Ricardo Mella Cea (April 13, 1861 – August 7, 1925) was one of the first writers, intellectuals and
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
activists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. He was characterized as an erudite in various subjects and versed in languages, mastering French, English and Italian.
Federica Montseny
Frederica Montseny i Mañé (; 1905–1994) was a Catalan Anarchism, anarchist and intellectual who served as Ministry of Health (Spain), Minister of Health and Social Assistance in the Government of the Second Spanish Republic, Spanish Republi ...
said, "He is considered the deepest, most penetrating and most lucid of the Spanish anarchist thinkers". He was the father of feminist activist
Urania Mella and socialist politician Ricardo Mella Serrano.
Biography
![Anarquismo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Anarquismo._1892._Evoluci%C3%B3n_e_revoluci%C3%B3n._Ricardo_Mella.jpg)
Ricardo Mella was born in Gamboa,
Vigo
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
, in the
province of Pontevedra
Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, and Ourense, ...
(
Galicia), where he went to primary school. He was the son of Dolores Cea Fernández and José Mella Buján, a
hat crafter and a supporter of
federal republicanism
The Spanish Republic ( es, República Española), historiographically referred to as the First Spanish Republic, was the political regime that existed in Spain from 11 February 1873 to 29 December 1874.
The Republic's founding ensued after th ...
which influenced his eldest son, Ricardo, on respect for the
republican and democratic ideals and admiration for
Francisco Pi y Margall
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...
. When he was 16, he joined the
Federal Democratic Republican Party
The Federal Democratic Republican Party ( es, Partido Republicano Democrático Federal, PRDF) was a Spanish political party founded in 1868 during the Glorious Revolution that was active until 1912. Its ideology was federal republicanism and pro ...
of Spain, becoming its secretary, and emphasized in its advocacy of federalist republican status and the political and administrative autonomy of
Galicia.
When he was young, he worked in a maritime agency in his native Vigo. By this time, Vigo was experiencing a considerable transformation and expansion as a port city and commercial center, but the poor living conditions in Galicia still required workers to emigrate. During this time, he began his journalistic career working with the bi-weekly newspaper ''La Verdad'', a representative of republicanism, and supporter of the claims of the Galician proletariat, denouncing the
exploitation of workers in Galicia.
During this time, he began his journalistic profession by collaborating with the bi-weekly periodical ''La Verdad.'' Representing the most extreme sector of Republicanism, he wrote frequently on the struggle of the Galician proletariat and denounced what he felt to be despotic policies in the Galician government. The sharp and controversial nature of his writings brought him into conflict with the Marquis José Elduayen, a canovista politician and local representative of the central conservative power under Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta. Mella brought to light an alleged embezzlement in the Bank of Spain, of which the Marquis had been director of. In April 1881 Mella was sentenced by the Provincial Court to 4 years and 3 months of exile and a fine of 625 pesetas. The sentence was later commuted to 3 years and 7 months and the fine was lowered to 200 pesetas.
In 1881 Mella founded ''La Propaganda'' in Vigo, a federalist publication with a focus on labor issues that lasted until 1885.
In exile
In 1882 he moved to Madrid as part of his imposed exile and there renewed contact with Juan Serrano. He married Serrano's daughter, Esparanza Serrano Rivera, with whom he had 12 children. In 1884 he collaborated with the monthly publication ''Acracia'' and the Barcelona Newspaper ''El Productor'' to translate Bakunin's ''God and State'' into Spanish.
On the advice of his father-in-law Mella studied topography and moved to Andalusia to work. In
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
he founded several newspapers, among them ''La Solidaridad'' in 1888. He attended the 1st and 2nd Socialist Competitions (
Reus
Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is k ...
1885,
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
1889), entering 8 essays, all of which won prizes: "El problema de la emigración en Galicia"; "Diferencias entre el comunismo y el colectivismo"; "La anarquía: su pasado, su presente y su porvenir"; "Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas"; "La nueva utopía (novela imaginaria)"; "El colectivismo: sus fundamentos científicos"; "Organización, agitación, revolución y El crimen de Chicago".
Return to Galicia
In 1895 Mella returned to Vigo. He remained there a short time, going to Pontevedra in 1897 to work on the construction of a railroad. There he was in close contact with the editors of ''La Unión Republicana'' and wrote for ''El Progresso'' in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and ''El Corsario'' in
A Coruña
A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...
. He denounced the execution of anarchists in Montjuic and began his task of spreading anarchism among the Galician peasantry. At the same time he collaborated with the periodicals
La Revista Blanca, ''La Anarquía'' y ''La Idea Libre'' in Madrid, ''El Despertar'' in New York, and the magazines ''Ciencia Social'' in Barcelona and Buenos Aires, ''La Questione Sociale'' in Buenos Aires, and ''L'Humanite Nouvelle'' in Paris. In 1896 he published the book ''Lombroso y los anarquistas'' (Barcelona, 1896), in which he criticizes the theories of
criminologist
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
Cesare Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso (, also ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the establis ...
. Around the same time he published ''Los sucesos de Jerez'' (Barcelona, 1893), ''La barbarie gubernamental en España'' (Brooklyn, 1897), ''La ley del número'' (Vigo, 1899), ''La cooperación libre y los sistemas de comunidad'', ''Del amor, modo de acción y finalidad social'' (Barcelona, 1900), ''Táctica socialista'' (Madrid, 1900) y ''La coacción moral'' (1901).
Legacy
Mella wrote more than thirty essays throughout his life. Some of his writings received international awards and were translated into Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, English, and French. He collaborated with numerous periodicals in many countries.
Key anarcho-syndicalist beliefs of the CNT in its early years came from Mella's writings. Foremost among these were three basic precepts:
# All people are in need of physical and mental development, indefinite in degree and form.
# All people have the right to freely satisfy this need for development.
# All people can satisfy this need through voluntary cooperation or community.
Works
Articles and essays
* ''El problema de la emigración en Galicia''. Monografía.
* ''Diferencias entre el comunismo y el colectivismo''. Monografía.
* ''La reacción en la revolución''. Artículo publicado en la revista ''Acracia'' de Barcelona.
* ''La Anarquía no admite adjetivos'' publicado en ''La Solidaridad''.
* ''La Anarquía: origen progreso, evoluciones, definiciones e importancia actual y futura de éste principio social''.
* ''Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas''.
* ''La nueva utopía''.
* ''El colectivismo''.
* ''Organización, agitación y revolución''.
* ''El crimen de Chicago''. Reseña histórica.
* ''La ley del número''. Los dos primeros capítulos de este ensayo sobre la ficción democrática fueron publicados en el número 1 de la revista ''Ciencia Social'' de Barcelona, correspondiente octubre de 1895, bajo el título ''Las mayorías''. La primera edición del texto en su totalidad fue impresa en 1899 en la Imprenta Cerdeira y Fariña, de Vigo. Posteriormente, una versión con algunas modificaciones hechas por Mella fue publicada en un tomo titulado ''Cuestiones Sociales'', donde se recopilaban también otros textos del mismo .
[Nota bibliográfica incluida en la edición de 1946 de ''La ley del número'', publicada por la editorial ''Tierra y Libertad'' en Francia, págs. 3 y 4.]
* ''A los campesinos''.
* ''En defensa de la anarquía''.
* ''Doctrina y combate''.
Books
* ''
Lombroso Lombroso, Lumbroso, or Lumbrozo is a surname, derived from a Sephardi family, members of which lived in Tunis, Marseilles, and Italy. The surname may refer to:
* Isaac Lumbroso (1680–1752), rabbi and talmudist
* Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), ...
y los anarquistas'' Edicions Xerais. .
* ''Plumazos''. Reunión de artículos.
* ''Ideario'' con prólogo de
José Prat.
Translations
* ''
God and the State
''God and the State'' (called by its author ''The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism'') is an unfinished manuscript by the Russian anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, published posthumously in 1882. The work criticises ...
'' by
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
* ''
La anarquía'' by
Errico Malatesta. Existen numerosas reediciones de esta traducción; por ejemplo: E. Malatesta, ''La anarquía y el método del anarquismo''. Premià Editora - La Nave de los Locos, México, 1978. .
* ''La ciencia moderna y el anarquismo'' de
Piotr 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 activ ...
.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* José Álvarez (1976) ''La ideología política del anarquismo español, 1868-1910''. Madrid: Siglo XX.
See also
*
Urania Mella Serrano
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mella Cea, Ricardo
1861 births
1925 deaths
Collectivist anarchists
People from Vigo
Politicians from Galicia (Spain)
Spanish anarchists