Spain
1951: Barcelona general strike
A brief description of social conditions in post-Civil War Spain followed by an account of the Barcelona general strike of 1951. The events in Barcelona led to strikes across the country and signalled the potential for a return to working class combativity in Spain after over a decade of rule under the Franco regime.
The situation of the Spanish working class at the turn of 1950 was a desperate one. Franco's regime had ruled over the country for the last eleven years, and severe conditions fuelled by austerity measures imposed on workers after the end of the Civil War were becoming rapidly worse.
Spanish Civil War - further reading guide
Libcom's guide to further reading around the Spanish civil war and revolution of 1936-1939.
- Homage to Catalonia - Orwell*
- The Civil War in Spain - Broue/Themin
- Wrong Steps: Errors in the Spanish Revolution - Juan Garcia Oliver
- The Friends of Durruti Group, 1937-9 – A. Guillamon
- We, the Anarchists: A Study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937 - Stuart Christie
Anarcho-syndicalism in Puerto Real from shipyard resistance to community control
An account of resistance to shipyard closures in Puerto Real, Spain, that lead to community wide involvement, with the anarcho-syndicalist union CNT playing both a prominent and decisive role.
Foreword
The recent struggle in and around the shipyards of Puerto Real, Spain, in both workplace and community, against threatened closure witnessed the anarcho-syndicalist union CNT playing both a prominent and decisive role.
Guerra, Armand, 1886-1939
Typesetter, film maker, scenario write, actor and anarchist active within the movement in Spain and internationally.
Born 4 January 1886, Liria, Spain. Died 10 March 1939, Saint Mande, France.
Armand Guerra was born Jose Estivalis Cabo at Liria near Valencia on 4th January 1886, the son of a farmer and of a mother who was already looking after a child of 5 years. First as a choirboy and then as a pupil at a seminary in Valencia, he developed an intense hatred for the Church.
70,000 Spanish truckers strike, blockade border with France
French and Spanish truckers blockaded roads on the border of south-western France on 9th June in protest at rising fuel prices.
In the latest show of distress with fuel prices, Spanish truckers on Monday began a blockade of their country's border with France, lining up their rigs and slowing them to a crawl to protest the cost of fuel. The strike blocked the highway in both directions in southwestern France.
Grand Rapids Starbucks Union and Spanish CNT announce global day of action
Grand Rapids Starbucks Union and the Seville local of the Spanish CNT have announced a Global Day of Action against Starbucks July 5th.
Day to protest recent firing of CNT member in Spain and continuing anti-union discrimination in Grand Rapids
The Foreign Legion of the Revolution
Dieter Nelles
"The Foreign Legion of the Revolution“[1]
German anarcho-syndicalist and Volunteers in Anarchist Militias during the Spanish Civil War
Borrell, Federico 1912-1936
Short biography of Spanish anarchist Federico Borrell, made famous by the iconic photo The Fallen Soldier by Robert Capa.
Federico Borrell Garcia was born in Benilloba in Alicante, Spain on April 3 1912.
The son of Vicente Borrell and Maria Garcia, he was one of a large family with 3 brothers and 2 sisters, who lived in poverty-stricken conditions.
Coordinadora - Spanish dock workers build union without bureaucrats
Article by Don Fitz about the Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores del Mar, a Spanish dock workers union, which is very uncritical, but contains useful information.
"The unity maintained during our difficult strike [in 1976] taught us that this unity was too precious to be destroyed by endless sloganeering and sectarianism. We understood that our decisions could not be delegated to union bureaucrats.
Estorach, Soledad
A short biography of Soledad Estorach, one of the most dynamic founders and activists of Mujeres Libres.
Soledad Estorach Esteri was born on the 6th February 1915 at the small village of Albatarrech near Lerida.
Silva Cruz, Maria, 1915-1936
A short biography of the iconic figure of Maria Silva Cruz, "La Libertaria," heroine of the Casas Viejas uprising, murdered by the Francoists.
Maria was born into a family of day labourers and charcoal burners in the impoverished village of Casas Viejas in Andalucia on 20 April 1915.
Her father Juan Silva Gonzalez and her uncle Jeronimo were in the CNT. Her grandmother read anarchist novels out loud to her as a young girl.
International Volunteers in the POUM Militias
Written by Andy Durgan, historical consultant for the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom, the article also contains a list of international volunteers in the POUM militia.
FUNDACIÓN ANDREU NIN
International Volunteers in the POUM Militias
Andy Durgan
Up to 700 foreigners fought with the 10.000 or so militia organised by the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista (POUM) between July 1936 and June 1937 (1). They were from at least 28 different countries; French, Italian and, above all German fighters being the most numerous (2).
Texidor, Greville, 1902- 1964 and Werner Droescher 1911-1978
Short biographies of Greville Texidor and Werner Droescher who both fought with the Spanish anarchist militias.
Greville Texidor was born in 1902 at Wolverhampton, the daughter of William Arthur Foster and Editha Greville Prideaux. Her father, a barrister, committed suicide in 1920 due to a scandal. Her mother was an artist who had originally moved from Auckland in New Zealand to study art in London in 1895.
1934: The Asturias Revolt
An account of the 1934 uprising by Asturian miners in Spain. Beginning as part of a nationwide general strike, the revolt grew into one of the most widespread rebellions of the pre-revolution era.
The 1933 elections in Spain had seen a massive victory delivered to the right, represented by the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA), a coalition of largely Catholic conservative groups and Monarchists. Led by José María Gil-Robles, the CEDA soon allied itself with the close runner up of the elections, the Radical Republican Party, led by Alejandro Lerroux.
Ester Borrás, José 1913-1980
Short biography of CNT militant José Ester Borrás, 1913-1980
On October 26, 1913, José Ester Borrás was born in Berga (province of Barcelona, Spain).
On the uselessness of heroes
Charles Reeves reviews "Los Incontrolados, Chronicles of the Iron Column", a book about the famous Spanish anarchist militia and its activities in the Civil War.
On the Uselessness of Heroes
Charles Reeve
(Le Monde Libertaire, February 6-12, 2002)
Self management and the Spanish revolution - Point Blank
An article by Situationist journal Point Blank on the militias and workers' councils during the Spanish Revolution.
Self-Management and the Spanish Revolution
1936 ~ 37
I
Workers of the world tonight: International dockers struggles of the 1980s
BM Blob's pamphlet on the struggles of dock workers across the world during the 1980s.
Translated and produced by individuals in Lisbon, Barcelona, Arhus, London, New York
Introduction by BM Blob
Soto, Antonio, 1897-1963
A short biography of Spanish anarchist Antonio Soto, who was heavily involved in the Argentinian revolutionary movement and the FORA in the 1920s.
“You are workers, labourers, continue the strike for final victory, for a new society where there will be neither poor nor rich, a society without weapons or uniforms, where reigns joy, respect for the human being, where nobody will have to kneel because there will be neither those in cassocks nor superiors”
- Antonio Soto at the last general assembly of the Patagonian strikers.
Claramunt, Teresa, 1862- 1931
One of the founders of the Spanish anarchist movement, an ‘organic intellectual’ and one of its most distinguished women activists
“The Louise Michel of Spain"
- Emma Goldman, in a 1937 letter to Ethel Mannin.
