Happy birthday, Ricardo Flores Magón! (September 16, 1874)

One of the most influential anarchists in Mexican history, Ricardo Flores Magón was a central figure in the Mexican Revolution. Inspired by thinkers such as Mikhail Bakunin, Emma Goldman, and especially Pytor Kropotkin, Magón organized with the Industrial Workers of the World and served as editor of the anarchist newspaper Regeneración before serving as president of the inappropriately-named Mexican Liberal Party, which was actually anarcho-communist in character. The PLM’s armed wing became known as the Magonistas, and they aided in overthrowing the regime of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. However, after Díaz ‘s downfall, the Magonistas were betrayed and marginalized by the new liberal government and Magón, still in America, was swept up and arrested in the First Red Scare. He died in prison.

“Without the principle of private property there would be no reason for government, which is necessary solely for the purpose of keeping the disinherited within bounds in their quarrels or in their rebellions against those who hold the social wealth.”