We have decided to dedicate the spring issue of the anarchist journal Existence to Jaroslav Hašek. In January we commemorated the centenary of his death. Hašek is the most famous Czech writer in the world. His novel The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War has been translated into 60 languages. Less well known is the fact that Hašek was an anarchist. In 1904–07 he was the editor of the anarchist magazines. He was even briefly imprisoned for clashing with the police during a May Day demonstration in 1907.

In the pages of Existence we explore the rich life of Jaroslav Hašek – his childhood knowledge of direct political action, his poetic experiments, his penniless travels, his editorial work and writing of hundreds of humorous stories, his deliberate hoaxes, his brief marriage, his sexuality, his drunkenness; his failed business ventures and suicide attempts; his candidacy for a parody political party; his role as an entertainer and co-author of theatrical sketches; his service in the Austrian army, the Czechoslovak legions and the Red Army; his multiple prosecutions for treason; his return to Czechoslovakia; his bigamy; and his work on Švejk. We then discuss in more detail his involvement in the anarchist movement, his break with it, and the anarchist influence on his later work. From the above it is clear that Hašek was a lifelong anti-authoritarian who constantly ridiculed the church and faith, the state with its army, bureaucracy and censorship, political parties (including the workers’ parties) and the values of bourgeois society and the “decent man”. Other texts are also related to the main theme.

Existence traditionally documents the activities of the domestic anti-authoritarian movement. So you can read a number of reports, for example, on fundraising events, cake attacks, actions in support of the uprising in Iran, the climate strike of university students, the occupation of a house in Prague-Strašnice, a solidarity action with Greek squatters, the memorial events for Jan Kučera, the lecture tour of the No Borders team, Klimakemp 2022, actions against homophobia and various actions for climate justice. We also look at the activities of the Anarchist Federation, such as the “We don’t need a president” campaign, participation in the Olomouc book festival, the autumn congress, the publication of three new books, support for the week of solidarity with those prosecuted in the “Tyumen case”, joining the “Stop Cop City" declaration, the publication of the 2022 annual report, the “Existence Party” and support for Ukrainian anarchists.

We have published memorials and obituaries in memory of those who have recently left us: Olga Volkova, Sergei Petrovichov, Yuri Samoylenko, Claudio Venza, José Morato, Pepe Cuevas, Serge Livrozet, Filip Rusina and Jen Angel. We also returned to the (sadly) still topical subject of war. The collective ABC-Dresden explains why it supports comrades in Ukraine, while trying to update its way of doing things based on past experiences. Wayne Price’s text looks back at the lessons of past wars, particularly the Spanish Civil War and the Vietnam-American War. We then meet the author in an extensive interview about the history of his political involvement.

As always, there are also texts on topical issues from the last six months of the A3 wall newspaper and reviews of various publications.

Download

11.4.2023 Nakladatelství AF

Osobnosti Publikace