Italian revolutionary who led anarchism through half a century of exile and prison
Born in 1853 to a family of middle-class landowners at Santa Maria Capua Vetere in Campania, he started an insurrection in the province of Benevento in April 1877, and from 1881 came and went from London in exile for forty years. Before the London congress of 1896 he wrote that anarchists should be admitted and led the common front of the anti-parliamentary forces, but they were excluded. Back in Italy after the First World War he published the newspaper Umanità Nova; harassed and censored under Fascism, he died in Rome in 1932.
Also known as: Errico Gaetano Malatesta · Enrico Malatesta
Activities and affiliations
- 1871–1932
Career Timeline
- 1877Insurrection in the province of Benevento
- 1881Began exile in London
- 1896Campaigned for anarchist admission to the London congress
Related historical events
- 1893–1896The Early Disputes of the Second InternationalItalian anarchistOn the eve of the 1896 London congress he wrote for the admission of anarchists and led the anti-parliamentary front.
- 1919–1926The March on RomeAnarchist leaderReturned from exile in December 1919, boosting the anarchist movement of the Red Biennium.