Antoni Pellicer i Paraire (1851–1916) was a Catalan writer, typographer and anarchist activist.

Biography

Antoni Pellicer was born on 23 February 1851 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, the son of shoemaker Ramon Pellicer i Padrol, from

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The area has long been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental significance during the time of the Phylloxera plague. Currently it is known f ...

; and his wife, Antònia Peraire i Balart, from

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebro. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city ...

. Having apprenticed as a typesetter, he worked as a printer throughout his life. Through the trade, which tended towards anti-industrialism and independence, Pellicer learned about

anarchist thought Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

, such as the philosophy 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 ...

. His extended family met Bakunin and became among the first

Spanish anarchists Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of c ...

, establishing the Spanish Regional Federation of the

International Workingmen's Association 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 g ...

(FRE-AIT). In 1869, he was appointed secretary of the Barcelona Noògrafs Union. Between 1871 and 1875, he lived in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Back in Barcelona in 1879, he participated in the foundation of the Typographic Society, but within two years, he had split from the society and established ''La Solidària''. In September 1881, he assisted in the constitution of the

Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region The Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (, FTRE) was a Spanish anarchist organization founded in the Barcelona Workers' Congress of 1881 by the initiative of a group of Catalans, Catalan anarcho-syndicalists headed Josep Llunas i Pujals, Ra ...

(FTRE), of which he was part of the federal commission. In 1882, he attended the Seville Congress of the FTRE as a member of the federal commission, siding with the Catalan collectivist anarchists around his cousin Rafael Farga i Pellicer. The following year, he also participated in the formation of the Union of Typographic Workers. As a writer, he wrote a number workerist theater plays in

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

: ''En lo ball'', ''Celos'', ''Jo vaig'', ''La mort de la proletaria'' and ''Sense Esperança''. He also co-wrote the play '' Garibaldi. Historia liberal del siglo XIX'' and wrote ''Conferencias populares sobre sociología''. From 1886 to 1888, he directed the weekly ''Acracia''. From this publication, Pellicer formulated a perspective on anarchism that rejected any qualifying labels and respected a diversity of economic theories. This was developed into the theory of

anarchism without adjectives Anarchism without adjectives is a Pluralism (political philosophy), pluralist tendency of anarchism that opposes sectarianism and advocates for cooperation between different anarchist schools of thought. First formulated by the Anarchism in Spain ...

Anselmo Lorenzo Anselmo Lorenzo Asperilla (21 April 1841 – 30 November 1914) was a Spanish anarchist activist and writer. He is known for his leading role in the early stages of the Spanish anarchist movement, for which he became known as "the grandfath ...

. In 1891, he emigrated to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, where he directed a professional magazine entitled ''Éxito Gráfico'' and was president of the Argentine Institute of Graphic Arts. In

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 ...

, he played an important role in the organization of the regional

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 ...

movement, specifically in the

Argentine Regional Workers' Federation The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (Spanish: ''Federación Obrera Regional Argentina''; abbreviated FORA), founded in , was Argentina's first national trade unions in Argentina, labor confederation. It split into two wings in 1915, the la ...

(FORA). There he also advocated for Argentine workers ought to reject

dogmatism Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

and embrace "anarchism without adjectives". He died in Buenos Aires, in 1916.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pellicer, Antoni 1851 births 1916 deaths 20th-century anarchists Anarchists from Catalonia Anarchist writers Anarcho-syndicalists Catalan-language writers Dramatists and playwrights from Catalonia Spanish syndicalists