anarchists
Articles about the lives of the men and women who helped to build the international anarchist movement.
Estorach, Soledad
A short biography of Soledad Estorach, one of the most dynamic founders and activists of Mujeres Libres.
Soledad Estorach Esteri was born on the 6th February 1915 at the small village of Albatarrech near Lerida.
Silva Cruz, Maria, 1915-1936
A short biography of the iconic figure of Maria Silva Cruz, "La Libertaria," heroine of the Casas Viejas uprising, murdered by the Francoists.
Maria was born into a family of day labourers and charcoal burners in the impoverished village of Casas Viejas in Andalucia on 20 April 1915.
Her father Juan Silva Gonzalez and her uncle Jeronimo were in the CNT. Her grandmother read anarchist novels out loud to her as a young girl.
Jahn, Octave aka Octavio 1869-1917
A short biography of French anarchist Octave Jahn, active in France, Belgium and Switzerland and a participant in the Mexican Revolution.
“A fervent propagandist of libertarian communism” - Max Nettlau
“A prototype even of the young anarchist of the heroic period of the movement” - Gaetano Manfredonia
Octave Jahn was born on 10 February 1869 in Cherbourg, France.
Eisenhauer, Theodor, 1850s/1860s?-1882
A short biography of Theodor Eisenhauer, a pioneer of the anarchist movement in Germany.
Theodor Franz Eisenhauer was born in Luckau, in Brandenburg state in Germany. He was an upholsterer by trade.
He was one of the most committed and dedicated activists of the early German anarchist movement. He was a supporter of Johann Most and was associated with Peter Kropotkin in Switzerland in 1879.
Pfemfert, Franz aka Und Gaday 1879-1954
A short biography of Franz Pfemfert, revolutionary, publisher, editor of Die Aktion
Franz Pfemfert was born in the east Prussian town of Loetzen (today called Gizycko in Poland) on 20 November 1879. Soon after his birth his family moved to Berlin and Franz attended Joachimsthal High school.
Salamé Miro, José, 1920-2007
A short biography of José Salamé Miro, militant of Spanish origin active in France and the Spanish Revolution.
José Salamé Miro was born in the small village of Vinebra in the Catalan province of Tarragona. His childhood was spent in Barcelona. His father was a saddler and sympathetic to the CNT, attending the libertarian ateneo of the neighbourhood. Jose was a choir boy as a child, but as he grew he started moving towards anarchist ideas. He became a member of the CNT and the Libertarian Youth (FIJL).
Ferrero, Pietro, 1892- 1922
A short biography of Pietro Ferrero who, with Maurizio Garino, was one of the anarchists at the head of the factory councils movement in Turin.
Pietro Ferrero was born at Grugliasco in Turin on 12th May 1892.
Garino, Maurizio, 1892-1977
A short biography of Maurizio Garino, one of the leading anarchist animators of the Italian factory council movement.
Maurizio Garino was born in November 1892, the son of Michele and Nicoletta Chiglioni in Ploaghe, Sardinia.
In 1895 the family moved to Turin and in 1900 to Cassine. After elementary school and a short stay in a religious school Maurizio became an apprentice carpenter and then a pattern-maker mechanic.
Del Papa, Ugo, 1875-1916
A short biography of Ugo Del Papa who was, with Alberto Meschi, one of the founders of anarchism in the marble town of Carrara in Italy.
Ugo Del Papa was, with Alberto Meschi, one of the founders of anarchism in the marble town of Carrara in Italy. He was born on 18th September 1875, the son of Romualdo and Lucia Pracchia. He became close to the anarchist movement from an early age. According to the police he was an enthusiastic “propagator of those criminal theories”.
Covelli, Emilio aka Mephistopheles, 1846 -1915
A short biography of pioneering Italian anarchist-communist Emilio Covelli.
Born in Trani into a family of wealthy aristocrats on 5th August 1846 Emilio was a classmate of Carlo Cafiero in Molfetta.
He studied for a law degree at the University of Naples in 1868 and then continued to study in Germany at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. Here, according to Cafiero, he “tore off his bourgeois hide” and moved towards socialism.
