Portal:Anarchism

Anarchism as a social movement in Cuba held great influence with the working classes during the 19th and early 20th century. The movement was particularly strong following the abolition of slavery in 1886, until it was disected first in 1925 by President Gerardo Machado, and finally by Fidel Castro's Marxist government following the Cuban Revolution in the late 1950s. Cuban anarchism mainly took the form of Bakuninist anarcho-collectivism and, later, anarcho-syndicalism. The Latin American labor and by extension the Cuban labor movement itself was at first more influenced by anarchism than Marxism. (read more...)

Cr: Carlos Latuff

Katie Sierra in the Land of the Free by political cartoonist Carlos Latuff. The Katie Sierra suspension controversy occurred in 2001 when anarcho-pacifist Sierra faced harassment for opposing the 2001 War in Afghanistan; anarcho-pacifists reject violence and militarism, and seek non-violent social revolution.

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• ... that the Russian anarchist-communist organisation Chernoe Znamia (pictured) were the first with a deliberate policy of terror against the established order?
• ... that the Manifesto of the Sixteen was a controversial declaration of support for the Allied cause in World War I from a group of prominent anarchists?
• ... that Anarchy Alive!, a 2007 book by Oxford-educated academic and anti-authoritarian activist Uri Gordon, has been cited as a "defining text" of the contemporary anarchist movement?
• ... that French anarchist and writer Charles Malato had a Neapolitan grandfather who suppressed a popular insurrection as commander-in-chief of the army of the last King of Naples?
• ... that Ramon Vila Capdevila continued to fight against the government of Francisco Franco for 24 years after the end of the Spanish Civil War?

“ The more a man becomes aware, through reflection, of his servile condition, the more indignant he becomes, the more the anarchist spirit of freedom, determination and action waxes inside him. That is true of every individual, man or woman, even though they may never have heard of the word "anarchism" before. The nature of man is anarchist: it kicks against anything tending to make it a prisoner. As I see it, this, man's natural essence, is well expressed by the scientific term anarchism. The latter, as an ideal of life in men, plays a meaningful role in human evolution. The oppressors as much as the oppressed, begin, little by little, to come alive to that role: so the former aspire by hook or by crook to misrepresent that ideal, whilst the latter aspire to make it the easier to attain. Comprehension of the anarchist ideal grows in slave and master alike as modern civilization grows. Despite the ends to which the latter has thus far been turned - lulling and thwarting every natural tendency in man to protest every trespass against his dignity - it has not been able to silence independent scientific minds which have exposed the true provenance of man and demonstrated the nonexistence of God, hitherto considered the Creator of Mankind. Thereafter, it has naturally become easier to offer irrefutable proof of the artificial nature of "divine ordinances" on earth and of the ignominious relations that they establish between men. All of these happenings have been of considerable assistance to the conscious development of anarchist ideas. Equally it is true that artificial notions have come to light at the same time: liberalism and that allegedly "scientific" socialism, one of the branches of which is represented by Bolshevism-Communism. However, despite all their vast influence upon the psychology of modern society, or at any rate upon a large part thereof, and despite their victory over the classical reaction on the one hand, and over the individual personality on the other, these artificial notions tend to slip down the slope leading to the familiar forms of the old world. ” —Nestor Makhno, The ABC of The Revolutionary Anarchist, 1932.

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• 1856 - Max Stirner dies (b. 1806), Berlin.
• 1878 - Ezra Heywood sentenced to two years hard labor for advocating free love/sexual emancipation as part of women's rights. Released on 19 December 1878. President Rutherford B. Hayes issued a pardon the following day.
• 1893 - Haymarket Martyrs' Monument (pictured) by Albert Weinert is dedicated. Erected by the Pioneer Aid & Support Association, an organization begun by the anarchist Lucy Parsons, Albert Parsons' widow.
• 1916 - Clandestine meeting of the Council general of the militant Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI; anarcho-syndicalist labor union) in Florence, Italy, June 25, 26 & 27. The government has outlawed all opposition to WWI. The Council, meeting , reaffirms its opposition to the war.
• 1922 - Delegates of the first congress (June 25-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.
• 1926 - In Paris, three Spanish anarchists are arrested, accused of preparing to assassinate Alphonse XII: Ascaso, Durruti & Jover. Louis Lecoin mounts a major protest campaign to prevent their extradition; gains their release in July of 1927.
• 1937 - José Martins Fontes dies.
• 1944 - Eugene Humbert dies (b. 1870), killed in prison during WWII during an Allied bombing raid — the day before he was to be released.
• 1955 - Arrest of Pierre Morain, militant of the F.C.L. (Fédération Communiste Libertaire). Sentenced to prison for one year, released in March 1956.

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