Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art

The International Federation of Independent Revolutionary Art (FIARI) was a short-lived organisation established in 1938 following the publication of the Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art, which was signed by André Breton and Diego Rivera, based on their political and cultural rejection of the Communist International.[1] It was likely co-authored by Leon Trotsky.

History

In April 1938, André Breton travelled to Mexico on a grant from France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There, he became acquainted with Leon Trotsky and co-authored the Manifesto with him.[2] The published Manifesto was signed by Breton and Rivera.

The document called for the establishment of an International Federation of Independent Revolutionary Art. On Breton's return to France, he established the Federation, setting up branches in Paris, London and New York, as well as Mexico.[3] Breton successfully solicited supported for the project from the likes of Benjamin Péret, Yves Tanguy, André Masson, Victor Serge, Marcel Martinet, Ignazio Silone, Herbert Read (who, in turn, won the support of George Orwell) and others.[4]

However, the Federation was beset with problems. Only two editions of La Clé, the monthly bulletin of the Federation's French section,[1] were published before publication was ceased in February 1939 amid a deepening political crisis across Europe.[5] In his last letter to Trotsky in June 1939, Breton wrote: "Perhaps I am not very talented as an organizer, but at the same time it seems to me that I have run up against enormous obstacles."[4][6]

Sources
  1. George Orwell: A Life in Letters. W. W. Norton & Company. 2013. p. 154. ISBN 9780871404626.
  2. Google Books result indicating the document's origin
  3. Adamson, Walter L. (2007). Embattled Avant-Gardes: Modernism’s Resistance to Commodity Culture in Europe. University of California Press. p. 300. ISBN 9780520252707.
  4. Brenner, Frank; Walsh, Walsh (16 June 1997). "André Breton and problems of twentieth-century culture". Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  5. Greverus, Ina-Maria; Ritschel, Ute (2009). Aesthetics and Anthropology: Performing Life - Performed Lives. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 37. ISBN 9783643100023.
  6. Polizzotti, Mark (1995). Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton. Farrar, Straus Giroux. p. 472.
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