José Antonio Emmanuel was one of the many aliases of José Ruíz Rodríguez, an educator, philanthropist, and anarchist from Málaga, Spain. Until 1923, when Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship began, Ruíz Rodríguez went by Max Bembo. Under this pen name, he authored La mala vida en Barcelona: Anormalidad, miseria y vicio. In the early 1930s, after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, he reappeared as José Antonio Emmanuel. As Emmanuel, he collaborated with the International Committee of Schools in promoting nontraditional schools. He also founded the IAL Press, whose International Library Collection published affordable, brief works that explained concepts such as the proletariat’s organization, union action, and anarchy. During the Spanish Civil War, Ruíz Rodríguez vanished without a trace, and it is not known what happened to him. As a political activist and innovator who never lost sight of those most in need, especially children, he holds a special place in the history of Spanish education.
