A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - IDEAS AND STRUGGLES: Presents followed by Spanish Anarchism between Power and Revolution (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A drama at its peak-like a sinister shadow enveloping Spain after 
Franco's victory over the Republic, aimed at crushing the hopes of the 
people and of democracy. The Francoists, the Falange, orchestrated the 
exhumation of José Antonio Primo de Rivera's body and its transfer from 
Alicante to Madrid. This was seen as a punishment for the communists and 
a rallying cry for the fascist reaction. Drawing inspiration from Nazi 
ceremonies, the organizers planned a procession across Spain of the 
coffin, carried by Falange men, marching day and night by torchlight, 
accompanied by hymns. The Church regained hope, the bourgeoisie sighed 
with relief. Meanwhile, Republican prisoners, their families, and exiles 
suffered, awaiting the punishment promised by the hatred of the wealthy.

This is the journey Paco Cerdà takes us through, "the most improbable 
ceremony in the history of contemporary Spain[...]The greatest cult of 
this century dedicated to a deceased politician in Western Europe, 467 
kilometers to be covered at the martial pace of the Falange." He, the 
dead man, shot on November 20, 1936. He would serve as a symbol, a 
propaganda tool to establish the narrative of a new Spain. The drama 
reaches its peak in Paco Cerdà's book, Présents (Present), published by 
Gallimard. Présents, the cry of the actors in this procession.

This book is powerful, stylistically strong; it obviously echoes many 
books I have presented on the program Au fil des pages (Along the Pages) 
on Radio Libertaire and in this column, Des idées et des luttes (Ideas 
and Struggles), on the Le Monde Libertaire website. I am also thinking 
of all those who suffered the savagery of the troops tasked with 
crushing revolutions, the Paris Commune of 1871 foremost among them. 
Some pages act as a mirror. A kind of memory of the vanquished, to 
borrow the title of Michel Ragon's book.

We relive the days of this journey, beginning on November 20, 1936. The 
country is ravaged by the war initiated by rebel soldiers with the help 
of Italian fascists and Nazis; fear grips the minds and hearts of the 
defeated, who dread being denounced. The body of the founder of the 
Falange passes by, crushing this red Spain. Where is this Spain? Paco 
Cerdà alternates chapters about the procession with the places of 
survival for the defeated, humiliated Republicans.

The honor and the value of the vanquished's ideals.
Some managed to cross the mountain passes and find themselves in the 
concentration camps of Argelès, Barcarès... They retain the honor and 
the value of their ideals.

Other prisoners must perform forced labor, rebuild the country, the 
roads. They are worthless in the eyes of the fascists. 90,000 "mules," 
many of whom will die. They too retain the honor and value of their ideas.

Fortunately, boats were able to evacuate the population, because in the 
captured cities, they were shooting people. The comparison with the 
Nazis is illuminating; libraries had to be purged. Voltaire, Gorky, 
Lamartine, and even Plato's Republic were eliminated; anything 
suspicious was hunted down, and book burnings reduced books, newspapers, 
vehicles of human thought to ashes.

The inexorable march continued. Present, the Falangist cry in the 
villages and towns, like Mota del Cuervo, traversed, the fear of 
denunciation. What did the schoolteacher or the mayor do and say during 
the Republic?

And the anarchist teachers? Did they follow Malatesta, Ferrer, Urales, 
Bakunin? It's enough to find these books in their library. On the wall!

Propaganda, the body played its part.
The savagery of the Francoist troops would be denounced by Georges 
Bernanos in *The Great Cemeteries Under the Moon*. Worth rereading. A 
monarchist in France, he witnessed the massacres at Valdemoro and was 
rejected by the right wing.

Finally, the body arrived in Madrid. The entire government was assembled 
in the Plaza de España. The body had played its part. Now it was 
Franco's turn.

Don't think the vanquished had disappeared. They went into hiding; some 
became guerrillas, acting like moles. These are the two sides of the 
book: on one side, the alliance of the sword, violence, the holy water 
sprinkler, the Church, money, and the bourgeoisie; on the other, hope, 
brotherhood, and dreams of a better world that the procession could not 
erase.

* Paco Cerdà,
Présents
, Gallimard, 2026.

To understand the Spanish anarchist revolution:

Addressing Spanish anarchism and the 1936 revolution in 200 pages is a 
daunting task, but Claudio Venza manages to guide us through the events, 
recalling the origins, events, and achievements of this movement in his 
book, Spanish Anarchism Between Power and Revolution, republished by 
Atelier de création libertaire. He also raises numerous questions that 
readers can explore further through other works and their own analysis. 
For Laura Vicente, in her preface, what characterized the author was 
"his taste for sharing and debating ideas, as well as his search for 
activist spaces that allowed him to develop a practice that enriched and 
transformed the ideas he had absorbed since his earliest years."

The first two chapters trace a path from 1868 to 1936 to understand the 
strong roots of the anarchist movement and the social constraints of the 
revolution. The arrival of Giuseppe Fanelli, Bakunin's emissary, 
develops Proudhon's federalist theories. The ground is fertile for 
anarchism, which, unlike the Marxists led by Paul Lafargue, takes a 
particular interest in the agricultural world. The spread of culture 
through the athenaeums, the strengthening of education through Francisco 
Ferrer's innovative methods, the development of the CNT (National 
Confederation of Labor), and the creation of the FAI (Internationalist 
Federation of Anarchists) in 1927 all contribute to establishing the 
movement. The major debates of the Second Republic reflect the 
opposition of the army and the Church to all changes, such as the 
situation of women, rural poverty, and Catalan autonomy. Agrarian reform 
and labor struggles reveal the existence of two Spains.

Acting under threat?

Claudio Venza recalls the debate on participation in elections and 
minimal support for the Popular Front. He analyzes the issues discussed 
at the CNT congress in Zaragoza in May 1936, with remarks that remain 
highly relevant today, for example, on religion. The arrival of the coup 
d'état is not really a surprise; it is being prepared, it is 
foreshadowed. Anarchists are on the front lines, and being at the 
forefront and attempting to carry out revolutionary reforms will be a 
constant challenge, a challenge we saw during the Paris Commune and the 
Makhnovshchina. Anti-fascist committees are being formed, and region by 
region, the author presents the balance of power in Aragon, Asturias, 
Murcia, and elsewhere.
Obviously, a major debate is that of participation in the government. 
Inside or outside, we find the elements of the debate. In parallel, what 
about military involvement? Can we speak of anarcho-militarists? On the 
front lines or in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines? Integrated into 
the Republican army or operating alongside it? What about the Durruti 
Column?

Meanwhile, worker self-management was taking root in peasant communities 
and factories, despite government resistance. Claudio Venza describes 
how it functioned. The Mujeres Libres (Free Women) organization played a 
significant role.

The fascist offensive was gaining ground, and the Stalinists' influence 
culminated in the events of Barcelona in May 1937, the arrests of 
anarchists and members of the POUM, including the assassination of the 
Italian anarchist Camillo Berneri and the POUM leader, Andreu Nin.

Compromise, or complicity?

In these complex times, anarchists joined the government, and the author 
assesses the actions of Juan García Oliver (Justice), Joan Peiró 
(Industry), Juan López Sánchez (Commerce), and Frederica Montseny 
(Health). The debates surrounding their participation were intense. The 
fighting on the front lines and the rivalries reflected the inexorable 
end of the Republic. The CNT's national plenum in September 1937 led to 
a revision of principles, to centralism, and to a rapprochement between 
the CNT and the UGT. Claudio Venza evokes the chaos of the end. After 
the Retirada, the impotent heroism in the fight against an organized and 
heavily armed enemy, "it is clear that the Spanish anarchist movement, 
and consequently the world anarchist movement, would never be the same 
after these three dramatic years of a tumultuous history." *

Claudio Venza,
Spanish Anarchism Between Power and Revolution,
Ed. Atelier de création libertaire, 2026

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=9077
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