A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #365 - Culture - Read: Freddy Gomez, "Spanish Follies: Shadows and Lights of a Wartime Anarchism" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Is it sensible to hope to compile a collection of reviews  ? It is 
tempting to move on and be content with the publisher's note, but that 
would be to miss out on many critical reflections with which Freddy 
Gomez accompanies his writings. --- An iconoclastic thinker, the author 
debunks the greatest myths of anarchist thought, demystifies the major 
figures of the Spanish Revolution, such as Durruti, not for destructive 
pleasure, but to give them the full flavor of humanity, neither too 
small nor too large, just right. He examines the participation of 
anarchist ministers   [ 1 ] , the structures of the FAI   [ 2 ] , and 
the positions taken by various individuals.

This collection of articles, some of which appeared in the journal À 
Contretemps , others previously unpublished in French, spans the period 
from 1993 to 2013—twenty years of reflections of great political 
interest. These "follies of Spain" are like so many variations, between 
shadows and light, that run through the history of this Revolution, so 
vividly recounted by the author. Freddy Gomez was "  nursed  " in this 
libertarian Spain. It accompanied his childhood. The son of exile and of 
a libertarian exile, he rubbed shoulders with the activists of that era. 
The writings and debates surrounding the libertarians of the time were 
his daily bread. Thus, his reflections are rich in insights.

As he so aptly puts it: “  History is the writing that the present makes 
of the past.  ” In turn, he undertakes this exercise of critical 
inventory of the revolutionary period, which is difficult to summarize 
here. Freddy Gomez analyzes the mythology of the revolution from which 
libertarians draw their references and energy. As the author succinctly 
puts it, he “  strives to understand this complexity as contradictorily, 
seriously, and honestly as possible—that is to say, without preconceived 
notions, without blinders or ideological lenses…  ”

The exercise of reflection is difficult because myths obscure reason, 
and it must be admitted that "  no simplistic framework for 
understanding can grasp the extraordinary difficulty of the moment when, 
overnight, a libertarian-type revolution went from dream to reality. And 
in the case of Spain, to a reality contrary to the dream, since this 
revolution did not take the form of an assault against the old world, 
but stemmed from a resistance imposed on a military coup against the 
legitimacy of a 'republic of all classes'... [which] the anarchists knew 
to be bourgeois.  "

Freddy Gomez offers a critical inventory of the successes, but also the 
failures, of this remarkable period of social construction, a time of 
light and shadow, a chiaroscuro. His questions about the positioning of 
libertarian elites are accompanied by considerations on the political 
potential of the grassroots. He also explores the relationship between 
theory and practice, the connection between ideas and reality, war 
anarchism, and many other topics. This is a book to read, to peruse, in 
order to try to understand this era and its contradictions.

Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)

To validate

[ 1 ]  Between 1936 and 1937, within the Republican government of the 
Popular Front.

[ 2 ]  Iberian Anarchist Federation, founded clandestinely in July 1927.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Freddy-Gomez-Folies-d-Espagne-Ombres-et-lumieres-d-un-anarchisme-de-guerre
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