Marie Louise Berneri (born Maria Luisa Berneri; 1 March 1918 – 13 April 1949) was an

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 ...

activist and author. Born in Italy, she spent much of her life in Spain, France, and England. She was involved with the short-lived publication, ''Revision'', with Luis Mercier Vega and was a member of the group that edited ''Revolt'', ''

War Commentary ''War Commentary'' was an England-based anti-militarist anti-war anarchist serial publication that was published from 1939 to 1945, initially as a journal and then as a newspaper, as part of the movement which was opposed to World War II (see Op ...

'', and the newspaper ''

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

''. She was a continuous contributor to ''

Spain and the World ''Spain and the World'' is the name of an anarchist publication initiated in response to the Spanish Civil War and the struggles of the CNT-FAI carrying analysis of events as they unfolded. In Britain, the '' Freedom Paper'' had begun to peter-o ...

''. She also wrote a survey of utopias, ''Journey Through Utopia'', first published in 1950 and re-issued in 2020. ''Neither East Nor West'' is a selection of her writings (1952).

Early life

She was born in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the elder daughter of

Camillo Camillo is an Italian masculine given name, descended from Latin Camillus. Its Slavic cognate is Kamil. People *Camillo Agrippa, Italian Renaissance fencer, architect, engineer and mathematician *Camillo Almici (1714–1779), Italian priest, th ...

and Giovanna Berneri. The family went into exile in 1926 for resisting

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

. In 1936 her father went to Spain, to fight against the fascists in 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 ...

. He was assassinated by Communists in 1937. Marie visited

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 ...

twice, the second time after her father's murder. Around this time she was living in France and studying

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the Sorbonne.

Anarchism

Towards the end of 1937 she married

Vernon Richards Vernon Richards (born Vero Benvenuto Costantino Recchioni, 19 July 1915 – 10 December 2001) was an Anglo-Italian anarchist, editor, author, engineer, photographer and the companion of Marie-Louise Berneri. Richards' founding of the paper ' ...

, also an active anarchist with many of the same groups and publications as she. In April 1945 she was one of the four editors of ''

'' which she had helped to found, who were tried for incitement to disaffection. Because her husband was a co-defendant, she was acquitted on a

legal technicality The term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition. In public perception, it typically re ...

that allows that a wife cannot conspire with her husband. When her three comrades were imprisoned, she took on the main responsibility for maintaining the paper into the postwar period. She attended the first post-war international anarchist conference in Paris, 1948, as a member of the British delegation. Her mother and sister (medical doctor Giliane Berneri) also attended as members of the Italian and French delegations. She received much praise for her

Freedom Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and Radical bookshops in the United Kingdom, bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom, founded in 1886. Alongside its many books and pamphlets, the group also runs a news and comment-based ...

pamphlet, the

anti-Stalinist The anti-Stalinist left encompasses various kinds of left-wing political movements that oppose Joseph Stalin, Stalinism, neo-Stalinism and the system of governance that Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1953. This ...

''Workers in Stalin's Russia'' (1944). Berneri was also one of the first people in Britain to promote the ideas of

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...

Death and legacy

In December 1948 Berneri gave birth at home but the baby died shortly afterwards. Berneri died 13 April 1949 at the age of 31 from a viral infection from childbirth. She was cremated at

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

and her ashes scattered in a north London park. Her friends formed the ''Marie Louise Berneri Memorial Committee'' and in 1949 published the book ''Marie Louise Berneri, 1918 – 1949: A Tribute.'' In 1950 the book ''Journey Through Utopia'' was published posthumously. In 1952 the memorial committee published ''Neither East Nor West'', a selection of Berneri's articles from ''

''.

George Woodcock George Woodcock (May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...

and Ivan Avakumović dedicated their biography of

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

, ''

The Anarchist Prince ''The Anarchist Prince'' is a biography of Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic l ...

'' (1950), to Marie-Louise Berneri, "a true disciple of Kropotkin."

Works

* ''Peter Kropotkin: His Federalist Ideas'' (1922) * ''Workers in Stalin's Russia'' (1945) * '' Journey Through Utopia'' (1950) * ''Neither East Nor West: Selected Writings 1939–1948'' (1952)

References

External links

*Se

from The Anarchist Encyclopedia at Recollection Books
Marie-Louise Berneri page at Libcom1949 tribute to marie-louise berneri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berneri, Marie-Louise 1918 births 1949 deaths 20th-century anarchists 20th-century Italian non-fiction writers 20th-century Italian women writers Anarcho-communists British anarchists British anti–World War II activists Infectious disease deaths in England Italian anarchists Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Italian expatriates in France Italian expatriates in Spain Italian women non-fiction writers People from Arezzo University of Paris alumni