Anarchy Explained to Children

by José Antonio Emmanuel, Fábrica de Estampas (Illustrator), Imprenta Rescate (Designed by), Piu Martinez (Afterword)

Overview

Both an extraordinary 1930s text on anarchism in its original sense of liberatory principles of equality and mutual support, and short chapters with all-age-appropriate illustrations and explanations of each principle.

A gorgeous package with a new intro and original engravings will appeal to progressive parents and children alike.

Here is a modern book for progressive readers of all ages that includes the prescient 1931 pamphlet, "Anarchy Explained to Children," by José Antonio Emmanuel writing under the pseudonym Max Bembo, a teacher and anarchist philanthropist who advocated for, among other things, freeing the education of children from the power of the Catholic Church. In the essay he offers to the children of working-class families a simple explanation of liberatory principles and how to put them into practice.

Following the essay, each of the principles he proposes is explained very simply in a double page spread accompanied by an engraving, which conveys the beauty of the world that Emmanuel envisioned. The engravings were newly created for the 2017 Argentine edition of this book.

Anarchy Explained to Children will appeal to parents and educators who are interested in sharing with a young reader the ideals of liberatory education, in which extremism and oppression are banished, and values ​​of mutual support, equality between individuals, universal love and human solidarity are promoted.

“Help: To those who hesitate, give them encouragement: to those who despair of seeing victory far away, give them courage. Mutual help is a sacred and universal duty.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644214503
Publisher:	Seven Stories Press
Publication date:	12/23/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

José Antonio Emmanuel was one of the many aliases of José Ruíz Rodríguez, an educator, philanthropist, and anarchist from Málaga, Spain. Until 1923, when Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship began, Ruíz Rodríguez went by Max Bembo. Under this pen name, he authored La mala vida en Barcelona: Anormalidad, miseria y vicio. In the early 1930s, after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, he reappeared as José Antonio Emmanuel. As Emmanuel, he collaborated with the International Committee of Schools in promoting nontraditional schools. He also founded the IAL Press, whose International Library Collection published affordable, brief works that explained concepts such as the proletariat’s organization, union action, and anarchy. During the Spanish Civil War, Ruíz Rodríguez vanished without a trace, and it is not known what happened to him. As a political activist and innovator who never lost sight of those most in need, especially children, he holds a special place in the history of Spanish education.

NAFTA (North American Free Translation Agreement/No America Fraught Translation Argument), ratified in 2019, is a collective of three poets writing from the occupied territories of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They have translated Commonplace/Lo común by Hugo García Manríquez, String Theory by Karen Villeda, and selections drawn from Poelectrons by Jesús Arellano. 

Translator Piu Martínez has edited Anarquía explicada a los niños, Cartilla Escolar Antifascista, and Gato en el camino, among other works, and is director of Libros Asombrosos, a collection published by Barrett.

Fábrica de Estampas is an Argentine graphic collective founded by Delfina Estrada and Victoria Volpini. They create original posters and prints employing etching, woodcut, linoleum, and monocopy techniques. They also offer printmaking courses. Fábrica de Estampas uses engraving, an intrinsically communal practice, as a tool for community-building.