Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina

Abstract

Anarchism has been one of the issues most studied by Spanish historians who deal with the labor movement. Not surprisingly, anarchism's development took longer in Spain than in other European and American countries, and its influence on the social and political level was greater. In general, most analyses have been framed within the Spanish national context; much less common are studies that highlight the journey of the Spanish anarchists who left Spain for various reasons and devoted themselves to proselytizing and bringing their doctrine to the workers of the Americas.One of the places where these anarchist immigrants settled was Argentina, a country that has also been the subject of many studies on the development of anarchism and on the influence of Spanish anarchists in organizing workers. However, in spite of this extensive literature, there are still unresolved issues that need to be dealt with. To this end, we can use the analytical resources provided by new methodological approaches to look at anarchism from a different angle. For example, few authors have analyzed the contribution made by those immigrants to the development of Spanish anarchism once they returned to the peninsula. James A. Baer's book has come to fill this gap.In Anarchist Immigrants in Spain and Argentina, Baer studies the links and mutual influences between Spanish and Argentine anarchism fostered by the ties that anarchist militants from the two countries established during their prolonged stays. Using primary and secondary sources as well as interviews collected with some of the protagonists, he also emphasizes the role played by these cross border agents and how their journey and stay on the other side of the Atlantic worked as a school of learning that changed their thought and practices, a change that they later transferred to the situations in their next destinations. Baer achieves this by using a critical approach that shifts from the binational to the transnational perspective, which allows him to transcend the traditional framework of the nation-state.The transnational approach helps to give another meaning to anarchists' actions in the countries to which they immigrated, as it allows reflection on cross border activities including transfers, interactions, networks, and exchanges, as well as the movement of people, ideas, and discourses among territories. Baer's book highlights the interactions yielded by anarchists' mobility and activities, the resources and ideas that spread beyond Spanish and Argentine borders, and the mutual commitments that Spanish and Argentine militants acquired in the national struggles of the countries where they settled (what Davide Turcato calls cross-nationalism). However, this does not mean discarding the national approach; rather, it means considering how anarchists used the experiences accumulated in other countries to reorient their actions in their own. As we see in Baer's review of the relationships between Spanish and Argentine anarchists, these immigrants never lost their sense of belonging to their home country, which at times resulted in disagreements with other national anarchists.Baer chooses an extended period in which to analyze these links between Spanish and Argentine anarchism. The years from 1868 to 1939 include numerous milestones: the origins of anarchism in Argentina; the Argentine Residency Law of 1902, which resulted in the deportation of many Spaniards to Spain; the creation of the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in 1910; the tensions in the 1920s between the Federación Obrera Regional Argentina and the CNT; and the 1930 coup in Argentina, the arrival in Spain of Argentines and Spaniards, and their subsequent participation in the Spanish Civil War. Through these developments we can see this cross border interchange pass through different generations of militants.Undoubtedly, this original book can be recommended both to the general public looking to expand their knowledge of anarchism and to scholars and students, especially Spaniards, who have an extensive knowledge of Spanish anarchism but not the history of these ties established with Argentine anarchism and anarchists. Traditionally we have studied those actors who went to the Americas, specifically Argentina, and their contributions to anarchism there, whereas Baer demonstrates that the contribution of Latin American actors to the development of Spanish anarchism was also fundamental.We can only reproach the author, as far as the history of Spanish anarchism is concerned, for using few works published by Spanish historians. His narrative draws heavily on two authors, Murray Bookchin and Gerald Brenan, whose work (especially the latter's) has been surpassed by the extensive studies carried out in Spain since the late twentieth century. It would be very productive and indeed necessary to build bridges of communication between American and Spanish historians so as to open dialogue and exchange of ideas that will allow feedback and productive influences in a way similar to the anarchists discussed in Baer's book.