Anarchist practice in Argentina and Spain
Expropriative anarchism
(
Spanish
:
anarquismo expropiador
) is the name given to a practice carried out by certain
anarchist
affinity groups
in
Argentina
and
Spain
which involved theft, robbery,
scams
and
counterfeiting currency
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
The robberies done were called "
expropriations
on the
bourgeoisie
". It had its major peak between 1920 and 1935 and some of its most famous practitioners were
Buenaventura Durruti
,
Francisco Ascaso
,
Severino Di Giovanni
,
Miguel Arcangel Roscigna
,
Francisco ("Quico") Sabate
, and
Lucio Urtubia
. It was different from French
illegalism
because it was not thought of as a way of life but as a way of reaching political ends such as financing revolutionary activities, anarchist propaganda and the release of anarchist prisoners.
[4]
Examples
[
edit
]
Miguel Arcangel Roscigna and Andres Vazquez Paredes, who had collaborated with
Buenaventura Durruti
and
Los Solidarios
when they were in Argentina, later executed a series of bombings against United States interests in response to the execution of
Sacco and Vanzetti
. In this campaign, the notorious Italian expropriator
Severino Di Giovanni
joined in. Roscigna y Vazquez Paredes alongside Antonio Moretti and Vicente Moretti carried out a robbery on the Rawson Hospital of Buenos Aires in October, 1927, where they obtained the amount of 141.000 pesos. According to historian Oswaldo Bayer, Roscigna, with this money they financed the counterfeiting of Argentinian currency.
[3]
The Moretti brothers and three
Catalans
recommended by Durruti decided to rob the Cambio Messina in
Montevideo
, with an outcome of 3 deaths and only 4000 pesos. They ended up being arrested but shortly put in practice a spectacular jailbreak. Di Giovanni started publishing a magazine called
Culmine
and anarchist propaganda, all of which was financed partly by robberies.
[5]
The anarcho-syndicalist publication La Protesta started criticizing Di Giovanni and his group in strong terms, even going so far as accusing him of being a spy and a police agent. Rosigna continued the expropriations but with the purpose of aiding anarchist prisoners.
[6]
Groups such as
Rewolucyjni M?ciciele
(
Revolutionary Avengers
) and
Chernoe Znamia
(
The Black Banner
), active at the beginning of the 20th century, used expropriation as a means to fund their activities.
[7]
In the 1960s and 1970s,
Lucio Urtubia
, a
Basque
anarchist, robbed banks and assembled a forgery ring in Paris to fund the
anti-Franco resistance in Spain
. His most famous heist was a
Traveller's cheque
forgery scheme using First National Bank (now
Citibank
) checks to defraud them of millions of dollars. After his arrest, the French government negotiated on his behalf and convinced Citibank to settle out of court.
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
El anarquismo expropiador El uso de la violencia en beneficio de la Idea by Federico Millenaar
- ^
Anarquismo expropiador en rio de la Plata
Published by
Barricada
,from
Montevideo
- ^
a
b
Osvaldo Bayer,
Los anarquistas expropiadores y otros ensayos
. Booklet, Buenos Aires, 2008, p. 65.
- ^
"Se puede ver desde los testimonios de la epoca que, el accionar de los anarquistas y siguiendo la logica de sus protagonistas, que la expropiacion tenia claramente fines politicos. Existen testimonios de expropiadores y allegados a estos en donde se deja en claro que las condiciones de vida de estos no modificaron luego de las expropiaciones. No se enriquecieron en pocas palabras. Tampoco fue el caso de los grupos que posteriormente, y en otra coyuntura, se abocaron a esta tarea."
Anarquismo expropiador en rio de la Plata
Published by
Barricada
, from
Montevideo
- ^
Anarquismo en la Argentina Di Giovanni, el expropiador by Federico Millenaar
- ^
Osvaldo Bayer,
Los anarquistas expropiadores y otros ensayos
. Booklet, Buenos Aires, 2008, p. 69.
- ^
Sekura, Adrian (2010).
Rewolucyjni M?ciciele ?mier? z browningiem w r?ku
. Pozna?: Bractwo Trojka.
ISBN
9788392666264
.
- ^
"Lucio Urtubia, 1931?2020"
.
jacobin.com
. Retrieved
2024-01-22
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bayer, Osvaldo.
Severino Di Giovanni, el idealista de la violencia
. Booket, Buenos Aires, mayo de 2006.
ISBN
9875800929
- Bayer Osvaldo,
Los anarquistas expropiadores y otros ensayos
. Booket, Buenos Aires, 2008.
- Bayer, Osvaldo.
Severino Di Giovanni, el idealista de la violencia
. Buenos Aires: Galerna, 1970.
- Noble, Cristina.
Severino Di Giovanni, Pasion Anarquista.
Buenos Aires: Ed. Capital Intellectual, 2006.
External links
[
edit
]