Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist TheoryZenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
History
Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
Zenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
Anarchism
Swiss Anarchism leads us directly to Germany and Austria. Germany may
be termed the most free from Anarchists of any country in Europe. In
the seventies a few groups had been founded here from Switzerland, and
by means of the _Arbeiterzeitung_ (_Working-Mens' Journal_), appearing
in Bern, and conducted by Reinsdorf, a former compositor and
enthusiastic agitator, an attempt was made to convert the working
classes of Germany to Anarchism. But owing to the strength of Social
Democracy in this country, all Reinsdorf's efforts at agitation were
in vain. Even the superior skill of Johann Most could only produce
very feeble and transitory results. When he openly professed
Anarchism, and was expelled from the Social Democratic party, a small
following remained to him in Germany; but in the German Empire only a
dozen or so groups were formed (chiefly in Berlin and Hamburg) which
adopted Most's programme; but their numbers did not rise above two
hundred, and they remained quite unimportant.
The effects, however, of Most's agitation in Switzerland were all the
more strongly felt in Austria, the classic land of political
immaturity and insecurity. To-day the Austrian Empire is almost free
from Anarchists; other elements have come to take up the _role_ of
fishing in troubled waters. But at the time of the general increase of
Anarchism, after the London Congress, Austria-Hungary was one of the
strongholds of Anarchism. A former house painter, Josef Penkert, a man
who had given himself a very fair education by his own efforts, and
was Most's most eager pupil, conducted the agitation in Vienna and
Pesth. Groups sprang up, and the agitation was so strong that the new
Social Democratic party was soon relegated to the background.
Everywhere Anarchist papers arose--in Vienna the _Zukunft_ (_Future_)
and the _Delnicke Listy_, in Reichenberg the _Radical_, in Prague the
_Socialist_ and the _Communist_, in Lemberg the _Praca_, in Cracow the
_Robotnik_ and the _Przedswit_, imported from Switzerland. The chief
organs of Austrian Anarchism, however, flourished on the other side of
the river Leitha, where the press laws were interpreted more liberally
than in the west of the kingdom. In Hungary there were numerous
Anarchist journals, some of which, like the Pesth _Socialist_,
preached the most sanguinary and merciless propaganda. This was acted
upon in Vienna, under the guidance of Penkert, Stellmacher, and
Kammerer, in such a way that Most's _Freedom_, which was smuggled in
in large quantities, was delighted at it. In 1881 Anarchist meetings
had collisions with the authorities. The money for the agitation was
obtained by robbery, as the trial of Merstallinger proved. The most
prominent Anarchist speakers were examined judicially in consequence
of this trial, which took place in March, 1882, but had to be
acquitted, which naturally only increased the confidence of the
propagandists. The Socialists succeeded no better in making headway
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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