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Anti-militarism is today an unquestioned mainstay of anarchism. This book presents a systematic analysis of anarchist responses to the First World War. It examines the interventionist debate between Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta which split the anarchist movement in 1914. The controversy revolved around conflicting interpretations of the shared ideas of internationalism and anti-militarism. The book analyses the debates conducted in European and American movements about class, nationalism, pacifism and cultural resistance. Just as Kropotkin's position was coherent with his anarchist beliefs, it was also a product of his rejection of the main assumptions of the peace politics of his day. Malatesta's dispute with Kropotkin provides a focus for the anti-interventionist campaigns he fought internationally. Contributions discuss the justness of war, non-violence and pacifism, anti-colonialism, pro-feminist perspectives on war and the potency of myths about the war and revolution for the reframing of radical politics in the 1920s and beyond. The collaboration between the Swiss-based anarchists and the Indian nationalists suggests that Bertoni's group was not impervious to collaboration with groups whose ideological tenets may have been in tension with the ideology of anarchism. During the First World War, American anarchists emphasised the positive, constructive aspects of revolutionary violence by aestheticising it as an outgrowth of individual creativity. Divisions about the war and the experience of being caught on the wrong side of the Bolshevik Revolution encouraged anarchists to reaffirm their deeply-held rejection of vanguard socialism and develop new strategies on anti-war activities.
then predicted, with chilling accuracy, ‘I fear sooner or later they will attack me … I want to escape.’ He had already experienced tension with his college over his rejection of their offer in February 1915 of a research Fellowship in favour of special leave of two terms duration in order to pursue his anti-war work. He had firmly thrown back the offer made by the College and University to him to nestle further into the academic nest by diving into the mêleé of public anti-war activity. Russell’s decision to pursue his own path was underlined by his growing sadness
, and entanglements crackling with electricity, which no man will be able to pass. Everything will be done down below in future, or up above.7 Against this backdrop, the acrimonious clash about intervention and the experience of being caught on the wrong side of the revolution encouraged anarchists both to reaffirm their deeply held rejection of vanguard socialism and to develop strategies that drew on a plethora of anti-war activities. We consider the impact of the war on anarchism at the end of this introduction, but first turn to the debate that split the movement
Freedom group’s recently established International Anarchist Committee of Action which gradually established a communications network with the Swiss, German and Italian anarchist communities in Zurich, Faure’s circle in Paris and the Italian Comitato di Azione Anarchica in Rome. From London and Switzerland the Italian exiles smuggled leaflets into Italy and formed an ‘underground railway’ to help deserters escape from the Italian army.40 Although warned by the British authorities to stay out of anti-war activities, Malatesta and other Italian anarchists helped Italians
peace. Two stand out. First, agitation for the enfranchisement of women provided an organisational focus for feminist anti-war activity. One of the main causes of war was seen as female political exclusion. The assumption was that women were inherently pacific; as lifegivers they were instinctively averse to the slaughter of their children.18 The outbreak of the First World War split the women’s movement and while some supported the war effort, others were drawn into an active and ambitious peace campaign.19 Secondly, socialists emphasised the relationship between war
Street in September 1938. 172 The decrease in international tension that followed the signing of the Munich agreement of 29 September 1938 temporarily checked the momentum of the peace campaign by early to mid October 1938. By March 1939, the campaign had resumed in earnest. The German annexation of Bohemia which began on 15 March, and Chamberlain’s guarantee to Poland later that month, generated a resurgence of intensive Mosleyite anti-war activity. 173 On 25 March Mosley declared that ‘the jackals of Jewish finance are again in full cry for war’. 174 In April the
anti-war movement 155 Page, 1994; Hallin, 1986) that news media tend to favour elite protagonists over non-elites. Later war coverage: 24 March–18 April Following coverage of the public demonstrations, the level of reporting on anti-war activity declined markedly. In part, this simply reflected the fact that there was less activity to cover. With British troops in the field and majority public opinion having swung behind them, anti-war politicians and other public figures became less vocal. Nor were there any comparably large street demonstrations in the UK after
armaments industries, and controls over the export of armaments between states.36 The UDC and the ILP co-operated in their anti-war activities, and in this way the ILP in general, and Ramsay MacDonald in particular as a leading member of both groups, were to have an indirect impact on Labour’s thinking about war and peace. While there was sometimes friction between the two groups, both came under virulent, and occasionally violent, criticism for their stance on the First World War.37 Marquand notes that ‘the very fact that both groups were swimming Vic03 10/15/03 62 2
was and still is regularly observable in American newspapers (see Hanson 2002 ; Kern et al. 2003). In many instances, even the existence of opposition to administration policies was barely acknowledged: major newspapers had only small inside articles on anti-war activities, and between September 15 and December 15, 2001, domestic anti-war protests were mentioned only once
.’ 64 Over the next several years, leading activists were imprisoned for anti-war activities, often for two years. This made it virtually impossible to organise and coordinate activities. Morale plummeted. Debating independence Battered by repression, the PCF’s Algerian region was internally divided about independence. Many communists still argued that the call for independence