Louis Mercier-Vega

Louis Mercier-Vega (6 May 1914 – 20 November 1977) was a militant libertarian and syndicalist, originally from Belgium.

He also lived and wrote under various other names. His real name was Charles Cortvrint. From the age of 16 he was actively participating in the Belgian anarchist movement. He contributed to "Réveil syndicaliste", edited by the "Syndicalist actions groups", headed up by Jean De Boë, Nicolas Lazarévitch and Ida Mett.

Unwilling to perform military service in Belgium, in around 1931 he moved to Paris where he made contact with the "Anarchist Union".

Spanish revolution and resistance With the outbreak, in 1936, of the Spanish Revolution, he set off with Charles Charpentier and became a founder of the Sébastien Faure battalion, part of the International Brigades participating against the Francoists in the rapidly developing Spanish Civil War. The Faure battalion became part of the Durruti Column, fighting on the Aragon Front.

Following deep differences, both over organisation and the role of "factory groups" in industrial confrontations and over the importance of the Spanish Civil War, Mercier-Vega quit the Anarchist Union in November 1937.

By the end of 1939 he was being actively sought by the police. He tried, unsuccessfully, to embark from Marseille and then, supported by activist networks, made his way to Brussels where he was accommodated by Hem Day. In the end it was from Antwerp that he embarked for Argentina.

He spent time in Chile and then recrossed the Atlantic to Africa. The Second World War had broken out, from the French perspective, in September 1939, which was followed by the German invasion and occupation of northern France in May/June 1940. The Germans never conquered the French imperial territories in Africa, however, and on 26 June 1942 Mercier-Vega signed up as a volunteer with the Free France (government in exile) organisation which was commanded, mostly from London, by Charles de Gaulle. Between 1946 and 1950 he was a regular contributor to Le Libertaire, writing under the pseudonyms "Damashki" and "Santiago Parane".

At the start of the 1950s he joined the "Friends of Liberty" ("Amis de la liberté"), the French section of the Congress for Cultural Freedom" ("Congrès pour la liberté de la culture"), and international anti-totalitarian intellectual organisation. In 1958 he created the "International Commission of Workers' Liaison" ("Commission internationale de liaison ouvrière"), a libertarian and revolutionary syndicalist network.

During his career he worked with the libertarian press on the creation of several reviews, such as " Révision" (1938) with Marie-Louise Berneri, "Aportes" (1966–1972) and "Interrogations" (1974–1979).

He was also the author of a number of publications.

Following the death in 1973 of his partner, Eliane Casserini, Louis Mercier-Vega took his own life on 20 November 1977.