Francisco Ferrer; his life, work and martyrdom, with message written ...

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24 Francisco Ferrer^
rally among his foes—concerning Ferrer's connection
with Anarchism. By his foes, it seems to be imagined
that it suffices to call a man an Anarchist to leave him
to the tender mercies of the base, brutal, and bloody.
Luckily, I am in a position to render this service to Ferrer's
name and fame— that I can produce his own authoritative
"profession of faith," in which it is made perfectly
clear, first, that he in his later years—in all the years of
his educational activities—had abandoned revolutionary
I)ropaganda, and, secondly, that he was totally opposed,
in principle and in action, to the doctrine of demolition
by dynamite and brute force.
Let me, therefore, conclude this paper with a reference
to an article by Ferrer himself in Espdna Nueva of
November 14, 1906 (a copy of which is before me as I
write), entitled "Profession of Faith," in order to render
it inexcusable for friend or foe hereafter to say, or pretend,
that Ferrer . . . favored the blood-spilling, property-destroying
doctrines which arc commonly ascribed
to Anarchism. Ferrer says :
"All the labor of the prosecution [he is, of course, referring
to the 1906 prosecution] has been spent on the
task of ascertaining whether or no I am an Anarchist
"For what reason. What is the motive underlying the
inquiry whether or no I
am an Anarchist
"Do they, perhaps, think that the work of the Fscuela
Moderna would be prejudiced if it should appear that its
founder is an Anarchist
"I made this matter very clear on the day of my arrival
at Madrid, during the course of my first examination, on
June 6, 1906, when I said : *I detest all party names,
from Anarchist to Carlist, because all of them are obstacles
to the educative work undertaken by the Escuela
Moderna.'
"Experience has taught me that even as religion divides
mankind into sects which hate each other, which fight between
themselves, provoking war and making impossible
the reign of peace between mankind, so the names with
which individuals fighting in the ranks of political parties
brand each other are the cause of division, of hatred, and
bloodthirsty wars.
"How many times have I seen men holding the same
ideas warring in a different party camp