[Louise Michel (1830-1905) was back in prison(again) in the 1880s when she wrote her memoirs(after the 1883 Paris bread riot). They were publishedin February 1886. In this extract she looks back at heryounger self, just before the Paris Commune of 1871.]

And so here is Louise Michel. She is a menace tosociety, for she has declared a hundred times thateveryone should take part in the banquet of life. Whatwould be the pleasure of riches if one were unable tocompare one’s own well-fed condition to that ofpeople dying of hunger? Where would the feeling ofsecurity come from if one were unable to compareone’s good, solid position to that of people who mustwork in poverty?

What is more, Louise Michel is a woman. If shecould only be fooled by the idea that women can gettheir rights by asking men for them. But she has thevillainy to insist that the strong sex is just as much aslave as the weak sex, that it is unable to give what itdoes not have itself. All inequalities, she claims, willcollapse when men and women engage in the commonbattle together.

Louise Michel is a monster who maintains that menand women are not responsible for their situations andclaims it is stupidity which causes the evils around us.She claims that politics is a form of that stupidity andis incapable of ennobling the race.

If Louise Michel were the only person saying all

this, people could say she is a pathological case. Butthere are thousands like her, millions, none of whomgives a damn about authority. They all repeat the battlecry of the Russian revolutionaries: land and freedom!

Yes, there are millions of us who don’t give a damnfor any authority because we have seen how little themany-edged tool of power accomplishes. We havewatched throats cut to gain it. It is supposed to be asprecious as the jade axe that travels from island toisland in Oceania. No. Power monopolized is evil.

Who would have thought that those men at the rueHautefeuille who spoke so forcefully of liberty andwho denounced the tyrant Napoleon so loudly wouldbe among those in May 1871 who wanted to drownliberty in blood? [1] Power makes people dizzy andwill always do so until power belongs to all mankind.

Note1, A swipe at moderate republicans who opposed theParis Commune: ‘Among the people associated withthe [education centre on] rue Hautefeuille was JulesFavre. At this time he was a true republican leader, butafter the fall of Napoleon III he became one of thosewho murdered Paris. Power would poison him as itpoisons all who are clothed in that cloak of Nessus’(p.50)

From chapter 7, ‘The decaying empire’ in The RedVirgin: memoirs of Louise Michel, edited andtranslated by Bullitt Lowry and Elizabeth EllingtonGunter. (page 52). This extract appears courtesy of theUniversity of Alabama Press.Imagehttps://fabienribery.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/louise-michel-profil-2.jpg

The Princess Casamassima by Henry James[Review]James peoples his novel with figures from the Londonanarchist scene of his day. He makes the indefatigableJohann Most serve as the basis for three characters: abookbinder, a chemist, and a German internationalrevolutionist, all of which Most was. Kropotkin, stilltired from his journey, perhaps, will do for only one,but James compensates by giving him a sex changeand making him the expatriate noblewoman of thebook’s title, who abandons a life of luxury to side withthe oppressed.

Inside: tactics, arguments and keeping the flame alight

Number 93-94 £1 or two dollars Mar. 2018Here is Louise Michel

Anarchists in London (real and imaginary)In his preface, James claims to have gathered the

information with which to set the scene by sheerdogged observation: “pulling no wires, knocking atno closed doors, applying for no ‘authentic’information”; instead, it was his practice to “hauntthe great city and by this habit to penetrate it,imaginatively, in as many places as possible”.

When it comes down to it, James’s “imaginativepenetration” consists of projecting his personal hang-ups and his class prejudices onto the working class ingeneral and the revolutionary socialist movement inparticular. The central figure, the bookbinder, has agrudge against the nobility, while at the same time hehankers for their “cultivated” life: a clear metaphorfor James’s own persistent bourgeois-colonialhobnobbing.

The actual absence of any true independence ofmind and total incapacity for any enlightened socialthinking that are the rule among both thestate/industrial baronry and the academic mandarinswho are their cerebral proxies – this chronicintellectual debility, which is concealed by theirimpressive titles, appearances, and generally exaltedpositions, James projects upon the would-berevolutionaries, who are all muddle and dither. Themurderous selfishness of the privileged and mighty,so elegantly promoted in that day in the apparel of theacademically approved doctrine of social darwinism,finds its reflection in James’s novel in the portrayal ofsocial revolution as culminating in a massiveslaughter of the rich and the share-out of theirproperty. This despite the fact that anarchistcommunism, i.e. collective ownership, self-management and free exchange, was well establishedas a revolutionary doctrine before 1886.

The instrument of the revolution, at least in itsearly stages, is to be an international terroristconspiracy that binds its members by oath beforegiving them its orders. For of course, since theviolence of the ruling class really is originated inhidden hierarchical conspiracies (for the sake of“national security”), and carried out by meremyrmidons, whose slave status is sealed by swearingthem in, so must revolutionary violence be orderedby shadowy command structures that enforce blindobedience by the administration of oaths so terriblethat they cannot be reported.

James cannot see the inhumanity, idleness, andcowardice of the rich, because of their veneer of“culture”. These vices, however, are all too obviousto him in the poor: insurmountable obstacles to thecreation of a just social order. Yet the evidence oftenderness, the skill, the courage of the dispossessedwas all around him. It was into the bosoms ofworking women that the rich thrust their children fornursing, it was into the hands of the working men thatthey put their very lives when they went travelling, itwas the sons of working men and women in the army

and navy that kept them safe from their enemies anddefended or extended their dominions for them. Theidea that it is the sheer usefulness of the poor thatmakes the rich determined to keep them poor wasevidently beyond Henry James.

To describe and comment upon the actual plot ofthe novel would be to dignify it quite unjustifiably. Intheir blurb, the publishers describe the book asportraying “the crucial era of England beforesocialism”. Of course, what they mean isauthoritarian socialism, with its bourgeois,parliamentary, statist and militarist tactics. It wouldhave been fascinating to read an account of lifebefore this disease had infected the labour movement.Unfortunately, all we get is an account of the author’sprejudices. Since these correspond to the ideology ofthe ruling class today, just as much as yesterday, theyare of little interest.

Recently, James’s old house in Sussex wasacquired by the Rolls-Royce car firm, to be used fortheir directors’ frolics. Words or wheels, the socialreality expressed is the same.

MHFrom: Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review #5

(1980).

Mr Batllori’s Death. The Friend of FerrerAt the age of only 51, Mariano Batllori, a personalfriend of Ferrer, has just died at Walthamstow.

As manager of Ferrer’s publishing business inBarcelona, he found himself exposed to thepersecutions that followed the insurrectory movementof July 1909, and became one of its innocent andunfortunate victims.

Batllori had formed with Ferrer, during theirschooldays, one of those solid friendships that resisttime and all sorts of trials.

When Ferrer was charged with complicity inMorral’s attempt on the life of the King and Queen ofSpain, and thrown in prison, some friends of Morralfound in a letter addressed to them, by the latter,sentences which completely proved Ferrer’sinnocence; but not daring to trust the post office withsuch a precious document, they sought in Ferrer’ssurroundings for a trustworthy person who mightcarry it to Madrid and put it in the hands of thesolicitor; the choice fell on Mariano Batllori.

As manager of the Modern School, he had hadtime already to endure the vexations and threats ofthe police, and for a whole year had been tremblingfor the life of his friend.

When, after his acquittal, Ferrer understood theuselessness of his efforts to restart his school, anddecided to start a publishing business, it was uponBatllori he conferred the post of manager and hispower of attorney.

Then came the tragic events of July 1909. Batlloriwas arrested in the shop, at the Calle Cortes, and to

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Anarchists in London (real and imaginary)reach the prison he had to walk through the streets ofBarcelona, handcuffed with Senor Casasola, theformer headmaster of the Modern School. Withoutany preparation, without anything on him except afew bob, without even being allowed to go home toinform his family, he was taken to the stationsurrounded by the civil guard, and exiled to Alcaniz,in the province of Tarragona. There he found himselfwith Jose, Ferrer’s brother, Jose’s wife, and their littlegirl, the veteran Anselmo Lorenzo, the teacherCasasola, and other employees of Ferrer. It will beeasily understood what anguishes Mariano must havegone through after he had left Barcelona withoutbeing able to address a word or two of farewell to hiswife, who was thus left alone with a little girl of fiveand her ailing mother.

From Alcaniz the exiles were transferred to Ternel[ie Teruel], another Spanish province which is stillunder the yoke of the narrowest fanaticism and wherelife thus became unbearable. In fact, they were livingin a house which was watched day and night by thepolice and the civil guard, who had erected, at a fewyards distance, a wooden shelter, so that their watchshould not belie itself for a single moment. Theirhouse door was bolted at 7pm, and no one wasallowed to enter or leave that kind of fortress afterthat time. During the day they were not allowed to goout without being accompanied by one or morepolicemen. The same escort followed the postmanand the purveyors. Thus unable to do any work and toearn any money, they saw the spectre of faminethreatening them, and especially so because theircorrespondence was opened and the registered letterscontaining money had disappeared. It was but inNovember, more than a month after the execution ofFerrer, that these tortures came to an end.

Back in Barcelona, Batllori had to seekemployment for his living, for Ferrer’s publishinghouse had been closed; but for more than two yearshis efforts remained unfruitful. His exile, his relationswith Ferrer had closed to him the doors of all theemployers, and he saw with terror his scanty savingsgo. A bronchitis which he had caught during Ferrer’sfirst trial became more acute, and physical sufferingadding itself to moral suffering, undermined hishealth every day a little more.

It was then that our friend Guy Bowman,informed of this sad situation, offered him a berth inhis newly-opened publishing business, and that washow, submitting himself to a new exile, he came toEngland and settled down with his wife and his littlegirl.

The friends who are in the habit of visiting thelittle cottage at Maude Terrace will no doubtremember the kind and modest comrade whom animperfect knowledge of our tongue rendered verycoy, and whose face bore the indelible imprint of thetorments he had previously undergone. In the midst

of the sympathy with which he was surrounded, helooked at one time as if he was going to recover, butthe illusion did not last long. Undermined by diseaseand grief, his organism had lost all resistance, anddeath met hardly any resistance to accomplish itswork.

Mariano Batllori leaves to all those who haveknown him the memory of a loyal, disinterested [ienot selfish] and devoted friend.

The Syndicalist, September 1912.--------Footnote [RA/KSL] :Berthe J. Batllori, born 1873, is registered as havingdied in 1915 in West Ham. Her death certificateshows she was still living at 4 Maude Terrace,Walthamstow with her sister Leopoldine, whoregistered the death. She (Berthe) is given as widowof Mariano Batllori. Both Berthe and Leopoldine hadthe second name Jeanne. Berthe and Mariano had adaughter who I presume accompanied them toEngland, but I haven’t found any information abouther.Guy Bowman also lived in Walthamstow.The original of this article spells the surname Battlorithroughout, this is an error [which has been silentlycorrected]: on official documents, including deathcertificates it’s spelt Batllori.Footnote 2 [PS]His wife was Berthe Bonnard, a one-time student ofFerrer’s Spanish classes in Paris in 1897-98. She wasthe sister of another Spanish learner, LeopoldineBonnard, a rationalist schoolteacher. ApparentlyFerrer and Leopoldine lived together before declaringtheir “free union” to a gathering of friends inBarcelona on the very day that her sister, Berthe(Berta) entered into a civil marriage with Batllori.Ferrer and Leopoldine had a son, Riego, before theirrelationship ended in 1905.Footnote 3 [KSL]This article was illustrated with a photo of Batllori inexile, taken from a group shot. This image of Batllori(and the other Modern School exiles) in Teruel can beseen at https://manelaisa.com/ateneu-enciclopedic-fotos/. Batllori is number 3 athttps://manelaisa.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1-desterrados-a-teruel-1909.jpg

Tom KeellWith the passing of Tom Keell goes one of the mostprominent links with the active and enthusiasticperiod of the English libertarian movement. TheLondon Freedom Group had been founded in the[18]90’s around the personality of Kropotkin, whohad made England his home after adventures with theprisons and police of half Europe, and despite thedifficulties of all anti-state activity, its paper“Freedom” remained a glowing torch of uniqueliterary standard for over thirty years – a remarkable

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Anarchists in London (real and imaginary)life for this type of periodical. During the early yearsof the century, at a time of particular hardship, it waslucky to enlist the sympathy of Alfred Marsh, son ofa prosperous brush manufacturer, who becamenominal editor, and from then Tom Keell, who hadjoined the “staff” as compositor some time before,and had done most of the practical work, graduallytook on duties of publishing, accounting, editing,distributing, writing the excellent “Notes of the day”and finally running the whole paper “Freedom” as isbound to happen to an efficient man who is always“on the job” and willing to work and to takeresponsibility. The practical problems of “committeeediting” were burden enough: the tragedy of thegroup schism brought about by alignment towards thewar fever and Russian affairs are even now hardlyforgotten; and the fact that a paper with such a policycould be kept alive through the war period was itselfa miracle. In all this Tom took a consistent, anhonourable, an uncompromising line of anti-state,anti-government, anti-war activity, though it may behuman nature to rail at one who stayed on the rightpath whilst others strayed, it is very difficult to find inhis record much to criticise.

With the post-war slump and general worlddisillusionment the wave of activity and interest inAnarchism (essentially international) fellconsiderably, and by the time he had decided to retireto the country with his sympathetic comrade of manyyears, Lilian Wolfe, there was no responsible group towhom he felt justified in handing over. The press wasdismantled and sold, bills all paid, and Tom retired toWhiteway Colony, which has had its place for someyears in the history of Utopian Colony experiments.Having little urge towards journalism (his memoirswould have been fascinating), he confined himself tokeeping in touch with affairs, a periodical visit to hisfriends in London, and remaining, with the help ofthe old “Bomb Shop” (Henderson’s of Charing CrossRoad) and that independent personality, Charles Lahr,the representative, more or less, of the tiny stream ofEnglish libertarian literature.

Can I get a Kropotkin pamphlet anywhere? AskTom Keell. Is “Man!” available here without writingto the United States? Write to Tom Keell. Doesanyone know anything about Spanish anarchistsbefore the war? See if Tom Keell can help you – andso on – until the Spanish war brought Anarchismagain into world politics, attracted new blood, andfound him willing to help as publisher and distributorof “Spain and the World.” His firm, neat handwritingon the wrappers to the day of his death remain ourlast contact with him.

When I first came to London I had 14/7½ d, asuitcase and need of a job. On the third day, havingfound a room and started personal affairs rolling, Iput in my pocket my copy of “Freedom”, picked up ifI remember, at an Emma Goldman meeting in

Manchester, and stood at half past four on a Saturdayafternoon at the back door of 127, Ossulston Street,“Hello!” – a tall grey-bearded man at the top of adark rickety staircase. “Are you Mr. Keell?” “I am.”“Can I have a few words with you?” “Comeupstairs,” and a man sat on a packing case eatingbread and cheese sandwiches, drinking tea andhanding out information in a small tidy room underthe roof and crowded with its hand-press, type fontswith which he proceeded later to do conjuring tricksall the time he was talking, one chair plus me, neatpiles of literature and two rows of his personal books.Trained to look for a good critical study of a newsubject, it did not take me long to discover that Iwanted an “Eltzbacher.” “Nothing doing, my boy,”said Tom. “Apart from pure luck, you’re twenty yearstoo late – but if you can read French there’s atranslation still in print published by so and so” – andfrom then the twelve years to his death are covered,with some interruptions, by letters, purchases ofbooks and papers, visits to London, meetings atWhiteway and talks! – talks of the past, before mytime, talks of the days of Kropotkin and Malatesta inthe office and of their personalities; of the coming ofthe released Spanish prisoners, tortured in Montjuichprison, of their scarred backs and of Tarrida delMarmol; of the public outcry at the Ferrer execution;of printing and other help to Mrs. Pankhurst and theWomen’s Suffrage Movement when they were raidedby Liberal governments; of illegal pamphlets againstwar and conscription left in buses and other publicplaces; of Scotland Yard officials and how to dealwith them; of useful help with correspondence andpropaganda for Emma Goldman’s lecture campaign;of that extraordinary short-lived genius “GeorgeBarrett” who could not be replaced; of that finepersonality Wm. C. Owen, and of Edward Carpenter,who meant so much to many a pre-war youth; ofWhiteway itself, originally founded by a group ofTolstoyans, and of the colourful individualistpersonalities it has attracted since; of Irish politics,labour, enthusiasm and martyrdom; of GeorgeLansbury, the red “Daily Herald” days, the Miracle ofFleet Street, and the brave days when “Many of uswere twenty-one, light of heart, of pocket, but full ofideals” and met at the Minerva Rooms in SilverStreet, at the International Restaurant in DenmarkStreet, or at the Emily Davison Club.

And what good did all the talking do? Well, it keptthe torch alive and has handed it on.

From a Correspondent.*Man! Vol 6 No 9-10 Sept.-Oct. 1938 [p603-6 of theMan! Anthology]

*Dr Oscar Swede (1900-1942), attribution from‘Thomas Keell 1866-1938’ by “HB” (probablyHarold Barclay) http://libcom.org/library/thomas-keell-1866-1938. Swede’s papers are in Amsterdam.

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Well-being, Class, TacticsTransition and the right to well-beingIt is a deliberate lie to say that we are in the grip of arecession, which is a temporary slump in trade, partof the ebb and flow of normality.

This does not describe the economic situation inGreat Britain nor that prevailing in most of thecapitalist nations. It is pure governmental propagandato suggest that it is; and all the slogans of getting theTories out, “ditch the bitch” and the like are anattempt to trivialise and personalise the issue. It is notMrs Thatcher’s lack of compassion or dogmaticerrors that are responsible for the present slump. Shecould, as the previous Labour governments did, directthe economy in such a way that the nature of theunemployment crisis is overlooked. Labourgovernments became adept at cosmetic surgery andalso, to do them justice, introduced or permitted tocontinue what one might call first-aid measures tohelp the casualties of economic crisis. These are nowcut because they are clearly cosmetic and therefore“uneconomic”.

But Labour politicians accepted, and made a greatnational saga of, the theory that there is an inevitableebb and flow of world trade, the crisis theory ofeconomics that balances the conspiracy theory ofpolitics. It is untrue. This is not a recession but atransition.TransitionThe capitalist world is undergoing a major changesimilar to economic revolutions of the past, whichhave displaced class after class. Now it is the workingclass who are being displaced. They are losing theright to work. It is not that there is a temporary lull inwork: the need for work is disappearing. Technologyhas displaced the need for many human hands beforeand is doing so still. What we now see is the whole ofheavy industry vanishing, whole towns and regionsmade redundant – not just in the industrial senseeither. It is a problem of “what to do with thepeople”, which States have often on their hands –which criminal Statism often deals with by genocidebut which less totalitarian regimes have to settle byevasive measures. There are now whole regionswhich the State may as well write off as no longerbeing financially viable. The work of keepingindustry going falls into fewer and fewer hands. Theindustrial proletariat as such is vanishing. Underrising capitalism an expanding work force wasessential, and it had power in its hands: it lost itsopportunity to take over and is now paying the price.

It was always possible under rising capitalism foran increasing number of the work force employed inindustry to think of itself as “middle class” sociallybecause it once had, and in many cases still has,social advantages – not getting their hands dirty, orgetting paid holidays and sickness when these werenot general – which have now dwindled solely tohaving had further educational facilities, but with the

same ability to be turned on the dustbin as anyoneelse – their social advantages reduced to being able toget a better grasp of the small print in DHSScirculars.Consequences of defeatThe working class movement was defeated long ago,or taken over by others. It has collectively no moreidea of what has hit it than any of the social classesdispossessed in the past and most of the protests thathave arisen have been diverted into pointless politicaldemands with the only coherent one “the right towork”. A pathetic slogan: The right to work is theright to be exploited; it is the right to be slaves,(which the government does not deny). It is the rightnot to be subjected to genocide, the logical outcomeof redundancy for a class: which is certainly animportant right, but surely we have a long way tocome to that? The opposite of the right to work – theright to drop out and stagnate – is equally destructive:that is the right to accept what the State propose,capable of realisation, since no government willobject to it!Why unemploymentThe capitalist countries face unemployment and“recessions” and not communist countries for asimple reason: the uninhibited free market (to whichthe Tory Government is devoted) means there is noeconomic necessity for the people who have beendisplaced by the technological progress of thetwentieth century.

They have therefore to be pushed out ofmeaningful productive jobs into the “digging holesand filling them in” type of toil, upon whichgovernments, according to the degree of humanfeeling prevalent, may make variations. (One of themain ones, for instance, is the huge growth of theuniversity industry, not to spread education, or toprovide a better educated workforce, but humanely toreduce unemployment and incidentally to brainwashand condition).

The totalitarian countries are able to plan aheadand utilise their workforce as they wish. No need touse the lever of unemployment, or face unionopposition through putting workers out of theirhomes or into jobs far below those for which theyhave trained. The work force there is like an armyand it goes where it is put. There is no point inunemployment, all that is done is to alter thecategories when putting them through the educationalstage and planning for the future – fewer industrialworkers, more psychiatrists; more manual jobs, moreservile jobs and less skilled work for the period tenyears ahead. In fact (like it or not) unemploymentshows the democratic side of capitalism, not itsdictatorial side; for in dictatorships there is nounemployment since people are set to work as thegovernment requires. This does not alter the fact thatunemployment is a major social evil, but the

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Well-being, Class, Tacticsalternative is not the right to work but the right towell-being.

If the community advances all are responsible – ifwe are not now in the conditions of the Middle ageseveryone has contributed in one way or another towhat is, and the right to well-being is universal. Notjust for the famous, or the rich, or the well connected;not just for the proletariat or for all those who work –but all.

Since the major advance in technology has meantthat there is not enough work for all to do, thesolution lies in reducing the amount of work we do,and extending the amount of leisure that we have, andbalancing work and leisure, so that work is not apunishment and leisure is not a bore. The fact that nogovernments of whatever hue, and no States ofwhatever economic background, wish to achieve this,does not mean that we cannot nevertheless insist onour basic human right to share in well-being. Thesooner this is realised the better, for even though itneeds a complete revolution, the moment this isappreciated [it] colours our attitudes. No one need beashamed of asking for “too much” when they knowwe have been deprived of everything, nor regard amystical “social welfare” and moderate theirdemands accordingly.

Everything is ours, the government createsnothing. We have the right to live well. The State hasno right to exist but force.

Albert MeltzerBlack Flag : Organ of the Anarchist Black Cross

v.6,no.7 (April 1981)

Gig economy, pig economy Richard WarrenThe Price We PayWe live in a very much divided society, not justNorth/South as the papers often tell us, but in everytown and city. Even the official statistics in “SocialTrends ’87” published in January reveal the gapbetween rich and poor yawning wider. From 1976 to’84 income of the bottom 2 fifths of households fellfrom 10% to 6% of the total, while the top 1 fifth’sshare rose from 44% to 49%. Ownership of wealthshows an even greater contrast: 1% of the population

owns more than the bottom 80%.Health DivideThe “Health Divide”, an update of the Black reportby the Health Education Council (after Sir DouglasBlack, former Dept of Health chief scientist – thereport was suppressed by the Government in 1980)shows the widening of the health gap between richand poor over the last decade. A press conference onthe updated report, planned for March 24th wasn’tallowed to go ahead “because it was a sensitivebusiness in the election year” – Sir Brian Bailey, thechair of the Health Education Council. The reportsays: “All the major killer diseases now affect thepoor more than the rich and so do most of the lesscommon ones”. It then goes on: “The unemployedand their families have considerably worse physicaland mental health than those in work”. Theconclusions are that material deprivation – whetherpoverty, poor housing, or poor work conditions – isthe major factor explaining the poor health of the lesswell off. This, of course, comes as no surprise, but theGovernment is embarrassed by it.

Obviously related to this is the housing crisis withover 150,000 officially registered homeless people.Their plight was the subject of “World in Action”which interviewed many families forced to live inhostels, ex-isolation hospitals, army barracks andcaravans. One couple in Hertfordshire were living ina single hostel room 12 ft by 10ft and were expectingtheir first child at any time. In Wareham, Dorset,homeless families are treated like dirt by Purbeckcouncil. One councillor said: “Homeless peopleshouldn’t be breeding like rabbits”; and another:“They should have their children taken into care andthe parents should fend for themselves”. TheHomeless Persons Act states: “....mobile homes arenot satisfactory for families with children...”, yetPurbeck have put families in run down caravans. Notsurprisingly Housing Minister, John Patton andEnvironment Secretary, Nicholas Ridley, refused tobe interviewed on the programme.

These examples of serious social deprivation arein the “affluent south” illustrating that society isdivided wherever you live. Just think; in the sametown there are dispossessed families living incaravans while rich Tory councillors and businessexecutives live in large, posh detached houses. Mostof us live slightly higher up the social ladder thanthose in the programme, but what have we got? – rundown council estates or pokey Barratt homesmortgaged to the hilt, and most of us struggle tomake ends meet.Divided by ClassThe facts speak for themselves. We live in a class-divided society – a minority wealth-owning class anda wealth-producing class (the immense majority).Many don’t immediately recognise this fundamentaldivide – skilled workers are rewarded more than the

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Well-being, Class, Tacticsunskilled and higher up are the “professionalclasses”. In other words capitalism divides workersinto a career hierarchy, with the unemployed at thebottom and lower management at the top. But allthese people do essentially the same thing – providelabour, whether physical or mental, that turns thewheels of capitalism. The social wealth created isn’tused to benefit all of us equally – far from it! A largeslice is constantly creamed off by a small section ofthe population who do no work at all – the rulingclass.

This small percentage who own most of thewealth also control it. And so the interests of societyare sacrificed to their interests. While this systemmay produce lots of profit (not much going our waythough!) and inflated salaries for directors andmanagers, for most of us we have to put up with alow wage, bad housing, poor health (and a crumblingNHS), second rate education, unemployment – thelist goes on. In short – pleasure for the few, miseryfor the rest of us. Surely society could be more fairlyorganised than that! Yes, but the government or thebosses certainly aren’t going to do it for us – it’s up tous to change things.Sexual inequalityAlthough the women’s movement has made somegains, women are still treated as second-classcitizens. In conversations and arguments women areoften interrupted or even told to shut up “becausetheir opinions don’t count”. The “woman’s place is inthe home” attitude still persists. They are expected todo most of the housework and look after the kids.Again, the figures speak for themselves – women infull time employment only have 24.6 hours free timeper week whereas men have 33.5 hours; evenhousewives only have 32.2 hours free time (“SocialTrends ’87”). Women, on average, are paid lowerwages and suffer sexual harassment at work. Becauseof the attitude that “women are there to be fucked”they are in danger of being assaulted or raped, oftenby husbands who consider their wife to be theirproperty to be used or abused as they see fit.RacismWith widespread poverty and frustration people lookfor a convenient scapegoat. In 1930’s Germany it wasthe Jews. In 1980’s Britain it’s blacks and Asians.They are blamed for “taking our jobs” or even “ourhospital beds”. Yet the nationalistic pressconveniently forget that blacks and Asians haveworse housing than whites and suffer from higherunemployment and social deprivation. On top of allthis they get hassle from the police and beat up andmurdered by gangs of fascist thugs.

The problems in our society that are blamed onethnic minorities are problems generated by thecapitalist system we live under. Quite simply itcannot satisfy our needs. Instead it produces poverty,division, frustration, violence.

Society is divided into classes, and our class isartificially divided by sexism and racism. The key tomaintaining inequality is power – imposition of thewill of persons considered more important on to thoseconsidered less important. Yet all human beingsought to be socially equal, but this system denies usthat right. Power is expressed as authority. Hence thechain of command in workplaces where the shopfloor worker is reduced to the level of a machine. Atschool our children are subject to imposed disciplinein preparation for the job market. Women suffer theauthority of men who “know what’s best”. And weare all subject to the authority of the State whichclaims to be acting on our behalf but in fact is actingon behalf of the ruling class.

As anarcho-syndicalists we reject powerrelationships because we are passionate believers infreedom – freedom from domination, fromexploitation and from tyranny. We also reject theclass system and the economy based on capitalistrelations of production and distribution, because webelieve in social and economic equality. We advocateclass struggle for the liberation of humanity and fightfor a world in which the wealth created by all isenjoyed by all.

Direct Action No.38 (April 1987)

Anarchy and the art of motor-cycle maintenance[Or, Squatting in Ilford]Introduction – Anarchists in action. Squatting inIlford, E. London.

In 1968-69 I was one of many anarchists involvedin squatting in Ilford and in the long battle withRedbridge Council (Ilford). What follows is just alook back at that. It is not an attempt at any sort ofhistory. It is just a very brief and selective summaryof the situation during a part of a long struggle. Myexperience during this time is one of the factors thathas made me take the position I do in the mainarticle.

In essence squatting was part of the anarchistdirect action campaign for more and better housing,with greater control of it in people’s own hands. Wewere squatting because of the increasing number ofempty houses in London, coupled with the increasingnumber of homeless people. Under RedbridgeCouncil there were more and more houses whichwere due to stand empty for ten years or more, beforebeing demolished for a new car park or offices. Whensquatting started in Ilford, Redbridge council reactedhysterically. As a wide generalisation they attacked usin five ways :-1) Brute Force. Squads of ‘bailiffs’ attacking at 4-6am and throwing squatters out after beating them up,and then wrecking furniture and gutting the house.2) Preventative Vandalism. Gutting empty houses sothey could not be squatted in, as well as boardingthem up.

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Well-being, Class, Tactics3) Propaganda. Putting forward in the local andnational press, the wildest accusations againstsquatters – that we destroyed property, jumped thehousing queue, we were less than human, andbelieved in violence and anarchy.4) Minor Harassment. Such as persuading theelectricity, gas and water boards to cut their suppliesoff.5) The Law. Obtaining eviction orders, injunctions,etc. and bringing charges of assault, ABH, GBH,against us.

By the end of the campaign, we were respondingto their attacks in about six different ways, asfollows :-1) Brute Force. Getting together all the comrades whowere prepared to fight and maintaining 24 hourguards on squatted houses.2) Defence Work. Making houses more defendable,one of them was a mini-fortress.3) Building Works. Rebuilding gutted houses to makethem habitable for new squats.4) Propaganda. The town hall was covered withslogans, a banner was even put up over the top of thetown hall one night. A daily news sheet was put out tothe streets surrounding the squatted houses. Constantnews and letters were sent to the local paper until itcontained more pro-squatting material than anti-squatting. Street theatre and processions were held.5) Minor Harassment. Every opportunity was taken topublicly embarrass the local councillors and thecouncil, culminating in a violent attack on the wholecouncil during a council meeting in which the wholecouncil fled for their lives and the mayor was nearlystrangled with his chain of office. (There thenfollowed a running battle with the police, while thevictorious forces of liberation beat a strategicwithdrawal to their own fortress one street away),6) The Law. Every attempt by the council to use thelaw against us was opposed, all charges denied, andwe started bringing more and more counter chargesagainst them. At the end of the day we probably hadas much success in the courts as they did. But theammunition that our legal moves provided thepropaganda machine was enormous.

[Photo, caption: Redbridge Town Hall with abanner on the top saying “Brute force doesn’t curehomelessness.”]

[Photo, caption “More slogans on the town hall –with their author”]

Squatting is still with us today, so there is nodoubt that the anarchist movement won a majorvictory on the streets of Ilford, Fulham etc. It was notas complete a victory as it might have been, but thatis another story my children. In the beginning it was adisaster. The people who first tried to squat veryrapidly became worse off than ever – homeless, theirfurniture smashed, two of them in hospital, and thecouncil trying to take their children into care. And of

course charges of assault and breach of the peaceagainst them.

Against all the odds we turned defeat into victory.And looking back (although I did not think so at thetime) I think this was due not to any one tactic, but tothe combination. All the things we were doinginterlinked. For instance the legal games that wereplayed (bitterly attacked by me and others at the time)had some very important effects which contributed tothe general success. Firstly, they caused the legalmoves made by the council to be largely ineffective.This seems to have led to them making moves whichwere illegal and hasty. This improved our position –we were indignant! It confused the council andcaused a split in their ranks, it confused the liberals,the press, and the tv., who didn’t know who tosupport and ended up supporting us, the squatters,more than the local council, and it confused thepolice, who at one point retreated into a neutralinactivity which culminated in their standing on thepavement in a line, watching squatters and bailiffsfighting it out at 5.00 am in the morning. The policebeing violently sworn at and insulted by local peoplein night clothes and dressing gowns, and then havingat last to intervene on the squatters side, because thebailiffs in desperation had set fire to the house,having been completely routed in the fighting.

At the time, this six-point attack we were makingon the council was causing great divisions amongstourselves. No one person supported all the things wewere doing. There were endless arguments aboutwhich of them was the RIGHT thing to do. Peopledoing other things were attacked, at the least forwasting time and not doing anything, at worst forbeing counter-revolutionary, and supposedly harmingthe movement.

Take for example the defence works at one house.These created a fortress from which we worked. Itwas a house with no ground floor. Behind the frontdoor was a 10 foot drop to the basement, there was nostaircase, access to the lived-in part on the first floorwas by rope ladder. The garden was crossed by pitsand barbed wire, which made it dangerous to runacross, especially at night or early morning. It provedto be an excellent position, being successfullydefended by seven men and women against fifteenbailiffs, who attempted a surprise attack early onemorning. A bloody encounter in which some of themwent to hospital, but I don’t think any of us wereeven scratched.

At the same time these defence works made theplace hell to live in; sent three people to hospital(outpatients), one for walking through the front door,one for falling down the ladder while drunk, and onetrying to make an effective smoke bomb; and took upa lot of time which meant that less was done repairingother houses, which was very important to thepropaganda war; showing us to be creating housing,

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Well-being, Class, Tacticswhile it was the council who destroyed it.

[Photo caption ‘The cover Anarchy 102, August1969 Bailiffs attacking a squat at 6.0 am – andfailing’]

We were at each other’s throats the whole time,constantly putting down those who did not see ourtactics as the most important and wasting their timedoing unimportant things like drinking tea with areporter.

At the end, fighting broke out between us, a housewas surrendered and retaken (by a flying squad ofsquatters from the other side of London) and somepeople have not spoken to each other again to thisday.

AND NOW TO THE POINT... A number of majordivisions have split the anarchist movement over thelast 15 years. The ones which come most strongly tomind are over the class war and sexism.

Both of these produced very similar style ofarguments (with the words changed) and similarresults.

The class war advocates put forward that classwas the major division within society, that the classwar was the decisive struggle, all others being side-shows, and that all our efforts should be directed tothat end.

The feminists came along a few years later to saythat sex is the major division in society, that thestruggle against male domination is the decisivestruggle, that all others are side-shows, if notintrinsically counter-revolutionary and that all ourefforts should be directed to that end.

All through these discussions one or two peoplewere saying that they felt that the nuclear family wasthe origin of all our problems and that only bydestruction of that could we advance, while otherswere saying that the school and educational systemwere where it was at; then suddenly hash and H andthen LSD were going to usher in the new dawn.

I feel it is about time that we all recognised thatthe society we live in is divided. Divided not in oneor two ways, but in dozens of ways. All thesedivisions cause conflicts and tensions. Most of thesedivisions are important. Individually these divisionsare not equally important. Individually we see societyin a different way, and it is different aspects ofsociety which oppress each one of us most. At themoment because I find one aspect of this societymore oppressive than the rest and you find anothermore oppressive, we are at each others throats. It is asthough we are separated by a wall, one side paintedblue and the other green. We both agree that the wallmust be destroyed, but at the moment we are fightingeach other over what colour the wall is.

The reason why I say that things look good for theanarchist movement, while others say that thingshave never looked worse and that it is the extremeright who are on the up and up, is only due to our

standing and looking at life from two differentpositions. It is not that one of us is blind or stupid, or‘intrinsically counter-revolutionary.’ We are lookingat the same events from two different angles. Eachview is as true as the other. This is easy to say, buthard to believe. Take for example MW’s article in thisissue, and what he says about the strength of the NF.[1] None of what he says fits in with what I seearound me. I see only small turn outs of a fewthousand, despite massive publicity, I find almost nosupport for them locally. I can see them only as asmall, isolated group, who are remarkable only fortheir failure to make an impact despite all thefavourable circumstances going for them today. Sowhat can I conclude about MW’s analysis. That it iscrazy? That he is blind? It is nonsense to be ignored?Yes! Those are my initial reactions. But it is just anextreme example of the same world viewed from adifferent position. His view is probably no more trueor false than mine.

[M.C.Escher drawing, caption: “It all depends onhow you look at it. M.C.Escher”]

What is true of our views of society, is true of ourideas on tactics. From our different viewpoints we seedifferent things needing to be done. Time and againwe put more effort into destroying each other’s ideasthan into destroying the state.

If we look back to what I was saying about Ilford,our strength was the number of different ways inwhich we were fighting. Our main weakness was theamount of time and energy we were spending arguingamong ourselves. We should keep discussing tacticsamongst ourselves, what I’m against is the self-destructive arguments that endlessly go on amongstus. As the issues become more important, heatedwords turn to blows, as they did at Ilford.

CONCLUSIONS. In the article, ‘What is to bedone?’ in Anarchy 23,[2] I said (among other things)that the anarchist movement needs to be built uponrespect. In some ways I’m saying the same thing in adifferent way.

First, I’m saying society looks different accordingto where you are standing. So different that at timeswe don’t seem to be even looking at the same things– but we are! So the bickering over which view is‘correct’ should stop. Instead we should listen to howsociety looks from these different positions, andaccept it. To deny someone’s view of society may intheory be harmless enough, in practice it is almost adenial of the person concerned (which is why thesearguments get so heated and become so personal).

[M.C. Escher drawing, caption “It’s amazing allthe different things you can get to fit together if youtry. (and you can draw like M.C.Escher)”]

Secondly, I’m saying that almost all the differenttactics we discuss are good ones. A great tactic is theuse of all these tactics at once, as happened byaccident at Ilford. All the different tactics [cont. p14]

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Anarchist SolidarityLooking at Anarchist solidarity with prisonersand exiles in the Soviet UnionIn 2010 the Alexander Berkman Social Club and KateSharpley Library published The Tragic Procession:Alexander Berkman and Russian Prisoner Aid. It tellsthe story of the anarchist solidarity effort with theircomrades in the Soviet Union (first in the JointCommittee of anarchists and SocialistRevolutionaries, and then under the wing of theanarcho-syndicalist International Working Men’sAssociation). These bulletins, published between1923 and 1931, illuminate the development ofBolshevik repression over many years. But they alsoshows how and why the solidarity was vital toimprisoned and exiled revolutionaries, how it drewon Russian revolutionary traditions, and howinformation was crucial to the work they did.Bread (and books)It was clear from the beginning that anarchistsolidarity aimed to offer ‘both moral and materialaid’[1]. Not only did they stop people from starving:there was the psychological support of beingremembered. ‘Twice we received from Chicago thepapers “Noviy Mir” and “Russky Golos”. Wonderwho sent them. May be you. But I can tell you,whoever did, the very fact is pleasant andencouraging. People are thinking of us … N. (CentralRussia)’.[2]

Money was required by the prisoners and exiles:‘your aid helps a great deal. Else some would die ofhunger and cold.’[3] Exiles were supposed to receivean allowance: ‘we are allowed by the Government 6roubles 25 kopeks per month (less than $3.25 Transl.)There is no chance of earning anything: first, becausethere are only two or three local institutions in ourvillage, while several hundred persons are looking forwork; secondly we are not accepted on principle …The lowest minimum one needs here to exist is 10-12roubles a month per person, not counting anyexpenses for the necessary clothing. Therefore, butfor your help, – well, you know where we should be… S.– K.– (North of Siberia).[4]

In other, more remote, places even money wasuseless. ‘G. is about to go now with my last pair oftrousers to exchange them for potatoes. The peasantshave very little left from their crop, because of thehigh percentage they have to turn over to the State.They refuse to sell for money and so we must givethem our very last possessions.’[5]

The aid that was sent reached more than oneindividual at a time. Each recipient ‘represented ananarchist colony, ranging from “4 or 5 or even 20comrades whom we reach through the onecorrespondent in a given district”’[6] This was thanksto the starosta system: ‘Klichevsky was a starosta,literally an “elder,” for the community of anarchistexiles in the city of Tashkent. This was an electedposition which entitled Klichevsky to negotiate with

the Soviet authorities on behalf of his fellow-exiles,and also gave him access to information aboutanarchist exiles and prisoners at other locations.’[7]

Besides this, the aid fund sent books andmagazines, both political and educational. TheGerman Communist paper Rote Fahne is mentionedseveral times. It must have been more informativethan the Russian press!Not sectarianAlexander Berkman was happy to work with LeftSocialist Revolutionaries like I.N. Steinberg – unlikeNew York’s Anarchist Red Cross. This led to hisexchange of letters with Lily Sarnoff where he wrote‘Supplying bread to Maria Spiridonova (who is a LeftSocialist Revolutionist) is just as imperative as to aid[Aron] Baron (who is an anarchist).’ [8] It’s alsonoticeable that even after 1926 when the Aid Fund isan explicitly anarchist affair, news from othersocialist currents is still included.The revolutionary traditionVera Alexandrovna Martsinkevitch, Left SocialistRevolutionary, died in Kem camp in April 1925. Thereport shows how the collective of political prisonerskept up revolutionary traditions of mourning in theface of official opposition: ‘Her comrades were notpermitted to bury her. Secretly they had to steal overto the hospital to bid her good-by for the last time.Only in their barracks could the “collectiv” intone thefuneral march, for their murdered comrade, “Youhave fallen a victim”’.[9]

The Russian revolutionary tradition shaped theattitudes of the Russian anarchists too. When EmmaGoldman talked about the ‘Heroic women of theRussian Revolution’ [10] she started with the wivesof the Decembrist rebels of 1825.

Many of the prisoners and exiles could compareTsarist to Bolshevik prisons from personalexperience. ‘Politicals who had served inSchlusselberg and Petropavlovskska (the worst placesof imprisonment under Tsarism) say that Solovetski isthe most terrible experience they have suffered.’ [11]

Similarities with the Tsarist regime are invoked toreminder readers that the state is not ‘witheringaway’. ‘The present regime in the Butyrki prison –Lazarevitch relates – is one of utmost severity. Thepoliticals are kept in isolation. It is not permitted toleave one’s cell, nor to stand at the window or tocommunicate with fellow prisoners. Exercise, foreach political separately, is allowed for one hourdaily. Loud talking, singing, or tapping [of messages]is punished by the dungeon, as in the days of theTsar.’[12] Pointing out these similarities could bedangerous to the prisoners and exiles. NikolaiViktorov ‘was sent to prison in Tobolsk, Siberia, forallegedly “insulting a policeman,” who he had calledgendarme.’ [ie a member of the tsarist political police13]

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Anarchist SolidarityThe organisation of solidarityThere were tensions over how solidarity efforts wereto be organised, or who should be supported. Butsuch support work was easier to organise than otherpolitical activities: ‘Anarchists agreed that they had aduty to aid their comrades who had been imprisonedor exiled by Soviet rule and this acknowledgementgave them a sense of purpose and a unifying causeduring a period of factionalism.’[14] ‘The debatebetween Unified Anarchism and the OrganizationalPlatform centred around difficult and complexconcepts, such as the nature of revolution andpolitics. Relief aid was more tangible; by sendinganarchist prisoners food, books, or clothes, exilescould give support and demonstrate theirsociability.’[15]

Clearly the solidarity work was not a-political.Anarchists abroad were reassured that the Bolshevikmyth was not all-conquering: ‘Encouragement is tobe found – strange as it may sound – in the fact thatthe prisons and exile places are filled with politicals.It is the best indication that the conscience of thecountry is not dead.’[16]

The relief effort was part of an internationalnetwork. The accounts record not just money sent toanarchists or particular militants but money directedto aid exiled Bulgarians, Italian prisoner committeesand others. We also get glimpses of a youngergeneration inside Russia: ‘young persons, politicalsof the new generation, whom we, “the old guard”, donot know.’[17] – possibly a sighting of the ‘Wildcat’anarchists recorded by Viktor Savchenko.[18]TestimonyReading through the Bulletins reprinted in The TragicProcession, besides seeing the importance of themoney they raised (and how scrupulous they were inrecording and distributing it), you get a sense of theimportance of information. Letters are reprinted togive a snapshot of current conditions (even wheresafety means the name and location of the authorcan’t be given). We’re given a view of news as itcomes in – even, in some cases, of ominous silence.This attention to detail reflects a concern to provewhat’s going on. It’s also part of an attempt by the aidfund to make their imprisoned and exiled comradessomething more than just a set of statistics. Theirrevolutionary career (be it short or long), theirpersonality, their health difficulties are all used tomaintain the connection with the comrades abroadwho – whether they knew them or not – held out alifeline.

Notes1 Tragic procession p.4: Bulletin of the JointCommittee for the Defense of RevolutionistsImprisoned in Russia, no. 1 October 19232 ‘From our correspondence’ Tragic procession p.16:Bulletin of the Joint Committee, Nov.-Dec. 1925, p.3.

This anonymously published extract is from a letterof Anton Shliakhovoy to Mark Mratchny, from Tula,02/07/1925 Flechine papers folder 48. Translation (byMalcolm Archibald) online athttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/5qfvz73 ‘From our correspondence’ Tragic procession p.26:Bulletin of the Relief Fund of the InternationalWorking Men’s Association for Anarchists andAnarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned or Exiled in Russiano.1 December 1926, p.54 ‘From our correspondence’ Tragic procession p.17:Bulletin of the Joint Committee, Nov.-Dec. 1925, p.45 ‘From other letters’ Tragic procession p.69:Bulletin of the Relief Fund, April 1931 p.66 Outcasts, outlaws, and outsiders: Exiled Russiananarchists in the interwar years Elizabeth JaneDennison, PhD thesis, University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign 1993. p.107 quoting A. Berkmanto Yelensky, 1 February 1930, G file, Boris YelenskyArchive, International Institute of Social History7 See Malcolm Archibald’s introduction to ‘A Letterfrom Tashkent (1925)’ by Boris Klichevskyhttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/w6mbrb8 the exchange is in folder 8 of the Berkman papersin Amsterdam, page 65 onwards. [See next article]9 ‘The death of Vera Martsinkevitch’ Tragicprocession p.26: Bulletin of the Relief Fund no.1December 1926, p.510 Emma Goldman Papers at the InternationalInstitute of Social History, folder 221 see text athttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/3xsk7w.Goldman gave a lecture on “Heroic Women of theRussian Revolution” at the Folk House in Bristol onMay 4th 1925.11 ‘Transfer of all politicals to Solovetski’ Tragicprocession p.3: Bulletin of the Joint Committee, no. 1October 192312 ‘The case of Lazarevitch’ Tragic procession p.25:Bulletin of the Relief Fund, no.1 December 1926, p.413 ‘The mill of the Bolsheviks’ Tragic processionp.44: Bulletin of the Relief Fund, no.5 March 1928p.3 https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9p8f3t14 Dennison p.8815 Dennison p.10416 ‘After thirteen years’ Tragic procession p.58:Bulletin of the Relief Fund, November-December1930 p.117 ‘Conditions in Russia’ Tragic procession p.62:Bulletin of the Relief Fund, November-December1930 p.518 See Viktor Savchenko, ‘The Anarchist Movementin Ukraine at the Height of the New Economic Policy(1924-25)’, in particular p.182.http://dx.doi.org/10.21226/T2CK78

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Anarchist SolidarityAnarchist Solidarity : An exchange between LillySarnoff and Alexander BerkmanLilly Sarnoff (1899-1981) was a Russian-bornAmerican anarchist. She is probably best known forher correspondence with imprisoned Mexicananarchist Ricardo Flores Magón between October1920 and November 1922 (see ‘Prison Letters ofRicardo Flores Magón to Lilly Sarnoff’ athttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000005617).‘While he was imprisoned at Leavenworth, FloresMagón began a long correspondence with “EllenWhite,” the pseudonym of Lilly Sarnoff, a youngNew York anarchist and member of the defencecommittee working for his release. Sarnoff, born inRussia in 1899, came to the United States in 1905with fresh memories of the anti-Jewish pogroms shehad witnessed. Joining the anarchist movement as ayoung girl, she was active in behalf of politicalprisoners and wrote poems and sketches for a numberof American anarchist periodicals, including TheRoad to Freedom and Man! After Flores Magón’sdeath, she threw herself into the campaign to saveSacco and Vanzetti, corresponding with them andvisiting them in prison, as she had done with FloresMagón. For many years she was a member of theFerrer colony at Stelton, New Jersey, where shecontinued to reside, with her companion Louis G.Raymond, until her death in 1981. In 1971 shepublished a booklet of poems, the first of which tellsof Flores Magón and his calvary in America, where“rebels are not wanted,” but “only those of smallminds, crafty men, and ignorant.”’[‘Ricardo Flores Magón in Prison’ in AnarchistPortraits by Paul Avrich p 211]

[Headed paper] The Anarchist Red CrossRe-organized 1922 / Y. Fearer Sec’y-Treas / c.o. FreieArbeiter Stimme / 48 Canal Street, N.Y.C. / FORTHE RELIEF OF ANARCHISTS IN PRISONS THEWORLD OVER [end of letter heading]37 Lee Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.June 28, 1924.

Dear Comrade B.I received your two letters with the Statement. I

will try to send that 2nd Bulletin this week. I cannotnow write of other various news, but there are a fewvital things to be written so I’ll write them nowwithout more ado.

First, most of the news you write here, are alreadyknow[n] to us. We not merely know – but are alreadyactually in touch with them – such as “Annie”.[1] Wehad already sent her money when your letter came.To that comrade who is to visit Solevetsky[2] we alsohad already sent some money – only a smalleramount than to you. So it seems we are in touch withthe same people you are...

Of course you know our stand – (this is in re: the

withdrawing of the Russian comrades from the JointCommittee). It has always been and is still againstworking jointly. That is the reason, as you well know,that we always stipulate when we send money, that itis to go solely for the Anarchists, so that the moneyshould not go through the Joint Committee.Anarchists and Social Rev. [3] cannot work together.That meeting for June 6th was never held. The SocialRev. were to have called it and didn’t – as they do butlittle work – and this thing fell through as many otherthings. The F. A. S.[4] wanted to go in to work withthem on that meeting and they refused – and thatshows too – their spirit of co-operation.

Now there is another important matter that itseems must be thrashed out well, before any otherwork can go on between you and us (A. R. C.) Youknow our work. You know that we are trying to raisemoney in all ways that we can and use it for the solepurpose of helping Anarchist prisoners. You know toothat we are not one – or a few – but a group – agroup, which could – with proper help and co-operation expand and grow so that other groups indifferent parts of the country could be formed and co-operate together with us. However, whether yourealize it or not, and I don’t suppose you really do –(that in why we are explaining this) – you are really,instead of aiding us – hindering our work. This ishow that happens. You send out letters to differentpeople all over the country with YOUR NAME only– quite ignoring our (A. R. C.) existence – and ask forhelp. You being well known, people, send money toyou (through the F. A. S.). Now if in those letters youspoke of us – that we were doing this work – withyou – if you referred them to us, saying that wewould send the money to you, since we are anorganized body, working expressly for the purpose ofhelping the prisoners, a much different and betterresult would be. Now people send in money direct toyou – and if they think of the Red Cross at all, it maybe perhaps to wonder what we do – since you arecollecting money for that purpose. I’ve tried to makethis as clear as I could, and I believe you understand.If the R. C and you are to continue to co-operate wemust do this on a co-operating basis from BOTHsides – that you must recognize us – publicly – inyour letters, appeals, etc. as well as merely to receivemoney from us to send to people, many of whom weare already in touch with.

I am trying not to make the matter seem worsethan it is. This is how I have been authorised to writeby the group, and as I see it. It is not quite right thatwhile we are trying in all ways to collect money, thatyou send in appeals and letters in your own name, asif we had no existence at all. If I could read Jewish [ieYiddish] – I would cut out the clippings of the F.A.S.for you – to see how bad that is – A. R. C.announcing their regular meetings etc. – and moneybeing sent direct to you printed in the same other

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Anarchist Solidarityanother page. Perhaps some comrades will send theseclippings to you – or I believe you must have thatpaper yourself – and can look it over.

Now please consider this thoroughly, Comrade B.– What you think and how you wish to act. We shallwait for your reply to consider what next steps totake. Of course if, comradely, you wished tocooperate with us we believe that both the Red Crossand the ‘treasury’ holding the money to go for ourimprisoned comrades would improve greatly. But wecan work it out more fully later. Now, we will wait tohear your reply to this.

Fraternally,Lillie Sarnoff

From Alexander Berkman Papers, InternationalInstitute of Social History, Amsterdam, Folder 8(pages 65-66)http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH00040.8?locatt=view:pdf

Notes1, Annie: possibly Anya Levin. ‘Anya,’ like ‘Annie,’is a diminutive of Anna or Anne. Anya Levin wasarrested in Warsaw in February 1924 as she got offthe train with a suitcase full of anarchist literature.She was sentenced to a substantial jail term inPoland.2, Russian prison islands in the White Sea3, Socialist Revolutionaries4, Fraye Arbeter Shtime [or Freie Arbeiter Stimme],New York Yiddish-language anarchist paper

[Berkman’s reply]Berlin, July 22, 1924Dear Comrade Sarnoff:

Your letter of June 28 (written by you in the nameof your Group) and copies of the Bulletin #2received. This reply is to you as well as to thecomrades of the Red Cross.

You know my position in regard to aid of therevolutionists imprisoned in Russia. As I said in theStatement recently issued by myself and Mratchny,[4]I do NOT consider aid to imprisoned revolutionists inthe light of political work. It is not necessary here torepeat all that I said in the Statement, a copy of whichI sent you.

To me, in this connection, supplying bread to aMaria Spiridonova (who is a Left S.R.)[5] is just asimperative as to aid A.Baron, (who is an Anarchist).[6] It is not a question of the political views of theprisoners. It is enough for me that they are sincererevolutionists.

Concerning your remark that we cannot work withLeft S.R.s, I may tell you that we – at least I – couldalso not work together with many of theANARCHISTS who are in the prisons of the

Bolsheviki. Yet I am willing to help them, asprisoners. Among the Anarchists in prison are manyIndividualists, Stirnerians, Universalists, Gordinists(who are worse than crazy) etc., etc.[7] Some amongthem pure cranks who did us more harm than good inthe Revolution. Yet even YOU send help to ALLAnarchists, not asking what their particular views andopinions are. Some of these “Anarchists” cannot evenbe considered as Anarchists in OUR sense, yet we arewilling to help ALL of them. I can assure you that asa revolutionist I felt nearer to Spirdionova, Kamkov,or Trutovsky[8] (I know them all personally andspent many days with them in Moscow) than to someof these Individualists and Stirnerians whom you arewilling – and justly – to regard as Anarchists. Inshort, I would help Sophia Perovskaya and Zheliabovin prison, the same as I would help Baron or Maier-Rubinchik.[9] (If you really wanted to carry yourview out logically, you should aid ONLY Anarchists-Communists in prison, for the Universalists, forinstance, are as far from us as the Left S.R.s andperhaps even further in point of ideas).

As a matter of fact, the Anarchists in the prisonsof Russia SHARE the things they receive with theLeft SRs, and the latter do the same. Amongrevolutionists in prison political distinctions areabolished so far as food etc. is concerned. You willtherefore realise how stupid it is of that fellow in theN.Y. Izvestia who asked me whether I would also“work with Denikin and Wrangel to aid theirprisoners”. We are speaking of revolutionists inprison, not of counter-revolutionists. To me the LeftSRs ARE revolutionists, even if I disagree with theirpolitical views.

Well, you are at liberty to have your own opinionon the matter. That is why I call myself an Anarchist,leaving others free to act and think as they believebest. But at the same time I claim the right for myselfto act as I think proper under given circumstances.

Now, you surprise me when you speak ofcooperation. I have not noticed any on your part. Twoyears ago, when I started to publish my pamphlets onRussia, which I considered important to spread thetruth about the Bolsheviki, I appealed to you and you– the Group – promised to cooperate. I have neverheard another word from you or the Group about it. Itwas the lack of cooperation in that work that forcedme to suspend the series which was to consist of tenor twelve different pamphlets.

As to the money you sent, I merely served for youas a medium through which you forwarded funds toRussia. The cooperation was on MY side.

You speak of letters that I send out in MY OWNNAME to get help for Russia. I claim the right to doso, of course. But as a matter of fact, all such work isdone by the Joint Committee and in its name. It isonly occasionally, to some personal friend (whom Ican reach better than the Committee) that I send a

Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library www.katesharpleylibrary.net Page 13

Anarchist Solidaritypersonal letter. Such cases are very rare, because allthat I did long ago, when I stood alone in this work,immediately after I left Russia. Already in Riga I sentout the first appeal, almost 5 years ago. And that alsowas NOT in my own name, but was signed byShapiro and E.G.[10] as well as by myself.

I know that some people and groups and moneydirectly here instead of to you. For instance,Volin[11] and his Group often receive funds forRussia. Some are also received by the JointCommittee, also by Kater and often also byR.Rocker.[12] Sometimes also funds are sent directlyto me. For instance an Italian Group of Chicago sentsome recently. Also I recently received funds fromthe Freie Arb. Stimme, (for Russia) which theStimme received from some St. Louis comrades,whom I even don’t know. Nor do I know the ItalianGroup in Chicago, etc. In other words, people sendfunds AS THEY PLEASE. Most of those people andgroups probably don’t even know of your existence,or some of them may prefer to send funds to others,not to you. Surely that is not my fault.

I personally am indifferent as to where and howpeople send help to Russia. I am only interested inseeing that our prisoners should receive aid. HOWand BY WHOM is just the same, just so that they getit.

This is about all there it to be said on the subject. Ihave explained my position to you, and I hope thatyou clearly understand it.

Fraternally,A.B.

Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute ofSocial History, Amsterdam, Folder 8 (pages 67)http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH00040.8?locatt=view:pdf

Notes4, Mark Mratchny (1892-1975), exiled Russiananarchist involved in the prisoner solidarity efforts.See the interview with him in Paul Avrich’s AnarchistVoices.5, Maria Spiridonova (1884-1941), one of the mostimportant figures in the Left Socialist RevolutionaryParty. She is discussed in Emma Goldman’s ‘Heroicwomen of the Russian Revolution’https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/3xsk7w6, Aron Baron (1891-1937), anarchist, returned toRussia from exile in the United States in mid-1917.Imprisoned and exiled from 1920 until his executionin 1937. A biography of him by Nick Heath is athttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/2fr01d7, Individualists, Stirnerians, Universalists,Gordinists. For more on the various stands see PaulAvrich’s The Russian Anarchists8, Boris Kamkov (1885-1938) was a leader of theLeft Socialist-Revolutionary Party, and took part in

the first Soviet government. After 1918 he wasfrequently imprisoned and was shot in 1938.Vladimir Trutovsky (1889-1937) was an organizer ofthe Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1917,belonged to its central committee, and held a cabinetpost in the first Soviet government in 1917-1918. Hespent most of the 1920s-1930s in exile before beingshot in 1937.9, Sophia Perovskaya (1853-1881) and AndreiIvanovich Zheliabov 1851-1881 were both membersof the Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will). Maier-Rubinchik: Yefim Borisovich Rubinchik-Meier(1892–1938), was a Russian anarcho-syndicalist.10, Berkman Refers to Russian anarchists AlexanderSchapiro (1882-1946) and Emma Goldman (1869-1940).11, Volin (Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum,1882-1945), Russian anarchist.12, Fritz Kater (1861-1945) and Rudolf Rocker(1873-1958) were both German-born anarchistsinvolved (from Berlin) in solidarity efforts withanarchists in Russia. A short biography of Kater byNick Heath is athttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/xwddjc

Motor-cycle maintenance / Squatting from p9and activities that people suggest at meetings andconferences, should not be seen as competing witheach other, but as complements.

Chris Broad.

Notes1 The lagging of consciousness Anarchy MagazineNo.26 [1978] p7-11https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/95x7j52 See ‘Tis the worst economic crisis … (or, What isto be done)https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/kkwjq8 Anarchy(second series) no.23 p.5-7

From Anarchy Magazine No.26 [1978] p1-4

Book news/mini-reviews [continued]Anarchists, Syndicalists, and the First World War byVadim V. Damier, translated by Malcolm Archibald isout now from Black Cat Press. ISBN 9781926878171https://www.akpress.org/anarchists-syndicalists-and-the-first-world-war.html

The Enigma of Hugh Holmes Gore: Bristol’sNineteenth Century Christian Socialist Solicitor MikeRichardson’s full biography of this complex figuresolves his disappearance (quite a feat, both thedisappearance and the solving). It also looks at hisdefence work for the Walsall Anarchists. BristolRadical History Group ISBN 9781911522010https://akuk.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=7697

Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library www.katesharpleylibrary.net Page 14

Not enough pagesLibrary News (March 2018)We had a compliment on the ‘generosity of spirit’ ofthe last issue, asking ‘have you all dropped acid?’ No,comrade: books are mind-altering too!

The bookfairThe London Anarchist Bookfair in October has

always been a landmark in the KSL year. We’re sadto report the Bookfair collective are not organisingone in 2018. They say: ‘Our decision reflects anincreasingly toxic atmosphere, which we do not wantto concede to or facilitate.’ More details on thedispute can be found viahttp://www.anarchistbookfair.org.uk/.

Of all the online comments, I felt closest to thisone: ‘It is not that we are opposed to antagonism, it’sthat we feel it’s important to pick our tactics and ourtargets well, and to treat other anarchists – few innumber and with many shared experiences, ideas andenemies – with some degree of care and respect. Thisdoes not mean we all have to love each other and getalong, but that we need to be very careful of theconsequences of our actions on individuals who mayhave to contend with the many hazards of being athorn in the side of state and capital – from burnout,trauma and state surveillance; to internal conflictsand who knows what personal life struggles.’ (signedby ‘Some anarchists’https://325.nostate.net/2017/11/13/the-loneliness-of-the-crowd-another-reflection-on-the-events-at-this-years-london-anarchist-bookfair-uk/)

This issueAs a consequence, I read a lot of papers and

pamphlets, including ones I’d not looked at for years.Some of the most interesting extracts and articlesappear in this issue of the bulletin. Louise Michelwants everyone to ‘take part in the banquet of life’ – asentiment Albert Meltzer echoed in 1981. We shouldthink about it: what are the good things in life? Thatleads on to the subjects of class, tactics, and how wedeal with our disagreements.

I disagree with parts of these articles myself:industrial jobs just ‘disappeared’, did they, in theearly eighties? Don’t think I’m suggesting ourforerunners had all the answers. Don’t think being ananarchist makes anyone mistake-proof, let aloneperfect. Reading Lilly Sarnoff’s complaints toAlexander Berkman, I recognised that anger, thatstressed ‘why don’t you see it like I do?’

Finally, I couldn’t resist squeezing in OscarSwede’s tribute to Tom Keell: ‘what good did all thetalking do? Well, it kept the torch alive and hashanded it on.’ Important job, that.

New articles on the KSL siteInteresting articles that didn’t make this issue:Anarcho-Syndicalism: History and Action [Review]by Jack McArdlehttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/j0zqvn

On the Trail of the Anarchist Movement in EastGermany by David Bernardinihttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/866v84Anarchism in East Germany (1945-1955) by JeanBarrué https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/mgqq4bThe Anarchist Press in Germany (1948)https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/3ffcmzTheir Socialism and Ours by Louis Mercier Vegahttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/n8pmjhAverting Sclerosis by Louis Mercier Vegahttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/4b8hzjThe First English Anarchist? [Ambrose Cuddon] byChristopher Draperhttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/d255kpForgotten Women [Mujeres Libres video tour 1987]https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/kh19sxJoin the Professionals: The army of the unemployedhttps://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/2fr08m

Interesting things elsewhereKate Sharpley Library treasures: “Putting upinteresting material from the library, one computermess-up at a time” https://issuu.com/barry08

The Freedom Press Newspaper Archivehttps://freedomnews.org.uk/archive/

Book news/mini-reviews [March 2018]Philip Ruff’s A Towering Flame : The Life & Timesof ‘Peter the Painter’ is out now in English (fromDienas Grāmata who published the Latvian edition).350 pages plus photo section. Seehttps://www.janisroze.lv/en/gramatas/dailliteratura/memuarliteratura-biografiski-apraksti/towering-flame-a-the-life-times-of-peter-the-painter.html andhttps://www.valtersunrapa.lv/en/e-shop/gramata/49887/towering-flame

The Red Flag of Anarchy: A History of Socialism &Anarchism in Sheffield 1874-1900 by Andy LeeA wonderful account of Sheffield’s radical history(and of digging it out: go to research in Amsterdamand they want your anti-poll tax T-shirt for thecollection!) David Nicoll features, as you’d expect.Hear him lament his inability to learn Yorkshire:‘And when I try to talk the language of the country,when I say, “reet owd lad. How’s owd lass”, theylaugh at me as if I was a Frenchman trying to talkEnglish and say “Get out you blooming Cockney”’[p157]. If nineteenth century anarchists seem so faraway with their bicycle outings and singingrevolutionary songs, does this not ring a bell? ‘Wethen proceeded to the station and liberally posted itwith little notices, such as “Anarchy no Master”,“Revolution not Reform”, “Read Commonweal”.’[p141, in 1893] Get a copy!https://akuk.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=7809

Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library www.katesharpleylibrary.net Page 15

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley LibraryISSN 1475-0309

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