An Anarchist in the Shadows: Pedro Esteve and the Covert Networks of Transnational Anarchism

Abstract

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the period when anarchist ideas had their greatest impact, these circulated intensely throughout Europe and spread widely across the American continent. The anarchist movement can be understood to its fullest extent only if studied as a transnational -although informal- network. The national approach traditionally adopted by studies on anarchism has left aside key figures of the movement. This is the case of the Catalan printer Pedro Esteve who emigrated to America in 1892 and never returned to Spain but, far from disappearing, was extraordinarily active from his operation headquarters in the USA until his death in 1925. His home was the meeting point and a must place for anarchists from many different countries. The newspapers he edited, or those where he was a key member of the editorial team, played a central role in a transnational connection which he considered essential for the development of the anarchist movement. For three decades he carried out a vast agitation and propaganda activity among Spanish, Italian and Cuban workers. The aim of this article is to examine Esteve’s dense -although diffuse and opaque- transnational network of connections during the period between the two centuries when anarchism was at its height.