Albert Libertad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Albert (known as Albert Libertad or Libertad) (24th November 1875 — 12th November 1908) was an individualist anarchist in France. He was born in Bordeaux, and died in Paris. Abandoned by his parents as a baby, Libertad was a child of the Public Assistance in Bordeaux. As a result of a childhood illness he lost the use of his legs, but he put his handicap to good use: he used his crutches as weapons against the police. He moved to Paris at 21, where he immediately was active in anarchist circles, going so far as to live in the offices of the journal “Le Libertaire.” Member of various anarchist groups, and a supporter of “propaganda by the deed,” he was nevertheless an abstentionist candidate in Paris’s 11th arrondissement in 1902 and 1904, seeing his candidacy as a means of spreading anarchist ideas.

In 1905 Libertad founded what was probably the most important individualist anarchist journal, “l’anarchie,” which included among its collaborators André Lorulot, Emile Armand, and Victor Serge and his companion Rirette Maitrejean.