Spanish-speaking anarchists in the United States and their transnational networks. El Despertar, Brooklyn (1891-1902)

Abstract

This text is based on the premise that the anarchist movement can only be understood in its full dimension and complexity if it is analysed as a transnational network that spread through many countries in various continents. The transnational character of Anarchism also affects its publications, which saw a flurry of activity, often from one coast of the Atlantic to the other, and the different national Anarchist movements of Europe and America thus connected with each other. This is the case of El Despertar, a Spanish-language Brooklyn periodical whose influence spread well beyond the borders of the U.S. This text is an attempt to bring to light the connections and the close network of contacts, both amongst groups and particular individuals, of the Hispanic anarchists in the U.S., spotlighting the figure of Pedro Esteve who, for three decades during the course of the xix al xx Centuries, carried out an immense work of rallying and propaganda in the Spanish, Italian and Cuban labour movement of the United States, mainly through the periodicals he published or those in whose editorial staff he was a key figure.