Anarchists of the Caribbean: Countercultural Politics and Transnational Networks in the Age of US Expansion(Global and International History)

Anarchists who supported the Cuban War for Independence in the 1890s launched a transnational network linking radical leftists from their revolutionary hub in Havana, Cuba to South Florida, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Panama Canal Zone, and beyond. Over three decades, anarchists migrated around the Caribbean and back and forth to the US, printed fiction and poetry promoting their projects, transferred money and information across political borders for a variety of causes, and attacked (verbally and physically) the expansion of US imperialism in the 'American Mediterranean'. In response, US security officials forged their own transnational anti-anarchist campaigns with officials across the Caribbean. In this sweeping new history, Kirwin R. Shaffer brings together research in anarchist politics, transnational networks, radical journalism and migration studies to illustrate how men and women throughout the Caribbean basin and beyond sought to shape a counter-globalization initiative to challenge the emergence of modern capitalism and US foreign policy whilst rejecting nationalist projects and Marxist state socialism.

Table of Contents:
List of figures; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; A biographical prologue: the transnational world of José María Blázquez de Pedro; Introduction. An antiauthoritarian cartography of the Caribbean; 1. Anarchist straits: Cuba's war for independence and the origins of the Caribbean network; 2. Anarchists vs. Yanquis: the expanding network resists US neocolonialism, 1898-1915; 3. ¡Tierra y Libertad!: Caribbean anarchists and the Mexican Revolution, 1905-1930; 4. The Caribbean Red during the Red Scare: anarchists and the Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1924; 5. Anarchists vs. Yanquis II: the canal, the Great War, Puerto Rico's status, and banana republics, 1916-1926; 6. Bolivarianismo anarquista: anarchist pan-Americanism in the heart of the hemisphere; 7. Down but not out: confronting socialists, communists, and tropical fascists, 1925-1934; A literary epilogue: Marcelo Salinas and Adrián del Valle, 1920s-1930s; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Kirwin R. Shaffer is Professor of Latin American Studies at Pennsylvania State University, Berks College. He is the author of Anarchist Cuba (2019), Black Flag Boricuas: Anarchism, Antiauthoritarianism, and the Left in Puerto Rico, 1897-1921 (2013), and co-editor of In Defiance of Boundaries: Anarchism in Latin American History (2015) which was the winner of the 'Outstanding Academic Title' award by Choice in 2016.

Review :
'A wonderful book, which offers important insights into the multifaceted dynamics of anarchist transnationalism in the Caribbean. Never compromising on erudition and depth of analysis, Shaffer writes an engrossing, vividly rendered narrative, full of compassion and a dramatic sense of history. This is a remarkable epic of (counter-)imperialism in multiple sites of staggering international mobilities and activism – a tremendous read for anyone with an interest in anarchism and radical activism in the Americas and globally.' Constance Bantman, University of Surrey 'This landmark and impressive book studies authoritarian and anti-imperialist politics in the Caribbean with a special focus on transnational flows of radical activists. By examining Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico and the US, Shaffer demonstrates the value of a focus on networks and cross-border frames. Revolutionary cartography at its best.' Barry Carr, La Trobe University, Victoria 'Anarchists of the Caribbean is a monumental achievement. Deeply researched and engagingly written, it deftly relates the complex history of the social, cultural, and political ways anarchist activists contended with US imperialism, capitalist expansion, state repression, and the rise of international communism in the Caribbean region. Undoubtedly, it will lead to a major rethinking of the histories of the Caribbean, Latin America, and global anarchism.' Steven J. Hirsch, Washington University 'Shaffer's book is a meticulously researched account of the transnational networks anarchists forged in the early twentieth century … a most welcome contribution to the study of the early twentieth-century Latin American Left'. Frances Sullivan, Humanities and Social Sciences 'The archive [Shaffer] has built for this book is the product of an intellectual endeavor that took him many years to craft. This titanic task has enriched the book's narrative and makes it compulsory reading for anyone interested in the Hispanic Caribbean at the turn of the twentieth century.' Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, New West Indian Guide