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Mikhail Bakunin, la Internacional y la Alianza en España (1868-1873) [Max Nettlau]
Zabalaza p T A M n A 1877 - 1951 - WordPress.com · 1882. In “Egypt and Tunis,” Max Nettlau...
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Zabalaza page 18 africa The history of the broad anarchist tradition in North Africa has yet to be written, and must therefore be pieced together from a wide variety of sources. Modern, developed Egypt was – and still is – largely confined by its desert wastes to a narrow fertile funnel embracing the capital of Cairo on the Nile River and the Nile delta port cities of Alexandria and Port Said. Originally part of the Ottoman Empire, it became an autonomous Ottoman province under the dynasty of Mohammed Ali from 1805, but the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 proved too much of a temptation for imperialist Britain, which occupied the country in 1882. In “Egypt and Tunis,” Max Nettlau argues, “Italian Anarchist émigrés and refugees were for many years the life and spirit of libertarian activity,” but he adds little other material in either his Short History of Anarchism, or, indeed, the section on North Africa in his ten-volume study of anarchist history [1]. Spain often used its territories in the Sahara and the Canary Islands as penal colonies for its dissidents: it was here, for example, that both Durruti and Ascaso were imprisoned in 1932. A range of other materials have been drawn together by Van der Walt, whose notes are incorporated here [2]. An Italian anarchist journal, Il Lavoratore (The Labourer), began printing in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1877, and Alexandrian anarchists were represented at the 1877 Verviers Congress of the Saint- Imier International. Malatesta himself fled to Alexandria in September 1878, but was deported when Italian workers organised a demonstration outside the Italian consulate to applaud an assassination attempt against Italian King Umberto I by a republican. He represented an ‘Egyptian Federation’ at the 1881 International Social Revolutionary Congress of the anarchists, with a mandate from ‘bodies from Constantinople and Alexandria.’ Malatesta returned to Egypt in 1882, – the year the country was invaded by the British – where he appears to have been involved in the ‘Pasha revolt’ that broke out that year, and which was suppressed by British forces. In 1884, the paper La Question Sociale (The Social Question) appeared in Egypt. In 1877, the journal L’Operaia (The Worker), appeared in Tunis, followed in 1881 by the Italian anarchist journal Imola (Inflame), published by Andrea Costa, and another, La Protesta Humana (Human Protest) was subsequently published in the city before relocating to Italy in 1896. The Egyptian newspaper al-Hilal (The Crescent) reported on 18 March 1894 that a Greek worker was arrested in Alexandria for distributing ‘anarchist leaflets’ calling on workers to celebrate the anniversary of the 1871 Paris Commune. In 1901, an anarchist paper entitled La Tribune Libre (The Free Tribune) was also being published in Alexandria. In Alexandria, an Italian-language anarchist weekly, l’Operaio (The Worker) began publishing in 1902 and ran until the following year. In 1904, the Arabic-language radical journal al-Nur (The Light) was established in Alexandria by Daud Muja‘is, the Syrian-Lebanese editor of al-Hurriyya (Freedom) of Beirut (1909- 1910?). According to Khuri-Makdisi [3], al-Nur had a correspondent in Cairo, was published until 1908, increasingly took an anarchist line and had subscribers among the Syrian-Lebanese Diaspora as far afield as Haiti and Brazil – one of the best examples of the extent of North African anarchist influence. The Italian-language Cronaca Sovversiva (Subversive Chronicles), published in Vermont, United States from 1903 onwards by Luigi Galleani, reached ‘far beyond the confines of the United States’ including North Africa and Egypt. Italianradicalsplayedakeyroleinfounding the labour movement in Egypt, forming a People’s Free University in Alexandria in 1901, and activists associated with the University and Le Tribune Libre appear to have been amongst those involved in founding ‘international’ unions in early 20 th Century Egypt. Most notable was the International League of Cigarette Workers and Millers of Cairo in 1908, ‘open to workers of all nationalities, Egyptians as well as foreigners,’ and apparently including ‘production workers other than the skilled rollers.’ Other examples of integrated labour solidarity existed. A meeting in 1901 in support of striking garment workers (including Egyptians) in a Cairo café included a speech by the president of the cigarette rollers’ craft union, and a reading of the workers’ demands in Arabic as well as Greek, Italian, Hebrew and German. This was followed by a march of 3,000 chanting workers through Cairo. What is interesting is that European cigarette workers living in Egypt were radicalised by the likes of the Egyptian syndicalists and returned to Europe to spread anarchist ideas there. Two notable examples of this are the anarcho-syndicalistKonstantinos“Kostas” Speras (1893-1943) and the anarchist- communist Stavros Kouchtsoglous (1878- 1949). Both were radicalised in Egypt and returned to Greece to become the leading lights in the revolutionary trade union movement there. Speras was fluent in Arabic and Kouchtsoglous was involved in numerous worker demonstrations in Alexandria and Istanbul. They both helped establish anarcho-syndicalist trade unions in Greece including the syndicalist minority within the General Workers’ Confederation of Greece (GSEE) in 1918 [4]. Although these cases are not necessarily representative, they do indicate that anarchists were involved in founding racially integrated unions in colonial Egypt. The evidence for anarchist activity for subsequent years is less clear. Bearing in mind the possible mistranslation of ‘syndicalist,’ in academic studies, and the misapplication of the term ‘anarchist’ in official records, it is possible to find mentions of subsequent activity. Investigations into the assassination of the Egyptian Prime Minister, Butrus Ghali in February 1910, for example, revealed the existence of a number of secret societies, including one splinter group, founded in 1908, based on both Sufism – a mystical form of Islam – and ‘Syndicalism’. In 1919, Viscount Allenby of the British administration in Egypt noted in his records that ‘while the nationalist movement had lost some of its strength the syndicalist movement was growing, with secret support from Italian journalists. A curiosity in this period was the production in 1921 of a French-Egyptian silent film called Aziz Bey, l’Anarchiste, the existence of which is noted in the list of anarchist- themed films compiled in 2004 by the International Centre for Research into Anarchism (CIRA) in Switzerland [5]. The mere creation of a film about an Egyptian anarchist, fictional or not, suggests the presence and influence of anarchist ideas in Egyptian society at that stage. While the Egyptian socialist movement seems to have been eclipsed by nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, it revived in the 1940s. The years 1942-5 saw the establishment of various socialist groups in Egypt, including one ‘under the syndicalist leader Mudarak.’ Algeria, under French rule from 1830, was also a site of anarchist activity. A range of anarchist journals were published in Algiers at the end of the 19 th Century, including L’Action Revolutionnaire (Revolutionary Action) (1887), Le Tocsin (The Alarm) (1890), Le Libertaire (The Libertarian) (1892) and La Marmite Sociale (The Social Cauldron) (1893). According to Anderson, by 1894, Jean Grave’s influential anarchist-communist La Révolte (Revolt) had subscribers as far afield as Algeria and Egypt, while Emile Pouget’s anarcho-insurrectionist Le Pére Peinard (The Toiling Father) The Anarchist Movement in north Africa: 1877 - 1951 by lucien van der walt & michael schmidt (zacf)
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Transcript of Zabalaza p T A M n A 1877 - 1951 - WordPress.com · 1882. In “Egypt and Tunis,” Max Nettlau...
Zabalaza page 18 africa
The history of the broad anarchisttradition in North Africa has yet to bewritten, and must therefore be piecedtogetherfromawidevarietyofsources.Modern,developedEgyptwas–andstillis–largelyconfinedbyitsdesertwastestoanarrowfertilefunnelembracingthecapitalofCairoontheNileRiverandtheNile delta port cities of Alexandria andPortSaid.OriginallypartoftheOttomanEmpire, it became an autonomousOttoman province under the dynastyof Mohammed Ali from 1805, but theopeningoftheSuezCanalin1869provedtoomuchofatemptationforimperialistBritain, which occupied the country in1882.In“EgyptandTunis,”MaxNettlauargues, “Italian Anarchist émigrés andrefugeeswereformanyyearsthelifeandspiritoflibertarianactivity,”butheaddslittle other material in either his Short History of Anarchism, or, indeed, thesectiononNorthAfricainhisten-volumestudyofanarchisthistory[1]. SpainoftenuseditsterritoriesintheSaharaandtheCanary Islands as penal colonies for itsdissidents:itwashere,forexample,thatbothDurrutiandAscasowereimprisonedin1932.Arangeofothermaterialshavebeen drawn together by Van der Walt,whosenotesareincorporatedhere[2].
An Italian anarchist journal, Il Lavoratore (The Labourer), beganprintinginAlexandria,Egypt,in1877,andAlexandriananarchistswererepresentedatthe1877VerviersCongressoftheSaint-ImierInternational.MalatestahimselffledtoAlexandriainSeptember1878,butwasdeportedwhenItalianworkersorganiseda demonstration outside the Italianconsulate to applaud an assassinationattemptagainstItalianKingUmbertoIbyarepublican.Herepresentedan‘EgyptianFederation’ at the 1881 InternationalSocial Revolutionary Congress of theanarchists,withamandatefrom‘bodiesfrom Constantinople and Alexandria.’Malatesta returned to Egypt in 1882, –theyearthecountrywasinvadedbytheBritish–whereheappearstohavebeeninvolvedinthe‘Pasharevolt’thatbrokeoutthatyear,andwhichwassuppressedbyBritish forces. In 1884, thepaperLa Question Sociale (The Social Question) appeared in Egypt. In 1877, the journal L’Operaia (The Worker), appeared inTunis, followed in 1881 by the Italiananarchist journal Imola (Inflame),publishedbyAndreaCosta,andanother,La Protesta Humana (Human Protest)wassubsequentlypublishedinthecitybeforerelocatingtoItalyin1896.
TheEgyptiannewspaperal-Hilal (The Crescent) reportedon18March1894thataGreekworkerwasarrestedinAlexandriafordistributing‘anarchistleaflets’calling
onworkerstocelebratetheanniversaryof the 1871 Paris Commune. In 1901,an anarchist paper entitled La Tribune Libre (The Free Tribune)wasalsobeingpublished in Alexandria. In Alexandria,an Italian-language anarchist weekly,l’Operaio (The Worker)beganpublishingin 1902 and ran until the followingyear. In 1904, the Arabic-languageradical journal al-Nur (The Light) wasestablished in Alexandria by DaudMuja‘is, the Syrian-Lebanese editor ofal-Hurriyya (Freedom) of Beirut (1909-1910?). According to Khuri-Makdisi [3],al-NurhadacorrespondentinCairo,waspublished until 1908, increasingly tookan anarchist line and had subscribersamong the Syrian-Lebanese DiasporaasfarafieldasHaitiandBrazil–oneofthebestexamplesoftheextentofNorthAfricananarchistinfluence.
The Italian-language Cronaca Sovversiva (Subversive Chronicles),publishedinVermont,UnitedStatesfrom1903onwardsbyLuigiGalleani,reached‘far beyond the confines of the UnitedStates’includingNorthAfricaandEgypt.ItalianradicalsplayedakeyroleinfoundingthelabourmovementinEgypt,formingaPeople’sFreeUniversity inAlexandria in1901, and activists associated with theUniversity and Le Tribune Libre appeartohavebeenamongstthoseinvolvedinfounding ‘international’ unions in early20thCenturyEgypt.MostnotablewastheInternationalLeagueofCigaretteWorkersand Millers of Cairo in 1908, ‘open toworkers of all nationalities, Egyptiansas well as foreigners,’ and apparentlyincluding‘productionworkersotherthanthe skilled rollers.’ Other examples ofintegrated labour solidarity existed. Ameeting in 1901 in support of strikinggarment workers (including Egyptians)inaCairocaféincludedaspeechbythepresident of the cigarette rollers’ craftunion, and a reading of the workers’demands in Arabic as well as Greek,Italian, Hebrew and German. This wasfollowed by a march of 3,000 chantingworkersthroughCairo.WhatisinterestingisthatEuropeancigaretteworkerslivinginEgyptwereradicalisedbythelikesoftheEgyptiansyndicalistsandreturnedtoEurope to spread anarchist ideas there.Two notable examples of this are theanarcho-syndicalistKonstantinos“Kostas”Speras (1893-1943) and the anarchist-communistStavrosKouchtsoglous(1878-1949).BothwereradicalisedinEgyptandreturnedtoGreecetobecometheleadinglights in the revolutionary trade unionmovement there. Speras was fluent inArabic and Kouchtsoglous was involved
in numerous worker demonstrationsin Alexandria and Istanbul. They bothhelped establish anarcho-syndicalisttrade unions in Greece including thesyndicalist minority within the GeneralWorkers’ConfederationofGreece(GSEE)in1918[4].
Although these cases are notnecessarily representative, they doindicate that anarchists were involvedin founding racially integrated unionsin colonial Egypt. The evidence foranarchist activity for subsequentyears is less clear. Bearing inmind thepossiblemistranslationof‘syndicalist,’inacademicstudies,andthemisapplicationoftheterm‘anarchist’inofficialrecords,it is possible to find mentions ofsubsequent activity. Investigations intotheassassinationof theEgyptianPrimeMinister,ButrusGhali inFebruary1910,forexample,revealedtheexistenceofanumberofsecretsocieties,includingonesplinter group, founded in 1908, basedonbothSufism–amysticalformofIslam– and ‘Syndicalism’. In 1919, ViscountAllenby of the British administration inEgypt noted in his records that ‘whilethenationalistmovementhadlostsomeofitsstrengththesyndicalistmovementwas growing, with secret support fromItalian journalists. A curiosity in thisperiod was the production in 1921 ofa French-Egyptian silent film calledAziz Bey, l’Anarchiste, the existence ofwhich is noted in the list of anarchist-themed films compiled in 2004 by theInternational Centre for Research intoAnarchism (CIRA) in Switzerland [5].The mere creation of a film about anEgyptian anarchist, fictional or not,suggests the presence and influence ofanarchist ideas in Egyptian society atthat stage.While the Egyptian socialistmovementseemstohavebeeneclipsedbynationalism in the1920sand1930s,itrevivedinthe1940s.Theyears1942-5sawtheestablishmentofvarioussocialistgroupsinEgypt,includingone‘underthesyndicalistleaderMudarak.’
Algeria,underFrenchrulefrom1830,was also a site of anarchist activity. ArangeofanarchistjournalswerepublishedinAlgiersattheendofthe19thCentury,including L’Action Revolutionnaire (Revolutionary Action) (1887),Le Tocsin (The Alarm) (1890), Le Libertaire (The Libertarian) (1892) and La Marmite Sociale (The Social Cauldron) (1893).According to Anderson, by 1894, JeanGrave’s influential anarchist-communistLa Révolte (Revolt) had subscribers asfar afield as Algeria and Egypt, whileEmile Pouget’s anarcho-insurrectionistLe Pére Peinard (The Toiling Father)
The Anarchist Movement in north “Africa:”
1877 - 1951by lucien van der walt & michael schmidt (zacf)
Zabalaza page 19 africa
had subscribers in Algeria and Tunisia,the latter a former Ottoman provincethat became a French protectorate in1881 [6]. Fernand Pelloutier’s 1895Anarchism and the Workers Unions … mentions that anarchists had becomeincreasingly active in “many tradeunions”, including those in Algiers. TheanarchistVictorBarroucandpublishedadaily called Les Nouvelles (The New) inAlgiers in the first decade of the 20thCentury: itsmost famouscorrespondentwasIsabelleEberhardt(1877-1904),theSwiss-Ukrainian dockworker/adventurer/writerwhosefatherhadbeenafriendofBakunin.ThesyndicalistsuccessoroftheFrenchGeneralConfederationofLabour(CGT),theCGT-RevolutionarySyndicalist(CGT-SR) apparently operated a sectioninAlgeria.LiketheotherFrenchanarchistorganisations,theCGT-SRopposedFrenchcolonialism. Thus, a joint statement bythe Anarchist Union, the CGT-SR, andthe Association ofAnarchistFederationsdenounced thecentenary of theFrench occupationof Algeria in 1930,arguing ‘Civilisation?Progress? We say:murder!’.
A prominentmilitant in the CGT-SR’sAlgeriansection,as well as in theAnarchist Union wasSaïlMohamed(1894-1953), an Algeriananarchistactiveintheanarchist movementfrom the1910suntilhisdeathin1953[7].Although residentin Paris and Aulnay-sous-bois for muchof his life,Mohamedwas a founder oforganisations suchas the Associationfor the Rights ofthe IndigenousAlgerians and the Anarchist Group ofthe Indigenous Algerians with SlimanKiouane in 1923, organised meetingson the colonial exploitation of NorthAfricans in both French and Arabic,and was the secretary of the anarchist‘AlgerianDefenceCommitteeAgainsttheProvocationsof theCentenary’ in1929.SaïlMohamedwasalsoeditoroftheNorthAfricaneditionoftheanarchistperiodicalTerre Libre (Free Earth), all copies ofwhich have, sadly, been lost. Jailed onnumerousoccasions,SaïlMohamedwasalso a contributor to anarchist journalssuch as L’Eveil Social, and La Voix Libertaire (The Libertarian Voice), oftenon theAlgerianquestion,and foughtasa volunteer in the international sectionof theDurrutiColumn… in theSpanishRevolution.TheinternationalgroupoftheDurrutiColumnincluded‘400Frenchmen,Germans, Italians,Britishers,MoroccansandAmericans’.
Another key Algerian anarchist wasAlbert Guigui-Theral (1903-?), whowasborn inAlgeria, but raised in Paris,returning to Algeria in 1918 where heworked as a mechanic, but becameinvolved in a series of metalworkers’strikes and was jailed for distributinganarchist propaganda [8]. In 1922,after a failed attempt to establish aphalanstery in Algeria, Guigui-Theralmoved back to Paris where he lost aseries of jobs because of his anarchistactivities, but became active in theCGT’sMetalFederationwherehefoughtagainst the growing Stalinist influence.From1928,hebegancontributingtoLe Libertaire, and briefly travelled to theUSA, returning toFrance in1932whereheworkedintheParisregionoftheCGTassistingtheSpanishsyndicalists.HewasarrestedforhisactivitiesinJune1940,asFrancesuccumbedtoNazirule,butwasreleasedandescapedtothe“freezones”,
joiningtheMaquisresistanceunderJeanMoulin, working with the ClandestineCGT in trying to get aid from GeneralCharles de Gaulle in London, and withthe International Labour Organisation(ILO) in Philadelphia, USA. Returning toParisamongthecity’sSpanishanarchistliberators in 1944, Guigui-Theral laterworkedfortheILOinGeneva.
Portuguese anarchists also played aroleindisseminatinglibertarianideasinNorthAfrica.Some ideaof thescopeofactivitiesmaybegleaned fromareportin early 1936, prepared by the IberianAnarchist Federation (FAI)-affiliatedAnarchist Federation of Portugal. Thereport noted that, ‘The PortugueseFederationenteredanewphaseinMarch1935.’It‘establishedrelationswithnucleiof comrades in Spain, France, Brazil,Argentina, the United States, FrenchAfrica, PortugueseAfrica, andMorocco,’andwaspublishing‘ourjournal,Rebellion,
although not regularly, because wedo not have sufficient funds.’ This was‘distributedinsidePortugal,aswellasintheAzores,AfricaandOceania.’AlthoughtheSpanishstateusedterritoriesinNorthAfrica for penal purposes, North Africawasalsoahavenforanarchistmilitantsand refugees. JulioSánchezOrtizdrawsattention to the roleplayedbyTangiersin Morocco, which was an internationalprotectorate in the early 20th Century… After the defeat of the SpanishRevolution,andwiththeoutbreakoftheSecondWorldWar, Tangiers, which hadformerlybeenaninternationalcity,cameunderthecontrolofthedictatorFranco,and therewasamassivecrackdownonthe left and labour in that city. Manyfled to Casablanca in Algeria… ExiledItaliananarchists,likeCelsoPersici,wereinvolved in the anti-Nazi resistance inMorocco during the Second World War,as Vertice Persici notes.” According
to José Peirats,Roque SantamariaC o r t i g u e r arepresented exileorganisations fromNorthAfricaata1947in te rcont inenta lcongressoftheexileSpanish anarchistmovement inToulouse, France[9].
A handful ofEthiopians foughton the Republicanside in the SpanishRevolution, whileSaïl Mohamedand other NorthAfricans fought inthe Durruti Columnanarchist militia.Many Spanishanarchistsfledfromthe defeat of theRevolutionintoexilein Algeria, wherethey establishedanexilecommunity
inthecityofOran.From1939onwards,however, SpanishMoroccoandWesternSahara remained under the control ofthe new Spanish regime, while fascistPortugal controlled the Azores, CapeVerde,Guinea-BissauandSãoToméandPrincipe in West Africa from 1927 until1974. Ethiopia, Libya and Somalilandremainedunder ItalianFascist rule from1935 until roughly 1942, while Nazi-linked Vichy France controlled AlgeriaandmuchofwestandequatorialAfricauntilitprogressivelylosttheseterritoriesas the SecondWorldWarwore on. SaïlMohamedbecameanidentitydocumentforger for the underground anti-fascistresistance in Vichy France during theSecond World War. In the war, manySpanishrepublicans,includinganarchists,served in theLongRangeDesertGroupandotherspecial forces inNorthAfrica.Republicans who had joined the FrenchForeign Legion in exchange from being
Sail Mohammed, in the centre of the front row, with otherNorth African ‘Durruti Column’ militiamen.
Zabalaza page 20 africa
released from the detention camps insouthern France. Many of them werestationedinNorthAfrica,CameroonandChad when the war broke out. The 9thArmouredCompany–knownasEl Nueve –hadbeenfoundedinChadaspartoftheRegimentsofMarchofChad.
The 9th Armoured Company drovetanksandarmouredhalf-tracksflyingtheSpanishRepublicanflagandwithnamesredolentoftheSpanishRevolutionpaintedontheirsides:“Durruti”,“Ascaso”,“CasaViejas”, “Teruel”, “Madrid”, “Belchite”,“Guadalajara” and “Guernica”. Itincluded libertarian fighters likeAbenzaJesus,whohadfoughtontheMadrid front,buthadbeen trappedandunabletocrossintoFranceuntil1941. Imprisoned in the Argelesconcentration camp, then deportedto Algeria, Jesus volunteered withthe French Africa Corps, fought inTunisia, then joined what becamethe Chad Marching Division thatfoughtRommel’sAfrika Korpsbeforebeing sent to England to train fortheNormandyinvasion.JesusandEl NuevehitthebeachesatNormandyonthenightofJuly31/August1,1944,asoneoftwoarmoureddivisionsintheUS3rdArmythatdefeatedthreeSS Panzer divisions and linked upwiththeCanadian forcesatFalais–at the same time as some 30,000Maquis took up arms in Brittany –beforepushingontoPariswheretheanarchists became the first “Alliedtroops” to liberate the city on 24August1944[10].
The Italian conquest of Libya,and the Nazi victory over half ofFrance had been followed by thesuppression of the left in NorthAfrica.By1939, it seemsclear thatthe anarchist tradition had largelywithered away in Egypt, but remainedextant in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria,withitslinkstotheCGT-SRandtheworkof activists like Saïl Mohamed, and theexistence of communities of foreignanarchistssuchastheSpanishexiles inthecityofOran. AmongtheseexileswasRoque Santamaria Cortiguera (?-1980),a CNT-FIJL (National Confederation ofLabour-Iberian Federation of LibertarianYouth)barberwhohadsatontheCouncilof Valencia during the Revolution, andwho fled to Oran after the Francoistvictoryin1939.HeisdescribedbyStuartChristieas“amilitantofgreatmerit,withparticular strengthsasapublic speakerandpolemicistandwellversedinmattersorganisational” [11]. The ascensionof Vichy France saw Santamaria (andno doubt many other Oran anarchists)incarcerated in the concentrationcamps of Cerchel and Morand, whereSantamaria co-ordinated NationalConfederationofLabour(CNT)activism,being released in November 1942 aftertheAlliedforcestookOran.AnotherkeySpanish anarchist who spent time inNorthAfricawasthe legendaryCiprianoMera Sanz (1897-1975), a bricklayerilliterate until the age of 20 who had
taken part in the anarchist uprising in1933alongsideDurrutiandIsaacPuente,androsetobecometheleadinganarchistmilitarystrategistduringtheRevolution.MeraalsofledtoOranin1939,andwaslikewiseinternedinMorandbutescapedtoMorocco.However,Merawasarrestedthere in March 1941 and deported toSpainwherehewassentencedtodeath(hewaslaterreleasedandlivedinParistherestofhislife,dyingin1975).Whatrole, if any, these exiles played in the1945uprisinginAlgeria,isnotknowntous,butSantamariastayedoninAlgeria,
acting as the secretary of the CNT’sNorth African branch until he travelledtoToulouse,France,in1946torepresentNorthAfricaattheMLE’sIntercontinentalCongress the following year. He stayedon in Toulouse, however, becoming thecity’sFAIsecretaryin1948-1950,helpingtoreunitetherevolutionaryandreformistCNT factions in 1960/1, helping re-establishtheCNTinSpainafterFranco’sdeath.
In May 1948, at a pan-EuropeananarchistconferenceinParis,theAnarchistInternational Relations Commission(CRIA)wasestablishedby,amongothers,Parisiananarchistbookstoreowner,formerFriends of Durruti supporter and editorof Le Libertaire, André Prudhommeaux(1902-1968), IldefonsoGonzalez, RenéeLamberet of the International WorkersAssociation, Clément Fournier, JulesPulidoriandRenéCavanhié,withtheaimofmaintainingtiesbetweenthedispersedand rather battered, but still vibrantpost-war anarchist movement [12].CRIA established a sister organisationin LatinAmerica, theMontevideo-basedContinental Commission of AnarchistRelations (CCRA). The CRIA saw itselfas continuing the work of the 1907
AmsterdamInternationalandmaintaineda network of correspondence betweenorganisations, journals and individualmilitantsinArgentina,Australia(Leaguefor Freedom), Bolivia, Brazil, Britain(AnarchistFederationofBritain),Bulgaria(theexiledBulgarianLibertarianUnioninFrance),Canada,Chile,China,Colombia,Cuba, Ecuador, France (FrancophoneAnarchist Federation, RevolutionaryAnarchist Action Groups, and the IWA),Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel,Italy (Italian Anarchist Federation,GAAP Filosofo, GAR-FAI and Umanita
Nova), Japan (Japanese AnarchistFederation), Korea (KoreanAnarchistMovement),Mexico,theNetherlands(Vrijheid), North Africa (the NorthAfrican Libertarian Movement ofMorocco, Algeria and Tunisia),Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain(Libertarian Movement in Exile andNational Confederation of Labour),Sweden,Switzerland(SwissRomandeAnarchist Movement), Uruguay, theUnited States (Libertarian League,Free Voice of Labor,Resistance,andCultura Proletaria), Venezuela, andYugoslavia. The CRIA held its firstcongress in Paris in 1949 and at itscongressinLondonin1958,itjoinedwith the Provisional Secretariat onInternational Relations (SPIRA) andwas transformed into the AnarchistInternational Commission whichsurvived until about 1960 but laidthegroundwork for the Internationalof Anarchist Federations (IAF)establishedin1968.
It is theNorthAfricanLibertarianMovement (MLAN) that intriguesus here. It appears from CRIAcorrespondence in the immediatepost-war period [13] that theMLANwas a French-speaking organisation
with close ties to the strong anarchistmovementontheFrenchmainland,andwasdividedintoaMoroccanSection,anAlgerianSection,andaTunisianSection.It seems that theAlgerianSectionwas,from 2 September 1947, recognised asthe “13th Region” of the Paris-basedFrancophoneAnarchistFederation(FAF).The Tunisian Section, appears to havestarted life as the Tunisian LibertarianMovement (MLT) and later also becomeaFAFaffiliateaftercorrespondencewithGeorges Fontenis. The MLT apparentlyinitially shied away from affiliation tothe Algerian Section because of thedifferencesinthecolonialadministrationsunderwhicheachsuffered.TheMoroccanSection is not mentioned in the CRIAcorrespondence but presumably wasbased in the French-colonised AtlanticOcean ports of Casablanca and Rabatand not in the Francoist-occupiedMediterraneanportsofCeutaandMelilla.Initsfirstmanifesto,Doukhan,secretaryoftheMLAN’sAlgerianSection,announcedthattheprinciplesoftheMLAN’sAlgerianSection were: “For economic and racialequality and the establishment oflibertarian communism,” a “harmonioussocietybasedonsolidarity,mutualaid,co-
Cipriano Mera Sanz, anarchist military strategist during the Spanish Revolution
Zabalaza page 21 africa
operationandfederalism,”andopposeditselfto“patrimonialfeudalcolonialism,”racism,warand imperialism. It appearsto be a carbon-copy of the FAF’spositions.Thatwasatallorder,foranundatedCRIAdocumentontheparlouscircumstancesinwhichtheMLANfounditself noted that the Algerian Sectionconsisted of only “three comrades inAlgiers,andseveralcomradesdispersedand isolated in the bled (the small-town countryside)”. Nevertheless,the Algerian Section embarked on adefinition of its principles and tactics,apossiblesignofthehandsofFontenisand Prudhommeaux in shaping theNorthAfricanmovement.
In1950,DoukhanwrotetotheCRIASecretariat in Paris from the MLANofficeatNo.6RueduRousillon,Algiers,saying that the Algerian Section hadbeenlegalisedbytheauthoritieson31March.Asaresult,theMLANinAlgeriawasdemanding its right to autonomyfromtheFAFandonitsrighttoregisterinitsownnameasanaffiliateof“theAnarchistOrganisations”–presumablythe CRIA [14]. In April 1951, a letterwaswrittentotheMLANinAlgiersfrom“R.Cavan”oftheCRIAinParis.Cavanwas in fact René Cavanhié who alsosat on the FAF’s national committeeand he asked about activities on “theSpanish coast,” indicated concern thatthe group in Oran had not been heardofinsometime,butsupposedtheMLANwasstillworkingtogetherwith“theTunisgroup”. Revealed in this letter is the
intriguing suggestion, apparently raisedbyexiled“Spanishcomrades”oftheFAI,that the MLAN fuse with the FAI forces
inNorthAfrica.TheCRIAarchivesretainnofurtherlettersbetweentheMLANandthe CRIA, suggesting that this mergerdid,infact,takeplaceandthattheMLANthus became part of the FAI and so ofthe broader libertarian exile resistance
movement. The FAI was re-establishedin Iberia after the Carnation Revolutionin Portugal in 1974 (provoked by theliberation wars in Portugal’s Africancolonies and precipitating Portuguesedecolonisation)andthedeathofFrancoinSpainin1975andcontinuestothisday. In 1953, the year thatMohameddied and Fontenis gave the orationat his funeral, Fontenis’ platformistfaction within the FAF, the ThoughtBattle Organisation (OPB), took overthe FAF, renamed it the LibertarianCommunist Federation (FCL) andadoptedapro-Algerian liberation line.The synthesist remnant reconstitutedthe FAF. Morocco and Tunisia gainedindependence in 1956 and someanarchists of European origin maywell have stayed.But the situation inAlgeriaquicklyspiralledoutofcontrolinto all-out warfare. What became oftheanarchistsinOran,Algiersandthebled is unknown to us, but it is likelythatmanywereeitherkilledorfledtoFrance,especiallyafterFrance’slossofAlgeria as a colony in 1962 followingthe Oran Massacre of that year. Wewill examine the anarchist responsesto decolonisation in Africa and South-EastAsia–especiallytheverydifferentattitudesoftheFCLandtheFAF–ina
futureeditionofZabalaza.
NOTES:1.A Short History of Anarchism,MaxNettlau,FreedomPress,London,UK,1996,FirstPublished1934.2.ThispieceandLucien’snotesareaneditedextractfromGlobal Fire: 150 Fighting Years of International Anarchism & Syndicalism (Counter-power Vol.2),MichaelSchmidt&LucienvanderWalt,AKPress,USA,[inprocess,butpossiblytobepublishedin2010].ForbriefintroductionstothehistoryofanarchisminpartsofNorthAfrica,lookatStiobhard’sworkat:a)Algeria:http://stiobhard.tripod.com/east/algeria.htmlb)Tunisia:http://stiobhard.tripod.com/east/tunisia.htmlc)Egypt:http://stiobhard.tripod.com/east/egypt/html3.Levantine Trajectories: The Formulation and Dissemination of Radical Ideas in and between Beirut, Cairo and Alexandria 1860-1914,IlhamKhuri-Makdisi,HarvardUniversity,2003.4. a) Konstantinos Speras: the Life and Activities of a Greek Anarcho-Syndicalist, Leonardis Kottis, Libertarian Historical Archive andVivliopelagusEditions,Athens,Greece,2001,translatedintoEnglishin2005byJamesSotros.b)Stavros Kouchtsoglous – a Greek Anarchist Communist,JamesSotros,2009.5.Anarchists on Screen 1901-2003,CIRABulletin60,InternationalCentreforResearchintoAnarchism,Lausanne,Spring2004.6.Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Immagination,BenedictAnderson,Verso,London,UK,andNewYork,USA,2005.7.Mohamed, Saïl (1894-1953), Organise! #58, Anarchist Federation, UK, online at: http://libcom.org/history/mohamed-sail-1894-1953 AcollectionofMohamed’swritingsfromthe1920s-1950sisavailableinAppels aux Travailleurs Algériens,SaïlMohammed,GroupeFresnes-Antony,France,FederationAnarchiste,1994.8.Albert Guigi-Theral (1903-??),anonymous,onlineat:http://www.libcom.org/history/articles/1903-19/index.php9.Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution,JoséPeirats,FreedomPress,London,1990.Firstpublished1951-1953.ThesourcehereistheAppendixtothiswork,printedbyBlack&Red,Detroit,Michigan,USA,1993.10.ForvariousaccountsoftheactionsofEl NueveintheliberationofParis,lookat:a)The Spaniards who Liberated Paris,DenisFernandezRecatala,Le Monde Diplomatique,August2004,cachedonlineat:http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:VJaIlXrvQZkJ:mondediplo.com/2004/08/13spaniards+El+Nueve+liberation+Paris&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=zab)2nd Armoured Division,JohnBeresfordWelsh,WashingtonDC,USA,2000,onlineat:http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/FJ6/French2nd.htmlc)1943-1944: CNT Militants and the Liberation of Paris,anonymous,butincludingthereminiscencesof9thTankCorpsveteransAbenzaJesusandManuelLozano,onlineat:http://www.libcom.org/history/articles/cnt-militants-lib-paris/index.php11.Granny Made Me an Anarchist: General Franco, the Angry Brigade and Me,StuartChristie,Scribner,UK,2004.Also,discussionsin2008betweenMichaelSchmidtandChristie.12.CIRABulletin64,InternationalCentreforResearchintoAnarchism,Lausanne,September2008.13.CRIA-MLANcorrespondence1947-1951,verykindlyprovidedtotheZACFbyFrédericDeshusses,archivist,CRIAInternationalCentreforResearchintoAnarchism,2008.14.TheoriginalFrenchtextreadsinpart:“C’est a la occasion de la legalisation du M.L.A.N. (seccion Algerienne) par les pouvoir publics em date du 31 Mars 1950 seus le No. 4.189 et de sa constitution et autonomie par rapport au le F.A.F. a laquelle nous appartemiens en tant que 13e Region du 2 September 1947 jusq’au 31 Mars 1950 que nous avans la satisfaction de vous demander: - de nous assigner s’il y a lieu, la tache qui nous correspond afin de collaborer a meme titre que les Organisations Anarchistes adherentes.”
George Fontenis, first secretary of theFrench Fédération Anarchiste
