Anarchist Black Cross
Encyclopedia
The Anarchist Black Cross ("ABC") is an anarchist politics
support organization. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prison
ers with political literature
, but it also organises material and legal support for class struggle
prisoners worldwide. It commonly contrasts itself with Amnesty International
, which is concerned mainly with prisoners of conscience
and refuses to defend those accused of encouraging violence. The ABC openly supports those who have committed illegal activity in furtherance of revolutionary aims that anarchists accept as legitimate.
The Anarchist Black Cross began as the Anarchist Red Cross, a breakaway organization from the Political Red Cross
organized to aid political prisoners in Czarist Russia. For years, the origin of the organization was under dispute, but recent documents have resurfaced that has narrowed down the time frame. According to Rudolph Rocker, once the treasurer for the Anarchist Red Cross in London, the organization was founded in Russia during the "hectic period between 1900 and 1905." Most material discussing ABC history points to this era as the birth of this group. The group came into prominence after the 1905 Revolution with the increase of imprisoned anarchists in Russia. Due to the refusal of the Political Red Cross and other prisoner aid groups to support anarchist political prisoners, Russian anarchists in Russia and those in exile abroad created the Anarchist Red Cross to support their comrades held in Russian prisons. Each branch of the organization was known by the region in which they operated (Latvia, Riga, Odessa, etc.). Within a few years, the organization spread beyond the Russian borders to the United States and England, where exiled revolutionaries had settled.
By 1905, the group changed its name, dropping "Red Cross" from the title. In this era, the group used various names including: Chicago Aid Fund, Society to Aid Anarchist Prisoners in Russia, Joint Committee to Aid Revolutionaries Imprisoned in Russia, and finally, the title that would remain, the Anarchist Black Cross.
However, according to Harry Weinstein, one of the two men who began the organization, the activities of the group began after his arrest in July or August 1906 Once released, Weinstein and others provided clothing to anarchists sentenced to exile in Siberia. Weinstein alleged that the group broke off from the original Political Red Cross
in late 1906 when Weinstein and other anarchists received no support despite ample donations from the anarchist community. Weinstein continued his efforts in Russia until his arrival in New York in May 1907. Once there, he helped to create the New York Anarchist Red Cross, which included such members as Mother Earth editor Louise Berger
. In 1911, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania chapter of the Anarchist Red Cross was founded by Morris Beresin and Boris Yelensky.
organized new chapters of the Anarchist Black Cross as an adjunct to his anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine
or Black Army in the territories of Ukraine
which they controlled.
It was at this time that the organization's efforts were shifted from prisoner support to emergency medical response and self-defense. With the onset of attacks from Cossacks, White Guards
, pogrom
ists, and later the Red Army
, the Ukrainian Black Cross took on a unique secondary role preparing city defenses and organizing the first urban army in Ukrainian history. As a city militia, the Ukrainian Anarchist Black Cross worked alongside units of the anarchist Black Army, but were never a mobile force, being primarily based within city environs. Members wore no formal uniforms, but were identified by wearing denim overalls and distinctive armbands.
For a time, the Anarchist Black Cross was tolerated in Moscow and Petrograd by the Bolshevik
government, though its activities in those cities were not large in scale. The Cheka
(Lenin's secret police) infiltrated informers into the Black Cross, who regularly made reports on the organization's leaders and activities. Outside of Moscow, Petrograd, and the areas of the Ukraine controlled by the Black Army there was complete repression; anarchist pamphlets and books were regularly seized, and even Anarchist Black Cross aid workers were subject to arrest and detention.
In September 1919, a grenade attack at a meeting of the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party was used as a pretext for mass arrests of anarchists all over Russia by Bolshevik Red Army forces and the Cheka. Anarchist militants were arrested; even the Black Army and its general, Nestor Makhno, was hunted down at the orders of Leon Trotsky
, determined to cleanse Russia of all anarchists with "an iron broom". It soon became clear that some kind of anarchist prisoner aid organization would have to be created once again to help anarchists in Bolshevik prisons. In Moscow, Kharkov, Odessa, and many smaller cities new Anarchist Black Cross and similar organizations were formed such as the Society to Help Anarchist Prisoners, devoted mainly to supplying food to anarchists and other dissidents on the left. The work proved difficult, even where food was easy to obtain, as it would often be confiscated by Bolshevik Red guards encountered on the way. By 1922, even anarchist aid workers in Moscow and Petrograd such as Senya Fleshin
and Mollie Steimer
were themselves arrested by the GPU on the grounds of "aiding criminal elements" in violation of the Soviet state security code.
by Stuart Christie
and Albert Meltzer
with a focus on providing aid for anarchist prisoners in Francisco Franco
's Spain
. The reason for this was Christie's experience of the fascist regime's jail and the importance of receiving food parcels. At that time there were no international groups acting for Spanish anarchist and Resistance prisoners. The first action of the re-activated group was to bring Miguel Garcia
, who Christie met in prison, out of Spain on his release. He went on to act as the group's International secretary, working for the release of others.
The organization continued to grow, spreading throughout Europe and North America. In 1995, ABC chapters in the US merged into a Federation- the Anarchist Black Cross Federation
. While other formations tried to startup, they were unable to maintain long term support. Around 2001, a new organization, the Anarchist Black Cross Network
, began and attempted to present themselves as an alternative to the ABC Federation. A conflict existed until members of both organization sat down at the Break the Chains conference; since then the two groups have tried to develop a working relationship.
"We believe, as most Anarchists do, that prison
s serve no useful function and should be abolished along with the state
. We believe in the abolition of both the prison system and the society
which creates it. We believe in direct resistance to achieve a stateless and classless
society. We share a commitment to revolution
ary Anarchism. We see a real need for Anarchists to be militantly
organized."
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
support organization. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers with political literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, but it also organises material and legal support for class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
prisoners worldwide. It commonly contrasts itself with Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, which is concerned mainly with prisoners of conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
and refuses to defend those accused of encouraging violence. The ABC openly supports those who have committed illegal activity in furtherance of revolutionary aims that anarchists accept as legitimate.
History
Political Red Cross
Political Red Cross was the name borne by several organizations that provided aid to political prisoners in the Russian Empire and later in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union....
organized to aid political prisoners in Czarist Russia. For years, the origin of the organization was under dispute, but recent documents have resurfaced that has narrowed down the time frame. According to Rudolph Rocker, once the treasurer for the Anarchist Red Cross in London, the organization was founded in Russia during the "hectic period between 1900 and 1905." Most material discussing ABC history points to this era as the birth of this group. The group came into prominence after the 1905 Revolution with the increase of imprisoned anarchists in Russia. Due to the refusal of the Political Red Cross and other prisoner aid groups to support anarchist political prisoners, Russian anarchists in Russia and those in exile abroad created the Anarchist Red Cross to support their comrades held in Russian prisons. Each branch of the organization was known by the region in which they operated (Latvia, Riga, Odessa, etc.). Within a few years, the organization spread beyond the Russian borders to the United States and England, where exiled revolutionaries had settled.
By 1905, the group changed its name, dropping "Red Cross" from the title. In this era, the group used various names including: Chicago Aid Fund, Society to Aid Anarchist Prisoners in Russia, Joint Committee to Aid Revolutionaries Imprisoned in Russia, and finally, the title that would remain, the Anarchist Black Cross.
However, according to Harry Weinstein, one of the two men who began the organization, the activities of the group began after his arrest in July or August 1906 Once released, Weinstein and others provided clothing to anarchists sentenced to exile in Siberia. Weinstein alleged that the group broke off from the original Political Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
in late 1906 when Weinstein and other anarchists received no support despite ample donations from the anarchist community. Weinstein continued his efforts in Russia until his arrival in New York in May 1907. Once there, he helped to create the New York Anarchist Red Cross, which included such members as Mother Earth editor Louise Berger
Louise Berger
Louise Berger was a Latvian anarchist, a member of the Anarchist Red Cross and editor of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth Bulletin in New York. Berger became well known outside anarchist circles in 1914 after a premature bomb explosion at her New York City apartment , which killed four persons and...
. In 1911, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania chapter of the Anarchist Red Cross was founded by Morris Beresin and Boris Yelensky.
Black Army
In 1918, Nestor MakhnoNestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
organized new chapters of the Anarchist Black Cross as an adjunct to his anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine
Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine
The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine , popularly called Makhnovshchina, less correctly Makhnovchina, and also known as the Black Army, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian and Crimean peasants and workers under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno during the...
or Black Army in the territories of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
which they controlled.
It was at this time that the organization's efforts were shifted from prisoner support to emergency medical response and self-defense. With the onset of attacks from Cossacks, White Guards
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
ists, and later the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, the Ukrainian Black Cross took on a unique secondary role preparing city defenses and organizing the first urban army in Ukrainian history. As a city militia, the Ukrainian Anarchist Black Cross worked alongside units of the anarchist Black Army, but were never a mobile force, being primarily based within city environs. Members wore no formal uniforms, but were identified by wearing denim overalls and distinctive armbands.
For a time, the Anarchist Black Cross was tolerated in Moscow and Petrograd by the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
government, though its activities in those cities were not large in scale. The Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
(Lenin's secret police) infiltrated informers into the Black Cross, who regularly made reports on the organization's leaders and activities. Outside of Moscow, Petrograd, and the areas of the Ukraine controlled by the Black Army there was complete repression; anarchist pamphlets and books were regularly seized, and even Anarchist Black Cross aid workers were subject to arrest and detention.
In September 1919, a grenade attack at a meeting of the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party was used as a pretext for mass arrests of anarchists all over Russia by Bolshevik Red Army forces and the Cheka. Anarchist militants were arrested; even the Black Army and its general, Nestor Makhno, was hunted down at the orders of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, determined to cleanse Russia of all anarchists with "an iron broom". It soon became clear that some kind of anarchist prisoner aid organization would have to be created once again to help anarchists in Bolshevik prisons. In Moscow, Kharkov, Odessa, and many smaller cities new Anarchist Black Cross and similar organizations were formed such as the Society to Help Anarchist Prisoners, devoted mainly to supplying food to anarchists and other dissidents on the left. The work proved difficult, even where food was easy to obtain, as it would often be confiscated by Bolshevik Red guards encountered on the way. By 1922, even anarchist aid workers in Moscow and Petrograd such as Senya Fleshin
Senya Fleshin
Senya Fleshin was an anarchist and photographer.-Early life:...
and Mollie Steimer
Mollie Steimer
Mollie Steimer was born as Marthe Alperine in Tsarist Russia. She immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 15...
were themselves arrested by the GPU on the grounds of "aiding criminal elements" in violation of the Soviet state security code.
Later years
During the 1960s, the Anarchist Black Cross was reformed in BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Stuart Christie
Stuart Christie
Stuart Christie is a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. Christie is best known for being arrested as an 18-year old while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related charges...
and Albert Meltzer
Albert Meltzer
Albert Meltzer was an anarcho-communist activist and writer.-Early life:Meltzer was born in London, and attracted to anarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking boxing lessons . The Labour MP for Edmonton, Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors at...
with a focus on providing aid for anarchist prisoners in Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The reason for this was Christie's experience of the fascist regime's jail and the importance of receiving food parcels. At that time there were no international groups acting for Spanish anarchist and Resistance prisoners. The first action of the re-activated group was to bring Miguel Garcia
Miguel García (anarchist)
Miguel García was a Spanish anarchist activist, forger, and writer, and was a political prisoner under the regime of Francisco Franco. Born in Barcelona, García worked first as a newspaper seller, then a printer...
, who Christie met in prison, out of Spain on his release. He went on to act as the group's International secretary, working for the release of others.
The organization continued to grow, spreading throughout Europe and North America. In 1995, ABC chapters in the US merged into a Federation- the Anarchist Black Cross Federation
Anarchist Black Cross Federation
Anarchist Black Cross Federation was created in 1995 when the North American Anarchist Black Cross collectives from Paterson , Bronx , and Washington DC merged into a federation...
. While other formations tried to startup, they were unable to maintain long term support. Around 2001, a new organization, the Anarchist Black Cross Network
Anarchist Black Cross Network
The Anarchist Black Cross Network is a worldwide decentralized and egalitarian network of organizations committed to the original ideals of the Anarchist Black Cross movement -- of seeing prisons and the poverty, racism and genocide that accompanies them to be symptoms of a social order whose last...
, began and attempted to present themselves as an alternative to the ABC Federation. A conflict existed until members of both organization sat down at the Break the Chains conference; since then the two groups have tried to develop a working relationship.
Quotes
"When we lost the war, those who fought on became the Resistance. But to the world, the Resistance had become criminals, for Franco made the laws, even if, when dealing with political opponents, he chose to break the laws established by the constitution; and the world still regards us as criminals. When we are imprisoned, liberals are not interested, for we are "terrorists"....""We believe, as most Anarchists do, that prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s serve no useful function and should be abolished along with the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
. We believe in the abolition of both the prison system and the society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
which creates it. We believe in direct resistance to achieve a stateless and classless
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
society. We share a commitment to revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
ary Anarchism. We see a real need for Anarchists to be militantly
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
organized."
See also
- Anarchist Black Cross NetworkAnarchist Black Cross NetworkThe Anarchist Black Cross Network is a worldwide decentralized and egalitarian network of organizations committed to the original ideals of the Anarchist Black Cross movement -- of seeing prisons and the poverty, racism and genocide that accompanies them to be symptoms of a social order whose last...
- Anarchist Black Cross FederationAnarchist Black Cross FederationAnarchist Black Cross Federation was created in 1995 when the North American Anarchist Black Cross collectives from Paterson , Bronx , and Washington DC merged into a federation...
- anarchist symbolismAnarchist symbolismWhile anarchists have historically largely denied the importance of symbols to political movement, they have embraced certain symbols for their cause, including most prominently the circle-A and the black flag...
- Black FlagBlack Flag (newspaper)Black Flag is the name of a number of anarchist periodicals, most notably the British anarchist bi-annual magazine Black Flag, mainly known for its coverage of international anarchist politics as well as supporting "class war" prisoners....
- Louise BergerLouise BergerLouise Berger was a Latvian anarchist, a member of the Anarchist Red Cross and editor of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth Bulletin in New York. Berger became well known outside anarchist circles in 1914 after a premature bomb explosion at her New York City apartment , which killed four persons and...
- November CoalitionNovember CoalitionThe November Coalition is a non-profit grassroots organization, founded in 1997, which fights against the War on Drugs and for the rights of the prisoners incarcerated as the effect of that war. It publishes a bulletin called Razor Wire.-Tyrone Brown:...
- Prison abolition movementPrison abolition movementThe prison abolition movement seeks to abolish prisons and the prison system. The movement advocates for the abolition of prisons and the prison system on the basis of it being ineffective. Prison abolitionists present a broad critique of the modern criminal justice system, which they believe to...
- Olga TaratutaOlga TaratutaOlga Taratuta was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist. She was the founder of the Ukrainian Anarchist Black Cross.- Early life and activism:...