Lorenzo Portet (1870–1917) was a Spanish

anarchist 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 ...

and an associate of anarchist and educational reformer Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia).

Biography

Born in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

in 1870, Portet was raised in

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. He attended the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, then went to

Buenos Aires, Argentina 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 ...

to teach. In 1895, after five years away, Portet returned to Spain and soon got involved in an insurrection. He fled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where in 1896 he met Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, founder of the Escuela Moderna or Modern School movement. He returned to Barcelona to get information and report on the people being tortured in Montjuic after the 1896 Corpus Christi procession bombing in Barcelona. He then returned to Paris where he ran the publishing house Ferrer had established. After Ferrer was executed in 1909 following the events known as the '' Tragic Week'', Portet led a mass demonstration in Paris in front of the Spanish embassy. Though Ferrer left him his house in Paris, his publishing house and stock in Barcelona, and shares in two companies to enable Portet to carry on Ferrer's work, Portet was arrested and expelled from France. Portet fled to

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, c ...

where he taught foreign languages. Portet met American radical and fellow exile,

Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

, in a Liverpool café. Sanger met with several Spanish anarchists, including Lorenzo Portet, with whom she had a passionate affair.

References

* Avrich, Paul.'' The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States'' (Princeton University Press, 1980) * Constant, Leroy, ''Los Secretos del Anarquismo: Asesinato de Canalejas y el caso Ferrer.'' Mexico, 1913. * Heath, Nick.
Lorenzo Portet, 1870-1914
' * Katz, Esther, Cathy Moran Hajo and Peter Engelman, eds. ''The Margaret Sanger Papers Microfilm Edition: Smith College Collections'' (University Publications of America, 1996) * Katz, Esther, Cathy Moran Hajo and Peter Engelman, eds. ''The Margaret Sanger Papers Microfilm Edition: Collected Documents Series'' (University Publications of America, 1997) * Katz, Esther, Cathy Moran Hajo and Peter Engelman, eds. ''The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, vol 1: The Woman Rebel, 1900-1928.'' Urbana:University of Illinois Press, 2003. Spanish anarchists 1870 births 1917 deaths Spanish expatriates in Argentina Spanish expatriates in France {{Spain-activist-stub

Biography

See also

References

Further reading