Spanish Resistance

Between a Roc and a Hard Place
This unusual film follows twelve year-old Ofelia to Galicia, North-West Spain, when her mother marries a vicious Civil Guard captain mopping up anti-fascist resistance in 1944.

Vicente Marti
Aka Vincent Marti, born 1926 – Madrid, Spain, died 14 June 2006, France

Vicente Marti was born in Madrid in 1926. His parents were anarcho-syndicalist militants who had to move abode because of their activities.

By Stuart Christie
From the Guardian, Wednesday August 16, 2000

- Goliardo's biography by Antonio Tellez on libcom.org/history

Manuel Sabaté Llopart
aka Manolo, born 1927 - Barcelona, Spain, died 24 February 1950 - Spain

Manuel Sabate Llopart was born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat in 1927.

Jose Perez Montes
Nicknamed 'Pepin', born 2nd October 1915 - Santander, Spain, died October 1947 - Spain

Forgotten Heroes

Antonio Téllez Solà
Born January 18 1921 - Tarragona, Spain, died March 27 2005 - Perpignan, France.

The Herodotus of the anti-Franco maquis

The rattle of the Thompson gun

The Pallarés group was one of the very first anti-Franco urban guerrilla groups which sprung up after the end of the Spanish Civil War and Revolution of 1936-9, and the victory of the fascist and right-wing army of General Franco.

Part of the widespread armed resistance to the regime, the Los Queros guerilla band operated in the city of Granada and in its environs in the years following the end of the Civil War of 1936-9, and the victory of the fascist and right-wing army of General Franco (pictured).

An extract of Stuart Christie's book Granny Made Me An Anarchist which describes his involvement in an attempt to assassinate Spanish dictator General Franco. He describes his experiences from picking up the plastic explosive in France to his arrest by Franco's police in Spain. This extract first appeared in The Guardian newspaper on Monday August 23, 2004

[2,000 words]

Wenceslao Jimenez ‘Wences' Orive
Born Spain, 28 January 1922, died Spain, 9 January 1950

Wences was born in Gijon (Asturias) on the 28th January 1922. He was the oldest of four brothers. His father was a railway worker, ticket collector and activist in the anarcho-syndicalist union the CNT.

Goliardo Fiaschi was born in Carrara (Italy) on 21 August 1930 and died in the same city on 29 July 2000. On 9 September 1943, aged thirteen, he joined the Resistance in his district, but in order to gain admittance he claimed to be over fifteen years old.

Juan Brell Piñol
Born 1908 - Valencia, Spain, death information unknown

Born in Valencia in 1908 into an anarchist family, his childhood was 'eventful' due to the banishments and harassment inflicted on his father. He belonged to the anarchist union the CNT's Woodworkers' Union.

Joaquin Pallarès Tomás
Born 1923 - Barcelona, Spain, died 29 March 1943 - Spain

Ramon Vila Capdevila, or ‘Caraquemada’ (Burntface) was born in Peguera, near Berga, on the 2nd April 1918. From an early age he was a member of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union the CNT. He participated in the Figola uprising in 1932.

Many English speaking anarchists and anarcho- syndicalists will best remember the authoritative work of Gomez Casas The history of the FAI.

According to the National Committee of the CNT-AIT, Juan Gomez Casas was born in Burdeos in 1921. In 1936 Gomez Casas joined the main youth organisation affiliated with the CNT-AIT, Juventudes Libertarias (Libertarian Youth).

José Sabaté Llopart
Born 1910 - Barcelona, Spain, died 17 October 1949 - Spain