Welcome to the Kate Sharpley Library
The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchist history. (More information.)
Everything at the Kate Sharpley Library - acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation work, publishing, answering enquiries is done by volunteers: we get no money from governments or the business community. All our running costs are met by donations from members of the collective, subscribers and supporters, or by the small income we make through publishing. Please consider donating and subscribing.
We also try to promote the history of anarchism by publishing studies based on those materials - or reprints of original documents taken from our collection. Check out our books and pamphlets available for sale or explore our online documents or browse back issues of our Bulletin.
Our physical library (in California) includes books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts and ephemera documenting the history of anarchist movements. Contact us to arrange a visit.
Recent news
New pamphlet on the resistance to Francoism by Antonio Téllez
The Kate Sharpley Library are pleased to announce our latest publication:
"Anarchist International Action Against Francoism From Genoa 1949 to The First Of May Group" by Antonio Téllez Solà, translated by Paul Sharkey
From the end of the Spanish Civil War, the anarchist movement fought to undermine the Francoist dictatorship. Solidarity actions in Western Europe aimed to isolate the regime, and bring pressure to bear in defence of militants inside Spain. Determined to avoid casualties, their campaign of armed protests saved many activists from the death penalty.
Contents:
The attack on Spain's embassy in Genoa in 1949
The Libertarian movement in the fight against Franco (1962-1974): The
Internal Defence agency (DI) and the Iberian Libertarian Youth
Federation's (FIJL) First of May Group
The 1962 abduction of Spain's honorary vice-consul in Milan
One Episode in the Libertarian Movement's Struggle against Francoism :
The "First of May Group" and the kidnapping in Rome of Monsignor Marcos
Ussia, the ecclesiatical attaché at Spain's embassy to the Vatican
(Friday 29 April 1966-Wednesday 11 May 1966)
Antonio Téllez Solà, the Herodotus of the anti-Franco maquis by Stuart Christie
ISBN 9781873605851 Anarchist Sources series 13. 25 pages $3/£3 (£2 to subscribers)
New texts for February 2010
We're uploading texts so fast they might get pushed off the front page...
Ciriaco Duarte and Anarchism in Paraguay
Rafael Barrett, a brilliant anarchist misrepresented [Review]
Italian Anarchist Activity in Brazil: 1909
The Soldier
Anybody who comes across CIRA has stumbled upon a treasure
A Letter from the Netherlands
Letter from Le Pommier
A Library is Born
José Maria Villegas (1917-2008)
Mayday and Anarchism. Remembrance and Resistance from Haymarket to now [A Review]
Two new pamphlets from the Kate Sharpley Library [Review]
Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity by Dan Berger [Review]
What is Anarchism? by Alexander Berkman [A Review]
Dreams of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magon Reader [Review]
Free Women of Spain : Anarchism and the struggle for the emancipation of women by Martha Ackelsberg [Review]
For Workers' Power: the selected writings of Maurice Brinton [A Review]
Chomsky on Anarchism by Noam Chomsky [Review]
Anarchist Voices. An Oral History of Anarchism in America by Paul Avrich [Review]
Between Canada and the USA : a tale of immigrants and anarchists
River Plate anarchist militants in the Spanish libertarian movement
José Grunfeld (1907-2005)
Report on Anarchism in China in 1925
The Praia Street Raiders : Porto Alegre (Brazil) 1911
Vladimiro Muñoz 1920-2004
Of course, there's always our feed at http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/feeds/recent-documents to keep you up to date.
Class, community and anarchism, a talk by Barry Pateman in Wellington
A talk by veteran anarchist Barry Pateman on class, community and anarchism is now available to view online.
The talk was organised by the Wellington Region branch of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement, and took place on Sunday May 24th, 2009 at the 128 Radical Community Centre in Wellington, New Zealand.
It is a total of 43 minutes, split into 5 parts on YouTube.
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPOUgxicjvo
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=099Ns6UL_DI
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C2ocIgV7kw
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KguUN5T-Yz4
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z9IEovH-K0
“Anarchism and Anarchy: A Historical Perspective” Barry Pateman at the 2009 NAASN Conference.
Barry Pateman's talk on “Anarchism and Anarchy: A Historical
Perspective” at the 2009 NAASN (North American Anarchist Studies
Network) Conference is now available to view online at http://www.revolutionbythebook.akpress.org/anarchism-and-anarchy-a-historical-perspective-barry-pateman-at-the-2009-naasn-conference/
or http://www.youtube.com/user/Chomskyan#g/c/591BAFB0E500AF7D.
Barry talks about some of the problems with anarchist history: amnesia and the selective filetting of
history (with Emma Goldman as an example) and also recurrent issues in
the history of the anarchist movement, like sectarianism and
organisation.
Anna Mendelson 1948-2009
The members of the Kate Sharpley Library collective are saddened to report the recent death of Anna Mendelson. Anna was one of the defendants in the "Stoke Newington Eight" ("Angry Brigade") trial of 1972. After her release from prison she devoted herself to poetry and family life, publishing her work as Grace Lake.
John Barker, one of her co-defendants, paid her this tribute: "Anna was such a dynamo... [She made] a commitment to the life of a poet and mother in which I'm sure she put the same wholehearted conviction she gave to everything. She had shown this to a 'public audience' when defending herself at the Old Bailey trial which could not be forgotten by anyone who witnessed a political passion without cliches."
Anna died on 16th November after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts go out to her family and friends.
[Mendleson was her family name, but it's often spelled Mendelson. Later
she adopted the spelling Mendelssohn. An obituary from the next Kate
Sharpley Library bulletin has now been posted:
http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9w0wq9]