Abstract

Focusing on the anarchist leader Errico Malatesta, the chapter examines the contradictory approach to leadership and charisma in the anarchist movement. On the one hand, charismatic leaders such as Malatesta contributed to the development and the vitality of an 'informal' and fluid movement. On the other, they were the targets by opposite groups, exacerbating polemics and ideological divisions. This was particular evident in the case of Malatesta and his endless polemics with the anti-organisationalist anarchists. Malatesta was also aware of the dangers hidden behind the 'cult of personality' and strongly warned against it during the Biennio Rosso (1919-1920), when thousands of people across Italy welcomed him as 'Lenin d'Italia'.