Piecing Together Anarchist History

Thanks to friends and supporters of the Kate Sharpley Library we recently managed to acquire a fascinating collection of mainly British anarchist ephemera ranging from the 1890s to the 1920s. It consists of fliers advertising meetings, leaflets explaining anarchism and fliers in support of anarchists and others who are in the hands of the state. There is also a collection of cards that advertise public meetings or act as tickets bought to attend those meetings. There is more (songs, poetry, etc. etc.). You can see some of this ephemera here: https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9320sp

Dating most of the meetings was relatively simple. Most of them had the date and year of the meeting on them as if organizers knew that one day in the future someone would be looking at them. Working through calendars eventually identified the years that were missing. We were helped in all of this by information written on them by someone – possibly the printer or someone close to the printer. We find out, for instance, that an April 1925 meeting with Emma Goldman in Norwich had a thousand copies of William Morris’s poem ‘No Master’ printed.[1] We can see an early draft flier from November 22nd 1910 in support of the imprisoned Japanese anarchists.[2] Alas, protest leaflets were issued but Kotoku and 11 comrades were executed in late January 1911. The flier was followed by a memorial to those anarchists and an appreciation of Kotoku penned by Leopold Fleischmann.[3]

Dates have been added to fliers and cards by this person which has helped us a lot. Still – there are some problems which centre on those general fliers which try to explain anarchist ideas and practice. They have all originated from the Freedom Press and are undated. Most are not mentioned in Freedom and we are looking at such things as pamphlets listed for sale, allusions in the text and typeface to get a rough date on them. More of that another time.!!!

Looking at these items leads to a consideration of various themes to do with the history of anarchism. Some may well be obvious, others less so.

Firstly, I think we should understand that fliers don’t just appear. They are often the result of careful thinking and planning and, of course, effort. We already had a flier for the meeting held in memory of Louise Michel in London on January 20th 1905.[4] The flier that came with this collection was noticeably different.[5] The details of the meeting in English and appeals to comrades to attend written in English and French were exactly the same as the one we had; but in this latest flier the German appeal was replaced by an appeal in Yiddish. The organizers knew their audiences and appealed to each one with their mother tongue. Perhaps there are other fliers for this meeting could there somewhere with appeals for attendance in Spanish or Italian or other languages. Sometimes calls for support for comrades overseas may be outdated the moment they are printed. Those creating the flier couldn’t press delete and put in the changes needed!! When news got to you it may well be a case of working all night to amend the flier with new information, or simply you had to create a new flier.

Secondly, this collection has emphasized the importance of not perceiving anarchist history as just looking at anarchist newspapers. With regard to Britain we have to move away from seeing London or Glasgow as the be all and end all of anarchist development. Anarchism may well have had a presence in towns we not considered before. Little groups may have existed who didn’t produce a paper but could have been active in the factories, offices or in agriculture. Because they aren’t mentioned in Freedom does not mean they didn’t exist. There are still histories waiting to be written.[6] To give one example we have over the last year or so obtained quite a lot of anarchist material from Leicester.[7] Other towns will have their fliers and cards advertising meetings as well.

Thirdly, anarchism was based on personal relationships When Frank Kitz spoke in Loughborough[8] on August 17th, 1889 what happened after the meeting was just as important as the meeting itself. People would have a drink in the pub or café after and chat. Friendships would be renewed and friendships created. Rivalries would be re-kindled or forgotten. It was these relationships that often became the center of anarchism. These conversations shaped anarchism in these communities and what that anarchism was is worthy of study.

Fourthly, anarchism had a richness within it that sometimes is overlooked. In a series of lectures held from January-April 1910 at the Secular Hall in Leicester[9] topics included: Bakunin’s God and the State, Knowledge and Belief, the plays of Bernard Shaw, State Socialism and Anarchism, Kropotkin’s Conquest of Bread, Tolstoy’s Slavery of Our Times and numerous other topics. Ideas connected and sometimes probably uncoupled but it was the process of learning that was important, a process of making sense of the world.

Fifthly, we have to recognize the critical importance of internationalism in anarchist thought and practice. We can see that in the Memorial Meeting for Louise Michel and the campaign to free the Japanese anarchists as well as meetings held against the actions of the Russian Government at Caxton Hall, London in May 1910. One of the speakers was Russian anarchist W. Tcherkessoff alongside others who certainly didn’t share his beliefs.
So this small collection of ephemera adds to, hope, how we look at anarchist history. It is a few pieces adding to a wider picture and, I believe, enriching that picture. 

Barry Pateman

Notes

1, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/pg4h9p

2, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/0vt5xj

3, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/z8wctv

4, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/9p8fpr

5, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/x960hr 

6, It has been heartening to see such work gradually appearing. Two fine examples are: Andrew Lee, The Red Flag of Anarchy: A History of Socialism and Anarchism in Sheffield 1874-1900 Pirate Press, Sheffield, 2017 and Tyneside Anarchist Archive, Anarchism In North East England, 1889-1992 Active Distribution, 2021

7, See https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fqz7sq

8, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/tht9ft

9, https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/zgmvqv