The Red Sect | Enzo Martucci | SA1257
The Red Sect is Enzo Martucci’s most ferocious polemic—a scathing indictment of Marxist dogma from within the radical tradition itself. First published in Italy in 1953, it blends memoir, philosophy, and political critique into a relentless attack on the soul-crushing fanaticism of the communist faithful. Drawing from years of exile, imprisonment, and conflict with both fascists and Bolsheviks, Martucci exposes the new priesthood of revolutionaries—armed not with rosaries, but with party directives and pistols.
This memoir vividly recounts the trials of a man unyielding in his battle against collective illusions. Martucci, imprisoned by fascists and hunted by communists, personifies the Stirnerian ideal of the singular individual—one who rejects every authority imposed by church, state, or ideology. The Red Sect represents the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to illegalist anarchism, and this edition marks its first appearance in English translation.
A fierce individualist inspired by Stirner and Nietzsche, Martucci offers a philosophical and deeply personal challenge to utopian collectivism in all its forms. Irreverent and incisive, The Red Sect revives a vital current of anarchist anticommunism—and issues a timeless cry for the sovereignty of the self in an age of conformity.
In this English-language debut, The Red Sect revives a vital and little-known current of anarchist anticommunism. Martucci's prose is at once autobiographical and philosophical, irreverent and incisive, blending memoir with metaphysical assault. He does not merely oppose the state—he unmasks the revolutionary tyrant waiting behind every utopian promise.
"The radical transformation of life, the great metamorphosis I aspired to, could not be realized in reality because the crowds were gregarious, they could not exist without a shepherd, and they would not send him away except to put themselves under the tutelage of another. I should no longer hope for the social Muspell from whose flames the heroic youth of the unique one would be born, but rather consider anarchy as the eternal revolt of the irreducible individual against all societies that succeed in history. I had to understand that the Promethean exception is destined to fight not only the states and the authorities but also the conservative instinct of the crowds lying in a millennium-old habit of laziness. I had to-in the extreme resolution of my tragic despair-accept this eternal struggle of the reprobate against everyone and become intoxicated with the nepenthe that drips from its bosom." -from The Red Sect
This is a companion to Banner of the Antichrist.
"Martucci was one of those wild, outlaw, Italian insurrectionary anarchists in the circle of Novatore. This is his anti-communist manifesto. The first third of the book is a theory oriented critique of communism, with some harsh judgments. But fair, true, and incisive judgments. Early on he makes the distinction between reactionary anti-communism and anarchist anti-communism. The last 2/3 is a memoir of his nasty interactions with communists during his insurrectionary period, which really demonstrate how vile some of them were. I proclaim that everyone needs to buy a copy of this book to give to their anti-communist uncle. Please report on his mental status following completion of this wonderful book. A must read." -Asymmetrical Anti-Media Issue 17
