Dear Comrades at Ilota by Errico Malatesta

The letter is part of the Method of Freedom Errico Malatesta reader and can be found here https://libcom.org/files/Errico_Malat...

 

This is translated from “Cari Compagni dell’Ilota,” Ilota (Pistoia) 1, no. 9 (1 April 1883). The background to this letter was the defection from anarchism of Andrea Costa, one of the chief members of the Italian Federation, who in 1879 had started advocating the extension of socialist tactics to parliamentary ones. Costa had a significant following, especially in the Romagna region, and in November 1882 he had been elected to parliament. His tactics had sparked heated debates in part of the socialist press, and Ilota was one of the periodicals that considered those tactics legitimate.