The Anarchist Inquisition

Abstract

This chapter underlines that anarchist bombs threatened physical destruction and the Spanish monarchy's international reputation by highlighting the impotence of the state to stop them. It emphasizes that nationalist tensions were already running high as the Spanish grip in Cuba and the Philippines was faltering while British and French imperial projects surged. The chapter also reveals how anarchism came to be seen by the press as “a tumor on the social body” that exacerbated the mounting perception of Spanish backwardness. To accomplish the urgent task of defusing anarchist bombs, it was generally agreed that exceptional measures were necessary to defeat “those who reject the human conscience.” In the aftermath of the bombing, journalists argued that extreme repression was warranted against all anarchists regardless of their involvement in the bombing. This chapter then looks at this new piece of legislation to augment the repressive powers of the 1894 law and authorize the arrest of anyone with anarchist sympathies and the closure of “all periodicals, centers, and places of anarchist recreation.” Given the repression and torture that followed the Liceo bombing, the anarchists knew to expect the worst.