Vernon Richards (1915-2001), whose real name was Vero Recchioni, was born in London as the son of Italian political refugees. He worked as a publicist in England for over sixty years and helped his father with his propaganda campaign against the Mussolini regime.
In 1936 he and Camillo Berneri published the bilingual anarchist paper Italia Libera/Free Italy. In that year he also started publishing Spain and the World, which was renamed Revolt in 1939 and War Commentary at the outbreak of World War II.
In 1945 the title was ultimately changed to Freedom. Richards was sentenced to spend nine months in prison for subversive efforts among soldiers in that year too. He remained the editor of Freedom until 1964.
Professionally, Richards earned a living as a railway engineer, a gardener and through other activities. He also worked at his father's Italian delicatessen in London for years.
After he retired he became the financial manager of the Freedom publishing house. He wrote articles and several books, including his famous Lessons of the Spanish Revolution. He translated books as well.
Richards' archive comprises material about Freedom, as well as a lot of personal correspondence with prominent anarchists. The Institute acquired it in 1984. In 2001, six months before his death, additional material was collected.
A small but important part is the correspondence between Vernon Richards and the anarchist and art historian Sir Herbert Read from the period December 1952 – January 1953, in which Read reported that he would be knighted on 1 January 1953. Vernon Richards considered this unacceptable for an anarchist. The heated correspondence that resulted was covered extensively, especially in the leftist press.
Text was taken from On the Waterfront - newsletter of the Friends of the IISH Issue 4 (pdf, 656 Kb).