Poumaholic

Some alternative histories: The shipwrecked: anti-fascist refugees during WWII. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia a century after his death. Rising East: London radical history day. Karl Pfeifer in Jerusalem.

Marek Edelman: Two more for the list: Terry Glavin’s post has a fascinating comment thread (I agree with The Plump), plus: This mandolin kills fascists.

La lucha continua: Venezuelan anarchism: Introducing El Libertario. Save Obtilia Eugenio Manuel. A visa for Principe Gabriel Gonzalez.

On old and new Stalinisms: Repelling Stalinoid attacks on Makhnovism. Happy Honecker! Nazi-Comintern collaboration and the DDR. A glorious leap backward. Socialist Unity: From Soviet Union to the GDR, and the People’s Republic of China. Stalin a mass murderer after all.

The democratic socialist tradition: The uncollected Michael Foot. Changing times: Minnie Lansbury and Poplarism. Reading about George Lansbury. Tom Paine for today.

Theory and praxis: Murdering the dead: on Amadeo Bordiga today. Castoriadis and magnanimity.

Politics and morality: The IMG and the morality of the Brighton bombing. The new McCarthyism and the BNP. A fitting tribute to Anna Politkovskaya.

Below the fold: Libcom’s most recent anarchist biographies.

Facing East 1: Henk Sneevliet

Henk Sneevliet is not that well known in the English-speaking world. He was a Dutch socialist who was active in the early years of the Communist Party in the Netherlands, and later led the RSAP, the independent anti-Stalinist grouping that was aligned with the POUM. Being outside the mainstreams of Stalinism and Trotskyism has meant that (like the POUM, and like their Sneevliet’s close associates in Belgium, around Georges Vereeken) there is noone to conserve and curate his memory. In Asia, however, he is regarded as a hero of the anti-imperialist movement, for his role in Indonesian independence and the formation of the Chinese Communist Party. Hence this interesting thing:

Mind and Heart for Revolutionary Socialism in Europe and Asia

Sneevliet Exhibition at the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai
29 June 2009 – 10 August 2009
In Commemoration of the 126th Anniversary of the Birth of Sneevliet
Flyer of exhibition (.pdf, 1.2 Mb)

On June 29 an exhibition is opening on the life of Dutch revolutionary Henk Sneevliet (1883-1942) at the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. Many of the documents on display are part of IISH collections. Never before has the IISH lent such a large number of documents for an exhibition in Asia.

In China Sneevliet is still admired for his part in the foundation of the Chinese communist party. It was Sneevliet who helped advance Mao Zedong in the party.

The exhibition shows a broad view of Sneevliet’s political and personal life. Official documents as well as personal letters are on display. Some of Sneevliet’s notes were even written in Shanghai.

Most of the exhibited archival documents are part of the Sneevliet papers. There are also documents from the F.M. Wibaut papers and the Willem van Ravesteyn papers, which are also IISH collections.

This site contains an Outline of his Life, with many documents of Sneevliet’s political and personal life, and a chronology.

Below the fold, Dutch socialist ex libris from the IISG.