Teresa Mañé i Miravet (1865–1939), also known by her

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Soledad Gustavo, was a Catalan teacher, editor and writer. As a proponent of progressive education, Mañé founded some of the first secular schools in Catalonia. With her husband Joan Montseny, she edited the magazine ''

La Revista Blanca ''La Revista Blanca'' was a Spanish individualist anarchist magazine of sociology and arts published in Madrid by Joan Montseny (Federico Urales) and Teresa Mañé (Soledad Gustavo) from 1898 to 1905 and in Barcelona from 1 June 1923 till 15 Aug ...

'', in which she elaborated her ideas on

anarchism 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 necessa ...

, feminism and pedagogy. Her daughter Frederica Montseny i Mañé went on to become a leading figure in the Spanish anarchist movement and the Minister of Health of the Second Spanish Republic.

Biography

Teresa Mañé i Miravet was born in Cubelles, into a relatively well-off family, who raised her in nearby Vilanova i la Geltrú. In 1883, she studied teaching in Barcelona and in 1886, she collaborated with in founding Catalonia's first

secular school Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religio ...

in Vilanova. Politically, she initially considered herself

federal republic A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means: "a country that is governed by elected representatives ...

an but eventually became a committed anarchist, after meeting a number of Catalan anarchists, such as

Josep Llunas i Pujals Josep Llunas i Pujals (January 30, 1852–May 23, 1905) was a Catalan libertarian and free-thinker from Spain. He was a typesetter by profession, but he also studied music and singing and was a theatrical director. Of special significance in t ...

and

Teresa Claramunt Teresa Claramunt i Creus (1862–1931) was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist. Claramunt lived in a time marked by a labour movement in formation and by rising anarchist sentiments. A pioneer of anarcha-feminism, she was one of the first to propose ...

. She then went on to write for the radical press under the psuedonym of "Soledad Gustavo". In 1889, she participated in the ''Certamen Socialista'' literary competition in Barcelona, where she won a prize for writing ''El amor libre'', an essay on free love. Soon after, she met Joan Montseny (aka Federico Urales), who she married in 1891. The new couple moved to Reus, where they established another secular school, which taught children using the pedagogical approaches of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Maria Montessori. Mañé herself was a member of the Confederation of Lay Teachers of Catalonia and promoted methods of progressive education, years before

Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (; January 14, 1859 – October 13, 1909), widely known as Francisco Ferrer (), was a Spanish radical freethinker, anarchist, and educationist behind a network of secular, private, libertarian schools in and aroun ...

established his Modern School. In the repression that followed the

1896 Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing The 1896 Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing was an attack carried out on the Feast of Corpus Christi procession in Barcelona on June 7, 1896. The identity of the perpetrators is disputed: the attack was attributed to anarchists but this wa ...

, Montseny was imprisoned and later escaped into exile. By 1898, Montseny had clandestinely returned to Spain and settled with Mañé in Madrid, where they established the fortnightly magazine ''

'' and the daily newspaper '. In these periodicals, Mañé wrote hundreds of articles on topics such as women's emancipation and progressive education, and also served as translator for contributions from Louise Michel and Antonio Labriola. She collaborated closely with her husband, with the couple often helping finish each other's essays. Her works saw publication as far away as

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Ricardo Mella, the Dutch socialist Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis and the Italian feminist

Anna Maria Mozzoni Anna Maria Mozzoni (5 May 1837 – 14 June 1920) is commonly held as the founder of the woman's movement in Italy. One of the roles she is most known for is her pivotal involvement in gaining woman's suffrage in Italy. Biography Mozzoni was born ...

. In 1905 she had a daughter, Frederica Montseny i Mañé, and soon moved to a house near Vallecas, where her extended family and friends lived on

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

and through the earnings from their writings. But after a lawsuit against Joan by

Arturo Soria y Mata Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920) was an internationally important Spanish urban planner whose work remains highly inspirational today. He is most well known for his concept of the Linear City (exemplified in Madrid's Ciudad Lineal). He studied t ...

threatened his arrest, the family moved back to Catalonia, where they took up livestock farming, while Mañé herself worked as a translator. Back in Barcelona, Mañé homeschooled her daughter using methods of progressive education, providing her with a wide range of material and allowing her the freedom to choose her own subjects to study. Mañé and her family also resumed publication of ''La Revista Blanca'', which flourished despite attempts at repression by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, Mañé's daughter Frederica became a leading figure within the Spanish anarchist movement, taking prominent positions within the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and the Mujeres Libres (ML). When the anarchists became a leading force in the Spanish Civil War, Frederica was invited to join the Republican government of Francisco Largo Caballero and became the country's Minister of Health, against the wishes of Mañé, who held firm to

anti-statism Anti-statism is any approach to social, economic or political philosophy that rejects statism. An anti-statist is one who opposes intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs. In anarchism, this is characterized by a com ...

. In late 1938, a nationalist offensive forced Mañé and her family to flee Catalonia into exile. Her health had rapidly deteriorated during the war, leaving her unable to cope with the stresses of their winter journey to

Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia, ; french: Catalogne (du) Nord ; oc, Catalonha (del) Nòrd; es, Cataluña (del) Norte) French Catalonia or Roussillon refers to the Catalan-speaking and Catalan-culture territory ceded to France by Spain ...

. Teresa Mañé i Miravet died on 5 February 1939 in

Perpinyà Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Med ...

Views

Mañé propagated a form of anarcho-communism that stood in contrast to the dominant Spanish anarchist tendency of

anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...

. In the debate between the anarchists and the syndicalists of the CNT, Mañé and her family took the side of the former, arguing that trade unions were a product of capitalism and that they therefore should not form the basis for a socialist economy. In July 1923, Mañé published ''El sindicalismo y la anarquia'' in ''La Revista Blanca'', in which she declared that "there are workers because there are bosses. Workerism will disappear with capitalism, and syndicalism with wages." Instead of syndicalism, Mañé argued for

municipalism Municipalism is the political system of home rule at the local level, such as of a city or town, thus a municipality with its own governing authority as an administrative division of a sovereign state. Municipalism is more than simple support for mu ...

, focusing on a more communal form of organization based in the traditional ''municipio libre''. During the Spanish Revolution of 1936, Mañé's focus on community organizing saw successes in the advancement of women's rights, where workplace organizing fell short. Mañé was also a prolific advocate of feminism. Along with

, she pioneered the tendency of anarchist feminism, which aspired to greater gender equality. Mañé was sceptical of free love, due to anarchist men's lack of feminism in practice. In October 1923, Mañé published ''Hablemos de la mujer'' in ''La Revista Blanca'', in which she stated that: "a man may like the idea of the emancipation of women, but he is not so fond of her actually practicing it... In the end, he may desire the other's woman, but he will lock up his own." In the same article, Mañé also insisted that the implementation of gender equality was the responsibility of women themselves, who would need to "demonstrate by their deeds that they think, are capable of conceiving ideas, of grasping principles, of striving for ends."

Works

Essays

* ''El laicismo no es ateo'' (1888) * ''El amor libre'' (1889) * ''Dos Cartas'' (co-authored with Joan Montseny), (1891) * ''Las Preocupaciones de los Despreocupados'' (co-authored with Joan Montseny) (1891) * ''A las Proletarias'' (1896) * ''El anarquismo y la mujer'' (1900) * ''Concepto de la anarquía'' (1902) * ''Las diosas de la vida'' (1909) * ''Sindicalismo y Anarquía'' (1932) * ''Política y Sociología'' (1932)

Translations

* '' The Conquest of Bread'' (

Peter 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 activis ...

) * ''The Future Society'' (

)

Periodicals

* ''

'' (1898–1906; 1923–1936) * '' Tierra y Libertad'' (1899–1906) * ''El Mundo al Día'' (1931) * ''El Luchador'' (1931)

Collections

* ''La Novela Ideal'' (1925–1938) * ''La Novela Libre'' (1933–1938)

Conferences

* ''La sociedad futura'' (Agrupación republicana Germinal, Madrid, 1899) *
La cuestión social
' (Ateneo de Madrid, 1902)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mañé i Miravet, Teresa 1865 births 1939 deaths 19th-century Spanish educators 19th-century women educators 19th-century Spanish women writers 20th-century Spanish educators 20th-century women educators 20th-century Spanish women writers Anarcha-feminists Anarchists from Catalonia Anarcho-communists Communists from Catalonia Educators from Catalonia Montessori teachers People from Garraf People from Vilanova i la Geltrú Spanish anarchists Spanish communists Spanish educational theorists Spanish feminists Spanish magazine founders Spanish women educators Women educational theorists Women writers from Catalonia