Cantor Anarquista

Here is a song recorded by mselasco (me!) that is based on a poem entitled Cantor Anarquista ("Anarchist Singer"). The poem was written in 1927 by the famous anarchist payador named Martin Castro, who would travel the country singing songs of protest and freedom. In addition to being a brilliant poet and musician, Castro also directed an anarchist cultural magazine called La Voz de los Tiempos (The Voice of the Times) that featured artwork, poetry, short stories, and reviews. His efforts were essential in creating a culture of resistance that gave the anarchist movement in Argentina a larger sense of community and identity.




El Cantor Anarquista

Guitarra del alma mía,
Tu vibración esplendente
Al ancho mar de mi mente
Lo inunda de inspiración
Contigo formo tribuna
Y al pueblo que sufre y siente
En verso rudo y valiente
Le hablo de su redención.

Mi verso no es el badajo
Que hará sonar la campana
Apostólica romana
De la mentida piedad:
Nunca, mi ideal no se vende,
Mi carácter no se allana,
Ante la miseria humana
Que hiere a mi dignidad.

No elogiaré al fabricante
Porque se que es un tirano,
Que desde el niño al anciano
Les usurpa el sudor,
Jamás llevaré en mi frente
Tan vergonzosa mancilla.
Haré mi guitarra astillas
Antes de herir mi pudor.

No prostituiré al cerebro
Con hurras a los cosacos,
No es himno de policíacos
Mi canción libre y triunfal.
Nunca llegaré a ser cómplice
De tan baja mansedumbre,
Ni hundiré en la podredumbre
La pureza de mi ideal.

Mi verso no es gloria patria,
No ensalzaré en mis cantares
A laureados militares
Enemigos de la paz.
Yo voy hacia un pueblo libre,
Sin esclavos ni señores,
Sin envidias ni rencores
De un sentimiento solaz.

No aplaudiré al propietario,
Que fronteriza, que encierra
En lotes la libre tierra,
Desconociendo su embrión:
La tierra es libre. es del pueblo
Toda la extensión del globo.
Lo propiedad es un robo
Definida por Prohudon.

De la santa religión.
Banqueros y gobernantes.
Propietarios, comerciantes.
Es el trust del capital.
Trust que lo sostiene el pueblo
Sometido al barbarismo,
Del torvo militarismo
Y la tribu policial.

Si la religión católica
Prostituye y mistifica,
El propietario trafica
Con la tierra maternal.
El fabricante es el pulpo
Que vive del hambre ajeno.
El militar es el freno
Del engranaje fatal.

El hombre ha creado la ley
Para inculcar la obediencia,
Impuesto por la violencia,
Aplastando la razón,
Leyes fatuas que dividen
La fortuna y la miseria,
Y de la misma materia
El esclavo y el mandón.

Entre el amo y el esclavo,
Entre el amor y el desdén,
Entre la maldad y el bien,
Entre el ocio y la labor,
De pie con la frente erguida,
Combatimos la codicia
Con un ideal de Justicia,
De felicidad y amor.


The Anarchist Singer

Guitar of my soul,
Your resplendent vibration
Floods with inspiration
The wide sea of my mind
With you I form a stage
And speak of redemption
To the people who suffer and feel
In verses coarse and valiant.

My verse is not the clapper
That will bring about the ringing
Of the holy roman bell
Of false piety:
Never, my ideal cannot be sold,
My character cannot be broken,
Before the human misery
That wounds my dignity.

I will not praise the manufacturer
Because he is a tyrant,
Who usurps the sweat of all
From the child to the elder,
I will never carry on my forehead
Such a shameful stain.
I will break my guitar into splinters
Before wounding my decency.

I will not prostitute the mind
With cheers for the Cossacks,
My free and triumphant song
Is no police anthem.
I will not become accomplice
To such base docility,
Nor will I sink the purity of my ideal
Into that putridity.

My verse is not for patriotic glory,
My songs will not exalt
Military heroes,
Enemies of peace.
I move towards a free people,
Without slaves nor masters,
Without envy nor resentment
Of a comforting sentiment.

I will not applaud the landowner,
Who makes borders, who encloses
In lots the free land,
Unaware of his embryo:
The land is free. The entire span of the globe
Is of the people.
Property is theft
As defined by Proudhon.

The monopoly of Capital.
Belongs to the holy Church,
The Bankers and governors,
Landowners and businessmen.
The trust holds the people
Submitted to the barbarism
of grim militarism
and the police tribe.

As the catholic religion
Prostitutes and mystifies,
The landowner traffics
The maternal earth.
The manufacturer is the octopus
That lives off others’ hunger.
The military is at the controls
Of the fatal machine.

Man has created laws
To instill obedience,
Imposed through violence,
Crushing reason,
Fatuous laws that divide
The fortunate and the miserable,
And in the same manner
The master and slave.

Between master and slave,
Between love and disdain,
Between good and evil,
Between idleness and labor,
Standing with heads held high,
We fight against greed
With an ideal of justice,
Happiness and love.

(English translation by the Poison Oak Collective)

Tues. Aug 10 @ Red and Black Cafe in Portland, OR

The Songs of Pietro Gori

This album offers us a collection of songs written by or for Pietro Gori (1865-1911), the Italian anarchist and poet.

Perhaps Gori's most famous poem is "Addio a Lugano", a farewell song written from the perspective of an exhiled anarchist. In this song, Gori's words describe the way that anarchists were arrested and driven from their lands for promoting peace, fighting oppression, and spreading ideals of love.

download here

Anarchist Art History: The Executioner

If one looks at archives of anarchist publications throughout history, one can find an enormous amount of cultural material such as short stories, poetry, and visual art. These materials were of great importance to past movements because they were often times more accessible to the average worker than theoretical or historical texts. Furthermore, these artistic expressions could evoke powerful emotional responses and tackle abstract concepts, both important aspects of building a culture of resistance. These cultural materials continue to be valuable for us today. They are historical artifacts that provide a window into the past, and they are cultural tools that can be used to reach out and inspire.

With this in mind, one of the projects we have undertaken is the reproduction of images found in anarchist publications, with a specific focus on woodblock prints. We hope that by re-printing these materials and paying special attention to the original processes used, we can resurrect these forgotten images and preserve an important artistic tradition. Most of the images found in these anarchist publications are copyright-free, and many of these prints were often re-used in different periodicals. Here is an example of one of the images we are working with:

The Executioner
(La Protesta, Buenos Aires, May 1st, 1927)

This image originally appeared on the front cover of La Protesta on May 1st, 1927. Originally called La Protesta Humana, this anarchist publication was founded on June 13, 1887. The name was later simplified to La Protesta on November 7, 1903 to make it easier for street vendors to announce. La Protesta represented mostly anarcho-syndicalist, organizationalist views and was specifically opposed to terrorism as a tactic. Throughout its history, this newspaper was physically assaulted and banned several times. For example, on May 13, 1910 it was banned for two years. In response to this, starting on May 15, 1911, La Protesta was edited in Montevideo, Uruguay and brought illegally to Buenos Aires. It wasn’t until July 20, 1913 that this newspaper would start printing in Buenos Aires once again. Later, on January 10, 1919, amidst a general strike, the police alongside a nationalist paramilitary force known as the “Patriotic League” assaulted La Protesta and suspended publications for eleven days. In this way, printing of La Protesta suffered countless interruptions. However, despite constant repression by the State, the newspaper continues to be published to the present day and is Argentina’s longest running anarchist publication.

The image shown here, printed on anniversary of the Haymarket affair, accompanied an article that reflected on the fight for an eight-hour workday in the United States and criticized the violent and unjust response of the State: “The 1st of May is a day of remembrance and protest. For the workers, this day not only symbolizes the judicial crime in Chicago, but also all of the crimes of the law and all of the violent acts of the State.” Such recognition demonstrates the transnational nature of the anarchist movement. In addition to this, from the Argentine perspective the Haymarket massacre shows the hypocrisy of a country that claims to value freedom above all else, and La Protesta uses this to critique the violent nature of the State.

Below the image itself, the caption reads, “Today, like yesterday, like always, the State makes an effort to drown the spirit, killing the subject matter.” The executioner stares through the page, axe in hand, reminding workers around the world, that even in a so-called democracy like the United States, governments protect the interests of capital with unjust violence.

The Songs of Argentine Anarchists 1904-1936

It is undeniable that anarchist ideas had a very important influence in the early stages of the labor movement in Argentina. Many of the first anarchist leaders in Argentina were foreigners, bringing their ideologies with them primarily from Italy and Spain, where anarchist ideas were more developed. Later, these ideas were sustained by local workers and immigrants, who organized themselves into worker’s collectives and fought for anarchist ideals.

One of the strongest features of anarchism in Argentina was its cultural movement: anarchists founded libraries, newspapers, editorials, classes, and night schools. In addition to this, their history and ideals were preserved through music and poetry, which could speak to workers both in the city and in the countryside. In this recording, we can hear their voices singing the revolutionary lyrics that inspired workers decades ago.

download here