- Albert Meltzer
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Albert Meltzer (
January 7 ,1920 –May 7 ,1996 ) was ananarcho-communist activist andwriter .Early life
Meltzer was born in
London , and attracted toanarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of takingboxing lessons. The Labour MP for Edmonton,Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors atThe Latymer School considered it "common". At his first anarchist meeting in 1935, he contradictedEmma Goldman 's comments on boxing. As theSpanish Revolution turned into theSpanish Civil War Meltzer became active organising solidarity appeals. He involved himself with smuggling arms fromHamburg to the CNT inSpain and acted as a contact for the Spanish anarchist intelligence services in Britain. At this time he had a part as an extra in Leslie Howard'sfilm "Pimpernel Smith ", as Howard wanted more authenticactor s playing the anarchists.Beliefs on anarchism
Meltzer believed that the only true type of anarchism was communistic. He opposed the
individualist anarchism of people such asBenjamin Tucker , believing that the private police that individualists support would constitute a "government." [Metlzer, Albert. "Anarchism: For and Against", AK Press. [http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/meltzer/sp001500.html#INTRO] ]Meltzer's activism
Meltzer was a co-founder of the anarchist newspaper "Black Flag" and was a prolific writer on anarchist topics. Amongst his books were "Anarchism, Arguments For and Against" (originally published by
Cienfuegos Press ) [http://www.spunk.org/library/writers/meltzer/sp001500.html] , "The Floodgates of Anarchy" (co-written withStuart Christie ) and hisautobiography , "I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels", published byAK Press [http://www.spunk.org/library/writers/meltzer/sp001591/angeltoc.html] shortly before his death.Meltzer also was involved in the founding of the
Anarchist Black Cross . The imprisonment ofStuart Christie , jailed in 1964 for his part in a plot to assassinateFrancisco Franco , led to the spotlight being placed on anarchist resistance and the fate of other anarchist prisoners. Meltzer campaigned for Christie's release and when he was freed in 1967 Christie joined with Albert to launch theAnarchist Black Cross , to call for solidarity with those anarchists left behind in prison. This solidarity gave practical help, such as food and medicine, to the prisoners, and helped force the Spanish state to apply its ownparole rules. One of the first prisoners the Anarchist Black Cross helped free was Miguel Garcia, a veteran of the Spanish anarchist resistance, as well as wartime resistance in France. After serving 20 years in Spanish jails he moved to London to work with the Anarchist Black Cross. At the time, Albert was a printworker and managed to get Garcia work in the trade.Meltzer also helped to found the
Kate Sharpley Library .He joined the
anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement in the early 80s and was a member of it, and its successor organisation theSolidarity Federation until his death. He was originally a member of the Central London Direct Action Movement branch, but when that wound up he joined theDeptford branch, as he lived inLewisham . He died after a stroke at the 1996 Solidarity Federation Conference inWeston-super-Mare .Notes and references
External links
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/meltzer/meltzer.html Anarchist Archives entry on Meltzer]
* [http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws/albert49.html An obituary for Meltzer]
* [http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/meltzer.htm Tribute to Albert Meltzer]
* [http://libcom.org/tags/albert-meltzer Articles by or about Meltzer collected on libcom.org]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960510/ai_n14053361 Obituary, "The Independent"]
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