Editorial data

Following the political and social agitation caused by the regicide, in February 1908, a period of intensification began for anarchist propaganda, continuing the impulse that had previously started with the publication of now defunct magazines. After the cancellation of Campos Lima’s Revista Livre, and Ângelo Jorge’s Luz e Vida, this doctrinarian space was taken up by Novos Horizontes, published between 1906 and May 1908. Only with the appearance of A Sementeira, in September 1908, did Portuguese anarchism find a lasting and theoretically consistent organ for the task of divulging propaganda for the Idea.

A Sementeira’s editorial enterprise started before the launch of the magazine’s first issue. In 1906, arsenal worker Hilário Marques had already been the main organizer of the Acção Directa group – responsible for the publication of Malatesta, Claude de Lisle, and Kropotkin brochures – that would meld into A Sementeira’s editorial group, two years later. The birth of the monthly illustrated publication of criticism and sociology naturally continued this project and filled the existing anarchist press void, after Novos Horizontes’s disappearance, to begin a course that would last over a decade.

The magazine’s main figure was the proprietor of A Sementeira, who coordinated and directed the periodical throughout its existence, Marques himself. For administrative tasks he was aided by typographer Lima da Costa who, it seems, was not just responsible for the magazine’s graphic composition but was also for an important support to its director during the first year, in which Hilário was forced to move to Glasgow in order to supervise the construction of the propulsion system for two destroyers that were under construction in the Arsenal da Marinha, between 1911 and 1912. Editorial tasks were carried out by pharmacist Ismael Pimentel, starting with issue nr. 27, November 1910, who also actively collaborated with doctrinarian articles written under the pseudonym Ismaelita. A Sementeira’s first series also featured the important participation of Gregório Nazianzeno de Vasconcelos, who had returned from Brazil at end of April 1911, and immediately became involved with the magazine. Under the pseudonyms Zeno Vaz, Fernan-Vaz, and of course Neno Vasco, he collaborated in 20 out of 22 issues published between May 1911 and February 1913, when the first series came to an end, after 52 months in print and just two interruptions, between August and October 1911 and January and March 1912.

The first pause in A Sementeira’s publication may have been caused by the instability originating in the departure to Glasgow of its director, a few months earlier. The break served to restart the page numbering that had begun with the first issue and to prepare the magazine’s first volume, which included the first three years. With issue nr. 37 came an important change: the cover price dropped to half, from 40 to 20 réis. This was probably a consequence of abandoning the publication of the illustrated supplements that accompanied each issue’s centre pages biographical articles.

The second intermission was due to the police violence inflicted on militants, immediately after the January 1912 general strike. The magazine’s editors and staff were prevented from publishing issue nr. 41, but a new propaganda initiative, developed from the A Sementeira administrative offices, was born from the social convulsion caused by the workers’ stoppage and subsequent government repression. With the strengthening of ties between Neno Vasco, recently arrived in Lisbon, and Lima da Costa during the strike period, the idea came about of publishing a collection of anarchist and unionist pamphlets. From this protest environment appeared the A Brochura Social group, who would play an important role a few months later, when the magazine was suspended.

After the return to Lisbon of its founder, in late April, A Sementeira faced financial problems because of constant delays with subscription payments. Despite the public calls published in the magazine, this problem persisted and would be one of the main reasons for its cancellation in February 1913. But it wasn’t the only one: Hilário Marques’ return was temporary, and because of professional commitments he once again had to leave for Glasgow by mid-March. Without its main organizer and with the likely departure of Lima da Costa, probably over a conflict with Neno Vasco because of A Brochura Social’s inefficient administration, the magazine came a to stop after 52 issues, one complete collection of 292 pages and another, incomplete, of 128.

Without the publication of A Sementeira, the group’s editorial activity stagnated, with the exception of two brochures. Laundauer’s pamphlet A Social Democracia na Alemanha was published in 1914 and, the following year, Malatesta’s Em tempo de eleições, first printed by the Acção Directa group. As such, propaganda was ensured by the A Brochura Social group, who in June 1914 presented a thesis on the relationship between anarchists and the workers movement in the Conferência Anarquista da Região Sul. With Lima da Costa’s exit, the administrative tasks were taken up by Aurélio Quintanilha, with help of lawyer Sobral de Campos. However, the brief editorial catalogue suggests that their management was also unsuccessful and the group would disintegrate later that year.

With the magazine’s relaunch in Januray 1916 the administrative team kept together: alongside director Hilário Marques, returned from Glasgow, remained Pimentel, on editorial duties. The 2 centavos price (20 old réis) was maintained, but this would be one of the few elements of continuity for the second series. The most visible change was in the magazine’s format, going from 22x33 cm to 16x25 cm and doubling the amount of pages to 16. With the new run, both the editorial staff and the administration left the director’s old home, the ‘locker’ on Rua da Barroca, where they had worked since early 1909 (after a short stint on the first floor of 44 Rua das Salgadeiras), and moved to the Feijão Encarnado tavern, Cais do Sodré, where they would remain until the final issue, in August 1919. Printing work was also transferred from the A Publicidade workshop, on Rua do Diário de Notícias, to an unnamed shop in 81 Rua do Poço dos Negros, where Germinal was also composed.

By the end of 1916, however, the economic and political context didn’t seem to encourage the continuation of this editorial adventure. The magazine’s coffers remained mostly empty and dependant on the timely payment of subscriptions, donations from the emigrant communities in New Bedford and Brazil, and the support of the Aurora Social group, responsible for publishing A Aurora, in Porto, and with whom Hilário Marques maintained a close relationship. The scarcity of paper caused by the Great War also contributed to the increase of the cover price to 3 centavos, starting with issue nr. 25, January 1918. The previous two years of the publication were contained in A Sementeira’s third collection, totalling 384 pages. This solution was used, most likely, to raise profits, by selling a volume that included an index and quality binding.

The publishing difficulties were also reflected on the magazine’s content, both in Neno Vasco’s increasingly rarer collaboration and in the frequency of empty spaces on the printed pages, between May 1916 and June 1917; here censorship was acting on an anti-interventionist periodical. The suppression of 9 and half pages from the issue that was planned for November 1918 was the reason put forth by the editor for the interruption between October and February 1919. A Sementeira would only reappear after the abolition of censorship, with changes to the editorial staff: Pimentel was removed from his post for allegedly agreeing with his pharmacy’s monarchist customers’ criticisms of the republican regime. Marques accumulated the jobs of director and editor until the – unexpected – last issue, which was published in August. Issues 25 to 41, totalling 272 pages, were bound and sold as the magazine’s fourth and final collection.

With the definitive end of the periodical, Hilário Marques dedicated himself to the workers newspaper that he had helped to found in February. This was A Batalha, at that time the press organ of the União Operária Nacional. A Sementeira’s propaganda work continued with the publication of five brochures between 1919 and 1923, probably through the solitary effort of its main organizer, who by now couldn’t count on Neno Vasco’s help for the task. The magazine did not return, since its doctrinarian space had already been occupied by the newspaper that would set the orientation of Portuguese anarchism during the following decade. The previous ten years, however, were defined in the pages of the magazine created by Marques’ impressive energy. It was this unusual arsenal worker spirit that made A Sementeira the longest and most prestigious anarchist magazine of its time.

António Baião