European archives

From La Bataille Socialiste, I recently found ena.lu: European Navigator, a collection of documents on the history of the idea of Europe, which has much of interest to those who are interested in the topics of this blog.

The section “1945-1949” has a section called “Europe in the ruis”, which has a sub-sub-section on the resistance movement, that includes the Italian anti-fascists’ Ventotene Manifesto (also here). It includes a 1944 document written by militants from resistance movements of several European countries who meet secretly in Geneva to discuss the problems related to the reconstruction of a democratic, federally-based Europe after the war, taken from Europe speaks: issues on behalf of the ISK, Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (Militant Socialist International). Also in “1945-1949”, in the Cold War sub-section, is a space about the Greek civil war, with fascinating documents and photographs.

There is also a sub-section on federalist movements, which includes a space on the Movement for the Socialist United States of Europe, whose President was André Philip, with texts from the Brussels left newspaper Le Phare Dimanche, and from Marceau Pivert. The officers of the movement in 1947 were Bob Edwards and John Mcnair (UK, ILP – both had fought with the POUM in Spain, as part of the ILP Contingent), Jef Last (Holland – Last, another veteran of Spain, had been in Sneevliet‘s RSAP, but I’m not sure where he was in 1957), Witte (Demetrious Yotopoulos, leader of the Archeiomarxists, Greece), Enrique Gironella (POUM, Spain) and Henri Frenay (France, involved in the Combat group during WWII and I think involved in the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance by 1947).