[Comic] Marie-Louise Berneri (1918-1949)

«We don’t build our movement on obscure ideas. Perhaps we should produce fewer ideas, but we should be able to understand them completely and explain them to others at any time.»

Born on March 1, 1918, in Arezzo, Italy, Marie-Louise was the eldest child of Giovanna and Camillo Berneri.

Persecuted by the fascists, the Berneri family emigrated to France in 1926. A psychology student at the Sorbonne, Marie-Louise became involved in the anarchist movement.

She moved to London in April 1936. Camillo Berneri fought in Spain with the CNT (National Confederation of National Liberties). His daughter saw him in Barcelona before he was assassinated by the communists on May 5, 1937. She attended his funeral. In November 1937, she returned to England with her partner, photographer Vernon Richards.

Together they contributed to the publication and distribution of the English anarchist press: Spain and the World, Revolt !, War Commentary, Freedom.

In April 1945, Vernon Richards, Philip Sansom, and John Hewetson were sentenced to nine months in prison for seditious activities. Marie-Louise was acquitted, as English law stipulated that a wife could not conspire with her husband.

In Paris in 1948, at the first anarchist conference, Marie-Louise Berneri represented Great Britain, her mother Giovanna Italy, and her sister Giliana France.

Marie-Louise popularized the works of Wilhelm Reich in England. She died in London on April 13, 1949, from viral pneumonia.