Re-examines the role of the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War, from their participation in the military to the management of substantial segments of the Spanish economy.
An interview with a Spanish militant, explaining the actions and motivations of the libertarian resistance, which continued the struggle against Franco through the world war and the following years of 'peace'. With an appreciation from the Kate Sharpley Library.
The course of Spanish History might well have been changed on Sunday 12th September 1948 on the second day of the fishing boat regatta being fought out at San Sebastian before the eyes of General Franco. A group of anarchists in exile had laid their plans that the chief of state should die in the waters of La Concha Bay beneath a hail of incendiary and shrapnel bombs dropped from a light aircraft... This is the story of that dramatic plan, expanded with original documents. This handsome edition includes a preface by Albert Meltzer on the Spanish Anarchist resistance; and tributes to Laureano Cerrada Santos, the anarchist militant, forger, and veteran of the French Resistance who planned the attack, and Antonio Tellez (1921-2005), the first and greatest historian of the Spanish anarchist resistance - penned by Stuart Christie.
'Without freedom there would be no equality and without equality no freedom, and without struggle there would be neither' --Stuart Christie Stuart Christie (1946-2020) is best known for his involvement in the anarchist resistance to the Franco dictatorship in Spain. He also co-founded the Anarchist Black Cross, Black Flag and Cienfuegos Press - among many other publishing ventures. This collection of articles has been put together as a tribute to his life by the Kate Sharpley Library collective. It contains some of his short political writings from the anarchist, radical and mainstream press; and some of his tributes to his friends and comrades. The final section contains a selection of tributes friends and comrades paid to him. This book is not meant to be a crash course in modern anarchist history but simply a tribute to our friend who dedicated his life to 'self-managed collectivism, individual freedom, solidarity and fun!'
The Spanish Civil War became the setting for the struggle between revolution and counter-revolution as well as being, for many outsiders, the place of armed conflict between the forces of democracy and fascism. This book is a path-breaking synthesis of political, social and cultural history concerning the anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War by Spain's leading historian of the Civil War.
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the POUM militia of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. The war was one of the defining events of his political outlook and a significant part of what led him to write in 1946, "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism, as I understand it." The first edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952, when it appeared with an influential preface by Lionel Trilling. The only translation published in Orwell's lifetime was into Italian, in December 1948. A French translation by Yvonne Davet-with whom Orwell corresponded, commenting on her translation and providing explanatory notes-in 1938-39, was not published until five years after Orwell's death. Book Summary: Orwell served as a private, a corporal (cabo) and-when the informal command structure of the militia gave way to a conventional hierarchy in May 1937-as a lieutenant, on a provisional basis, in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. In June 1937, the leftist political party with whose militia he served (the POUM, the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification, an anti-Stalinist communist party) was declared an illegal organisation, and Orwell was consequently forced to flee. Having arrived in Barcelona on 26 December 1936, Orwell told John McNair, the Independent Labour Party's (ILP) representative there, that he had "come to Spain to join the militia to fight against Fascism." He also told McNair that "he would like to write about the situation and endeavour to stir working class opinion in Britain and France." McNair took him to the POUM barracks, where Orwell immediately enlisted. "Orwell did not know that two months before he arrived in Spain, the [Soviet law enforcement agency] NKVD's resident in Spain, Aleksandr Orlov, had assured NKVD Headquarters, 'the Trotskyist organisation POUM can easily be liquidated'-by those, the Communists, whom Orwell took to be allies in the fight against Franco."