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45

From \Iisfit to Anarchist: The impact of the on Captain J.R. White

David Convery*

Comrades of Cataluiia! In your hour of trial when you hold the barricades not only for yourselves but for us all, I greet you with the voice of revolutionary lreland, smothered awhile but destined to regain its strength. I hold myselJ'honoured to be among you, to serve if I can in whatever capaciQ I can be most useful.l Captain J.R. White, ll November 1936

Introduction Captain James Robert White (1879-1946), commonly referred to as Jack, appears in many publications as the man who conceived of, and then subsequently trained, the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) in I 9 I 3. Born into an upper-class family in Broughshane, County Antrim, White served as an officer in the British Army and received a Distinguished Service Order for his role in the South African (Boer) War, I 899- 1902. While later serving as aide-de-camp to his father, the Governor of Gibraltar, White had an epiphany - which he termed an 'inner revolution'- and abandoned his privileged upbringing to embark on a voyage of self-discovery, which, in many ways, he would remain on until the day he died. After first travelling and working in Bohemia and Canada, he joined a in the Cotswolds which was inspired by the ascetic and pacifist philosophy of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. White was not entirely convinced by Tolstoy, however, and left to plot his own course as a champion of the rights of the individual to complete spiritual and personal freedom. Aniving in Dublin during the l9l3 Lockout, White readily identified with the workers' cause, came under the influence of James Connolly, and earned his brief appearance in the history books, from which he then suddenly disappears. Misrtt, his memoir published in 1930, continues the narrative to 1916 and then frustratingly stops.2 Of his subsequent life, scholars have had to rely mainly on snippets of information gleaned from left-wing activists in the 1930s and a few brief, relatively obscure writings by White. It is from these that his second reputation as an icon among Irish anarchists has been built, inspiring numerous short biographies of his life.3 All of these biographers agree that White left lreland to assist in the anti-fascist struggle in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), and while there became influenced by the ideas of . After departing Spain for London, he engaged in solidarity work for the Spanish anarchist trade union centre, the CNT (Confederaci6n Nacional del Trabajo - National Confederation of Labour) and its radical wing the FAI (Federaci6n Anarquista lbdrica - Iberian Anarchist Federation). The details, however, are vague. None of these biographies mention the dates when he arrived in and departed from Spain, for instance. In the accounts by Alan MacSim6in, Jason Brannigan and Dave Negation, White is presented as being a member of the International Brigades; while in those by Andrew Boyd, MAirtin O Cathriin, Kevin Doyle and Phil Meyler, he is said to have been a member of a Red Cross ambulance crew sent to Spain.a The only book-length study of White, Leo Keohane's Captain Jack White: Imperialism, Anarchism & the lrish Citizen Army (2014), is strong on White's life until the early 1920s, adding further detail and analysis to the outline presented in Misfit, However, only one of the sixteen chapters of this work is devoted to White's life between 1932 and his death in 1946; 46 sAorHAR 40 and in this very little is said about Spain and his solidarity work in Britain thereafter.s Keohane, drawing upon a report in the Manchester Guqrdian and a letter which White wrote in October I 939, recognises that White travelled to Spain in October 1936 as an administrator of a British Medical Unit, although he suggests that 'it is unlikely he was not involved militarily in some way.'6 Despite the limited material on Spain, Keohane is particularly noteworthy for being the only biographer to offer a sustained appraisal of White as an anarchist.T This article will begin by discussing the reminiscences ofAlbert Meltzer, a British anarchist who knew White from his work in the Spanish solidarity campaigns in London in 1937.It will then utilise a range of hitherto neglected primary sources which not only contradict Meltzer's accounts but also further illuminate White's activities during this period, offering an insight into the evolution of his political beliefs. The article concludes with a consideration of the nature and extent of White's conversion to anarchism.

Captain White in Spain Albert Meltzer's reminiscences of White, detailed in a number of his writings, have been one of the main sources of information for White's experiences in Spain and his life as an anarchist activist thereafter. The most accessible of these is Meltzer's biographical essay on White, titled 'From Loyalism to Anarchism', and written as his introduction to the 1980 reprint of White's pamphlet, The Meaning o.f Anarchisnr.8 Based on the similarity in language and content, plus the accessibility of this pamphlet compared to other sources on White, it is likely to have been the main source for a number of secondary accounts of White's time in Spain, including those by Brannigan, MacSim6in and Negation discussed above.e Meltzer also discussed White in The Anarchists in London 1935-t955 (1916) and I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels: Sixty Years oJ' Commonplace Life and Anarchist Agitation (1996).r0All three accounts present a similar outline of White's role in Spain, if differing slightly in detail. ln I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels, Meltzer claimed that White was a Communist Party sympathiser and 'went to Spain to train and lead the largely Old IRA column in the Connolly section of the International Brigade'.rr According to this account, 'White became totally disillusioned with the Communist Party in Spain, and also with the cause of Irish nationalism [...] He supported the CNT-FAI and the "irresponsibles" - those who would not agree to the compromises the libertarian movement had officially made and were prepared to resist Communist domination by force.'r2 In'From Loyalism to Anarchism',Meltzer recalled that what White 'could not stomach was the fact that the lrish, like the rest of the International Brigade, were being increasingly manipulated by the Communist Party. He had never accepted the CP; he had just not seen an alternative. Now he saw an alternative.'r3 Meltzer wrongly labels Frank Ryan - the de facto leader of the Irish in the Intemational Brigades - as 'the CP's top man' when Ryan was not even a member of the party, and alleges that White clashed with Ryan 'who accused White of being a "Trotskyite" and a traitor'. White then 'offered his services to the CNT, relinquishing his International Brigade command.'ra In The Anarchists in London, Meltzer states that White 'took a mixed brigade of Republicans, Socialists and Communists to Spain.' Howeveq Meltzer continues:

[White] shortly became extremely critical olCommunist Party tactics in Spain, from the military point of view [...] as well as fronr the political. When the C.N.T. asked him to disband the lrish Brigade, as a 'thin end olthe wedge' against the other Intemational Brigades, which served no ultimately useful purpose and were becoming a loaded propaganda weapon, he did so; and retumed to England to speak at meetings on behalfofthe Spanish struggle.rs

The problem with Meltzer's accounts is that most of what they allege is false. Meltzer was only l7 years old when he knew White. It appears that half-remembered stories White may have told him in person were conflated decades later with snippets of information on the Irish in the Spanish Civil uo uolslcep aql uo uopuo.I ol lues uaeq osle peq sgodeJ snoJeunu 'eull slql .{g r".'ltun puoces oql uo uIBdS uI qslllJgJo luenbesqns Jleql pelceJJe,(lqeqord pue'{ro^\ Ieclpetu Io aouelnqtue Ieuuosrad ue uortsonb eql uo ,.,(lleroueS ssrlrroqlne qsruEds aql peqJuslp, llun ecuelnqurv qsqtocs pel€lerun slseSSns eqJ 'EuolecJeg qlr,ry\ polercosse louuosred ,(q ueleUapun Sullool Jo suoquEells leql Uoder 'srJed pepueqslp se,ry\ eql os pue sellddns ol ue^rJp ueql ara,r serlddns lecrporu eql Uel rI eloJeq llun ol (uopuol ul(ssBqurg I{sIuEdS oql uorJ ,(1uo tnq leuuosJod oJotu lue,t\ lou plp ,(eql teqt lceJlo eql 'eSEq B JoJ 01 eluecllv ol Se'44 puocas pa6receJ Se1y1 (uoIlBtUIluI IeqJeA, 'SIql JeUe uoos lnocs lues llun eqlJo p€eq uesoqs eql puB 'lqSnoq serlddns 'pelceles ere,ry\ Ieuuosred 'podar eql 01 SuIplosJV'llun e seluls '9961 reque'to51 Iecrpeu /(eu e roJ slred ul(ssequrg qsIuBdS aql fq epeul selYr lsonbol leql o1 srBsdd€ erel{I t pelEp 'SVIAIS eql tuo{ uoder uerp v'suouuSelle s.ellq^\ uI qlrul euos eq ,,.',(1tun roplry\ e ol /qlu,{olJo esues 3Jo lno spuel{ pue pocBJ e^eq pu€.1I peleecuoc re^eu' d, seperuocJo,&rlrlsoq eq] dl uorlBlosr lngured eceJ L leql aqlJo peq eq t€ql Sururrelc'fued eqlgo drqsrequeur slq pouuuuoc rellel 8ul^\olloJ s(ellql[ rz'llun .,(ye4 eqlJo drqsrequeur Jolerlsrur111pe sB luaululodde srq o1 peer8e e^eq lou plno,,lr eq lstunuuloJ eI{ pBt{ pelBls eq 'aroluoqlJnC.'radEd uo u't\op B qrns tnd parldur s.etlq^\Jo u/(ou{ }uql ^\eIA pesserdxe peq o] ]ug^r tou prp [ll€]nleu lnq, 'lrun eql lue,/rt lou plp ,(eql teqt uoluldo eql .salllJoqlnv .pe^rocor 'ecuepl^e qsruedS, eql uorlBruroJur I€q.re^ uo lBt{l 're^e1(oq 'peluruuoc eH lnoqll.&\ suollBSsllB s.31lq^\ ole8llse^ul lou plnoc eq leq] pellIlslc uBBroI [ eJuereJJelul lslunluluo3 Jo "{ldel otl} poppe eH 'lno Surqilue l{3norq ,rq u1 o,..Furd or{t ur sem suoqsenb .(ue esrer ol eceld }qBIJ leql pemopeqseloJ puE B eq ol peq,' 13r ,qrud ]srunr.uruoJ eql IUo{ uorslndxe ,(ru ..uollcEg lslunluruoc oILUg, 'uopuo'I uI Sullee., e uI ir.* rq, leql [.. ] o.,, ot prES pueqsnq s.ou1r\org [ars] 1eqos1 'eu/,oorg slql uI 'erolruequnC leql Burturelc ,(q ',tre6 ]srunr.utuo3 eqlJo drqsrequeu slq serldull allql(\ reDel

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The Spanish Authorities in Catalonia also see through all this incompetency & waste, in refusing to allow anolher unit permission to go out. the [slc] advance party of the 2nd unit under Capt. White was in Barcelona when a cable was received from London to say that the 2nd Unit would not go. all [src] unifoms equipment etc had been ordered & all personel [sic] chosen.r5

In a later confidential report, prominent members of the first unit, Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit and Aileen Palmel alleged that:

After its advance-guard and leaders had been seen and had explained their airns, which included a possible transference of the unit to the F.A.l. and the certain desertion of the leader, Captain White, who claimed to be a member of the Irish Party, to the armed forces after 2 months, it was decided to wire London asking them to withold [src] the second unit. (When slightly drunk, Captain White said, 'l am frankly using the unit as a stalking- horse, until I find the kind ofjob to suit me' [...]) In order not to aggravate anti-foreign feeling, the unit's cancellation was requested and obtained.:6

It is not clear who this report was sent to, though the fact that it was written in English and is located in the files on the International Brigades in Moscow, suggests that it was probably originally sent to the Communist Party of Great Britain in London. This report certainly lends credence to White's impression regarding Sinclair-Loutit's role in the cancellation of the second unit. Unfortunately, the available evidence does not allow for a detailed image of the nature and extent of White's relationship with the anarchists in Catalonia, nor how that relationship began. However, it is clear that it was quite friendly, as evidenced not only by his introduction to Souchy - one of the leading anarchists internationally - but by the fact that an article by him was published in the CNT's English-language bulletin on I I November 1936.17 In it, a clearly-impressed White highlights the 'revolutionary honour and revolutionary order'among the Catalan workers, noting particularly, as George Orwell would also do, their refusal to accept tips:

Here the refusal ofanything in excess ofthe exact bill or fee is as invariable as the courtesy with which it is done. This very courtesy makes one feel mean for having offered it, a benighted bourgeois, automatically continuing bourgeois habits and unable to grasp the self-respect ofthe workers now they are so largely in control. My first day taught me my lesson. I never offend now.:8

White presents his readers with a synopsis of the l9l6 Easter Rising, 'now thought of as purely a national one'in which the central role of the 'intemational socialist'James Connolly is 'conveniently forgotten'. He suggests that in Catalonia, however, 'the union of the working class and nation starts off under better auspices than were possible in Ireland.'Not only was this because 'the internal socialist reconstruction goes hand in hand with the armed fight against Spanish and international fascism', but also because they were in 'advance of us in dealing with the clerico-fascist menace. Again and again in Ireland the revolutionary Republican movement comes a bit of the way towards Socialism, and scurries back in terror when the Roman Catholic Church loses its artificial thunder of condemnation and excommunication.'2e This article is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few eyewitness accounts by an Irish person of the impact of the social revolution that had broken out in Catalonia after the attempted coup d'6tat in July 1936. By the time most of the Irish International Brigaders passed through Barcelona in 1937 and 1938, the Catalan state had begun to reassert its control and much of the visible impact of the revolution was absent from the streets.so Secondly, White's perspective CIVIL WAR O\ CAPTAIN J'R'WHITE 49 FROM MISFIT TO ANARCHIST: THE I\1P.\CT OF THE SPANISH

he was a member' From the in the article is notably different tiorn the communist Party of which any thought could be given to communists'perspective, it was t-rrst necessary to win the war before on the one hand, and revolution. This was a particular bone of contention between the communists (Partido Obrero de Unificaci6n Marxista the anarchists and unorthodox Marxists such as the POUM war and revolution was workers' Party of Marxist Unification) on the other, who felt that waging in the latter camp' Thirdly' White's a simultaneous process. White's perspective firmly places him is in sharp contrast to that usually evident upp.ouul ofthe stance taken against the Catholic Church rationalise and downplay given by ihose Irish sympathetic to the-Spanish Republic, who were keen-to for the Republic'rr White' in attacks on the Church, siressing insteadexamples of Catholic support to the catholic Church, takes the keeping with his Ulster Protest*ant heritage and lifelong antipathy opposite approach, going so far as to suggest that: of them, where roof and walls are still standing' are It is a fact. that the Barcelona churches were bumt, and many previously, being used by the fascists as fortresses- I used to house medical or commissariat stores instead of, as based by its founder on the love of God and the suspect their present function is nearer the purpose of a religion Neighbour.I

Captain White and the anarchists in Britain back in London by December 1936' Regardless of what happened with the medical unit, White was Noreen (nee Shanahan), to the family He did not stay long, reiurning in 1938 with his second wife, until his death of cancer in a home in Broughshane, wherJe would live the remainder of his life Catalonia, it is evident that he Belfast nursing home in 1946. However, during his brief time in upon his arrival in London' From experienced a renaissance, and threw himself into political activity writing for the Spanish anarchist press' the tone of his letters to Dr Morgan, and the fact that he was A British intelligence report on it is clear that he was intent on breaking with the Communist Party. 'joined London Anarchist Group'':: His new him states that he resigned on 16 January 1937 and defence committee in political home consistl"a of tf," Anarcho-syndicalist Union and the CNT Annrchists in London' Meltzer London where he worked alongside Albert Meltzer and others. lnTlte workshop in Soho Square' writes that an anarchist ,uln"d Alf Rosenbaum, who owned a tailoring this they got in touch with White; London, organised a gun-running scheme for the CNT and through Golden Angels' Meltzer claims although how this came about is not mentioned.ra In 1 Cottldn't Paint although Meltzer's account of White's it was White himself who was behind the scheme.ss Therefore, as his account of work in London is based on first-hand knowledge, it appears to be as suspect White's role in SPain. work with the anarchists in Through other sources, however, it is clear that White's day-to-day alongside the veteran Russian- Britain consisted of organising and speaking at meetings, sometimes CNT in London' Seven letters American anarchist fimu CltArnun, the official ambassador of the the last dated February 1938'36 survive between the two, the first six dated November 1931 and for a meeting in Liverpool' the Aside from the last letter which discusses scheduling arrangements the Trotsky Defence Committee in others all concern White's suggestion of working alongside but the overall tone is clear he London. White's letters are hanJwritten and often aimcutt to read, - In his letter of 22 November believed good people were to be found among all sorts of audiences' he believed were going to be at a 1g37, he refers to F.A. Ridley and George Padmore, two men conference with the Trotsky Defence Committee: don-'t think Ridley is a Trotskyist or any Ridley & Padmore are men for whose minds I have a great respect. I otherkindof ist'.andIdoubtifPadmoreis. Ibelieve.'ieha,eachanceofameetingwithmenoffreshoriginal but what is the [given?] of the minds, and the point is not what Trotsky did nearly 20 years ago, [motive?] for the revolutionary reorientation now'r7 Trotskyists - to whom the conference u ill not be confined - 50 SAOTHAR 40

White's conciliatory tone is clear. In the same letter. he then u'rites of a meeting he has organised in Liverpool for the following month, at u'hich he and a man named Joseph McCabe (presumably another radical) would be joined on the platform by an Orangeman and a member of Baptist College Manchester. White remarks that 'I am in the [vein?] of fusion of discordant elements. New evolution always comes from such fusion. Life gets caught up and encrusted in names and "isms" and the idea has to be rescued [...]'. He believed Goldman was'making a mistake'in not wishing to attend, although he was clear in addressing her concern from her previous letter that there would be 'No question whatever of "affiliation with Trotsky defence group" any more than of any identification with Trotsky'. He adds that while he does not have the knowledge of Trotsky's past as she does, he 'would not identify myself any more than you would.'r8 replied by sending him a pamphlet called The Kronstadt Rebellion, written by her friend and fellow veteran anarchist, . If read carefully, she wrote:

you will see that Trotzky in power was capable of precisely the same terror and the same extermination of his political opponents as Stalin is. You suggest that we should not mind what he did in the past. That might be worth considering ifTrotzky had in any way changed his attitude ofimplacable hatred towards the Anarchists and his readiness lo exterminate them.

She added that she was glad he did not seek an alignment with the Trotsky Defence Committee, but, in that case, questioned what could be gained by conferring with them.3e In his reply, White stood his ground, stating that:

Kronstadt is a forceful story which I was already fairly familiar with, though your pamphlet has added to my knowledge oldetail. But I think you miss the whole point in assuming that Trotsky and Trotsky's misdeeds have anything to do with his followers here, still less with odd freelances who may be in contact with his followers.a0

He stressed that F.A. Ridley was a mind with 'originality'and added that 'I would affend a conference in hell, over which Satan presided, if I thought I could come across even the perverted form of an original idea or a deep historical analysis.'+t Goldman's reply was stern, stating that she did 'not have the time to argue endlessly about the practicability of joining forces between such extreme opposites as Anachism [sic] and Marxism.' She argued that every attempt to do so since Bakunin severed an alliance with Marx and Engels had 'proved detrimental to the Anarchists and to our movement.'She added that in light of experiences in Russia, Germany, and Spain, it would be 'sheer suicide to again ally myself with the various political Marxists factions. I am sure my dear to seem sectarian; but I am dealing with facts, not with sentiments.'42 Goldman did offer White some support, however, stating that 'It has always been my opinion that the individual is bigger than his creed or theory provided they do not make it a fetish. I am therefore only too willing to meet the man you write about.'a3 Unfortunately, this is the extent of their available correspondence. White's concern towards the unity of the left comes across in both his letters to Dr Morgan and Emma Goldman - whether he is talking of unity between communists and anarchists against fascism in Spain, or between anarchists and Trotskyists in London. He also had the open-mindedness to recognise that the actions and beliefs of the leadership of an organisation need not necessarily reflect those of individual members; a viewpoint perhaps informed by his personal political journey through various organisations. This attitude may have won him some influence amongst anarchist circles in Britain. At one point he was sent to Glasgow to reconcile two competing anarchist groups in the city. Although his arbitration was appreciated, he seems to have been considered a bit naive regarding the complexities of the movement. White achieved a pyrrhic victory in this particular instance: 'The debate went on till 2 a.am [sic], and an arrangement was made. A new name was thought up for a new group, but as the Captain disappeared in his battered old car and the comrades set out for their respective homes, everyone but the Captain, knew that nothing had changed.'aa FRoMMISFITToANARCHIST:THEI\{PACToFTHESPANISHCIVILwARoNCAPTAINJ.R.WHITE5I

Captain White's anarchism Spain *as c',":d ;ffinTrHi;f'1;:, I:'-"' rore when ffiiJ n" i"In::u" expected ,0:,"lT:::::,:::';ffitrXti,J;'r:: to have praved a m,itary ,",xfl:'iJffi#;;,;ffi;;;;;;;. u^r L^ t^ oid therhe anti-qnti- ,rlJ,,,.**, he seemsio have done what he could^^,,1.1 to aid i;:T""ffi:'#;;J;#il. PartvD^*., wh,e.',hile in h,;;;lt,i;;i er,,o,,gr, a member of the communist^^---..-:-+ i::ff:rui:il$ilffi;"f ,^ .',h^lahcerfedlv with its i : ;:T ::[ * #il. ; ffi;i.*# ,"*; lffi i : :."* "1,* *:T:: ::i:'" ]: o:' iffiwh ?[",Tl"iliii t e th ro u gh ;hris i fill J i',[ ii,"i;;: ,.,iffi il .;":;' i,Y:l :' i "* ti' Y^'"'^1 :1 1930sffi:: as:: #rffi;;;il,h";ir*"r Marches in Scotland in the 1920s and nothing about politics he knew_ nothing about discipline' He knew a bir ofan anarchist in some respects, Enatic, a fight' that was the trouble in .o far us *hat ht *"unt"d to do' He wanted either. But it didnae,natt"r]n. *", ."r"a wi,him.Hedidn,ttakepartinHungerMarchesbuthec.ametosupport.Youcouldn,tkeepWhiteinanything.Butperson {i the rnan Jack White was a very fine he was there, prepared to-ftgttt' f lif,ed forms' and in its horizontal organisational Anarchism, in its end goal of freely associated to his distaste for hierarchy and authority' As has seemed to suit his beliefs, appealing directly beenseen,hewasimpressedbytheBarcelonahepassedthrough-inNovemberlg36'controlled cNT, which presented anarchism as a mainly by workers organised in the anarcho-syndicalist for action, as related by McShane above' may lively and viable alternative. White's penchani printed version of.a speech he gave alongs.ide also have attracted trlm to anarchism. In the EmmaGoldmaninLondononl8Januarylg31'hespokeofhow.hewalil.sn'i1ed,O'""-i:11t*spontaneity' .philosophy being .pre-eminently the philosophy of individual as a of u.,ion, in Leing an anarchist). He emphasised how (though he was described by the editor as not democrats reasoned and fascisrn gained victory 'while socialists and Germany and Austria, revolutionary ie, philosophy of action.of fascists had met a talked,, whereas in Spain, 1uri,h" it. In-the one day fascism was conquered of action ri.o.g ura direct enoughiorllurt". philosophy Anarchisnl' which he white again emphasised this point in The Meaning oJ in Barcelona.'16 'fatalism'in that it was dependent year. t,turiirrr, he declared, had an element of wrote later that the proletariat' awaiting the'growth and class-conscious solidarity'of on.external conditions" This was in :maturity, and 'over-ripe bursting, of the bourgeois order'' itself dependent on the in of Anarchisml, which'acts in the individual and contrast to the'unconditioned spontaneity as possible, embryos of the fully to build ,".i"r |or*r, *hi.h ,trull be, as near small groups "p developed Anarchist societY''a? his beliefs remained remarkablY Although White sPent time in many organisations, Personal for instance, bears a striking resemblance to the consistent. The following quote from Misfit, quotations featured above: DuringmyagitatordaysinGlasgowlongaftertheperiodtarnnowdescribing,therewasarevolutionarypaper, ThelLorker'with,Knowledgemustalwaysprecede-action'foritsmotto.Iwroteaseriesofarticlesforitontheyet; but knowledge is the goal and the ,Action ri;;.lrr"y, precede knowledg..rr ,ona by that contrary theme, keep it'r* ,f,*gt' i"tint tno*ttagt there iJno path but action to win and crown of action' '"oi of anarchism to it is a stretch too far to assign latent tendencies Regardless of this consistency, to as Leo Keohane seems to suggest' According white,s thinking prior to his experiences in Spain, his questioning.of authority"ll.]:^T''' White,s disposition throughout his life, especially Keohane. judgments were consistent were those of an anarchisi and his actions and suggest that 'His instincts cites such''ae As one example of this' Keohane ideas long before he identified himself as with those what he thought was National University in 1913 in which he contrasted a speech white gave to the which was and the limiting of the liberty- of the individual' catholicism's 'stress on cohesion the witr'-Protestantism's 'stress on the liberty of necessary to secure the order of the whole" individual[...]thateachmightbefreebyprogressiveexperiment,theessenceofwhichwastomake SAOTHAR 40

mistakes, to extend and enrich the common life.'50 For Keohane, this speech displayed a ,suggestion of anarchist thinking' as White's 'advocacy of liberty, in contrast to the rigidiiy of coritr"ol and regulation, allowed for progress even if it only arose from mistakes that were made precisely because of that liberty.'st However, there is nothing intrinsically anarchist about White's argument here. It corresponds to an expression of Protestantism, as White meant it to, but can also fit *ithin an interpreiation of liberalism, for instance. It is true that for much of his life, White's disposition fitted many of the characteristics ofan anarchist; but it also fitted the characteristics ofa socialist. The same can be said of his ideas. Keohane suggests that the ideas expressed in White's l9l9 pamphl et The Significance of Sinn Fdin,'although bearing traces .include of the influence of Connolly and Marx', also a number ofinchoate anarchist theories.'5r It is equally the case, however, that these 'anarchist theories, can be read as fitting well within the boundaries of conventional revolutionary socialist thought at this time, albeit often mixed with a substantial spiritual element. White's life and writings strigest that he never sat comfortably with the organisations he became involved with, searchinglonJti'ntty fo. one that best suited his outlook. Had he encountered an organised expression ofanarchism earlier in life, he may have self-identified as an anarchist much ioon.. than he did. This, howeveq did not occur. Anarchism is not simply a disposition but is a fully-rounded political philosophy, based upon a critique of contemporary society and an alternative model for organising socio-economic relations' Although his anarchism seems based primarily on instinct rather than theory, it was only after his experiences in Spain that White's writings display an attempt to fit his thinking within the framework of anarchism, signalling on one hand a continuation of his thought, but also a break with what went before. Indeed, in his speech alongside Emma Goldman in January 1931 he admitted that his 'knowledge of theoretic anarchism is as yet very small.,sr Although he may have been deliberately modest here, the word 'yet' suggests that his attempt to grapplJwith anarchist theory was a recent process, but one which he *ir no* committing to. Fundamentally, although anarchism is arguably compatible with many of White's positions urd hi, membership of a number of organisations, such as the ICA and Republican Congress, it is certainly no, .o.puribl" with his membership of the Communist Party as it existed in the 1930s.5a The posiiion he advanced in the CNT press in opposition to the approved communist line, suggests that by the time he reached Spain, he may have been aware of this. Nevertheless, the fact that he did not make the final break with communism until mid-January 1937 demonstrates a process of thought over a number of months, rather than a sudden realisation upon his arrival in Catalonia that he was an anarchist all along.

Conclusion Captain White's enduring political aim throughout his activist life, as reflected in the letters and writings outlined above, appears to have been for progressive forces to overcome their organisational and doctrinal differences in order to defeat capitalisrn and begin a revolution, both material and spiritual' After his return from Spain, he identified the possibility of this as a potential strength of anarchism: 'Anarcho- applies energy at the point of production; its human solidarity is cemented by the association of people in common production undiluted by mere groupings of opinion' Affinity of interests is more stable and morl powerful than affinity of opin-ions.,rrihis quote suggests that White saw room for manoeuvre in anarchism; a flexibility in reiard to personal opinion that he perhaps felt was lacking in the more rigid structures of Marxism. His most consistent personal belief, however, and the one that he most often self-identified with, was Christianity. Invited to stand in Donegal as a 'Workers'Republican'for the 1923 election, he instead declaredhis wish to stand as a 'Christian ,l Communist.'56 In the foreword to Misrtt,he declared, have followed two lines in my life, roughly speaking, the lines of christ and Lenin.'s7 In 1g37 he described himself as 53 FROM MISFIT TOANARCHIST: THE I\1P\CT t-rF T j! S?\\lSH CIVIL \\'AR ON CAPTAIN J'R'WHITE

.Christian as a Anarchist', declarin-s: 'From that standpoinl I det-rne my conception of Christianity perfect Freedom, which coincides s'ith m)'L-onception of .'5s White's interpretation of bhristianity was in sharp contrast to one based upon s'hat he sa\\' as the 'positively anti-Christian' belief in 'self-repression and obedience to external authority' i.e. the Catholic Church.se However, anarchism in a letter penned to the leading Irish communist Se6n Murray in 1943, he did not mention at all, but, in describing the'gulf'that divides the r$'o men, instead self-identified as a'spiritist': You believe that the I am a spirit-ist (the word spiritualist suggests too earmarked a sect) and you are a materialist. I not deny proletariat, gaining control ofthe instruments ofproduction, is the vehicle ofreal progress. I, though do to ihe inevitability, und desirability, ofthe class-struggle, regard the triumph ofthe proletariat as impotent "r.n slavery of achieve real progress & doomed...Lly to achieve another loop in the vicious spiral ofthe intensified but the antithesis man, unless it vies at the essence ofreal progress. To me the final dialectic is not the class struggle, of love and death, to be resolved in the synthesis of the conscious triumph of love over death.60

Anarchism, then - although arguably the politicalbelief best suited to his lifelong disposition - was the conceivably not the last of the many passing vehicles which White flagged down to help him on long road io humanity's ultimate transcendence of material constraints and the realisation of a spirltual 'inner revolution'. The brief time that he passed through revolutionary Catalonia was perhaps the closest he ever came to seeing this vision realised'

- I am grateful to the Irish Research Council for supporting my PhD research, which this article is partially based upon. I would also like to thank Dr Patrick McGauley for reading a draft and suggesting i1np.ou.*.ntr, and for the useful comments of the two anonymous reviewers'

Notes .A Boletin de Informaci6n, No l5, J.R. White, Rebel in Barcelona: Jack White's First Spanish lmpressions', CNT-AIT llNovemberlg36.Availabletoreadonlineatthe'StruggleSite',http://struggle.ws/soain/iw first.html[accessedl5May 20 l 51. also Leo Keohane"Labour Captain l.n. White, DSO, MisJit: An Autobiographr' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1930) See Labour Histot)' Lives, No. l5: Captain Ja-.s Robert (Jack) White DSO, 1879-1946', Saothar: Journal ol'the lrish as Mislit' A Society,3g, 2013, pp. 159-162. Mis.fit was repubtished in 2005 by Livewire Publications, Dublin, in this article refer Revolitionan, Lli:. This edition, however, is missing the first two chapters of the original. All citations 'A Rebet in Barcelona: Jack White's to the original. T"he second edition includes some useful additional articles by White: 1 pp. 239-241:, 'Anarchism first Spalish lmpressions'(fro m CNT-AIT Boletin de lnformaci6n, No. 1 5, I I November 936), 1937),pp. 242-245;The Meaningof Anarchism(ftrst -AphilosophyofAction', (fromspainAnclTheworltl,5 February Fascism's Ally' An Interpretation published ai a pamphtet by London Freedom Group, I 937), pp.246-255 'The Church: viewed at the 'Flag tfCh.istianity;1 lrom Spain And The ll/orld,5 March 1937), pp. 256-259. These articles can also be Blackened, website, although this site is prone to being blocked. See http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/anarchists/ and have been pubtished in numerous places, I do not jackwhite.html [accessed l5 May 2015]. Asihe artictes are short provide page numbers when quoting from them. online at these inctude phil Meyter'i 'Uisnt Z', published in the 2005 edition of Misfit, pp.233-8, available http://www.revoltagainstptenty.com/index.pip/archive/ I 6-archive-gtobal/ 122-a-new-publication-on-captain-white'html White, lrom Loyalism toAnarchism', written as an introduction [accessed tS tr,tay ZOtS]jandlason B.unnig*'s'Jack thanks to Jason for sending me a copy to a reprint of White's The Meaning of Anarchism (Belfast: Organise! 1998). My joumal of the Workers of this pamphlet. There have beenlt least two biographies of White in Workers Solidarin', the in No. 50, Spring Solidarity Movement (WSM). Atan MacSim6in's 'Anarchism's Greatest Hits No. 4: Jack White" White', No. 57, Summer 1999. which reviewed the 1997 , andDave Negation's 'The Anarchist Views of Captain Jack of White's later life, l99g reprint of The Meaning of Anarchism. Kevin Doyle's is the most accurate online account Site'at published in 2001. It, along with MacSim6in's and Negation's biographies., are available on the'Struggle While in A Wee Black irtto://struegte.ws/anarchistyjackwhite.html Iaccessed l5 May 2015]. Mriirtin O Cath6in discusses the WSM at htto://www.wsm.ie/ {op o1'nry^t Arorrhir^ 11867-1m31(Betfast: Organise! 2004) available from pamphlet,.lack White: First Comnnnder c/betfasi-anaichism-wee-black-booke [accessed l5 May 2015]. Andrew Boyd's 54 SAOTHAR 40

lrish Citizen Armv (Belfast: Donaldson Archives, 2001), though mostly focused on his earlier life, is an excellent and accessible overview. The likely source for the latter is 'A Rebel in Barcelona', where White said he wenr lo Spain as administrator for a British Red Cross unit. Leo Keohane' Captain Jack White; tmperialism, Anarchism & The Irish Citizen Atmv (Sallins: Merrion press, 2014). The account ofhis sojoum to Spain and his solidarity work thereafter is found on pages 235-7. Ibid.' p.236. The Manchester Guardian report is dated l2 October 1936, and White's tetter, dated October 1939, which Keohane describes as a fragment meant lor public consumption, is in the possession ofhis grand-niece, Katy English. Alongside his book, see Keohane's'Captain Jack White, DSo -Anarchist and Proleptic poststructuralist,, in Sandrine Brisset and Noreen Doody (eds.), Voicing Dissent: New Perspectives in lrish Criticiim (Dublin: Irish Academic press, 2012)' pp.24l-251, which intetligently argues for positioning White - with his skepticism of perceived wisdoms - as an early poststructuralist, highlighting his critique of the 'Grand Narrative'of Catholic nationalism in Ireland. My thanks to Dr Jane Bradbury of Emory University, who procured a copy ofthis chapter for me. Albert Meltzer, 'lntroduction: From Loyalism toAnarchism', in J.R. White, ihe Meaning of Anarchism (Sanday, Orkney: Cienfuegos Press, 1980), pp. i-ix. The first edition of this pamphlet, absent the introduction by Meltzer, was pubtished as J.R. White, The Meaning of Anarchism; Theorv Illuminated b1, Recent practice in Spain (London: LondonFreedom Group,1937). It is also the likely source for a biography of White published in october I 98 I in the first i sste of Black Star, the joumal of the Ballymena Anarchist Group. A copy of this is available on 'Irish Anarchist History,, at http://irishanarchisthistory.files.wordpress.com/201 I / I 0/blackstar Lpdf [accessed I 5 May 2015]. l0 Albert Meltzer, The Anarchists in London t935-t955 (Sanday, Orkney: Cienfuegos press, 1976); Atbert Meltzer, 1 Couldnl Painl Golden Angels: Sixtv Years ofCommonplace Life and Anarchist Agitition lEdinbtrgh and San Francisco: AK Press, 1996). Albert Meltzer, ll I Couldn I Paint, p. 5 7. Elsewhere, Meltzer claimed that white was close to the Communist party but never joined.'From Loyalism toAnarchism', p. vi.

l2 Albert Meltzer, I Couldn't Paint, p. 57 . 13 Albert Meltzer, 'From Loyalism to Anarchism'. p. viii. l4 Ibid. 15 Albert Meltzer, The Anarchists in London,p. 14. l6 Fearghal McGarry also highlights the inconsistencies in Meltzer's accounts in his 1nslr politic.s and the Spanish Civil War (Cork: Cork University Press, 1999), p. 71. l7 Throughout the course ofmy PhD I conducted extensive investigation into archival material on the Intemational Brigades located in Ireland, the UK, the US, Spain, and Russia. Not a single reference to white was uncovered. l8 'AmbulanceUnitofSpanishMedical AidCommitteeinSpain',5lanuaryt937,FO37ll2l366lw2g2/37l4l,p.3l,The National Archives (TNA), Kew, London. t9 Letter from J.R. White, 8, Torrington Square, London, wCl, to Dr H.B. Morgan,4, Aberdare Gardens, Hampstead, London, NW6' 2 I December 1936, file MSS.292Cl946/2/140, Modem Records Centre (MRC), University of Warwick. The writer Ralph Bates was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CpGB) and worked with the Intemational Brigades in Spain. This letter is available online at http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ scw/id/l l372lrecl4 [accessed l5 May 2015]. Ibid. Isabel Brown was the foremost women's leader of the CPGB at this time, and a founder of the SMAC. Her husband, Ernest, was a full-time worker for the CpGB. 2t Letter from Dr H.B. Morgan to captain J.R. white,5 January 1937, file MSS.2g2ctg46Dl13g, MRC. Available online at http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/scw/id/l 1362/recll Iaccessed l5 May 2015]. 22 Letter from J.R. white to Dr H.B. Morgan. 7 January 1937, file Mss.2g2c/g4612l117, MRC. Available online at http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sc w/idlll357 lrecl5 [accessed I 5 May 201 5]. Draft Report from Spanish Medical Aid Committee,4 November 1936, file MSS,.2g2l946l4ll7, MRC. ihe piece on the second medical is pages unit on 6-9, while the quote conceming the Scottish Ambulance Unit is on page 4. Available online at http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/scw/id/8889/recl76 [accJssed l5 May 20151. There are numerous letters that discuss the formation and disbandment of the second unit within the file MSS.292/9461411. only one of these mentions white. In a letter from Dr Charles Brook, Honorary Secretary of the SMAC to SirWalter Citrine, Joint Secretary of the National Council of Labour, London, dated l3 November 1936, Brook says, 'l am pleased to inform you that one ofthe ambulances has been put under the control ofCaptain White, and from information we received yesterday it would appear that it has gone with a military column from Barcelona to Madrid.'This information is not confirmed in any subsequent letter or report. See MSS.292I946141199 (iv), available online at http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/colleciion/scwlidl9220lrec/105 [accessel l5 May 20151. 24 Report by Sylvia Townsend wamer and Valentine Ackland, 'Party Position in Spain', to Comrade Harry pollitt CpGB but OctA'lov [n.d. I 936], p.4, Box C, File 7/1, Intemational Brigade Memorial Ar&ive, Marx Memorial Library London. 55 FROM MISFIT TO ANARCHIST: THE I\tPACT OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR ON CAPTAIN J.R.WHITE

(London: Lawrence and See also Jim Fyrth, The Signal IIZr-s Sllriri. The Spanish Aid Movement in Britain, 1936-1939 'lrish to Republican Spain, I 936-39' , Saothar: Wishart, I 936), pp. 55-59, and David Conr en. participation in medical aid Journal oJ'the lrish Labour Histon Socien- 35.2010. pp.37-46' Medical Aid Committee McKay's article, dated 23 November I 916. is contained in the file 'Ambulance Unit of Spanish in Spain',5 January 1937, P.40, TNA. K.S. Loutit and Aileen Palmer, 'Sunel of a year's work with the British Medical Unit in Spain', Rossiiskii Moscow gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsia['no-potiticheskoi istorii (Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History in - 'Documents ofthe Soviet Era', i.CeSpl) foni. S+S, op. 6, d. 88, t. 32. This has recently been made accessible online at this site is in Russian' http://sovdoc.rusarchives.ru/#showunit&id:153512 [accessed l5 May 2015]. The navigation for although the document itselfis in English Institute of Social History 27 Unfortunately, Souchy's correspondlnce and most of his papers in the Intemational relations. Meltzer's (llSH), Amsterdam, date from the period after 1942 when he was exiled in Mexico. Given these way to Saragossa'in the use of assertion that White helped to trainspanish militia and'women in the villages on the Meltzer's other firearms is not impossible, though in the absence of corroborating evidence and the unreliability of Meltzer does not mention this claims. it is best not taken at facl value. 'From Loyalism to Anarchism', pp. vii-viii. elsewhere. .A (Penguin Books: London, 1962\' p' 9' 28 J.R. White, Rebel in Barcelona'; George Orwell, Homage to Carolonia 29 J.R. White, 'A Rebel in Barcelona'. (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013)' Peadar 30 See pelai pagds i Blanch, War and Revolution in Catalonia, t936-1939 Salud! An O,Donnell gives the most detailed impression of any Irish witness to the effects of the revolutioninhis Irishman in Spain (London: Methuen, 1937). David Convery, 'Brigadistas: The History and Memory of 3 I See Fearghal McGarry, Irish Politics, pp. 53-4, 73-6; and 188-193' IrishAnti-FascistsintheSpanishCivilWar(unpubtisheddoctoral thesis,UniversityCollegeCork,20l2),pp. 32 J.R. White. 'A Rebel in Barcelona'. Friends ol Republican Spain List of 33 Card fbr wHITE, James Robert, in 'The Intemational Brigade Association & - Group' is persons who fought in Spain with the lntemational Brigade. (T.Z)', KV5/13 I , TNA. The 'London Anarchist .London later that year. possibly the Freedom Group', who would pubtish White's The Meaning o/ Anarchism 34 Albert Meltzer. The Anarchists in Londort. pp. l3-14' 35 Albert Meltzer, I Couldn't Paint,pp.57-58. I to Emma Goldman , 20, 22,26, November 36 The letters are as follows: :.n. white, 8, Torrington Square, London, wc , 1938' My thanks to the Emma 1937; and Emma Goldman, London, to J.R. White,20,24,27 November 1937' 9 February Dr Barry Pateman, for providing Goldman papers project, Berkeley, University of Califomia, especially Tessa Fisher and Goldman Papers at the IISH and me with copies of these letters in 2010. The originals are held in File 170 of the Emma l5 May are now accessible online at http://search.socialhistory.org/Record/ARCH0052O/ArchiveContentList Iaccessed 20151. Emma Goldman Papers hereafter ECP was born in Trinidad, but was based in London 37 J.R. Whit" to Emma Goldman, 22 November 1937, EGP. George Padmore but also a leading Pan-Africanist at the same time as White. A former high-ranking communist, he was still a socialist Marxian League in 1930' Both by the time of White's letter. Francis Aitbrose Ridley had set up the Trotskyist-inclined laterjoined the Independent Labour Ridtey and the League drew criticism from Trotsky and it fotded in 1932. Ridley Party. 38 lbid. 'Trotsky'as'Trotzky', the name has 39 Emma Goldman to J.R. White,24 November 1937, EGP Although Goldman spells various transliterations to English, so I left it as is. 40 J.R. White to Emma Goldman,26 November 1937' EGP' 4l rbid. 42 Emma Goldman to Captain J. White, 27 November 1937' EGP 43 rbid. 44 JohnTaylorCaldwell ,ConteDungeortsDark:TheLilbandTimesof'Gut'At/i'ed,Glasgou'Anarchist(Barr,Ayrshrre: Luath Press, I 988), P. 23 I . 45 HarryMcShaneinlanMacDougall(ed),VoicesfromtheHungerMorches;PersonalRecollectionsb'Sc'ottishHunger Marihers ol the 1920s and 1930s. Volume I (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990)' p' l6' 46 J.R. White, 'Anarchism - A Philosophy of Action'' 47 J.R. White, The Meaning o.f Anarchism. 48 J.R. White, Mr'.rrl, P. 83. 49 Leo Keohane, Captain Jack White,p- 6. p' 50 J.R. White, Mislit, p. 207, cited in Leo Keohane, Captain Jock White, 78' 5l Leo Keohane, Captain Jack White,p-78- 52 Ibid.,p. lg5.Thepamphlet*u.pullirh"dasTheSignificanceofsinnFiin:Psychologicol,Political,andEconontit' (Dublin: Martin Lester, l9l9). 53 J.R. White, 'Anarchism - A Philosophy of Action'. SAOTHAR 40

54 On White and Republican Congress, see Patrick Byme, The lrish Republican Congrcss Ret,isited (London: Connolly Publications, Ltd., 1994), pp. 15, 33. 55 J.R. White, The Meaning of Anarchism. 56 J.R. White, Mislit, pp. 3 l0-t2; Keohane, Captain Jack White, pp. 214-17.

57 J.R. White, Misft, p. 7 . 58 J.R. White, 'The Church: Fascism's Ally'. 59 rbid. 60 Letter from J.R. White, Whitehall, to Sein Murray,26 luly 1944,D2162151517, Serin Murray Papers, public Record office of Northern lreland, Belfast. I am indebted to Dr Serln Byers for this reference.