Teresa Mañé Miravet

She was born in Cubelles, Catalonia but grew up in nearby Vilanova i la Geltrú within a family that was comfortably well-off.[1]

She was linked in her youth with the Centro Democrático Federalista. In 1887 she founded a secular school in Villanova i la Geltrú and years later another school in Reus with their help. She was a member of the Confederation of Lay Teachers of Catalonia, having studied teaching at the Tramuntana de Sanfe school and promoted its educational activities many years before Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia and his Escuela Moderna. At the same time, Mañé was working for the local newspaper El Vendaval and also contributing articles to El Producer, where she came into contact with anarchism. There she met Juan Montseny and other prominent Spanish anarchists such as Anselmo Lorenzo, Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, and José Llunas Pujals, publisher of the newspaper La Tramontana.

In 1889 she participated in the "Second Socialist Competition" held in Barcelona, where she presented her text “El amor libre” ("Free love"). In 1891 she married Juan Montseny Carret (aka Federico Urales) in a civil ceremony and continued her literary and educational work. After the anonymous attack on the procession of Corpus Christi of Barcelona in June 1896 and the repression that followed the Process of Montjuich, Montseny and Mañé were banished. The couple fled to London, but returned one year later, settling in Madrid and contributing to La Revista Blanca, for which she wrote articles on female emancipation. She also served as translator for contributions from Louise Michel, Gustavo de la Barre, and Antonio Labriola.[2]

In 1905 she had a daughter, Federica Montseny, and abandoned Madrid shortly after for Cerdanyola del Vallès near Barcelona, where she continued to participate in the events of the following years: the Tragic Week in Barcelona and the execution of her friend Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia in 1909, the foundation of the CNT in 1910, the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), the founding of the FAI in 1927, the Second Republic (1931-1939), the military coup and the resulting Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

Between 1925 and 1936 she again contributed articles on theory and history to La Revista Blanca and befriended the anarchist historian Max Nettlau, another contributor.

She died on February 5, 1939 in Perpignan.[1]