Albert Isidore Meltzer (7 January 1920 – 7 May 1996) was an English

anarcho-communist 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 resp ...

activist and writer.

Early life

Meltzer was born in Hackney, London, of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ancestry, and educated at

The Latymer School ("He who endures wins") , established = , type = Voluntary aided grammar school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Maureen Cobbett , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_lab ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

. He was attracted to

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 neces ...

at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

lessons where he met Billy Campbell, a seaman, boxer and anarchist. As the Spanish Revolution turned into the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, Meltzer became active organising solidarity appeals. He involved himself with smuggling arms from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

to the CNT in Spain 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's film '' Pimpernel Smith'', as Howard wanted more authentic actors playing the anarchists. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

on 9 March 1940, but later renounced his objection, enlisting in the Pioneer Corps in 1945. He took part in a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

in late 1946.

Views

Meltzer believed that the only true type of anarchism was

communistic Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. He opposed the

individualist anarchism Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism th ...

of people such as

Benjamin Tucker Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (; April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was an American individualist anarchist and libertarian socialist.Martin, James J. (1953)''Men Against the State: The Expositers of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827–1908''< ...

, believing that the private police that some individualists support would constitute a government.

Activism

Albert Meltzer was a contributor in the 1950s to the long-running anarchist paper ''

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

'' before leaving in 1965 to start his own venture Wooden Shoe Press. Soon Meltzer was to be involved in a long and bitter dispute with fellow anarchist and former comrade at Freedom Press Vernon Richards which entangled many of their associates and the organisations with which they were involved and continued after both their deaths. Although the feud started in a dispute arising from the possibility of Wooden Shoe moving into Freedom premises, there were also political differences. Meltzer advocated a more firebrand and proletarian variety of anarchism than Richards and often denounced him and the Freedom collective as "liberals". 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 Stuart Christie (10 July 1946 – 15 August 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. When aged 18, Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo, General Francisco Franco. He was later alleged ...

), ''The Floodgates of Anarchy'' (co-written with

Stuart Christie Stuart Christie (10 July 1946 – 15 August 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. When aged 18, Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo, General Francisco Franco. He was later alleged ...

) and his autobiography, ''I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels'', published by

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, S ...

shortly before his death. Meltzer also was involved in the founding of the Anarchist Black Cross. The imprisonment of

, jailed in 1964 for his part in a plot to assassinate

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

, 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 the Anarchist Black Cross, to call for

solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

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 own parole 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—a copytaker with the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''—and managed to get Garcia work in the trade. Meltzer also helped to found the Kate Sharpley Library. He was involved in producing the library's publications, and helped shape its philosophy. He joined the

anarcho-syndicalist 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 i ...

Direct Action Movement in the early 80s and was a member of it, and its successor organisation the

Solidarity Federation The Solidarity Federation, also known by the abbreviation SolFed, is a federation of class struggle anarchists active in Britain. The organisation advocates a strategy of anarcho-syndicalism as a method of abolishing capitalism and the state, ...

until his death. He was originally a member of the Central London Direct Action Movement branch, but when that wound up he joined the

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

branch, as he lived in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...

. He died after a stroke at the 1996 Solidarity Federation Conference in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

. His biography ''I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels: Sixty Years of Commonplace Life and Anarchist Agitation'' was published in 1996, with illustrations by Chris Pig. Acting on behalf of – and with – the boy's natural father, in 1983 he was charged with harbouring an 8-year-old boy who had been

kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Cam ...

by his birth mother from his adoptive mother on the way to school. He was acquitted. The birth mother was under the mistaken belief that she could not be convicted of kidnapping her natural child, the law having changed weeks earlier. She was later acquitted because she was under the mistaken belief that her son was being abused. Reporting of the case in City Limits described Meltzer as a 'gentle and generous soul who is one of the leading figures in British anarchism'. Police examination of seized diaries and address books led them to interview a doctor specialising in diseases of the gums, something Meltzer himself attributed to his poor handwriting and the similarity of the words gun and gum.

Notes and references

External links

Anarchist Archives entry on Meltzer
link checked 16 June 2009
Articles by or about Meltzer collected on libcom.org
link checked 16 June 2009
Albert Meltzer page at the Kate Sharpley Library
link checked 16 June 2009

*

" ttp://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/w9gk1g Albert Meltzer, anarchist Obituary by longtime comrade and co-author of Meltzer. Originally appeared in '' Black Flag'' no. 208, June 1996. An edited version also appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' link checked 16 June 2009 *Aileen O'Carrol
An obituary for Meltzer
link checked 16 June 2009 *John Patten

, Kate Sharpley Library, originally appeared ''Freedom'' v. 63 No. 16, 10 August 2002. link checked 16 June 2009 *

Nicolas Walter Nicolas Hardy Walter (22 November 1934 – 7 March 2000) was a British anarchist and atheist writer, speaker and activist. He was a member of the Committee of 100 and Spies for Peace, and wrote on topics of anarchism and humanism. Background ...

Obituary: Albert Meltzer
Obituary by longtime associate of Freedom Press, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' Friday, 10 May 1996 (Note legal notice) link checked 16 June 2009 *Ros Wynne-Jones
After the anarchy, the comedy
''The Independent'' Sunday, 26 May 1996. Report on funeral and feud. link checked 16 June 2009 *

Donald Rooum Donald Rooum (20 April 1928 – 31 August 2019) was an English anarchist cartoonist and writer. He had a long association with Freedom Press who have published seven volumes of his ''Wildcat'' cartoons. In 1963 he played a key role in exposi ...

Freedom, Freedom Press and Freedom Bookshop: A short history of Freedom Press
''Information for Social Change'' Number 27 Summer 2008, pp. 29–36 ISSN 1364-694X includes an account of the feud with Vernon Richards from an associate of Richards. link checked 16 June 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meltzer, Albert 1920 births 1996 deaths 20th-century English historians 20th-century English non-fiction writers Anarchist theorists Anarchist writers Anarcho-communists Anarcho-syndicalists British Army personnel of World War II English anarchists English communists English conscientious objectors English Jews English male non-fiction writers Proletarian literature English mutineers Historians of anarchism Jewish anarchists Jewish writers People acquitted of kidnapping People educated at The Latymer School People from the London Borough of Hackney Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers