Switzerland

Dumartheray, Francois, 1842-1931

Friend: Peter Kropotkin

A short biography of possibly the founder of anarchist communism, Francois Dumartheray of France.

Francois Dumartheray was born at Collonges, Haute-Savoie in the Savoy on 27th January 1842.

A member of a utopian Icarian group in Lyons, he was one of those who fled to Geneva after the events of 1871.

He became a member of the L’Avenir group, along with Antoine Perrare, composed mostly of workers who had their roots in the Cabetian strand of communism in Lyons.

1932: The Geneva Massacre

Communist paper headline from the time

An account of the shooting of over 100 people by the Swiss army at an anti-fascist demonstration.

In 1932, the sympathisers of the Union Nationale fascist party led by Georges Oltramare planned to assemble on 9th November at the Salle Communale of Plainpalais in Geneva to publicly accuse the Socialist leaders Nicole and Dicker. The Socialist Party called a counter-demonstration.

Thalmann, Clara, 1910-1987

Clara Thalmann, 1953

A biography of Swiss anarchist Clara Thalmann, who travelled to Spain to fight in the Durruti Column in the Civil War.

Clara Thalmann
Born Clara Ensner, 1910 - Basel, Switzerland, died 27 January 1987 - France

“I am going to make the revolution in the the sky” - Clara Thalmann, 1953.

Tronchet, Lucien, 1902-1981

Lucien Tronchet

A short biography of Swiss building worker, labour organiser and anarcho-syndicalist Lucien Tronchet.

Born in Geneva in 1902 while a building workers’ strike in favour of the 60-hour working week was underway (it was Switzerland's first general strike) Lucien Tronchet became an anarcho-syndicalist militant from 1920 onwards and played his part in all of the social disputes in Switzerland.

Boesiger, Andre, 1913-2005

Andre Boesiger

The biography of a veteran Swiss anarchist militant

Andre Boesiger
Born Switzerland, 22 July 1913, died 13th April 2005

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