Alexander Schapiro
Encyclopedia
Alexander M. Schapiro was a Russian Jewish
anarcho-syndicalist militant active in the international anarchist movement.
, and as a child was taken to the Turkey
where he attended the French school in Istanbul
. As a result, he could speak four languages – Russian, French, and Turkish, and would later master German and English. By the age of eleven, he was studying the works of anarchist theorists Peter Kropotkin
, Jean Grave
and Élisée Reclus
. After studying biology
at the Sorbonne
in Paris with the intention of embarking on a career in medicine, he was forced to drop out for financial reasons, and joined his father in London where they were active in the London Anarchist Federation.
, Varlaam Cherkezov and Rudolf Rocker
. Schapiro was one of the few anarchist friends of Kropotkin not to cut his ties with the anarchist communist theorist over the latter's role in the pro-war Manifesto of the Sixteen
. In the aftermath of the February Revolution
in 1917, Schapiro returned to Russia and began working on the anarcho-syndicalist paper Golos Truda
(The Voice of Labour), seeking to re-invigorate the Russian anarcho-syndicalist movement.
described him in his Memoirs of a Revolutionary as a man "of critical and moderate temper". After a few unhappy years in the service of the Bolshevik regime, and protesting its persecution and imprisonment of anarchists, he chose to go into exile in 1922. He then participated actively in the resurgent and by-then-anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association
(IWA), which at the time was organising aid for anarchists imprisoned in Russia.
He worked on the Russian anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Rabochii Put (The Workers Voice) with Gregory Maksimov while in Berlin, before continuing on to France, where he continued to work with the IWA and edited another anarcho-syndicalist paper, La Voix du Travail (The Voice of Labour). Schapiro left Europe for New York, where he remained a tireless activist in the cause of Russian political prisoners until his death in 1946.
Jewish anarchism
Jewish anarchism is a general term encompassing various expressions of anarchism within the Jewish community.- Secular Jewish Anarchism :Many people of Jewish origin, such as Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Martin Buber, Murray Bookchin, Noam Chomsky, Murray Rothbard or David D. Friedman have...
anarcho-syndicalist militant active in the international anarchist movement.
Early life
Schapiro was born in 1882 in Rostov-on-DonRostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
, and as a child was taken to the Turkey
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
where he attended the French school in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. As a result, he could speak four languages – Russian, French, and Turkish, and would later master German and English. By the age of eleven, he was studying the works of anarchist theorists Peter Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
, Jean Grave
Jean Grave
Jean Grave was an important activist in the French anarchist movement. He was involved with Élisée Reclus' Révolté...
and Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus , also known as Jacques Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes , over a period of nearly 20 years...
. After studying biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris with the intention of embarking on a career in medicine, he was forced to drop out for financial reasons, and joined his father in London where they were active in the London Anarchist Federation.
London and international activism
In London, he was a member of the Arbeter Fraynd collective, and a delegate of the Jewish Anarchist Federation of London at the 1907 International Anarchist Congress in Amsterdam, at which he was elected one of three secretaries and became one of five members of a bureau calling itself the Anarchist International. He was a signatory to the International Anarchist Manifesto against the First World War issued in London in 1915. He was the secretary in the London branch of the Anarchist Red Cross, which provided aid to imprisoned anarchists (in Russia especially), working alongside Peter KropotkinPeter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
, Varlaam Cherkezov and Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
. Schapiro was one of the few anarchist friends of Kropotkin not to cut his ties with the anarchist communist theorist over the latter's role in the pro-war Manifesto of the Sixteen
Manifesto of the Sixteen
The Manifesto of the Sixteen , or Proclamation of the Sixteen, was a document drafted in 1916 by eminent anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave which advocated an Allied victory over Germany and the Central Powers during the First World War...
. In the aftermath of the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in 1917, Schapiro returned to Russia and began working on the anarcho-syndicalist paper Golos Truda
Golos Truda
Golos Truda was a Russian language anarcho-syndicalist newspaper. Founded by working-class Russian expatriates in New York in 1911, Golos Truda shifted to Petrograd during the Russian Revolution in 1917, when its editors took advantage of the general amnesty and right of return for political...
(The Voice of Labour), seeking to re-invigorate the Russian anarcho-syndicalist movement.
Years in Russia
Schapiro became one of many Russian anarchists who collaborated with the Soviet government in the belief that he could help ameliorate working conditions; he accepted positions in the Commissariat for Jewish National Affairs and later the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. Revolutionary anarchist-turned-Bolshevik Victor SergeVictor Serge
Victor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
described him in his Memoirs of a Revolutionary as a man "of critical and moderate temper". After a few unhappy years in the service of the Bolshevik regime, and protesting its persecution and imprisonment of anarchists, he chose to go into exile in 1922. He then participated actively in the resurgent and by-then-anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association
International Workers Association
The International Workers' Association is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labour unions and initiatives based primarily in Europe and Latin America....
(IWA), which at the time was organising aid for anarchists imprisoned in Russia.
He worked on the Russian anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Rabochii Put (The Workers Voice) with Gregory Maksimov while in Berlin, before continuing on to France, where he continued to work with the IWA and edited another anarcho-syndicalist paper, La Voix du Travail (The Voice of Labour). Schapiro left Europe for New York, where he remained a tireless activist in the cause of Russian political prisoners until his death in 1946.
External links
- The USSR and the CNT: an unconscionable stance (1937)from the Kate Sharpley LibraryKate Sharpley LibraryThe Kate Sharpley Library is a library dedicated to anarchist texts and history. Started in 1979 and reorganized in 1991, it currently holds around ten thousand English language volumes, pamphlets and periodicals...
, from KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library #14. - Chapter 52 of Emma GoldmanEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
's Living My LifeLiving My LifeLiving My Life is the 993-page autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, published in two volumes in 1931 and 1934 . Goldman wrote it in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian revolution...
, featuring Schapiro (as "Sasha"), hosted at the Anarchy ArchivesAnarchy ArchivesThe Anarchy Archives project is a self-described online research center on the history and theory of anarchism. It was created in September 1995 by Dana Ward, a Professor of Political Studies at Pitzer College...