Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution – Jose Peirats

389 Pages·1610·11.36 MB·English

José Peirats
FREEDOM PRESS
José Peirats (1908-1989)
ANARCHISTS
in the
SPANISH
REVOLUTION
by
.
JOSE PEIRATS
FREEDOM PRESS
London
1998
This edition
first published by
FREEDOM PRESS
84b Whitechapel High street
London El 7QX
Reprinted 1990, 1998
4# KæeryMÎ
ISBN 0 900384 53 0
PRINIF.D IM GKHA'!' ΒκΠ'ΑίΝ BY Αΐ.ίΧίΑΤί PHHSS. LONDON Et 70X
ACKNOWLEDG EMENTS
The firsi Engtish (American) transition was the work of Mary
Ann Slocombe and Pau! Hollow. A number of comrades were
invoked in the actuai production of the book, Special mention
was made in the original edition to Federico Atcos "whose idea it
was and whose energy and single mindedness saw it through", and
to Art BarteH "whose generosity made it financially possibie".
For this FREEDOM PRESS edition we a!so have to thank the )ast
two named (and the transiators, of course) for the same reasons.
!n order to produce this voktme ascheaply as possible the origina)
negatives have been used, and consequent^ one or two factuai
errors, as we!t as some infeticities in transiation, have not been
corrected.
The American edition gives no date of publication (probabiy
1977) nor publisher though it was 'avaiiable' from Solidarity Books
(Toronto).
Ccrrfci/on: Page 371 Glossary. Matcn Pedro was not killed in the attack
on the President of the Council of Ministers in 1921.
NOTE
The )'o!towing abbreviations have been used in the text to identify
tlHmntsations and political parties:
CNT (Con/Meraci'df! Nac/ofM?/ Je/ 7raàayo — National Confedera­
tion of Labour). The revolutionary syndicaiist organisation influ­
enced by the anarchists.
FAI (Federac/on — Anarchist Federation of
!beria).
MLE (Moyinwnfo i:i?eriario E^pano/ — Spanish Libertarian
Movement). The combined CNT-FAI and FIJL.
UGT (ί/πίοπ Genera/ Je Tra^a/aJore^ — Genera! Workers'
Union). Reformist Trade Union controited by the sociatists.
PSO (PitrfMo O&wo — Workers' Sociatist Party).
PCE (ParfM? Espa/ioi — Spanish Communist Party).
PSUC i/MÎ/Îcai Caia^MHya — Catalan Unified
Soc)a)tnt Party). The combined Sociatist and Communist Parties
of Catatonia.
POUM (Par/Mf & i/Mi/tcac/of) Mar^a). Dissident
revotuttonary Communist Party.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface................................................................................................. 11
1 From the Beginnings to the First Great Struggie.......................21
2 Repression and Martyrs...................................................................35
3 Conspiracies Against the Dictatorship.........................................49
4 The Anti-Monarchist Offensive.....................................................59
5 The Republic and its Fata) Cancer................................................73
6 The Cycie of Insurrections...............................................................87
7 Spain in Fiâmes ............................................................................... 105
8 The Tide of Revolution ................................................................ 117
9 The Tragedy of the Spanish Country side.................................. 127
10 The Revolution in the Countryside............................................ 137
11 From the Army ofAfrica to the Army of the People ............. 155
12 The Main Stages of Apolitical Syndicalism ............................. 167
13 The Ministerial Collaboration of the CNT............................... 177
14 The Growth of the Spanish Communist Party......................... 191
15 Prelude to the Great Drama......................................................... 201
16 Events of May............................................................................... 213
17TheNewIberianInquisition ................................................. 225
18 The Iberian Anarchist Federation ............................................. 237
19 The Council of Aragon.................................................................. 249
20 The Iberian Federation of Young Anarchists ......................... 261
21TheCNT-UGTPact...................................................................... 275
22 The Crisis in the Libertarian Movement................................... 289
23 Communists and Anarchists in the War ................................... 303
24TheLastBastion............................................................................. 3!^
Notes.................................................................................................. 33^
Giossaryot Names ......................................................................... 353
PUBLISHERS' NOTE
Our pÎeasure in being given the opportunity to pubtish this impor­
tant work has been marred hy the death of its gifted and dedictttcd
author ]ast August. He was HI and though he had been unwetl for
some time, his death, while out watking by the sea shore in Vatetl-
cia, was unexpected and came as a great shock to his many com­
rades and friends throughout the world.
This history of the Spanish struggle is unlike most in that its
author, who got his first job at the tender age of eight, actualty
joined the CNT when he was 14 and was intimately involved in
the Spanish workers' struggle for more than 60 years.
His tack of formal education was more than compensated for by
his thirst for knowledge. His first writings, according to Victor
Garcia, date from 1927, and he was contributing to the anarchist
and syndicalist press (such as 71'errH y Li'&erMj and kSb/ii/ar/dni?
both before the military uprising in 1936 and during the
revolutionary struggle that followed. He also participated in the
militias and later joined the 25th Division. With the final defeat
in 1939 he managed to escape via France to South America — San
Domingo, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, returning to France in
1947 as delegate for the CNT comrades in Venezuela at the first
Intercontinental Congress of the CNT hetd in Toulouse. At that
Congress he was nominated General Secretary which involved him,
among other things, in making contact m person with comrades in
Franco's Spain. A year tater he also became editor of the anarchist
youth journal
At this time too he was appointed historiographer of the CNT.
Between 1951 and 1953 three votumes of La CVT 6/! /a
Εφα/ίο/α were published in Toulouse by the CNT in exile — 1,100
pages of documents, invaluable source material for the student,
but in which Peirats' opinions were muted. Only some eight years
later Giovanna Berneri, who was then editing the monthly anarchist
magazine Vo/anfc (first in Naples and then in Genoa) as well as
publishing books and pamphlets (Edizioni RL), suggested to
Peirats that he should produce a volume based on his history of
the CNT and at the same time seek to draw the lessons from the
experience of 1936-39. And in 1962 the ßreve .S'fona
r?ic Li&erfaWo came out and the author dedicated it to
the memory of Giovanna Berneri who had not lived to see it in
print. In 1964 a Spanish edition was published in Argentina with
a different title — Lo.? en /a CwM Po/tHca
And only in 1977 did an American edition appear. It inctuded a
preface dated September 1974 which has been retained in this
edition, but a short postscript dated September 1976 which is no
longer relevant has been omitted, and also the five-page epilogue
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for the same reason. It was written in )%() and Pcintts wtts speculat­
ing about possible developments in Spain. But so mud) happened
in the following years which Pci rats recognises in the 1974 preface,
which has been retained, so wc feel confident that the author would
have approved of our decisions.
For the reader who has also been following events in the countries
of the Eastern htoc — even as presented by the capitalist press —
the Spanish struggle and the way it developed and degenerated is
surely lull of lessons for today's struggles. And Peirats who, as he
got older became if anything more critical of the 'leaders' of the
CN ! -FAI, offers many observations the relevance of which brave
demonstrators of Leipzig and Prague and Bucharest can already
appreciate as the professional politicians seek to worm their way
back into power. Relevant to today's events are the mistakes of
the Spanish Popular Front politicians in leaving the career officer
class in their positions of power, of the revolutionaries who soon
allowed the Patrullas de Control to be replaced by the professional
and the secret political police (which the communists took over
with disastrous results). And it would appear that this is aiready
happening.
"East German opposition parties broke off their talks with the Communist
leadership yesterday in protest at the government's intention to reconsti­
tute a secret police force soon . . . The opposition demanded that the
Prime Minister attend and give a detailed explanation of government
thinking on the security servies." (/wJppfni/fn; 9 January 1990)
One is also reading that "Fire goes out of the Romanian revolu­
tion".
"Gone is the exhitiarating, hypnotic, infectious, unstoppable enthusiasm
of the early days of the revolution, the days when thousands braved the
guns to celebrate and bring about change." (Peter HiHmore in 77te
yer 7 January 1990)
Is this the fate of revolutions' which are no more am&itious than
in wanting to replace one government by another, compared with
Spain in 1936 where a significant politically conscious minority
wanted to get rid of a!l governments and to run their own lives?
For a short lime at least this was true in Spain and the achievements
and the lessons for future generations are still to be learned. Peirats
is a good teacher.
FREEDOM PRESS have published a number of books on the Spanish revolu­
tion and are also distributors u) many useful titles by other publishers. A
complete list can be obtained fmm FmiEDOM PRESS.
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