Ferrer, Sol

Historical Background

Francisco Ferrer Guardia, a theoretical anarchist and the founder of La Escuela Moderna, was born January 10, 1849, in Allela, a small town near Barcelona. His parents were practicing Catholics, but his uncle was a freethinker who influenced him strongly. Consequently, Ferrer became a follower of the republican radical Manuel Ruiz Zorilla, and he frequently acted as a messenger for the exiled leader. In 1885, when Ruiz Zorilla attempted a coup that failed, Ferrer was also forced into exile.

Ferrer went to Paris with his wife of five years, Therese Sanmarti, and their three daughters, Trinidad, Paz and Sol. In 1893, after a stormy and sometimes violent relationship, Ferrer and his wife separated. Therese moved to the Ukraine with Sergei de Moering, a Russian aristocrat, taking her daughter Sol with her. In 1899, Ferrer entered into a common law marriage with Leopoldine Bonnard, a wealthy teacher who was associated with the Parisian free-thought movement. Together they had a son, Riego. Ferrer's unconventional private life aroused suspicion among more traditional elements in French and Catalan society, and it often discredited him in the eyes of his political supporters.

Ferrer remained in Paris for sixteen years. He was an active Dreyfusard, a member of the Grand Orient, a delegate to the Second International, and a supporter of a new form of libertarian education being practiced at a primary school in Cempuis, France. He also offered free Spanish lessons. One of his most notable pupils was a wealthy spinster named Jeanne Ernestine Meunie. In March 1901, Meunie died suddenly, leaving Ferrer a sizable fortune.

Ferrer returned to Spain, now more of a threat to Spanish authorities than ever -- not only was he a radical reformer, but a wealthy one. On September 8, 1901, Ferrer opened La Escuela Moderna. The professed goal of the school was to educate the working class in a rational, secular and non-coercive setting, but its high tuition allowed only wealthy middle class students to attend. It was privately hoped that when the time was ripe for revolutionary action, these students would be motivated to lead the working classes.

La Escuela Moderna grew rapidly. By 1906, thirty-four schools with over 1,000 students were directly or indirectly influenced by the school and its textbooks. With the urging of Lerroux, the leader of the Radicals, a left wing republican party, Ferrer helped to organize lower cost schools in areas sympathetic to the Radical party. These schools competed with Catholic schools and were openly anticlerical. Religious leaders, in an unsuccessful attempt to shut the schools down, accused Ferrer and Lerroux of using the schools as fronts in order to obtain municipal subsidies to fund Radical party activities. Despite this considerable opposition, Ferrer viewed the project as even more successful than La Escuela Moderna because it directly affected the working class. He devoted considerable time and money in order to ensure the school's success.

Ferrer continued to test the tolerance of Spanish authorities and clerics by organizing a massive demonstration on Good Friday (April 12, 1906) in support of secular education. Furthermore, late in 1905, Ferrer began living with Soledad Villafranca, a teacher in La Escuela Moderna who was twenty two years his junior. Then, on May 31, 1906, a young man named Mateo Morral threw a bomb at King Alphonso XIII's wedding party. Morral was an employee in Ferrer's publishing firm, and police speculated that Ferrer had encouraged Morral to throw the bomb. Ferrer, who had been a suspect in two previous political assassinations, was arrested on June 4, 1906, and placed in the Carcel Modelo in Madrid. He was finally released June 12, 1907, due to insufficient evidence.

During Ferrer's incarceration, La Escuela Moderna was shut down and would not open its doors again. After his release, the Radical Party was reluctant to maintain connections with Ferrer because of his well-publicized imprisonment. Isolated, Ferrer returned to Paris together with C. A. Laisant, L. Descartes, Eugenio Fourniere, C. Malato, A. Naquet, and Sembat. There, with the intent of continuing the work they had begun in Spain, they founded the International League for the Rational Education of Children. In 1908, Ferrer began publishing L'ECOLE RENOVEE, a magazine intended to promote communication among European educators. He also continued the publication of his BOLETIN DE LA ESCUELA MODERNA DE BARCELONA. Ferrer soon realized, however, that he had lost his ability to influence directly the educational movement in Spain. His old interest in anarcho-syndicalism reemerged, and he began to devote more and more of his time to the Catalan labor movement.

In July of 1909, political events in Spain spun out of control. Spontaneous protests broke out in the streets, evolving into a massive general strike. Revolutionary leaders, anxious to seize the moment, were ultimately unprepared and thus lost control of the crowds. The result was five days of mob rule known today as the Tragic Week.

On July 28, martial law was declared throughout Spain, and a brutal military suppression continued until September. Anyone deemed dangerous to the government was jailed. Francisco Ferrer was found late in September and thrown in the dreaded fortress of Montjuich in Barcelona. A hurried trial ensued, in which he was accused of fomenting the insurrection. Ferrer had very little, if anything, to do with the uprising, but false evidence and forced confessions were produced. The government still believed that Ferrer had instigated the assassination attempt on the king in 1906 and wanted revenge. Ferrer was put to death by firing squad on October 13, 1909. Because Ferrer was well-known internationally, his execution caused a sensation throughout North America and Western Europe. In Great Britain, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle protested with Peter Kropotkin and other anarchists. Ferrer was named a martyr for free thought and, by his execution, became one of the most famous of Spanish anarchists.

From the guide to the Francisco Ferrer Collection, 1891-1979, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)