Max Nettlau, born on the 30th of April in 1865, was an anarchist historian whose biographical subjects included Bakunin, Malatesta, and Élisée Reclus. His enormous collection of primary materials is held by the International Institute of Social History.

Max Nettlau was born in Neuwaldegg (Austria) to an affluent family. Nettlau's skepticism of state authority began at a young age; his memoirs state that, even as a child, he 'somehow considered the supporter of any government system as a seriously defective person'.

Formally, Nettlau studied linguistics, authoring his doctoral thesis on the Welsh language. While a student in London, he became a member of the Socialist League, the only organization he was ever to join according to the International Institute of Social History (IISG).

As an anarchist activist, Nettlau wrote articles for John Most's Freiheit and befriended famous anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin, Elisée Reclus, and Errico Malatesta.

Nettlau was an avid collector of materials of social movements. Not just manuscripts by anarchist authors (although original texts by Bakunin became a part of his collection), but the actual pamphlets, bulletins, and papers of social movements themselves.

Among Nettlau's works as an author are the first major biography of Michael Bakunin, biographies of anarchists Elisée Reclus and Errico Malatesta, and a seven volume work on the history of anarchism. A significantly shorter, one volume version is available in English as "A Short History of Anarchism".

In 1935, Nettlau sold his archive (described by the IISH as "enormous") to the newly found International Institute of Social History, where it remains to this day.

Nettlau died 1944 from stomach cancer in Amsterdam, having fled his native Austria follow the country's "Anschluss" to Nazi Germany in 1938.

"Do I want to propose my own system? Not at all! I am an advocate of all systems, i.e. of all forms of government that find followers."

  • Max Nettlau in "PANARCHY. A Forgotten Idea of 1860" (1905)

A Short History of Anarchism by Max Nettlau

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  • DyingOfDeBordom [none/use name]
    ·
    4 months ago

    do you think if like 70% of the time i can only comfortably breathe out of one nostril i probably needed some kinda sinus surgery like decades ago or is that normal

    • Maoo [none/use name]
      ·
      4 months ago

      I don't know about surgery but that's a good reason to go to a doc. If a nostril is regularly blocked that can lead to a sinus infection.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
        ·
        4 months ago

        Hmm, most of the time I'm only breathing out one nostril. It alternates every couple of hours. I think that's normal

        • PointAndClique [they/them]
          ·
          4 months ago

          It's like that 'omg people only use 10% of their brain' thing. It's like imagine if someone could breathe through both nostrils

    • GinAndJuche
      ·
      4 months ago

      Possibly a deviated septum

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        4 months ago

        Seconded. That's what it was for me. They put me under, a big east german guy named "hans" smacked me in the nose a few times, and i've been breathing fine for 18 years.