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Title: Meltzer, Albert, 1920â1996 Author: John Patten Date: July 2002 Language: en Topics: Albert Meltzer, biography Source: Retrieved on 22nd September 2020 from https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/1893gb Notes: This article originally appreared in Freedom v. 63 #16 â 10 August 2002
Obituaries of Albert Meltzer described him as a âtorchbearer of
international anarchism.â What makes an anarchist torchbearer? His
international links across his years of activism are clear in his
autobiography I Couldnât Paint Golden Angels: he worked with comrades
from India, China, Sweden, Spain, Australia, the USA... But beyond that
he fought, in theory and practice, for anarchism to be a living
movement.
Albert was often accused of âsectarianismâ because he opposed the idea
of an âopen door policyâ for anarchism: that anyone claiming to be an
anarchist should be taken at their word. He was never prepared to let
bad definitions drive out good without an argument.
He defended the anarchist heritage of resistance against the reworked
liberalism which idealised âperpetual protest.â In the relatively free
sixties, some argued that revolutionary change was old hat, and that we
should be content with âliving as freely as possibleâ in the here and
now. Albert was very sarcastic about how emphasising anarchism as an
abstract idea allowed authoritarian scum like Thatcher to pose as
libertarians.
He also opposed what he called the âpackage-deal Leftâ, sadly still in
evidence today, where having a âlineâ which can be used to march the
papersellers to the top of the hill, and the next and the next, takes
the place of principles or the idea of human liberation.
As a trade union activist and working class militant, Albert was a firm
believer in class struggle anarchism, not as a ghetto within a ghetto,
but as the best bet for defending our current freedom and achieving
long-term change. His faith in the potential of the working class was
unshaken by the shocking revelation that some of them were not angels:
his twofold response was that, having no need to exploit another class,
they had the greatest libertarian potential and (more humorously) that
the only place angels would have to be involved in workers control was
in heaven!
One of his aims in the many books and hundreds of articles he wrote was
to encourage a âMonday militancyâ â to struggle for freedom in every
area of our lives, rather than just chanting about it on the weekend.
A quote from The Floodgates of Anarchy (co-written with Stuart Christie)
shows that he was open-minded about the need for flexibility of tactics:
âWe must accept reforms in the spirit in which they are offered, and,
if, in order to get a political prisoner released after twenty years in
jail, we were asked to appear in our shirts like the burghers of Calais,
and march around a cathedral carrying a penitential candle, this would
be an act of solidarity no less than attacking a Spanish bank or
kidnapping an ambassador. [âŠ]
âWhat would be the grossest superstition â and this is the analogy with
reformism â is to believe that simply by appearing in sackcloth and
ashes and traipsing around the cathedral, the dictator could be
persuaded to release the prisoners. [âŠ] Letters to members of
parliament, discussions of civil rights and the abstract rights of man,
petitions to the United Nations, public statements for which one must
angle for ânamesâ, the collecting of thousands of ordinary signatures âŠ
all these are secular, democratic versions of the sackcloth and ashes,
required by the despot. We may need to engage in them, we may benefit
from them, but we do not have to be fooled by them.â
Spanish anarchists were the staunchest opponents of Francoâs fascist
regime, yet in or out of jail received the least international support.
This changed with the imprisonment of Stuart Christie, jailed in 1964
for his part in a plot to assassinate Franco. The spotlight illuminated
not only him, but the fact of Anarchist resistance and the fate of other
Anarchist prisoners. Albert helped behind the scenes efforts to
âencourageâ Stuartâs release. Once freed in 1967 he joined with Albert
to launch the Anarchist Black Cross, to call for solidarity with those
left behind. This solidarity gave practical help (food and medicine) to
the prisoners, and helped force the Spanish state to apply its own
parole rules. Just as importantly, it introduced activists elsewhere to
a revolutionary tradition very different from the murderous and
authoritarian Russian one. One of the first prisoners the Anarchist
Black Cross helped free was Miguel Garcia, a veteran of the Spanish
anarchist resistance, as well as wartime resistance in France. After
serving 20 years (to the hour!) in Spanish jails he moved to London to
work with the ABC â and inspiring a new generation of activists.
The Anarchist Black Cross was always beset by people with bright plans
for expansion (âwhy not aid all victims of capitalism everywhere?â)
regardless of the resources needed. Giving the chance for people to
provide direct solidarity, it achieved more than many paper
organisations and still shows the value of practical anarchist activism.
Speaking of paper, the ABC bulletin became Black Flag, at times weekly,
and at others âexcitingly irregularâ, which has for 30 years pushed the
idea and practice of revolutionary anarchism. In the early 1980s it
reinvigorated yet another generation of anarchist politics in Britain.
By connecting with young working class anarchists coming from the punk
scene it helped spread new energy and attitude. These were the people
who went on to spread Anarchist ideas more widely than they had been
seen for years in the miners and other strikes, as well as the fight
against the Poll Tax.
Anarchists of today, if they ever wonder what one person can do, could
learn a lot from the life of Albert Meltzer. Albert has left many
legacies to the Anarchist movement, from a frank and justified
scepticism of the value of academic âexpertsâ on or media exposes about
Anarchism, to a supply of scathing anecdotes about most political
ideologies.
Many of the projects he was involved with carry on: Black Flag is still
promoting anarchist resistance and the Kate Sharpley Library continues
uncovering the grassroots history of the movement, which is, after all,
where its strength has always lain. A publishing house (The Meltzer
Press) set up in tribute to him has produced some important historical
works including the first English translation of Peiratsâ classic
account of The CNT in the Spanish Revolution.
A political appreciation like this inevitably leaves out much that could
be said â especially of a life so full. To many people Albert truly was
an Anarchist torchbearer (and not only to radicals: Special Branch
called him âthe doyen of the British anarchist movementâ!). To many
others who worked or communicated with him, he carried other sparklers
of humour and comradeship. He had no time for the cult of âgreat menâ or
âgreat womenâ in isolation from the movements that made them what they
were, so perhaps the best tribute is to say that he was part of a long
line of comrades who devoted their lives to spreading the idea of
anarchism and proving the worth of its principles in the fight for human
freedom.