Lawrence Storione (1867–1922) was a Fife miner and political figure. He is best known for founding the Anarchist Communist League in

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Life

Apparently the son of the Italian stonemason Felix Storione and Philomena Moir (or Noir), and a French citizen according to the

United Kingdom Census 1901 The United Kingdom Census 1901 was the 11th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was done on 31st March 1901 "relating to the persons returned as living at midnight on Sunday, March 31st". The total p ...

, Lawrence Storione worked as a miner in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the west of

. In 1908, he settled in

Lumphinnans Lumphinnans (Scottish Gaelic: Lann Fhìonain) is a small, former mining village along the B981 road, from west to east between the towns of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly, in central Fife. Lumphinnans Primary and Community School is the local prima ...

, Fife, after fleeing France dressed as a woman. He married Annie Cowan whom he met whilst living in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

in 1900. They named their children Annie, Germinal, Libertie, Autonomie, Grace and Anarchie.Little Moscows: Communism and Working-Class Militancy in Inter-War Britain, Stuart Macintyre, Croom Helm, 1980, , page 54. He was injured in a pit accident during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He died in 1922.

Political Activity

Storione founded the Fife Anarchist Communist League in

, which 'preached a heady mixture of De Leonist Marxism and the anarchist teachings of

Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...

and Stirner, a

libertarian communism Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains r ...

which was fiercely critical of the union.' The League ran a bookshop in

and his eldest daughter, Annie, ran the Proletarian Sunday School which used the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

Little Red Songbook 180px, The ''Little Red Songbook'' Since the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) songs have played a large part in spreading the message of the One Big Union. The songs are preserved in the ''Little Red Songbook''. Definition ...

.Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872 to 1932, Cora Kaplan, William Kenefick, Edinburgh University Press, 2007, , , page 163.

References

External links

Biography of Lawrence Storione on Libcom.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storione, Lawrence Anarchist theorists Scottish anarchists Industrial Workers of the World members 1867 births 1922 deaths People from Lumphinnans Scottish people of Italian descent French emigrants to Scotland French people of Italian descent Anarchism in Scotland