Paradoxes of Utopia: Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires, 1890-1910 Book

Translator's Acknowledgments ix

Dedication xi

Author's Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Organization of the Libertarian Movement and the Dissemination of Its Ideas 13

1 Anarchism in Buenos Aires: A Brief Historical Outline 14

2 Propaganda, an Important Tool: Groups, Circles, and Study Centers 16

3 The Importance of Having a Name 20

4 The Emergence, Peak, and Decline of the Groups and Circles 23

5 The Difficulties of Organizing Propaganda 32

Chapter II The Anarchist Appeal 43

1 The Anarchist Appeal: The Working Class or The People 44

2 Revolutionary Urgency 47

3 Pure Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists 54

4 Who Is the Revolutionary Subject? 56

5 The Enlightened Vanguard 58

Chapter III Pamphlets, Books, Lectures, Militants, and Disseminators 65

1 The Power of Solidarity 65

2 The Power of the Written Word: Books and Pamphlets 70

3 The Power of the Word: Lectures 73

4 The Power of the Will: Militants Disseminators 82

Chapter IV Free Time, Parties, and Theater 91

1 How to Use Free Time 91

2 Women and the Family? 93

3 The Search for Healthy and Rational Entertainment 97

4 War on the Carnival 98

5 The Libertarian Cultural Model 101

6 Libertarian Theater 105

Chapter V The Anarchist Press 115

1 The Context 116

2 Anarchism and the Freedom of the Press 117

3 The Libertarian Publications 120

4 A Workers' or Anarchist Press? 123

5 A Doctrinaire and Ideological Press 126

6 Irresolvable Problems of the Anarchist Press 133

Chapter VI The Educational Practices of Argentine Anarchism 143

1 Education as a Tool for Transforming the Individual 144

2 Anarchism and Public Education 145

3 Education: Before or After the Revolution? 148

4 "Get Our Children Out of Official Schools" 150

5 The First Steps of Libertarian Education 154

6 In Search of a Rational School 158

7 The Rationalist Education League 165

Chapter VII The State, the Law, the Fatherland, and Argentine Anarchists' Political Practices 171

1 The State 172

2 The Law 174

3 The Fatherland and the Barracks 178

4 The Meanings of Politics 184

5 Propaganda by Deed: Anarchism and Its Contradictory Conception of Violence 189

6 The General Revolutionary Strike 193

7 The Expansion of Political Representation and the Limits of Anarchism 196

Chapter VIII Anarchist Rites and Symbols 201

1 Anarchism Invents Its Image 203

2 Red Flags of Dreams 206

3 Heroes and Martyrs of the Proletariat 210

4 Revolutionary Calendars and Almanacs 214

5 May Day: The Workers' Easter 216

Conclusion 225

Appendix 232

Bibliography and Sources 237

Notes 253

Index 305