Overview

The political diaspora played a major part in the history of the international anarchist movement: in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries hundreds of militants, escaping from domestic persecution and following their internationalist ideals, took the path of exile and established colonies in European and non-European countries. This book unveils the intriguing world of anarchist refugees in London from the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War. It is the first book to combine an investigation of anarchist political organisations and activities with a study of the everyday life of militants through identifying the hitherto largely anonymous Italian anarchist exiles who settled in London. Central to the book is an examination of the processes and associations through which anarchist exiles created an international revolutionary network which European and American governments and police forces esteemed to be an extremely dangerous threat. By investigating political, social and cultural aspects of the colony of Italian anarchist refugees in London, the nature of the transnational anarchist diaspora and its relevance in the history of the anarchist movement will be made evident. This monograph will also be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the fascinating history of social and political radicalism in immigrant communities in Britain.

Full Product Details

9781846319693

Table of Contents

Reviews

This study is a fitting companion to Constance Bantman's French Anarchists in Soho, which was reviewed in Chartist 265 and published by the same Liverpool University Press series. The book is based on a PhD undertaken at Goldsmith's under the supervision of Carl Levi, an authority on the Italian anarchist Malatesta and editor of a recent volume of the writings of Colin Ward, to which Di Paola contributed. Di Paolo makes full use of anarchist memoirs and the records of the Italian embassy who kept a close watch on the anarchists, including funding spies who infiltrated the anarchist networks. Despite the official British government position of unrestricted asylum for political refugees, Di Paolo demonstrates that the Metropolitan Police provided some assistance. This is perhaps not surprising given this was the period of anarchist assassins with an anarchist, Gaetano Bresci, assassinating the Italian King Umburto in July 1900. It is in fact difficult to see that political objectives the Italian anarchists had. Their principles, so far as they had any, were very difference from the Mazzinian exiles of the 1850s s Italian unity had been achieved. Their main enemy was the Italian liberal democracy which they saw as elitist. Their perspectives were also different from the philosophical anarchist communism of Kropotkin and his circle, or for that matter from the French republicans and anarchists studied by Bantman whose main focus was syndicalism and trade union organisation. The London Italian anarchists had little to do with London radicals or trade unionists, though they did seek to organise Soho's Italian waiters. There were exceptions - Antonio Agresti contributed to the anarchist newspaper, the Torch, and married one of its editors- Olivia Rossetti, though later returned to Italy and became a Fascist sympathiser; Sylvia Corio, secretary of the International Club in Charlotte Street, later became Sylvia Pankhurst's lover and co-agitator against Italian imperialism, especially after the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Di Paolo follows the lives of less well known Italian anarchists - most Italian anarchists seem to have ended up in London at some time in their lives - though many went to America the most famour of them all, Malatesta, was active in Argentina. This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. Most of the Italian anarchists were poor, some participated in semi-criminal activities. They lived outside 'respectable society' and unlike Kropotkin or Stepniak were not habiutes of the salons of London's Liberal intelligentsia. The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. -- Duncan Bowie Chartist 269 This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. ... The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. Chartist 269 It's good to see an academic study where the text is readable and the anarchism recognisable. Here are two, which examine the history of the anarchist movement in London as lived by French and Italian exiles respectively. Bantman and Di Paola have done the spadework of historical research which adds to our knowledge of the movement in London and its connections. Bantman for instance quotes from a David Nicoll address to dock labourers [p42] [2] and mentions an informer's report that 'two young anarchist deserters, wood engravers by trade, died of starvation in London' (but without naming them, unfortunately) [p57]. Di Paola frequently recounts attempts to organise workers in the catering trade, and covers well the activities of London's Italian anarchists, and the mechanics of how they were spied on (and how the surveillance was sometimes blown). Bantman sometimes veers off into generalisations: 'the inherent impossibility of setting up anarchist organisations' [p31] brought me up short. Di Paola deals better with the debate on anarchist organisation. It's a shame that Bantman attributes the Siege of Sidney Street to Latvian Left Social Revolutionaries [p131] and Di Paola blames Social Democrats [p116]. Di Paola referrs to Phil Ruff's research in a footnote, but without mentioning that those involved were Latvian anarchists.[3] The value of these two books is that they allow us to see what the anarchists were up to (as well as what their enemies said they were doing) and how their networks of agitation, socialising and survival functioned. Transnational networks are a hot topic for historians. Bantman divides an anarchist elite from the grassroots [p72], but I didn't see how this elite was defined. Of course someone like Kropotkin has a much different experience of exile than those anonymous (and voiceless?) deserters. But I do worry that it's easier to look at well-known figures who left a paper trail, and that perhaps some who are now invisible or shadowy were important in different ways. The books themselves are well-produced, but expensive. That is what happens with short run printing, and most of those will be going to libraries (where, hopefully, they will be read). These books will useful for historians - paid or unpaid - of both radical London and the Anarchist movement. I hope that paperback editions come out soon. Notes 1 'Knights errant' comes from Pietro Gori's 'Addio Lugano Bella'. 2, 'Most of you derive your opinion your opinion of Anarchism and Anarchists from the Capitalist press which is daily informing you that we are nothing but a set of murderers, dynamitards, criminal lunatics... we wish to prove to you that far from being the bloodthirsty monsters we are depicted we are but workers like yourselves, like yourselves the victims of the present system' IISG, Max Nettlau Papers, 'Socialist League' file, folder 319, 'Anarchist Address to the Dock Labourers' (1894). See the Nettlau papers online: http://search.socialhistory.org/Record/ARCH01001/ArchiveContentList in particular page 107 of File 3294 http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01001.3294?locatt=view:pdf and page 34 of file 3330 http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01001.3330?locatt=view:pdf 3 See 'Peter the Painter (Janis Zhaklis) and the Siege of Sidney Street' in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library 78-79 The books themselves are well-produced ... These books will useful for historians. KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library 78-79

This study is a fitting companion to Constance Bantman's French Anarchists in Soho, which was reviewed in Chartist 265 and published by the same Liverpool University Press series. The book is based on a PhD undertaken at Goldsmith's under the supervision of Carl Levi, an authority on the Italian anarchist Malatesta and editor of a recent volume of the writings of Colin Ward, to which Di Paola contributed. Di Paolo makes full use of anarchist memoirs and the records of the Italian embassy who kept a close watch on the anarchists, including funding spies who infiltrated the anarchist networks. Despite the official British government position of unrestricted asylum for political refugees, Di Paolo demonstrates that the Metropolitan Police provided some assistance. This is perhaps not surprising given this was the period of anarchist assassins with an anarchist, Gaetano Bresci, assassinating the Italian King Umburto in July 1900. It is in fact difficult to see that political objectives the Italian anarchists had. Their principles, so far as they had any, were very difference from the Mazzinian exiles of the 1850s s Italian unity had been achieved. Their main enemy was the Italian liberal democracy which they saw as elitist. Their perspectives were also different from the philosophical anarchist communism of Kropotkin and his circle, or for that matter from the French republicans and anarchists studied by Bantman whose main focus was syndicalism and trade union organisation. The London Italian anarchists had little to do with London radicals or trade unionists, though they did seek to organise Soho's Italian waiters. There were exceptions - Antonio Agresti contributed to the anarchist newspaper, the Torch, and married one of its editors- Olivia Rossetti, though later returned to Italy and became a Fascist sympathiser; Sylvia Corio, secretary of the International Club in Charlotte Street, later became Sylvia Pankhurst's lover and co-agitator against Italian imperialism, especially after the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Di Paolo follows the lives of less well known Italian anarchists - most Italian anarchists seem to have ended up in London at some time in their lives - though many went to America the most famour of them all, Malatesta, was active in Argentina. This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. Most of the Italian anarchists were poor, some participated in semi-criminal activities. They lived outside 'respectable society' and unlike Kropotkin or Stepniak were not habiutes of the salons of London's Liberal intelligentsia. The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. ... The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. It's good to see an academic study where the text is readable and the anarchism recognisable. Here are two, which examine the history of the anarchist movement in London as lived by French and Italian exiles respectively. Bantman and Di Paola have done the spadework of historical research which adds to our knowledge of the movement in London and its connections. Bantman for instance quotes from a David Nicoll address to dock labourers [p42] [2] and mentions an informer's report that 'two young anarchist deserters, wood engravers by trade, died of starvation in London' (but without naming them, unfortunately) [p57]. Di Paola frequently recounts attempts to organise workers in the catering trade, and covers well the activities of London's Italian anarchists, and the mechanics of how they were spied on (and how the surveillance was sometimes blown). Bantman sometimes veers off into generalisations: 'the inherent impossibility of setting up anarchist organisations' [p31] brought me up short. Di Paola deals better with the debate on anarchist organisation. It's a shame that Bantman attributes the Siege of Sidney Street to Latvian Left Social Revolutionaries [p131] and Di Paola blames Social Democrats [p116]. Di Paola referrs to Phil Ruff's research in a footnote, but without mentioning that those involved were Latvian anarchists.[3] The value of these two books is that they allow us to see what the anarchists were up to (as well as what their enemies said they were doing) and how their networks of agitation, socialising and survival functioned. Transnational networks are a hot topic for historians. Bantman divides an anarchist elite from the grassroots [p72], but I didn't see how this elite was defined. Of course someone like Kropotkin has a much different experience of exile than those anonymous (and voiceless?) deserters. But I do worry that it's easier to look at well-known figures who left a paper trail, and that perhaps some who are now invisible or shadowy were important in different ways. The books themselves are well-produced, but expensive. That is what happens with short run printing, and most of those will be going to libraries (where, hopefully, they will be read). These books will useful for historians - paid or unpaid - of both radical London and the Anarchist movement. I hope that paperback editions come out soon. Notes 1 'Knights errant' comes from Pietro Gori's 'Addio Lugano Bella'. 2, 'Most of you derive your opinion your opinion of Anarchism and Anarchists from the Capitalist press which is daily informing you that we are nothing but a set of murderers, dynamitards, criminal lunatics... we wish to prove to you that far from being the bloodthirsty monsters we are depicted we are but workers like yourselves, like yourselves the victims of the present system' IISG, Max Nettlau Papers, 'Socialist League' file, folder 319, 'Anarchist Address to the Dock Labourers' (1894). See the Nettlau papers online: http://search.socialhistory.org/Record/ARCH01001/ArchiveContentList in particular page 107 of File 3294 http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01001.3294?locatt=view:pdf and page 34 of file 3330 http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01001.3330?locatt=view:pdf 3 See 'Peter the Painter (Janis Zhaklis) and the Siege of Sidney Street' in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley The books themselves are well-produced ... These books will useful for historians.

This study is a fitting companion to Constance Bantman's French Anarchists in Soho, which was reviewed in Chartist 265 and published by the same Liverpool University Press series. The book is based on a PhD undertaken at Goldsmith's under the supervision of Carl Levi, an authority on the Italian anarchist Malatesta and editor of a recent volume of the writings of Colin Ward, to which Di Paola contributed. Di Paolo makes full use of anarchist memoirs and the records of the Italian embassy who kept a close watch on the anarchists, including funding spies who infiltrated the anarchist networks. Despite the official British government position of unrestricted asylum for political refugees, Di Paolo demonstrates that the Metropolitan Police provided some assistance. This is perhaps not surprising given this was the period of anarchist assassins with an anarchist, Gaetano Bresci, assassinating the Italian King Umburto in July 1900. It is in fact difficult to see that political objectives the Italian anarchists had. Their principles, so far as they had any, were very difference from the Mazzinian exiles of the 1850s s Italian unity had been achieved. Their main enemy was the Italian liberal democracy which they saw as elitist. Their perspectives were also different from the philosophical anarchist communism of Kropotkin and his circle, or for that matter from the French republicans and anarchists studied by Bantman whose main focus was syndicalism and trade union organisation. The London Italian anarchists had little to do with London radicals or trade unionists, though they did seek to organise Soho's Italian waiters. There were exceptions - Antonio Agresti contributed to the anarchist newspaper, the Torch, and married one of its editors- Olivia Rossetti, though later returned to Italy and became a Fascist sympathiser; Sylvia Corio, secretary of the International Club in Charlotte Street, later became Sylvia Pankhurst's lover and co-agitator against Italian imperialism, especially after the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Di Paolo follows the lives of less well known Italian anarchists - most Italian anarchists seem to have ended up in London at some time in their lives - though many went to America the most famour of them all, Malatesta, was active in Argentina. This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. Most of the Italian anarchists were poor, some participated in semi-criminal activities. They lived outside 'respectable society' and unlike Kropotkin or Stepniak were not habiutes of the salons of London's Liberal intelligentsia. The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. -- Duncan Bowie Chartist 269 This book is an impressive piece of research and presents a detailed, even exhaustive study, of the experience of these exiles daily lives. ... The rescuing of these obscure and largely politically insignificant, certainly marginal, figures, makes the study more fascinating, and Di Paolo's achievement in providing such a comprehensive study, including its biographical appendix, a more impressive achievement. Chartist 269

Author Information

Dr Pietro Di Paola is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Lincoln.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available