An Exponent of Committed Journalism

Suplemento Literário e Ilustrado d’A Batalha represents a high mark in the succession of anarchist political-cultural publications, and, at the same time, one of its singular and unique achievements, inside the Portuguese language universe, in a genre that lasted the entire century.

It was published in Lisbon between December 1923 and January 1927 with steadfast weekly periodicity, appearing in stands, kiosks, and newspaper boys’ satchels always on Mondays, early in the morning.

In fact, its rigorous regularity is one of the first observations that stands out in this collection, both with regard to the imagery and page layout structure – only featuring minor typographic innovations each new year – and exact compliance to its announced publication dates, notwithstanding the political turbulence of the time: the seditious military movements of 18th April 1925, 3rd February and 28th May 1926, or the dangers posed by the Cruzada Nun'Álvares or the ‘disaggregation of the political forces’. Only the anti-dictatorship revolt of 3rd-7th February 1927 and the repression that followed were able to definitively silence its voice.

Suplemento’s editorial staff was nearly identical to that of the other A Batalha publications, i.e., the daily newspaper, the small books published sporadically (for example, the ‘A Novela Vermelha’ collection or the 1926 Almanaque), and, lastly, the biweekly magazine Renovação, that came out between July 1925 and June 1926. It is plausible to admit that certain texts originally intended for one of these titles ended up being published elsewhere, for reasons of opportunity or content.

Its main staff members and collaborators were Ferreira de Castro, Nogueira de Brito, Mário Domingues, Jaime Brasil (also president of the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Imprensa), Adolfo Lima, Ladislau Batalha, Arnaldo Brazão, Bento Faria, José Carlos de Sousa (the spokesman for the anarchist group O Semeador and then presidente of the Universidade Popular Portuguesa), Julião Quintinha, Jesus Peixoto, Alfredo Marques, Cristiano Lima, Eduardo Frias, less frequently David de Carvalho, Roberto das Neves or Vasco da Fonseca, and, with illustrations, Stuart Carvalhais and Roberto Nobre.

‘A voz que clama no deserto’ belongs to one of its regular authors, perhaps a hidden nom-de-plume of Jaime Brasil. The intriguing and undecipherable pseudonym ‘Abilos’ (occasionally spelled ‘Àbilos’) is an unknown author responsible for numerous ‘sueltos’, aphorisms, and some articles. This could be professional journalist António Pinto Quartim, who was responsible for leading the staff, carrying out editor duties, probably including writing some unsigned editorial texts, and the major enthusiast of this project from the beginning; however, the fact that even though he left his post in July 1926 the Abilos signature continued to appear (as, in fact, did Ferreira de Castro’s), suggests otherwise. The harsh discussions about the position regarding the ‘National Revoultion’ military coup led Quartim to quit the job, as well as removing from the publication Castro, Brasil, and Frias, internally accused of ‘careerism’ by some radicals.

The periodical’s subtitle is ‘Suplemento literário e ilustrado’ (having lost the ‘e’ after Year II). The adjective ‘literary’ refers to the characteristic of not exactly dealing with current events – despite the fact it was sold together with a newspaper – but rather the quality and reflexivity of the text, even when discussing topics in the public eye, both domestically and abroad. In that sense, ‘literary’ is understandable and adequate, but one must never lose sight, even for an instant, that A Batalha always presents itself as an instrument of ideological combat in the political and social scene. According to the descriptors that are now presented, we can say that around 30% of the almost 3000 pieces published altogether in the Suplemento fit into the ‘social criticism’ category, often referenced at the time, while nearly as many dealt with matters pertaining to associations and social demands and protests. Different educational matters come in at a lower, yet relevant position (around 15% of the total). Criticism of state policies, religious institutions, and the economic practices of employers rank behind this (always under 10%).

As for ‘illustrated’, this mostly refers to an intention of communication with readers who also used visuals as a signifying code for transmitting ideas and values, thus unbound to written language and accepting one of the assumptions of the Modernist aesthetic current. Its application fell somewhat short of what was intended, however. It was perhaps the knowledge of that shortcoming that prompted the editorial team to later launch the magazine Renovação. In any case, while photographs and photogravures were already frequently used in the newspaper, in the Suplemento they were divided into these main modalities: illustrative drawings of subjects deemed important by the editors; portraits of cultural or social movement personalities; artistic photographs (of sculptures, monuments, or landscapes); more rarely, drawings or photographs of historic or current events.

As a cultural and ideas periodical, Suplemento dedicated many of its pages to: the dignification of work, criticizing its social exploration and oppression; the so-called social criticism of mores (festivities, alcohol, begging, tips, bullfights, football, etc.); health, hygiene, and practical advice for everyday life; art, music, and literary criticism; the publication of short stories, poetry, aphorisms, theatre plays, and the evocation of great universal (Tolstoy, Zola, Anatole France, Puccini, Lenin, Gorky, Gandhi, Unamuno, Tagore) or remarkable national figures (actress Ângela Pinto or the anarchist Ávila); page 7 contained exclusively ‘What everyone should know: Let us make good use of moments of rest to instruct ourselves a little’ (with numerous general culture contributions); except in the final issues, the last and eighth page was always dedicated to children and teenagers with the section ‘Chico, Zeca e Cª’ (containing short stories, riddles, games, cut-out pieces, etc.); and last but not least, the social role of women (their importance in education, against prostitution and fashion, with two controversial surveys on their admission into trade unions and work competitiveness with men). In fact, Suplemento’s closing issues are mostly dedicated to this last subject, maybe because the times of worker struggle had gone into decline.

The ironic and scathing style of some of its texts – often seen in commentary on national political news – is well illustrated in the poster announcing Suplemento’s launch, which read: ‘HALT! IN THE NAME OF THE LAW all citizens are hereby summoned to read the Suplemento literário de A Batalha on Mondays’, accompanied by the threatening cartoon of a ‘cívico’ holding a baton.

João Freire