Dimitris Troaditis

English

22 Ιανουαρίου 2011

• anarchism
• Greece
• history

In 1893 Socialistiki Adelfotita (Socialist Brotherhood) founded in Patras, which was not a coherent organisation, but a loose grouping of some socialists and progressives, many of whom were friends and followers of the famous Greek socialist of this time Plato Drakoulis. By some historians, Socialist Brotherhood was allegedly a continuation of the Democratic Club in 1870s.

Brotherhood’s president was Vasilis Doudoumis (a lawyer who among other things, wrote some revolutionary poems), secretary was the teacher Charilaos Dimitropoulos, and one of the leaders of the organisation was the architect Aristotle Thales, who came from Alexandria in Egypt.

Apart from Plato Drakoulis’ followers, such as V. Doudoumis (who was a classmate of Drakoulis in High School of Patras), members of the Brotherhood were supporters of the other famous socialist of the time Stavros Kallergis (based in Athens) and some anarchists, such as the well-educated and excellent connoisseur of anarchist ideas and European social movements of his time Giannis Magkanaras, who settled in Patras, probably around the same time, coming from Corinth.

Of those, some were intellectuals, and a small number were tradesmen and laborers. However, as we said earlier the Socialist Brotherhood was not a coherent organisation and the various ideological trends fought constantly among themselves.

The fact that Giannis Magkanaras was connected with the Socialist Brotherhood proved by his reports on the activities of this organisation published in the socialist newspaper “O Metarrythmistis” ("The Reformer") in which he either worked as an editor or cooperated. This newspaper firstly published in 1893 in Athens by G. Dimopoulos when he left the Sosialistikos Syndesmos (Socialist Society) led by Stavros Kallergis.

Also, Giannis Magkanaras seems he cooperated with the newspaper “Sosialistikos Syllogos” (“Socialist Association") firstly published in 1893 in Athens as an organ of Kentrikos Sosialistikos Syllogos (Central Socialist Society) which was the product of one of the splits in this organisation. In the same paper in the Central Socialist Society participated anarchists such as Evangelos Markantonatos or anarchism influenced activists such as Alexandros Matiatos.

Socialist Brotherhood’s prime and foremost interest was the union movement and by Brotherhood‘s initiative the first labor unions founded in Patras, as mentioned by anarchist Dimitris Karampilias in his memoirs. Several members of the Brotherhood were, simultaneously, members of these unions.

The organisation, other than their mutual nature, aimed to educate local people and workers to the ideals of socialism and because there was not a proper meeting space for the monthly gatherings and lectures they used the room of an elementary school in St. George Square, for which Dimitris Karampilias wrote in an article of his published as a memoir in the newspaper “E Simerini” ("Today"), Patras, 30 April 1950. The first unions, the newspaper “To Fos” ("The Light").

As mentioned before, at the same time the first labor unions founded in the city of Patras and the surrounding region. According leading marxist historian Gianis Kordatos, the first union was this of shoe makers founded in 1894. According T. Constantine the first union founded in Patras in 1893 and...

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