__NOTOC__ Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (''Federación Anarquista Uruguaya'', commonly known as FAU) is a

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

organization founded in 1956. The FAU was created by anarchist militants to be a specifically anarchist organization. The FAU was the first organization to promote the organizational concept of

Especifismo Platformism is an anarchist organizational theory that aims to create a tightly coordinated anarchist federation. Its main features include a common tactical line, a unified political policy and a commitment to collective responsibility. First d ...

History

The FAU began with the collection of ideological and cultural traditions contributed by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, Galician and Catalan

anarcho-communist Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

and

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

refugees, that fled

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

persecution during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The organization was involved, from the outset, in social struggles around the country, working on the strengthening of trade unions and advancing towards workers' unity. In the early 1960s, the FAU took part in the structure of the “Coordinator” (), the predecessor of the

Tupamaros The National Liberation Movement – Tupamaros (, MLN-T) was a Marxist–Leninist urban guerrilla group that operated in Uruguay during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1989, the group was admitted into the Broad Front and a large number of its membe ...

. When the MLN-T emerged from it in 1966, the federation did not elect to join the new organization. However,

Jorge Zabalza Jorge Pedro Zabalza Waksman (30 November 1943 – 23 February 2022) was a Uruguayan politician and writer. He was a former leader within the political organization Tupamaros and former president of the ''Junta Departamental de Montevideo''. Biog ...

, a member of the FAU, did join the Tupamaros in an individual capacity. In 1967 the Uruguayan government ordered the dissolution of the FAU, which went underground. Its activity was restructured according to the new situation, and they began to develop a clandestine network for the printing and distribution of propaganda. In 1968, the FAU decided to create a mass front called the Student Workers' Resistance (, ROE), which organized neighborhood militants, labor unionists and combative students into a popular front. Flag_of_the_Treinta_y_Tres

The state of emergency and the militarization of political life also led the FAU to develop an armed structure. The Popular Revolutionary Organization-33 (, OPR-33), an armed arm of the FAU, was launched and began to carry out a series of

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

kidnappings Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

of political leaders and industrial employers, armed support of strikes, occupations of factories, etc. The OPR-33 also published an underground weekly, and created an infrastructure network to prepare its actions and protect its activists. On 19 April 1969, they stole the flag of the

Thirty-Three Orientals The ''Treinta y Tres Orientales'' (English: Thirty-Three Orientals or Thirty-Three Easterners) was a revolutionary group led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Manuel Oribe against the Empire of Brazil. Their actions culminated in the foundation of m ...

from the National Historical Museum. Opposed to electoral participation, they advocated

abstention Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a Voting, vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrast ...

in the 1971 general election, refusing to support the Broad Front. In 1975, activists of the FAU, the ROE and the OPR-33 in exile in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

(Hugo Cores, Gerardo Gatti and Léon Duarte) founded the People's Victory Party (, PVP), a

Libertarian Marxist Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other ...

group sympathetic to the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. The PVP would later abandon anarchism for electoralism and became part of the Broad Front. Cornered by the repression of Uruguayan and Argentine special services, about fifty FAU members were tortured, killed and disappeared, while others were sentenced to long years in prison. When the

Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay The civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973–1985), also known as the Uruguayan Dictatorship, was an authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Uruguay for 12 years, from June 27, 1973 (after the 1973 coup d'état) until March 1, 1985 ...

fell in 1985, the FAU faced an immediate reorganization effort. The FAU, since its reorganization, helped in the creation of several similar anarchist organizations in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, including the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha (FAG), the Federação Anarquista Cabocla (FACA), th
Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro
(FARJ) in Brazil, th
Anarchist Federation of Rosario
(FAR); and the underground Argentine organization AUCA (Rebel). Today their social efforts cover broad sectors: organizing in trade unions, schools, parental councils and neighborhood associations, protecting the environment, writing to prisoners, and building a social housing cooperative. They also run a printing press, 6 community radio stations, 4 athenaeums, 3 libraries and built a ''Solidarity and Mutual Support Space''.

References

External links

Homepage of the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU)Anarkismo.net website
{{Authority control 1956 establishments in Uruguay Anarchism in Uruguay Anarchist Federations Anarchist organizations in South America Platformist organizations Political parties established in 1956 Political parties in Uruguay

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links