Anarchism in Uruguay held a major importance in the organization of thelabor movement. The history of the libertarian movement inUruguay is closely linked to issues circulating internationally: theimmigration ofSpanish andItalian workers in particular had a major influence in its development, but the relations between revolutionary movements acrossLatin America, and in particular withArgentina andBrazil are equally significant.
The predecessors of anarchism appeared as early as June 1841, in which author Marcelino Pareja published ananti-capitalist article in aMontevideo newspaper that citedWilliam Godwin. Said article advocated for apre-Marxist theory ofsurplus value. In 1851 thebotanist and friend ofProudhon José Ernesto Gibert was exiled to Uruguay from France due to his participation in therevolution of 1848.[1]
In 1872, the Uruguayan section of theFirst International was formed, with an office on Florida street, Montevideo. It ideologically aligned with theJura Federation and in 1875 published a manifesto inspired by the writings ofMikhail Bakunin.[1]
In 1875, the "Regional Federation of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay" was founded inMontevideo on the initiative of French and Spanish revolutionaries, exiled following the destruction of theParis Commune and theCantonal Revolution respectively.[2] Influenced byMikhail Bakunin, the Federation of Montevideo officially joined theAnti-authoritarian International at the first session of the Congress of Verviers in September 1877,[3] although it had already participated in a correspondence with the International for more than a year.[4]
In 1883, anarchists celebrated the anniversary of the Paris Commune on March 18 and collected 40 pesos to be delivered to prisoners inLyon,France.[1]
In the first years of the 20th century, the Uruguayan proletariat strengthened its organization by founding the country's first trade unions. This movement led, in 1905, to the founding of theUruguayan Regional Workers' Federation (Spanish:Federación Obrera Regional Uruguaya, FORU), based on theanarcho-syndicalist model of theFORA in Argentina.[5] Many notable writers in this period flirted with the anarchist movement, such asFlorencio Sánchez,Ernesto Herrera,Julio Herrera y Reissig,Leopoldo Lugones andHoracio Quiroga.[1]
The FORU dominated the Uruguayan labor movement. By 1911 they had 90,000 members out of 117,000 industrial workers in Uruguay. There was also a small tendency of anarchists called the "anarcho-Battlists" who supported the PresidentJosé Batlle y Ordóñez, owing to his support of trade unions.Virginia Bolten was a notable supporter of this while she lived in Uruguay. However, the FORU began to lose strength after theRussian Revolution in 1917, as the newly foundedCommunist Party of Uruguay divided the workers. But the FORU continued to be the strongest union in Uruguay until the early 1930s.[1]
In 1929, Italian anarchist and friend ofErrico MalatestaLuigi Fabbri and his daughterLuce Fabbri fled across Europe and eventually to Uruguay to escapefascist Italy. During theSpanish Civil War,Pedro Tufró (1904–1937) was executed by the communists for his membership in theConfederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).[1]
In 1947Eugen Relgis arrived in Uruguay, having been persecuted by both theNazis andcommunists.[1]
In the 1950s a mixed community was established,Comunidad del Sur, made up of anarchists andanabaptist Christians.[6] In 1956 theUruguayan Anarchist Federation was founded in Montevideo, suffering a split in 1963 over whether or not to support theCuban Revolution.[7]
According to formerCIA agentPhilip Agee, the CIA station in Montevideo circa 1964 monitored the "small number of anarchists led by the Gatti brothers, Mauricio and Gerardo" but that they only merited "only occasional station coverage."[8]
The FAU was declared illegal in 1968 and theComunidad del Sur was dissolved by theCivic-military dictatorship of Uruguay (1973–1985). Former members of the Comunidad del Sur went into exile inPeru,Spain andSweden.[1] They came back after the end of the dictatorship and reestablished the Comunidad there, as aneco-community.[9][10] Overall, the Comunidad del Sur impacted various orientations in Uruguayanfeminism,ecologist andLGBTQI+ struggles.[9]
Several Uruguayan anarchists were victims ofOperation Condor in Argentina and Uruguay (1975–1983) such asAlberto Mechoso,Elena Quinteros,Lilián Celiberti andMaría Emilia Islas.[citation needed]
In 1986, the FAU was restored.[1]
Ángel Cappelletti has argued that Uruguay had unique historical conditions that were receptive to anarchism. Notably citing high immigration and a more secular culture.
it is fair to say that in no other Latin American country were anarchist ideas more familiar to the man on the street, the educated public, politicians, and intellectuals than in Uruguay.
He also observed that theUniversity of the Republic had the names "Proudhon" and "Reclus" engraved at the front of the university.[1]
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