Fra Contadini di Errico Malatesta, da Firenze a Tokyo

Abstract

In recent years scholars of anarchism have examined the movement’s transnational dimensions. This new research succeeded in redefining the periodization and the geography of anarchism. However, the debate has been limited to the Western speech communities. This paper tries to reconstruct the process of introduction and circulation in Japan of Fra contadini, a pamphlet written by the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta, focusing on the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Through the analysis of different periodicals, both Japanese and Europeans, this article will show how the pamphlet changed the Japanese perception of the Italian revolutionist, considering as well the way in which the text was instrumental in the evolution of the local Anarchist debate. The anomalous introduction of the Italian pamphlet in the Japanese context throws new light upon the transnational connections between European and East Asian anarchism, challenging the widely accepted diffusionist model.