CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1

José Peirats

Description

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution is the history of one of the most original and audacious, and arguably also the most far-reaching, of all the twentieth-century revolutions. It is the history of the giddy years of political change and hope in 1930s Spain, when the so-called ‘Generation of ’36’, Peirats’ own generation, rose up against the oppressive structures of Spanish society. It is also a history of a revolution that failed, crushed in the jaws of its enemies on both the reformist left and the reactionary right.

José Peirats’ account is effectively the official CNT history of the war, passionate, partisan but, above all, intelligent. Its huge sweeping canvas covers all areas of the anarchist experience—the spontaneous militias, the revolutionary collectives, the moral dilemmas occasioned by the clash of revolutionary ideals and the stark reality of the war effort against Franco and his German Nazi and Italian Fascist allies.

This new edition is carefully indexed in a way that converts the work into a usable tool for historians and makes it much easier for the general reader to dip in with greater purpose and pleasure.

Sujets

• Spanish Civil War
• Left-libertarianism
• Anti-fascism
• Anarcho-syndicalism
• Socialism

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781604865974
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Special thanks are due to the unstinting and generous support in this project of our dear friend and compañero Federico Arcos, who also provided most of the photographs used in all three volumes of this edition with support from the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies
The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1
First English edition published January 2001 by The Meltzer Press,
PO Box 35, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 2UX
This edition © 2011 by PM Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-60486-207-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009912460
Cover and interior design by briandesign
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PM Press
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ISBN: 978-0-85036-674-7
Dedicated to the Generation of 1936 ‘A la Generación del ’36 (1936)’.
We do not make war just for the sake of making war. Were our movement compelled to be encapsulated by one blunt adjective that adjective would not be "warlike", but "revolutionary".
There is yet time for us to express ourselves in the most readily understood form possible. Definite facts and definite ideas must be given their proper names. There must be an end to this mistake of double entendres which complicate the dictionary. And the fact is that frequently a play on words is followed up by the fait accompli. "War" has been so loudly trumpeted as a synonym for "revolution" that we have been induced to invest in this war with all of the bellicose accoutrements that were always odious to us: the regular army and discipline. The same thing has happened with discipline in the proper sense. There have been comrades aplenty who, despite their bona fides, have flirted with the term and spoken to us of discipline while painting this in colours diametrically opposed to freedom.
This, far from rendering discipline more humane, is a bestialisation of freedom. It is not so very long ago that an attempt was made in our circles to peddle a version of discipline implying order and responsibility comparable with anarchy. Such an endeavour always called to our minds the idea of "good government" or "tutelary authority", as opposed to despotic or blatantly authoritarian government. And just as it has not been possible to sort governments into good ones and bad ones since in fact there are, rather, only bad ones and worse ones we have come to learn with the passage of time that all discipline is a tributary of regimentation.
We aver that all wars are inauspicious. Were it our belief that we are making a war, we should be the first to desert. The fact is that war never erupts to the advantage of those who inflict and suffer its ravages.
We are not fighting here to advance anyone’s private interests, though there will be no shortage of bigwigs who will seek to commandeer the fruits of our struggle and gamble on the ups and downs of our successes and our reverses, turning our rearguard into a stockjobbers’ lot.
Our fight is against privilege and not for the nation, a fight for liberty and not for the fatherland, a fight for anarchy and not for the Republic. We risk our lives for the collective good and not for a privileged caste. While one of us remains standing, the social revolution, which is the driving force behind our liberation movement, will never want for defenders and combatants, whether they use pen, fist, word or rifle.
We do not make war; war is always made for the purposes of someone else, and fought out between the brethren who are poor in spirit. We make revolution for the benefit of all human beings and against the cliques who are hangovers from parasitism and self-centredness. And as we are making revolution, not one square metre of reconquered ground must be subtracted from the process of transformation, despite the froglike croaking of those whose lack of spirit and mettle inclines them to dabble in the stagnant waters of politicking.
Editorial from Acracia (Lleida), 1936–7
Contents
Glossary of organisations
The history of a history
Introduction
Chapter One From the Bellas Artes Congress to the Primo de Rivera dictatorship
Chapter Two From the military Directory to the Second Republic
Chapter Three The Republic of Casas Viejas
Chapter Four From the November elections to the October Revolution
Chapter Five 6 October 1934 in Asturias and in Catalonia
Chapter Six The end of the ‘black biennium’ and the Popular Front triumphant
Chapter Seven From the Zaragoza Congress to 19 July 1936
Chapter Eight Spain in flames
Chapter Nine The revolutionary achievement
Chapter Ten The dilemma of revolution and war
Chapter Eleven The CNT in the government of Catalonia
Chapter Twelve The CNT in the government of the Republic
Chapter Thirteen Politics and revolution
Chapter Fourteen Consequences of the Confederation’s collaboration
Chapter Fifteen The collectivisations
A chronology of José Peirats’s major writings
Notes
Index
Glossary of organisations BOC Bloc Obrer i Camperol/Worker-Peasant Block; an anti-Stalinist communist party CADCI Centre Autonomista de Dependents del Comerç i de la Indústria/ Autonomist Centre for Shop and White-Collar Workers; a Catalan white-collar and shop workers’ union, the leading union in this sector CEDA Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas/Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rightists; the main rightist party in the 1930s, of quasi-fascist persuasion CGT Confédération Genérale du Travail/General Confederation of Labour; Europe’s leading anarcho-syndicalist union before World War One, it later fell under socialist and communist influence CGTU Confédération Générale du Travail Unitaire/Unitary General Confederation of Labour; formed by communists and allied to the RILU CNT Confederación Nacional del Trabajo/National Confederation of Labour CRT Confederación Regional del Trabajo/Regional Confederation of Labour; the regional bodies that made up the CNT ERC Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya/Republican Left of Catalonia; a middle class republican party FAI Federación Anarquista Ibérica/Iberian Anarchist Federation; the pan-Iberian federation of anarchist affinity groups FIJL Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias/Iberian Federation of Young Libertarians; the anarchist youth movement FJS Federación de Juventudes Socialistas/Socialist Youth Federation; the youth movement of the PSOE FNTT Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de la Tierra/National Federation of Land Labourers; the UGT agrarian workers’ union FOUS Federación Obrera de Unificación Sindical/Workers’ Federation of Trade Union Unity; a dissident communist union federation close to the POUM FSL Federación Sindicalista Libertaria/Libertarian Syndicalist Federation; a moderate anarcho-syndicalist answer to the FAI formed during the power struggles in the CNT prior to the civil war ICE Izquierda Comunista de España/Communist Left of Spain; a small Trotskyist grouping which helped form the POUM in 1935 IWA International Workingmen’s Association; the world organisation of anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist groups JCI Juventud Comunista Ibérica/ Iberian Communist Youth; the PCE youth movement JJ.LL Juventudes Libertarias/Young Libertarians; the Catalan association of young anarchists JSU Juventudes Socialistas Unifi cadas/Unifi ed Socialist Youth; an amalgamation of the JSU and the JCI under Stalinist hegemony PCC Partit Comunista Català/Catalan Communist Party; a dissident communist group which helped form the BOC in 1930 PCE Partido Comunista de España/Communist Party of Spain; the official pro-Moscow communist party POUM Partido Obrero de Unifi cación Marxista/Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification; a dissident communist, anti-Stalinist party PSOE Partido Socialista Obrero Español/Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party; the Spanish social-democratic party PSUC Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya/Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia; the Catalan Communist Party formed at the start of the civil war in order to rival the power of the revolutionary CNT-FAI and the POUM RILU Red International of Labour Unions; Comintern union federation SS.OO Sindicatos de la Oposición/Opposition Unions; made up of anti-FAI anarcho-syndicalists UGT Unión General de Trabajadores/General Workers’ Union; the PSOE-affiliated union movement USC Unió Socialista de Catalunya/Socialist Union of Catalonia; a quasi-Fabian-socialist party which split from the PSOE due to the latter’s centralist stance on the national question. Very close to the ERC before the civil war, it later joined the PSUC. U de R Unió de Rabassaires/Union of Sharecroppers; a Catalan tenant farmers’ union close to the ERC
The history of a history 1
J osé Peirats’s La CNT en la revolución española is the history of one of the most original and audacious, and arguably also the most far-reaching, of all the twentieth-century revolutions. It is the history of the giddy years of political change and hope in 1930s Spain, when the so-called ‘Generation of ‘36’, Peirats&#