I m *C [Reflections “No good ever came from law. on Anarchism - p. 2 All reforms have been the off spring of revolution. ^ s w i o n g —HENRY T. BUCKLE. in Sicily - p. 3 to the Editors - p. 4 ANARCHIST WEEKLY
P O N o , 44 October 31st, 1959 Threepence
Party been obliged to listen to its garrulous Douglas Jay advocate in CALLING ALL SOCIALISTS! print for all to read, that it should drop nationalisation and change its p is week we again return to the in a lot of thought and action if in Trade Unions and the Labour Party.needs are Public Relations men, name, but the reappraisals of some Pjbject of the Labour Party’s the meantime they want to make So that what with the policies it advertising experts and psychologists of the other top intellectuals is T^n post-mortem we hope no some progress along the road to advocates and the imaginary policies (not forgetting “experts” like Mr. far from reassuring. For instance, R will infer that we are either wards the free society. ___ attributed to it by the gutter press Robert McKenzie who was busily Mr. R. H. S. Crossman (sacked |sted in resuscitating the corpse. Mr. Bcvan was quite right when to chill the spines of its gullible, carving up the Party in last Sunday’sfrom his column by the Daily Mir ror who have also been rethinking J offering advice on how to win he declared that the defeat of the respectable, readers, the present Observerf so that apparently, it R xt elections. But we are in- generation’s picture of socialism is, could function better next time). their pro-Labour policy in the light Labour Party did not imply a final of a falling circulation), writing in fed in reaching the socialists rejection of socialism by the British understandably, more likeThe Pic More national advertising and less the 12 million people who ture of Dorian Gray than The Soul nationalisation; more Public Rela the New Statesman explains Lab electorate. Had the Labour Party our’s loss of votes in these terms: pLabour and among the 7 mil- campaigned on an uncompromisingof Man Under Socialism! tions Officers and less of the Public who didn't vote at all. And the socialist programme, it may well Ownership nonsense; more socialites In this era of Tory prosperity a p i e to try to remove illusions have lost more votes than it did. in the Party and fewer socialists! Labour opposition has to run very fast Socialism-via-the-ballot box is i t talready seems clear that the But that was not the problem, de Not only has the prostrate Labour W C—liaised on p. 3 [ now and not at election-time, Labour Party’s “re-thinking” will clared Mr. Bevan. The programme r though admittedly people are on which the Labour Party fought develop along two lines, at least. f. politically conscious, their the election could only be describedOn the one hand the fanatical ballot- gvity is pitifully taxed by senti- as similar to that of “pre-1914 liber boxers for whom winning elections 1 political loyalties, promises alism brought up to date”* has become an end in itself, on the < W o rk e rs of the W o rld . Jo f the parties on issues which other those who believe (until the eel strongly, or simply because But welcome as Mr. Bevan’s de next election?) that the raison d’etre TT is not easy to understand the Coloured men and women in a would bate the local Tory to claration is, the fact remains that for of the Labour Party is the imple X mentality which totally disrewhite comunity having to compete ^ the one vote they might not a very large section of the public, mentation of socialist policies, accor gards the most elementary needs offor jobs against each other as well Jinst him! socialism is represented by the ding to their understanding of socialan already under-privileged group.as white labour cannot really be ex pected in the difficult atmosphere of t Labour leaders have got a •We quote from his article published in ism, of course! Yet the 200 workers at a factory in re-thinking to do between the Paris weekly l'Express (Oct. 16), Derbyshire now on strike to force coloured prejudice to always prac Re-thinking for the former will tise principles of solidarity against fad the next elections—if they which we assume to be a translation of not involve re-reading the socialist the dismissal of seven coloured the N ew s of the W orld article of Oct. such odds. But it is only in the Ho win them—equally socialists texts of Blatchford, Morris and Cole. workers are preparing to hold out 11—which unfortunately we have mis exercise of these principles that pre umcM sts will need to engage laid. For them what the Labour Party until their “black brothers” are left jobless. No complaints have been judices will be broken down and made against the men, their onlycompetition between workers elimin fault is in being coloured. ated. Up until last week six coloured * * * WHICH WAY IN CUBA workers were employed by Glow Quite another story is reported Worm Boilers, Ltd., who had offer about white and coloured relation BRING the last three weeks, FIree- sellers out of work, while more seriously, one set of chains for another; at worst, ed an assurance to the rest of their ships from Birmingham where 30 feoM has published an account of the Rem Laws have resulted in a with they will simply have one more set of ^favhiuorj *n Cuba which at the be employees that no additional coldrivers and warehousemen came out drawal of investment in building, andofficials living off their backs. Further on strike because a coloured worker a t this year resulted in the over- 80 thousand builders are without jobs. more there are alternatives which are oured labour would be employed on |a t the Batista regime and its re A fifth reform said to be in the air con worth canvassing from a libertarian work for which white labour was was dismissed, not, it is stated, for nt by the government of Fidel cerns the armed forces, but the report angle. On a small scale, any voluntary available. According to an official reasons of colour but because his The report was prepared by the remarks that replacement of Batista co-operation between neighbouring far of the Company, a seventh was em temporary job had come to an end. nan Association of Cuba, and is officers by Castro officers is more appar mers, any effort to set up research units, ployed as no “alternative (white) Mohammed Ghulam is so popu ■M. concise story of the events ent than changes in Che set-up of the or implement sharing groups, indepen men were available.” lar among his workmates that their ely connected with the change forces. dent of state control can be regarded as The seven men (at time of writing) actions have brought an agreement eteminent, and the realisations of All these facts are only to be expected, a step towards freedom. On the larger, new government, as seen by the in looking at the results of a revolution long term scale the anarchist way is to are still officially employed and thefrom his employers to keep him pie at libertarian sympathies who are from an anarchist point of view. The try to propagate and, demonstrate the 200 men are back at work. But until the end of the year, when the ally living in Cuba, and directlycurrent issues are, how should they be need for a revolutionary social trans Jack Wathall, secretary at the fac Union will try to find him fresh k h d by the type of government. interpreted, and what should the anarformation, controlled by the people tory of the National Union of Stoves, work: — It is clear that from that point of view chist attitude to them and to the gov themselves. Yet it is impossible to Grates and General Metal Workers ‘Ghulam, who is called “Bill” by his great change for the better has taken ernment behind them be? From this advocate this at the same time as one said that: “Talks between union and workmates, had been employed as a tem place. For seven yean the people of point of view, it seems that the Libertar is urging the peasants to trust in the management can go on after our porary labourer for a year, but he was X u la have been subjected to concentrated ian Association are far more sympathetic state’s schemes for their betterment, the return, but all our members are given three weeks’ notice on Thursday. ; brutality, including arbitrary arrest, tor to the allegedly “•Revolutionary” gov state's instructions on how to increase He had become one of the most popular production, or the state's schemes for determined that the seven Coloured ture and execution, and burning of ernment than a thorough-going anarchist men here must go. Our return workers at the firm, even though he can houses Now this has been removed, approach would allow. Its report em educating them. not speak English, and Mr. Thomas although the Libertarian Association phasises that Castro and his immediate An objection to the above point of makes no difference to that view.” Budding, a Transport and General Work qualify this a* being "at least for the associates arc men of undoubted inte view is that from a peaceful position in It is even more depressing, if ers’ Union shop steward, said: ““We re present’ The army and police force grity, a fact which has resulted in an the British Welfare State, one cannot accounts are true, that the original gard him as one of the most helpful and are Mill in existence, with their security important clearing up of administration. fully appreciate the benefits which the six coloured men struck with the courteous of colleagues. You don't have branches under different names, and theIt cannot be slated too often, that the “‘revolutionary’’ government is bringing others when it was learned that the to ask him for help; he is always there tradition of tyranny is still sufficientlyanarchist case against giving power to to Cuba after the horrors of the last seventh, Sohan Lai, a Punjabi, was to give it.” strong that they could he used again to governments does not rest on the bad seven years. This is a quite valid point. taken on. Their own dismissal is Ghulam was a soldier for sixteen years support the Castro regime mi the ttune faith or motives of the potential govern On the other hand, the Welfare State now being demanded in spite ofand one of the strikers said: “He is a way as they were used by Batista, Fur ors, although these may be incidentally shows just how many reforms are first-rate man, who served his country thermore, "The suttr and capita lism, called into question. The fact is that brought about by factors quite irrelevant their show of “loyalty”. But what well. He has got a personal letter from with their traditional methods of the government corrupts social relationships. to the issues in which libertarians are a difficult position they were in. General Auchinleck to prove that. He wage system, private property, supply and The government’s land reform will not interested, rather than by the good works because had they not come out on endured the sufferings of a Japanese demand, prices, competition, and all themake the farmers one jot more indepen of slightly better governments. strike, the white workers would prisoner-of-war camp, and we feel we other means which make possible the ex dent or bee At best they will exchange Syndicalist . have resented them even more. owe him something",' ploitation of man by mats, are null in fnreo”. What it even mure ick. era it that there teal urn of authoritarian toriety will no doubt he touch vuunger under the new government than under Calling the old. It m * becoming ObvjflW JLh&i Oit CHINESE pnovruBi the American government wat being rouV f made vpurbed Sympathetic wanned from supporting Banua u a HOW HE ON Iff* result of the extreme deeawalueuun of hit regime, of which Use report tpeak* I Readers! Investments were being withheld There PROGRESS OF A DEFICIT! fore, while the Castro regime is many WEEK 43 tunc* preferable to that of Batista from the point of view of the absence of Deficit on Freedom £860 brutality, it cannot be considered a t in Contributions received £730 any way. "anap towards » libertarian goal”. DEFICIT £130 The report Uyt emphttit on several of October 16 to October 22 the reforms effected by die new govern Edinburgh: /.F . V6: Falmouth: R.W. I/-; ment. Of these, the equivalents of London: Anon, 9d.: Lc-ndna: J.Y/.A. 4/-; ““Rent Tribunals and compulsory put Lcadoa J.S.* 5/-: W olvcrhsm :-J.G.L* chase of landfot development have been 2/6: Columbus: R.A.B. 3/6: Geneva: R.LE. current in Britain rot many years, despite E1/4/0: Bristol: K.W. I/-; Ilford: M.H.S.* the absence of revolutions, It u interest 4/*: Chicago: T.B. 7/4: Orbiston: G.B. I/-. Total ... 2 14 7 ing t° note that of the others, at least Previously acknowledged ... 727 6 II two have had immediate wic effects which have brought hardship to sections 1959 TOTAL TO DATE ... £730 I 6 of the people. The laws converting the National Lottery into an Association for GIFT OF BOOKS: Hyda: F.A.G. I Savings and Housinghas put the ticket “ Sweet Dreamt, Comrade f I •Indicates regular contributor. 2 r r e if Some Reflections on Anarchism CINEMA ■pRIENDLY critics of anarchism often terms. A ‘perfect’ society, speaking aware of alternatives, than his opponents. argue that it is nothing more than generally, is not a static ideal, but rather Earlier I referred vaguely to “social Death on the Screei another belief in a millennium. Thus, a society in which the best methods are problems”. It is clear from a perusal VSTTHEN we think of censorship in anarchists are very much like certain employed for the solution (and avoidof political literature that not everyone series of war-films. ance) of social problems. What is the plays and films we tend to think of fundamentalist sects (so goes this criti recognises the same problems. What is sex first and then of political and social The English film is a comedM cism) in looking forward to a perfect best method for the solution of a social theme of death has to be lightfl a pressing problem to one person may prejudice. For a change take a look at society. The origins of millennial be problem is, of course, a function of the — i.e., distorted. Of the eight) not seem so to another. What is and death. Oddly enough, death in literature liefs are perhaps to be traced by the possibilities (technological, psychological, what -is not a problem (or important is usually extremely unconvincing. six take place off the screen!. psychologists, but the question of origins etc.) implicit in a society. The criterion problem) is, I think, a function of what Nearly every modern author except (is if it were a Greek tragedy)! need not concern us here. The point of what is best must always be practical other two—poison and drowna is valued. To the anarchist personal Hemingway and Lawrence has been able of the criticism is that belief in a perfect success (in the long run as well as the freedom is extremely valuable. To travesties. The suicide too is off society is delusive, that the world is much short run) in solving problems. Anar to make sexual intercourse credible, but others it is not. Hence, the anarchist the only ones I can think of who have and the prospective hanging is 1 more recalcitrant to human desires than chists have rightly avoided drawing up joke. Any intrusion of realityL will see grave problems where personal done the same for death are Dostoy the anarchists believe, and that a sensible complete blueprints for the future, since liberty is threatened, while others will wreck the illusion (so beautiful)! evsky, Nabokov and Graham Greene. up) that death is funny. person will recognize this fact and de this would imply a static millenniarism. not. This does not mean that personal It is of course almost impossible to die velop beliefs which correspond to what However, given the anarchist view of liberty is of no value to people other convincingly on the stage; indeed, if an There could be no better correcB is possible in the way of social improve what constitutes social problems, this than anarchists, but that other things are actor did so, half the audience would the Polish film. A young n a j ment. The anarchist refusal to vote and caution should not lead to an avoidanceof greater value to them. There is con faint and the other half would throw up. assassin has to shoot a Coo otherwise take part in political affairs of all blueprints however sketchy. In siderable agreement among normal civil official on the day the war But the cinema screen is the one place is viewed by these critics as at best a reply to the first question, then, it would ized human beings as to what things have little Polish town; first the wrong| manifestation of an unreasonably sensiseem that anarchism is necessarily bound where death could be really well done. are shot, then he falls in love, value. Disagreement is largely over the It hardly ever is. Consider the average tive moral sense and at worst the expres up with some belief in a millennium. ordering of these items. end he gets his man and is himsS sion of sheer irresponsibility. (Thus, war-film, western or thriller. Death is in the stomach. When the eldefifl^ Before replying to the second question, ‘beatniks' are commonly identified with While food, clothing, and shelter are usually instantaneous, and when it is noting official is shot, you see the? Is such a belief false? we must ask what anarchists). These criticisms raise a num highly valued by all, there is disagree it is either silent or punctuated only by holes in the back of his mackinjq ber of questions, among them, Is anar precisely is the content of the anarchist ment over the ranking of such items as the vital message the victim must give belief. Certainly it is not that such a he falls with his arms round the] chism necessarily millennarian? If so, love, status, freedom, knowledge, power, before the last, tactful, gasp. society is inevitable. Rather, it is that his murderer. And when the! is it for this reason unacceptable? What national prestige, private property, piety, Struggles, pain, screams, groans and all such a society is possible (and, being per shot you see his death-agony frtj S t » , is possible (and impossible) in society? art, order, tradition, etc. It is in his the other details that go to make our fect, desirable). As I have analysed the moment that he finds blood onh id, What is ‘reasonable’ moral sensitivity? vaiuational scale that the anarchist most exits as unpleasant as our entrances are concept of perfection, it would seem that to the last kick of his legs on ffi What is irresponsibility? differs from his opponents. It is because as tabu as sexual intercourse itself. The such a society is possible, unless it can bish dump where he screams out' The anarchist answer to the first ques of this that he will see problems where only convincing death I have seen in an be shown that men when confronted with others see none, andvice versa. It is Quite apart from the fantastic! tion is by no means obvious. The notion American film is the final one inBaby the direction and acting, why isl a problem inevitably choose those meth because of this that his ideal society will of millennium must be clarified. The Face Nelson; in an English one, Oliver’s Ashes and Diamonds is so shockij it’ ods of solution which are less successful differ from the ideal societies of his term, with its Christian apocalyptic con superb performance in Richard 111. impressive? Because it tells t h f l than others which are available. Since opponents, since both ends and means notations, is no doubt galling to many Otherwise death seems to be too Because death is solitary, nasjB there is no evidence for this, there is no are constitutive of one’s ‘millennial’ ex anarchists, yet the notion of a perfect eloquent, just and mighty for film pro brutish. Because we are used tefl reason for rejecting millenniarism (so pectations. It is because of this that he society, which is its core meaning, is I ducers and actors. death as the solution to the knottjT defined) as a false belief. The third is accused of having too much of a social think at the heart of anarchism. Cer question, What is possible (and impos These reflections are occasioned by an of the story, and Wajda sees it aisl tainly the anarchist must have before him conscience (or none at all). In fact, his interesting programme I saw recently at From childhood we see violence a n sible) in society? can only be answered‘irresponsibility’ lies simply in his dif a conception of a society which is in in the light of what are accepted as laws the Hampstead Playhouse. The two films on television and cinema screens,] » ferent scale of values. some sense perfect, in terms of which he of nature. What these laws are can best shown were Kind Hearts and Coronets often justified than not. Let’s hi criticises present institutions and prac be ascertained by a study of science, Some of the implications that I find andAshes and Diamonds. The subject of see it more often as Wajda sees] tices—and chooses his own courses of physical and social. in this analysis are that (1) Anarchism, each was the same—death; the treatment is. A human life is worth nothin] action. if it is to survive, must not lost sight of could hardly have been more different. Malraux, but nothing is worth a The anarchist, if he is to be called an ★ its ‘millenniarism’. (2) Anarchist criti On the one hand, perhaps the most per life. The truth of that would be! anarchist and thus set apart from other cism of existing society should be two fect and light-hearted of all the Ealing apparent if we were, more awarfl men, must never be a ‘piecemeal' critic of YWHAT I have said so far about anar- fold: (a) It should attack the irrational, comedies; on the other, a suitably grim the end of a human life involves*”" society. His criticisms must be governed ™ chist millenniarism would permit obscurantist approach to so many press third instalment of Andrzej Wajda’s biting Nl by a standard and directed toward us a to treat to some extent at least other ing social problems which is employed goal. Critics may point out that a schools of political thought as millen- by governments today. A good ground perfect society is in a sense a contradic arian as well. More must be said of the ing in the sciences is essential to the suc tion in terms. That is, perfection implies anarchist perfect society to distinguish cess of such an attack. (i>) It should completion, whereas society is in constant it from the perfect societies of, say, the attack the order of values of opposing The Lambeth Boys flux, constantly confronted by newCommunists or Tories. The motives of systems. To do this well the anarchist problems requiring new conceptions for political leaders may be suspect, but I should be clear about his own vaiua WE ARE THE LAMBETH task of changing it still remains, m tional system. He should also have a (heir solution. Society can never be think it is a mistake to impute evil BOYS. Curzon. Unfortunately this wonderful half q perfect, if it is to be society and not a motives to all politicians. Regardless of background in moral philosophy. Con film is in the same programme afl Platonic archetype. This criticism is motives, the public statements, of most temporary authors in this field have 'TpHIS is another film in the tradition hours of distasteful boredom in R well taken, though I think anarchists are reflective political leaders imply that they much to say about techniques for critic pioneered recently by the “Free Cousins”. This is advertised threq too well aware of the nature of society believe that a perfect society (so defined) ising and changing the moral attitudes Cinema” Group, in which the documen ingly as the first of the new wave] of others. (3) The anarchists should to be guilty of such a contradiction in is possible, provided they are elected. tary lay-out is used to investigate and French films. P.HI recognize that there are many who differ Certainly their followers believe this. portray human personality as it is ex The only difference between anarchism from them only slightly on moral and pressed through interesting social groups. practical questions. Those individuals and opposing doctrines at this stage in It goes a little way beyond some of the should not be ignored or castigated, but PRHDOM BOOKSHOP the discussion would be that the anar previous ones, in giving a more complete Letter chist keeps a comparatively open mind every effort should be made to establish picture of the lives of the Lambeth Boys, OPEN DAILY communication with them. After all, we regarding possible methods and is pre rather than concentrating on a particu (OfMM l i «um>—4.M fMB., I PUR Site) Anarchists and pared to reject traditional methods in may learn from them as they learn from lar aspect of their recreation, as did New Books . • . the light of scientific knowledge. He is; us. “Momma don’t allow” or of their work, Streetwalker 12/6 or should be, freer of dogma, more M. G. Anderson . as in “Every day except Christmas”. Elections TKe Brain-Waffeisg Machine One of its most effective techniques L Ruff 16/- CINCE misunderstanding seem to be , is that of contrast, with different situa Cbiftift Studies ^ widespread in the discussion of (#d') Asa Briggs 42/- tions coming into the picture through unobtrusive connecting links. The con voting and elections, I would like to clear TW W*f L©y$r John Her&ey 18/- up one contained in Nicolas Walter’s Reprints *nd R e v ie w trasts between the day’s work and the evening’s play, the cricket match between letter. As far as I am concerned, the CheepEditions « • • Lambeth and Mill Hill Public School; Labour Party is welcome to the votes of ] T f f dW* F. Garde Lore* 1IA Mankowitz, Osborne, and Nicolas I'm AN Right, Jeck How Can You Get means that we should all join the least office, he considered that to frigerators, and why not bombers surely is “made of sterner stuff”? ^Conservative Party, since it is mani the anti-Socialist spirit” (p.143). fest that it is the Party closest to the [present feelings of the electorate”. ★ PEOPLE AND IDEAS: rJ*HE more realistic view is to our I minds put forward by those ! who think the Labour Party should COVERSATIONS IN SICILY (move to the Left rather than to the Right—more realistic, let us hasten TN his book Christ Stopped at Eboli, gangster boss. He senses all around him ing police put out the usual story of a Me Front My Friends. Appalled and private feud, but Salvatore Camevale’s fascinated by what he had uncovered, to add. not because we think they, Carlo Levi sowed the seed of a new the influence of the “non-existent” Mafia, genre in Italian literature: the attempt and he describes the opposition to landmother, to the embarrassment of the he stayed in the fishing settlements will achieve socialism through the by Northern writers to give voice to the reform, mentioning in particular the authorities, insisted on giving evidence around Castellamare del Golfo collect ballot box, but because they will in silent and unheeded Southern poor.' TheEnglish-owned Duchy of Bronte (given at the inquest, and Levi tells, through ing people’s stories, and adopting the fact survive as a Party, albeit as an late Rocca Scotellaro took the attempt to Nelson by the King of Naples and her own words, of her transformation same method of direct reporting as the opposition—whereas the Crossman further in his Contadini del Sud, (Peas owned today By Nelson’s English heir,from a doting and resigned mother intoItalian writers. In his pages people and lay roads will inevitably leadants of the South) in which a number of who is named in the Italian edition, but a fierce and implacable fighter for retri speak for themselves, not only the fisher to the absorption of the Labour Lucanian peasants told their story directnot in the present volume). In the Ital bution and justice, not only for her deadmen and shepherds, the thieves, peddlers Party by the Tories and the Liberals, ly without the overt intrusion of the ian edition we are told that the owner’s son, but for the whole peasantry in and prostitutes of this vast underworld, author, and the enquiry was extended to agents have opposed agrarian reform whose struggle his death was one, often- but a Tuscan carabiniere who observes with the principled socialists, who “in all manners, legal and illegal”, in the repeated episode. In the commune of. that “Here there’s no co-operation be “would rather be right than be Sicily by Leonardo Sciascia’sLa Parroc- chie di Regalpetra, and Danilo Dolci’s English edition this becomes: “naturally Corleone (16,000 inhabitants), one mur tween the peasants themselves—one President”, either giving up the Banditi a Partinico which, after a chapter enough, the administration is making der took place every nine days betweenwould say that they all hate each other”, struggle or. as we hope, seeing that of statistics, put the reader face to face every possible effort to oppose land 're 1945 and 1948. In the province of a disillusioned schoolmaster, a priest ther is something, after all, in what with the confessions, the resentful and form.” Palermo the Mafia murdered thirty-eight who declares that “Fascism is dead, but the anarchists have been saying for pathetic outpourings of the ‘bandits’ of For centuries Sicily has been governed trade unionists between 1946 and 1956. its wisdom remains—whoever has Demo- these past hundred years! Partenico, in their own words. from abroad by a succession of foreign Volonta reports that there were 12 Mafia Christian papers works and whoever murders in Western Sicily in September Barbara Castle in the same issue Three such books on Sicily have now conquerors, and the periodic peasant hasn’t . . . well, it’s up to him,” a mafiosa and October alone last year. doctor who says “It’s a mistake to give of the New Statesmman concluded appeared in England; Carlo Levi’sWords revolts have been crushed by the feudal so many benefits to people of this soft are Stones (the Italian edition of which landowners with the aid of armies, armed that Gavin Maxwell went to Sicily to write —we’ll end up by having decently bred was reviewed in Freedom for 28/4/56), police, the terrorism of the Mafia and the life of the adored bandit Giuliano Labour's function is to civilise society people eating out of their hands,” and economically, so that men and women Danilo Dolci’s To Feed the Hungry, the blessing of the Church. The peas (who joins the Paladins and Saracens in are educated by their environment in awhich is an admirable but incomplete ants do not believe that the half-hearted the figures on the painted carts), and dida nun who refuses to take in the orphans sense of community and in a widertranslation of his more soberly titled governmental attempts at land reform so magnificently in hishook God Protect W Continued on p.4 vision of teH-iritemi than the pursuit tnrhiestra a Palermo, and Gavin Max introduced by the immediate post-war of a higher and higher individual wage. well's The Ten Pains of Death. government, and given a certain impetus by the fear of unrest following the land If we forget this lessen while learning Mr. Gollancz says on the jacket of seizures of 1948 and 1949, are genuine. others that must certainly be learnt—* Levi's book that he has in it "done for VOLINE t lessons of organisation, of presentation, Sicily what he did, a decade ago for I . . | Between the peasant population Nlneteen-Seventean (The Russian of the need for more political courage— Cboli”—a typical Gollanczism, since and the foreign government there has FREEDOM PRESS Revolution Betrayed) doth 12a fid. then the Labour Party will die from the always been an abyss or cleft; and it is The Unknown Revolution firstly the earlier book was not about here that (he Mafia lies hidden, To reach inside, and men of conscience and socialEboli and secondly since Levi himself (Kronstadt 1921, Ukraine 1911-21) the great expanses of the feudal estates, SELECTIONS FROM cloth 12a. 6d. vision will turn away from us. says "The reader must not expectto find the villages of the interior, the land, the in the present book as inChrist Stopped peasants, to get taxes paid, to squeeze ‘ FREEDOM ’ V. RICHARDS i What a vindicationfor the so- 0 Lboli, a first discovery of a dawning Lessons of the Spanish out the fat of the land so necessary for Vol. I, 1951,Mankind is One’ Revolution 6a called 'negative” attitude of theworld sod of iu dimensions . . • Lei Ww distant governments and for the life of Vol. 2, 1952,Postscript to Posterity anarchists, coming fromthe Labour seek rather for mote modest things , . » the nobles—for all this there have never Vol. 3, 1953,Colonialism on Trial PETER KROPOTKIN i been sufficient forces nor yet direct 4, 1954, Living on a Volcano The State:Its Historic Rdle la What he does in fact, is w give an The Wage System 3d. ?''Labour# Need for Surgery” {The account of three journeys in Sicily, ™ agreements; the whole life of the island Vol. 5, 1955,The ImmoralMoralists Observer 25/10/59), In this article Mr has been left to its own devices , , , " Vol. i, 1956,Oil and Troubled Revolutionary Government 3d. McKenzie proposes that anybody in the accompanies the return to hit native Waters Organised Vengeance village of Mr. Impellileri, lisa then Or left rather to the autonomous Called Justice 2d. L P who was troubled by principles pqwart of all the different forties which Vol. 7, 1957, Year One—Sputnik should leave the Party and join a “new Mayor of New York, an event which Era E. A. GUTKEMD i I I P" in which “there is certainly a takes on for tile villagers aspects of the batten onto the poor, the rural guards, Vol. I, 1951,Socialism In a The Expandint Environment la. 6d. the land agents, the priests, the police, place” for those “who in the American second coming of Christ. He tails of Wheelchair P. A. RIDLEY i phrase 'would rather be right than be the first successful strike by the sulphur the excise officers, while the banditi who o*Oh volume paper 7*. 4d. The Roman Catholic Church Pietident’." Having soourpd the Party miners of the interior, andof his visit begin as symbols of the peasants' hope- cloth 10*. 6d, and the Modern Age 2d. clean of any principledelements n lets blind revolt, frequently end at the to the mine-owner, a shifty and sinister fho paper edition of the Selection! le ★ could then concern itself with (he real •gents of the Mafia, terrorising the pour available to readers FREEDOM of issues. “Politics will bt about how we character whose attitude is a mixture of Ifarli-Lw n Ecreeri Memorial that of a slave-owner in the Roman in the universal protection racket which at 01- a copy should share between us (be burdens and is Sicily's social life. Levi's most telling C omtnfttoe publication! I benefits of (he 'mixed economy plus Empire and that of a Sicilian Chicago GEORGE WOODCOCK i Marie-Louise Berneri, 1918-1949: Welfare State' which clearly reflects lha pages are those describing the life and New Life to the Land fid. A Tribute doth 5a basic consensus among us in domestic •WORDS ARE STONES by Carlo Leri, death of Salvatore Carnevale, a young Homes or Hovels7 6d. Journey Through Utopia affairs The proposals (or a capital Trans by Angus Davidson (fSoUunez peasant front one of West Sicily's rural Railways and Society 3d. doth 18s. (U.S.A. S3) gains tax is exactly the sort of issue (16s.). sliuns who tried to organisea branch of which illuminates the real difference TO l-LED THE HUNGRY by Danilo tile peasants' union. He was ambushed JOHN HE WET BON i 27, Red lion Street, between the parties in domestic affairs". Dolci. Dans, by P D. Cummins and murdered by the Mafia with the Ill-Health,Poverty and the State Mow right he is! But on what social (MacGibbon 4 Kcc, 30# V cloth 2i. 6d., paper D. London, W.C. I. grounds does he suggest that this state THE TEN PAINS OF DEATH by following day the theft of forty hens for of affairs should be perpetuated? Gavin Maxwell(Longrainx, JQ».) the traditional banquet." The Investigat LETTERS TO THE EDITORS why I don’t belong to any. I simply prefer to vote for the least smelly of S u f f e r , them because I think a Government can at times do good (Health Service, Pen Town and Cou n try sions) and be prevented from doing someYou Little Brats ll evil (Suez, H-Bombs) by so-called demo must invent one for yourself, should be i * 4 f D ear C omrades , was a small place. The modern town cratic pressure. is a vast amorphous mass without a cen lived with the maximum opportunities for 1RVERY young babe-in-arms should b J Nicolas Walter seems to me to be tre of any kind. The individual isexercise of one's body in the fresh air. There are some M.P.s who have done cooing with delight authe tact th&fl attacking an “Aunt Sally” of his own It should be lived with one's fellowmen, more good than harm—Silverman, the Roman Catholic Pax Conferencehad ‘M construction. I have never met any of swamped in it. “Nature” is a “hurrah word” to Mr. not in solitude. There should be plenty Castle, Brockway, Jenkins, Nicolson, just passed resolutions “asking for morel these "pastoralist anarchists' after ten of space around one. Space is necessary Hyde—and if my vote can help to study of the moral issues involved i n years in the movement. Where have Walter, not to me. It has sentimental associations, but that is something that for freedom. One of the reasons why strengthen them I will use it. Otherwise nuclear war” (The Universe, Oct. 23)1 they been hiding all this time? All the modern society seems to be getting more I won’t. But I certainly won’t forgo the One of the resolutions, to be put lo th® anarchists that I have ever met believe cannot be helped, it is still- the only available word in this context. During and, more authoritarian is that the popu only direct way I have of influencingJesuit General at the Ecumenical Council! that town and country should balance lation is increasing so fast. Vast crowds my rulers. In the meantime I try to asks for “intensive study of nucleaf war’] each other. I've never encountered anymy childhood I was evacuated to the country, where 1 lived in conditions ofof people can no longer be left to manage keep up personal pressure on my Labour by theologians and discussion in Don)!-! one who wanted to do away with towns, their own affairs, their lives have to be friends and to smuggle anarchist pam nican and Jesuit publications. “In this] nor was this the desire of William Mor barbarism and squalor on the level of the Ancient Britons, or not much above increasingly regulated or chaos results. phlets into the Transport House Book way it is hoped that more theologians will] ris, who wanted to decentralise London, They get in each other’s way, they tread shop. Every little helps. be enabled to inform themselves of the, and break it up with belts of woodland it. This was partly the fault of the war, but at any rate 1 shall never idealise on each other’s toes. Authority has to Yours, issues at stake and be able to give a l and country, as one can read in “News N icolas Walter . lead to priests and laymen now at a loss 1 from Nowhere”. To desire to reduce the country life. I hated it then, but subse step in more and more. quently I had a dose of life in subtopia. for information”. sprawl of towns is not the same as desir I feel strongly about this because I [*Not quite, in fact l E.C. reports that I did not hate it, it merely depressed mecan see this'process going on all round ing to abolish them. in the last paragraph of his letter heWe should all applaud this progress! to an almost suicidal level. Which is me. There is a great danger that the Nicolas Walter himself writes, "I think refers to “active members of the candiive step. Of course we could have given! worse, to hate something energetically or whole world will become a subtopia. them the information years ago if thejj a limitation on scale essential. No single to lose all one’s energy in a sort of dead, This is really more of a menace than the date's Party" and not "astute" Free as town should be too large, as London dom makes him say\ We apologise tohad “only arsked” but, who knows, theyf flat sense of pointlessness? In Devon H-Bomb, and there does not seem to be might, given time, find it out themselves^ has been for fifty years.” This is what and Wales, where 1 was dumped during contributors who suffer at the hands of anything that can stop this trend, or any Rumour has it that the late Pope kicketH most anarchists and near-anarchists have the war, there were at least moors and sign of a counter-current or counter- our proof readers. We are appealing to himself to death for forgetting to aslij always believed.' The trouble is though mountains and woods, and vast emptytrend. Mr. Walter doesn’t want subtopia them to mend their ways, and give special that London is not merely too large, it is beaches, deserted because of the war of any more than I do, but by creating the attention to E.C.s future contributions Jesus about the problem when he appear] as well as Nicolas Walter's.—Editors ]. still growing. Mr. Walter accuses me of course. In subtopia there is nothing but myth of the “pastoralist-anarchist” he ed in a vision. writing “with my tongue in my cheek” streets and streets of little houses, with is doing his little bit to bring it into Another thing that came out of this] that London will absorb Southern Eng an occasional recreation ground or belt being. Conference, held at Hawkesyard, Staffs.,4 land within a century. All I can say isof trees. In the country one could at Buxted, Sussex, Oct. 25 th. That One Vote! was the affirmation that every individualj that he has never been in Southern least escape into the wild sometimes. In A rthur W. U loth . was duty bound to “inform his conE England, or that he is blind. Every D ear F riends, the suburb there was no escape. Re Nicolas Walters’ letter Jast week. science” on the matter of war. This] where you go you see new houses spread might not seem to be a very useful excrF ing, more and more fields being swal With the development of electricity Voting by Smell t Supposing I knew for certain that my the technical necessity of the vast indus one vote would tip the balance in favour cise since the late Pope said, at Xmall lowed up. London spreads down from 1956, that “a Catholic citizen cannot in ] the North, Brighton comes up from the trial town has been reduced. Tilings D ear Friends, of my local (L.P.) M.P., and also knew could be decentralised much more than voke his own conscience in order to' rd I From Ernie Crosswell’s Iettefr (assum that this one M.P. would give the L.P. South, or spreads its tentacles along the fuse to serve and fulfil those duties thl they are being. This decentralising tening that it got through the F reedom an absolute majority of one in Parlia m coast to link up with other seaside towns. law imposes”—he was defending ‘thd Intermediate villages and small towns dency should lead ideally to a lot ofpatent misprinting process unscathed)* ment. In other words, I know that my i®. small towns, with a thriving communal one might imagine that I said the Labour vote was going to be 100 per cent, moral right of a Catholic nation to taktej 1 j* also develop little subtopias of their own, “defensive precautions” (we call life, emphatically not to a sort of wishy- Party was absolutely splendid. But I ‘effective’—am I justified, as a professed j * 1 as I saw from the train yesterday when H-bombs) and the duty of every Catho^ washy sprawl, a poor man’s garden city, didn’t: in factI agreed that Freedom ’s anarchist, in forcing half the population travelling to Sussex on the Victoria- lie to obey orders. i jy Uckfield line, which crosses a fairly re a state of affairs that is neither town nor arguments were “more or less just”, and to pay up more of their hard-earned mote part of the South. country but possesses the vices of both. I am fully aware that the cupboards of money to old age pensioners if they Archbishop Roberts S.J., who took afl (In subtopia there is- no sense of space p p I think perhaps Mr. Waiter would be Transport House conceal a fine assort don’t want to? To pay other people’s prominent part in the Pax proceeding! and surprise and possibility, yet, despite doctor’s bills, etc.? This is indeed a more inclined to agree with me if I ment of pretty smelly skeletons, some of said that he had assured the Ecumenicjjl f 'a the vast crowd living there, one can be the smelliest of which appear in the curious interpretation of “voluntary Council commissioners that he did nol! .wrote that “in a hundred years the whole as lonely as in the heart of the hills). of southern England will be one vast SWF pamphlet How Labour Governed.association of individuals” ! suggest “authoritative pronouncement® H A natural” life, .1 am sorry Mr. Mine, etc., suburb”. Athens was all very fine. It I don’t suffer from anosmia. Nor do which might only disturb good faithj Walter, if you want a better word you I have “faith” in any party, which is London, 14. N . G raham C arey . court rebellion or disobedience, brealT under the weight of vested, interests® .where the whole . national economy lisl geared to war” ; all he wantdU to do w a a Celere (riot squads). 181 people were to “Educate Catholic leaders in a sphere! accused of rioting and given sentences hitherto neglected...” Conversations in Sicily v varying from fifteen days to twenty-six Suffer Little Children? W Continued from p. 3 procuresses, quack-doctors, magicians course of being tortured for a confession, months. of Communists and “prays to God that and spicciafaccende (letter writers and his spine was fractured and he was “Since 1950, we’ve not only ceased to Sufferin’ C atsl! he will make all Communists die.” form-fillers for the illiterate), remind crippled for life. He was then continu advance, we’ve gone right back. Groups Ernie Crosswell . ■ Maxwell’s stories of hatred, corrup the reader forcibly of the interviews ally arrested for begging. have sprung up in the villages whose tion, filth and hunger are relieved by his which Henry Mayhew collected in early “ ‘It’s not may fault I’m a beggar, it’s purpose is to terrorise the peasants into descriptions of the year’s three main yours,’ I said. ‘I can’t even standvoting for them by holding the threat of F ootnote :— The Universe also carried! Victorian London, and the pathetic unemployment over their heads.” harvests' of the olives, grapes and grain, ignorance which some of the interviews without my crutches. Give me a pension the following short notice: celebrated by customs which must go and I’ll stop begging.’ “That’s not a And Santo S. a sharecropper in an reveal is like that of the forsaken chil other area who inspired his fellow vil ARMY DEDICATED back beyond even the earliest of the matter for the courts—you must apply dren that Mayhew questioned. There to the government if you want a pen lagers to resist the extortions of the land country’s wave after wave of invaders, The Irish Army has been dedicated te are Sicilian children who have never seen sion,’ they said. It would give the tour lord, succeeded for one year only in the Carthaginians and Greeks. a wheel and who see their first bed when ists a bad impression if they saw people Our Lady in ceremonies at military establishing the legal share of the crop. churches all over the country. they graduate to prison. There are begging in the Via Liberty, they said.” But now, “I’m too weak—1’m so utterly ★ adults who think that the sun is lesus ★ alone. . . . Time and again the sight of rjO JLCI’S book is a sociological en and the moon is the Virgin Mary, people the police or the carabiniere threw them quiry. He says in his preface that who think that Mussolini still rules and CALVATORE G. gives an account of into such a panic that they went to the it is meant to “pose a problem in order that Russia is a little island of redskins. ^ the peasant land seizures: owner and said: ‘It’s Santo who’s to that it may be resolved". It is a “small Gandolfo, a shepherd of thirteen: If I “In 1947, when Fausto Gullo was Min blame—he pushes us on in spite of our MEETIN GS AND contribution to the initial stages of a could choose, I’d live amongst men, ister of Agriculture, and the peasants selves*.” study on the unemployed in the province not animals. began to take possession of uncultivated Educate, Organise, Emancipate. The ANNOUNCEMENTS of Palermo” : Leonardo: I wouldn’t. I’d rather stay or badly cultivated land, the occupation with my flocks. I love my sheep. was carried out peacefully and thecara old IWW slogan applies with tremendous “Its object is to shed light on the con force to the needs of the Sicilians. The LONDON ANARCHIST ditions under which the totally unemGandolfo: I’ve never heard of America. binieri came along to protect the conta- ployed, the partially unemployed and theLeonardo and Vincenzo: We have, but dini from the Mafia. The fiefs of Licia, ‘movement’, which in this context usually GROUP and MALATESTA ‘self-employed’(ix. those who are carry we don’t know what it is. Gibilcanna and Balatelli became co implies the Peasant Unions organised by ing on some activity, legal or otherwise, Gandolfo: I’ve heard tell of the Pope, operatives, and were worked collectively the Communist or Socialist parties, DEBATING SOCIETY which cannot be called work in the strict too, but what sort of thing is it? until 1952. The owner of these three means for the adherents more than a sense of the word) exist. . . If by work Another Vincenzo also preferred his fiefs immediately brought hn action movement, it means a rebirth (the phrase Meetings now held at we mean an activity which is of use, not animals. (He was interviewed in prison, against the Peasants’ Co-operative. In used by one of Dolci’s witnesses), giving The White Bear (Lounge Bar) 1951, as he was unable to evict the peas only to the individual but to the whole having been sentenced to four years for men courage in the face of intimidation community, then that of the executioner, ants, he had a deed of gift drawn up Lisle Street, W.C.2. (Leicester Square) picking two bunches of herbs in some and the threat of murder, self-respect, the jeudataria (owner of a feudal fief), under which fifteen persons were to hold Every Sunday, 7.30 p.m. the prostitute, certainly cannot be said to one’s field). two of the fiefs in perpetuity. By means and a hunger for education and co come within this category. The prosti “I understand much more about cows of this deed of gift, he took the land operation. This comes out with tremen NOV. 1st.—Ian Leslie on tute, however, does at least offer her and sheep and goats than 1 do aboutaway from the co-operatives, and so dous force in the first of the testimonies, LAW AND ORDER own body, whereas the landowner merelyChristians. When I look after a cow forced ninety-two men and their familiesthat of Gino O., the abandoned child lives on the labour of others ...” properly, she pays me back, she gives me to quit the estates. pick-pocket who graduated from reform He begins with a few pages of statis milk; I’m good to her and so she's good “In 1950, we occupied the fief of S. atory, prison and exile, to being secretary tics, and follows this with about 250 to me. But Christians aren’t good to Maria del Bosco. It took us just under of the Agricultural Workers’ Federation a week. The first day was a real holi pages of the personal stories of the me; instead of helping me, they do me —and more prison. It emerges too from witnesses', “none of them altered or harm. I know what to do when I'm day; laughing and calling to one another, W H A T ABOUT the peasants trooped out of their villages, the testimony of Angelo P. (omitted ouched up in any way”, and concludeswith animals, but with Christians—no . . . 1 hardly ever saw my father—he men, women, girls, children, mothers from the English edition) whose eyes with the answers given to the following was either away in the army or away in carrying their babies, and joined forceswere opened by an anarchist fellow- TH A T NEW {uestions: When you are unemployed, prison, and when (hey let him out, he with one another till they formed a pro prisoner to the world of literature and tow do you manage to live? Do you wasn't allowed to leave the village . . , cession a kilometre long. As soon as we the urge to teach others. And it is illus hink it is God’s will that you are un- I’ve never had any real friends except set foot on the land, we set to work to trated in another testimony (also un READER! mployed? What do you think that the the lamb and the kid...” clear it of stones . . . and began to hoe. happily omitted from the English edi arious political parties in Italy ought Rosurio T. who like hundreds of others The land hasn’t been cultivated for 60 years. The vijlagers from Bisacquino. tion), that of Franco P., tractor-driver on | do to get rid of unemployment? Is ekes out a Jiving gathering frogs, snails Ihe co-operative farm of Pina degli and wild herbs for sale, tells of his feel Contessa Entlllloa, and Giuliana formed he ballot secret? What do you think themselves into three separate groups, Albanesi: ou and each of us should do to get rid ings: and the air resounded with the gay music “True, our town is poor . . . but the FREEDOM f unemployment? “While I'm watching the different of accordion und guitars—it was just like people are not resigned to such a life, His statistics are appalling enough, creatures in the woods I often think the feast-day of a patron saint. While because they realise it is not just. For The Anarchist Weekly 'orty-seven per cent, of theM million they’re no different from us. We all eat we men hoed, boys and girls and womenwo have had sixty, seventy years of Postal Subscription Ratos i each other up—you do, I do . . . I can't too, cleared uway the stones. We sang struggle in which we had a great teacher icilians are destitute or semi-destitute, tell you how bad it made me feel the 12 menthi IV- (U.S.A. $].M) here is the highest infantile mortality in as we worked, the children played to Nicola Barbato, whom the Mafia wanted 6 monthi 9/6 (U.S.A. $1.50) first time 1 took the scissors to a frog. gether, and our banners which we’d fas to murder more than once . . j We go on urope. In one quarter of the city there But last yead I killed 150 kilos of frogs. 3 menthi 5/- (U.S.A. $0.76) tened to the trees made a brave show of fighting . . . They are taking away our Special Subscription Ratos for 2 re eight people to a room, four to a The rich who keep all their land and colour. Those who had bread shared it land, they have massacred us at the td, less than half the children have ever money for themselves, who never spare 12 menthi 29/- (U.S.A. $4.50 whh those who had none—and manyPortella della Ginestra, they have arrested 6 menthi 14/6 (U.SJL $2.25 sen to school. The worst of Palermo's us a thought, and who let us starve to had none. Next day, we were joined by death—they ought to dream at night of people and murdered Damiano Lo CktflU, P.O.'s and Monay Ord*rt ch®«Jd xes and acres of slums lies, appropri- still more peasants ...” Greco, and nothing is left in Piana ex b« mada out to FREEDOM PRESS,---- ti | basket of heads—not frog's heads, but On the third day, ihe alleged ring ely between the Cathedral and the the heads of all the men and women cept eyes to weep with. This is the price «/c Payoa, and addraw d to tko pabltata? dace of justice. But what gives the they've killed—yes they ought to dream leaders were arrested and the protesting we pay for being men.” FREEDOM PRESS crowds dispersed under threat of macti- Over the entrance to the quarter of >ok its impact in the mind of the reader of all the eyes in all those faces watching 27 Red Lion Street e the tesumonies which Dolci «and his and watching them...” ine-gun fire, On the fourth day the Palermo known as the pozzo della niorte iends have gathered. These verbal Nicolo A , an unemployed man was village was surrounded by carabinieri are scrawled the words: ‘You have heard London,W .C .I. England itobiographiea of jailbirds, pickpockets, seized by the police on suspicion of and on the following day the crowdsof Siberia? Come and look at us. Tel.: Chancery **44 wkers, rag-collectors, organ-grinders, being concerned with banditry. In thewere fined on by thecarabinieri and the KSS
