Sewing Freedom: Phillip Josephs, Trans-nationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism ---- By
Jared Davidson AK Press 2013 ---- A Review Brief by Graham Purchase ---- I knew nothing
about the development of Anarchism in N.Z. before reading this well-researched and ably
produced study. ---- This book is a brief, readable and informative piece of Anarchist
historical scholarship examining movements, organizations and personalities active at the
cusp of the 20th Century. ---- The book is nominally an account of the life of Josephs
whom from his little tailor shop organized the distribution of anarchist literature that
he imported wholesale from London and America. Josephs was an anarchist disciple of the
category perhaps best described as the Kropotkinite-Freedom Group (London) tradition.
Josephs migrated to Glasgow from Latvia in 1897.
Here he married a cigarette-factory worker, fathered 4 children and toiled as a sweatshop
machinist before moving to Wellington in 1904. Here he set-up as a self-employed tailor
cum anarchist bookshop, becoming involved in local revolutionary and anti-capitalist
groupings, particularly the N.Z. Socialist Party, then a broad based organization
attracting many Syndicalists. Activities focused around Socialist Hall wherein lectures on
such topics as Socialist Economics were delivered. Josephs contributed articles to the
Commonweal and the Maoriland Worker, newspapers published by the NZSP and the Federation
of Labour.
Strikes were illegal under an obsolete and bankrupt Arbitration system whose courts
invariably favoured employers despite low wages and increasing living costs. The first
challenge to the Arbitration system was an ?illegal? strike by Tram-workers in 1906,
followed by Slaughtermen, Miners (Blackbull strike) and culminating in the General Strike
of 1913. The ?Red-Fed? (Federation of Labour) was an I.W.W. affiliate and the most
revolutionary. The Federation split with the N.Z. Socialist Party because its members
rejected parliamentary politics and Trades Unionism in favour of direct workers? action.
The Syndicalist surge within the class struggles of 1908-13 was bolstered by a stream of
noted revolutionaries and labour leaders who stepped of the ship and onto the soap box.
Transnational radical tourism created a melting pot of ideas which spurned a minority
movement of anarcho-syndicalists within a radicalized and militant labour movement.
Jacobs founded the Freedom Club which organized well-attended weekly discussion meetings
on a wide variety of subjects. The group collapsed or was suppressed following the failure
of the Great Strike of 1913. Jacobs was elected secretary of the Anti-Militarist League (a
broad based non-revolutionary grouping including Christian pacifists etc.) that opposed
compulsory military training and conscription.
War Legislation was used extensively to stymie revolutionary syndicalism and a
state-sponsored campaign against Wobbly-Anarchist-Socialism continued after the conclusion
of the Great War. Fascination with Bolshevism after the Russian Revolution (1917) and the
founding of the N.Z. Labour Party in 1916 corresponded with a decline in Revolutionary
Syndicalism.
Jacobs migrated to Australia in 1921 and little is known about his life thereafter. In
truth not much is known about his life in N.Z. But, Jacobs? life usefully serves as an
anchor upon which to elaborate a modest but extremely competent and cogent account of
early anarchism and syndicalism and its relationship with the wider Labour movement in
N.Z. between 1900-21. The author acknowledges his great debt to previous scholarship
undertaken by Bert Roth and Frank Prebble. The book ends with an appendix containing two
newspaper articles on the failure of trades unionism, conscription and the General Strike.
Democracy, Trade Unions and Political Violence in Spain: The Valencian Anarchist Movement
1918-1936 by Richard Purkiss, Published by Sussex Academic Press.
In countries such as Australia in the Anglo world, the so called anarchist milieu, in
recent decades has been characterised by congeries of sects, in some cases cults and tiny
subcultures based around the left sub cultural hot houses of book shops.
As a result of the predominance of mass Stalinism to the left of social democratic labour
parties from the 1930's to the 1960's in the labour movement, those drawn into this milieu
are often consciously and unconsciously drawn into authoritarian ways and all manner of
shady behaviour e.g. stacking meetings, psychological manipulation of particularly
inexperienced young people by swell headed "gurus", general duplicity, underhandedness,
and hypocritical navel gazing of "safe spaces policies", introversion associated with the
unwholesome focusing on such sectlets "precious" internal life - structures/processes, etc.
Often, such groupings with their associated micro bureaucracies are engrossed in creating
some macro bureaucracy of a "federation". In which they can delight in the formalism of
the "clockwork" operation of its structures and associated rituals which can provide
excuses for social occasions and a salve to the oppression mongering, of its middle class,
student and workers with high levels of autonomy in their jobs, which provide its
membership and social base.
Certain of these sectlets are drawn into the ad antics of creating "papier-mache unions"
favouring red & black colour schemes, to impress the credulous members of similar overseas
and interstate sects, with fake syndicalist organising and even "international solidarity
campaigns" on bogus grounds via the medium of the internet and web sites, etc. Whilst
others are drawn into tail ending of workers struggles and picket support, little
different from the various Trotskyist sects. Leading nowhere, in regard to achieving major
defeats of the employer offensive and helping turn the tide in the class struggle. These
groupings lack any concept of a long term serious program of industrial work and
associated strategy.
Most of those drawn into this milieu feature a lack of any conception of how to reach the
average worker with anarchist ideas and practices, and realise the transitional steps to
achieve mass syndicalist unionism. This work place strategy has proven to be only way to
create mass working class interest in anarchism and the workers movement which could
achieve an anarchist society. Through encouraging and practicing direct action on the job
in its various forms, the direct democracy of mass meetings and the strict mandating of
delegates with limited tenure of office procedures for officials.
In sharp contrast to the often laughable, bizarre antics and absurd pretensions of
existing syndicalist and anarchist sectlets in the Anglo World, the book under review,
focuses on a genuine mass anarcho-syndicalist workers movement in Valencia, Spain. It
played a central role in innumerable strikes and general strikes from its emergence until
the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War of 1936-39, when it was the key force
behind widespread collectivisations of industry in rural and urban areas.
This book throws important light on key factors contributing to the emergence of mass
anarcho-syndicalist unionism in Valencia and its dynamics. Most significant is the
important contribution of the Republican movement, in particular the "Blasco" current in
nurturing the early anarchist influenced unions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
These unions went on to affiliate to the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (National Confederation
of Labour) in 1910. This support stemmed from competition between Republicans and the
Socialist party for votes in elections at various levels.
Republican control of local government, led to the provision of offices for the anarchist
unions, lawyers who were republicans provided legal help to these fledgling unions.
Whilst, the Republican controlled media, provided a mouth piece to these unions and its
publishing houses published anarchist texts. In contrast to the Anglo world and in the
case of Australia, such a phenomena as Republicanism and the associated electoral
rivalries were missing. Colonial Labour Parties, since the 1890's and then subsequently
the ALP founded in 1901, having overwhelming working class electoral support and control
of the bureaucratic unions, up to today. The author sees the CNT's surge to predominance
in Valencia, as explained by a range of factors: the Spanish industrial boom during WWI
and rising employment levels, spiraling inflation, the revolutionary enthusiasm following
the Russian Revolution of 1917, a national propaganda and organising campaign launched by
the Catalan CNT and most significantly the transfer of the publishing of the CNT's daily
newspaper Solidaridad Obrera from Barcelona to Valencia in 1919. (In say the Australian
context, the development of such mass circulation workers media must also be connected
with the emergence of a mass syndicalist union movement in terms of providing a mass
readership, raised workers morale, a network of worker correspondents, full time editorial
staff, subsidies, printing facilities, etc. Such a mass circulation paper is not going to
eventuate from a tiny paper appealing to the student/middle class leftist subculture with
all manner of oppression mongering and "political correctness" displays, gradually getting
bigger and bigger circulations.) This explosive expansion was also associated with the
winning of a series of strikes by CNT affiliates at this time. Resulting in the CNT
securing a majority position in most Valencian urban industries.
The author emphasises the importance to the winning of strikes by workers in less
industrially strategic sectors who could be easily replaced with scabs by employers was
the industrial solidarity of CNT workers in the most strategic sectors such as the
transport union via boycotts.
The book focuses on the rivalry of major tendencies i.e. those who identified with the FAI
(Iberian Anarchist Federation) and the Trientistas in the Valencian CNT following the end
of the Primo Rivera Dictatorship in the early 1930's. These tendencies, the author shows
were interconnected to CNT unions of differing strategic importance. The radical FAI
pushing for "revolution around the corner" and constant calls for general strikes and
insurrections had a base in unions within industries with a high level of unskilled and
the unemployed. Whilst the Trientistas considered to be moderates, but representing a
range of different positions with a long term union building perspective, were based among
the most strategic sectors such as transport, metal, public utilities and wood
manufacturing unions. They particularly opposed the idea that the CNT and FAI being
complementary organisations, working together in different spheres.
The author shows how ineffectual were FAI attempts to impose general strikes in industries
in which they had influence, due to often unskilled labour in such sectors as catering and
construction, which could be easily replaced by employers. Whilst, the Trientista or
moderate unions such as the Transport union in the port area of Valencia were able to
rapidly and effectively close down all work during a general strike call. The author shows
that an important ramification of the failure of strikes by FAI influenced CNT unions in
Valencia was a move by militants toward individualist "direct action" in the shape of bank
robberies, sabotage, bombings, etc. Associated with the both the FAI influenced CNT unions
and Trientista unions were cultural/educational centres supported by the unions. The
author examines the different emphasis of these centres. The Trientista centres being much
more open to speakers from other left groups. In the Australian/Anglo context, lacking any
mass syndicalist movement to interact and support, such centres easily become transformed
into left subculture "hot houses", where the poisonous weeds of the middle class/student
leftist subculture flourish.
The author looks at how the rivalry between these different CNT factions led to a major
split in the CNT in the early 1930's which continued until 1936. With the Trientista
unions breaking away to form their own confederation, the ?Opposition Unions?. The
?official CNT unions? became swept up into support of a series of insurrections/general
strikes encouraged by the Barcelona based FAI in the early 30's which led to massive waves
of state repression, enormous membership losses and a rightward shift in the Spanish
ruling class. Culminating in the military coup of July 1936.This rightward shift and the
rise of Fascism in Europe the book shows encouraged the re-unification of the CNT in 1936,
just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.
In conclusion, the book under review throws important light on the various factors
contributing to the emergence of mass anarcho-syndicalist unionism in Valencia in the
early 20th Century. A movement which failed to develop on this scale in the Anglo world
and continues to be the case. Most significantly the book provides an excellent
examination of the factional struggle in the Valencian CNT in the early 30's which led to
a major split at this time and the layers of workers which supported the different sides.
The book does a very good job in discussing the outcome of the "official" CNT being
dominated by the FAI faction, with the organisation being transformed into an "anarchist
workers association" and embarking on a disastrous course of "revolutionary gymnastics".
Mark McGuire
Pistoleros: The Chronicles of Farquhar McHarg Volume 1: 1918 By FarquharMcHarg
Introduced by Stuart Christie. PM Press, Calif., 2011.
Review Brief by Graham Purchase.
In 1918 an 18 year old Glaswegian boy named Farquhar McHarg arrived in Barcelona by boat
in which he worked as an apprentice engineer. Already an anarchist convert a chance
meeting with young anarcho-syndicalist (CNT) activists led him to jump ship and throw in
his lot with the Spanish revolutionaries.
Whilst there are numerous studies in English on anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish
Civil War (1936-9), their historical role in the First World War era is much less widely
known. To most people the tragic events of a century ago are now distant and poorly
understood. McHarg?s mastery of autobiographical narrative allows readers with little
historical knowledge to effortlessly transcend the haze of history, entering and relating
to the social and political concerns of the last year of the Great War. This crisply
written story contains all of the most common or quintessential ingredients of a romance
or spy novella or movie, but without the saucy bits: Love, comradeship, intrigue,
adventure, exotic locations, seedy cafes, baddies, secret agents, sabotage, war and
revolution.
Pistoleros exploration of revolutionary Barcelona in 1918 is comparable to George Orwell?s
Civil War autobiography Homage to Catalonia. But McHarg?s simple storytelling is a
considerably more readable, lucid, heartwarming, complete and elegant yarn than Orwell?s
confused and scrappy notebook.
McHarg?s engaging, authentic, personal work of creative non-fiction is followed in the
second half of Pistoleros by a more objective or conventional approach and analysis of
(revolutionary) politics in 1918 from an anarchist standpoint. The politics of Western
Europe and North Africa are examined as well as the aftermath of the Russian Revolution
(1917) which altered the trajectory of the War and led to the Anarchist (Makhnovist)
resistance to the tyranny of Bolshevism/State-Communism.
European politics is always complex and McHarg does an excellent job of succinctly
covering the key personalities and concerns of 1918. The particular emphasis and reference
to neutral Spain, examines areas of WW1 that are not often visited by historians and,
almost never by documentary makers or school text book writers.
This book is obligatory reading for all anarcho-syndicalists.
(To be continued.)
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» (en) Australia?, Sydney, Book Reviews From Rebel Worker, Vol.32 No.3 (218) Nov.-Dec. 2013 http://www.rebelworker.org/ - Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network