The platense circle La Anarquía and the Third Libertarian Socialist Contest (1898)

Abstract

In May of the year 1898, the Third Libertarian Socialist Contest was held in the city of La Plata (Argentina). The event, organized by the editors of the newspaper La Anarquía, was presented as the continuation of two other contests previously produced in the Spanish cities of Reus (1885) and Barcelona (1889). Judging by historical documents, the platense contest turned out to be a resounding failure compared to its Spanish counterparts. The low attendance, the few works presented and the absence of the main feathers of anarchism made the contest something little recognized at the time and which was later forgotten by both anarchist militants and professional historians. Within this framework, the aim of this article is to present a brief introduction to the event. From the observation of the minutes of the contest and the Argentinean anarchist press, it will seek to synthesize the lines leading to the event, its protagonists and its organizational logic. With the reconstruction carried out, the interests expressed by the anarchist groups that participated in the event will be realized –mainly, those of the organizing group– and, in turn, some hypotheses will be proposed to explain the possible causes that led to the apparent failure of the episode.