Marie-Louise Berneri

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Marie-Louise Berneri

Marie-Louise Berneri , real name: Maria Luisa Berneri (born March 1, 1918 in Arezzo (Italy), † April 13, 1949 in London ), was an Italian author, editor of the War Commentary and an anarchist . Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War she was active in the organization Relief , where she helped orphans and refugees. She died of a viral infection in puerperium at the age of 31 .

Life

Marie-Louise Berneri was the eldest daughter of Camillo and Giovanna Berneri. Her father, originally a socialist , was a noted activist in the Italian anarchist movement in the 1920s. A teacher by profession, Camillo Berneri refused to give in to the demands of fascist ideology and went to France with his family in 1926. In Paris, her house became a meeting point for anti-fascist activities. Marie-Louise Berneri studied psychology there at the Sorbonne in the mid-1930s , changed her first name to Marie-Louise and became involved in the anarchist movement.

Her father was shot dead by Stalinists in Barcelona in 1937 . Her mother, active in the anti-fascist and anarchist movement, was arrested in France and handed over to the Italian authorities. She had to remain in prison until the end of the war and after her release she became one of the “most prominent and active anarchists in Italy”.

In 1936 Marie-Louise Berneri emigrated to Great Britain, married Vernon Richards and was given British citizenship. Her sister, Giliane Berneri, stayed in France and studied psychology. After the war she too became active in the anarchist movement. Marie-Louise Berneri took part in the magazine Freedom and, thanks to her international contacts and language skills (Italian, French, Spanish), became an important activist of the English anarchist movement. She was friends with Tom Keell ("Freedom Press") and George Orwell , among others .

Act

Berneri wrote for War Commentary magazine in 1939 and became one of the four editors in 1945. She was a leading member of the Freedom Group, which edited the Freedom Bulletin and Freedom magazine, during the Spanish Civil War and World War II , until her death. In 1945 she was arrested with the three other editors for her involvement in War Commentary . Berneri was acquitted because, legally speaking, the married couple could not commit a joint conspiracy.

In Great Britain, starting with her essay Sexualität und Freiheit , she was one of the first authors to bring Wilhelm Reich's works up for discussion. In addition to her numerous articles in Freedom magazine, Berneri published a new edition of Errico Malatesta's anti-election pamphlet from 1890 and, with Workers in Stalin's Russia, a detailed brochure on the situation of workers in Stalinist Russia. In 1948, Berneri attended the International Anarchist Conference in Paris as a member of the British delegation. Her mother and sister also came to this conference as members of the Italian and French delegations.

In her book Reise durch Utopia she wrote: “The aim of this book was to provide a general overview of utopian thinking from ancient Greece to the present day.” She dealt critically with various utopias, including those of Plato , More and Bacon , and came to the conclusion: “Utopias that pass this test are against the conception of a centralized state, are for the union of free communities where the individual can develop his personality without being subject to censorship or an artificial code, where freedom is not only is an abstract concept, but becomes clear in concrete work, be it that of the painter or the bricklayer. [...] Only when utopia points to an ideal life without becoming a plan, that is, a lifeless machine that is imposed on the living, does it actually become a realization of progress ”.

Ivan Avacumovic and George Woodcock dedicated their biography on Pjotr ​​Kropotkin , The Anarchist Prince (1950), to Marie-Louise Berneri with the words: “A real successor to Kropotkin”.

Works

  • 1944: Workers in Stalin's Russia. Brochure, Freedom Press, London 1944.
  • 1952: Neither East nor West. Selected writings. "Marie-Louise-Berneri-Memorial-Committee" & Freedom Press, London 1952.
  • 1981: with Charlatan Stew: Our kingdom is a prison. Charlatan Stew publisher, 1981.

literature

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Author: David Goodway. Anarchism and the welfare state: the Peckham Health Center . Quote: " Berneri's daughter, Marie Louise (originally Maria Luisa), also outstandingly gifted, left France to live with Richards in London (until her tragically premature death in 1949 at the age of 31) ". Retrieved December 5, 2011
  2. ↑ biography . September 20, 2004. In English, accessed December 4, 2011
  3. ↑ Author: Huub Sanders . April 2010, in the IISG. Dutch, accessed December 5, 2011
  4. ↑ Brief information about M.-L. Berneri . Quote: " Maria Luisa Berneri took on the french version of her name and went to study psychology at the Sorbonne in the mid-1930s ". Retrieved December 5, 2011
  5. ↑ Luigi Camillo Berneri, biography . Retrieved April 13, 2019
  6. ↑ biography . September 20, 2004. English, accessed December 5, 2011
  7. ↑ Brief notes on Vernon Richards . Quotation: “ Vernon Richards (1915-2001), whose real name was Vero Recchioni, was born in London as the son of Italian political refugees. He worked as a publicist in England for over sixty years and helped his father with his propaganda campaign against the Mussolini regime. In 1936 he and Camillo Berneri published the bilingual anarchist paper Italia Libera / Free Italy. In that year he also started publishing Spain and the World, which was renamed Revolt in 1939 and War Commentary at the outbreak of World War II ". At the IISG, Amsterdam. English, accessed December 5, 2011
  8. ↑ See also on this (Freedom Press Group): John Rodden: Gorge Orwell: The Politics of Literary Reputation . Page 167 . Google Books. Brief information available online
  9. ↑ Author: Lou Marin . In: trend online newspaper. “George Orwell and anarchism. Personal friendships and theoretical enmities ”. Quotation: " Immediately after his [George Orwell] return from Spain, Emma Goldman approached him and he was convinced by her to join the anarchist" International Antifascist Solidarity ", an English solidarity organization for Spain. There he met Rebecca West, Herbert Read, Vernon Richards and Marie-Louise Berneri, and with the latter a personal friendship lasted until his death ”. Retrieved December 5, 2011
  10. ↑ See: Donald Rooum: Freedom. Freedom Press and Freedom Bookshop; P. 3: “When the Spanish civil War broke out in 1936, Vernon Richards, known as Vero, […] started a newspaper called Spain and the World in support of the Spanish anarchists. [...] with Tom Keell as publisher and Lilian Wolfe, now aged 60, as administrator. Lilian often stayed in London with Vero and his companion Marie-Louise Berneri. She stayed on as administrator and manager of Freedom Bookshop until the age of 95. " Available online. PDF
  11. ^ Huub Sanders: War Commentary. In: IISG, Amsterdam, April 2010.
  12. ↑ George Woodcock: Anarchism: A History of Liberterian Ideas and movements ; P. 383
  13. ↑ Biography at libcom.org , accessed October 16, 2017.
  14. ^ Quotation from Berneri, 1950: Introduction to Reise durch Utopia - at sterneck.net, German, accessed on July 4, 2017.
  15. ↑ Berneri 1950 (Utopia) - Foreword by George Woodcock (Canadian historian)
personal data
SURNAME Berneri, Marie-Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berneri, Maria Luisa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian anarchist
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Arezzo (Italy)
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1949
Place of death London (Great Britain)