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

Janis Zhaklis (Peter the Painter) article

The Kate Sharpley Library has just posted a translation of Kristine Sadovska’s article “See how Latvians BURN when they catch fire!“, drawing on Phil Ruff’s researches into Latvian anarchist Janis Zhaklis (better known as Peter the Painter). The article of course mentions the Houndsditch affair and the Siege of Sidney Street, but also some of Zhaklis’ previous adventures, like the Riga Central Prison attack to liberate Julijs Shlesers and Janis Lacis (September 1905) and the January 1906 attack on the secret police headquarters.

“Pētera Māldera laiks un dzīve” (“The Life and Times of Peter the Painter”) by Phil Ruff is out in Riga early August 2012, published by Dienas Gramata.

Spanish Civil War material stolen from archive

Friends, from CIRA come word of the following loss:

"The Ateneo enciclopèdic Barcelona suffered a major theft a few days ago, especially items and publications dating from the Spanish Revolution."

Their statement (in Catalan) is at:
http://www.ateneuenciclopedicpopular.org/spip.php?article399
This page has a link to the document listing the lost items with details of the missing handbills, paper currency, posters, stamps etc. This page also contains photos of stolen items (you should click twice on the thumbnail for the larger version).
Alternatively the article with large format photos can be seen in pdf format:
http://www.ateneuenciclopedicpopular.org/spip.php?page=article_pdf&id_article=399

Get in touch with the Ateneo if you see these items being sold online:
Ateneo enciclopèdic Barcelona contact details:
http://www.ateneuenciclopedicpopular.org/spip.php?rubrique11

Update: see http://www.anarkismo.net/article/21946 for translation of the original statement.

New publication: Free Society : A German exile in revolutionary Spain by Werner Droescher

Werner Droescher was an exile from Nazi Germany who in 1936 found himself pitched into the dramatic social reconstruction of the Spanish Revolution. Droescher, with his companion Greville Teixidor, joined the revolutionary militias on the Aragon front. Later they carried out solidarity work for the Spanish anarchists from London, before returning to Spain to work with refugee children. This extract from his autobiography, Odyssey of a teacher, gives a first hand account of the anarchist attempt to build a free society. The introduction by Farrell Cleary shows the impact of this experience, and Droescher’s influence on the Anarchist movement in New Zealand where he first settled in 1940.

Published by the Kate Sharpley Library in conjunction with the Aotearoa Workers’ Solidarity Movement.
ISBN 9781873605066, Anarchist library #23.
See publication details http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/2ngfw3

Contents
Werner Droescher, “The Spanish Civil War and the Anarchists”
Werner Droescher, “The Aragon Front”
Anonymous “Spanish Anarchists Made Ideas Work”

Also, the January 2012 issue of KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library is now online.

Contents:
Manuel Pérez Fernández – Spanish cabinet-maker and anarchist by Edgar Rodrigues
Odessa Anarchists Appeal to the city's Underworld (1919)
Josep Maria Alomà by Ramon Graus i Alomà
Interview with Alan MacSimóin of the Irish Anarchist History Archive

Infamous Anarchist club needs your help [1 in 12, Bradford]

Bradford’s long running anarchist 1 in 12 Club in set for closure unless it can get the building up to fire standard regulations. They have just six weeks left in refurbishing the entire place and are calling upon the UK anarchist movement to roll up their sleeves and chip in. If you have time, money, skills and a bit of solidarity then Bradford is the place for you in the next few weeks.

Best place to go for up to date news on the work is their website http://www.1in12.com/

"Many thanks for the support we are receiving, we are well on the way to keeping our 30 years of music and mayhem alive and kicking into the future."

October 2011 Kate Sharpley Library bulletin online

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 68, October 2011 has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents here or read the full pdf here.
This issue contains a previously unpublished piece by Emma Goldman on The Political Soviet Grinding Machine.
Marking our latest publication, this bulletin also features The story of the Iron Column by Abel Paz published: a personal view
Other contents:
Matt Kavanagh letter to Tom Keell
Facerías : Urban Guerrilla Warfare (1939-1957) ; The Libertarian Movement's Struggle Against Francoism in Spain and in Exile by Antonio Téllez Solà [Book Review]
History of a Guerilla Band: The three Jubiles brothers by Antonio Téllez Solà
Brief obituary of Ángel Artigot by Teruel CNT.