb the anarchist CNT's premises & barracks. The CNT-controlled artillery on Montjuich & Tibidabo is trained on the Generalidad Palace....
[Details / context]

[5- 5 -1937] -- Barcelona: "May Days" erupt in Spain, as Communists attack anarchist strongholds. (If the right one don't get you, the left one will.)
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/


[5- 5 -1937] -- Spain: This evening, in Barcelona, the Italian anarchist theorist/activist Camillo Berneri & Francesco Barbieri are seized by the Communists, presumably on Moscow's orders (Stalinist purges). Their bodies are found tomorrow, riddled with bullets. Camillo's eldest daughter, Marie-Louise Berneri, fighting on the front in Aragon, returns to Barcelona for her father's funeral.


[5- 5 -1937] -- Spain: (Wednesday) May 5, 1937: A handbill is distributed by the Friends of Durruti. Over the radio, the CNT disowns the Friends of Durruti Group. Fighting is now confined to the city center: the rest of the city is in the hands of the confederal Defense Committees.
[Details / context]


[5- 6 -1937] -- Spain: (Thursday): "La Batalla" reprints the Friends of Durruti handbill. "La Batalla" also appeals for workers to back down. The paper "Solidaridad Obrera" disowns the Friends of Durruti handbill.

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm

[5- 7 -1937] -- Spain: Return to "normalization" in Barcelona. The Republican government had sent troops to take over the telephone exchange on May 3, pitting the anarchists & Poumists on one side against the Republican government & the Stalinist Communist Party on the other. Squads of Communist Party members took to the streets yesterday, to assassinate leading anarchists, resulting in pitched street battles, leaving 500 anarchists killed.

Today, among those found murdered in the Stalinist purge, is the Italian anarchist Camillo Berneri, an outspoken anti-communist.

[5- 8 -1937] -- Spain: (Saturday): Barricades are dismantled, except for the PSUC barricades, which persist into June. The Friends of Durruti distribute a manifesto reviewing the events of May. In that manifesto there is talk of "treachery" by the CNT leadership.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm


[5- 8 -1937] -- Spain: Creation of the International Antifascist Solidarity (S.I.A.).
... show details

Herrera was secretary of the General Council of the S.I.A. (International Antifascist Solidarity); his replacement in 1938 is Lucia Sanchez Saornil, the Spanish poet & artist, & founder of Mujeres Libres.

[5- 9 -1937] -- Spain: (Sunday): "Solidaridad Obrera" dismisses the manifesto issued yesterday by the Friends of Durruti as demagoguery & the Group's members as provocateurs. Their manifesto had spoken of "treachery" by the CNT leadership.
[Source: Agustin Guillamón, Friends of Durruti Group]


[5- 17 -1937] -- Spain: Beloved & Revered Comrade Leader Juan Negrin, takes over from B&RCL Largo Caballero as premier.

Negrin forms a communist government which excludes the anarchists & begins repressing those elements it cannot control (including assassinations & summary executions). Some earlier revolutionary reforms are rescinded.

Republican attacks on Segovia & Huesca fail. The UGT Regional Committee for Catalonia demands that all POUM militants be expelled from its ranks & presses the C.N.T. [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo] to mete out the same treatment to the Friends of Durruti.
[Sources]

[5- 20 -1937] -- Spain: Author & one-time used book seller George Orwell, sympathetic to the anarchists, & fighting for the Republic, is shot on the front lines. His Homage to Catalonia is based on his experiences during the Spanish Revolution.

It is the left-wing papers, the "News Chronicle" & the "Daily Worker," with their far subtler methods of distortion, that have prevented the British public from grasping the real nature of the struggle.

The fact which these papers have so carefully obscured is that the Spanish Government (including the semi-autonomous Catalan Government) is far more afraid of the revolution than of the Fascists.

— George Orwell, "Spilling the Spanish Beans," 1937

[5- 22 -1937] -- Spain: A plenary session of the C.N.T.'s [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo] Local & Comarcal Federations hears a proposal that the Friends of Durruti be expelled. A session of the Sabadell city council agrees that councilor Bruno Lladó Roca (also the Generalidad's comarcal delegate for Economy) be stood down for having displayed a Friends of Durruti poster in his office.


[5- 23 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman speaks on the Spanish revolution in Norwich at a well-attended meeting sponsored by the Norwich Freedom Group, the ILP, & the Labour League of Youth.


[5- 26 -1937] -- Spain: Issue No. 2 of El Amigo del Pueblo appears, having evaded the censor. Jaime Balius is jailed a few days later as the director of a clandestine publication, following a complaint from the PSUC.


[5- 28 -1937] -- Spain: "La Batalla" is shut down, as is the POUM's radio station. The Friends of Durruti's social premises in the Ramblas are also shut down.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm

http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/RexrothRequiem.htm

[6- 4 -1937] -- England: Emma Goldman & Fenner Brockway (a former pacifist & CO) speak on "Conditions in Spain" in London. Emma formed the C.N.T.-FAI London Committee in 1936 & was made representative of CNT-FAI Exterior Propaganda London bureau.

Federico ARCOS: I woke up to the factory sirens. & it was as if the whole of Barcelona was pulsing to a single heartbeat, the sort of thing that only happens maybe once in a century… &, if I may say so, it has left its mark on my life & I can still feel that emotion. http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/utopia.htm

[6- 6 -1937] -- Spain: The Control Patrols are disbanded.


[6- 16 -1937] -- Spain: Members of the POUM Executive Committee & foreign activists are rounded up. POUM is outlawed & its militants persecuted by the counter-revolutionary Stalinists & the Republic's police.

Ethel MacDonald visited comrades in prison, smuggling in food & letters. She helped several foreign anarchists escape from Spain, borrowing clothes for their disguise & getting them on board foreign ships. She herself was finally captured & imprisoned. In prison she helped organise a hunger strike in every prison where there were anarchist prisoners.

[Details / context]

[6- 21 -1937] -- Spain: Andrés Nin, leader of the POUM, is murdered by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Uncle Joe's Russian agents. The POUM, like the anarchists, are committed to revolution, which the Republican government & the Communists oppose, as they seek to consolidate their own power at the expense of everyone else in the face of the fascist armies. Anyone left of the North Pole is susceptible to Stalinist largess...


[6- 22 -1937] -- Spain: Between June 22-24, Andrés Nin is kidnapped & murdered by the Soviet secret police who are on a campaign to destroy Republican & anarchist forces they cannot control.
[Background Details, here]



[6- 22 -1937] -- Spain: "El Amigo del Pueblo" No. 4 is published.
[Source: Agustin Guillamón, Friends of Durruti Group]
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm


[6- 23 -1937] -- Spain: Following the Communist suppression of the anarchists & the P.O.U.M., in which he served during the Spanish Civil War & Revolution, George Orwell flees with his wife.

The end of the war on April 1, 1939, did not end the killings. Franco systematically slaughtered some 200,000 of his opponents ... in a carnage of genocidal proportions that was meant to physically uproot the living source of the revolution...

[I]t was a vindictive counterrevolution that had its only parallel, given the population & size of Spain, in Stalin's one-sided civil war against the Soviet people.

http://recollectionbooks.com/links.html#GeorgeOrwell
http://www.hack.org/mc/mirror/www.spunk.org/library/writers/bookchin/sp001642/fifty.html
http://recollectionbooks.com/anow/history/spain/orwell-hom.html
http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8195/blasts/pointblank/spanishrevolution.htm

[6- 25 -1937] -- José Martins Fontes dies. Portuguese doctor, lecturer, poet, anarchist, militant activist in Brazil.

Célebre poeta e médico santista, José Martins Fontes nasceu em 23/6/1884 e faleceu em 25/6/1937, também em Santos. Suas principais obras: Arlequinadas, Verão, Rosicler, Nos Rosais das Estrelas, A Canção de Ariel, Nós e as Abelhas e Decameron. O texto desta página foi publicado em Antologia de Humorismo e Sátira, de R. Magalhães, Jr.

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/MartinsFontes/josemartins.htm

[6- 26 -1937] -- Spain: Showing solidarity with POUM militants being persecuted by the Stalinists & the Republic's police, the Bolshevik-Leninist Section calls for concerted action by the Section, the left of the POUM & the anarchist Friends of Durruti.

Federico ARCOS: Ours was the world’s first anarchist revolution & no revolution not controlled by the Communist Party mattered a damn to the communists, nor could they allow it to proceed.

... show details

Francisco CARRASQUER: You will be aware already of what befell the collectives, of how Lister turned up with his whole army & finished them off, root & branch, at the point of a gun; & therein lies the great paradox; that the communists put paid to the most communistic of communisms.

Antonio ZAPATA: So along he came & he fitted the bill perfectly & he carried out the massacres we all know about.

Miguel CELMA: Lister did what he did because, just as in Russia, the Bolsheviks, dictators that they are, could not countenance the emergence of a libertarian experiment along the lines that were seen in Aragon. They had jailed the Council of Aragon in its entirety. & in the rearguard they were jailing the officers of the collectives in places like Calanda, etc.

[7- 4 -1937] -- Portugal: The anarcho-syndicalist Emidio Santana (see 1906 above) attempts to kill Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Dictator Salazar. Emídio is sent to prison for 14 years.



[7- 14 -1937] -- Emma Goldman, on or about this day, writes the introduction to a new commemorative edition of Alexander Berkman's ABC of Anarchism to be published by the "Freie Arbeiter Stimme". Emma also views "Fury Over Spain," a film by American Louis Frank; considers organizing a public showing of the film to raise funds for Mujeres Libres.


[7- 26 -1937] -- Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980) lives. Brazilian painter, performance artist, & anarchist.

Created environmental, participatory events—among them Parangolé (1964), Tropicália (1967) & Apocalipopótesis (1968)— either in art centres or in the street.

One of the leading exhibitors in the exhibition Nova objetividade brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1967), which reactivated Brazil's avant-garde.

See The Grove Dictionary of Art,
http://www.artnet.com/library/06/0633/T063335.asp



[8- 8 -1937] -- France: In Paris, Emma Goldman is troubled by the violent opposition among her closest anarchist comrades to the CNT-FAI's unwillingness to confront the Communists' assault on its opponents on the Left & its undermining of the revolution. She obtains Spanish & French visas that will enable her to travel to Spain after all.



[8- 10 -1937] -- Spain: The Council of Aragon is forcibly disbanded by the Republican government.

"[...] the 11th Mobile Division of Commander Lister (a Stalinist), supported by tanks, went into action against the collectives. Aragon was invaded like an enemy country, those in charge of socialized enterprises were arrested..."

[Details / context]


[8- 11 -1937] -- Spain: Council of Aragon dissolved by decree of the Republican government (acting on the behest of the Communists).

During the Spanish Revolution Aragon is a revolutionary bastion of anarchist idealism & practice. Members of the Council are arrested, including its president, Joaquim Ascaso (brother of Francisco). The 11th division, directed by the Stalinist Líster, is sent in to destroy the agriculture collectives & prevent any possible peasant revolt. Over 600 CNT labor militants are arrested & some are shot in the name of "restoring official order."

[8- 20 -1937] -- Spain: Founding National Congress of the anarchist women's group, "Mujeres Libres," in Valencia.


[8- 21 -1937] -- Emma Goldman travels to Nice & later in the month to St. Tropez for her final stay at Bon Esprit, which is sold shortly after her departure for Spain the following month, temporarily freeing Goldman from financial worries & allowing her to continue her work for the anarchists in Spain.



[8- 26 -1937] -- Spain: Santander falls to the Nationalists.
[Details / context]
[Sources]


[8- 31 -1937] -- Spain: José Pellicer-Gandia released by the Communists.

Spanish anarchist, during the Spanish Revolution of 1936 he was member of Durruti's famed "Iron Column." In March 1937, Pellicer was named commander before again being wounded. He was also imprisoned a few months in Barcelona by the Communists. Released on August 31, 1937, he then headed a battalion.

[9- 4 -1937] -- "Contemporary Nationalism," by Crane Brinton appears in "The Saturday Review," September 4, 1937, p. 17. A review of Rudolf Rocker's book, Nationalism & Culture.


[9- 16 -1937] -- Spain: Emma Goldman visits until November 5, primarily in Barcelona.

Emma finds the agricultural & industrial collectives in Catalonia in better condition than a year before, though overall conditions in Barcelona are very discouraging compared to Madrid & Valencia, especially for refugee women & children.

Emma is alarmed by the number of political prisoners being held by the Republican government, especially anarchists & POUM members. She receives promises of support for a more intensive campaign on behalf of the CNT-FAI in England, including funds for an office & for the publication of Spain & the World.

[9- 21 -1937] -- J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit published.

The anarchist Michael Moorcock, also a fantasy & scifi writer, despises Tolkien's written work, calling the Lord of the Rings,

"John Buchan for teenagers. A compendium of disguised bigotry & English high church snobbery.

"I hate it for exactly those qualities which made it so popular. It's a lullaby. Not sure we need lullabies at the moment.

"Unless we're all just going to give up, go to sleep & wake up dead."

http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/Moorcock.htm

[9- 28 -1937] -- Spain: With Augustin Souchy, Emma Goldman leaves Valencia for Barcelona, which comes under bombardment by Franco's fascist forces a few days later.


[10- 2 -1937] -- US: Two showings this evening of the Louis Frank film, "Fury over Spain," in Detroit, Michigan.


[10- 18 -1937] -- Pedro Herrera confirms Emma Goldman's new role as London representative of the SIA (International Antifascist Solidarity), formed in the summer to provide relief to Spanish refugees & to promote international solidarity for the Spanish anarchists.
[Further details]


[11- 5 -1937] -- Germany: Julius Nolden, a car plant worker from Duisburg is sentenced by the "The People's Court" in Berlin to a 10 year prison term for "preparing an act of high treason with aggravating circumstances."

Nolden was head of the FAUD (anarcho-syndicalist Free Union of German Workers) in the Rhineland when that underground Organisation was dismantled by the Gestapo in January 1937. Arrested with him were 88 other male & female anarcho-syndicalists who stood trial in early 1938.

Nolden & his colleagues laid the groundwork for a network to smuggle people out to Amsterdam & distributed antifascist propaganda. Anti-Nazi pamphlets circulating at the time under cover of the title "Eat German Fruit & Stay Healthy" were so popular among miners that they used to greet each other with:

"Have you eaten your fruit?"

All but six were sentenced to terms ranging from several months to six years' imprisonment. Julius Nolden was sent to the Luttringhausen prison & remained there until the arrival of the Allies on 19 April 1945.

Several comrades were murdered in prison. Emil Mahnert was hurled form two storys up by a police torturer. Wilhelm Schmitz died in prison on 29 January 1944 & the circumstances of his death have never been properly clarified. Ernst Holtznagel was dispatched to the notorious 999 punishment battalion, where he was killed. Michael Delissen was beaten to death by the Gestapo in December 1936. Anton Rosinke was murdered in February 1937.

[Details / context]

[11- 11 -1937] -- Saïl Mohamed (algérien et pionnier de la lutte anti-coloniale) participe au congrès de l’Union anarchiste, dans leque il intervient pour rappeler les conditions de lutte en Espagne. Lucien Feuilllade, qui a retranscrit les propos de cette séance du congrès, a remplacé les propos de Saïl, qui comme à son habitude utilise des termes crus : « Pour avoir un fusil, j’aurais léché le cul d’un garde mobile », par « ..., j’aurais fait toutes les concessions ». (Le Libertaire n’ 575, 11 novembre 1937).

En 1934, éclate "l’affaire Saïl Mohamed." La manifestation des ligues du 6 février 1934 entraîne une réaction dans l’ensemble du mouvement ouvrier. Saïl trouve des armes, les conserve. Le 3 mars, il est arrêté pour « délit de port d’arme prohibée ». Le mouvement ouvrier lui apporte son soutien, à l’exception du Parti communiste qui le dénonce comme un agent provocateur. Condamné à un mois de prison, puis à un autre mois pour « détention d’armes de guerre », il reste quatre mois en prison.

congrès de l’Union anarchiste Du 11 au 13 novembre 1937

[12- 5 -1937] --

"Lucy Parsons", a poem by Aaron Kramer, appears in the Sunday Worker today. Lucy Parsons

Click image for larger version

[12- 6 -1937] -- The IWA meets in extra-ordinary congress in Paris (December 6 -17) to examine the CNT’s struggle in Spain, especially the problematic entry of anarchists into leading positions within the government.
[Details / context]


[12- 8 -1937] -- France: Emma Goldman is in Paris December 8-17 for the International Workingmen's Association (IWMA) Congress at Vazquez's request:

French comrades, knowing she is publicly sympathetic to the CNT-FAI's policies, try to prevent Goldman from addressing the Congress because she is not an official delegate. Spanish & Swedish delegates prevail to have her speak, & she defends the CNT-FAI's actions & the difficult decisions it has made against criticism from comrades outside Spain.

During the month Emma Goldman continues her campaign against the imprisonment of anti-Stalinist leftists & anarchists in Spain, writing an article on the subject for Spain & the World & trying to enlist the assistance of sympathetic members of Parliament in England.

[12- 11 -1937] -- Spain: Ángel Pestaña Núñez, dies, in Bagà, Barcelone.

Militant Spanish anarco-sindicalista & later a reformist who ran for election.

Many state & party officials attend his funeral, with exception of the Communists.

Indalecio Prieto, Spanish minister of defense, delivers a mourning speech, noting:

"We lost a great man, when we most needed him".
[Details / Links]

[1- 3 -1938] -- England: During this month Emma Goldman moves into new offices for the C.N.T.-FAI, S.I.A., & the publication "Spain & the World" in central London, but finds little enthusiasm for the S.I.A. (International Antifascist Solidarity) venture, as numerous antifascist organizations & Spanish aid committees already exist.

US labor leader & anarchist Rose Pesotta meets with Emma in London; promises to help organize a committee to obtain a US visa for Goldman.

[Details / context]

[1- 4 -1938] -- Spain: During this month the pamphlet Towards a Fresh Revolution is drafted by Jaime Balius & published by the anarchist militant group Friends of Durruti.

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DurrutiColumnEarly.htm

[1- 14 -1938] -- England: Ethel Mannin & Emma Goldman speak on "The Betrayal of the Spanish People" at a CNT-FAI program in London; the audience turns against the Communists when they attempt to break up the meeting.

[Details / context]

[1- 28 -1938] -- France: Emile Bidault (1869-1938) dies.

Anarchist militant & organizer. With Joseph Tortelier & others, Bidault founded the "Ligue des antipatriotes" (League of Antipatriots) to combat militarism, the war it promotes, & its corollary, patriotism.

Editor of "La Brochure mensuelle" &, in 1934, manager of the "Conquête du pain" (Conquest of Bread), a libertarian review open to all the tendencies of anarchism (N° 1 appeared on October 13, 1934).

[2- 2 -1938] -- England: During this month Emma Goldman plans a spring benefit for the SIA; feels more confident about its prospects when more individuals agree to serve as sponsors, including art critic Sir Herbert Read, Laurence Housman, Havelock Ellis, John Cowper Powys, George Orwell, & Rebecca West, among others.

Also, related, an exhibition of drawings by children in Barcelona schools & lace work by women refugees opens at the SIA office but draws only a handful of visitors despite extensive publicity; & the first issue of the S.I.A. bulletin is published.

[2- 6 -1938] -- Algeria: Han Ryner (1895-1938) dies. French teacher, anticlericalist, pacifist, anarchist, philosopher (called a "contemporary Socrates"). See 7 December & 7 January 1895. Married to poet/author Georgette Ryner.


[2- 20 -1938] -- England: Emma Goldman speaks at a small meeting arranged by the ILP in Eastbourne at which Communists in the audience attack her.
Emma Goldman Papers


[3- 1 -1938] -- England: During this month Emma Goldman determines to go to Canada in the fall regardless of the chances of getting a US visa, convinced that she could do more good for Spain there than in England.

Emma writes the preface for a collection of writings by Camillo Berneri, the exiled Italian anarchist intellectual kidnapped & murdered by the Communists in Barcelona during the 1937 "May events," which Italian comrades are publishing in his memory.

[3- 3 -1938] -- South Africa: Samuel Schwartzbard, Jewish watchmaker, anarchist & poet, dies, Capetown. Escaped the Russian pogroms in 1905, settled in Paris & active in local anarcho-communist groups with Alexander Berkman, Mollie Steimer & Senya Fleshin, & Nestor Makhno. alt; Nestor Machno
In 1926 he gunned down Simon Petliura, who had directed the Ukrainian pogroms in which some of his family were murdered. He fired three times, announcing:

"This, for the pogroms; this for the massacres, this for the victims."

Schwartzbard was acquitted by a jury & freed.

See the Anarchist Encyclopedia,
SchwartzbardSamuel.htm

[3- 6 -1938] -- Scotland: Emma Goldman lectures, March 6-13, on Spain three times in Glasgow & once in Edinburgh; her topics include "The Betrayal of the Spanish People" & "The Constructive Achievements of the CNT-FAI," but the meetings are not well attended.


[3- 9 -1938] -- Spain: Franco's forces, with overwhelming air superiority, launch a major assault on the Aragon front; the Republican forces, torn by internal disputes, collapse; & by April 15 the Nationalists reach the coast, splitting Republican territory in two.


[3- 15 -1938] -- Poet Dick Higgins lives (1938-1998), Cambridge, England.

Higgins studied at Columbia University, New York (where he received a bachelors degree in English, 1960), the Manhattan School of Printing, New York, & the New School of Social Research, 1958-59, with the anarchist John Cage & Henry Cowell. He attended Cage's composition class, where he met George Brecht, Allan Kaprow, Al Hansen & other future Fluxus artists....

[Details / context]

[3- 16 -1938] -- Spain: Continuous bombing of Barcelona, March 16-18, by the fascist forces.

Resources & sources on the [Spanish Revolution of 1936]


[3- 19 -1938] -- England: March 19-20, Emma Goldman speaks at a well-attended fund-raising meeting in Leicester for the SIA (International Antifascist Solidarity); also shows the Louis Frank film, "Fury over Spain."


[3- 24 -1938] -- England: Large meeting & showing of the Louis Frank film, "Fury over Spain," in Peckham, East London.


[3- 27 -1938] -- Arnaldo Simões Janário (1897-1938) dies in the Tarrafal (Cap Verde) prison camp. Portuguese anarcho-syndicalist militant, member of "União Anarquista Portuguesa".
... show details

Incarcerated in various concentration camps, Januário refused to cease his fight against the dictatorship.

A barber by trade, he collaborated on numerous libertarian publications as a typographer ("A Batalha" (organe de la CGT portugaise), "A Communa," "O Anarquismo," "O Libertário," & the review "Aurora"). A member of "Comité de l'Union Anarchiste Portugaise" he was arrested numerous times & sent to concentration camps in Angola, Açores, Cap Vert & Timor in the 1920s, & again to Okussi in 1932.

Under the dictatorship, for his involvement in preparations of the insurrectionary General Strike of January 18, 1934, Janário was arrested, tortured & sentenced to 20 years in prison before his death in Campo da Morte do Tarrafal today.

[4- 10 -1938] --    England: In Liverpool, Emma Goldman speaks on Spain at two meetings today & tomorrow: on the first day to a 1,000 people at an ILP-sponsored event; on the second to a small gathering of the Workmen's Circle. Communists disrupt both meetings.

During this month Emma suffers from shortness of breath, fainting spells, & general fatigue but remains extremely active. Herrera asks her to do all in her power to prevent the repatriation of the refugee Basque children (most of their parents are supporters of Loyalist Spain) from England to Nationalist Spain.

[4- 13 -1938] -- England: "Fascism Is Destroying European Civilisation" is the theme of a protest meeting in London sponsored by the CNT-FAI; Emma Goldman makes an appeal for money for arms — illegal under the terms of the Non-Intervention Pact.



[4- 23 -1938] -- England: As a delegate, Emma Goldman attends an all-day National Conference on Spain in London, which she is convinced is contrived by the Communist party.



[4- 29 -1938] -- England: A literary & musical evening in London for the S.I.A. (Solidarid Internacional Antifascista) draws a small audience & is a financial flop; Ethel Mannin finds Emma Goldman's militant speech inappropriate to the occasion, organized to promote humanitarian ends.

During the Spanish Revolution the C.N.T. [Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo] floated a new international fund, principally but not exclusively for Spanish refugees, the Solidarid Internacional Antifascista (SIA). At that time the ABC (Anarchist Black Cross) was no longer in existence. The monetary support came mostly from the CNT members themselves.

After the defeat the Spanish refugees, especially in France, required massive support but all they received was that contributed by other Spanish comrades in the S.I.A.

[5- 2 -1938] -- At the beginning of the month, Emma Goldman is reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia & writing "Trotsky Protests Too Much," a reply to two articles on the Kronstadt rebellion that appeared in the New York Trotskyist journal "New International" (Trotsky was responsible for the infamous slaughter at Kronstadt, "the butcher of Kronstadt & murderer of anarchists").
... show details

Also, Herrera announces his intention to leave his position as secretary of the General Council of the S.I.A. (International Antifascist Solidarity); his replacement is Lucia Sanchez Saornil, the Spanish poet & artist, & founder of Mujeres Libres.

[5- 9 -1938] -- Fabio Luz (Fabio Lopez dos Santos Luz) (1864-1938) dies. Novelist & outstanding figure of Brazilian anarchism. Involved in the antislavery movement as a youth, he discovered anarchism with the reading of Peter Kropotkin. Wrote d'Ideólogos, (1903), d'Os Emancipados, (1906), & Virgem-Mãe, (1908), the first novels in Brazil to tackle the social question.
[Details / context]


[5- 22 -1938] -- Warren S. Van Valkenburgh (1884-1938) dies of a heart attack.

American anarchist editor ("Road to Freedom" & "Spanish Revolution") & devoted friend & correspondent of Emma Goldman's. Van Valkenburgh assisted Emma in typing & distributing her writings & correspondence.

Active in the Socialist Party in Schenectady, NY; as secretary for the Sociology Club, a group in Schenectady organized to study & debate social problems, & later as a supporter of anarchist causes, including the Sacco-Vanzetti Case & the Spanish Revolution.

The Road to Freedom Group included Rose Pesotta, Walter Starrett (pen name for Van Valkenburgh), Sadie Robinson (secretary of the group), Lisa Brilliant & others.

[6- 8 -1938] -- England: Emma Goldman attends Writers Against Fascism meeting organized by the Association of Writers for Intellectual Liberty; she describes it as "almost entirely C.P." (Communist Party).



[6- 26 -1938] -- Thomas H. Keell, British anarchist & one-time editor of "Freedom," dies.
See our Anarchist Encyclopedia page,
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Freedom.htm



[7- 17 -1938] -- England: Emma Goldman is one of several speakers at a Hyde Park demonstration to celebrate the second anniversary of the Spanish Revolution; it draws a small crowd, largely because the Communists & their allies hold a rally in Trafalgar Square at the same time.



[7- 25 -1938] -- Spain:

25 juillet 1938, en Espagne, début de la grande bataille sur le front de l'Ebre (fleuve qui sépare ? ce moment-l?, les forces républicaines (communistes et anarchistes) des troupes nationalistes (franquistes). Les troupes républicaines, apr?s avoir traversées le fleuve, réussissent dans un premier temps ? repousser les franquistes. De ao?t ? novembre, le front se stabilisera avant une contre-attaque des franquistes qui mettra en déroute, le 16 novembre 1938, l'armée républicaine de Catalogne, provoquant des dizaines de milliers de morts et de blessés. http://www.ephemanar.net/juillet25.html

November 16, 1938, the Republican army of Catalonia, made up of anarchist & communist forces, is defeated after three months by pro-Franco forces, leaving tens of thousands of casualties & dead. The Republican forces had held for three months during the great battle on the front at the Ebre River.

[7- 30 -1938] -- At the anarchist Whiteway Colony in Gloucestershire, Emma Goldman examines the late Thomas H. Keell's papers on behalf of IISH, which hopes to acquire part of his collection.
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Freedom.htm


[8- 2 -1938] -- England: British anarchist pacifist & militant Tony Smythe lives.


[8- 9 -1938] -- Emma Goldman offers IISH (International Institute of Social History) her unpublished sketches & large collection of newspaper clippings as well as Alexander Berkman's diary. She agrees to help IISH obtain other collections of personal papers from her circle of anarchist friends. Several hundred dollars from anarchists in New York & Chicago were sent to her to pay for travel expenses.


[8- 25 -1938] -- Emma Goldman leaves London for Paris, having secured a British visa for Spain at the last moment.



[9- 15 -1938] -- Spain: Many leading anarchists express to Emma Goldman, who is here for the next six weeks, their strong opposition to the policies of the CNT's National Committee & its conciliation of the Negrin government. They are especially critical of Vázquez, who now acknowledges the destructive actions of the Communists but still wants them treated gently.

The FAI by contrast is anxious to begin a campaign abroad exposing the activities of the Communists in Spain.

Emma is shocked by the number of anarchists & other leftists held in prison...

[Further details]

[9- 15 -1938] -- France: "Immediate Peace!" manifesto — drafted & signed by Nicolas Faucier & Louis Lecoin — published in "Le Libertaire." Arrested the morning of October 8, 1939 ("inciting servicemen to disobedience for the purposes of anarchist propaganda"), Faucier ended up in prison during the war, toward the end avoiding deportation to the Nazi camps only by a timely escape.

[Details / context]

[9- 25 -1938] -- Spain: Emma Goldman, accompanied by Gudell & Herrera, visits the 28th division headed by Gregorio Jover & the 26th division headed by Ricardo Sanz at the battlefront.


[10- 11 -1938] -- Spain: Emma Goldman attends the CNT-FAI plenum (Oct. 16-30) & the trial of POUM militants charged with espionage & desertion (Oct. 11-22), charges on which they are found innocent; they are found guilty, however, of rebellious acts during the May events of 1937.



[10- 30 -1938] -- US: Martian UFOs land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Demonstrates the suggestive power of mass communications to create mass hysteria. Most intelligent people knew NJ was already populated with Martians, anarcho-commies who started the Green Party, & now fondly called "Greens."



[10- 30 -1938] -- France: Emma Goldman arrives in Paris from Barcelona for the SIA congress, which meets at the same time as the IWMA; Emma joins delegates from Sweden, Spain, & France.



[11- 7 -1938] -- Ethel Mannin, novelist & anarchist, successfully assumes Emma Goldman's role as S.I.A. (Solidarid Internacional Antifascista) representative in London; raises significantly more financial support for the SIA than Goldman had. Emma advises Gudell that the next propaganda campaign undertaken by the CNT-FAI should be aimed at the release of the political prisoners in Spain.

I am purely evil;
Hear the thrum
of my evil engine;
Evilly I come.
The stars are thick as flowers
In the meadows of July;
A fine night for murder
Winging through the sky.

— Ethel Mannin, 'Song of the Bomber'

[11- 7 -1938] -- Charles Malato dies. See entry above, 1879, for Benoît Broutchoux. Malato, a French revolutionary & propagandist, was a close friend of the Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer. He was one of four anarchists (Pedro Vallina, an English anarchist named Harvey & another named Caussanel) falsely arrested in 1905 for a tossing a bomb into a processsion headed by the French President & the King of Spain.


[11- 16 -1938] --

25 juillet 1938, en Espagne, début de la grande bataille sur le front de l'Ebre (fleuve qui sépare ? ce moment-l?, les forces républicaines (communistes et anarchistes) des troupes nationalistes (franquistes). Les troupes républicaines, apr?s avoir traversées le fleuve, réussissent dans un premier temps ? repousser les franquistes. De ao?t ? novembre, le front se stabilisera avant une contre-attaque des franquistes qui mettra en déroute, le 16 novembre 1938, l'armée républicaine de Catalogne, provoquant des dizaines de milliers de morts et de blessés.

November 16, 1938, the Republican army of Catalonia, made up of anarchist & communist forces, is defeated after three months by pro-Franco forces, leaving tens of thousands of casualties & dead. The Republican forces had held for three months during the great battle on the front at the Ebre River.

[12- 12 -1938] -- England: John McNair of the ILP & Emma Goldman speak at a poorly attended meeting in London on the crisis in Spain.

Emma Goldman spends much of the month in London completing a report on her visit to Spain for the anarchist press...
[Details / context]

[12- 22 -1938] -- Emma Goldman travels to Amsterdam to organize Alexander Berkman's & her papers at the International Institute of Social History.




[1- 4 -1939] -- George Orwell signs Breton/Rivera manifesto, "Towards a Free Revolutionary Art."

Orwell, a novelist best known for his book 1984 was a political activist who wrote, for example, Homage to Catalonia, a book of his experiences during the Spanish Revolution, which was very sympathetic to the anarchists.

[1- 14 -1939] -- Nederlands: Working every day since late December at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, Emma Goldman finds it impossible to arrange Alexander Berkman's papers without also organizing her own; she finally finishes the work today.


[1- 15 -1939] -- Agustin Gomez Arcos (1939-1998) lives, Almeria, Andalusia. Spanish anarchist, gay dramatist/novelist. Wrote many novels about pro-Franco Spain: L'agneau carnivore (1975), Maria Republica (1976), Ana non (1977), L'enfant pain (1983), Un oiseau brûlé vif (1984).

Often in winter the end of the day is like the final metaphor in a poem celebrating death:

there is no way out.

— Agustin Gomez-Arcos, A Bird Burned Alive, 1988

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Gomez-ArcosAgustin.htm

[1- 26 -1939] -- Spain: The anarchist youth paper "Ruta" goes to press for the last time in Spain as Franco enters Barcelona. (It later reappears in France in the mid-40s & eventually is forced to shut down again by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader DeGaulle, & is reconstituted in Venezuela in the 60s.)
[Details / context]


[1- 29 -1939] -- Australia: Feminist/anarchist Germaine Greer, the "Untamed Shrew," a ratbag (‘being tuppence in the quid’) lives.

Greer was associated with the Sydney Libertarians till 1966, then went to England.

The Female Eunuch was published in 1970. In an interview published in the literary magazine, 'Overland', in 1972 she says

"I'm an anarchist still, but I'd say now I am an anarchist communist which I wasn't then."

[Details / context]

[2- 2 -1939] -- England: This month Emma Goldman is frantic with worry until she receives firm news of the whereabouts of anarchists who have escaped from Catalonia after the collapse of the resistance in Spain. Most find sanctuary in France but face harsh conditions in internment camps; others reach Paris without permits.

Vázquez's account for the suddenness of the collapse in Catalonia names exhaustion among the armies after the counterattack by Franco's forces on the Ebro front, shortages of military personnel, war-weariness & declining morale among the civilian population exacerbated by food shortages, & the hurried & open removal of the government from Barcelona that led to panic among the population.

Also this month, IISH informs Goldman that her archive has been sent to England in case the Nazis invade the Netherlands.

[2- 5 -1939] -- Spain: Soledad Gustavo (aka Teresa Mañe) dies, in Perpignan. Mother of Federica Montseny, an important figure in Spanish anarchism. Soledad was one of the first lay teachers in Spain & is considered as the "Grandmother" of the Mujures Libres. With her companion Joan Montseny, founded "Revista Blanca" in 1898 & wrote El sindicalismo y la anarquia.


[2- 7 -1939] -- England: Emma Goldman's letter protesting Zenzl Mühsam's second disappearance in the Soviet Union appears in the Manchester Guardian.



[2- 15 -1939] -- France: Alphonse Cannone (1899-1939) dies.

Algerian-born militant, one of the anarchist participants in the Black Sea Mutiny of 1919, combatant in the Spanish Revolution of 1936.

[2- 16 -1939] -- France: Jacques Vallet lives, Stenay (dép. de la Meuse). Journalist, poet, art critic, dramatist & libertarian author.

Vallet wrote for numerous journals, including "Libération." Critical of modern art, he began "Le Fou parle", a libertarian review of art & humor. During this year he also participated in the "International Anarchist Meeting" in Venice, Italy. Began an art show on Radio Libertaire & other broadcasts.

Vallet attacked the "police procedural" genre while writing his own novels in the "Octopus" mystery series.

In 2002 he became involved with "Anartiste" & "La Vache folle" (The Mad Cow).

"Dois-je mettre le nez dans le cloaque du monde? La vie est trop vaste trop fuyante pour que je la comprenne. Alors, j'écoute les poètes."

— cited in "Libé" July 12, 2003

[Details / context]

[2- 24 -1939] -- Spain: Vázquez & Herrera's circular letter announces that the CNT-FAI will cease activities abroad & thanks the international community for its efforts on behalf of the Spanish anarchists.



[3- 4 -1939] -- US: Lala Har Dayal (aka Hardayal, or Hardyal) (1884-1939) dies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Indian revolutionary & scholar dedicated to the removal of British influence in India. In March or April (I have conflicting dates) 1914 he was arrested by the US government for spreading anarchist literature. Released on bail, he fled to Switzerland & then to Berlin, where he tried to foment an anti-British rising in northwestern India.



[3- 5 -1939] -- Spain: The Negrín government is overthrown in an overnight coup (March 5-6) in Madrid; members of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT trade union in the south-central zone are involved in the coup & occupy posts in the new National Council of Defense.


[3- 9 -1939] -- Spain: In Madrid, the anarchist Cipriano Mera (1896-1975), heading the IV army corps, routs the counter-revolutionary communist troops which besiege the National Council of Defense. See Cipriano Mera by Joan Llarch.


[3- 10 -1939] -- Armand Guerra dies. Spanish filmmaker & anarchist. Fought fascism with a camera.

As a 20-year old anarchist in France Guerra helps found a film co-operative. (Two of his films were recently found: The Old Docker & The Commune.)

Guerra's film "Carne de Fieras" was unreleased, & thought lost forever, until the negative was discovered & the film released in 1993.

As a journalist, Guerra (pseudonym for Jose Estivalis Calvo) chronicled his own efforts, & the collected articles constitute an unique view on the Spanish conflict: Through the Grapeshot.

Exhausted, he dies in Paris today, after 20 days in exile.

Armand Guerra: Requiem for an Anarchistic Scenario Writer by Ezéquiel Fernandez & produced by Zangra productions is a recent video which touches on aspects of his life.

See the Anarchist Encyclopedia,
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/GuerraArmand.htm

[3- 26 -1939] -- France: Emma Goldman travels to Paris to meet refugee Spanish anarchists (from the aftermath of the Spanish Revolution) who are demoralized & fraught with misery & internal recriminations & suspicion.



[4- 1 -1939] -- Spain: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Franco declares the Spanish Civil War at an end. The democracy-loving US rushes to recognize his fascist dictatorship.

More than 90 Americans in Nationalist prisons are, fortunately, sent home by the end of this month.

The end of the war & the defeat of the Spanish Revolution, on April 1, 1939, did not end the killings, however.

Franco systematically slaughtered some 200,000 of his opponents ... in a carnage of genocidal proportions that was meant to physically uproot the living source of the revolution...

[I]t was a vindictive counterrevolution that had its only parallel, given the population & size of Spain, in Stalin's one-sided civil war against the Soviet people.

[4- 3 -1939] -- England: Emma Goldman returns to London: on the trip she meets a group of 50 refugees from Madrid & Valencia & in her final days in London organizes a committee to support them.



[4- 8 -1939] -- Emma Goldman sails for Canada, arriving in Toronto on April 21, where she establishes residence.



[4- 27 -1939] -- Canada: Beginning today, Emma Goldman lectures (April-May) in English & Yiddish in Toronto & Windsor on "Who Betrayed Spain?" to raise money for Spanish refugees.

Emma has only recently arrived in Canada, having sailed from England, April 8th, arriving in Toronto on April 21, where she now establishes residence.

[4- 30 -1939] -- Spain: Chief inspector of the Hospitalet police is killed by the anti-fascist urban guerrilla
Pallarés group. ... show details

Today's action is one of a number of operations credited to the Pallarés group — one of the very first anti-Franco urban guerrilla units — starting its operations almost as soon as the civil war ended in 1939. In addition to guerrilla activity, they did remarkable work on the reorganisation of the Libertarian Youth of Catalonia.

They are captured by police in March 1943 & tortured; within days, Joaquín Pallarés was executed (on 29 March 1943) alongside Fransisco Alvarez, Fernando Ruiz, Francisco Atares, José Serra, Benito Santi, Juan Aquilla, Arguelles & Tresols; other members of the anarquista group — Vincente Iglesias, Jos Urrea, Manuel Gracia, Rafael Olalde & Hilaria Foldevilla — had their lives spared.

[5- 9 -1939] -- Spain: The anarchist Miguel Garcia is arrested in Barcelona & put into a hemp warehouse which had been converted into a prison, since the 'Prison Celular' is brim-full. Garcia is released in March 1941, after 22 months, after being cleared of charges.
Source: Nancy Macdonald, Homage to the Spanish Exiles (Insight Books, 1987), p315


[5- 22 -1939] -- US: Despite success as playwright & poet, Ernst Toller hangs himself in his Manhattan hotel room, convinced his plays are passé. A German Expressionist involved with other writers & anarchists in forming an insurrectionary Bavarian government. Forced to flee Nazi Germany. Wrote Man & the Masses (1920).

"History is the propaganda of the victors."

The anarchist pacifist Ernst Friedrich helped form a "Revolutionary Pacifist Group" whose membership included such figures as Kurt Tucholsky, Walter Mehring, & the Expressionist writer Ernst Toller.

When, during WWI, pacifists & political radicals like the poet Ernst Toller were being persecuted, Max Weber asked them to his famous Sunday open house. Later, when Toller was arrested, Weber testified for him in a military court & succeeded in having him released.

(Julian Beck, Judith Malina & The Living Theatre performed "Masse Mensch" in the late 1970s).

[6- 8 -1939] -- Emmy Eckstein, anarchist Alexander Berkman's longtime companion, dies.



[6- 22 -1939] -- Monaco: American individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker (1854-1939) dies.

Daily Bleed Saint, April 17, 1854

American individualist anarchist, publisher, journalist.

[6- 27 -1939] -- Canada: Emma Goldman's 70th birthday is marked in Toronto with a celebration that elicits cables from friends, comrades, & labor organizations around the world.



[7- 18 -1939] -- Spain: The anarquista guerrilla leader Juan Nieto Martínez («El Cuco») escapes from the prison at Gérgal (Almeria, Andalousie), along with «Carahermosa» & several others.


[7- 25 -1939] -- Nicolas Faucier sent to prison at the end of July [I don't have the exact day for this. — ed.] with a two-year sentence for inciting insubordination within the military. French anarchist, trade unionist & a pacifist, active with Louis Lecoin.

[Details / context]

[8- 15 -1939] -- The fiftieth anniversary of Emma Goldman's entry into anarchist ranks; she organizes a celebration for September to mark the occasion & to create a long-term Spanish Relief Fund.



[8- 17 -1939] -- Toma Ŝik lives (1939-2004). Antimilitarist, pacifist, anti-Zionist, anarchist. Toma Sik

Toma headed the work of the War Resisters International in Israel, where conscientious objection is a "crime." Pioneer of the Israeli-Palestinian search for peace, a forerunner of the present day pacifist-refusniks. His non-doctrinaire libertarian socialist politics & strong vegan life style were almost unique in the Israel of the 70s & 80s. Today they are embodied in part in the work of groups like Ma'avak Ehad (‘One Struggle’).

[8- 22 -1939] --

Dante was homesick, the Chinese made an art of it / So was Ovid & many others / Pound & Eliot amongst them / Kropotkin dying of hunger / Berkman by his own hand / Fanny Baron biting her executioners / Mahkno in the odor of calumny / Trotsky, too, I suppose, passionately, after his fashion. Do you remember? / What is it all for, this poetry / This bundle of accomplishment / Put together with so much pain? / Do you remember the corpse in the basement? / What are we doing at the turn of our years / Writers & readers of the liberal weeklies? — Kenneth Rexroth, excerpt from "August 22, 1939," The Collected Shorter Poems http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/RexrothKenneth.htm

[9- 12 -1939] -- France: Louis Lecoin, & other militant pacifists, distribute 100,000 copies of the leaflet “Immediate Peace.” Lecoin is arrested on the 29th & in the days which follow several signatories of the leaflet repudiate it.


[9- 19 -1939] -- Canada: Anarchist Emma Goldman delivers a lecture in Toronto on the Nazi-Soviet Pact to an audience of 800.


[9- 29 -1939] -- France: Louis Lecoin is arrested for his part in distributing 100,000 copies of the anti-war leaflet “Immediate Peace.”. In the days which follow several signatories discover their knees are weak & that they have no backbone, & thus disavow the leaflet.


[9- 30 -1939] -- Canada: Emma Goldman addresses two long-promised, though poorly attended meetings, in Windsor, on the 27th & today.

At a dinner to honor Emma & to launch the Emma Goldman Spanish Refugee Rescue Fund, labor leader Rose Pesotta (ILGWU,) is guest speaker & attracts the attendance & financial support of many of Emma's closest friends & family.

Rose Pesotta (1896-1965), American radical, active in the labor organizing movements especially in Los Angeles, California during the 1930s. She was also active in the defense of anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti.

Labor activist, the only woman on the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers (ILGWU) from 1933-1944, but returned to organizing, her real passion. Selected as Pitcher for baseballs' 1998 Armageddonia Anarchists.

[10- 4 -1939] -- Canada: Under provisions of Canada's War Measures Act, three Italian immigrant anarchists, Arthur Bortolotti (aka Attilio Bortolotti, Arthur Bartell), Ruggero Benvenuti, Ernest Gava, & a Cuban, Marco Joachim, are arrested for possession of antifascist "subversive literature," including anarchist classics.

Bortolotti is also found in possession of a handgun & faces deportation to Mussolini's Italy if convicted.
http://www.estelnegre.org/documents/bortolotti/bortolotti.html

Emma Goldman works tirelessly over the succeeding months for Bortolotti's defense, organizing a committee, hiring counsel, & raising funds from sympathizers in Canada & the US. Emma postpones her proposed lecture tour to western Canada in order to give her full attention to the defense of the Italian comrades.

[10- 8 -1939] -- Nicolas Faucier receives a three-year sentence to prison for inciting insubordination within the military. He was sent to various camps & eventually escaped & remained in hiding until after the war. French anarchist, trade unionist & a pacifist, active with Louis Lecoin.

[Details / context]

[10- 21 -1939] -- France: Serge Livrozet lives, Toulon. A French burglar sent to prison numerous times who became an anarchist & writer who, after meeting Biker Michel Foucault, formed the "Comités d'Action des Prisonniers." Livrozet wrote a dozen books involving the world of prison life. (Le sang à la tête; La rage des murs; L'outrage en plus, etc.)

Poeme de Serge Livrozet

"Sur ces murs froids, le temps sale a passé
Et des hommes, des fous
Ont signé de leurs noms
Cette vie disparue
Riri de Saint-Ouen, Jojo de Nanterre
Et chaque homme violé qui a foulé ce parterre...
Je les vois tous
Lécher le mur crasseux de la vie
Ils ne sont pas toujours mes frères
ils sont mes "précédents"
Ils sont passés par où
La vie ne passe plus
Ils ont compté les heures
Là où le temps ne compte plus."

[11- 1 -1939] -- US: Fortieth anniversary of the New York Yiddish anarchist weekly, the "Freie Arbeiter Stimme" (Free Voice of Labor).

Contributors were diverse, including Thomas Bell, Harry Kelly, Anatol' Konse, Max Nomad, Rudolf Rocker, Augustin Souchy, Max Nettlau & Christian Cornelissen.

[Details / context]

[11- 2 -1939] -- Canada: Arthur (Attilio) Bortolotti's trial begins. Emma Goldman was active on behalf of anarchists in Spain during the Spanish Revolution & on behalf of four men, including Arthur (Attilio) Bortolotti (Anti-Deportation Campaign) & Marcus Joachim, arrested in Toronto for anti-Fascist agitation.


[12- 8 -1939] -- France: Jean Grave dies. An important activist, novelist, & publisher in the French anarchist & avant-garde movements. Involved with Élisée Reclus' "Révolté." Wrote Mouvement libertaire sous la IIIe république.

A popularizer of Kropotkin's ideas, Grave wrote La société mourante et l'anarchie (1892), prefaced by Octave Mirbeau, for which he was sent to prison for two years. In 1895 he began publishing "Les temps nouveaux," influential in literary & artistic circles of the time, then followed this with "The New Times" & "Publications."

A signatory to the "Proclamation of the 16" (favoring the allies during WWI), Jean Grave incurred the wrath of antiwar anarchists.

[Details / context]

[12- 10 -1939] -- Canada: Emma Goldman spends the first two weeks of this month in Winnipeg & speaks five times, reaching 1,400 people in two weeks: once in Yiddish to a women's organization on Living My Life; to a large audience on the Nazi-Soviet Pact; a lecture on Hitler & Stalin; a talk to the IWW; & a lecture on "The Jew in Literature in England until the End of the 19th Century" to the Jewish Woman's Cultural Club.

During this month Emma, with the help of Dorothy Rogers, also attempts to raise $5,000 bail for the anarchist Arthur (Attilio) Bortolotti's release.

[Details / context]

[12- 18 -1939] -- England: Michael Moorcock, Nebula award-winning science fiction author, anarchist, lives, Surrey, England.

As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine "New Worlds," during the 1960s, Moorcock fostered the development of the New Wave in the UK & indirectly in the US.

Moorcock's most popular works are his Elric novels, the first Elric stories being a deliberate reversal of the cliches common in Tolkien-inspired fantasy adventure novels (which he despises; see his essay "Starship Stormtroopers").

He has collaborated with the British rock band Hawkwind; did an album (The New Worlds Fair by "Michael Moorcock & the Deep Fix," 1975); wrote the lyrics to "Black Blade," by the American band Blue Öyster Cult (he performed this song live with BÖC).

Moorcock was also a member of the "Cienfuegos Anarchist Review" collective.

[12- 29 -1939] -- France: Madeleine Pelletier (1874-1939) dies. French doctor, intellectual, lesbian, anthropologist, psychiatrist, pacifist & militant feminist, member of the Socialist Party, later a Communist, then an anarchist. Founded the review "La suffragiste," & collaborated on other néo-Malthusian & libertarian newspapers.

"Tout cela me décourage, l'émancipation de la femme ne viendra donc jamais. Autrefois, mes allures d'affranchie ne me valaient que des lazzi des voyous, maintenant, on m'arrête parce que je n'ai pas l'air d'une asservie, comme les autres femmes, évidemment, je suis née plusieurs siècles trop tôt."

— September 16, 1914.

Too radical for her times, she remains wrongfully forgotten & too little known today.

[Details / context]

Pre-1895 | 1895-1917 | 1918-1939 | 1940-Present

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