Émilienne Morin

Émilienne Léontine Morin was a French anarchist activist, journalist and stenographer. Born into an anarcho-syndicalist family, she joined the French anarchist movement at an early age, going on to write for its newspapers and contribute to anarchist legal defence campaigns. In 1927, she met and fell in love with Buenaventura Durruti, a Spanish anarchist in whose legal defence she had participated. She followed him to Belgium, where she lived a semi-clandestine life until the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. She then moved to Barcelona and joined the National Confederation of Labour (CNT). Morin struggled in her new home due to a lack of understanding the Spanish language, the sexism expressed by many Spanish male anarchists, and Durruti's prolonged absence from her life. She raised their child, Colette, as a single parent, as Durruti spent most of the subsequent years in exile or prison. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she joined her companion on the Aragon front, where she was an administrator for the Durruti Column. Morin left Spain with her daughter when Durruti was killed in action during the Siege of Madrid. She remained active among the Spanish exiles until her retirement and later became a key primary source about her companion's life.