Adhémar Schwitzguébel
Adhémar Schwitzguébel | |
|---|---|
 Adhémar Schwitzguébel (1875) | |
| Born | 15 August 1844 Sonvilier, Bern, Switzerland |
| Died | 23 July 1895 (aged 50) Evilard, Bern, Switzerland |
| Occupation(s) | Engraver, watchmaker |
| Years active | 1866–1895 |
| Era | Second Industrial Revolution |
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| Other political affiliations |
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| Movement | |
Adhémar Schwitzguébel (1844–1895) was a Swiss anarchist and trade unionist. Associated with the libertarian socialist faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), he co-founded its Jura Federation and participated in the splinter organisation that became the Anti-Authoritarian International. Schwitzguébel became active in the establishment of workers' organisations in Switzerland, establishing the first trade union of watchmakers in the country before his death from stomach cancer.
Biography
[edit]Adhémar Schwitzguébel was born in Sonvilier, in the Bernese Jura,[1] on 15 August 1844. He was the son of Auguste Schwitzguébel and Rosalie Pécaut.[2] His father was a liberal activist and owner of an engraving workshop, which Schwitzguébel worked in as an apprentice.[1]
When the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) was established, Schwitzguébel founded the organisation's section in Sonvilier and represented it at the Geneva Congress of 1866.[1] In 1869, he established the IWA's Romandy federation and was delegate to its Basel Congress.[2] He also became a key opponent to the influence of the "bourgeois socialist" Pierre Coullery in the Romandy federation.[1]
Along with fellow Swiss internationalists James Guillaume and Auguste Spichiger, Schwitzguébel became a supporter of Mikhail Bakunin's libertarian socialism and began to champion his collectivist programme for a free association of producers.[2] Together they joined Bakunin's International Alliance of Socialist Democracy[3] and founded the Jura Federation, in order to counter the influence of reformism within the wider Romandy federation.[2] After the suppression of the Paris Commune, Schwitzguébel travelled to the French capital and provided Communards with fake passports to aid their escape to Switzerland.[3]
Schwitzguébel served as a delegate in every IWA congress until the Hague Congress of 1872, when Bakunin and Guillaume were expelled from the organisation.[3] He then participated in the St. Imier Congress, which established the Anti-Authoritarian International.[2] He remained active as one of the main leaders and theoreticians of the Jura Federation,[1] editing its bulletin. At the Jura Federation's final congress in 1880, while he continued to uphold a programme for establishing an anarchist society, he also began to argue for the formation of a socialist political party to participate in elections.[3]
During this time, he had married Catherine Marguerite Miellet,[2] with whom he had eight children. By 1879, Schwitzguébel's father had died and his family fell into poverty.[3] Having already taken over management of the engraving workshop, Schwitzguébel was forced to close it in 1889.[2] While looking for work, he moved to Bienne, where he became an assistant to the Swiss Workers' Secretariat in 1891. There he also established a number of workers' organisations, including the country's first trade union for watchmakers.[1]
He died from stomach cancer,[3] in Evilard, in the Bienne district of the canton of Bern, on 23 July 1895.[1] His trade unionist activities were continued by his son, Adhémar junior, until his own death in 1947.[3]
Works
[edit]- Schwitzguébel, Adhemar:Quelques écrits. Paris 1906th Edited by James Guillaume. (fr. edition of 1908)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Enckell, Marianne (7 April 2014). "SCHWITZGUEBEL Adhémar". Dictionnaire des anarchistes (in French). Le Maitron. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- Kohler, François (17 March 2011). "Schwitzguébel, Adhémar". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Mario Vuilleumier. Horlogers de l'anarchisme. Payot, Lausanne 1988
- Guillaume, J. L'Internationale: doc. et souvenirs. 4 vol., 1905–1910 (reprinted 1980–1985).
- Vuilleumier, M. "Le socialisme libertaire en Suisse romande: un texte inconnu d'Adhémar Schwitzguébel, 1872" in Cah. Vilfredo Pareto, 1969, no 18, 161–176.
- Lörtscher, Ch. Vereinigt euch!: Adhémar Schwitzguébels Leben für die Arbeiterbewegung. 2007.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Adhémar Schwitzguébel at Wikimedia Commons
