The militant go-between: Émile Pouget's transnational propaganda (1880-1914)

Abstract

This article is a study of the transnational activism of the French anarchist militant Emile Pouget (1860-1931), from his early days in the 1880s as an agitator and as the editor of the scathing anarchist weekly Père peinard, through to his key role in the spread of revolutionary syndicalism in France and beyond. Against dominant representations focusing on his substantial journalistic and organizational propaganda exclusively within national boundaries, it suggests that Pouget did start off as a locally-minded militant in the 1880s, but later became aware of the great importance of international organization. This contribution depicts Pouget's year of exile in Britain (1894-1895) as the turning point leading to a greater international emphasis in his activism. Through Pouget, the usually unheeded transnational ramifications of belle-époque anarchism and syndicalism are highlighted, as well as the relevance of militant biography for the study of transnational networks and ideological dissemination. © 2009 Maney Publishing.