Paradoxes of utopia : anarchist culture and politics in Buenos Aires, 1890-1910

329 Pages·2010·6.674 MB·English

by  Suriano, Juan

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PARADOXES OF UTOPIA
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PARADOXES OF UTOPIA
Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires,
1890–1910
Juan Suriano
Translated by Chuck Morse
AK Press
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Paradoxes of Utopia: Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires, 1890–1910
by Juan Suriano
Translated by Chuck Morse
ISBN 978 1 849350 06 8
Library of Congress Number: 2009933026
© 2010 Juan Suriano
Translation © 2010 Chuck Morse
This edition © 2010 AK Press
Originally published, as Anarquistas. Cultura politica libertaria en Buenos Aires, 1890–
1910 (Buenos Aires: Manantial, 2001)
Cover Design: Chris Wright (seldomwright.com)
Interior Design: Margaret Killjoy (birdsbeforethestorm.net)
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This book was made possible in part by a generous donation from the Anarchist
Archives Project.
Printed in Canada on 100% recycled, acid-free paper by union labor.
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Contents
Translator’s Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
Author’s Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Introduction: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER I
The Organization of the Libertarian Movement and the
Dissemination of Its Ideas...............................13
1 . Anarchism in Buenos Aires: A Brief Historical Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 . Propaganda, an Important Tool: Groups, Circles, and Study Centers . . . .16
3 . The Importance of Having a Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 . The Emergence, Peak, and Decline of the Groups and Circles . . . . . . 23
5 . The Difficulties of Organizing Propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
CHAPTER II
The Anarchist Appeal...................................43
1 . The Anarchist Appeal: The Working Class or The People? . . . . . . . . . . 44
2 . Revolutionary Urgency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3 . Pure Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4 . Who Is the Revolutionary Subject? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5 . The Enlightened Vanguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
CHAPTER III
Pamphlets, Books, Lectures, Militants, and Disseminators ....65
1 . The Power of Solidarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2 . The Power of the Written Word: Books and Pamphlets . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3 . The Power of the Word: Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4 . The Power of the Will: Militants and Disseminators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
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CHAPTER IV
Free Time, Parties, and Theater ...........................91
1 . How to Use Free Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2 . Women and the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3 . The Search for Healthy and Rational Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4 . War on the Carnival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5 . The Libertarian Cultural Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6 . Libertarian Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
CHAPTER V
The Anarchist Press ...................................115
1 . The Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
2 . Anarchism and the Freedom of the Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3 . The Libertarian Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4 . A Workers’ or Anarchist Press? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5 . A Doctrinaire and Ideological Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6 . Irresolvable Problems of the Anarchist Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
CHAPTER VI
The Educational Practices of Argentine Anarchism..........143
1 . Education as a Tool for Transforming the Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
2 . Anarchism and Public Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
3 . Education: Before or After the Revolution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4 . “Get Our Children Out of Official Schools” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5 . The First Steps of Libertarian Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6 . In Search of a Rational School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7 . The Rationalist Education League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
CHAPTER VII
The State, the Law, the Fatherland, and Argentine Anarchists’
Political Practices .....................................171
1 . The State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
2 . The Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
3 . The Fatherland and the Barracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4 . The Meanings of Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5 . Propaganda by Deed: Anarchism and Its Contradictory Conception
of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6 . The General Revolutionary Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7 . The Expansion of Political Representation and the Limits of
Anarchism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
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CHAPTER VIII
Anarchist Rites and Symbols ...........................201
1 . Anarchism Invents Its Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
2 . Red Flags of Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
3 . Heroes and Martyrs of the Proletariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
4 . Revolutionary Calendars and Almanacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
5 . May Day: The Workers’ Easter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Conclusion...........................................225
Appendix............................................232
Bibliography and Sources ..............................237
Notes...............................................253
Index ...............................................305
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TRAnSlATOR’S ACknOwlEDgmEnTS
My greatest debt is to Pablo Abufom, a Chilean friend and comrade, who
cheerfully and patiently helped me work through nearly every obstacle that I
encountered while translating this book, whether it was an obscure idiomatic
expression or something that I should have been able to resolve on my own. I
am deeply grateful for his help, good humor, and revolutionary commitments.
AK Press’s Charles Weigl, who is a friend, co-conspirator, and now a neighbor,
offered countless editorial suggestions that improved the text immeasurably. He
and all of the AK Press collective are an inspiration to me. I am indebted to the
following individuals, who read over and commented upon a chapter or more of
the translation: Jesse Cohn, Michelle Matisons, Joshua Stephens, Adam Welch,
Louis Colombo, Michael Caplan, Eric Laursen, Mary Dearborn, and Yvonne
Liu. A. Walker gave me access to the online databases at his university, which
were invaluable to me. I also owe a debt of gratitude to subscribers to the Radical
Translators and Notas Rojas email lists, as well as Paul Sharkey, Lesley Ray, and
Salvatore Engel-DiMauro, who helped me with the Italian passages. Finally, I
am thankful for the encouragement of my longtime friend and comrade, Peter
Larsen, and, as always, for the love and support of my partner, Yvonne Liu.
nOTE On COnvEnTIOnS
As Suriano makes clear in the text that follows, anarchists named their groups
and publications very conscientiously: the choice of a particular term or reference
was not incidental for them, but reflective of their broader cultural and political
strategies. Given this, I decided to translate all the names of anarchist projects
into English, with the sole exception of the newspaper La Protesta Humana /La
Protesta, which is typically not translated in English-language literature on the
movement. Those who wish to do further research can find the original Spanish
names in the appendix.
Also, the Argentine socialist movement included but was not limited to the
activities of the Socialist Party. I capitalize the word socialist only when it refers
specifically to members of or activities of the Socialist Party.
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