Anarchism in Uruguay held a major importance in the organization of the

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

. The history of the libertarian movement in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

is closely linked to issues circulating internationally: the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

workers in particular had a major influence in its development, but the relations between revolutionary movements across

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, and in particular with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

are equally significant.

History

19th century

The predecessors of anarchism appeared as early as June 1841, in which author Marcelino Pareja published an

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...

article in a

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

newspaper that cited

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous fo ...

. Said article advocated for a pre-Marxist theory of

surplus value In Marxian economics, surplus value is the difference between the amount raised through a sale of a product and the amount it cost to manufacture it: i.e. the amount raised through sale of the product minus the cost of the materials, plant and ...

. In 1851 the

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and friend of

Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to ca ...

José Ernesto Gibert was exiled to Uruguay from France due to his participation in the

revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. In 1872, the Uruguayan section of the

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist ...

was formed, with an office on Florida street, Montevideo. It ideologically aligned with the

Jura Federation The Jura Federation () represented the anarchist, Bakuninist faction of the First International during the anti-statist split from the organization. The Canton of Jura, a Swiss area, was known for its watchmaker artisans in La Chaux-de-Fonds, w ...

and in 1875 published a manifesto inspired by the writings of

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...

. In 1875, the "Regional Federation of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay" was founded in

on the initiative of French and Spanish revolutionaries, exiled following the destruction of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

and the Cantonal Revolution respectively. Influenced by

, the Federation of Montevideo officially joined the

Anti-authoritarian International The Anti-Authoritarian International (also known as the Anarchist International of St. Imier) was an international workers' organization formed in 1872 after the split in the First International between the anarchists and the Marxists. This follo ...

at the first session of the Congress of Verviers in September 1877, although it had already participated in a correspondence with the International for more than a year. In 1883, anarchists celebrated the anniversary of the Paris Commune on March 18 and collected 40 pesos to be delivered to prisoners in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Early 20th century

In the first years of the 20th century, the Uruguayan proletariat strengthened its organization by founding the country's first trade unions. This movement led, in 1905, to the founding of the

Uruguayan Regional Workers' Federation Uruguayans () are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizen ...

(, FORU), based on the

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

model of the

FORA FORA or Fora may refer to: Groups and organizations * Argentine Regional Workers' Federation The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (Spanish: ''Federación Obrera Regional Argentina''; abbreviated FORA), founded in , was Argentina's first n ...

in Argentina. Many notable writers in this period flirted with the anarchist movement, such as

Florencio Sánchez Florencio Sánchez (January 17, 1875 – November 7, 1910) was a Uruguayan playwright, journalist and political figure. He is considered one of the founding fathers of theater in the Río de la Plata, River Plate region of Argentina and Urugua ...

, Ernesto Herrera,

Julio Herrera y Reissig Julio Herrera y Reissig (January 9, 1875 – March 18, 1910) was a Uruguayan poet, playwright and essayist, who began his career during the late Romanticist period and later became an early proponent of Modernism. Background He was the son o ...

Leopoldo Lugones Leopoldo Antonio Lugones Argüello (13 June 1874 – 18 February 1938) was an Argentine poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, professor, translator, biographer, philologist, theologian, diplomat, politician and journalist. His poetic ...

and

Horacio Quiroga Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza (31 December 1878 – 19 February 1937) was a Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. The jungle settings of his stories emphasized the conflict between humans and nature. His portrayals of mental ...

. The FORU dominated the Uruguayan labor movement. By 1911 they had 90,000 members out of 117,000 industrial workers in Uruguay. There was also a small tendency of anarchists called the "anarcho-Battlists" who supported the President

José Batlle y Ordóñez José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez ( or ; 23 May 1856 – 20 October 1929), nicknamed ''Don Pepe'', was a prominent Uruguayan politician who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. The son of a former president, ...

, owing to his support of trade unions.

Virginia Bolten Virginia Bolten (1870–1960) was an Argentine journalist and anarchist feminist activist. An anarchist agitator from an early age, she became a leading figure among the working women of Rosario, organising for the Argentine Regional Workers' ...

was a notable supporter of this while she lived in Uruguay. However, the FORU began to lose strength after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

in 1917, as the newly founded

Communist Party of Uruguay The Communist Party of Uruguay (, PCU) is a communist party in Uruguay, founded on 21 September 1920 by members of the Socialist Party who had endorsed the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks. The current secretary-general of the PCU is Juan ...

divided the workers. But the FORU continued to be the strongest union in Uruguay until the early 1930s. In 1929, Italian anarchist and friend of

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...

Luigi Fabbri Luigi Fabbri (1877–1935) was an Italian anarchist, writer, and educator, who was charged with defeatism during World War I. He was the father of Luce Fabbri. Selected works *''Life of Malatesta'', translated by Adam Wight (originally pu ...

and his daughter

Luce Fabbri Luce Fabbri (pen name, Luz de Alba; 1908–2000) was an Italian-Uruguayan anarchist writer, publisher and teacher. The daughter of Luigi Fabbri, she wrote for anarchist publications from an early age. After studying literature at university, she ...

fled across Europe and eventually to Uruguay to escape

fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, Pedro Tufró (1904–1937) was executed by the communists for his membership in the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

(CNT).

Cold War and Comunidad del Sur

In 1947

Eugen Relgis Eugen D. Relgis (backward reading of Eisig D. Sigler; first name also Eugenio, Eugène or Eugene, last name also Siegler or Siegler Watchel;

arrived in Uruguay, having been persecuted by both the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. In the 1950s a mixed community was established, Comunidad del Sur, made up of anarchists and

anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

Christians. In 1956 the

Uruguayan Anarchist Federation __NOTOC__ Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (''Federación Anarquista Uruguaya'', commonly known as FAU) is a Uruguayan anarchist organization founded in 1956. The FAU was created by anarchist militants to be a specifically anarchist organization. Th ...

was founded in Montevideo, suffering a split in 1963 over whether or not to support the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. The FAU was declared illegal in 1968 and the Comunidad del Sur was dissolved by the

Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay The civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973–1985), also known as the Uruguayan Dictatorship, was an authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Uruguay for 12 years, from June 27, 1973 (after the 1973 coup d'état) until March 1, 1985 ...

(1973–1985). Former members of the Comunidad del Sur went into exile in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. They came back after the end of the dictatorship and reestablished the Comunidad there, as an eco-community.' Overall, the Comunidad del Sur impacted various orientations in Uruguayan

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and

LGBTQI+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group is ...

struggles. Several Uruguayan anarchists were victims of

Operation Condor Operation Condor (; ) was a campaign of political repression by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America, involving intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America which fo ...

in Argentina and Uruguay (1975–1983) such as

Alberto Mechoso Alberto Cecilio Mechoso Méndez (1 November 1936 – 26 September 1976) was an Uruguay, Uruguayan Anarchism, anarchist, who disappeared in Buenos Aires, Argentina during Operation Condor. Biography Early life and political activities Mech ...

, Elena Quinteros,

Lilián Celiberti Lilián Celiberti (born 1949) is a Uruguayan feminist activist. She became a political prisoner under the military dictatorship and lived in exile in Italy. She is a founding member and coordinator of the feminist collective Cotidiano Mujer, and s ...

and

María Emilia Islas María Emilia Islas Gatti (18 April 1953 – disappeared 27 September 1976) was a Uruguayan political activist and anarchist, who disappeared in Buenos Aires in 1976. Biography She was born on 18 April 1953, at the Harvard Clinical Sanatorium ...

. In 1986, the FAU was restored.

Analysis

Ángel Cappelletti Ángel Cappelletti (March 15, 1927– November 25, 1995) was a philosopher and university professor. He was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario. He studied philosophy at the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires where he also received his PhD in 1 ...

has argued that Uruguay had unique historical conditions that were receptive to anarchism. Notably citing high immigration and a more secular culture.

it is fair to say that in no other Latin American country were anarchist ideas more familiar to the man on the street, the educated public, politicians, and intellectuals than in Uruguay.

He also observed that the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...

had the names "

" and " Reclus" engraved at the front of the university.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Portal bar, Anarchism, Uruguay

Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...