0:01

Al Zone Media.

0:03

Hey everybody, Robert Evans here, and I wanted

0:05

to let you know this is a compilation

0:07

episode. So every episode of the week

0:10

that just happened is here in

0:12

one convenient and with somewhat less

0:14

ads package for you to listen

0:16

to in a long stretch if you want. If

0:18

you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, there's

0:21

going to be nothing new here for you, but you can

0:23

make your own decisions.

0:26

Hello, and welcome to it could happen here a podcast

0:28

about things falling apart and how we try to put

0:31

them back together again. I'm your guest host,

0:33

Margaret Kiljoy, and with me this week is

0:35

one of your regular hosts. Here, higare

0:37

Hello, this

0:40

week is one of those putting things back together

0:42

episodes. The premise

0:44

of this episode is simple. Let's

0:47

say you're newly radicalized. Maybe

0:49

you are participant in the occupations and now

0:51

the school year is over, or you got expelled

0:54

and you're wondering what the next steps

0:56

are. This won't

0:59

be an it's all in one guide to how

1:01

to become an activist, but it's sort of a sketch

1:03

of one. It's also not quite a complete

1:05

Summer twenty twenty four guide to Protests,

1:08

but there's some of that in here too. It's

1:10

a Magpie's guide to getting

1:12

started in activism. I

1:16

want to start with my own biases upfront

1:18

because it's going to inform everything that I have to say

1:20

about all of this. I'm an anarchist.

1:23

It's also been decades since I've broke into

1:25

the movement. I've been doing this stuff since two thousand

1:27

and two, when I dropped out of college

1:29

to join the ultra globalization movement. So

1:32

I have biases towards things like dropping out of college

1:34

because it worked for me, and I have You

1:37

know, a lot of my experience

1:39

isn't recent, at least my direct

1:41

experience personally, but I've been watching people

1:43

come into the movement for a very long time. I

1:46

also have biases against authoritarian

1:49

organizing and electoral organizing, and

1:51

biases towards direct action and autonomy

1:53

as models for radical

1:55

social change. I believe

1:57

this is how you build a freer and better world

2:00

by practicing freedom along the way.

2:02

But you can adapt this to suit

2:05

your own interests. That's

2:08

not to say I have any interest in guiding people towards

2:10

specific paths, specific actions, specific

2:12

issues, and movements exactly the opposite.

2:14

This is my attempt to kind of give a

2:17

the big picture view of how one

2:19

might get involved right

2:22

now. I don't know if you knew this, Gaar, the

2:25

world's kind of in trouble.

2:27

I have heard this before. I have

2:29

heard this said.

2:30

Yeah, do you ever like think about

2:32

how your job is to be a professional chicken little?

2:35

Yeah?

2:35

Sometimes I guess so. Yeah, I mean

2:38

I'm definitely in the dredges trying

2:40

to find what horrible things are always happening.

2:42

Certainly, yeah,

2:45

I would say, even though the world is always

2:47

in serious trouble, it's like extra in

2:49

serious trouble right now, and

2:53

we are in desperate need of people who dedicate their time,

2:55

whether part of it or all of it, to trying to stop

2:58

the terrible things that are happening and trying to build beautiful

3:00

things and beautiful alternatives. So

3:03

how do you get started? I want

3:05

you to think about a couple different things that are separate

3:07

from each other. I want you to think about

3:09

This isn't necessarily you gare, although you

3:11

could if you want, sure, why not?

3:13

Yeah? What do you care about?

3:15

Like? What issues are specifically important

3:17

to you? It's the first thing to think about. The

3:20

second is what do you want

3:22

to do about it? And

3:26

if you have a sense of that, and like also kind

3:28

of how far you're willing to go. If

3:30

you get a sense of those things before you throw

3:32

yourself into the fight, you're going to start

3:34

off strong. Those things can change, they

3:37

will change over time, but

3:40

getting a sense of those ahead of time is a good way

3:42

to figure out which door you want to go in, and then

3:44

also to avoid some of the dangers that lie on the

3:46

other side of any given door. What

3:50

do you care about? What movements and projects

3:52

speak loudest to you? A ton of causes

3:54

are interconnected, of course, right the

3:57

fight for Palestinian liberation is not at

3:59

its core separate project than the fight against

4:01

policing in the United States, for example, the

4:04

rise of a global police state is everyone's problem,

4:06

and so is the US and Zionist

4:08

imperial project. Causes

4:11

are interconnected, but you can rarely

4:13

start by trying to fix everything.

4:16

Usually got to pick somewhere to start working.

4:18

You don't climb a mountain by just

4:20

willing yourself to the top. You climb it

4:22

by picking a place and then starting to climb it. Maybe

4:26

you're concerned about the police state or surveillance,

4:29

or the erosion of rights or Palestinian liberation,

4:32

or fighting for prisoners in the US to still have access

4:34

to books, or for LGBT rights, or

4:36

for migrants at the border, or for the protection

4:39

of the remaining national ecosystems and stopping

4:41

the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. Maybe

4:44

you're concerned about something hyper local, like

4:47

the destruction of a local park or

4:49

the sweeping of homeless encampments. Maybe

4:52

it's something a bit broader and more abstract, like

4:54

you want to get involved in explaining the need

4:56

for police abolition, but

4:58

there's something, there's some that you want to

5:00

change. As a place to start, the

5:03

second question is what do you

5:05

want to do. There's multiple questions

5:07

embedded in this. There's how far are you willing to go? We'll

5:09

talk more of that later, more immediately,

5:13

what is your skill set or what skill

5:15

sets do you wish you had? Like a lot of times I'll

5:17

just be like, oh, hey, what are you good at? And now I'll go do that. But

5:20

sometimes like what you're good at isn't what you want to be doing.

5:22

And it's also totally okay to be like, well, what do I want to

5:24

be good at, Like what do I want to be

5:26

trying to focus on what

5:29

do you have to offer the revolution or

5:31

what do you wish you had to offer. Are

5:33

you in med school or have other first aid

5:36

or medical experience, Maybe you want to plug

5:38

in with your local street medics. Are you studying

5:40

law? Movement lawyers need paralegal help,

5:42

and there are groups that use volunteers to get people

5:44

out of jail or through difficult court cases. If

5:47

graphic design is your passion, this is me

5:50

referencing a meme from a million years ago and

5:52

totally winning people over. Every

5:56

group that exists needs help with their flyers

5:58

or Instagram slideshows.

6:00

Or whatever the fuck.

6:01

That is certainly the case.

6:02

Yeah, No, it's it's funny too, right, because

6:05

it's like it's one of those things where if you

6:07

do graphic design, you sort of think like, oh, everyone

6:09

sort of does this or whatever, right, And then

6:11

I've been part of groups where people are like, no

6:15

one knows how to do this at all, and everything

6:17

is that we make as garbage, you know.

6:19

Yeah, although there is actually a careful

6:21

needle to thread in this vein, because

6:24

if you've had enough experience, you

6:26

can kind of figure out what

6:29

type of action it's gonna be

6:31

based on how well designed and the flyer

6:34

is.

6:35

Yeah, and which way. If it's kind of corporate

6:37

well designed, it's like gonna tie into electoral

6:39

politics and be boring. But if

6:42

it's hip and well designed, it's

6:44

a riot.

6:45

Well.

6:46

Sometimes there's sometimes

6:48

there's some like very like well designed flyers

6:50

that are not like very electoral,

6:53

but they're like, okay, this will be a marge, will be some speeches,

6:55

we'll kind of walk around a little bit, because it's like a very

6:57

well potad flyer versus

7:00

when you have like a white

7:02

background of big block attacks, maybe one

7:05

poorly cropped picture, you're like, okay,

7:07

this is obviously a riot flyer.

7:09

Yeah, okay, okay.

7:10

It takes a degree of subtlety

7:12

to get the instincttional

7:14

difference when you're looking

7:16

at a collection of flyers that are going out.

7:19

No.

7:19

See.

7:19

This is interesting to me because in like about

7:21

fifteen years ago, the like the people

7:24

throwing the best riots were like

7:27

a bunch of graphic designers, and so it

7:29

was the specific anymore.

7:32

Yeah, okay, okay,

7:36

Well you know, and actually, as a good

7:38

graphic designer knows the language

7:41

that they are speaking with and that is what they're communicating,

7:45

So that might be what you want

7:47

to do is get involved in making the

7:49

flyers. If you spend all day on Twitter.

7:51

A lot of activist groups can't find someone to run their social

7:54

media, or they have people who run it very badly. Sometimes

7:58

being an extrovert is a superpower. Building

8:01

strong movements means building strong communities,

8:03

and every meeting and party needs someone willing

8:05

to introduce themselves to the new people and help them

8:07

figure out where to go. The best

8:09

activist meetings I've ever been to have like someone

8:12

who's there to sit next to new

8:14

people and explain what's going on. Also,

8:18

if you can plan a party, you can plan a benefit

8:20

show to raise money for bail funds. There's

8:22

kind of this like like whenever I talk about this, like oh, everyone

8:25

has their place, and people are like, why don't I'm

8:27

a fucking bookkeeper, and I'm like,

8:29

oh my god, we need you, or like, you

8:31

know, all kinds of different skill sets that people like

8:34

don't think apply actually

8:36

do project manager. Yeah,

8:39

we're we're not all instinctively

8:41

good at that, you know. And

8:43

so the quickest way to sum this part of it up is

8:45

you think about what's wrong, and you think about what you're good

8:47

at, and then you get together with other people

8:49

and apply what you're good at to stopping what's

8:51

wrong. That is the like one

8:54

sentence version of how to start

8:56

getting involved in making the world better. But

8:58

the last part of it that I I want the

9:01

question of it beforehand

9:03

is risk analysis. It

9:06

is very easy to get swept up in the moment

9:08

and go beyond your comfort zone in terms of

9:10

risk in a lot of different environments.

9:13

The more you have sorted out ahead of time about

9:15

what kinds of actions you're comfortable with strategically,

9:18

morally, and personally, the easier

9:21

it is to stick to your decisions when things

9:23

get hard. For

9:25

example, you might tell yourself

9:29

I will risk arrest, but I will not get arrested

9:31

on purpose because I have

9:33

a massage license I don't want to lose. Or I

9:35

have kids at home, or I'm undocumented,

9:37

or I don't like the idea of jail. Whatever

9:40

your reason is, there's plenty of reasons to make that

9:42

decision. You might be willing

9:44

to risk arrest, like be in a hectic riot,

9:46

but you're not willing to lock your neck to a bulldozer.

9:49

So when you go to the planning meeting for the lock your

9:51

neck to a bulldozer action and

9:53

you're trying to figure out who wants to lock their neck to the

9:55

bulldozer. You've already made up

9:57

your mind, and you're less likely to kind of pressure

9:59

your self into volunteering.

10:02

Or feel pressured by others.

10:03

Yeah, I'm imagining the positive

10:06

version. Well, okay, because it's very rarely

10:09

someone's like, hey, gear been

10:11

a while since you locked your neck to anything, and

10:14

it's usually more like, man, it just sure

10:16

would be good if someone was bold and

10:18

noble enough to just step

10:20

up right now and

10:24

then yeah,

10:26

yeah, I mean I've organized some

10:28

of my friends arrests before, and it's it's

10:31

not always. That's not always the

10:33

strategy that people want to be doing anyway. I'm just using

10:35

this as an example, like what kind of Earth first

10:37

style thing? If

10:39

you know what your risk models are, you can make

10:42

better decisions. Maybe you're fine

10:44

with a spirited march, but as soon as windows start

10:46

getting broken, you're like, you know, I

10:48

want to leave. That's gonna not be my scene.

10:50

You know, I'm not mad that the people did it, but

10:53

it's not what I am willing to get

10:56

arrested in response to it's

10:59

also important to know your risk levels, which kind

11:01

of course shift because there

11:03

are predators in the ranks of direct

11:05

action activists. I don't

11:07

know if you knew this, gre there's a shadowy, unaccountable

11:10

group that tries to get people to break laws. They're

11:12

called the FEDS. They're called the FBI. They

11:16

have a history going back decades and then trapping people

11:18

by coming up with bomb plots or ur some plots or

11:20

whatever. And we're not going to go into this in depth in this

11:23

episode, but if you want to do

11:25

more research, people should look up. They should read

11:27

about co intel pro it's an acronym, or

11:29

read about the case of Eric McDavid, or

11:31

read about how the FBI set up Muslim

11:33

Americans in the wake of nine to eleven. But

11:38

another thing you should go into all this knowing is

11:40

that that doesn't mean that everyone

11:43

who wants to do those kinds of actions is working with the

11:45

FEDS.

11:46

Yeah, and you shouldn't go around accusing

11:49

everyone you don't like of possibly being a

11:51

secret and federal agent.

11:52

Because you know who likes accusing people of being federal agents.

11:56

Yeah, And also our sponsors they

12:00

don't they don't they're all great. They might, they

12:02

might, I don't know. I can't really

12:04

speak to them, but here they are, they can speak

12:06

to you, and

12:18

we're back. That is a thing

12:20

that is absolutely worth anyone who's getting

12:22

involved in activism, especially direct action activism,

12:24

including above grounds of this obedient style

12:26

action. It is really worth

12:28

understanding the ways in which federal

12:31

oppression works, and how federal oppression

12:33

works often by the fear of federal

12:35

oppression and getting people to spread paranoia.

12:39

And so as a general rule,

12:42

the way that I've always heard it talked about is

12:44

that it's like you never want to be

12:46

like, hey, I think that guy's a fed. Instead

12:49

you're like, hey, guy, that

12:51

kind of behavior is disruptive and

12:54

leads towards bad things,

12:56

you know, Like yeah.

12:58

And I think I even have some hesitation

13:00

to just be like you should just

13:03

just go google co intel pro and learn

13:05

all about it, because I feel like that can also lead

13:07

to someone kind of falling down like some conspiracy

13:10

brained rabbit holes, and like I've

13:12

gotten the best information by

13:14

just talking to older

13:17

people who've like been in the movement for a while,

13:20

and like just like if someone has like over ten years

13:22

of experience, and they're like, you

13:24

can learn a lot about what has

13:26

happened before through just like actual, like in person

13:28

conversations. And I found that to be much

13:30

more useful than just like going

13:33

down like a Google rabbit hole, because

13:35

that can just kind of lead to I think slightly even slightly

13:38

more like paranoid thinking or just it just becomes

13:40

like less applicable than like, Hey, you have like

13:42

a friend of a friend who's like

13:44

done this for a while, and you just ask, hey, like

13:46

what if what do you know about this sort

13:49

of thing? Now you're right, what are

13:51

your experiences of kind of of facing

13:53

like repression in the past. The true

13:55

chances are some of them will probably know

13:57

people who've either turned out to be

13:59

like informants, has started informing,

14:02

or we're bad actors from the from

14:04

the get go, like it's it does, it does

14:06

happen. And there's even been case it's not even

14:08

just stuff from ten fifteen years ago. There's a

14:10

lot of that stuff post twenty twenty. Some really

14:12

some stuff in h in Chicago,

14:15

some stuff in Colorado Springs have gotten

14:17

decent news coverage. I think you

14:19

can also you can look to articles specifically

14:22

of the Colorado Springs infiltration

14:24

that that that the FBI was running around

14:27

twenty twenty. I think that's a really useful case

14:29

study for a more recent version as

14:31

opposed to like the green scare stuff from at

14:33

this point like twenty years ago.

14:35

No, No, it's true, and there's

14:37

a good there's actually a good podcast series where

14:39

I liked it called Alphabet Boys. The first season

14:41

is about that case. No, that's a

14:43

good point that you that random internet

14:46

search is not the way to get this kind of information,

14:48

this information like you'll Honestly, it's kind

14:50

of funny. I would trust a random

14:52

zine in a radical bookstore far

14:55

more than I would trust a Google search result,

14:57

agreed, which is not true for

14:59

everything like healthcare.

15:03

Well, you're gonna get shit answers no.

15:05

Matter what if you do that.

15:06

Yes, yes, the internet is gonna tell

15:08

you have cancer, and the zine's going to tell

15:10

you that tea tree oil will fix it.

15:12

Yes, there we go.

15:14

Yeah.

15:15

Yeah, No, that is actually a very good point,

15:17

and it is the kind of thing that Yeah, the longer

15:19

you're involved, the more you're just like, oh, yeah, the

15:22

you know my ex who's

15:24

a snitch that sucks? Yeah,

15:27

you know Anyway, now

15:30

you have what you care about, what your skills are, and

15:32

your risk analysis, it's time to get started. How

15:35

there's two basic ways, and they're not really

15:37

a dichotomy, but you

15:40

can plug into something that exists and you

15:42

can start something of your own, and both are

15:44

valid and both have advantages and disadvantages.

15:48

There are structures and movements that are already

15:50

in place that are desperate for your help. There's

15:52

a catch. Many,

15:55

not all, but many

15:57

of the more reasonable groups are challenging

15:59

to break into. Very few

16:01

groups have a truly open door policy,

16:04

and those that do honestly

16:07

sometimes or suspect. Yeah,

16:09

some of those people are just trying to use you. They're

16:11

trying to suck you into a political political

16:14

cult or use your energy and burn

16:16

you out for some vaguely progressive politician

16:18

or activist cause. So

16:22

either way, you're going to need to exercise some common

16:24

sense and do some reading and research about what you're getting

16:26

into. The

16:28

best publicly accessible groups and movements

16:30

are the ones that are organized from the bottom up,

16:33

because the participants themselves have a say

16:35

in what's happening. There is less ability

16:37

to be sucked into a cult and used. That's

16:40

not to say it's impossible, and there are such things

16:42

as decentralized cults that don't do any

16:44

you.

16:44

Know, many such cases.

16:46

Yeah, but I

16:48

know it's easy and convenient to join a group

16:50

that'll just tell you what to do. It's very nice

16:52

to imagine that there's benevolent people who will

16:54

just do the hard part of making decisions and you can just

16:57

show up and clock in and listen to what they have to say

16:59

and make the world better place. This

17:01

is rarely, if ever the case.

17:04

I can't point to examples of

17:06

it being the case. Movements

17:08

that maintain everyone's autonomy instead,

17:12

I think are what are interesting, and they often

17:14

do it by not being a group

17:16

at all, just a movement.

17:19

The uprisings of twenty twenty, I think are a

17:21

brilliant example of this. There's not the

17:24

group that organized, no,

17:26

but.

17:26

There's a lot of smaller, smaller groups,

17:29

whether that be some like informal

17:31

organizations, formal organizations, or

17:33

just like groups of friends that

17:35

it's made up of a whole bunch of these

17:37

smaller groups. And I think a lot of

17:39

times the best case scenario in many cases

17:42

is if you have like a

17:44

friend or too because you shouldn't really show it to things alone,

17:46

I would say, but if you have a friend or two, go

17:48

with the friender too. Just like just go to things.

17:51

And if you go to enough things and people see you,

17:54

you can chat with people, you can start

17:56

learning more about kind of what the different

17:58

mechanisms in each different city, each each

18:00

even't seen how how they operate.

18:03

It's it's it's it's kind of silly just to be like, no, you

18:05

just like have to like show up. But like that is kind of a

18:08

lot of how it works. You'll maybe

18:10

hear about a Instagram account

18:12

that posts flyers

18:14

for semi weekly like picnics

18:17

organized by some of these same people, and then you

18:19

can go to events like that and learn to like socialize.

18:22

And it really just does require a degree

18:24

of just showing up. And you shouldn't go by yourself.

18:26

You should if you you should ideally have

18:28

a friend or two that you that is that they would

18:30

be okay going with you. But then you'll you'll find

18:32

people to connect with and you'll kind of maybe

18:35

find a different group of people that you want to start hanging out with

18:37

more. And I think in general that's kind

18:39

of how the best case scenario works, as opposed to

18:41

like joining like a big above ground

18:43

organization which is just going to use your body as

18:45

a tool to get arrested as

18:48

or just treat you as disposable or in other

18:50

cases just be actually kind of like abuse of.

18:52

I agree with that, and that's some of that we're

18:54

going to get into also. But yeah, no, and I

18:57

will say overall, absolutely

18:59

it is better to do those things with friends.

19:02

I didn't I

19:04

started going to things alone. That has

19:06

something to do with my temperament, and that has something

19:08

to do with my social standing

19:10

when I was in college and decided to get involved

19:12

in the movement. But overall,

19:16

that is the best practice.

19:19

But if you're listening to this and you're like, I don't have friends

19:21

I can go do this stuff with, there are more

19:23

risks involved, and you're also kind of stuck.

19:27

You're going to go to a lot of things where no one will talk to

19:29

you, yeah, you know, and you can't

19:31

necessarily expect that people talk to you immediately

19:35

or like, and you're going to

19:37

have to be a little bit more self motivated.

19:39

Yeah, And if you're going to a zine fair, you

19:41

can chow some people at like

19:43

the tables when you're looking for a zine. It's like it's,

19:45

yeah, now everyone's going to want to get into

19:48

a deep personal conversation with a stranger

19:50

they met at an event like this because

19:52

it also has like security risks. But yeah,

19:54

I mean it's it's going to require a little bit of uncomfortable

19:57

social interactions, which for yeah,

20:00

for someone like you or me who did go to

20:02

a lot of these things just by ourselves, you

20:04

know, it just it just kind of takes more time.

20:06

No, totally. And I think actually

20:09

ze fairs and things like that and anarchist book fairs

20:11

and all that are like really good examples

20:13

of places that are publicly facing that are designed

20:15

for people to interact

20:18

with each other. And also, like one of

20:20

the main pieces of advice that we

20:22

we have is be brave, right, and we talk

20:24

about that in terms of like street actions,

20:27

but like, yeah, okay,

20:29

also social anxiety exactly

20:32

exactly, because

20:35

how much of so social anxiety will become like an inhibiting

20:37

factor similar to like the state not

20:40

saying these things are equal, but they can both like inhibit

20:42

you from doing things, and it's both you can

20:44

you can kind of approach it via similar means

20:46

of trying to like overcome this thing that is limiting

20:48

your autonomy. Yeah, no,

20:50

totally. So

20:53

to go back to if you're joining an existing group,

20:57

some groups maintain everyone's autonomy by being

20:59

struck horizontally. Some groups that exist

21:01

as a structure will do it by

21:04

being structured horizontally. If you found yourself for go

21:06

ahead, claim to be structured

21:08

horizontally as well. No, it's true, but

21:10

like like if you join a local Earth First

21:12

chapter, you're going to find there's

21:14

absolutely informal hierarchies that exist within

21:16

these things, and they're like worth being aware of. But

21:19

the decision about who's going to lock

21:21

their neck to the bulldozer is going to involve

21:23

everyone who might lock their neck to the bulldozer.

21:26

Yeah, it's not the same as like the DSA

21:28

or the PSL, Like it's it's going

21:31

to be a very different organizational

21:34

structure.

21:35

Yeah exactly, And

21:37

so you know you want to be

21:40

part of the decision making about locking your neck

21:42

to a bulldozer because it's your neck on the line. That's

21:44

my best joke in the whole script.

21:46

I'm sorry, we'll just move past it quickly.

21:58

Thanks. Plugging

22:00

into an existing project is often a good

22:02

first step. What I did personally.

22:05

I started showing up to the meetings of this radical

22:07

media project, Indie Media. I

22:09

had film skills, and soon enough I found

22:11

myself in the film collective. I spent

22:14

a year or two bouncing around from demonstration to demonstration,

22:16

coordinating with all the radical videographers to

22:18

collect everyone's footage and edit together

22:20

news videos about what had happened, while

22:23

we collectively fostered a culture of like respectful

22:26

riot videography.

22:27

I did not realize we had that similar

22:29

background.

22:30

Oh yeah, no, that it's interesting

22:33

because I don't. I don't do that stuff anymore.

22:35

But that was like my thing for a long time.

22:38

Me either, actually, But no, I did not

22:40

realize we had we had that, we had that

22:42

overlap.

22:43

Yeah, no, and it

22:45

was It was great and it was fun

22:48

and we you know, we taught how

22:50

to not film people's faces. We coordinated

22:52

runners where in order

22:54

to get footage out before the cops could get

22:56

it. We'd make sure everyone, you know, someone, every

22:59

videographer had someone next to them, like ready

23:01

to run out of the situation.

23:03

Take this SD card and run yep,

23:05

exactly.

23:06

And I started off by joining an

23:08

existing group that was doing this, but within a few

23:10

months I was doing it independently and coordinating

23:13

with different groups that came together at all these different

23:15

summit protests because I was a known entity

23:17

to people. You know, it

23:20

was fun. I dropped out of school where I've been

23:22

studying film and photography, and

23:24

even before I would have graduated, a

23:27

film I had edited sold out a movie theater in

23:29

Portland. We didn't have YouTube, so we organized

23:31

in person.

23:32

Kate, that makes sense, Yeah, yeah.

23:34

Yeah

23:37

yeah. When when we shut the city down

23:39

on like March twentieth or whatever,

23:41

twenty two thousand and three for

23:44

to try and stop the Iraq war, I

23:46

like didn't sleep and just edited

23:48

everyone's film footage together and made

23:51

a like thirty minute documentary about the day of

23:53

protest and sold

23:55

out a movie theater. And I was like, damn, this

23:57

was way better for my career than going to fuck it stay

24:00

it's school. I mean, like, my

24:02

name isn't on it, but that like didn't matter to

24:04

me. Sure, And then everyone the local

24:06

news media got really mad because I didn't

24:09

include the stuff that could have been used in people's

24:11

court cases, like the time that people attack cops

24:14

on the bridge, because I was like, nope, that's

24:16

too recent. We don't know what's happening there anyway,

24:20

And getting into certain types of groups is kind of

24:22

like applying for a shitty job. A

24:25

job that'll take you without reference is going to treat

24:27

you like shit. But jobs that are worth having

24:29

require you to somehow have already been doing the job

24:31

before you got hired, and

24:33

once people know who you are, it's easier to find folks who

24:35

work with And I think gear Suggestions is like the

24:38

main way you go about that is

24:40

you don't necessarily show up to organize.

24:42

You just show up to participate. You show up to talks,

24:45

you show up to radical bookstores

24:47

and public events and zine fairs

24:49

and protests and whatever

24:51

interests you you know. And

24:53

I would say that if you're going to actions and you're new,

24:56

remember to be both brave and cautious. If

24:58

you tend towards recklessness and being so wept

25:00

into things, maybe make sure you take less

25:02

of a frontline's role until you get your legs underneath

25:04

you. But it really is okay to be

25:06

brave. I think we're asked by the times we live in to

25:09

be brave, and sometimes we're gonna have to step outside of

25:11

our comfort zone. We should just always look to

25:13

make sure it's us encouraging

25:15

us to step outside of our comfort zone instead

25:18

of political actors whatever political

25:20

ideology they call themselves.

25:22

And also if you can another

25:25

collective that people you know, these are like usually like

25:27

medic collectives will maybe maybe we'll

25:29

have like a radical media collective and another another

25:31

one will be a jail support collective is very

25:33

common a lot of cities, and not

25:36

even if you don't want to take part in that, if you can

25:38

at least get in touch with them to fill out a jail

25:40

support form before going to things. That

25:42

will also be useful in

25:44

case you do end up getting arrested, so people can actually

25:47

find you in the system and help you get out of get

25:49

out. Just another quick

25:52

tip, I suppose.

25:53

Yeah, And if you want more quick tips, I've

25:55

got some for you right now

26:09

and we're back. Don't do anything that you just

26:11

got told by voices that aren't me or there.

26:13

They were trying to saihap you it is it

26:15

is the yeah yeah.

26:18

Another way that you might get involved in something

26:20

is you Some groups are semi open where

26:22

you can contact them and express interest and they

26:24

might do some basic screening to make sure you're not like

26:27

a Nazi infiltrator or whatever. I'm

26:29

in the process right now of doing that with clinic escorting.

26:31

It's like funny because I haven't had to like prove

26:33

myself to any group in a long time, right because I'm

26:35

like I've been around forever. The

26:38

clinic escorting group, it's like, we don't fucking know who you are,

26:40

like, and I'm like, yeah, that's fair, give

26:42

me, yeah, no, absolutely. I

26:45

live in a place is not where abortion is not particularly

26:48

popular with the right wing, and so I submitted my name

26:50

and social media accounts to the to

26:52

the abortion clinic escorting place, and

26:55

then we'll go to a training at some point soon for

26:59

folks living in southern California or willing

27:01

to go there. For example, there are groups that do

27:03

border solidarity working with refugees to make

27:05

sure they're fed in house. If you listen to this podcast,

27:07

you've heard James talking about this,

27:09

and this is the first episode you've listened to, in which case,

27:11

go back and listen to James talking about border solidarity

27:13

work. If you want to show

27:15

up and distribute food and water, track border

27:18

patrol activity, build shelters, do first DAID,

27:20

all of that. Feel like you're part of something

27:22

because you are and are like saving people's

27:24

lives directly, that's something you

27:27

can likely get involved with, but

27:29

it's not something you just show up at. There

27:32

are a few groups doing that work, any of whom

27:34

you can reach out to and express interest. There's

27:37

border Kindness, there's Borderlands Relief Collective

27:39

and Al Ultra Lado, and there's

27:42

other groups like this in different areas. But these are the examples

27:44

where I asked James being like, Hey, how

27:46

do I explain the following concept?

27:50

In general, you want to look for groups.

27:53

If you're looking for groups, you want to

27:55

look for groups that are grassroots and non authoritarian.

27:58

You want to watch out for electoral campaigns, and

28:00

you want to watch out for nonprofits. This is

28:02

not to say that the people doing these things are necessarily

28:04

bad. There are local political

28:07

campaigns that matter, and there are nonprofits

28:09

that do good work. Some of the best political work I

28:11

ever did was two years out a nonprofit, honestly,

28:13

but I got I was with one of the good ones.

28:16

And structurally

28:18

those systems, even the good ones, are

28:21

set up to take advantage of people's energy

28:23

and then like kind of profit off of it, right,

28:26

and to accomplish goals

28:28

that are often tangential to or even

28:30

counter to the goals that they claim. For

28:33

example, both politicians and

28:35

nonprofits live off of donations.

28:38

These donations are easy for them to get

28:40

when those groups are seen as

28:42

necessary, so a nonprofit has

28:44

a financial interest in not winning.

28:47

Some nonprofits manage to maintain their

28:49

focus and make themselves work to make

28:51

themselves obsolete, but frankly

28:54

those are the minority.

28:57

You also want to look out for groups that are front groups

28:59

for thor tearing. Groups attached to communist political

29:01

parties you mentioned earlier, like the PSL the

29:03

Party for Socialism and Liberation. Generally

29:06

speaking, these groups

29:09

will go to protests and run events,

29:11

primarily as a way to recruit people into a hierarchical

29:14

structure. These groups are often trying

29:16

to control broader movements that they're involved

29:18

in. They'll tell people how they can and

29:20

can't protest, and they're trying to essentially

29:23

own movements that were built by others.

29:27

So those are

29:29

things to be careful around. You

29:32

can also just not worry about any of that stuff and

29:34

start something yourself. It

29:38

is not the easy mode to

29:40

get into the movement by starting your own projects. We're

29:42

going to talk about afinity groups later. Actually it was the thing that you

29:44

kind of started to bring up. But it is very rewarding

29:47

to start your own projects. It's like freelancing

29:49

instead of looking for a job. There's no gatekeepers

29:51

to cross, and the only person who's trying to take

29:53

advantage of you is you. If

29:56

you want to never not be working another

29:58

day in your life, you can freelance or

30:01

start your own political project. It'll

30:04

be what you think about every hour you're alive.

30:08

In essence, the idea here is

30:10

to say, okay, what's wrong and what are we willing

30:13

to do about it, and then get together with your friends

30:15

and start doing something about it. This

30:17

can look like anything.

30:19

You could start.

30:20

A mutual aid group, a radical bookstore, an

30:22

anti fascist gym to trained to defend yourself

30:24

from fascists, illegal HRT distribution

30:26

in band States, a direct action abortion

30:29

collective, a zine distributor that goes to

30:31

shows and parties with free literature about anarchism.

30:33

A podcast about how things fall apart and how to put

30:35

them back together again. A click

30:37

of saboteurs who attack billboards, a group

30:40

that draws attention to international movement prisoners,

30:42

and support them like you can do

30:44

anything. And that's one of the things

30:46

that people. Our society

30:49

is designed to tell us that we can't just do anything we want.

30:51

There's obviously things that if we do, we'll get in trouble

30:53

eventually.

30:55

But like you know, okay,

30:57

like like if you make a podcast that's too

30:59

good, Yeah, they will, they will turn

31:01

on you like Jesus, Yeah exactly. Or

31:06

if you go around, you know, wanting to destroy

31:08

construction equipment.

31:10

Right, not usually legal.

31:13

I'm not a lawyer. I can't tell you whether

31:15

or not any given bulldozer is illegal

31:17

to destroy. That is the

31:19

kind of research you might have to do on your own. The

31:22

difference between start something and enjoining something

31:24

is often blurry. For example, you can

31:26

unionize your workplace. You probably

31:29

should, but you might want to do that in

31:31

the context of an existing union like the Industrial

31:33

Workers of the World or whatever union makes

31:35

the most sense where the writer's field of America, Yeah

31:37

exactly. If you have a podcast,

31:39

but how the world's falling apart?

31:41

Yeah, yeah exactly.

31:44

If you're going to start something above ground, it's

31:46

worth looking around and making sure that the need

31:48

isn't already being met by someone else.

31:49

Already.

31:50

Sometimes it's better to figure out how to help an existing

31:52

bail fund rather than start another. But

31:55

also sometimes it is better to start another, like

31:58

it's harder for the police tarrade, for example, which

32:00

didn't used to be an issue when you start bail funds,

32:03

but is now an issue, which

32:06

is worth pointing out that like there's

32:08

no true safety,

32:10

you know, like when we talk about risk analysis,

32:14

like running a bail fund

32:16

is entirely legal and

32:19

is the kind of thing that often

32:22

is done by the people who care about a

32:24

movement and are like not frontlines

32:26

people.

32:27

Yeah, aren't wanting to do felonies in downtown

32:31

right Portland or whatever.

32:32

Yeah, the more successful

32:35

a movement is the broader.

32:37

The state repression will reach out to

32:39

the fringes, not the fringe. I mean, the bail fund isn't

32:41

the fringe, but the less privery.

32:44

The people who aren't committing the felon felonies.

32:46

Yeah, are going to get tagged with felonies

32:48

anyway, because the state being repressive

32:51

is the reason we're fighting it.

32:53

They will still get their houses rated. And it's

32:56

the same same thing ad demos. You don't need to be

32:58

the one breaking windows for the least

33:00

to tackle you, Like, at a certain

33:02

point, it actually doesn't. It seems

33:04

to matter very little. I mean,

33:07

if things get to trial, then things you know will

33:10

maybe matter a bit more. But in like

33:12

how police display the power of the state, Like

33:15

out in the open world, it

33:18

really doesn't matter if you're holding a sign or

33:20

you're holding a hammer when you're getting tackled

33:22

from behind by a big man with a gun.

33:24

Yeah, totally, which is why

33:26

it's like kind of worth. I mean that's like almost like

33:28

what the the answer to that is like solidarity,

33:31

and by recognizing that to

33:33

a certain degree, if you were at a protest and people

33:35

are breaking windows and it's like, okay, well

33:38

now we're all in danger together. And

33:41

if that is a danger beyond what you particularly

33:45

feel like exposing yourself to, that is probably

33:47

the time to depart.

33:50

Another pitfall to avoid if you're

33:52

starting your own thing. Any

33:55

group that involves money will at some point have

33:57

someone from that group steal the money.

34:00

Including bail funds. Unfortunately,

34:03

it does, It does happen, and it

34:05

sucks.

34:05

Yeah.

34:06

I have lost count of the number

34:08

of times someone who

34:11

was an organizer has stolen all

34:13

of the money from this or that thing, and

34:16

that's because capitalism puts people in absolutely

34:19

weird and terrible positions. Right, It's

34:21

still not okay for people to steal the bail fund,

34:23

and we should stop them. But

34:27

often the people who steal the stuff, if they're the organizers,

34:30

they don't even necessarily conceptualize what they did as

34:32

stealing. They're like, oh, I'm gonna pay that back. I don't

34:34

think anyone needs it right now. I just

34:36

need it for rent.

34:38

In order for the bail fund to continue, I have to have

34:40

stable housing. So we need to use these two

34:42

thousand dollars right now, and.

34:43

Yeah, right without checking with the rest of the group,

34:46

and like, you know, like, and

34:49

so if there's

34:51

money involved, you should set up some best

34:53

practices around multiple eyes

34:56

on the money at any given point and making

34:58

sure that it's accountable to the broader group. One

35:01

organizing model that is worth considering

35:04

is the affinity group. This is basically

35:06

you and some of your closest friends that you feel like doing

35:09

safe with actions with. Whatever the scale of

35:11

actions, you get together with your friends.

35:12

Or people you're not even necessarily like

35:15

social friends with, but people you

35:17

feel comfortable working with. Because

35:20

there sometimes is a distinction like you said, sometimes you

35:22

have a lot of close friends you don't want

35:24

in your affinity group, and sometimes there's people in your affinity

35:26

group that you may not really want

35:28

to hang out with like every week totally,

35:31

but they're good to work with. Now, that's a

35:33

really good point. It's about trust

35:35

rather than like getting along with

35:37

sometimes. You know, Yeah, it

35:39

might function better if you know you don't all

35:41

hate each other, ah, have some affinity.

35:44

Yeah, yes, you know, but

35:46

perhaps you have a shared affinity within the group.

35:49

Ideally.

35:50

Yeah, it is. If

35:52

you're in a riot, whether by choice or by accident,

35:55

you are safer and you can feel

35:58

more comfortable if you are there with two or seven

36:00

of your closest and most trustworthy friends or

36:02

frenemies. These are the

36:04

people who are the most likely to de

36:06

arrest you. These are the people who are there

36:08

to notice if you are caught and will organize

36:11

your bail. These are the people

36:13

who will be in direct You'll be in direct communication

36:15

with during the protest, so you can coordinate your actions

36:17

together.

36:18

It's figure out how you want to get into the

36:20

area get out of the area.

36:22

Yeah, And so that's

36:24

like a going

36:27

alone is sort of expert mode

36:29

and so you should take fewer risks if you go

36:31

alone until you are good,

36:34

you know, and most people

36:38

do not prefer and do not are

36:40

not better off going to protest alone. And

36:42

then the final thing kind of tying

36:44

together the existing groups versus whatever

36:47

else existing protests movements

36:49

EBB and flow protests are contagious, especially

36:51

when they're rowdy and they show that they take themselves

36:54

seriously enough to not just go along

36:56

with whatever professional protest managers tell them

36:58

to do, and take them seriously

37:00

enough to resist the police and authorities. It's

37:04

more or less impossible to know which protests

37:06

like sparks will catch a bigger fire. It

37:08

is good and useful to cast sparks and

37:10

see what catches, or to notice

37:12

when something is starting to spread and to help it spread.

37:16

Like what happened a few weeks ago with the campus stuff,

37:18

right exactly, one or two places

37:20

really start popping off and

37:22

you're like, hey, I know some people

37:24

in college who are in whatever town I'm

37:26

in. Maybe we can figure something out.

37:29

Yeah, and so's if that was your

37:31

involvement. And you're like, oh, that's not

37:33

currently happening where I am anymore. What do

37:36

I do next? Things like that will

37:38

happen again, and you can also make things like

37:40

that happen. Most of the time they

37:42

will not catch. However, sometimes

37:45

they do, and that is like kind

37:48

of our job in a lot of ways, is to organize

37:50

things and try things and see what catches.

37:54

I'm curious your take. There are two political

37:56

conventions happening this year. The Republican

37:59

National Convention been from July fifteenth

38:01

to eighteenth, twenty twenty four in Milwaukee,

38:04

and then in August nineteenth to twenty second

38:06

in Chicago is the Democratic National Convention.

38:09

They're basically always protests at these

38:11

conventions to me, and

38:13

I'm a little bit out of touch with it. There's

38:15

going to be more this year, Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

38:18

There certainly will, I think, especially at the DNC. I

38:21

don't have much to say on this at this point besides

38:26

read up on the previous ones that have happened.

38:28

You can go all the way back to sixty eight if you want to read

38:30

about Chicago and the DNC, but

38:33

also like the RNC protests

38:35

from the Iraq War era, I think would be

38:38

verly useful to look at if you want to

38:40

go back to like two thousand and eight and see how those

38:42

protests were. I would just recommend

38:45

reading up on it. I don't really have much else to say on those

38:47

in the moment.

38:47

They're too far out totally to

38:49

forecast. Yeah, and

38:52

I yeah, that's kind of all

38:54

I'll say at the moment.

38:57

These will become a recurring.

38:59

Top on this podcast

39:01

the next few months.

39:02

So yeah, And so keep

39:05

track of what's happening, and get ready

39:07

to go to what you feel comfortable

39:09

with, and don't

39:12

be afraid to be brave, but don't

39:14

let anyone trick you into doing stuff that

39:16

you're not comfortable with. But we

39:19

need you. We're glad you're here.

39:22

Yeah, don't be so

39:24

down that the school year

39:26

is over and these campus protests only had

39:29

a few weeks to live. I know there were certainly people

39:31

who were really hoping that after

39:33

we saw you know, what happened during April

39:35

and May, that maybe this would you know, trigger things

39:38

happening off campus around the summer.

39:40

And maybe they still will.

39:42

And at the very least, we have a lot of young people listener

39:45

possibly included, who like experienced

39:47

their first example of like actual

39:50

state violence like on them, and

39:53

that could be a very radicalizing experience. So

39:55

yeah, don't don't be so down that maybe

39:58

your occupation didn't go as well as you wanted to. Maybe

40:00

you're protested, and but I think there's

40:02

a lot of lessons to learn from what happened the past

40:05

month, and they will become applicable,

40:08

possibly this summer, possibly two years from

40:10

now, who knows. Like it's hard to say, but

40:13

yeah, it's Whenever

40:15

you get that first hint of tear gas, you kind

40:17

of become a different person in my opinion, So congratulations

40:20

to everyone who did that. Hopefully didn't get arrested,

40:22

and if you did, hopefully you have a jail support

40:24

crew that is helping you out.

40:27

The other thing that I think that people never really

40:30

recover from isn't the right word. The

40:33

first time you see the police retreat totally,

40:37

you recognize that this thing you

40:39

have been taught is completely unassailable.

40:41

The reason they're building cop cities is they

40:43

know they are assailable and they want to be

40:45

less. So well, listen

40:48

to this podcast, and that's the only place

40:50

you'll ever find anything useful. That's the

40:52

fine.

40:53

I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't say that.

40:54

Yeah, I know, but

40:58

there are other podcasts that there's a lot of books, because

41:00

there's a lot of zines, there's a lot of sketchy noblog

41:03

sites which may sometimes have misinformation and

41:05

sometimes have good information yay.

41:07

And you could certainly certainly check

41:09

out Margaret. I've heard that you yourself

41:12

had a few other podcasts what I

41:14

do well if you want to hear

41:17

a lot of the history around some of the stuff we talked about,

41:19

including like the co Intel pro stuff. For example,

41:21

I run a podcast called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

41:24

on this very network, cool Zone

41:26

Media, and you

41:28

can listen to it every Monday and Wednesday. I just

41:30

finished a very long, but I

41:32

swear entertaining series of episodes

41:35

about the Russian Revolution in the Civil

41:37

War. I've did an episode about

41:39

the Burglars

41:41

for Peace who exposed co Intel pro by

41:44

robbing an FBI office in the middle

41:46

of the night in the early seventies, and

41:48

all kinds of other stories, So you

41:51

can listen to that, or if you want to know

41:53

more about the end of the world. I help run

41:55

a podcast called Live Like the World Is Dying,

41:58

comes out every Friday, and that one is

42:01

Prepper Butt Community.

42:04

Yep, there were go And I have

42:07

a book coming out. It comes out of September. It's called

42:09

The Sapling Cage and it's going to be kickstarted in June,

42:11

and if you go to Kickstarter you can sign up for announcements

42:14

about that. And it is the best book I've ever written, so

42:16

you all should read it. Very excited

42:18

to see that that does it for us, that it

42:20

could happen here. We will probably

42:22

see you out there.

42:23

Good luck.

42:37

Welcome to Could Happen Here, the

42:39

only sue where things happen. I'm

42:41

Ani Siege of Future Channel Antraism

42:43

and I'm joined by Garrison Clo

42:46

Hello.

42:48

Nice.

42:49

Recently I've been researching and

42:52

writing on education and anarchista

42:54

Honestly, it's one of my favorite topics to look

42:57

into, and it's one of the

42:59

topics I think I'm most passionate about.

43:01

Yeah, that's definitely a hot topic within this

43:03

political field. There's a large,

43:06

large variety of opinions.

43:08

One might say for sure, for

43:10

sure, for sure, I mean consciousness does

43:12

form the basis of revolution,

43:15

and there's a long history of anarchist struggle

43:17

around education, whether it be in

43:19

terms of critiquing US role in social

43:22

control and socialization, or

43:24

discussing news liberation, or

43:26

talking about the inequalities of the current education system,

43:29

or the influenza statist capitalists

43:31

and religious ideologies, or the

43:33

whole discussion around sex education. These

43:36

are all things that anarchists have looked

43:38

into discussed, and so it's

43:41

to wrestle with.

43:43

No.

43:44

It's interesting because anarchists have, like

43:46

I believe, the large number of people

43:48

who are like, very like militantly

43:51

like anti school but also have a

43:53

really high number of people who become teachers.

43:55

So it's always kind of interesting when

43:58

you're ever at like an anarchist gathering, you have half

44:00

the people are like school teachers, the other half

44:02

are like destroy the schools, which

44:05

is always just a little bit amusing.

44:08

Yeah, for sure, for sure. So it's really I

44:10

think people have to deal with that sort of tension. Anarchists

44:15

find themselves in those sort of tensions, but then they also

44:17

find themselves put themselves in those positions

44:19

in part because they see the potential of

44:21

those positions we you know, in sort

44:24

of shape in the future. But

44:27

I don't mean to mislead anybody this episode,

44:29

would it's only tangentially related to

44:31

education. Okay, Yeah,

44:34

So basically in my research on education,

44:37

I stumbled upon this article called

44:39

anarchists of an Education and early Republican

44:42

Cuba from eighteen ninety eight to nineteen twenty five.

44:45

And also I found some other works on anarchist Cuba

44:47

in general and his all thanks to the scholarship

44:50

of Kubin Shaffer. And

44:53

I mean, for some time now, I've been meaning to dig

44:55

deeper into the history of anarchism in Cuba.

44:58

Dare I say, I think it's been forgotten,

45:01

and so I took a

45:04

dive into it. I first started

45:06

with Stephen J. Hersh and Lucian van der Wald's

45:08

work in anarchism and syndicalism in

45:11

the colonial and post colonial world. And

45:13

in my research I also founder work of Sam

45:15

Dorkoff and Frank Finandez, both of

45:17

whom were apparently highly influential

45:20

in the

45:22

scholarship, the historical research

45:25

and the present understanding of Cuban anarchism.

45:28

It's thanks to their research that we know what we know, bringing

45:30

all those different things together, all those different sources

45:33

together. So

45:35

here we go, Akivamos,

45:38

Let's discuss the history of Cuban anarchism,

45:42

and our story begins in

45:44

the early nineteenth century.

45:47

You know, the sun on colonial Cuba,

45:49

casting a long and heavy shadow across

45:51

the vibe and streets of Havana. The

45:53

gentle salty breezes carried I'm

45:55

trying a new thing. I see a facial ext

45:57

friend. I'm trying I like

46:00

Can I like it? I'm trying to said the same, you

46:02

know, feel those salty breezes

46:05

carrying the scent of tobacco and coffee

46:07

and sugar cane. But let's not get too romantic.

46:10

You know, this was a plantation society where

46:12

African slaves remained in chains and

46:14

toiled in the hot sun while many of

46:16

their contemporaries gained their freedom and

46:19

plantition known as navigated the web

46:21

of politics and power. Cuba

46:24

was among the last countries to

46:27

abolish slavery, and

46:29

the Cuban aristocracy, being

46:32

uniquely loyal to the Spanish crown, was

46:35

primarily responsible for the persistence

46:37

to that institution. You know, they were

46:39

dedicated to Spain long after much

46:42

of Latin America had won their independence,

46:45

and despite the aristocrat's

46:48

loyalty, there were still whispers

46:50

of liberation and revolution in

46:53

corners of the city. In

46:55

eighteen fifty seven, just nearly

46:57

two decades after the French track called

47:00

pered Joseph Prudin declared himself an anarchists

47:02

and a mutualist. The first Proonian

47:04

Mutualist Society would be founded in Cuba,

47:07

marking the early beginnings of the organized

47:09

labor movement on the island. A

47:12

decade later, in eighteen sixty five, lecturers

47:16

or readings places where political

47:18

ideas we read in cigar

47:20

factories. They became very widespread

47:23

considering the predominance of the tobacco industry,

47:26

and in the same year, the first strike threat

47:28

would occur at a tobacco works in Havana,

47:31

leading to successful negotiations

47:33

for increased wages. In eighteen sixty

47:35

six, Havana based artisans would establish

47:37

the first evening school for workers, lay

47:40

in the foundation for worker based Education.

47:42

Between eighteen sixty eight and eighteen

47:45

seventy eight, conflict would

47:47

erupt into violence as the sugar

47:49

mill owner Carlos Manuel de Sespides

47:51

and his followers proclaimed independence,

47:54

beginning the first of three liberation wars

47:57

that Cuba fought against Spain. The

48:00

first, a horizon led by wealthy planters,

48:03

would be known as the Ten Years' War, and

48:05

it would be followed by a second uprising, the Little

48:07

War, from eighteen seventy nineteighteen eighty, and

48:10

meanwhile, the Cubas anarchist

48:12

movement would look to establish another worker's

48:14

school and a newspaper. These

48:16

efforts were led by cigar makers Enrique

48:18

roy De Saint Martin and

48:21

Enrique Messonier. In Havana,

48:24

greg San Martin founded this Center of Instruction

48:26

and Recreation. Its purpose was

48:29

to defend worker organizations and distribute

48:31

anarchal collectivist literature from Spain. The

48:34

doors of the center opened to all Cubans,

48:36

regardless of their social position, political

48:39

leanings, or color differences. Gregson

48:42

Martin also took the position of editor

48:44

at the newspaper El Obrero, co

48:47

opting it from the Democratic Republicans

48:49

and turned it into an explicitly anarchist

48:51

newspaper. The anarchists

48:54

and tobacco industry were pioneering

48:56

the emergent labour struggle, bolstered

48:59

by the transport of anarchist periodicals

49:01

from Spain to Cuba and the transmission

49:03

of ideas by Spanish immigrant workers.

49:06

The first regional centers, clinics, secular

49:08

schools, mutual aid associations

49:10

and Free Association of tobacco workers,

49:13

typographers, carpenters, day laborers

49:15

and artisans were emerging thanks to

49:17

the influence of Prudon's ideas.

49:21

While some in the labor movement were appreciate reformism

49:24

and collaboration with capitalist interests, the

49:26

anarchists stood firm in their rejection of

49:29

submission to the feat of capital. In

49:31

eighteen eighty five, the Junta Central

49:33

de r Tisnos was founded to unite

49:35

Cuba's workers in federations.

49:38

In the same year, in the RecA Massoniir

49:40

launched the Circulo de Trabajadores

49:42

or Workers Circle, which was focused

49:45

on educational and cultural activities.

49:48

The Worker's Circle became the largest labor

49:50

organization in Cuba in the late eighteen

49:52

eighties. It hosted a secular school

49:54

for five hundred poor students to

49:56

challenge Cuba's public and religious schools.

49:59

It held rally for groups of workers, and

50:01

it led anti nationalist and anti

50:03

racist education efforts. Anarchists

50:07

will also challenge in discrimination in

50:10

labor and immigration policies. By

50:13

eighteen eighty six, Spain finally

50:15

outlawed slavery, and the Cuban anarchists

50:17

would attempt to welcome Afro Cubans into

50:19

the labor organizations, with

50:22

mixed success. And we'll get to that soon.

50:25

In eighteen eighty seven, Roixamartin

50:27

launched Al Productor, a weekly newspaper

50:30

that will become a must read for the work in people

50:32

of Cuba, and to coordinate it to publication

50:34

and the efforts of the various workers groups, workers

50:37

founded the Alianza Oprera or

50:39

Workers' Alliance. With

50:41

the founder of the Alliance and the sponsorship of another

50:43

organization, La Ferracion de Tabadores

50:45

de Cuba or FDC or Federation

50:48

of Cuban Workers, the first Congresso

50:51

Obrero de Cuba would be held in Havana.

50:54

Majority of the members of the FDC were

50:56

tobacco workers, but members

50:58

of other trades also participated, like

51:00

tailors and drivers and bakers and baro

51:03

makers and dock workers. So

51:05

that's a lot of organizations in quick succession.

51:07

So to summarize, we

51:09

have the center of instruction recreation, the

51:12

newspapers El Peructor and Obrero,

51:15

the Junta Centrale de Artisanos

51:18

or Central Union of Artisans, El

51:20

Sercuilo de Travajadores or Workers

51:22

Circle, the Alianza Obrera

51:25

or Workers Alliance, and Laferracion

51:27

de Travajadores de Cuba or FDC,

51:30

which held the first Congresso Obrero or

51:32

Workers Congress in Cuba. All

51:35

these organized efforts would spark

51:37

another strike. Remember the

51:39

first threat, which did not lead to a strike,

51:42

took place in eighteen sixty five, but

51:44

this time it was different. In July eighteen

51:47

eighty eight, the tobacco workers call a strike

51:49

at the Henry Clay tobacco factory in Havana.

51:52

The Workers Circle met and agreed to begin collecting

51:54

donations to support the workers out in the streets,

51:57

and sent delegates to Key West in Florida

52:00

to solicit aid from the tobacco workers there.

52:02

The Worker's Circle was very much

52:04

involved in a lot of these things because they actually

52:07

had a large headquarters that coordinated

52:09

the offices of many workers associations.

52:12

In addition to the school that I mentioned they founded,

52:14

they had their fingers and a lot of the associations

52:17

and solidarity efforts that had taken place. By

52:19

eighteen eighty nine, they founded yet another school,

52:22

teaching over one hundred men at night and eight hundred

52:24

children during the day. Elegance the establishment

52:26

of new schools across the island, And

52:29

also in eighteen eighty nine, those same tobacco

52:31

workers in Key West called their own general

52:33

strike due to poor working conditions,

52:35

low wages, and stock living conditions.

52:38

And guess what they stood in solidarity

52:41

with the Cuban workers, and the Cuban workers stood

52:43

in solidarity with them. The

52:45

Workers Alliance also connected

52:47

with workers organizations in Florida and

52:49

fosters solidarity between workers

52:51

in Florida and Cuba. In addition to Key

52:53

West, strikes would also break out in Tampa

52:56

and Ybor City. Despite some

52:59

violence and the expulsion of the strike leaders,

53:01

the strike in Florida ended in early eighteen

53:03

ninety with a triumph for Florida's

53:06

tobacco workers as the owners acceded

53:08

to the demands for a pay increase. On

53:10

May first International Workers Day, over

53:13

three thousand workers marched through Havana,

53:16

and in this time the workers Circle was

53:18

continuously expanding. But within

53:20

this year also came tragedy, as

53:23

in August Enrique Roig San Martin

53:26

died at the age of forty six, and

53:28

the last of the three conflicts against

53:30

Spain would be the Cuban War of Independence,

53:33

which raged from eighteen ninety five to

53:35

eighteen ninety eight. Anarchists

53:38

in Cuba, New York, and Spain

53:40

debated support for Cuba's independent struggle

53:44

but despite concerns, most anarchists

53:46

did support independence, seeing it as

53:48

an anti colonial fight against Spanish

53:50

imperialism and an opportunity

53:52

to transform the island along anarchist

53:54

principles. Figures like Jose

53:57

Garcia, Rafael Serra, and

53:59

Adrian del Valle promoted

54:01

anarchist internationalism while

54:04

also seek in Cuban national liberation.

54:07

The final three months that conflict escalated

54:10

with US involvement becoming known

54:12

as the Spanish American War,

54:15

and following Spain's defeat, the US

54:17

briefly occupied Cuba with the promise

54:20

of greater autonomy in the future. Of

54:22

course, we all know how that promised to

54:24

endow with repeated interventions

54:27

Kim Crowen anarchist opposition.

54:30

The US occupiers overhauled the Cuban

54:32

education system and introduced a new

54:34

model influenced by American principles,

54:37

emphasizing liberal arts, manual

54:39

instruction, and civic education to republicanize

54:42

the children of Cuba and promote democracy.

54:45

In spite of some reforms, the Cuban education

54:47

system still suffered corruption, inadequate

54:50

and infrastructure, and overcrowded

54:52

classrooms. In eighteen

54:54

ninety nine, just a year after independence,

54:57

the Workers Alliance organized a mason's

55:00

strike which extended into

55:02

the construction trade and also led to several

55:04

arrests and the overall repression

55:07

of the anarchists. This

55:09

is a persistent theme, of course.

55:12

Yes, I mean it's interesting, how like

55:15

in a lot of like the political stuff we learned about

55:17

Cuba, it's more based on like the socialist

55:19

and more communist struggles of the

55:21

twentieth century. And I

55:24

knew that there were like anarchists active before

55:27

that and even during that time period

55:29

as well, but there

55:31

is a lot of this that seems to be

55:34

not nearly as talked about it emphasized

55:37

as the later more

55:39

socialist leaning struggles

55:41

that came.

55:44

And you'll notice that, you know, in places

55:46

where the Marxists

55:49

won, basically

55:51

any of the pre

55:54

Marxist victory history of anarchists

55:57

involvement tends to be diminished to ever

55:59

raised entirely. Yeah.

56:01

Yeah, like in literally every in

56:04

every struggle all across the world where

56:06

that's happened. That does seem to be the case.

56:09

Exactly exactly when

56:12

I found this information and my mind was blowing,

56:14

you know, I had no idea all of this was going on.

56:17

Yeah, the fact that from as early as

56:19

Prudon's lifetime, there were anarchists

56:22

in Cuba organizing associations.

56:26

I mean, come on, yeah, in like the

56:28

eighteen fifties and

56:30

it.

56:30

Gets bigger, a lot more takes place.

56:32

I haven't even really breached the other twentieth century

56:35

yet. That's when things really kick off.

56:37

Let's get to that after this message

56:39

from our sponsors.

56:52

All right, we are back. Let's

56:55

return to Andrew's discussion of anarchism in Cuba.

56:58

Yes, so so. Also

57:00

in eighteen ninety nine, some new anarchist

57:02

projects dropped onto the scene. You

57:05

know, you had the Liga General de Travadores

57:07

or General League of Workers, which

57:09

emerged with the back in the Missonia and another

57:11

anarchist ramone Rivero eve Rivero,

57:15

and also the publication Tierra,

57:17

which was founded by anarchists Abelardo Savedra

57:20

and Francisco Gonzalees Sola. And

57:23

the publication El Nuevo Idl

57:26

was also founded, but it only

57:28

lasted a couple of years. Notably,

57:30

it loudly opposed the US's plans

57:32

for ANIX and Cuba and the introduction

57:35

of the plat Amendment to the Cuban

57:37

Constitution, which would provide

57:39

pretense for US intervention in the future. The

57:42

plat Amendment was really that point in the

57:44

Cuban constitution that

57:46

would justify us

57:49

infusion and involvement for years

57:52

to come. Here's a little easter

57:54

egg, a little fun fact. It will come you. In

57:57

fact, you could call him a run income

58:00

you for the anarchist worldwide, a

58:02

familiar face because he showed

58:04

up in Havana in this year, and

58:06

he also showed up in Egypt during

58:08

their anarchist struggle for those who remember

58:10

that episode, any ideas.

58:12

Too to try to think of this time period

58:15

who at this.

58:17

Point, at this point you could call him mister worldwide,

58:19

the anarchist, mister Worldwide.

58:21

Yeah, I don't think so. I

58:24

think I'll only make a fool of myself.

58:28

Yeah. The one and only Erko

58:30

Malichester arrives in Cuba.

58:32

Oh okay, okay, that makes sense, that

58:34

makes sense.

58:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

58:37

Yeah, mister worldwide. Of course,

58:40

it didn't take long before he was barred from speaking

58:42

in public and he very quickly had to leave

58:44

Cuba, but he was there. He

58:47

did show up and let me reach the you

58:49

know, the turn of the century. Right just

58:51

after the turn of the century, on May twentieth

58:54

nineteen oh two, the First Republic

58:56

of Cuba was inaugurated with the recognition

58:59

of the US, but despite

59:01

the survey opposition, the US retained

59:04

influence over Cuba with that plat amendment.

59:07

With independence, many Cubans aspired

59:09

to build a more egalitarian nation. The

59:12

Cuban anarchists continued to struggle even

59:14

as they were becoming disillusioned by the continued

59:16

prioritization of individual profits

59:19

of a society, wellbon the oppression of

59:21

labor and the terrible educational

59:23

systems. They had their first

59:26

truly general strike in nineteen oh

59:28

two, known as the Apprentice Strike,

59:30

but it was suppressed and failed, and

59:33

with its failure, leading

59:35

figures in the Lega Heeneral de Trebadores

59:37

like Messonniea and Rivero Yirverro,

59:40

retired from the labour struggle. A

59:43

year later, in nineteen oh three, anarchists

59:45

organized in the sugar industry, which

59:48

was met with a violent response from

59:50

the owners, including the murder of two prominent

59:52

anarchist figures, Casanias and

59:54

Buntero. The

59:56

year before the US recognition of Cuban independence

59:59

in nineteen oh one, just across the pond

1:00:01

in Spain, Francisco Ferrer

1:00:03

had found that his first modern school.

1:00:07

Ferrer is an icon in the sphere

1:00:09

of anarchist education for his pioneer and efforts

1:00:12

as anarchists and Cuba condemn in public schools

1:00:14

for their condition pedagogy, patriotic

1:00:16

indoctrination, and lack of critical thinking.

1:00:19

They were inspired by they alternative education rooted

1:00:21

in rationalism and free inquiry that was

1:00:24

introduced by Ferrer.

1:00:25

At this point, is there like a decent bit of communication

1:00:27

between the anarchists in Spain and the anarchists

1:00:30

in Cuba, because all the stuff you've been mentioning sounds

1:00:32

very reminiscent of some of like the anarchosympicalist

1:00:34

models that would grow

1:00:36

to more prominence in Spain in the coming

1:00:38

decades.

1:00:39

Oh, yeah, for sure.

1:00:40

In this field, Yeah, it feels very very similar.

1:00:43

There was a very large Spanish

1:00:45

immigrant community in Cuba at the time

1:00:48

of Spanish workers, and

1:00:50

that would actually end up biting

1:00:52

the anarchist movement in the but later on and

1:00:55

you know, you'll see how Okay, Yeah,

1:00:57

there was a lot of there was a lot of cross

1:01:00

pollination between the Spanish anarchists

1:01:02

and the Cuban anarchists that makes sense. In many

1:01:04

cases they were both Spanish and Cuba.

1:01:07

Sure, and so when for Popstar

1:01:09

with this school in Barcelona

1:01:11

and in other places in Spain. I mean, the Cuban

1:01:14

Anarchists had already been organized in education before,

1:01:16

as their program had always sought to raise consciousness

1:01:19

and prepare for social revolution. But

1:01:21

Ferrer offered that extra dose

1:01:23

of inspiration.

1:01:24

You know.

1:01:24

His modern schools introduced things

1:01:27

like free play and individual liberty and really

1:01:29

inspired the founding of educational experiments

1:01:31

across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

1:01:35

In nineteen oh five, Covino Vilar

1:01:37

opened for that a co educational

1:01:39

primary and secondary school in Havana, following

1:01:42

Frea's principles of free in Korean individual

1:01:44

liberty. In nineteen oh six, the CEES

1:01:47

School was established in Regular, embracing

1:01:49

the advanced pedagogical perspective methods

1:01:52

of these Spanish Anarchists schools. And

1:01:54

that very same year, nineteen oh six, the US

1:01:56

intervened in Cuba again. You

1:01:59

know, they can't even let decade go by of

1:02:01

independence before they say, nap were stepping

1:02:03

in, you know. So of course, in response,

1:02:06

strikes breakout in Havana, Siego

1:02:08

de a Vila and Santiago de Cuba

1:02:11

anyway, so that's going on, and anarchists are

1:02:13

also organized and speaking tours.

1:02:16

In nineteen oh eight, anarchists formed the group at Ucaciondale

1:02:20

Porvenir or Education of the Future

1:02:22

in Regular which sought to established modern

1:02:24

schools across the island. The

1:02:26

LGA Heneral de Trabahadories also got

1:02:28

involved in the group's efforts. Unfortunately,

1:02:32

internal conflicts and financial difficulties

1:02:34

undermined the initial wave of anarchist schools

1:02:37

in this time. Meanwhile, private

1:02:39

school options, particularly of the religious

1:02:41

variety, were proliferated across

1:02:44

Cuba. Eventually, in nineteen

1:02:46

oh nine, Ferrero was arrested

1:02:48

and executed by Spanish authorities,

1:02:51

which actually triggered a protest in

1:02:53

Cuba and also triggered resistance

1:02:55

elsewhere in the world. That would simultaneously

1:02:57

seek to advocate his ideas further and

1:02:59

of course, was to honor his memory. Turning

1:03:02

out went to the nineteen tens. It was a

1:03:04

very eventful period. Let's just say,

1:03:07

you know, the Mexican Revolution was a current which

1:03:09

inspired Cubas workers and peasants.

1:03:13

The Mexican Revolution was a current and that

1:03:16

inspired Cuba's workers and peasants

1:03:19

there was actually, just as there was cross pollination between

1:03:21

Spanish anarchists and Cuban anarchists, there

1:03:23

was cross pollination between Cuban anarchists and Mexican

1:03:25

anarchists, you know, anarchists. Ricardo

1:03:28

Flores Magon, a Titanic figure

1:03:30

in Mexican revolution, actually had

1:03:33

a stand in a relationship with the Cuban paper

1:03:35

Tierra, as the paper was critical

1:03:37

of the Mexican dictator of the time, Portfyrio

1:03:40

DS. So while the guns

1:03:42

of the revolutionary Imiliano Zapata

1:03:45

were firing in Mexico, tobacco

1:03:47

workers, teamsters and bakers were striking

1:03:50

in Cuba. In nineteen

1:03:52

twelve, a congress was formed

1:03:54

in Crusius with the aim to create

1:03:57

an island wide labor federation. But

1:04:00

another significant event occurred

1:04:02

in nineteen twelve. You

1:04:05

see, all this time, Afrocubans

1:04:07

will play in significant roles in the island's

1:04:09

labor movements, particularly through strikes

1:04:12

such as the eighteen ninety nine Mason strike and

1:04:14

the sugar workers' struggles. Despite

1:04:17

this, they were dealing with a lot of

1:04:19

political and cultural persecution

1:04:22

and faced high literacy rates, job

1:04:24

discrimination, and disenfranchisement

1:04:27

due to literacy and property requirements.

1:04:29

For voting. Naturally, Afrocubans

1:04:32

wanted to fight against this, so they formed

1:04:34

their own political party, the Independent

1:04:36

Party of Color or PIC, and

1:04:39

the government quickly outlawed it, which

1:04:42

triggered several violent attacks

1:04:44

on PIC supporter meetings throughout

1:04:46

nineteen twelve. It was essentially

1:04:49

a race riot, and it killed as

1:04:51

many as six thousand Afrocubans

1:04:54

and resulted in another nine hundred

1:04:56

thrown in jail and charged with rebellion.

1:05:00

This time, the anarchist response

1:05:02

was weaker

1:05:04

than it could have been. Writers

1:05:07

like Adrian del Vallier and Eugenio

1:05:10

Leante presented pressed

1:05:13

the importance of education and

1:05:15

the good upbringing of children to root

1:05:17

out the racist attitudes that led to the massacre.

1:05:20

Writers like Adrian de la Vallei

1:05:22

and Eugenio Leante pressed

1:05:25

the importance of education and

1:05:27

the importance of a good upbringing of children

1:05:29

to root out the racial attitudes. The racist

1:05:32

attitudes that led to the massacre, as

1:05:35

those attitudes are still present a mere

1:05:37

generation after ablition. The

1:05:40

anarchists were, as would be consisted of the principles

1:05:43

critical of the PIC's political

1:05:45

approach of bourgeois elections,

1:05:47

but they did admire Africuman culture and

1:05:49

recognize their contributions to workers

1:05:52

liberation movements, but as

1:05:54

far as I can tell, they didn't

1:05:56

do much else beyond education to

1:05:58

combat racist attitudes, likely

1:06:01

feeling powerless to prevent the violence in nineteen

1:06:03

twelve due to their own repression by

1:06:05

the state. And of course,

1:06:08

it isn't a binary of Africubans

1:06:10

and anarchists, as there were Africubans

1:06:12

in the anarchist movement, including problem

1:06:14

figures like Raphael Sarah who

1:06:17

remained active into the nineteen forties, the

1:06:19

printer Pablo Guira, and Margarito

1:06:22

Iglesias, who is the black anarchist leader

1:06:24

of the Manufacturers Union in nineteen

1:06:26

twenties. Still,

1:06:29

despite this overlap,

1:06:32

the anarchists still couldn't shake their perception

1:06:35

as white and foreigners, which.

1:06:37

Is still a dynamic at play today

1:06:40

with anarchists as

1:06:42

people free anarchists.

1:06:45

Saul is like white

1:06:47

teenagers, I guess, and will often

1:06:50

discount the presence of black anarchists

1:06:52

and other anarchists or people of color.

1:06:55

Yeah, I'm a bit of at

1:06:57

a loss as to what I could say, like from

1:07:00

this arm chair position, that they could have done differently

1:07:02

in nineteen twelve. Sure, they

1:07:04

definitely could have stepped up in tried

1:07:07

with what to defend

1:07:10

those communities and to start with those communities

1:07:12

and solidarity. But at the same

1:07:14

time, I wasn't there

1:07:16

in nineteen twelve, so I'm not

1:07:18

sure how things

1:07:21

played out. But I do think

1:07:24

that while the heart is in the right place with education

1:07:26

to roots out racist attitudes, you

1:07:29

know, consciousness raising is one thing which you really

1:07:31

do have to, you know, put

1:07:33

yourself on the line when it comes

1:07:35

to defending marginalized groups, especially

1:07:37

if you're coming from opposition

1:07:39

of relative privilege, being

1:07:42

white, to be in Spanish, in

1:07:46

you know, recently post colonial Cuba,

1:07:49

barely even post colonial Cuba,

1:07:51

you know.

1:07:53

Yeah, I mean I'm in the same position as

1:07:56

you here or even further possessing

1:07:59

an inability to try to critique

1:08:02

from the twenty first century. But

1:08:04

do you know what I do feel comfortable in calling

1:08:07

is this next ad break?

1:08:20

All right, we are back.

1:08:21

Let's return to our discussion of

1:08:24

anarchistsm in Cuba in the nineteen tenths.

1:08:27

So in nineteen thirteen, as we was speaking

1:08:29

of the repression of the anarchist movement, the

1:08:32

third President of Cuba would step up,

1:08:34

that is, General Mario Garcia

1:08:37

Menocal and during

1:08:40

his reign, the government would ramp up the

1:08:42

repression of the anarchists with the

1:08:45

passing of anti anarchist laws

1:08:47

and the closure of anarchist organizations.

1:08:51

There were crackdowns against the radical

1:08:53

activities from nineteen fourteen on and

1:08:57

the suspension of the Tierra publication and

1:08:59

the deportation of many anarchists.

1:09:03

Because in spite of the oppression, the anarchists movement

1:09:05

began to recover by nineteen seventeen with

1:09:07

the Centro Oberero or Worker's Center

1:09:10

being established in Havana lead into

1:09:12

resurgence of anarchist education and organized

1:09:14

activity. Between nineteen

1:09:16

eighteen and nineteen nineteen four general

1:09:18

strikes a breakout in Havana and the

1:09:20

US sent a flotilla in response to

1:09:22

the disorder. The government suspended

1:09:25

constitutional guarantees, deported

1:09:27

even more anarchists, and closed the

1:09:29

Centrol Obrero. Around

1:09:32

this time, you also had the anaqual Naturists,

1:09:34

which I really don't know where to fit

1:09:36

into all of this, so I'll just put them here to give

1:09:38

you from the repression.

1:09:40

Naturists.

1:09:42

Yeah yeah, So let's take this as like a

1:09:44

breath of fresh air from all of the repression

1:09:46

and against anarchists. By the state you

1:09:49

had the anquo naturists.

1:09:50

That's what I haven't heard before. Are these like old

1:09:53

timey green anarchists.

1:09:54

I guess.

1:09:57

No, I'll actually be the judge of that. I'll actually

1:09:59

the that.

1:10:00

It's like actual naturist philosophy.

1:10:03

Yes, ah, oh weird.

1:10:06

Yes. The naturist movement was developed

1:10:08

in Europe and North America during the late

1:10:10

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and

1:10:13

it focused on alternative

1:10:15

personal health and lifestyle practices

1:10:17

such as adopted vegetarianism, exercise,

1:10:21

nudism, and small village

1:10:23

life to combat the effects

1:10:25

of industrial mass society.

1:10:27

Okay, so there is like little

1:10:29

tidbits of like anarchop of

1:10:32

like what would become anarcho primitivism in

1:10:34

here, but it's definitely not like a one to one

1:10:36

overlap.

1:10:37

Yeah, yeah, especially not in Cuba.

1:10:40

In Cuba, the anarchists aimed to

1:10:43

shift the naturist movements focused away

1:10:45

from primarily individual health concerns

1:10:47

to an emphasis on social emaspiratory

1:10:50

themes. So why in nineteen ten you had

1:10:52

lectures on nitarismo and

1:10:55

although it didn't have the broader emaspiratory

1:10:58

dimensions initially, later

1:11:01

in the decade, the movement would gain its momentum

1:11:04

and the Nature's Association would expand

1:11:06

to establish branches across Cuba

1:11:08

and even Tampa, Florida.

1:11:11

Huh Okay.

1:11:12

Now, anacin naturism in Cuba

1:11:14

wasn't too big on the nudism

1:11:17

aspect of the naturism,

1:11:20

but they did emphasize the vegetarian self

1:11:22

sufficiency against the reliance and capitalism

1:11:25

and so to learn and teach alternative

1:11:27

medicine to help people deal with the health problems

1:11:29

brought about by factory and

1:11:31

field work and toxic living conditions.

1:11:34

Okay, I know the anical

1:11:36

nature has actually lasted well into the nineteen fifties,

1:11:39

so good for them.

1:11:41

But let's get back

1:11:43

into the timeline. If you know

1:11:46

anything about history, you

1:11:49

know what significant event takes place in Russia

1:11:51

in nineteen seventeen. The Russian

1:11:54

Revolution would reverberate across

1:11:56

the landscape of workers struggles for decades

1:11:59

to come. In the next episode,

1:12:01

we'll see how the Bolsheviks rise would

1:12:03

shape the anarchist movement in Cuba

1:12:06

leading up to the Rise of Castro, as

1:12:09

well as how anarchists have endured since

1:12:11

then until then. And

1:12:14

it could happen here. And this is Andrewism.

1:12:17

I'll pout to all the people peace,

1:12:33

Welcome to could happen here. I'm Andrew

1:12:35

Sage of futuree Channel Antraism. I'm

1:12:37

again joined by Garrison. Say

1:12:40

hello again, Hello again.

1:12:42

See see what it did there? Very very

1:12:44

good, very original, and very funny,

1:12:46

fantastic.

1:12:48

So last time we were discussing the forgotten

1:12:51

history of Cuban anarchism, I

1:12:54

mean took you by surprise. It's

1:12:56

you by surprise, and I

1:12:58

think it's taken some of the audience by surprise too. You

1:13:01

know the fact that from the very first Prunian

1:13:03

and Mutualist Society in eighteen fifty seven,

1:13:06

to the rise of the anarchist organizations,

1:13:09

the strike activities that the schools,

1:13:11

to even the anequ niaturists,

1:13:14

all of this was going on from the

1:13:17

mid nineteenth century all the

1:13:19

way into the early twentieth century, even

1:13:21

in the height of repression in the

1:13:23

nineteen tenths, and

1:13:26

the cycle of US intervention as well.

1:13:29

I guess what I'm kind of curious about in this time period

1:13:31

is, like before like

1:13:34

the Socialist Revolution, were

1:13:36

like the anarchists more prominent

1:13:39

than some of like the actual communists.

1:13:42

For my research, it does seem so yes.

1:13:44

Yeah, like that's that's kind of what it sounds like. They were kind of

1:13:46

the main political block for like

1:13:49

almost seventy five years.

1:13:51

Well things things do make it

1:13:53

to in.

1:13:55

Yeah, like the main the main political block on

1:13:57

like like the like the left specifically,

1:13:59

I guess, like the if you count anarchism as part

1:14:01

of the left, which means for the

1:14:03

case of simplicity, let's say.

1:14:04

Sure, I

1:14:07

don't, yes,

1:14:09

but listenly I wouldn't be caught dead

1:14:11

at here and to like French political taxonomy,

1:14:14

but.

1:14:14

Totally me in terms of its relation

1:14:17

to like labor, especially especially this time period

1:14:19

of like I.

1:14:19

Know what you mean, I just like being difficult.

1:14:22

Sometimes absolutely, I mean yeah that

1:14:24

is, I agree with you in a lot of cases.

1:14:26

But from a like a historical standpoint, it kind of makes

1:14:28

sense when like all these almost all

1:14:30

these people are like anarcho communists or anarcho synicalists.

1:14:35

Or I mean you did have the anarcineaturists

1:14:37

too, and the anarcho naturist.

1:14:38

There you go, the three genders.

1:14:41

And I mean t I completely mutualists

1:14:43

as well. I mean, honestly, the divide,

1:14:45

the stringent divide between the

1:14:48

anarchist schools of thought wouldn't really come

1:14:50

into play until we get into

1:14:52

like the the twentieth century.

1:14:54

So which we are entering right

1:14:56

now.

1:14:56

Yes, which we have vented. So

1:14:59

where do we leave off? We left off on

1:15:02

the big bang that was the Russian Revolution.

1:15:04

Remember I said that things will take her turn. That is

1:15:06

the turn the Russian wizard has been killed.

1:15:09

Sad. Indeed, I

1:15:12

promise to discuss how the

1:15:14

death of that Russian wizard would impact

1:15:17

Cuba going forward into the nineteen twenties

1:15:19

and beyond. So

1:15:22

there we are akiestamos

1:15:25

once again, this infost thanks to the work of

1:15:27

Kuen R. Shaffer, Stephen J. Hush,

1:15:30

Lucien van der Walt, Sam Dolgov and

1:15:32

Frank Fernandez. So

1:15:35

in nineteen twenty the anarchists formed a

1:15:37

Congress to advocate a series of

1:15:39

immediate and transitory economic measures

1:15:41

to resolve the high cost of living brought

1:15:44

about by the decrease in sugar prices,

1:15:46

because you remember, Cuba's economy was dependent

1:15:49

on sugar and tobacco and coffee.

1:15:52

They also formed the Archist sutter is the

1:15:54

confederaci Nacional de Tobajo

1:15:57

or a national confederation of workers.

1:16:00

Following the Bolshevik victory in Russia. It

1:16:03

took a minute for the world to find out what happened

1:16:06

to all the anarchists in Russia. I mean, it was

1:16:08

the nineteen twenties. They didn't have Twitter. But

1:16:11

in the meantime, the anarchists

1:16:13

sent a fraternal salute

1:16:15

to the brothers who in Russia have established

1:16:18

the USSR. Which

1:16:20

is interesting.

1:16:20

And ye, that is interesting.

1:16:23

Yes, it's like a

1:16:27

whole thing. Come in.

1:16:28

It's exciting for the time though, right like you're seeing

1:16:30

like this thing finally happen. You're like, oh, we have

1:16:32

like we have like a real chance.

1:16:35

Yeah. Yeah, but I mean I feel like it's like a two panel

1:16:37

meme, you know, it's like the.

1:16:40

Victory before the Yeah,

1:16:43

very much.

1:16:45

Yeah, yeah, I

1:16:47

mean they

1:16:49

knew that the anarchists. But they did know, of course,

1:16:52

was the anarchists had a visible and vital

1:16:54

role in that revolution. Absolutely

1:16:57

reality that has unfortunately forgotten

1:16:59

today but very well known

1:17:01

back then. So the rise

1:17:03

of the Soviets, it seemed as though the dream

1:17:06

of three generations

1:17:08

of struggles against the injustices

1:17:10

of capitalism of the state had reached its

1:17:12

conclusion. Again,

1:17:15

they didn't know what happened to the Anarchists and the Lenin. Yet

1:17:18

their attitude of jubilation towards the success

1:17:20

of the Bolsheviks would of course change

1:17:23

very shortly, but

1:17:25

the anarchists in Cuba still had some hope

1:17:28

in unity, though despite some debate

1:17:31

amongst themselves about aligning with

1:17:33

the Marxists in Cuba see

1:17:36

At the time, the anarchost syndicalist

1:17:38

movement was leading the formation of labor

1:17:40

organizations and federations with

1:17:43

figures like Alfredo Lopez and Antonio

1:17:45

Pinichet, and while they

1:17:47

were largely in favor of cross sectarian

1:17:49

alliances and collaboration in the promotion

1:17:52

of alternative education projects,

1:17:55

and after the Congress of nineteen twenty Cuba's

1:17:57

workers pressed their demands with renewed

1:18:00

force in solidarity all together,

1:18:02

leading to bombings and Havana and

1:18:05

another general strike on medi Figures

1:18:07

like Penichet and Salinas were jailed

1:18:10

and a bomb was set off in the Teatro

1:18:13

Nacional in protest. So

1:18:15

Initially condemned to death, Penichet

1:18:18

and Salinas were eventually pardoned and

1:18:20

released at the beginning of nineteen twenty one, with

1:18:23

the fall of Garcio Mencalists

1:18:25

government. This is when

1:18:28

Fedrozias's moderate government

1:18:30

came into power, and this is when the Anarchos

1:18:32

Syndicolas Feracion Oprera de la

1:18:34

Habana or FOH or

1:18:37

Workers Cleation of Havana was founded.

1:18:40

The Workers Federation of Havana inaugurated

1:18:43

its rational School and library

1:18:45

in nineteen twenty two, aiming to

1:18:47

counter public and private education emphasis

1:18:50

on religion and patriotism.

1:18:52

In nineteen twenty five, the second Congresso

1:18:55

Nacional Oprero is celebrated in

1:18:57

San Fuegos and the Confederacio

1:18:59

Nacabrera the Cuba or National Confederation

1:19:02

of Human Workers or SCENOC, is

1:19:04

founded by anachosyndicalists in Kama

1:19:06

Way. The SCENOC

1:19:09

was a big tent organization, so

1:19:11

although it was initially led by anachosyndicalists,

1:19:15

there were reformists and Marxist

1:19:17

elements in there as well, and you'll

1:19:19

see the results of big tent organization

1:19:22

very soon. Also nineteen

1:19:24

twenty five, the Partido Communista

1:19:26

Kubano or PCC was

1:19:28

founded in Havana, and

1:19:32

in nineteen twenty five there was a strike among

1:19:34

railway and sugar workers which would provoke government

1:19:36

repression and the nineteen twenty

1:19:38

five Gerardo Machado would

1:19:41

be elected to the office of presidency.

1:19:44

Now pay attention to the PCC

1:19:47

because they become relevant again later on.

1:19:49

They're going to be a recurring character.

1:19:52

Yes. So President

1:19:54

Gerardo Machado's administration vowed

1:19:56

to suppress worker militancy, lead

1:19:59

into an another crackdown on foreigners and radicals,

1:20:02

including the anarchist schools, and marking

1:20:04

another decline of the anarchist movements influence.

1:20:08

But despite repression under the Macharo

1:20:10

dictatorship, anarchists continued

1:20:12

to agitate, with some fleeing

1:20:15

into exile and overall refusing

1:20:17

to cooperate with the government. They

1:20:19

founded militant groups such as Espartaco

1:20:21

and Losildarios and later

1:20:24

the Federation the Federacion de

1:20:26

Groupos Anarchistas de Cuba or

1:20:29

FGC. They engaged in

1:20:31

street fighting against the government and

1:20:33

also in several failed assassination

1:20:35

attempts against Machado. I

1:20:37

don't know what it is with Cuban leaders, but they seem

1:20:40

to have trouble getting assassinated.

1:20:46

So while the anarchists and I

1:20:50

would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, presumably

1:20:54

some Marxists were engaged

1:20:56

in such resistance and I say presumably

1:20:58

because I didn't they were

1:21:01

into focus of my research. But from what

1:21:03

I could see was the anarchists who were engaged

1:21:05

in such resistance. Anyway,

1:21:07

that's tangential. The

1:21:09

operatives of the Popular

1:21:12

Socialist Party or PSP

1:21:15

chose to make compromises with the

1:21:17

various dictatorial governments in

1:21:19

order to be allowed control of

1:21:21

the labor unions as well as some

1:21:24

other pooks.

1:21:25

Well, that doesn't sound like it could result in any problems.

1:21:28

Yeah, so lock in here, okay. The PSP

1:21:32

would later be absorbed by the organizac

1:21:35

Revolution Scenarios in Tigradas, which

1:21:38

would later become the Partido Unido

1:21:40

de la Revolution Socialista the

1:21:43

Cuba, which would later be

1:21:45

refounded as

1:21:47

the Partido Communista Gubano

1:21:51

or PCC the Cuban

1:21:53

Anarchists part cubas the Communist part

1:21:55

of Cuba.

1:21:56

There's like this weird loop happening here.

1:21:58

Yes, yes, So the PSP would

1:22:01

go on to become part of the

1:22:03

PCC, even

1:22:05

though when they were initially founded, the PSP and the

1:22:07

PCC with separate organizations totally

1:22:10

okay, So coming into the nineteen

1:22:12

thirty Starting with nineteen thirty,

1:22:14

a streetcar strike led to a general

1:22:17

strike, backed by almost

1:22:19

all of the unions. The

1:22:21

strike failed, unfortunately due to

1:22:23

a poor planning by the SCENOC,

1:22:26

which had come into the hands of the PCC.

1:22:29

You see, with the continuous deportation, exile

1:22:32

and murder of anarchists by the Machado

1:22:34

government, the Marxists and the SCENOC,

1:22:36

who had been taken orders from the PCC the whole

1:22:39

time, were told, Okay, now

1:22:41

it's your chance, take advantage of the situation.

1:22:44

The anarchists out of the way, let's

1:22:46

take over the SCENOC. So

1:22:48

in nineteen thirty three, another transportation

1:22:50

strike breaks out in Havana, which leads to another

1:22:52

general strike and further violence, and

1:22:55

the PCC used their control over the SCENOC

1:22:58

to make a deal with Mature Shado

1:23:00

and the general strike, even

1:23:03

though they were not the ones that started

1:23:06

in the first.

1:23:06

Place, making

1:23:08

a deal to end a strike that they didn't start.

1:23:11

Indeed, very very cool stuff.

1:23:14

Now they called this real

1:23:17

politic power move the

1:23:20

August Eraror, But

1:23:24

to me, that's way too soft considering what they

1:23:26

did. You see, it was no mayor whoopsie.

1:23:28

You know. The PCC ordered the

1:23:31

strike and workers to return to their jobs

1:23:33

and they tried to work with Machado's

1:23:36

murderous secret police to make that happen.

1:23:38

No, it's it's just like counterinsurgency.

1:23:47

Thankfully, the PCC's attempt

1:23:49

to sick my shadows dogs on the strike

1:23:51

and workers failed due

1:23:54

to the resistance of the anarchists of the Havana

1:23:56

Federation of Labor and other

1:23:58

organized labor forces.

1:24:00

It's it's funny how like it's it's

1:24:03

not the same things happen now, I guess, but very

1:24:05

similar things happen while you have like these like big

1:24:07

above ground kind of orgs. They'll try

1:24:09

to make concessions with with

1:24:11

like whether that's like like police or with

1:24:14

like whatever kind of institution that

1:24:16

people are like opposing. They'll have these

1:24:18

these big, like you know, big

1:24:20

groups trying trying to make concessions, and it's always

1:24:23

left to the anarchists to be like, no, we actually

1:24:26

have to keep fighting. This actually doesn't this

1:24:29

sort of this this this sort of like attempts

1:24:31

at calling like victory or trying to end things actually

1:24:34

is not what you claim

1:24:36

it to be, and we have to keep going. And

1:24:38

it's is something that always falls

1:24:40

back on like some of the more anarchist

1:24:43

aligned contingents in popular struggles.

1:24:46

Yeah, and I see why the why the old anarchists

1:24:48

get a bit jaded and crotchet tea, you

1:24:50

know, because yeah, you see

1:24:52

these feelings happening again and again, Like why

1:24:55

you cheer in, you know, like you have not one

1:24:58

you know, this is not a victory. This

1:25:01

is the precursor to squad

1:25:05

wipe, to like absolute defeat. You

1:25:07

know, yeah, game over.

1:25:10

But unfortunately

1:25:13

some people have to to learn, it seems.

1:25:16

Unfortunately, until we

1:25:18

speak more prominently of the mistakes of the past,

1:25:21

more honestly of the mistakes of the past, instead

1:25:23

of this sort of whitewashed

1:25:25

oh the glorious revolutionary movements

1:25:27

of the past. Oh, you know,

1:25:30

like wow, so cool. Until

1:25:32

we start to like engage honest without history and

1:25:34

like the mistakes and whatnot, these kind of things

1:25:36

are just going to continue to happen, you

1:25:38

know. And that's why I also appreciate,

1:25:41

you know, the sort of honesty that anarchists

1:25:43

have, where they'll be willing to call I mean not not

1:25:45

all you know, especially new anarchists tend

1:25:47

to be more defensive, but

1:25:49

and I appreciate the willness to call out

1:25:51

like what the CNT did

1:25:54

in Spain that was wrong, or what the Black Arm

1:25:56

in Ukraine did that was wrong.

1:25:58

You know, we don't have to follow a lot like

1:26:00

the party line.

1:26:02

Sweeping like you have to defend their honor.

1:26:04

Yeah, exactly, we don't have

1:26:06

to like follow along the party line in

1:26:09

the same way that all these other groups seem to

1:26:11

do. There is a much more open

1:26:14

consideration towards critiquing things that

1:26:16

even you feel like you can learn from and you feel

1:26:18

like we're like like struggles like struggles worth learning

1:26:20

from and struggles worth fighting for. But

1:26:22

you don't have this the need to be like you

1:26:25

have to defend every single thing

1:26:27

that X person did because it's like,

1:26:30

I know it, it gets it gets

1:26:32

very weird when you have these

1:26:34

like nineteen

1:26:36

year old communists who are like, no, Stalin's

1:26:39

good actually, which

1:26:43

is a whole other topic, but but

1:26:45

yeah, even in like smaller scale things,

1:26:48

just the resistance to having

1:26:50

to to adhere to the party

1:26:52

line on a lot of a lot of these topics when

1:26:54

you just don't have a party so it allows you

1:26:56

to be way more open in your

1:26:58

consideration of what has worked, what hasn't

1:27:01

worked.

1:27:01

Yeah, free association for the win.

1:27:04

I don't have a funny ad pivot based

1:27:06

on free association. But here's

1:27:08

some ads that you can freely

1:27:11

listen to if you desire.

1:27:23

All right, we're back.

1:27:24

So the very same month that the

1:27:26

PCC tried and failed to call

1:27:29

off a strike that they never started in the first

1:27:31

place, Machado was

1:27:33

forced from office by a military coup

1:27:35

backed by the US working with several political

1:27:37

factions, including the PCC.

1:27:40

So the PCC was kind of playing both sides. They were

1:27:42

like, yeah, let's let's work with Machado,

1:27:44

and then that's also like help over through

1:27:46

Machado a lot of stings. Huh,

1:27:50

very interesting. Yeah, So

1:27:53

that coup, along with the nineteen thirty three

1:27:55

revolution, it was part of resulting

1:27:57

from the opposition of the human people to President

1:27:59

MacHall those attempts to keep himself in power

1:28:02

with flames further fanned by the widespread

1:28:04

misery caused by the economic collapse of nineteen

1:28:06

twenty nine. Anarchists were, of

1:28:09

course participants in the strikes and

1:28:11

the revolutionary actions during this time.

1:28:13

Military forces and student activists

1:28:15

were also very much involved.

1:28:18

So Carlos Manuel de Sispires

1:28:21

i Quesada came to lead a provisional

1:28:23

government which led to the installation

1:28:25

of a new government led by a five man coalition

1:28:28

known as the Pentarchy of nineteen twenty three.

1:28:30

But after only five days, the Pentarchy

1:28:33

gave way to the presidency of Ramon Grau

1:28:35

San Martin, whose term became known

1:28:37

as the one hundred Days Government for

1:28:40

obvious reasons. It really

1:28:42

only lasted about one hundred days because

1:28:45

it decided to defy the US

1:28:47

and remove the Platinum nment from the Cuban

1:28:49

constitution, and it also introduced

1:28:52

the eight hour workday and tried to intervene

1:28:54

in the American owned electrical and telephone

1:28:56

utility companies. But

1:28:59

before you sell that government as a

1:29:01

champion of the work in people, it also

1:29:03

contributed to the suppression of the Cuban anarchist

1:29:05

movement, which had a significant

1:29:08

foreign born labor base, with the introduction

1:29:10

of the fifty percent law, which

1:29:12

forced owners to reserve at least half

1:29:15

their jobs for Cubans. That

1:29:17

law prompted many of the Spanish anarchists,

1:29:20

remember they were a very prominent part of the anarchist

1:29:22

movement in Cuba. That prompted them

1:29:24

to return to Spain, where as

1:29:26

you may know, a civil war would kick off

1:29:29

rather soon, so the leader of the

1:29:31

revolt against one hundred Days Government was

1:29:33

Sergeant Fulgencio Battista,

1:29:37

who became the head of the armed Forces

1:29:39

and began a long period of influence

1:29:41

on Cuban politics. The

1:29:44

summer of nineteen thirty three obviously marked

1:29:46

the end of the cooperative relationship between

1:29:48

Cuban anarchists and communists, you

1:29:51

know, because of the whole PCC

1:29:54

sicond matalist dogs and the anarchists

1:29:56

and all that.

1:29:57

Yeah, I could see that being non conducive to a

1:29:59

working part.

1:30:00

It's a toxic, toxic situation, you

1:30:02

know. They had. They'll have to copearents

1:30:05

they labor movement separately. Anyway,

1:30:09

say a violence when you rere up between the two groups.

1:30:12

The Federacion de Groupos and Akista's

1:30:14

de Cuba or FGEC published

1:30:17

a manifesto denouncing the traitor's

1:30:19

actions of the PCC in collaboration

1:30:22

with Minchado. In nineteen

1:30:24

thirty five, the PCC exposed

1:30:26

its alignment for all to see

1:30:30

see after Bautista basically

1:30:32

told the PCC, yeah, don't call

1:30:35

a general strike. After the PCs he tried

1:30:37

to call a general strike, the PCC

1:30:39

was like, Okay, we won't call a general strike, and

1:30:41

then the PCC adopted Moscow's

1:30:43

popular front line and basically

1:30:46

aligned themselves with Batista. And

1:30:48

what's interesting is, you see, but what

1:30:50

Bosistera desperately needed to

1:30:53

secure his legitimacy was

1:30:55

an electoral base. Basically,

1:30:58

he needed a large group of people to say we back

1:31:01

his leadership.

1:31:02

Sure, he needed some form of like legitimacy

1:31:05

exactly.

1:31:07

And so the PCC, in aligning

1:31:09

themselves with Batista, they

1:31:12

created that electoral base for

1:31:14

his growing secretorial ambitions.

1:31:17

You see, he started off as a president before he became

1:31:19

like a full on dictator. Many such

1:31:22

cases, many such cases. And

1:31:24

the one of the historians I was telling you about, Fernando

1:31:27

Fernandez, he wrote that

1:31:30

the PCC actually offered Batista

1:31:32

a deal, put in all of the machinery

1:31:35

of Cuban and international communism

1:31:37

at his service, and

1:31:39

it promised to deliver votes in the coming elections,

1:31:42

which Batista badly needed. In

1:31:45

exchange, the PCC

1:31:47

was to be given the recently government created

1:31:49

Confederaci Tahadoris to Cuba,

1:31:52

the CTC, the Cuban Confederation

1:31:54

of Workers, and the CTC was basically

1:31:56

meant to be the largest, most centralized

1:31:59

Levo organization in Cuba. One they

1:32:01

would combine all of the existing factions.

1:32:04

Okay that yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:32:06

And unlike the previous umbrella organization, which

1:32:09

as you may remember, was the SCENOC, the

1:32:11

CTC was meant to be ideological.

1:32:14

It was meant to marry unionism to

1:32:17

the state. It was meant to be under the

1:32:19

control of Batista through the PCC

1:32:21

from the very beginning. You know, the Seaknocks started

1:32:23

off being led by anarchos syndicalists, but it was big

1:32:26

ten so it was like, you know, bringing all the ideologies,

1:32:28

but no, the CTC is like, yeah,

1:32:31

we.

1:32:31

Are explicitly stayed aligned.

1:32:33

Yeah. Meanwhile, you know, in nineteen

1:32:35

thirty six, the Spanish Civil War would erupt,

1:32:38

and you know, the Cuban anarchists who when

1:32:40

solidarity with the Spanish anarchists, would

1:32:42

establish the Solidary Dad Internacional

1:32:45

Anti anti Fascista to aid

1:32:47

them, and some of them even went to Spain

1:32:49

to participate. But by

1:32:51

nineteen thirty nine, with the defeat of the Spanish

1:32:53

Republic, surviving Cuban anarchists

1:32:56

returned to the island.

1:32:59

In the nineteen forties, It's interesting because when

1:33:01

they returned, they also returned with a lot more

1:33:04

like experience as well. Indeed,

1:33:06

I wonder if that will lead to

1:33:09

anything.

1:33:11

We'll see.

1:33:12

Curious.

1:33:14

So, in the nineteen forties, over one hundred

1:33:17

delegates met at the Mortazo

1:33:19

ranch to establish the Associacion

1:33:22

Libertaria the Cuba or

1:33:24

ALC. Since the

1:33:27

Stalinist dominated CTC had

1:33:29

purged anarchists and other militant labor

1:33:31

activists, the ALC was

1:33:33

formed to challenge state control and

1:33:35

Stalinists influence within the labor movement.

1:33:39

The ALC held a congress attended

1:33:41

by one hundred and fifty five delegates

1:33:43

in nineteen forty eight, and in that congress

1:33:45

it discussed the creation of a libertarian society

1:33:48

in Cuba, and they established the Solidary

1:33:50

Dad Gastronomica, which was a publication

1:33:53

meant to serve as their official organ. Carlos

1:33:56

Prio Socaras assumed the QAN

1:33:59

presidency in nineteen forty eight following

1:34:02

the presidency of Ramon Grau San Martin,

1:34:04

because he actually got another chance to be president

1:34:07

after one hundred day's government, and then

1:34:09

you had a few filler presidents after that,

1:34:11

and then you had Batista's run as president.

1:34:15

But anyway, so Prio becomes president

1:34:18

and the anarchists try and fail to create

1:34:20

a new labor confederation. The Confederaci

1:34:22

in general the Tagories was CGT

1:34:26

and it was meant to be independent of the

1:34:28

CTC. Unfortunately,

1:34:31

thanks to reformist elements, the Stalinists

1:34:33

and the government, it suffered under an

1:34:35

extensive propaganda campaign against

1:34:37

the initiative in both the Cuban communications

1:34:40

media and then the officially approved

1:34:42

unions. But despite everything,

1:34:45

the anarchists were enduring on the grassroots

1:34:47

level, and they were anarchist militants

1:34:50

scattered everywhere and anarchist propagandists

1:34:52

in every provincial capital. By

1:34:55

the way, it is interesting that

1:34:57

the Stalinists would gleefully purge

1:35:00

the anarchists to appease their own phase for power

1:35:02

earlier in the decade, considering that

1:35:04

they themselves would be expelled

1:35:06

from their posts in the CTC by the government

1:35:09

Under US pressure, PreO

1:35:11

declared the PSP illegal, motivating

1:35:14

the Stylists to eye themselves yet again

1:35:17

with their old body, old

1:35:19

pal Fulgencio Batista.

1:35:22

In nineteen fifty, the ALC would

1:35:24

hold another congress, a meant to reorganize

1:35:27

the Cuban union movements against

1:35:29

its control by bureaucrats, politicians,

1:35:32

cults, and religionists. The

1:35:34

Congress repudiated the CTC and

1:35:36

dedicated itself to maintain the CGT's

1:35:38

struggle in spite of President Prio's

1:35:40

repression. In nineteen fifty

1:35:43

two, Batista took power in a

1:35:45

coup, and the LC joined other revolutionary

1:35:47

groups in armed resistance to the dictatorship

1:35:50

in the cities and the countryside. Despite

1:35:52

facing imprisonment, torture, and kidnapping,

1:35:55

they challenged Batista's rule through propaganda,

1:35:57

distribution, Klandestine activity,

1:36:00

and coordinated sabotage efforts. They

1:36:03

even worked with groups like the Directorial Revoluse

1:36:05

Scenario, the Federation of University

1:36:08

Students, and elements within castorerst

1:36:10

Group, the M twenty sixth G the

1:36:13

Antony sixth J. By the way, despite taking

1:36:16

credit for everything, had little

1:36:18

to no involvement in many of the uprisings

1:36:20

that took place in this period. They

1:36:22

tried at one point to call a general strike,

1:36:25

but it was badly organized and

1:36:27

uncoordinated with other revolutionary groups,

1:36:29

so you know, of course it failed. Meanwhile,

1:36:33

the ALC's meeting hole not only distributed information

1:36:35

and coordinated sabotage efforts, but even

1:36:38

taught some of Castro's fighters how to shoot

1:36:40

firearms.

1:36:41

Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah

1:36:43

yeah.

1:36:44

By December thirty first, nineteen fifty

1:36:46

eight. Also, it's very sad

1:36:48

that they would teach some of Castro's fighters how to

1:36:50

shoot firearms, considering you

1:36:52

know, the direction those firearms we shoot. It end

1:36:54

very soon.

1:36:55

Yes, that is tragically

1:36:58

ironic.

1:37:01

So December their first, nineteen fifty

1:37:03

eight, Batista flees Cuba, marking

1:37:05

the end of his regime and the beginning of a

1:37:07

new era. As Castro's revolutionary

1:37:10

government gain power, tensions would

1:37:12

rise as he consolidated control and

1:37:14

marginalized dissent in voices. Any

1:37:16

hope anarchists had for social change following

1:37:18

nineteen fifty nine would be crushed by

1:37:20

the increase in centralization, bureaucraticization

1:37:23

of the government, further purges of anarchists

1:37:25

from the CTC, which, by the way,

1:37:28

they renamed the CTC R as

1:37:30

in CTC Revolutionary, and

1:37:33

they also militarized. And

1:37:37

they also militarized it. You know, if they forced

1:37:39

a bunch of the workers to create militias,

1:37:42

and you know, with Castro's public alignment

1:37:44

with Marxism Leninism, the suppression

1:37:47

the revolutionary tribunals and the exile

1:37:49

of anarchists and other dissidents. In

1:37:52

January nineteen sixty, the ALC held

1:37:54

an assembly and expressed support for the

1:37:56

Cuban Revolution while rejecting dictatorship

1:37:59

everywhere. By the end of

1:38:01

the year, stud published the final issue

1:38:03

of their publication, So darry Dad Gatunomica.

1:38:07

The LC fell under government

1:38:09

pressure, and unlike

1:38:11

previous Cuban governments, Castro's

1:38:14

regime was extra blood thirsty

1:38:17

with the working class and peasant dissenters.

1:38:20

That same year, the Grupo the Sindecalistas

1:38:23

Libertarios is suited document criticizing

1:38:25

the Cuban government's direction. Fearing

1:38:27

the increase in totalitarianism, they

1:38:30

had to change their name to avoid

1:38:32

reprisals. As a pecc's organ,

1:38:35

OI responded to the group

1:38:37

O the Snekalistas Libertarios

1:38:39

document with insults and accusations.

1:38:43

That same year, the movie Miento Deaccion

1:38:46

Syndical began circulating a

1:38:48

bulletin critical of the PCC and Castro.

1:38:51

They too would be suppressed. After

1:38:54

the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in nineteen

1:38:56

sixty one, Castro's government

1:38:58

intensified its suppression of opposition,

1:39:01

including anarchists. The anarchist

1:39:03

movement also bore a terrible betrayal

1:39:06

as Manuel Guiona Susa, a

1:39:08

prominent anarchist, betrayed his

1:39:10

comrades by endorsing the cashier regime

1:39:13

and denouncing the anarchists who opposed

1:39:15

it. Some anarists would end up in prison somewhat

1:39:18

fled to Florida, where they would unfortunately

1:39:20

be grouped to the Batista supporters who would also

1:39:23

fled to Florida at that time, and

1:39:25

an international solidarity effort

1:39:27

emerged with donations from various

1:39:29

anarchist groups worldwide to aid the Cuban

1:39:32

anarchists escape.

1:39:43

The anarchists that fled to Cure formed the

1:39:45

Movimiento Libertario Cubano

1:39:48

in Exilio the mcl or

1:39:50

Cuban anarchist movement in exile, and

1:39:53

continued to advocate for anarchist principles

1:39:55

to publications like Guangara Libertaria.

1:39:58

The New York based Libertarian League, led

1:40:01

by figures like Sam Dogoff, provided

1:40:03

critical support to these exiles.

1:40:06

But what really sucks the

1:40:08

Cuban anarchists had to struggle to garner

1:40:10

support from their fellow anarchists around the world.

1:40:13

Thanks to the propaganda efforts to the Castro regime.

1:40:16

The Cuman anarchists was made as

1:40:19

CIA agents, which is umi

1:40:21

recoll still a favorite tactic of

1:40:24

campus authoritarians.

1:40:25

Interesting and yeah, interesting to see how

1:40:28

it's literally the same.

1:40:30

Yeah.

1:40:31

In fact, one anarchist group in South America,

1:40:33

the Federacion Anarchista Uruguaya,

1:40:36

even split between pro and anti

1:40:38

Castro factions. The

1:40:41

procast Room majority went

1:40:43

on to join the Marxist Lendinis Supermaros

1:40:46

in Yuguay. Eventually

1:40:49

the Federrazion Anachika Italiana.

1:40:52

The FAIT organized

1:40:54

a conference in Bologna in nineteen

1:40:57

sixty five to address the confusion

1:41:00

among anarchists globally regarded in Cuba.

1:41:03

They came out of that conference condemning

1:41:05

casteurism and express in support

1:41:07

for Cuban anarchists. But despite the

1:41:09

efforts of Abelardo I Glasias to present

1:41:11

the Cuban anarchists viewpoint, many

1:41:14

anarchist groups in Europe and Latin Americas still

1:41:16

aligned with casteurism view

1:41:18

and criticism of the regime as opposition

1:41:20

to the broader socialist revolution. But

1:41:23

despite the skepticism of their payers and the

1:41:25

refusal of some anarchist publications to

1:41:27

even hear them out. The Cuban

1:41:29

anarchists continued the activism in exile.

1:41:32

They published works to denounce in the Castier regime

1:41:35

and sought to clarify their position within the global

1:41:37

anarchist movement. Back in Cuba,

1:41:40

the remaining anarchists dwindled in size,

1:41:42

as most had either left or rotten

1:41:45

in prison. In

1:41:47

the seventies and beyond, the Cuban

1:41:49

anarchists faced isolation and defamation.

1:41:53

They still accused this day of being in

1:41:55

service of reaction. It's only

1:41:57

with Sam Dolkov's book The Cuban Revolution

1:42:00

Critical Perspective in nineteen seventy six that

1:42:02

attitudes began to shift reade

1:42:04

into a gradual reassessment of the MLCE

1:42:07

within the anarchist community. In

1:42:09

nineteen seventy nine, the MLSE renewed

1:42:11

ties with the Anarchist Confederacio National

1:42:14

Debajo, SASH Association

1:42:16

International Rosador the CNTIT

1:42:19

during to congress in Madrid. Subsequent

1:42:22

publications and articles further

1:42:24

clarified the mlce's position and cashtroism,

1:42:27

marking the end of a long and damaging

1:42:30

chapter of derision

1:42:33